Not being a fan of Doctor Who these days, I don’t really collect what seems like the endless amount of Doctor Who magazines available, but I do like to keep hold of any Dalek related editions of Radio Times, that have cropped up from time to time .( I wish I'd kept a few from the sixties and seventies! )
On the 13th November 1999, the BBC ran a Doctor Who night introduced by Tom Baker. It combined science fiction, comedy and insight into the perennial Time Lord.
Paul Mc Gann was technically the latest incarnation after appearing in the less than successful movie in 1996. But the front cover of the Radio Times didn't take any chances when it came to promoting the show. A Dalek was chosen to represent the series.
When the brand new series started in 2005 and it was decided to feature a story about the Doctor’s arch nemesis it would be important to get it right.
‘Dalek’ premiered at the end of April, 2005 after much hype. The episode, I gather was met with mixed feelings. We were all treated to a rather pitiful and pathetic Dalek exploring it’s inner feelings and questioning it’s own motives after being contaminated by Rose Tyler’s DNA and ultimately committing Dalekcide. While most Doctor Who fans, quite naturally raved about the story, the general public, more used to seeing these single minded unreasonable cyborgs exterminating everything in sight, were all left confused. What had happened to the Doctor’s arch enemy? Would the next episode see another poor Dalek, bent on world domination attending anger management classes!
I might have miss understood, but surly the appeal and strength of a Dalek is it’s total inhumanity and unerring determination. It shows no mercy and is only answerable to other Daleks . And one more thing I've heard - if you get in it’s way, you’re dead!
That’s why I hid behind the sofa in 1963!
I know! I know! I’m being a little unfair. The story. written by Robert Shearman had a heck of a lot more to it, having a lot of depth, drama, characterisation, and not to mention a liberal amount of extermination. He wanted to show that there was something living inside the Dalek, and based the episode on the film, Silence of the Lambs.
A Dalek crossing Westminster Bridge, a nod to the sixties serial perhaps, graced the cover of that weeks Radio Times which also carried a four page feature.
Fans could also send away for a double sided Dalek poster.
Later Radio Times had Daleks taking centre stage This one from July 2006 promoting the final episode from that season,' Doomsday'. An alternative cover was available featuring the Cybermen.
Even Davros got a chance to shine as he featured in the season finale,' Journey’s End' and on the front cover in July 2008.
In April 2010, another ‘Vote Dalek’ cover, to coincide with the general election and yet another redesigned Dalek. Three different covers ensuring no political bias were produced with either red, blue or yellow.
Personally I thought it looked quite plasticity - like some electric buggy that someone from the council would scoot around in collecting litter! Still I suppose it suited some of the iPhone generation who no doubt watched the show.
Finally at the beginning of September 2012, Matt Smith’s Doctor would face his deadliest enemy and to celebrate the Radio Times gave away a free mini wall chart as part of a fold out cover.
Join me next time for the final part of my journey through Dalek land were we get to see more toys!
The Cybermen scared the pants off me as a kid. The Sea Devils too. Dr. Who must be one of the longest running sci-fi TV series in the world Scoop, if not the longest? I suppose my favourite Dr. Who stuff as a kid where Annuals. They had really brilliant covers in the Sixties. Fab set of posts Mike. Excellent! More toys, yes!
ReplyDeleteYou got it, Woodsy.
ReplyDeleteI liked the Cybermen too, second favourite villans! The ones during the William Hartnell era were probably the most scariest to me, although I did like some of the Cybermen stories during Patrick Troughton's stint.
The annuals were good too. I believe the cover artwork was done by an artist called Walt Howarth who's sadly no longer with us.
Walt Howarth! What a small world. I did a piece on Walt Howarth and James Bond art on the blog in 2009!
ReplyDeletehttp://projectswordtoys.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/walt-howarth-and-thunderball-box-art.html
I've seen some of his art at Memorabilia in Brum. Lovely.
The only Who annual I have anymore is a TV Comic one with Dr. Who sat in a rollercoaster on the cover!
I don't think 'Dalek' was received with much mixed feelings at the time, to be honest - the general public I was targeting when I wrote the episode (especially the children) may not have had much exposure to Daleks in the 16 years the series had been off the air, excepting maybe the cute way they were used to sell KitKat chocolate biscuits.
ReplyDeleteMy main concern was to address all the little annoying things the general public famously mocked about Daleks, and had done all those years it was on air too - the sink plunger, the ranting lack of conversation, the fact it couldn't turn about in a corridor, even the not-going-up-stairs thing that the classic series itself had put right! I think, in all honesty, we succeeded with that. If people mock Daleks now, it's by and large within the context of the whole series itself, rather than because of design limitations from blueprints drawn up brilliantly but cheaply fifty years ago!
I'm sorry 'Dalek' didn't float your boat, but I'll stubbornly suggest it was the fanbase who had mixed feelings about my wanting to explore the emotional consequence of what a Dalek was, rather than the audience as a whole. :)
Rob Shearman
You do realize that your episode is considered by much of the fan base as one of the best dalek episodes in new who? Also, I don't think that killing 200 people is considered kiddy and the Dalek wasn't emotional as much as people say.
DeleteMany thanks for your reply, Rob, I really am knocked out.
ReplyDeleteI stand corrected on the mixed feelings issue, you would no doubt have much more incite to it than I would.
As I've admitted in the previous posts on Daleks I've done this past week I wouldn't call myself a fan of the current Doctor Who, although I did enjoy it during the Pertwee and Baker years.
One of the main reasons I don't follow the new series is that I do understand it is aimed at a new younger audience and although there's the occasional nod to the past (which I do like)there's no regular (and effective) older characters which people like me who enjoyed the show in the sixties and seventies could identify with.
I genuinely felt your story, and please forgive my flippant synopsis, was something that was, more relevant to a younger modern audience more amenable to exagerrated emotional aspects. I felt that that it distilled the mystery and power the character of the Dalek had previously possessed.
In saying that, I do acknowledge that writing scripts for TV or radio is not an easy thing, and I believe that this particular screenplay went through several drafts, even at one point replacing the Dalek altogether.
But, while that didn't 'float my boat', I'm really pleased you took the time and trouble to reply, and let's face it just by doing that you've made one crotchety old man in Southport very happy!
And if you're not already a regular reader of the blog please consider yourself welcome anytime.
All the best for the future
Mike Burrows
Rob - I have to agree with mike to a certain degree about the treatment of the daleks in that episode,but I understand also that presenting a mobile dustbin with a squeaky voice, some decades after its last appearance, in the midst of contemporary aliens such as gigers eponymous creation and the insectile creatures in District 9 must have been a challenge. But just as gigers alien is terrifying in its unerring ability to hunt down its prey even without a lack of apparent eyes, the dalek still manages to appear truly alien and implacably malevolent,despite the sink plunger! The new daleks are wonderful, the larger physical size makes them more threatening and the bright colours enhances the mechanical nature of the bodies.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the big let down for me with Who is matt smith. Whereas we have previously seen a more foppish, softer Dr with the likes of pertwee and he is mercifully a step up from the ludicrous McCoy and wet Davidson, smith is still not what we need as a Dr. Tennant was a tough act to follow, but before he left, introduced a darker, edgier side to the Dr, showing the sheer weight of power and responsibility which he carried. Unfortunately, this was distilled a little by the homoerotic fantasies of Torchwood and the insistence of wheeling in love interest and placing celebrity faces in the show, but the Bad Wolf sequence with the master was brilliant, showing a truly dark side to the show. Smith attempts to inject a little gravitas to the series, but even when faced off against his traditional enemy and utterly relentless for, still comes across as ineffective and farcical.