Day of the Daleks

Davad@davadsteel I know this story practically off by heart because it was such an early VHS release. Jon never looked cooler and Katy never looked cuter. Fact!

Always had a soft spot for this story, it was one of the 1st Target books I read, which was during the McCoy era. This, Curse of Peladon & Web of Fear - all seeming much darker and scarier than 7-8 year old me could remember seeing first hand on the show. The Curse of Fenric was the 1st one I thought this is as scary as the Target books.

 

At stately Auderly House, Miss Paget, the PA to diplomat Sir Reginald Styles asks that his UNIT guard ensures his work isn't disturbed. 

Sir Reginald is burning the midnight oil to prepare for some high stakes peace talks...

...when he's visited by a ghost who's come to "fix him".

The guerilla disappears before he can come to any harm.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Worst. Terminator. Ever.

The ministry calls up the closest thing they have to ghostbusters - Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart and UNIT.

Davad@davadsteel All this political stuff follows on from The Mind of Evil.

50dw50@50dw50 there are so many fluffed lines in the first five minutes! Billy would be turning in his grave, (not dead though).

The Doctor is once again trying to repair the TARDIS, stuck as he is on Earth as part of his exile.

Jo reminds him that it did get them as far as Uxarieus, but of course that was the Time Lords' doing - he wants it to work for him.

Another Doctor and Jo arrive. "Two of them? I didn't know when I was well off!"

MAW Holmes@MAW_H Oh, now there's a plot idea... Bawwy.. Do think we could ever get three Doctors together..? No...?

50dw50@50dw50 Christ alive TWO Jon Pertwee's! NOOOOOOO!

"In a sense I am here, but you are not there. Yes, well, it's a bit difficult to explain really..."

Shame that they never pay off this Blinovitch bit in the show. Dicks does in the book, doesn't he?

50dw50@50dw50 the explanation always gets interrupted somehow...

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Have I mentioned Pertwee's jacket is spectacular? Because Pertwee's jacket is spectacular.

The Doctor's explanation is a bit vague, but it's probably got something to do with that yellow CSO screen in the doorway.

50dw50@50dw50 the CSO yellow walls have never looked more yellow.

Near Auderly, another guerilla materialises...

...but before he gets very far, he's pursued by unseen attackers, and is forced to abandon his mission.

As he makes for the safety of a nearby railway tunnel, a pair of uniformed creatures appear, one of whom strikes him down with a single blow.

They leave him on the towpath and disappear down the tunnel themselves.

Bring back the Ogrons! I mean, why pig slaves when you could have used Ogrons!

50dw50@50dw50 the part of right on fandom that likes to moan about these things thinks they are a racist representation.

MAW Holmes@MAW_H Complications...?

Davad@davadsteel This story looks great. Some nice camera work, cross fades and hand held stuff.

The stuff on film still looks slightly smeary to me, but the stuff on videotape looks fantastic.

Like any politician, Sir Reginald does a U-turn in the face of concrete evidence. Or muddy footprints, anyway.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Ah, Sir Reginald. So idiotically desperate to deny reality. Bet he's got a kinky secret that's made him so obtuse.

UNIT find the mystery guerilla, who's not dead but comatose, so the Doctor gets his best cape on and the Brig nicks his laser gun.

Benton's also found a strange device stashed in the tunnel, which is presumably what the doomed guerilla was after.

Although the Doctor only has suspicions at this point, Sir Reginald's ghosts aren't from the past, but the future...

...and a dystopian totalitarian one at that.

OGRON 1: We... found... and... destroyed... the... enemy!
OGRON 2 (blurts out): No complications!

50dw50@50dw50 lovely, i was so miffed when the special edition removed that bit!

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly So are the slow voices just an Ogron joke that got out of hand or is this one suddenly getting smarter? Big Finish! Explain!

Styles is still in denial, and hurries away to Peking.

While Benton escorts the guerilla to hospital, the Doctor takes the gun away for tests.

Davad@davadsteel UNIT HQ must be very near to Auderly House. Back and forth!

Having analysed the weapon of the future, the Doctor's discovered that it's Welsh, apparently.

50dw50@50dw50 Wales in Dr Who, they really were predicting the future!

MAW Holmes@MAW_H If the Daleks can have a tiny TARDIS for target practice, why doesn't the Doctor use a tiny Dalek?

Dr. Kylo Stip@drstip is that a flux capacitor?

Mark@Th3DarkMark It's a mini version of Timelord tech dematerialisation circuit!

