 This story is considered to be one of the finest stories of its era and introduces Deborah Watling as new companion Victoria Waterfield (though Deborah Watling was not the first choice to play the character; actress Denise Buckley was originally cast, but then dropped). The 20th May 1967 marked Deborah Watling's debut in the show.
Polly Wright and Ben Jackson (who had left the show at the end of the previous story "The Faceless Ones") were in the original drafts of episodes one and two. The scripts had to be rewritten to accommodate their departure.
Both Patrick Troughton and Deborah Watling were on holiday during the recording of episode four and so appear only in pre-filmed inserts.
The actor who would give Alpha, Beta and Omega their voices, Roy Skelton, would later go on to be the voice of Zippy and George on the 1970s ITV children's show Rainbow.
John Bailey, who played Edward Waterfield, had previously appeared in the 1964 First Doctor story "The Sensorites", and would later appear in the 1979/80 Fourth Doctor story "The Horns of Nimon". This story also features the guest appearance by Windsor Davies (playing the part of Toby) who is more famous for his role as Battery Sergeant-Major Williams in the comedy show It Ain't Half Hot Mum.
This story was initially intended to be the last Dalek story on Doctor Who. Writer Terry Nation, the creator of the Daleks, was busily trying to sell the Daleks to the United States at the time and it was intended to give them a big send-off from the show. However, this was not to be The Doctor’s last encounter with them in the show as they would later return in the 1972 Third Doctor story "Day of the Daleks" during Season Nine and then subsequent seasons. As with the earlier "The Power of the Daleks", Terry Nation receives a screen credit for his creations.
Even though episodes stopped having individual titles as of the 1966 First Doctor story "The Savages" all episodes except part 6 had individual episode titles on the scripts: "To Set a Trap" (1), "The Net Tightens" (2), "A Trial of Strength" (3), "A Test of Skill" (4), "The Human Factor" (5) and "The End of the Daleks" (7).
For the dating of this story the first two episodes take place immediately after the final episode of the First Doctor story "The War Machines"; coincidentally, the First Doctor said that he had the same feeling he had when Daleks were around at the start of that story.
Fans have suggested that this story is the final Dalek story in the context of the Dalek’s history, though as with much in Doctor Who fandom, this is debatable. The FASA Doctor Who Role Playing Game supported this view, placing the story's date 143,350 years in the future of Gallifrey's present. A scene cut from the script of the 1972 Third Doctor story "Day of the Daleks" would have stated that the rebellious Daleks of this story were destroyed, however, establishing that "Evil of the Daleks" is not the very last Dalek story.
The story of the humanised Daleks was followed up in issues 312 - 317 of the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip story "Children of the Revolution", featuring the Eighth Doctor and his companion Izzy. This contradicted an earlier comic strip ("Bringer of Darkness" in the Doctor Who Magazine Dalek Special), that took place after the events of "Evil of the Daleks". In this story, a group of marooned Daleks inform The Doctor that the rebel factions were destroyed and the Emperor again reigned supreme.
This is not the only story where Daleks are ‘humanised’. In the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "Dalek" a lone Dalek assimilates Rose Tyler's DNA. Like the Daleks in this story, this Dalek begins experiencing emotions like fear and empathy, and subsequently questions the instinctive Dalek xenophobia. Human Daleks are also seen in the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks".
The Daleks in this story are controlled by an Emperor. Other versions of a Dalek Emperor would appear in the 1988 Seventh Doctor story "Remembrance of the Daleks" and the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways".
The Doctor's journey to Skaro (via the time cabinet) is the first time The Doctor returns to an alien planet visited in a previous story (although scenes on Skaro were featured in "The Space Museum" and "The Chase"). It was not until "The Monster of Peladon" that the TARDIS itself would revisit a world it had previously landed on.
Episode seven of this story is the first time that The Doctor admits to being other than human.
Despite HADS (used by the TARDIS in the Season Six story "The Krotons") The Doctor seems to believe that the Daleks could destroy the TARDIS.
The Beatles' "Paperback Writer" and the Seekers' "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" are used as background music on the juke box in the coffee bar scenes in the first episode.
The theme given to the Daleks by Dudley Simpson in his incidental music was based on the show's own signature tune. Also sound effects from the First Doctor stories "The Daleks" and "The Daleks' Master Plan" are reused for the Dalek city.
Some Louis Marx 'tricky action' toy Daleks were used for the scenes of the massed Dalek battle and the subsequent destruction of the Dalek’ city at the end of episode seven. Unfortunately the use of these toys could not be disguised.
