Indeed the Daleks were a great Sci-fi creation, if handled really carefully
and intelligently, which they were not. But for a time,
in the sixties, they were to me
the most thrilling piece of Sci-fi and Cartoon horror ever,
and still are, even in retrospect.
Damn those idiots
who ruined the ride, and still, even now, make juvenile plans to further
destroy the legacy of Terry Nation. Here's my story, here's my memories:
Back to the Sixties
In 1963 the first Doctor Who episode was one of great hype even in those
days, and with the low resolution Black & White TV, the mystery and intensity
was magnified. So when, in later episodes, the magnificent Daleks appeared,
thier horrific stature was guaranteed, just as those early Universal horror
movies gave out that ambience of being from another time or dimension,
something removed from reality, but still quite believable. The Daleks, just
as the Doctor himself, were a fantastic creation, and sold themselves well
in that creepy low-fi format. All through the Sixties, and through Two acting
Doctors, the series never let up in it's brilliant suspense. It was never
'Behind the Sofa', that's just BBC publicity, but it was certainly
captivating. Played with both serious and humourous intent, it was almost
perfect. One could definately forgive the low budget errors. And the Daleks
looked and sounded like the most epic of monsters.
Genius of the BBC
I cant believe how many genuinely great moments that there were in those
early years. Great horror Sci-fi, great stories, all sold well within that
negative gloss of two tone television. Remembering all that evil, with Daleks
and galleries of beasts. Like the Zarbi and Macra, and my prized horror, the
early Cybermen on the Moonbase, with electronic voices and creeping vein
diseases. Best of all were the Daleks though, and my fave episode, the
scariest episode I remember, was one which didnt even have the Doctor in it!
T'was called Mission to the Unknown, and Daleks fought humans, humans that
took root and turned to plants! It really looked nasty. Troughton was and is
my favourite Doctor. Unbeatable.
Expansion of the Daleks
The amazing thing was how Daleks took of in the mainstream, and suddenly
they were everywhere. Every home had a selection of Dalek toys and
merchandise. Two movies sold the Dalek theme perfectly, turning them into
more colourful and larger manacing entities, and these movies were a great
feast, albiet with the dithering Doctor in tow. But best, I thought, were
the Cartoon developments of the creatures. These were on the back page of
a magazine called TV21, and also in special Xmas books called Annuals. The
Dalek idea developed far and away from the Doctor Who envelopment, dealing
with Dalek worlds, communities, history and hierarchy. This was a wonderous
progression from the restraints of the Doctor bound cosmos,
where beautifully drawn Daleks debated at an almost human level in their
cities and spaceships, bellowing dialogue by way of the special Dalek
typeface.
Richard Jennings, Terry Nation, and a host of other creatives
took Daleks to a new plateau, and I had always
wished that the BBC would have picked up on it. Maybe it was always going
to be just a cartoon or animation thing, but for me it became greater than
Doctor Who. Dalek love and politics would always be more interesting than
inevitable outcomes via the doddery Doctor. I wish they had made some more
movies on this Dalek theme, maybe with the production crew of the Alien
series.
The BBC ruins everything.
This marvellous creation of Doctors and Daleks et al was, by around 1969,
such a masterpiece of design and story, given that edge by the actors and
clouded quality of sixties TV. But then it died a quick death over the
seventies. Once again, a genre treated with the utmost disrespect. It was
on introduction of higher resolution colour TV, a third Doctor actor, and a
revamped story
structure that watered down the effect of this powerful drama. Restrictions
and cheap plots belittled the Doctor, with Time Lords, Masters, the British
Army, and earthbound scripts gave the episodes a gloss of Coronation Street.
Daleks, once filmed from floor level to look menacing,
were now shot to look small and
vunerable. And you would always notice that every scene was limited to only
three working Dalek props, looking so cheap and unthreatening.
Suddenly, the BBC had
no ideas to properly present this on any level. Doctor Who lacked any suspense
and turned into a perpetual send up of itself.
Worse still, the BBC writers
corrupted the Dalek history, when around the mid seventies, it was time to
bring in
Davros. The Dalek chronology definately didnt need the
involvement of this weak character. It didnt need the great fantasy world
created by the Cartoons to be distorted.
It gets worse and worse.
By this time, it was clear that the cult of Daleks was past it's peak.
From the movies and cartoons to nothing. Who knows what could have been
developed. But from then on, Daleks were to only exist within the sad
framework of the deteriorated Doctor programmes, which even now drifted into
an abasing caricature, where new dumber and absurd actors played the
Doctor as mindless and politically correct,
downgrading him into a figure of stupidity.
Past monsters and adversaries
would reappear in burlesque form, in effort to prop up this dead horse.
There was no saving of the show in this putrid format.
Finally it was gone from our screens, and I bid it good riddance.
To add insult, where one could have always looked back instead, viewing the
sixties episodes, enjoying the fantastic
faded black & white shockers, the retarded morons of the BBC swooped
down upon the Doctor archives, and wiped the tapes. Hours of brilliant
footage destroyed forever.
Back to the Future
It's 2003. In recent years we've had various plans to resurrect the Doc, but
it so stinks of money and profit. The mid nineties had seen a rediculous
Doctor Who TV movie, one of the worst things i've ever seen. Plans are afoot
to make a new series soon, but every speculation predicts an non-sixties
type farce, just following up the mess of the later years. Just whats
the point? And as for the Daleks, they will be dragged into the show, no
doubt, to supplement the ignorant tomfoolery of some witless comedian
that takes the part. Where is the thrill and the mystery in that? Thankfully,
I have the cartoon strip to look back on. And I still have both of my
magnificent sixties Annuals to savour. And there's still a lot of archives
left, thanks mainly to this wonderful internet. But this tragedy will always
revolve around the mishandling of a once fine television prog.