The Daleks seem to invent their own time travel in The Chase, which seems to operate exactly like a TARDIS, which could suggest they invent their own, but it could go either way, I guess!

The Doctor oddly refers to the blinovitch incident from earlier as having happened "a few moments ago." No doubt you filmed it "a few moments ago" Jon but follow the script, eh?

When the Doctor fiddles with the guerilla's cassette player, Benton loses the ambulance's passenger.

MAW Holmes@MAW_H (Shakes fist at sky) "BENTON!!!!"

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Exactly how did Benton get that promotion??

Davad@davadsteel I wonder if the ladies in the Dalek Call Centre are under their control. There's a touch of the Robomen to them.

50dw50@50dw50 i wonder how long it takes them all to apply their make up in the morning.

Davad@davadsteel They probably have a machine to do it for them!

50dw50@50dw50 the Dalek Glitter Machine, the Dalek Prime was never sure they could really justify that invention.

The shiny faced Controller's boss wants a report.

It's a Dalek! Sort of. Doesn't sound like one, and crikey it's all blinged up in gold!

Steve Powner@StevePowner Zippy was on holiday.

Considering this is his 3rd year, JP's comfortable without going into self-parody the way one or two others did (I'm looking at you, Messers Tennant and Smith).

The Doctor invites Jo to spend a night in a haunted house. Bow chicka wow wow...

Mark@Th3DarkMark I would!

Didn't realize Pertwee was your type...! ;-P

Mark@Th3DarkMark should've been more specific I guess, lol!

This house is a great location, by the way.


50dw50@50dw50 the special effects department rubbing their hands together and thinking, "cannot wait to blow that up".

He heads straight for the wine cellar, and raids the kitchen too. Gorgonzola cheese and a nice red... The 3rd Doctor's at the wine & cheese. Monsters beware!

50dw50@50dw50 i like this bit, nice to see the Doctor doing something normal rather than science all the time.

Davad@davadsteel This is brilliant. The Doctor isn't hating his exile anymore and is able to enjoy himself.

Never Cruel...@never_cruel World about to end... Get the wine and cheese out!!! My attitude too.

UNIT are in position, though maybe Benton describing it as being a quiet as "a morgue" is rather tempting fate.

"Yes, that's a most good humoured wine. A touch sardonic perhaps, but not cynical. Yes, a most civilised wine. One after my own hearts."

Mark@Th3DarkMark love it how the 3rd Doctor is a wine connoisseur, but the 11th gobs it out like it's liquid shite!

Jo tries to sneak that block of margarine that's supposed to be Gorgonzola to Benton...

...but Yates catches him in the act and nicks it. Git. RHIP indeed.

MAW Holmes@MAW_H Really Hateful Idiotic Prat.

After dispensing some more establishment-friendly namedropping ("Do you know, I remember saying to old Napoleon. Boney, I said, always remember an army marches on its stomach.")...

...the Doctor muses that "there are many different kinds of ghosts, Jo. Ghosts from the past and ghosts from the future." 

More guerillas turn up by the canal.

Instead of moving under cover of darkness, they decide to wait until morning to make their move. Nope, me neither.

That tapestry is really odd-looking.

The Doctor seems rather disappointed that the ghosts were a no show. Has he been up all night quaffing cheese and wine while Jo slept?

Now it's broad daylight, the guerillas are happy to evaporate some poor UNIT extras.

The Special Edition's splatter effect of the guns is oddly comical.

50dw50@50dw50 quite a high death toll for the UNIT lads in this story.

The Brig listens to Doomsday FM, which reports Styles has landed in China.

As the Doctor tinkers away, the guerillas spot him through the window and prepare to make their move.

One of the guerillas, Shura, makes it to the house and runs straight into the Doctor.

MAW Holmes@MAW_H "HAAAAIII!!!"

Davad@davadsteel Love how Jonsy finishes his wine before dealing with Shura.

50dw50@50dw50 so much for combat trained rebels, he gets beaten up by Margaret Rutherford.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly The Doctor doesn't let guerilla terrorists attacking from the future interrupt his cheese and wine party. Hell no.

Shura's right to be concerned; the guerilla time travel unit has been detected.

Sounds like this Dalek needs recharging. "What are your instructions & any chance of telling me them this week?"

Never Cruel...@never_cruel The 'bored bureaucrat' approach to Dalek voices.

Daleks just don't look as good to me in that gun metal grey; the classic silver and blue is still my favourite.