The venue for most of the location filming was Grim's Dyke Mansion House at Harrow Weald, Middlesex. At the time a rehabilitation centre, Grim's Dyke had once been the home of Sir William Gilbert, one half of the famous playwright team of Gilbert and Sullivan. Director Derek Martinus used the building itself to stand in for Maxtible's mansion, and also set some of the 1966 scenes on its grounds. Unusually, recording at Grim's Dyke on the 24th April 1967 involved night filming for the fight scene between Jamie McCrimmon and Kemel.
The first individual visual effects designer credits ever given on Doctor Who appears, for Michealjohn Harris and Peter Day. Previously, visual effects had been handled by the show's scenic designers rather than by the BBC's Visual Effects Department, although the department as a whole did receive a credit on the first story, "An Unearthly Child"). Interestingly Michealjohn Harris is the person whose name is most often misspelt on Doctor Who's closing credits.
"The Evil of the Daleks" was the final Doctor Who story on which Gerry Davis was credited as Story Editor (he departed after episode three). With Producer Innes Lloyd also preparing to move on, Gerry Davis had been offered the post of producer but declined, and so his assistant, Peter Bryant, was being groomed for the top job. It was originally planned that Peter Bryant would serve as an Associate Producer on "The Evil of the Daleks", as he had on "The Faceless Ones", but it was later agreed that he would officially succeed Gerry Davis as of episode four. Victor Pemberton, who had appeared on screen in "The Moonbase", was brought in to assist Peter Bryant.
Gerry Davis would continue to work as a scriptwriter and story editor, creating the cautionary series Doomwatch with Kit Pedler. He also contributed two further Doctor Who stories: "The Tomb of the Cybermen" (co-written with Kit Pedler), which immediately followed "The Evil of the Daleks" into production, and the 1975 Fourth Doctor story "Revenge of the Cybermen". Beginning in the seventies, Gerry Davis started working in the United States, writing for programmes such as The Bionic Woman and Captain Power and The Soldiers of the Future, as well as the feature film The Final Countdown.
With the completion of this story the Doctor Who team had finally escaped the spectre of making each episode just a week ahead of broadcast as had been the case since "The Underwater Menace" in January - a perilous situation which, thanks to the skill of those involved, did not effect the broadcasting of each episode.
This story is the only Doctor Who story to be repeated in the context of the show. The 1968 Season Five story, "The Wheel in Space", ended with The Doctor using a telepathic display machine to show new companion Zoe Heriot the sort of monsters she would face if she joined the TARDIS crew. A clip from the end of episode one of "The Evil of the Daleks" is used. (Ironically, Zoe herself would never encounter the Daleks on television).
Over the following weeks (bridging the gap between Season Five and Season Six) the entire story was then shown, with a narration over the opening scene of episode 1 as a means of reminding viewers of the reason for the repeat. This was the only time any Doctor Who episodes (other than the first episode) were re-shown in the 1960s. The repeat showing of this story garnered the following ratings (in millions): 6.3 (1), 5.0 (2), 6.3 (3), 5.0 (4), 5.1 (5), 4.2 (6) and 5.5 (7).
Unfortunately only the second episode currently exists in the BBC Archives. All seven episodes were lost in the BBC's stock clearance of the 1970s and so all seven episodes were reported missing from the BBC Film and Videotape Library following an audit in 1978. However, the second episode was returned, in May 1987, by a private collector thanks to a telerecording found at a car boot sale.
In 2004, analysis of the repeated clip used in "The Wheel in Space" episode six revealed it to be from episode one rather than episode two, as had been long believed. This, however, only constitutes a few frames of recovered footage.
The discovery of a behind-the-scenes film, The Last Dalek, made by the special effects team as they worked on the story's conclusion, facilitated a recreation of the climactic battle scenes. This recreation, along with the entire film, have been made available in different forms on various Patrick Troughton releases.
In 1993, readers of DreamWatch Bulletin voted this story as the best ever Doctor Who story in a special poll for the show's thirtieth anniversary.
| |
|
The Firsts:
The introduction of new companion Victoria played by Deborah Watling.
The first appearance of the Dalek Emperor.
Peter Bryant's first involvement in the show as Story Editor.
The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Derek Martinus and Timothy Combe.
Peter Day's first involvement in the show as Effects Designer.
|
|
(Position = 9 out of 159)
(Position = 18 out of 200)
