Death To The Daleks – Part 1
The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Sarah to Exxilon, but not by choice – an enormous sentient city on the planet drains so much energy from everything around it that the TARDIS is quickly rendered powerless. And the Doctor is not the only unwelcome visitor on Exxilon: an expedition of humans is there mining a substance necessary to cure a plague on Earth, though their ship is now useless. They called for backup from a relief ship, but to their horror, the ship that shows up comes down for a hard landing…and in any case, it’s not another human expedition. The ship that arrives is full of Daleks, on a mission seeking that same precious drug. As the human expedition’s weapons are useless, they and the Doctor are powerless as the Daleks line them up for extermination.
written by Terry Nation
directed by Michael Bryant
music by Carey Blyton and played by the London Saxophone QuartetCast: Jon Pertwee (The Doctor), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Duncan Lamont (Dan Galloway), John Abineri (Richard Railton), Neil Seiler (Commander Stewart), Julian Fox (Peter Hamilton), Joy Harrison (Jill Tarrant), Mostyn Evans (High Priest), Michael Wisher (Dalek voices), John Scott Martin (Dalek), Cy Town (Dalek), Murphy Grunbar (Dalek)
LogBook entry & review by Earl Green
The Doctor and Ace arrive on the rainforest world of Kar-Charrat, where expatriate Time Lord Elgin has become the librarian of the largest storehouse of knowledge in the universe. Elgin eagerly shows the Doctor his latest innovation: a wetworks facility which has assimilated all of this knowledge into a single consciousness. The Doctor is alarmed by this development, as it means that any invading force could take over the facility – and with it, all of the knowledge of the universe. Elgin admits that some races have tried to do exactly that, including the Daleks, but none have been successful. But the Doctor and Ace quickly learn on a first-hand basis that the Daleks haven’t given up – they intend to take over the library of Kar-Charrat and use the wetworks facility to create a new, all-knowing, all-powerful breed of Daleks. But the Daleks don’t achieve the desired results, even when the Doctor is forced to help – and everyone soon discovers that an even greater power than the Daleks exists on Kar-Charrat…a power which, if unleashed to rid the world of the mechanical invaders, could also exact revenge on a Time Lord guilty of enslaving Kar-Charrat’s indigenous creatures.
The Doctor and Evelyn arrive on the planet Archetryx, which is playing host to an unprecedented summit meeting of major powers in the universe with time travel capability…including the Time Lords, represented by the Lord President and CIA operative Vansell, whom the Doctor is less than pleased to see. But despite elaborate security measures taken for the summit, odd things are happening – the gravity wells on Archetryx are acting up, and one of the delegates is practicing mind control on the local security forces. The Doctor is immediately suspicious of the entire situation, especially when the phantom planet of Etra Prime suddenly appears, headed straight for Archetryx. The Daleks are behind this incident, attempting to harness the knowledge of the time-travel-capable species to perfect their new doomsday weapon. But the Daleks don’t count on one thing: a Time Lord named Romanadvortrelundar, who has spent 20 years of her life in the Daleks’ clutches, escapes with knowledge of the Daleks’ plans…as well as the transference crystal they need to focus their new weapon. Romana’s reunion with the Doctor is rushed as they evacuate Archetryx and retreat to Gallifrey, only to find that Vansell’s lust for inside knowledge of the other powers’ time travel vessels has given the Daleks a foothold on the planet of the Time Lords. Even without the focusing device, the Daleks settle for an uncontrolled demonstration of their new weapon – and the resulting massive reaction, if left unchecked, will consume all matter in the entire universe in a matter of hours.
The Doctor and Nyssa are thrust into a deadly situation involving the Thals and the Daleks. An unknown contaminant has invaded the Daleks’ biology, a contaminant which is spreading like wildfire through the interconnected consciousness/data network of the metallic terrors. The Daleks are now asking their arch nemesis for help – but they’re still not beyond their usual brand of treachery, and the Doctor discovers that helping the Daleks could unravel his own history, creating a temporal paradox… assuming that the paradox hasn’t already trapped him.