Doctor Who’s 60th Anniversary has now passed but the original story, An Unearthly Child is not especially reflective of the show's success. Considering the Dalekmania of the 1960s and the acclaim and place of the Daleks within popular culture and Doctor Who, it’s clear that their original story catapulted the series to success. The Daleks themselves are worth highlighting for what they did for Doctor Who and the fact that the show might not have survived without them. The Daleks truly did save Doctor Who and the efforts of Terry Nation and the original story is worth discussing. Let’s take a look.
The plot of the Daleks involves the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara landing on the planet Skaro, which is suffering from the aftermath of a nuclear war. The Doctor, through his own manipulation, engineers a way to explore the city below despite the dangers he knows it offers. They discover an oppressive force known as the Daleks. They are survivors from a nuclear war retreated into shells and have become beings of hatred as the Doctor and his companions suffer from the consequences of radiation sickness. Together they all ally with the Thals, who are facing the dangers of failing crops and possible starvation, and convince them to put aside their pacifist ideals and put a stop to the Daleks.
One of the joys of Doctor Who is being able to explore entirely new planets, worlds and civilisations and Terry Nation is very gifted at creating worlds to explore. He has an entire planet at his disposal where he gets to decide the history, and beliefs of the planet, how the planet and the people have evolved, what their resources are, what their political system is like, what the tensions are, how the events of the past have shaped the present and everything which has made that planet and society what it is. Terry Nation has the creative ability to fill Skaro with a flavoured texture and create a vivid and believable fleshed-out reality in which both the Thals and the Daleks live in. He creates a history and backstory that is deeply baked into the narrative and influences the course of events in a rewarding way. Everything is under the vision and influence of Terry Nation, and you get so much development and nuanced details about the world that helps it feel real and authentic in a way I really like. You can tell that Terry Nation really enjoys and revels in developing a world of his own making, giving it its own identity and feel and making it his own. The decisions of the way the world and the way Skaro works is entirely up to the writer and in this case, it’s a joy to see that.
I think the opening episode of the Daleks is one of the best openings to a serial of Doctor Who that has ever been made. One of the benefits of the Classic Who formula is the time and the breadth to expand and develop the characters, the threats, the world, to allow things to breathe. I think one of the key positives though, is the scare factor. There is a sense of the unknown in that first episode that I really love. The sheer suspense and sinister tension of the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara in the Petrified Jungle or exploring the Dalek City has an unnerving and wonderful drama to it. It gives time for character growth and interactions between the Doctor and Ian particularly. It’s well crafted by Terry Nation in having a degree of uncertainty and fear and allowing the mysteries, clues and sense of fear to take hold over the viewer and have an impact.
Terry Nation is able to create fun adventure stories as he does with the Daleks and merge them with dark and deeply upsetting themes which is well balanced. I think the war time experience and the relevant nature of the Cold War and the threat that had in the 1960s feels very key to making the dark aspects mesh and resonate in the intended manner. The Daleks often gets criticised for its seven-part structure, for feeling overlong. The critiques aren’t unfounded; the story is too long but I feel they are exaggerated.
One of the strengths Terry Nation has is variety in his storytelling. He is able to keep a story moving and keep the wheels in motion, which makes a story feel always relevant and important in a positive way. With Terry Nation scripts, each individual episode of a story has a mission and purpose within it which defines it. This stops the whole thing from stagnating and meandering. For example, Episode 4 is focused upon Ian disguising himself as a Dalek and the Doctor and his companions escaping the Dalek City. Episode 5 is about convincing the Thals to attack the Daleks and Episode 6 is about the journey to attack the Dalek City. Every episode has a purpose which makes it feel strongly defined. It’s partly what has created such an iconic and familiar kind of structure with the Daleks.
That being said, Episode 6, titled the Ordeal, is exactly what it says on the tin and is tiring to sit through. The Ordeal brings the pacing to a halt immediately and could have been trimmed down significantly. It’s a real shame that you have something so weak when the early episodes were so strong. It’s an uninteresting and meandering slog to sit through and the conflicts and situations have no real threat or tension. The journey to the Dalek City feels like it could have been covered in a matter of minutes and like the whole thing exists just to fill time.
