Blood of the Daleks
written by Steve Lyons
directed by Nicholas Briggs
Broadcast - 20th July 1996-10th August 1996
Right, Blood of the Daleks. A solid story but slightly tiresome due to the Dalek story just last year, Hatred of the Daleks, and another Dalek story starting in 5 weeks time, the Time Ravages. I love the Daleks as much as any self respecting Doctor Who fan but sometimes it can be a little too much more my liking and I hope, after the Time Ravages, we don’t get another Dalek story for sometime.
The Doctor is rather interesting this episode as we see another take on the Doctor. He seems more tired than previous stories but whether that’s supposed to be the effects of the last story, Hatred of the Daleks, or it’s just Steve Lyons writing inconsistently, I don’t know. The Doctor very early on declares it is too late for the people of Red Rocket Rising without even trying to see if there is anything he can do. I do love his ruthless condemnation of the Daleks, if he saw the slightest hint of redemption he would be thrilled but he doesn’t think they are capable. It’s really nasty when he gets a live cable to his back! The Daleks peg him as a terrorist whose actions have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Daleks. The Daleks get very excited about the Doctor! At times he is bitingly witty the likes of which we haven’t seen since Tom Baker’s fourth Doctor at his height. The Daleks reckon him to be an efficient ally! He will not allow there to be two races of Daleks and will help one side commit genocide to prevent this – wow.
He gets a newsflash from Grace, if she waited for him to save the day she would still be waiting. The Doctor’s plan is sheer murder and he has to walk into the heart of it. For the Doctor this is like a recurring nightmare, he could stop the birth of this new race of Daleks just like in Genesis of the Daleks. He taunts the dying Daleks, praying for a scrap of decency but mocking their unflinching prejudice even in death.
The TARDIS is not even scratched when a speeding car smashes into it. The people of Red Rocket Rising are like animals, using the exodus to surrender to their baser instincts. The fallout of the asteroid strike is literal acid rain, earthquakes, tidal waves and most of the population died within minutes. Martez needed human tissue so he violated barely dug graves and took living specimens. I love the Daleks offering the hand of friendship – they caused the disaster in the first place! ‘We wish to help you’ indeed! Painting the Daleks as patient, compassionate saviours is fantastic and it shocks me that writers can still find new facets to these creatures. A much-maligned species to be pities who have offered their help to prevent the people of Red Rocket Rising from becoming like them? The Doctor suggests that the Daleks are afraid of everything, which is a really good point. Martez found a crashed Dalek spaceship and began to turn his own people into Dalek mutants based on the creatures he found in the wreckage. He sent out an invitation to the Daleks to help him with a birthing of a new strand of Daleks but instead they deflected the asteroid in an attempt to destroy the abominations. When they realise they have not succeeded they land under the cover of helping them to find the mutants and murder them. The Daleks shot down the exodus ships and the ionic dust in the atmosphere is from the engines of the evacuating ships. The waited, watching this world die. Martez realises what she has done when his Daleks call their own brothers reinforcements. Their creed is that everyone is an enemy of the Daleks, everyone must die and all this death and destruction doesn’t make them rethink that one bit. The blood of the Daleks must remain pure.
The music, from Dennis McCarthy, is superb with some really dramatic beats and bursting with tension and excitement. It makes the story feel really urgent and important. There’s unforgettable choral music as the Daleks arrive. Listen to the music as the Daleks ask for the Doctor, its crashing drumbeats and really aggressive.
Blood of the Daleks is a juicy dramatic story to see Paul McGann’s Ninth Doctor battle against the Daleks. It starts rather weakly (the first 15 minutes are a little awkward) but as soon as the Daleks arrive it just gets better and better, adding layers to the apocalypse storyline and truly driving home their dislike for the unlike. In fact it is a fabulous story for the Daleks because they are absolutely evil; indiscriminate murderers, perverse plotters and genocidally evil. Paul McGann and Daphne Ashbrook get to bounce off each other wonderfully. A good solid story from Steve Lyons and I can’t wait until he delivers his next one.
Next Week, however, we revisit the world of two of the worst Doctor Who writers, Pip & Jane Baker, as they bring back the Autons.