50dw50@50dw50 the grey daleks are still my favourite kaled colour scheme.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly D'ya think adding Daleks was a good idea? Even if they sounded less moronic, it's still a pretty feeble appearance for them.

I think it needed something; but I guess it could have been any monsters with very little difference.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Voords! Why couldn't it have been Voords?!

MAW Holmes@MAW_H  "IT'S..........BEEN..........A...........WHILE....!!!"

Naturally, the Daleks decide to go with plan A. "All enemies of the Daleks must be destroyed! Exterminate them!"

Poor old Oliver Gilbert and Peter Messaline, eh? Don't give up the day job but thanks for playing along.

Gareth Kavanagh@Garethothevworp The War Dalek voice artistes...

Love it. "But not in the name of Nick Briggs..."

Gareth Kavanagh@Garethothevworp Ring modulator NO MORE!

James Cooray Smith@thejimsmith According to IMDB, Gilbert played Atilla the Hun in The Goodies.

Seems like a vague form of typecasting, really!

50dw50@50dw50 the Dalek voices in the original broadcast version are terrible! Painful to listen to, which in plot terms might make sense.

MAW Holmes@MAW_H The boy Briggs sits at home thinking "I could do voices better than that!"

Steve Powner@StevePowner The Nick Briggs version on the SE is far better

Such an odd touch for the cliffhanger sting to be repeated after the reprise.

Where on Earth did the director get the idea that that was usual? I quite like it as a novelty, but how odd.

Gareth Kavanagh@Garethothevworp I suspect they were at home to Mr. Cockup...

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Same way I always covered for my cock-ups. "Oh, I thought we were supposed to put metal in the microwave."

All three guerillas have now made it into the house to assassinate Styles, so the Doctor's plan to meet them has kind of worked.

The machine is switched off in the nick of time, so the Controller can't pinpoint the signal. The Daleks are cool with it, though. Nah, only kidding.

Mark@Th3DarkMark doesn't one of those soldiers end up in Image of the Fendahl?

Steve Powner@StevePowner You're right Mark I think he did.

Yep. I guess this guy could be a descendant of that family?

The guerillas think the Doctor's Sir Reginald, but he's in China.

Shura's read the news today, oh boy...

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly No, seriously. Worst. Terminators. Ever. "But what does Sir Reginald look like?" "I hardly think that matters. Come on!"

When Benton & Yates realize something's up...

...the guerillas decide to take their captives down to the cellar.

Never Cruel...@never_cruel "Search the house and grounds." "Yeah, okay." "Except the cellar. F**k the cellar." "Erm... okay."

No doubt the Doctor will attempt to drink his way out to freedom.

The Doctor has a good mind to let Jo stay gagged and bound. No comment.

Jonathan Smith@dalekjsmith so kind was the 3rd doctor...

Mark@Th3DarkMark I would! (I really need to stop that...)

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly After this, the Brig had to send the Doc to a Sexual Harassment In The Workplace Seminar.

Jo thinks the guerillas must be criminals; the Doctor says they're at least fanatics. "Changing history is a very fanatical idea." Has the Doctor become a fanatic, post time war?

50dw50@50dw50 quite deep for tea time telly and relevant with the political situation at the time (or any time sadly).

Mark@Th3DarkMark always was and always will be.

Being something of a poor workman, the Controller blames his tools (not a euphemism for the Ogrons) for being unable to track down the guerillas.

The Daleks activate a "Time Vortex Magnetron" to ensnare the next person to use the time travel unit. 

Shura played keyboards on the Small Faces' first two singles say the production subtitles. I never knew that!

BeatCityTone@BeatCityTone This is correct but it was under the name Jimmy Winston. Fired for lying about his height.

Shura returns to the tunnel for new orders...

...but is ambushed by Ogrons.

He escapes with his life, and some explosives, but has picked up an arm injury so is doubtful for the next match.

The Brig starts to get suspicious when the Doctor won't return his calls. Controlling.

Anat orders Boaz to provide some dial-a-Doctor pronto to put UNIT off the scent.

 

MAW Holmes@MAW_H "Weekend away in a country house with Miss Grant... and now he doesn't answer the phone...?"

The Doctor uses the old "down in the cellar" excuse, while Jo works away at her escapology.

When the Doctor tips him the wink with a code phrase, the Brigadier decides to go Auderly in person.

Despite everyone's warning's - the Doctor's included - the escaped Jo fiddles with the time box.

Sure enough, she's spirited away...

...to the future Earth, where the shiny faced Controller gives her a quick spin.