Let’s delve into the threat of the Daleks themselves in their original story and the crucial idea of what they represent. Raymond Cusick deserves a lot of credit for his design of the Daleks, which powerfully defines their image and scare factor. The idea behind the Daleks is very interesting. They have been forced to retreat inside these metallic shells due to the nature of radiation. It greatly demonstrates the evils and the consequences of nuclear war and the destructive powers of mankind. This would have been on people’s minds and a key fear and real possibility in the 1960s given the tensions between America and Russia and the fact that the Cuban Missile Crisis standoff had only happened just over a year before this story aired. The idea of being forced to be confined to metal shells, being paralysed, vulnerable and reliant upon technology and radiation to survive is a very scary idea and possibility as a consequence. There is a compelling mystery to the disturbing mutation which exists inside the shell, which I like is only hinted at, and simply becomes an unknown fear in the heads of viewers which is very clever.
In the Daleks the creatures have an anger but also an envy and jealousy which is compelling. They have become warped over generations, which makes them fascinating. You can see a resentment that has developed of the Thals and all other lifeforms due to their human existence. They have something the Daleks can’t have, as the Daleks have become vulnerable and restricted to a life in the shell, which has twisted their minds in a captivating way. I think that’s what makes the Dalek's voices themselves so well judged. The voices by Peter Hawkins and David Graham wouldn’t fully find their feet until the Chase but they find the right pitch and tone, and the right blend between robotic and emotion, to make them into worthy villains and characters. Their sense of pain and anger in their voices fits the mentality of the Daleks, inflicting their rage upon all other lifeforms. The Nazi-like nature of the Daleks has what has also gone on to define them and it’s part of what has made them endure. You can see the way they have devolved into becoming reliant upon machinery has caused them to lose any empathy or humanity, which is a fearful idea. The design is very reflective of the design of Nazi tanks during WW2 which makes sense. The Dalek's immoral sense of carelessness towards others also shows a brilliant Nazi mentality. Their sense of bigoted prejudice and dislike for all other lifeforms, and want to destroy all life on the planet, evokes feelings of the wartime Nazi threat from the 1940s in a powerful way. It makes them a threat everyone can root against and understand. You can feel the wartime experience of Terry Nation as a writer, and the scars and lessons from the war, influencing and coming off of the script and the Daleks as a creation in a way that makes the Daleks feel fitting for the time it was made, but also timeless and relevant at the same time.
Now it’s time to look at William Hartnell and his performance as the First Doctor. At this point, we are at an early stage in the Doctor as a character and Hartnell is clearly still developing into who the character would be which is fascinating to see. I actually really enjoy the unknown and mysterious nature of the character William Hartnell plays. He makes him morally dubious and unlikeable in some aspects, which makes him more captivating. This is shown through the way the Doctor manipulates and lies to his companions to get his own way, so he can explore the Dalek City and puts everyone in danger. It’s a repulsive side to the Doctor as you question the morality and trustworthiness of the character given the lack of responsibility, he has towards his companions which makes him dangerous and mysterious. Yet you can understand what motivates his decisions. The First Doctor is compelled by making discoveries, gathering evidence and is interested in scientific pursuit, expanding his knowledge on different civilisations and planets which you can root for.
As the story goes on, the Doctor becomes more of a complex character as he is forced to work together with the other characters. His sense of childish delight and giddy excitement when expanding his knowledge of the history of Skaro, when talking to Dyoni, is a delight to watch. His sense of pride when showing off to Susan makes him a fun character, and the recklessness of him as an anti-authority figure means he is someone children can identify with. Yet the morals of the character lie fittingly under the surface and the layers makes him more interesting. The condemnation of the Daleks and the repulsive hatred he feels for their senseless murder and horrific lack of morality shows a sense of care and right and wrong in the Doctor, which works well for the development of the character. You get the sense by the end of the Daleks that the Doctor’s eyes have been opened to the evils of the universe and it sets the Doctor on the track to where they are today and I enjoy that progression. This moment of wisdom from William Hartnell at the end is especially poignant: “Always search for truth, my truth is in the stars and yours is here.”
