AKA The Daleks, The Mutants, The Survivors(Note that ALL of these titles will be reused in coming decades except the one I've called it)
It has some Terry Nation related problems in the plotting and the characterisation but the Daleks themselves steal the show, guaranteeing legend status.
55 years on it's very easy to spot all the undeveloped Dalek tropes and interpret them as 'mistakes'. But make no mistake the Daleks were stunning to watch and made this serial work fantastically well at the time.
Not a perfect production and obviously ageing weirdly.
The anti-radiation drugs are bizarrely wrong. After about ep3 the radiation sickness completely disappears and is not mentioned again. I count this as a mistake and an egregious one.
The last two eps seem to be a paint by numbers action adventure movie trope boring grind. The story seems to STOP while they act out misconceived rope dangling 'tension' scenes. This is as boring as batsh*t.
ABM Rating 3.00/4.00
LJM 1.75/5.00
SPJ 7.00/10.00
Peak Ranking No. 2 (out of 2)
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From Quickflix
ReplyDeleteThe classic Terry Nation plot is take a group of regular characters and split them up. One group meets the locals, the other investigates the 'baddies'. Terry Nation must have used this formula about a thousand times in The Saint, The Avengers, Blakes 7, Survivors, and, yes, even in Doctor Who again. But this is where he used it first..... This story is an anti-pacifism morality tale set on the Nuclear War devastated planet of Skaro. The nomadic Thals are desperate for food. They have no contact with the Daleks who live in a shiny, futuristic, all metal city. When they try to make contact to bargain for food, the nature of the Daleks becomes apparent. (You've probably guessed what ensues.....) At seven episodes this one might seem a little drawn out these days, but it's engaging and entertaining.