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The Power of the Daleks Format Reviewed: CD Review The Power of the Daleks marks the start of the Patrick Troughton era of Doctor Who. Innovatively, following William Hartnell's decision to quit the show the production team came up with an ingenious idea to be able to change the leading actor, regeneration. Nothing like this had been attempted before and it could be seen as a very bold move ro attempt to move the show onwards in this way rather than let it die with the departure of William Hartnell. After the Doctor changes into a younger man infront of Ben and Polly, the TARDIS lands on the planet Vulcan. Taking a stroll through the mercury swamps, the Doctor finds the body of an Earth Examiner, sent to the colony to check operations. The Doctor assumes his identity when colony officials Quinn and Bragen arrive on scene and are taken to the colony. Bragen believes the examiners visit is to inspect a space capsule being looked at by Lesterson, and stop work. The TARDIS crew go along with it and are led to quarters where Governor Hensell comes to meet them. The Doctor then goes to explore the lab containing the capsule, and discovers Daleks, two dormant ones in the capsule and one out of its casing on the floor. Later on, Lesterson manages to revive the Daleks, but can apparantly control their power source and 'turn them off' at will. This revelation signals a strange servility in the Daleks, and they profess to be servants of the Humans only wanting to help. They pledge to use their skill and knowledge to help the Humans, and ask for various items to be sent to them or built to their specifications to aid them. Bragen is seeking to use the Daleks for his own ends, and mounts a secret coup to usurp Governor Hensell. Meanwhile, the Daleks are setting up a power base so that they can travel about at will throughout the base. They also eventually reveal their full numbers, and start to produce more Daleks, an army is growing. Eventually, The Doctor manages to short circuit the Daleks power generator and their casings explode. This however is not before the Daleks reveal themselves fully and kill somewhat indescriminantly throughout the compound. The TARDIS crew then take their leave, with Ben and Polly now in no doubt as to who their companion is. The first regeneration of The Doctor sees William Hartnell replaced by Patrick Troughton. Such a bold move should be commended, as it effectively stopped the show from dying a very swift death. The introduction of such a different actor to the role too should also be commended. It paved the way to reinvent the character when the lead role changed, whilst retaining the essence of The Doctor. To ease Troughton into his role, Doctor Who favourites the Daleks were brought back to provide the adversaries for his first story. This was done to ease the passage of Hartnell into Troughton, and is successful. It is again a shame though that this story does not exist in the archives as we do not get a feeling of how the story looks throughout. Hopefully we'll get a full animated version of the story at some stage. Patrick Troughton makes his full debut here as The Doctor, and he really is a breath of fresh air in the role. He has a certain childlike quality that is so different from William Hartnell, and this really does shine through. He does however have a quiet, unspoken authority that commands respect from all around him Alongside are Ben and Polly, played by Michael Craze and Anneke Wills respectively. Craze seems to give the best performance here, and certainly comes accross better in a purely audio format. Of the guest cast, Robert James as Lesterson deserves praise as he plays the part so well. Bernard Archard is also delightful as Bragen, and is suitably sinister and shady throughout. There aren't really any poor persormances in the cast really, and Pamela Ann Davy is a good example of this as Janley. As this is only an audio adventure now due to the loss of the videotape, only how well it performs as an audio adventure will be considered. Often this can lead to a better adventure, and often to a worse one. In this case I would suggest that this has lead to a more atmospheric and tense story throughout. When visuals are involved in stories of this age and type, they often let the story down in retrospect. With the actors generally being more used to stage and radio acting, they can also come accross better in a purely audio medium. The Power of the Daleks is really very tense and frought throughout and this comes accross very well on the audio. The sinister Daleks skilking about until they have the power to act, the divisions in the colony hierachy and the confusion amongst the TARDIS crew due to the regeneration of The Doctor all add up to make a freat start to Patick Troughton's reign. Overall, The Power of the Daleks is a good start to the Troughton era in Doctor Who. Whilst it is a shame that this story no longer exists in the BBC archives, it may benefit in terms of atmosphere in being an audio only adventure. The Power of the Daleks has a tense, sinister and shady atmosphere throughout and really does keep the listener coming back for more. Rating:  |