THE VICTORY OF THE DALEKS

Shades of Bladerunner and Moonraker


Many thanks Mark Gatiss a wonderful journey of reminiscence.
Gatiss’s story is unique in many ways and is set during World War two and features Winston Churchill as an old mate of the Doctor’s calling for his help. Gatiss’s penmanship sees the Daleks are installed as the answer to the Nazi threat. Two kaki British flag waving Daleks reside with Churchill in a secret command centre below Whitehall along with a nutty inventor who happens to think he invented them.

I so enjoyed the ‘tally ho’ British spirit; the strength of this episode was its marvellous ease of scripted dialogue and the wonderful sets. Not to mention the superb special effects. The Spitfires and Dalek Saucer were great pitched in battle in space, providing such a stunning contrast with the old verses the new.

The DoctorThe Doctor here seems to be happily morphing between Tennant’s bravado style and the battiness of Troughton, quite inspired acting from Mr Smith, moulding the two characters seamlessly into a new bumbling personality. Great stuff Matt! There are just certain shots when he reminds me of Tommy Cooper; I am not complaining I like it!

New Daleks
Hey these are amazing. The design is awesome. Making them so big proves very impressive on screen and in HD they are truly commanding. Love all the colours. Where can I buy my own one?


Film InfluencesThe influences seem to centre mainly on the acclaimed film Bladerunner 1981. The humanoid replicant idea blossoming in the character of the inventor working for Churchill’s victory. The human android emotional side is likewise explored.
The other film that resonated with me throughout was Moonraker 1979, mainly because of the battle in space the Spitfires reminded me of the Shuttlecrafts and the Dalek antennae reminded me of the one that was put out of action on Drax’s space station.
There must be other influences so let me know.
I felt lots of nostalgia with this story a connection to Pertwee’s Day of the Daleks and even Baker’s Destiny of the Daleks. I really liked many of the camera angles, seeing through the Dalek eyestalk and scenes that showed something more going on like the ones with the Dalek shiftily keeping an eye on the Doctor through doorways over his shoulder showed superb direction in this story. I think I just needed more wasn’t this story a little short?

With so many Science Fiction Dramas on our screens at present the historical Doctor Who story held its own and showed a special uniqueness that the glitzy V 2010, Heroes and Stargate franchises are surely lacking. Doctor Who has its own identity and mythology that other shows find it difficult to connect to.
One from the heart – Well done Team Dr Who!