This story is interesting because it delves into the history of the Daleks, and how they came to be. I think it is supposed to take place before the very first episode in the William Hartnell era. Of course, they didn't all start as Daleks, and they weren't all so blasted angsty in the beginning. Well, most of them weren't.
The Doctor and his companions are sent to Skaro by the Time Lords, to defeat the Daleks once and for all. This seems like a good idea, but really it brings forward a moral dilemma. Like who wants to go through The Daleks' Master Plan all over again? Killing off an entire species, so that the universe will be spared of the terror/return/revenge of the Daleks doesn't seem completely right.
The Kaleds and the Thals are at war on the planet. This makes sense in light of The Daleks episode. Oh, I see, if you rearrange the letters in Kaled, you get the word Dalek. I wouldn't say that is terribly clever, but that's all we get. Maybe it would have been cooler if they had been named after their creator, but then The Return of the Davroses just doesn't sound quite right. The Kaleds still seem like a blood thirsty lot. Quite a few of them act a bit like the Nazis. They seem very intent on wiping out the Thals once and for all, and the Thals kind of come out as victims in the whole scheme of things. They're the ones all deformed, limping and wearing rags.
Actually this story was supposed to have a lot of Nazis undertones, according to Terry Nation. The Mutos, mutated creatures of both the Thals and the Kaleds, were eliminated because they were not pure. It was a bit obvious to us that it mirrored Hitler and the Nazi regime. I kind of like the Daleks, but I can't now because it would be liking Hitler. Or, something like that.
I did have some trouble getting past the fact that this all took place before William Hartnell's first episode. I mean, Hartnell's was black and white, and looked kind of cheap.
The creator of the Daleks was Davros, who is just a little bit on the crazy side. Plus, he looks like the kind of guy that you wouldn't want to introduce to anyone. I wonder if it had crossed his mind to make a really kind Dalek, just for kicks, but maybe he just didn't get around to it.
Death by monster conch shell.
I still need someone to explain to me why creating something without a conscious, kindness or any sense of morality is an upgrade. Davros was such an insane dude, it's a pity that his creations were so bad. Maybe they could have created a good race of Daleks.
You can't have an evil character, without his evil sidekick.
Of course the Daleks turn on their creator. That's what happens when you make them killing machines.
I thought it strange that the Doctor, after struggling with this conscious the first time, returned to blow up the Dalek babies. Unfortunately, this action was needless as the Dalek prototypes survive, saying that they're going to continue their mission. Who was in need of a good Dalek bomb now? Killing all the Dalek babies set them off by 1,000 years, according to the Doctor. I was imagining that it wouldn't take 1,000 years to make more Dalek babies, but I'm not knowledgeable about this kind of stuff.
That gosh darn Time Ring! It was almost like the Mercury issue that Hartnell had in his episode.
Next Up: Revenge of the Cybermen
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