Remembrance of the Daleks: Part 1 (5 Oct. 1988)

The Doctor and Ace travel back to nineteen sixty three, and are caught in the middle of a Dalek civil war.

Director:

Andrew Morgan

Writer:

Ben Aaronovitch

Stars:

Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Simon Williams

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Sylvester McCoy	...	The Doctor
Sophie Aldred	...	Ace
Simon Williams	...	Group Captain Gilmore
Dursley McLinden	...	Sgt. Mike Smith
Pamela Salem	...	Professor Rachel Jensen
Karen Gledhill	...	Allison Williams
George Sewell	...	Ratcliffe
Michael Sheard	...	Headmaster H.Parson
Harry Fowler	...	Harry
Jasmine Breaks	...	The Girl
Peter Hamilton Dyer	...	Embery
Hugh Spight	...	Dalek Operator
Roy Skelton	...	Daleks (voice)
John Leeson	...	Dalek Battle Computer (voice)

Storyline

A chance meeting with a scientist named Prof. Rachel Jenson leads the Doctor and Ace to Totters Lane, an old junkyard which was once home to the Time Lord. The date is November 22nd, 1963, and British soldiers lead by Group Captain 'Chunky' Gilmore have cornered an extra-terrestrial inside the junkyard. The alien is revealed to be a lone Dalek. Once destroyed, it proves to be only the start of the Doctor's problems as the Dalek was a member of one of two warring factions, both searching to locate a legendary Gallifreyan artifact previously left behind by the wily Time Lord. Now the Doctor and Ace must work with military forces to prevent either side of the alien menace in achieving its goal.

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Plot Keywords:

dalek | evil child | fish out of water | reference to elvis presley | save the neighborhood | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 October 1988 (UK)

Filming Locations:

Kew Bridge Steam Museum, Green Dragon Lane, Brentford, Middlesex, England, UK

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Simon Williams was third choice for Group captain Gilmore

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Quotes

Ace: [driving the Doctor back to the school] These Dayleks...
The Doctor: Daleks.
Ace: Oh, Daleks. Where are they from?
The Doctor: From Skaro. At least originally. They're the mutated remains of a species called the Kaleds. Left here.
Ace: When were they left here?
The Doctor: No! Turn left here.
Ace: Oh, right.
The Doctor: No, left! You've missed the turning!
Ace: What turn, where?
The Doctor: Why don't you concentrate on where you're going?
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in 'Doctor Who': The Hartnell Years (1991)

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Soundtracks

"Do You Want to Know a Secret"
Composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Performed by The Beatles

User Reviews

The return of the Daleks.

Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks: Part One starts as the TARDIS arrives on Earth, in England during Novemebr 1963 where the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) notices an unusual black van parked outside Coal Hill School. Upon further investigation the Doctor meets Professor Rachel Jensen (Pamela Salem) who is a scientific adviser to the army, suddenly she gets an emergency call to go to the I M Forman junkyard where the Doctor & Ace (Sophie Aldred) meets Group Captain Gilmore (Simon Williams) who has a dead soldier on his hands. The Doctor recognises the method by which he died, he was killed by the laser beam from a Dalek which means his old foes are back on Earth & up to no good...

Episode 1 from season 25 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during October 1988 & was the first story from Sylvester McCoy's second season as the Doctor, directed by Andrew Morgan this has been an OK start to what is probably one of the better stories from the show's later years. The third of the Dalek 'R' trilogy from the 80's (all the Doctor Who stories from the 80's that featured Daleks as the main enemy began with the letter 'R', Peter Davison in Resurrection of the Daleks (1984), Colin Baker in Revelation of the Daleks (1985) & Sylvester McCoy in this) Remembrance of the Daleks was part of Doctor Who's 25th anniversary season & as such this particular story tied in with the very first An Unearthly Child (1963) staring William Hartnell, the junkyard which is actually mis-spelt here as Forman rather than Foreman due to a production error & the Coal Hill School both feature along with tenuously explaining what the Doctor was doing on Earth at the time An Unearthly Child began. I suppose if your a die hard fan who loves to spot all the references & continuity then you will probably love all this, if however your looking for a good Doctor Who story you may not be so pleased. So far it's been alright but nothing special, certainly watchable at only 25 minutes in length but by this time the show really was on it's last legs & I think even the die hard fans knew it's time had come. How did Professor Jensen know to call them Daleks? She discusses them with another woman yet the Doctor never spoke the word Dalek in front of anyone except Ace in the van while they were alone, poor script editing methinks.

Shot almost entirely on location this would probably have benefited from being shot on film but by the time Remembrance of the Daleks was made all outside location filming was done on videotape along with the studio stuff which is a shame because I've always liked the look of film much more than videotape. There hasn't been too many special effects to complain about in this episode, the Daleks laser beams look OK & the shots of people being hit & their skeletons flashing is quite cool. I still don't like the Daleks that much though & I never have. Unusually there is a pre-credit sequence in which contains actual sound-bites from speeches by John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Charles de Gaulle & the Duke of Edinburgh!

Remembrance of the Daleks: Part One is a decent enough opening episode to an OK story, I suppose at this point in the show's history we had to be grateful for anything we got that was even remotely good.