"Doctor Who"
Remembrance of the Daleks: Part 4 (1988)

Director:

Andrew Morgan

Writer:

Ben Aaronovitch (writer)

TV Series:

"Doctor Who" (1963)

Original Air Date:

26 October 1988 (Season 25, Episode 4)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Dalek | Famous Opening Theme | Doctor Who | Man With No Name | Scientist Hero

Cast

Sylvester McCoy	...	The Doctor
Sophie Aldred	...	Ace
Simon Williams	...	Gilmore
Dursley McLinden	...	Mike
Pamela Salem	...	Rachel
Karen Gledhill	...	Allison
George Sewell	...	Ratcliffe
Terry Molloy	...	Davros
Jasmine Breaks	...	The Girl
Hugh Spight	...	Black Dalek Operator
John Scott Martin	...	Dalek Operator
Cy Town	...	Dalek Operator
Tony Starr	...	Dalek Operator
Roy Skelton	...	Daleks (voice)
Royce Mills	...	Daleks (voice)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Macbeth Street, Hammersmith, London, England, UK

Quotes:

The Doctor: Crush the lesser races. Conquer the galaxy. Incredible power, unlimited rice pudding, et cetera, et cetera.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 50 Greatest Television Dramas (2007) (TV)

Average Doctor Who story.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks: Part Four starts as the Daleks lead by Davros (Terry Molloy) land reinforcements which head off in search of the Hand of Omega held by the renegade Daleks lead by the black Dalek Supreme (Hugh Spight), after an intense fight the Daleks capture the Hand of Omega & return to the mother-ship where Davros awaits to use it. Has the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) failed? Or does he have one last final trick up his sleeve in an attempt to save the Universe...

Episode 4 from season 25 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during October 1988, directed by Andrew Morgan this has been an OK story but nothing special. The script by Ben Aaronovitch was the final time the Daleks appeared in the classic series & this isn't a particularly memorable send off. The story has moved along at a fair pace, there's been a couple of predictable twists & some reasonable ideas but I don't really like the Daleks, I don't really Sylvester McCoy & I hate Ace so the odds were always against me liking Remembrance of the Daleks too much. There hasn't been any decent cliffhanger endings & the scene at the end when the Doctor convinces the black Dalek Supreme to destroy itself is just lazy & didn't do it for me at all as an ending. The idea of the Daleks staking almost everything on a 8 year old girl seems odd, the idea of the Daleks having only one transmat which is only capable of transmatting one Dalek at a time (hardly handy if you want to build an army up, one Dalek at a time would take a very, very long time...) just doesn't make any logical sense & maybe I'm thinking about this too much but as a whole the story could have been better.

Creator of the Daleks Davros makes his first appearance here, the mask is actually rather impressive & he looks good. We also get to see what is described as a special weapons Dalek which is the bottom half of an ordinary Dalek with a tank like gun turret on top, it looks OK but a bit tatty & dirty as if it was made from left over Daleks pieces which in all honestly maybe it was. There hasn't been anything scary or frightening in Remembrance of the Daleks, although if the Daleks scare you on their own then there is I suppose. If they don't though then there's not much here to get you behind the sofa. The acting has been alright, experienced British TV actor the late George Sewell appears in this as well as the late Michael Sheard probably best known for playing strict school teacher Mr. Bronson in 90 episodes of the school drama Grange Hill (1985 - 1989) as well as appearing in four previous Doctor Who stories including The Mind of Evil (1971), The Pyramids of Mars (1975), The Invisible Enemy (1977) & Castrovalva (1982).

Remembrance of the Daleks: Part Four is as good as the previous three which is to say average at best really. It's still quite fun & watchable in a Doctor Who sort of way but not of the show's best. Overall I'll give Remembrance of the Daleks a satisfactory 5 stars out of 10 across it's four episodes.