Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Colin and Jon, a great pair of Doctors, 26 May 2004
Colin Baker's era was one of black comedy, satire, and horror, an arty blend which would no doubt have gotten better over time, had the BEEB not interfered and replaced him. Revelation of the Daleks is the pinnacle of his first season, a masterful screenplay by Eric Saward is beautifully crafted by Graeme Harper into a unique story. Not as entertaining as Twin Dilemma or Time Lash, this story is notable for the sheer quality of its acting, production values and direction and for doing new and interesting things with the Daleks and Davros. Not as exciting as Resurrection of the Daleks, this is an impressive story in its own right.
Planet of the Daleks, on the other hand, is more pantomimish than Colin's least impressive productions, with a recycled plot and one dimensional characters thrown in by Terry Nation and directed like its a bad game show. But Katy Manning holds the fort in a great first part where she is alone on screen much of the time and Jon Pertwee awakens from an icy coma to command the screen with his usual style and presence. They are definitely a miss matched pair to be released together, but viewed in thier own contexts, these are a pair of enjoyable Dalek stories which clearly demonstrate the wide range of styles and different leading men in the history of Dr.Who. Overall: great!
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Chalk and Cheese, 3 April 2000
The problem with the Daleks is that in the hands of a sloppy writer they can prove to be disappointing villains. Alas, this is all too true of the first tape - "Planet of the Daleks", written by their creator, Terry Nation, who obviously had other projects on his mind at the time. This story is pretty much an amalgam of 'The Daleks" and "The Daleks' Masterplan", and the Daleks are here portrayed as being awkward, cranky and rather dim adversaries. Jon Pertwee (as the Doctor) obviously wasn't all that impressed either, judging by his bored performance throughout, and who can blame him with some of the hokey dialogue he's given in this adventure. Yes, there are some memorable set peices in this yarn (The Thals pushing the Daleks into the ice pools, the cold storage room holding the Dalek army), but the whole is never as good as the sum of its parts. John Nathan-Turner was fond of reminding fans that "the memory cheats" and here he was right. The same cannot be said for "Revelation of the Daleks", surely one of the best "Doctor Who" tales ever made. Writer Eric Saward keeps the Daleks pretty much in the background, choosing instead to focus his attention on Davros (Terry Molloy) and a plethora of fascinating minor characters played by well-known British television stars. Standouts here are Eleanor Bron, deliciously underplaying the character of Madame Kara, and Alexei Sayle as the manic DJ. Colin Baker's Doctor is a little abrasive, but still finely drawn, and Nicola Bryant gets her teeth into some great lines as Peri. The various subplots and characters make this a difficult story to catch hold of on the first viewing, but a second and third look will reveal all, and well worth the return visits it is too! I don't think that black humour has ever been used so effectively in a "Doctor Who" story. If the latter video had been released on its own, it would have scored five stars, and the former no more than two, so it's only fair to give the boxed set an average of three stars. However, the set is still certainly well worth buying, because "Revelation of the Daleks" is one of the all-time classics of the series.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Review for Planet of The Daleks - not Revelation, 22 May 2008
Having enjoyed all of The Third Doctor's stories so far I found myself underwhelmed and disappointed by this one. The return of the show's iconic alien nasties should be a cause for celebration, but like the story as a whole it just feels a bit flat and lifeless. The first episode is unusual in that it follows on directly from the previous story - Frontier in Space. The Doctor and Joe flee The Ogrons' home world after The Master brings them there whilst attempting to manufacture a space war between Earth and Draconia. The Doctor is shot by an Ogron, and falls into a deep coma, after staggering into the TARDIS and taking off. The time machine arrives on the planet Spiridon and Jo sets out to explore, recording everything she sees on a cassette recorder and leaving The Doctor comatose in the vessel. She soon encounters venomous plants, invisible natives and a group of stranded humanoids who turn out to be a Thal scouting party investigating the presence of their mortal enemies The Daleks on the planet.
The story has all the makings of a classic but to be honest I just found it dull. The Thals are drab and uninteresting, The Daleks seem to be there for the sake of it and even the planet itself lacks imagination. It also suffers from a case of padding - there is not nearly enough material for six episodes - surely it could have been edited more thoroughly. There are still some great moments, notably The Doctor's discovery of the invisible Dalek, as he and The Thals spray paint the air and the instantly recognizable pepperpot shimmers into existence. There is a pleasing sense of nostalgia too; especially when The Doctor recalls his first encounter with The Daleks, but overall it is a fairly lazy effort - The abysmal Dalek flying saucer epitomising this exactly.
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