6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Third Doctor's third and final tussle w. Daleks, January 4, 2004
One of the Third Doctor's last stories is against his biggest foes, those salt-shakers the Daleks. And in this story, the members of the Earth Marine Space Corps and the Daleks are forced to undergo a temporary truce to figure out the power drainage that has forced their craft down. "We're all in this together, all equal, all powerless" the Doctor tells the Daleks. The Doctor and Sarah too are victims when the TARDIS is forced down on Exxilon. For once, the Daleks are forced to cooperate with humans, whom they consider inferior. However, the Doctor points out to the MSC that the Daleks are "brilliant technicians. It's their inventive genius that made them one of the greatest powers in the universe" something the humans acknowledge grudgingly.
Both the MSC and the Daleks are also after parrinium, a mineral that can cure and give immunity to a virulent plague that's killing millions of colonists in both empires. They need it in quantity and fast. However, they are captured by the native Exxilons, a silicon-based life-form wielding spears and arrows. Any chance of an amicable settlement is done when Sarah wanders into the sacred Exxilon city, a shrine-like place only the high priest can go. The realization of the city, with its touch-sensitized surfaces that glow when touched is a special effects triumph.
However, Dan Galloway, the grizzled and sour-faced weapons officer who's now in command, is ruthless enough to allow an alliance with the Daleks that has the Exxilons and the Doctor on the receiving end. To him, getting that parrinium and saving those millions are the main thing. "If some people we don't know have to die in the process, well, that's just too bad." His attitude appalls the more compassionate Lieutenant Peter Hamilton and civilian geologist Jill Tarrant, but he learns later that the Daleks aren't the best creatures to trust and make alliances with.
The way the Exxilon cloaks blend in with their surroundings is put to good effect in Episode 1. One moment, it seems like a huge rock, but then, it moves in pursuit of the Doctor.
The trip the Doctor and Bellal, one of a more enlightened faction of Exxilons who are friendly, take through the city, avoiding its traps and solving its puzzles, has a dungeon and dragons feel, but it demonstrates the problem-solving abilities of the Doctor. In fact the Venusian hopscotch game is later replicated in the checkerboard scene in The Five Doctors.
Some of Erich Von Daniken's theories of aliens landing on Earth (q.v. Chariot of the Gods) is touched on when the Doctor recognizes the symbols of the Exxilon city from a temple he saw in Peru. As he learns the Exxilons were technological superior when most races were primitive, he deduces that they must have visited Earth and shown the early people how to build temples.
The power drainage is a reference to the power cuts Britons experienced due to the 1973 oil embargo, which had a tremendous effect in 1974, the year this story aired. The scenes where the Doctor has to use an oil lamp for illumination and a crank handle to open the TARDIS door is a sobering realization of how dependent humans were/are on electricity and power.
John Abineri (Captain Railton) also appeared in the Who story The Ambassadors of Death as General Carrington. Duncan Lamont (Galloway) was a friend of Jon Pertwee's (the Doctor) at RADA and the two used to chase girls together. On Joy Harrison (Jill), whom Pertwee described as gorgeous, he remarked in his memoirs that it amazed him that female members of the expedition on a hostile planet always had perfect make-up and hair.
A good story made in Jon Pertwee's last season as the Doctor, with an abandoned Dorset quarry used for Exxilon.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Death By Pepperpots!!!!!, May 19, 2002
A massive power loss strands the TARDIS on the planet Exxilon, where a wandering Sarah gets too close to the Exxilon city and is taken for sacrifice. The Doctor encounters an Earth expedition seeking a rare mineral that will help cure a space plague currently ravishing the human population but to get off the planet, he must get past the local natives and find out what is causing the power drain. Then the Daleks arrive...
The last Pertwee Dalek story is one of his best. It has a lot of nostalgic value with the deadly roots from the city, the beaming city light noise and the intelligence tests (especially the quasi-chess board) within the city. Also one of the first times you get to see the Daleks frightened when they realise they have no destructive capabilities due to the power drain. A much more darker tone than previous Dalek stories. This is one to show the friends. RECOMMENDED!!!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Exterminate! Exterminate! Ext...oh, sorry, can't do that, April 30, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Doctor Who: Death to Daleks [VHS] (VHS Tape)
The Doctor and Sarah Jane arrive on a mysterious planet where it seems the TARDIS is dying. They soon find a bid to find minerals needed to stop a space plague, but before long the Daleks arrive.
Though this story has slabs of tedium later on with the Doctor in the grip of that old sci-fi cliche, the lost city, most of this adventure is entertaining enough to make it worthwhile.
Not the best Dalek story ever in Dr Who by a long shot, the Daleks seemingly there to provide comic relief more often than not, but still worth watching.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
