There’s a very specific reason that Remembrance of the Daleks is as high on my list as it is: quite apart from the fact it’s an excellent story, it’s the one that made me a Doctor Who Fan.
This story feels like it’s becoming my “Convention Tale” as I’ve told it a few times in various different places, but if you’ll indulge me then I’m going to tell it again.
Back in 1988, when I was just a young un’ of 8 years old, Doctor Who was shown on a Wednesday night after the chat show Wogan – well, it was from Season 25 onwards at least. And that’s where I stumbled across it properly – I was aware of Doctor Who and Daleks from the zeitgeist, but I had no real knowledge of the show beyond that, or any recollection of watching it properly: we were an A-Team/Baywatch/Gladiators family on a Saturday. Wednesday nights though were all mine, as I was left at home in the care of my Grandmother until my mam came home from the Brownie Pack she was leader of1. And so, with only 4 channels to choose from (oh you modern day kids with your streaming services and satellite station, how little you know that you are born!), as Terry Wogan gave way to Sylvester McCoy, I stayed tuned to watch Doctor Who properly for the very first time.
And it scared the shit out of me.
The first 22 or so minutes of course went by in a blur of excitement: it’s an action packed opening episode, full of exploding Daleks and flying stuntmen, with The Doctor taking the time to explain to Ace – and therefore me – what’s going on. After that terrific start, the episode comes to a climax in the cellar of Coal Hill School, as the Dalek comes up the stairs towards a terrified Doctor, who can’t escape it. And I was equally terrified; so terrified in fact, that my Grandmother forbid me from watching the second episode: she was was not having me that scared again on her watch, not if she had anything to say about it! So she made me tape the remaining episodes so I could watch them back the next day with my mam when it was light. Which of course I did, because there’s no better way to get someone to want to watch something by telling them they can’t; but that didn’t matter: the show had me hooked, and I’ve not willingly missed an episode on broadcast since.
Going back to watch the story years later you can fully appreciate what’s going on in this story. There’s a quantum leap (no, not that one) from Ace at the end of Dragonfire to here; she is written with so much more depth than in that story, and Sophie Aldred’s performance is so much more confident. In fact, you’d be forgiven for thinking there’s a Season 24b out there which softens this change – and I’m sure if we say it three times, Big Finish will release it in time for Christmas. Ace will grow and develop as a character in the next series more than this; before the confident young woman who leaves to stop the tea getting cold in Survival we have ElizAce Doolittle, the young girl taken under The Doctor’s wing: streetwise but not booksmart, but capable of becoming so much more.
Writer Ben Aaronovitch & Script Editor Andrew Cartmel really go to town with Ace here; for all this is The Doctor’s story, Ace is given a helluva lot to do. Not just smashing up Daleks with baseball bats, but a ton of character work too: there’s the relationship stuff with Mike the Quisling, comforting the child once she’s released from the Dalek control, taking down the racist sign… Compared with what Mel, Peri, and everyone before them were given, this is another huge step forward. We talk often about Cartmel’s Masterplan, but that plan could easily be the blueprint for the new series. With stories that start on Earth, go forwards and backwards in time, dabble with alien worlds… well, the bones of the RTD Patented New Series Template™️ is right here. But more than that, Cartmel treats the companion as just an important a character as The Doctor; you would almost be tempted to say more than, but he never loses sight of what the name of the show is – he’s very adept at keeping both characters front & centre.
Cartmel was also very adept at working around producer John Nathan-Turner when he needed to. Not allowed vampires? No bother, they’re just called Haemovores now…! Remembrance of the Daleks is the 25th Anniversary show in all but name & broadcast date. Silver Nemesis has the November 23rd airdate, and the “Silver Anniversary” title, but Remembrance is a story that’s steeped in the heritage of the show. It takes us right back to An Unearthly Child, back to Totter’s Lane, back to Coal Hill School, but without being obtrusive2. It’s also a story that remembers what the Daleks are inside, what makes them fight each other; the other nods to past adventures just help.
But we’re not mired in the past, we’re squarely looking forward: not only does this story (and Season) stand as a prototype for the 2005 revival, but it’s the launch of the aforementioned MasterPlan. The Doctor is no longer the aimless wanderer, putting things right where he finds them wrong, but he actively seeks them out. He has secrets from his past, and is much more than just a TimeLord, as he tells Davros in a deleted scene. The Master Manipulator is born in this story, and once again there is more to The Doctor than meets the eye.
As I said earlier, this is The Doctor’s story. Right from the start he has the outcome all planned out, knowing that he can use the warring factions to his own advantage to destroy them and Skaro. It’s a ruthlessness that people are quick to pull the 13th Doctor up for, and its something I disliked in the Fugitive Doctor, so it’s interesting that I/we find it acceptable here. Perhaps it’s because it’s the Daleks, or perhaps it’s because by this point if blowing up planets is the only way to get Davros to shut the hell up then go for it!! I suspect it’s all down to Sylvester McCoy. By now McCoy is playing The Doctor as he wanted to, and is given the material to suit that performance. The scene with him & Geoffrey from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air has no right being in a Classic Series episode of Doctor Who, it’s the sort of thing that we usually only get in Nu Who. Just goes to show how far ahead of his time Cartmel was – or how well the show could have done if it wasn’t cancelled.
It’s not just in the writing that this feels like The Ghost of RTD Yet to Come, it’s in the production too. This story is bold and exciting: it’s packed full of action and adventure like you’d want your series opener to be. The story went over budget obviously – you can’t expect to have the emergency services called on you with normal BBC budget explosions – but it’s absolutely worth it. The shots of the Dalek ship landing in the Coal Hill school yard has no equal in my opinion – not even with what 21st Century CGI can do. And we can’t go without mentioning the Special Weapons Dalek: for the first time in a long while, something new is being done with the Daleks – and not in the forced way that Steven Moffat tends to do it, this is natural, makes sense and is an amazing bit of design.
Remembrance of the Daleks is a mission statement for a new era of Doctor Who, it’s best since the 70s, and one that was all to sadly cut short – we will forever wonder what would have happened if we had a Season 27. But more than anything it was a story that made an 8 year old boy want to watch Doctor Who, again and again. And it’s a story that now gives a 43 year old man a warm memory of a grandmother who is no longer with us to treasure forever. If nothing else I would love it for that.
COMING TOMORROW: “I don’t want to go…”
Skies Full of Diamonds 