Boaz tells the Doctor that if she's unlucky, she'll have arrived in the 22nd Century, with Anat adding that "she'd be better off dead."

50dw50@50dw50 if memory serves Letts was quite dismissive of the Controllers performance but i think he is rather good.

Never Cruel...@never_cruel The Controller is one of my fave performances in all Who. Contrary to popular opinion, I think he pitches it perfectly.

Same; wonderful performance. Highlight of the story.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly The Controller is a lot like David Cameron, except the Controller has more integrity.

So that's "any", then.

"You've already told me the year..." says the controller, sensibly ducking that whole UNIT dating issue.

Once she's mentioned the tunnel, the Controller has Jo taken to a "guest room" then turns to his Dalek masters. 

"You see? She trusts me implicitly." He's desperate to keep proving his worth to them, isn't he?

Jo's intel has given the Daleks a usable strategy: lie in wait at the tunnel and use the Ogrons to drive the guerillas into an ambush.

Back in whatever year UNIT are in, The Doctor is tied up in the cellar again, but doesn't stay restrained for long.

With the guerillas pinpointed, the Daleks dispatch a squad of Ogrons to attack Auderly House - which is bad news for a hapless UNIT patrolman in the Special Edition.

As the Ogrons crash through the undergrowth in a somewhat less than stealthy approach...

...Anat and Boaz prepare to retreat to the tunnel, unaware of what awaits them.

One of the Ogrons makes it into the house, but is soon on the receiving end of some Venusian Aikido from the Doctor - and eventually a laser blast.

Anat and Boaz make their escape.

Having incapacitated one Ogron in self-defence, the Doctor goes on to gun down another two, unprovoked...

...then steals the Brig's motor. He's gone nuts!

Steve Powner@StevePowner Turns into Terminator and starts exterminating

Tsk, this is nothing like Terminator, where robots from the future travel back to ensure their version of history...

Mark@Th3DarkMark love how the Brig half-heartedly says 'come back at once' then just shakes his head.

As the guerillas prepare to make their escape, or so they think, the Doctor is close behind.

When he goes down to the time tunnel...

...he runs straight into the Dalek ambush!

Seems he never really believed it was their "final end" in Evil of the Daleks as he doesn't pass comment on them surviving.

50dw50@50dw50 i doubt many of the general audience would really remember the civil war.

Though in fairness this could just be earlier.

ANAT: "This may come as a shock to you, but you've just travelled in time!"
JP: "Are you taking the pith, madam?"

When an Ogron patrol jogs past, the Doctor and the guerillas are separated...

...and he makes his way to the surface.

The Daleks are curiously tolerant of the Ogrons' failures.

Evading a surface patrol, the Doctor makes his way towards the city.

That heartbeat control room sound effect is so distinctive, isn't it. Just a few pulses and you know what's up.

The Dalek control centre literally has glitter on the walls. Like "let's make our base like the most evil period in history - 70s Top of the Pops!"

"Doctor? Did you say Doctor? Speak up, it's hard to hear in this metal thing!"

50dw50@50dw50  i quite like the Daleks lurking in their den giving orders.

The Doctor's been clocked heading for the work camps.

The Daleks are busy ordering an unreasonable increase in slave productivity...

...when the Doctor's location is reported to the Controller. He's slightly distracted by the poor figures, though, almost as if the Factory Manager might be going a bit too easy on the slaves for some reason.

Guerilla leader Monia finds Anat and Boaz not exactly licking their wounds, more blaming each other them.

Something about Daleks drives people to smoking. They're puffing away in Resurrection, too. Guess the guerillas don't reckon much on their life expectancy anyway.

MAW Holmes@MAW_H You can tell it's the future because the dustbins are silver (and I don't just mean the Dalek overlords).

It isn't long before the Doctor feels the force of the long hairy arm of Ogron law enforcement.

While the Controller butters Jo up with his grapes, he tells her the Doctor is at the mercy of the guerillas, only to receive a report almost straight away that he's been found, "alive and well".

The Doctor is interrogated in a cell. Pertwee's getting a funny feeling he's had this deja vu before...

MAW Holmes@MAW_H arbitrarily detained.

A fair few interrogation scenes in JP stories, usually in futuristic dystopias & usually involving a mind probe! Probably not as many as I think, but a 70s trope. A WW2 hangover, but not as explicit as Dalek Invasion of Earth.

The Factory Manager arrives to take a crack at him, but as soon as they're alone the mask slips - he's with the guerillas!

