DOCTOR WHO - THE DALEKS (1963) [DVD]

Product Information

There are currently N/A Classic Doctor Who DVDs that have been announced/released with N/A box sets. I’m not a huge fan of the endlessly repeated ‘surprise’ appearances of Daleks at the end of the season, but if you are going to include them, it is best to make them the centre of the story. This criticism cannot be levelled at the final two episodes in this box set.

Doctor Who - The Monsters Collection: The Daleks [DVD

I’d give the episodes more stars individually than I would give the box set – but the box set I would give two stars. The episode acts as a close reading of the Dalek design, relying on Christopher Eccleston’s superb emotive performance rather than bombastic spectacle to relay to the viewer the reason why the Dalek is such a durable icon. Introducing the individual Dalek on an emotional rather than spectacular level is at the same time a cautious and brave thing to do. Brave because it goes against audience expectation and delays the visual impact of a Dalek army, and cautious because it allows Davies, as nearly happened, to replace the Dalek at the last minute and introduce a replacement. The first episode in the box set reintroduces the Daleks by surprisingly presenting them in the singular. The intention of this is to delay the impact of seeing an army of Daleks in the climax of the first season, but it also has a more subtle effect. Pitting the new Doctor and Rose against a single, at first seemingly defenceless Dalek, slowly reveals to the viewer the antagonistic relationship between the Time Lord and the monster.The very existence of this box set could be a comforting reassurance to fans that everything has a destiny, that the Doctor’s story is pre-ordained, particularly apt when considering the ultimate example of retcon/loose-end tying in The Stolen Earth/ Journey’s End. The box set comes with one special feature: an interview with David Tennant. This doesn’t really contribute anything new and is more self-congratulatory than analytical. Indeed ,a great deal of time is spent during the interview talking about Doomsday, only drawing attention to the episode’s absence from the collection.

Doctor Who: The Evil of the Daleks | DVD Box Set | Free

The penultimate episode of season four manages (just about successfully) to cram in all the tenth Doctor’s previous companions and to link the previously unlinkable worlds of the Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood without contradicting the ethos of either series. Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge.

On watching the faux-regeneration for the first time on TV I was genuinely thrilled thinking, perhaps naively, that the ultimate deception had been pulled off by the production team. The resolution the following week was, to say the least, underwhelming, but these episodes are saved by Julian Bleach’s creepy, pitch perfect depiction of Davros, the true and original Dalek/human hybrid.