You have Ian Chesterton played by William Russell and I enjoy the heroic nature of his character in this story, as he is someone you look to for answers. The conflict between him and the Doctor is rather engaging as Ian starts to come to terms with the idea of being lost in space and unable to get home. Over time, they learn to understand one another which is good. I enjoy the harrowing cruelty the characters are put through, but with Ian both suffering from radiation sickness and having lost the ability to use his legs in Episode 2, he is really put through the wringer. You get a terrific sense of struggle in William Russell’s performance which is really great. I also like how Ian is the one to ascertain the Daleks' motivations as “a dislike for the unlike” and he understands their sense of prejudice. The way he convinces the Thals of the value of fighting for their lives proves him as a reasonable but brave character.
Barbara Wright is played by Jacqueline Hill, and I like her dynamic with Ian a lot as they both find comfort in each other through struggling situations. The uncertainty and fear her character finds in space, and wanting the comfort of her own home and time period again, is incredibly relatable. You feel for Barbara’s struggle and strain; being put through the difficulty of radiation sickness and facing near death. Her perspective on the Thal’s pacifism and the conflict she has with Ian on their own survival is insightful in learning about Barbara as a character and fascinating to watch.
Susan Foreman, played by Carole Ann Ford, is by far the weakest out of this Tardis Team and is designed as the damsel in distress. There are moments where Susan’s whining, wailing, and screaming becomes very annoying. The way she screams and loses her cool over someone touching her shoulder and the mere prospect of leaving Ian behind gives her a weak role and function and makes her difficult to watch. She seems capable of coping with very little and you have little confidence in her ability to handle herself consistently throughout adventures. That being said I do like her dynamic as the child of the group and I do think you feel for her when venturing through the Petrified Jungle to get the anti-radiation drugs.
The Thals are a key aspect of the story for the nuanced way in which pacifism is handled. The character of Alydon played by John Lee is the most important Thal in the story. He is a very brave character but also someone of admirable warmth, empathy and understanding which is good to see. You feel for his struggles on the nature of pacifism and the difficulty of deciding whether they should face the Daleks. Pacifism is handled in a very understanding way. Through the Thals, there is an important message on the importance of fighting for your life and survival and the worthlessness and waste of letting a whole way of life go down and the naivety of idealism in the face of danger. It tackles the interesting reality that there are some circumstances where violence is the only option, and it is immoral not to take that option and let evil oppressors win. With the Nazi threat of the Daleks, it very much mirrors the policies of appeasement with Chamberlain and the Munich Agreement and the pointlessness of appeasing someone you can’t trust. Terry Nation reflects on the lessons learnt from that incredibly well. There are some weak and very pointless Thal characters like Gantus and Antodus. Dyoni is also an unfortunate product of the sexism of the 1960s as she is only valued based on her romantic relationship, duty and importance to Alydon and it’s a very outdated view of a woman’s role.
Episodes 1,2,4 and 5 of this story were directed by Christopher Barry whilst Episodes 3,6 and 7 were directed by Richard Martin. The episodes directed by Christopher Barry are far superior, giving the environment a real sense of horror. The way Christopher Barry frames the characters makes the scenes strongly conversational and natural and the movement of the scenes follows the characters to make the story feel like it is led by them in a personal way. The way the Daleks are given a visual dominance over the Doctor in their first confrontation makes them a force to be reckoned with. Richard Martin’s direction is in contrast to this. The combination of longshots and closeups makes the flow of a scene very predictable to watch. No suspense or any kind of emotion is evoked, and the sheer number of longshots makes the audience feel far less involved and emotionally connected to what is going on.
So overall, how do I feel about the Daleks? It’s a great story that manages to reflect the period in which it was made, but at the same time, it is still very relevant today. Terry Nation creates a fleshed-out, developed and believable world with Skaro and you have a threat with the Daleks that makes a magnificent impact. The Daleks are a terrifying menace that strongly reflect the fears of the Cold War and the fear of Nazism from WW2, and I enjoy the nuanced way in which the pacifism of the Thals is handled. The story is badly let down by being overlong with a filler episode which is utterly pointless. That being said, it is still in my mind one of the very best Dalek stories and it feels like every story going forward from this is inspired by it. The simple plot of the Doctor helping in a fight against oppression and assisting those in need is set in stone in this story and that would define what Doctor Who would be.
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