They don't get long enough, though, and the penny's only dropping when the Controller walks in.

The Controller has the Doctor released and brought back to Jo.

Then he punches down by breaking the new targets to the Factory Manager.

He pulls out a transmitter, bizarrely concealed in the cell, and gets a message to Monia. "They call him Doctor. I don't know who he is, but he's important."

The Factory Manager is cut short when he's rumbled by the Ogrons.

No chairs in the future, everyone sits on cushions on the floor. Should've given it away it was the Daleks.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Take yer hand out of yer pocket, Pertwee. We all know you're sitting directly opposite a very awkwardly sat Katy.

JP rightly gives the Controller a bollocking. But he still drinks his wine, of course.

The Controller denies the work camps are factories at all, calling them "rehabilitation centres for hardened criminals."

But the Doctor isn't about to let him off lightly. "Including old men and women, even children?"

Davad@davadsteel anyone who ever doubts Jon Pertwee's ability or characterisation only needs to watch this episode.

John Mark Frankland@JMFrankland Pertwee is brilliant throughout Day of the Daleks, and in this scene he's electrifying. This scene, more than any other, make a nonsense of Pertwee being "The Tory Doctor". Jon Pertwee IS the Doctor. This is his defining moment.

I always feel Jo comes off a bit thick here, unfortunately, taking the Controller's word for everything.

"This planet has never been more efficiently, more economically run!" claims Controller Cameron. "People have never been happier or more prosperous!"

"Then why do you need so many people to keep them under control? Don't they like being happy and prosperous?" 

Davad@davadsteel Real steel from Jonsy here. Another two fingers up to his critics.

John Mark Frankland@JMFrankland He raises his game quite a bit in this story. Probably didn't want to be upstaged by the Daleks. 

The Doctor goes in for the kill. "What you're saying is that the entire human population of this planet, apart from a few remarkable exceptions like yourself, are really only fit to lead the life of a dog. Why? Who really rules this planet of yours?" 

Of course, he already knows the answer but it's enough to make the Controller flounce off.

Jo scolds the Doctor's bad, er, floor manners, but he responds that the Controller himself is no more than "a superior slave" - of the Daleks!

The Daleks themselves aren't too sure if be-ruffled one is really their old nemesis, but they know how to find out...

It's an odd beast, this story, a real mish-mash. Like the UNIT family grafted onto a Hartnell-era Dalek story, with just a smidge of Whittaker-Dalek deception.

Before they get the chance to probe his mind, though, he's set it to escaping.

Jo's faux-screaming is cringe-worthy.

Davad@davadsteel "Thank you Miss Grant, we'll let you know."

The Doctor's a bit ambitious in attempting to overpower an Ogron but Jo's wine-bottle to the head seems to do the trick.

When they get outside, the Doctor, obviously having recently seen Diamonds are Forever, fancies a go on the conveniently waiting quad bike he clocks.

The Daleks are keen to get on with the probing.

The Ogrons jog after the quad bike with big hoppy steps as if they're pretending to be on the moon.

MAW Holmes@MAW_H "No accelerations..." Honda seem to have come through the invasion okay...

Mark@Th3DarkMark can just imagine the direction - these bikes are shit and slower than we thought, so run in slow-mo.

50dw50@50dw50  its badly directed full stop!

Mark@Th3DarkMark  still love it though!

The Ogrons do eventually catch up though, which goes to show how truly crap those bikes are.

The guerillas determine to rescue the Doctor, rather taking the sting out of the imminent cliffhanger.

Mind-probe, woo!

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly DWP fit for work assessments have only got more merciless over time...

And there's Pat and Bill. Grand. He should keep going till he gets to those missing episodes.

Davad@davadsteel Is this the first time there's ever been a visual reference to the earlier Doctors? I think so!

Possibly the most meta cliffhanger yet as the credits appear over the action as the credit visuals appear on the Dalek screen.

Mark@Th3DarkMark  at which point does Jo get nekkid and drape herself over a Dalek?

I think that was plan B if the screaming didn't work.

The Doctor's saved by the opportune arrival of the Controller, who assures his masters he can pump him for information far more effectively.

He actually looks dead in the mind probe scene. That's pretty disturbing.

"We have invaded Earth... again." Yeah, good luck with that.

The guerillas plan a surgical strike to excise the Doctor from Dalek control.

Although he's happy enough to see Jo, the Doctor's less keen on round two with the Controller.

The Controller even has that shiny silver makeup on his hands.

