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Why were the Daleks so underused in 80's Who?
CELT1987
Posts: 12,358 Forum Member
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If you look at eighties Who, there were only 3 Dalek stories. Resurrection, Revelation and Remembrance. Why was this? I would have thought that with ratings going down, they would have been in more stories. Davison should have had at least 2 Dalek stories, as should Colin. McCoy did have one but that was near the end of his time. Even in Tom Baker's time, he only faced the Daleks twice. They were underused in my view.
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I think in honesty that as audiences became more sophisticated with sci-fi (thanks to Hollywood blockbusters), having clunky, cheap looking daleks trundling about, would have been worse than not using them. The daleks are iconic and in the 70's were the most brilliant concept because imagination rather than technology ruled. By the 80's people expected better and more sophistication in their TV, and sadly Daleks couldn't deliver these things. You only have to see a Daleks story from the 80's to see how clumsy they looked!
It's the best story featuring the Daleks, but I think of it as a Davros one. If any of the three missing/incomplete 60's ones return, you may see more people claiming one of them as the best starring the Daleks as the main foe.
Even when Doctor Who was brought back in 2005 I can still remember it being questionable whether the Daleks would be able to be included in the new series. I believe the feud continued with Terry Nation's family after his death, too.
3 ? Power, Evil and...?
The Dalek Masterplan
There also wasn't one between 1967's Evil of the Daleks and Day of the Daleks in 1972.
They were just too overused in the first few years, again in the early to mid 70s, and yet again in the 00s. It's good for them to have a break - as well as being the most iconic monsters they became victims of their own success because it also means that they were the most often defeated foes as well.
I don't know how that slipped my mind!
No sorry disagree with this. Davros ruined the Daleks. They went from being the self professed supreme beings of the universe that had made the show, to self confessed side-issue cannon fodder. In actual fact, they did exterminate Davros in Genesis shortly after their retconned re-creation, but in subsequent shows the writers insisted on literally resurrecting him, mainly (I understand) because Terry Nation, who held the rights, insisted on this. But Davros was only ever another take on the Master type character, one of many arch villains that the Doctor had to face. If they do bring Davros back, I think it should be doing something completely different, not leading the Daleks again (although, to their credit, nu-Who writers have up to now made sure that Davros was serving the Daleks, rather than the other way around. That at least is consistent with their original philosophy).
Is Destiny considered a sequel to Genesis? Good grief! If that's the case then surely Resurrection is the third part?
I thought it was a shame that Davros didn't appear in the 50th because he fought in the Time War, or had he already been dispatched by that point?
I didn't mean as a sequel necessarily, just that they both revolved around Davros, and both were set on Skaro.
No question
I've never really been that bothered about them showing the Time War, mainly because I didn't think the visuals would be as good as my imagination but after seeing just a glimpse of it in the 50th I would love nothing more than a full on Time War movie, complete with Daleks and Timelords galore, Nestines, Sontarans all kicking the s**t out of each other. Bring it on. Just imagine the cast list too, Hurt, McGann, Jacobi. Peter Jackson directing. What are they waiting for?