A Doctor Who story from the Tom Baker era, Destiny of the Daleks pits the Time Lord against his deadliest enemies once more in an enjoyable adventure, although truthfully it’s far from the finest hour of all concerned.
Originally broadcast at the end of the 1970s, Destiny of the Daleks is notable for introducing a regenerated Romana, but across its four episodes we also find the seemingly-dead Davros with a little more life in him than the Doctor expected. And there’s also the small matter of the Daleks being locked in the midst of a long-running war, with seemingly no way to break the stalemate. In short, plenty for the Doctor to get his teeth into.
Yet while Destiny of the Daleks has plenty of tasty ingredients, you can’t help but share a little disappointment at the way some elements play out. Sure, there’s a lot still to enjoy, but the plot sometimes struggles to justify the running time, and the lack of budget is more obvious than is usual in classic Doctor Who.
But it’s to the credit of Destiny of the Daleks that it rides out its problems and still delivers an enjoyable story. It may not be a favourite of the dedicated fans of the programme, but there’s still plenty here for Doctor Who fans young and old. And you can’t beat the Daleks…! —Jon Foster
Rainbow’s ‘Zippy’ doing Dalek voices. Destiny for me is the most memorable story (just) over City of Death. Looking at again, I thought the location work was very good around the ruined city.I didn’t notice it as a nine year old, but now I’ve noticed the Dalek casing are in really bad shape. Patched up panels and touched up here and there. Roy Skelton’s Dalek voices send images of Rainbow’s ‘Zippy’ on the Ring Modulator!The Movellan’s are a nice creation and still look good. Suzanne Danielle looks gorgeous. I can understand the equally attractive Lalla Ward being catty towards her regarding Danielle getting the ‘new girl’ treatment.I thought David Goodison’s Davros portrail was very good at the time. Not as perfect as Micheal Wisher, but still very good.The set’s are also very good. The Movellan ship interior still work’s.The commentry is is also good and focuses on many interesting issues. I notice director Ken Grieves is trying to build bridges between Tom Baker and Lalla Ward by praising Tom as a great actor, which he is and is still my quintessential Doctor.After enjoying it over again, it would be nice to have Tom Baker and Lalla Ward do commentry on future 17th & 18th season stories.
Spack Off ! ‘Destiny of the Daleks’ undeserved reputation comes from ‘fans’ in the know writing nasty things about it in the early Doctor Who Weekly and fanzines of the late 70s. I can only assume this is because it does not quite match up to the greatness of ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ (the ALL time best Dr Who story) AND the problems caused by hyper inflation at the time decimating the budget like the Dalek’s slaves are at the end of episode 4 ! However this is a strong, fast paced solid script by the great Terry Nation (with hints of script editor Douglas Adams style thrown in) and although the Daleks (and Davros) are a bit battered and dented this does not detract from the quality of the story. The first 2 cliff hangars are actually among the entire series finest. Tom Baker and Lalla Ward quickly establish a great team, and David Gooderson with the uneviable task of taking over from Michael Wisher as Davros turns in a great performance albeit in a decrepit mask! It is no exaggeration that this IS the best (and first) of the ‘Genesis’ sequels..oh and the title of this review is one of Tom’s most famous fluffs, from this story, during the ‘Mexican standoff’ scene, presumeably aimed at the ‘Destiny’ deriders ?
possibly the most formidable bad guys This is the first adventure featuring Lalla Ward as Romana and hence contains the very comic regeneration scene which personally I would say is reason enough for buying this episode.Thoughout Doctor Who the Daleks have been a great enemy, dispite their inability in the early series to get up stairs!This is a great Dalek story and certainly does not disappoint, it contains lots of laughs (not only at the men in white lycra :p) and also some great episode endings with actual suspense!