Geek Syndicate
Michael Wisher played Davros and he does a fantastic job,
producing a realistic ironic villain. Watching these two verbally joust is a joy to be seen, illustrating from very early on
in his Doctor Who career how The Doctor was Tom Baker.
Further, the sprawling wastelands of Skaro add atmosphere to this incredible script and for once the quarry location really does seem like a desolate alien landscape. The
gloomy remains of each side’s base really make the viewer
feel like they are watching people who have been through
a war like no other.
In my own document about the Daleks, I reason that
without this event, the Daleks would never have become
a space faring race. Before meeting the Doctor, neither
the Kaleds nor the Thals were aware of life on other
planets so there’s no reason why the Daleks would have
either! For more of my Dalek related thoughts, check
out WedgeDoc’s Dalek Guide, available on this page.
- Antony
ANTONY’S CHOICE:
Terry Nation was a man who had lived through World War
Two and the Daleks were an analogy of the Nazi menace.
This is apparent in this story more than any other. From
the Matt black, SS like uniforms of the Kaled race to the
particularly menacing Nyder’s quasi German accent. As
Davros’ right hand man, Nyder epitomises Goring, Goebbels and in particular Himmler as he happily watches as
they cause terror, destruction and inhuman cruelty to not
only their enemies, but also their own people.
Synopsis (from Tardis.wikia.com):
The Fourth Doctor and Leela land in the cargo hopper of
a sandminer, whose crew are being murdered one by one.
This story added many elements to the Doctor Who mythology. The creation of Davros as a voice for the metal
despots led every Dalek story in the classic series after
including the character in some form or another. It can
also be argued quite successfully that this act by the Time
Lords is where the Time War began.
This story is a classic. If you only ever watch one serial
from classic Doctor Who this would be one of my choices.
It is not just Tom Baker’s best outing it is one of the best
serials in the entire fifty years of Doctor Who.
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I get the feeling that many readers who are fans of the
classic series will be thinking “you’ve made a typo … that’s
the wrong ‘of death’ you have there. Sure, Robots is great
but City is surely superior in every way!”. I’d go so far as to
accept their points, but this is my choice and so Robots it is.
Robots of Death comes from the “Hinchcliffe era” of the
series. Philip Hinchcliffe was an excellent producer and
together with Script Editor Robert Holmes (as Luke has
pointed out perhaps the finest Who writer ever) he was
responsible for commissioning some of the finest stories
ever produced at a time when Tom Baker was at his best.
Many of these stories were of a more horror tone than
those that had come before and the series was perhaps
the darkest it had b een up to that point, but it was a darkness that suited - especially with Tom Baker in the lead