The Evil of the Daleks

Dear Gary—

“Maybe I’m used to you.” And maybe I am used to Patrick Troughton as the Doctor. It is still hard to think of Patrick Troughton when thinking of the Doctor, though. So many lost stories make it difficult, and even though these stories are reconstructed, it just is not the same.

The Evil of the Daleks is yet another reconstruction. And it is another great story. A regular gothic tale spiced up with Daleks.

“There is only one form of life that matters: Dalek life.” So what are the Daleks doing in an 1866 mansion with beautiful damsels locked up in towers and fiancés who have changed overnight into slightly menacing figures and doddering father figures dabbling in dank basement laboratories in things they shouldn’t?

“All forms of life interest me.” That’s the Doctor. He is interested in these damsels and fiancés and dabbling amateur scientists.

And of course he wants to find his TARDIS. The TARDIS was lost back at Gatwick Airport at the end of The Faceless Ones. Following its trail, the Doctor ends up in an 1866 gothic castle mystery/adventure initiated by the Daleks. Frustrated by the fact that they are defeated time and again by mankind, the Daleks are intent upon discerning ‘the Human Factor’ and instilling it into their race.

It is all rather convoluted, as any good Doctor Who plot is. Our two scientists in 1866 have been dabbling in time traveling experiments with static electricity, which is what attracted the Daleks. To coerce their cooperation, the Daleks kidnap one of their daughters and promises the other the secrets of transmuting metal into gold. To lure the Doctor they kidnap the TARDIS.

This is where Jamie comes into the plot. To isolate the ‘Human Factor’ the Daleks concoct a scheme to somehow distill it through observing Jamie’s attempt to rescue the kidnapped Victoria. The Doctor goes along with this preposterous plan and ultimately isolates what he considers to be the better part of the Human Factor, “courage, pity, chivalry, friendship, compassion.”

“They’ve got a sense of humor,” the Doctor exclaims as the three Daleks he has injected with this new factor playfully cavort about the lab.  Alpha, Beta, and Omega the Doctor names them. Childlike Daleks with names.

The other Daleks, however, are not amused. This whole elaborate plot, we learn, was not to isolate the Human Factor but for the Human Factor to reveal the true nature of the Dalek Factor. “You have shown the Daleks what their own strength is.”

Of course, Gary, we know that is ridiculous. The Daleks have always known their own strength. But we needed an excuse to get all our characters together and to propel our plot, and if it results in ‘Dizzy Daleks’ Alpha, Beta, and Omega questioning orders and spinning the Doctor about the room who cares. What fun.

“We have a partnership; an understanding.” So says the alchemist who has willingly cooperated with the Daleks. “You have obeyed us,” say the Daleks. That is their strength in a nutshell. They don’t make partnerships; they don’t cooperate; they don’t compromise. They destroy. They never deviate.

Well, hardly never. Their one blinding weakness. When it comes to the Doctor they deviate. They do not destroy. They plan, they scheme, they plot, they try to outsmart. They do not destroy. Not the Doctor. They deviate.

In the case of The Evil of the Daleks they deviate back to Skaro. The Black Dalek and the Emperor Dalek show up. Alpha, Beta, and Omega show up. Jamie and Victoria show up. The two dabbling scientists show up. The Doctor shows up.

The Daleks, armed with their Dalek Factor set up an archway that will turn humans mentally into Daleks (more of a Cyberman objective than a Dalek, but who cares?). What they don’t know is that the Doctor has secretly switched out the factors and sends Daleks through, giving Alpha, Beta, and Omega some company.

“Why not question?” our new Daleks ask. “I will not obey,” they state. The Doctor has instigated yet another rebellion.  Black Daleks and Emperor Dalek are destroyed.

“I think we’ve seen the end of the Daleks forever,” the Doctor rather foolishly declares. “The final end.”

Of course we know it’s not, Gary. But let the Doctor have his day.

He gets a new companion along the way, too. Victoria’s father has been killed during the action and she is left orphaned.  “We’re not going to leave her; she’s coming with us,” the Doctor tells a concerned and smitten Jamie.

I feel I should mention, Gary, something of the vaguely sinister fiancé, for I rather left him dangling out there at the beginning. That is how the story treated him as well. The fiancé of the alchemist’s daughter, he was somehow being controlled by the Daleks and was merely a plot convenience to keep the action on track during our first half of our 1866 adventure. At least we have a hurried resolution as he is freed from the Dalek’s control and escapes with his bride to be before the Daleks destroy the gothic home back during their departure to Skaro.

Just wanted to wrap up that loose end, Gary, before sending this out . . .