The Controller's protestations of benevolence fall flat. "My family have been controllers in this area for 3 generations." Typical Tory inheritance BS.

"Look, if you do not tell me everything that manager knew about these criminals, where they operate from, what their plans are, then the Daleks will destroy both of you."

"You, sir, are a traitor! You're a Quisling!" 

The guerillas storm Dalek HQ...

Although the Ogrons put up quite the fight...

...the guerillas even manage to blow up a Dalek.

The guerillas rescue the Doctor from Dalek HQ. 3 of them. Yeah.

Monia is about to execute the Controller for his collaboration when the Doctor intervenes. "There's no point in murdering him." 

"You don't know how much blood there is on his hands." 
"Nevertheless, he's not your real enemy... They would always have found someone."

Meanwhile, back in the UNIT era, Styles is heading back home and the peace conference is back on.

Davad@davadsteel #ReginaldStylesCarbonFootprint.

Back at the guerilla hideout, Monia and Anat explain that the Dalek invasion was facilitated by Styles blowing up the peace conference, and starting wars that weakened the world's defences.

"You're an old enemy of the Daleks!"
"Who are you calling old?"
"You."
"Fair cop."

Davad@davadsteel I think Anat buys her eye make-up from the same place she buys her fags.

MAW Holmes@MAW_H "I'll have some blue an' all... and do you sell gaspers in singles, mister...?"

Davad@davadsteel Maybe she gets them from this reality's version of Phillip Madoc?

Back at Eurovision House, Shura scrambles to the basement.

Is that Shura playing the incidental music? His busted arm might explain why the keyboards are so wibbly.

Realizing that Shura is a far more likely suspect for blowing up the conference, the Doctor tells them they did this to themselves, they did, and that's what really hurts - they did it to themselves. Just them, and no one else.

"You're caught in a time paradox!" Wibbly wobbly 40 years before Moffat.

50dw50@50dw50 The Grandfather would be thrilled.

The Controller has a hard time making his excuses to the Daleks...

...especially with the ambitious interrogator breathing down his neck.

The guerillas get the Doctor back to the time tunnel...

...where the Controller ambushes them.

He dismisses the Ogrons...

...and then spares them in return for the Doctor saving his life, allowing them to escape back to the UNIT era.

But he's been witnessed by the ambitious interrogator...

...who dobs him in to the Daleks.

James Cooray Smith@thejimsmith "Who knows? I may even have helped to exterminate you." is one of the story's finest moments.

Absolutely!

The Daleks do what Daleks do...

Meet the new boss...

Benton radios in the Doctor and Jo's return.

Pretty convinced that it's not a peace conference at all, it's Eurovision.

The Doctor & Jo race to the conference to clear everyone out before Shura can explode his bomb. 

So 3 Daleks and about 6 Ogrons come back in time to stroll through the garden.

(The Special Edition kindly sends some reinforcements.)

Mark@Th3DarkMark "Try and use your intelligence man, even if you are a politician!" Brilliant line!

"Brigadier get everyone out, use force if you have to! Jo, you stay here!" Eh? Does he want her to get blown up?

Shura nuff, the Doctor's found the errant guerilla in the nick of time.

Mark@Th3DarkMark "NOW BE QUIET SIR!" Then Brig nearly takes out Jo with his stick! Oo-er! 

Davad@davadsteel UNIT vs the Daleks!!! BRILLIANT!

When Jo warns that the Daleks are on their way, Shura's plans adapt in a way that will break the vicious cycle of history - Styles, and the peace talks, can survive while he takes Auderly and the Daleks out in a fireball.

The Brigadier gives the order to fall back and let the Daleks into the house.

Sure enough, they trundle in to their doom, as Shura blows them all up, changing the future.

So now the Daleks never came to power, meaning Shura never travelled back to blow them up...

Which means this story never really happened at all. Styles promises the peace talsk will succeed. "We all know what will happen if we fail." 

"So do we. We've seen it happen, haven't we, Jo?"

Bit of a damp squib ending, to be honest, but a nice close-up of JP to end on.

Davad@davadsteel That's why they needed the scene that stayed in the novel. "All kinds of futures."

A great time-travel story this, and a great way to make UNIT and the Daleks work together. Many great elements to this; the shiny faced controller is a star turn, and the Ogrons are pretty cool. The central paradox is a great pay off too. What an abrupt ending though. I really wanted the other side to the Blinovitch Limitation Effect scene!

Davad@davadsteel  Cracking season opener though. Rattles along!!!

TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... Nightmare of Eden