Things I've learnt from Watching My Favourite Doctor Who Stories: Part 60 - Destiny of the Daleks

60. Destiny of the Daleks

You never forget your first! 

Poor old Destiny of the Daleks, always in the shadow of its big brother Genesis. There's an objective argument for why the former is superior to the latter (and yes Genesis will feature higher up in this list!) but this is not an objective list. It's a personal choice and therefore Destiny has to be there. You never forget your first kiss (Kirsty Leeks, 4th year, Carswell Primary), your first football match (4th May 1997, a Yeovil Town beating Chertsey 4-0!) your first pop concert (Bucks Fizz, moving on...)

And doctor who fans don't forget their first story. Now I'm talking about the story as a whole, not just clips or memories of brief snippets of episodes. If I did, Genesis would be first, as well as vivid memories of Planet of Evil, the Robots of Death and Image of the Fendahl. But Destiny was the first full story I can remember watching all the way through; from those opening TARDIS scenes to Davros's comeuppance in his cryogenic freezer.

Destiny does suffer from some tatty Daleks and occasionally Roy Skelton does sound a bit Zippy like, but in my opinion it's unfairly dismissed. 1979 was a period of crippling inflation and in cash terms, Producer Graham Williams had a budget of 40% less than his predecessor.

It's possibly not helped that the plot is a game of Terry Nation Bingo. Doctor and companion split up - check! Radiation - check! "Surprise" arrival of the Daleks at the end of part one - Check! But it moves along at a fair lick thanks to Ken Grieve, whose use of a Steadicam keeps things moving. It's a shame this is his only assignment on the series. The location work looks good (also seen in the Star Wars series Andor!) and then there's the Movellans.

Designed by fan favourite and Specsavers poster girl June Hudson, they're a race of deadlocked Robots in skin hugging white lycra and they look superb. Suzanne Danielle was a prominent aspect of the serial's promotion unsurprisingly and Peter Straker gives a quietly sinister performance as Commander Sharell. His well mannered calm gives way to snarling fury in episode four and the fight he has with Romana at the end is brief but brutal. (she kicks his arm off!)

And while Romana saves the day in one plot, Tom Baker's Doctor has a fun fight avoiding a Dalek blinded by his hat. Fans often criticise Baker in this season for turning it into the Tom Baker show but there is more to his performance than mere tomfoolery! Just look at the sad expression on his face when Sharrel asks if he knows the Daleks and he mutters "Better than you could possibly imagine!" And his fury at Davros in episode three when he snarls that the Daleks left their creator dead centuries ago, shows he - and script editor Douglas Adams - are taking it far more seriously than they're given credit for.

As with 99.9% of the rest of Doctor Who it's not perfect, but there's a lot to love. A Doctor - companion duo that are mesmerising to watch, the shoe's greatest villains and a new eye-catching foe. And it features the Doctor memorably bamboozling his opponents by playing Paper Scissors Stone! 

What's not to love? 

Next Episode : No Shame in Trying!