Serial V, in 12 parts
Written by: Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner
Produced by: John Wiles
Directed by: Douglas Camfield
"Douglas Camfield approached the production like a military exercise. He had his schedule worked out like a battle plan, and he actually gave everyone a rank. 'That's what your rank would be if you were doing this in the army,' he would say. That's how precise his planning was." - Raymond Cusick, designer, quoted in The Handbook: The First Doctor by Howe, Stammers, and Walker (Virgin: 1994).
"We realised that we were going to go out on Christmas Day at a time when everyone would be full of food and drink and not interested in picking up the threads of a long-running story, so we had to make a sort of one-off episode which let the story mark time..." - Donald Tosh, story editor, quoted in The Handbook: The First Doctor.
"'Incidentally, a Happy Christmas to all of you at home': The last line of The Feast of Steven and the single sentence that brought Doctor Who's credibility crashing down around William Hartnell's ears. How can we trust the character again, if even he knows he's an actor in a TV program?" - Chris Howarth and Steve Lyons take a potshot at the infamous "Christmas Day" episode in Doctor Who: The Completely Useless Encyclopedia (Virgin: 1996).
How does one go about reviewing a creaking, groaning, mostly-lost mammoth like The Daleks' Masterplan? I've read John Peel's book adaptations of the story, and I've watched the existing parts 5 and 10. I can say, with some measure of authority, that I don't like the story. Maybe if I could see the entire, intact epic, I would change my mind, but somehow I don't think so...
The trouble with epic stories that jump from place to place is that the conventions of good drama, such as character development and precise plotting, tend to go out the window in favor of fast action and novelty. The Daleks' Masterplan is no exception to this rule. The episode rushes from one exotic location to another without pausing for breath, and so many interesting science fiction concepts are introduced and promptly dumped before they can be fully developed.
So much of the plot is muddled and disappointing. I've never understood why Sara Kingdom feels moved to shoot her own brother on Mavic Chen's command, and it frustrates me that the Meddling Monk - a great villain in his own right - is merely a toady to the Daleks in his only return appearance.
In fairness, the existing parts may be among the weakest in the story. Part 10 was plagued with production problems, which might explain why it features the most unconvincing recreation of ancient Egypt in the history of film. And William Hartnell's bright, white hat has just got to go.
Since Douglas Camfield was one of the show's best directors, I imagine he did a pretty solid job on this story. The existing clips of the planet Kembel segments are very atmospheric, as the Daleks are shown ruthlessly hunting people down and later torching the jungle with some nifty flame-thrower attachments. The clips of Katarina's death scene are suitably horrifying and memorable, though her entire character seems bizarre, under-used, and ill-conceived (enough adjectives for you there?).
Perhaps the most unusual aspect of The Daleks' Masterplan is the controversial Christmas Day episode, which featured the Doctor engaging in slapstick tomfoolery and wishing the audience a Merry Christmas in one of his rare direct-to-camera addresses. The Australian networks apparently found the episode so absurd that they refused to broadcast it. Shame it's lost, it actually sounds rather cute to me.
The Dalek stories, by this point, were drifting away from their roots in good drama and becoming more fantastic and bizarre. I've never been a big fan of "pure" science fiction that revolves around gadgets and wild concepts, preferring instead to watch human relationships. The Daleks' Masterplan is, sadly, what I would call "pure" sci-fi, a synonym for absolute nonsense. Not a favorite.
OVERALL RATING: C
Mini-Reviews and Quotes:
The Brian Review:
THE MASSACRE
BACK TO EPISODES
HOME