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Doctor Who: BBC Radio Collection
Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks
‘I’ve been renewed...without it I couldn’t survive.’ Before the astonished eyes of his companions Ben and Polly, the Doctor’s whole body has apparently been transformed. Now they are confronted by a stranger who claims to be their old friend – but how can they know whether to trust him? The TARDIS’s arrival on the swamp planet of Vulcan brings its own problems; the Doctor is mistaken for an official come to solve the Earth colony’s in-fighting, and soon he and his companions are embroiled in political wranglings. However, a far more serious threat lurks within the colony. The scientist Lesterson has discovered a crashed space capsule, within it a group of inert metallic creatures which the Doctor identifies as Daleks. Refusing to heed the Doctor’s warnings, Lesterson supplies power to the Daleks and revives them. The awakened Daleks claim to be faithful servants of humanity – but could such a thing ever be possible? By covert means they seek an increasing level of energy, but for what? By the time the Doctor and his friends discover the Daleks’ true plan for the colony, it looks as if it might already be too late to stop them... Anneke Wills, who plays Polly in the story, narrates this debut story for the second Doctor, Patrick Troughton, first broadcast in 1966 and long since missing from the television archives.
2 CDs. 2 hrs.
2 CDs. 2 hrs.
2 pages, Audio CD
First published March 18, 1993
About the author
David Whitaker
56 books27 followersDavid Whitaker was an English screenwriter and novelist best known for his work in the early days of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He served as the series' first story editor working on the programme's first fifty one episodes in this capacity.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 24, 2018
The Power of the Daleks
Original Airdate: 5 Nov, 1966
Transcribers note - this story exists in audio only.
Episode One
[Tardis]
(The Doctor has regenerated after his ordeal with the Cybermen and energy-draining Mondas. Ben and Polly watched him change into a younger person.)
POLLY: His face, his hair, look at it.
BEN: He's breathing, and the Tardis seems to be normal.
POLLY: Ben, what are we going to do? We can't just leave the Doctor there.
BEN: What, him? The Doctor?
POLLY: Well, that's who came through the doors. There was no one else outside. Ben, do you remember what he said in the tracking room? Something about 'This old body of mine is wearing a bit thin.'
BEN: So he gets himself a new one?
POLLY: Well, yes.
BEN: Oh, do me a favour.
POLLY: Then whatever happened, happened in here.
BEN: But it's impossible.
POLLY: Not so long ago we'd have been saying that about a lot of things.
(The man on the floor moans and opens his eyes. As he struggles to sit up, a searing pain nearly cripples him. Clutching his head, he stares wildly at Ben and Polly, his vision blurred. We hear the thumping of his headache, or is it heartbeat?)
DOCTOR: Stop. Stop. Concentrate on one thing. One thing.
(The man turns his attention to the Tardis console, focusing on the controls. The thumping becomes slower and softer. At last his vision clears. The man removes his hands from his face and looks around him, his features brightening in relief.)
DOCTOR: It's over. (chuckles) It's over.
(The man scrambles to his feet, wobbling unsteadily. Ben and Polly watch but make no attempt to help as he circles the Tardis console as if reacquainting himself with the controls. His clothes hang off his slight frame, much too big, and he struggles to unfasten the heavy cloak that threatens to trip him up. As he does so, an ornate ring drops to the floor.)
BEN: Doctor?
(As the Tardis engine springs to life and dematerialises, the man raises his hands to his face once more, feeling his features as if they belonged to a stranger. Polly moves to pick up the fallen ring, eyeing the newcomer with open curiosity and a little unease. The little man makes his way over to a storage chest, his stiff-legged gait reminding Polly of a small child learning to walk. He trips, but recovers quickly.)
DOCTOR: The muscles are still a bit tight.
BEN: What are we going to do?
POLLY: It is the Doctor. I know it is. I think.
BEN: It's not only his face that's changed. He doesn't even act like him.
(The stranger is rummaging through the contents of the chest.)
BEN: Come on, it's time we sorted this out. Now look here!
DOCTOR: Hold that.
(He hands Ben a mirror.)
.. continued until ...
DOCTOR: I think we'd better get out of here before they send us the bill.
[Mercury swamp]
(The Doctor and his companions walk to the Tardis. The Doctor is playing his recorder.)
BEN: Well, I mean I didn't expect the brass bands to be playing, but I wouldn't have thought a thank you would have hurt anybody.
POLLY: But Ben, think of all those poor people all killed.
BEN: I know, but the Doctor saved the colony from being completely wiped out.
POLLY: Hmm.
BEN: Yeah, and he was telling them all along, but would they listen?
POLLY: Mind you, he wasn't very convincing when he was trying to explain it to Valmar and Quinn and everybody.
BEN: No, he wasn't, was he?
POLLY: Doctor, you did know what you were doing, didn't you?
(The Doctor just chuckles and gives Polly a wink. There is a Dalek next to the Tardis, its casing melted and scorched.)
BEN: Oh, you needn't worry about them anymore, Doctor. Just a heap of old iron now.
(Ben taps the Dalek casing and they all go into the Tardis. Moments later it dematerialises and the Dalek's eye-stalk lifts as if to watch.)
Original Airdate: 5 Nov, 1966
Transcribers note - this story exists in audio only.
Episode One
[Tardis]
(The Doctor has regenerated after his ordeal with the Cybermen and energy-draining Mondas. Ben and Polly watched him change into a younger person.)
POLLY: His face, his hair, look at it.
BEN: He's breathing, and the Tardis seems to be normal.
POLLY: Ben, what are we going to do? We can't just leave the Doctor there.
BEN: What, him? The Doctor?
POLLY: Well, that's who came through the doors. There was no one else outside. Ben, do you remember what he said in the tracking room? Something about 'This old body of mine is wearing a bit thin.'
BEN: So he gets himself a new one?
POLLY: Well, yes.
BEN: Oh, do me a favour.
POLLY: Then whatever happened, happened in here.
BEN: But it's impossible.
POLLY: Not so long ago we'd have been saying that about a lot of things.
(The man on the floor moans and opens his eyes. As he struggles to sit up, a searing pain nearly cripples him. Clutching his head, he stares wildly at Ben and Polly, his vision blurred. We hear the thumping of his headache, or is it heartbeat?)
DOCTOR: Stop. Stop. Concentrate on one thing. One thing.
(The man turns his attention to the Tardis console, focusing on the controls. The thumping becomes slower and softer. At last his vision clears. The man removes his hands from his face and looks around him, his features brightening in relief.)
DOCTOR: It's over. (chuckles) It's over.
(The man scrambles to his feet, wobbling unsteadily. Ben and Polly watch but make no attempt to help as he circles the Tardis console as if reacquainting himself with the controls. His clothes hang off his slight frame, much too big, and he struggles to unfasten the heavy cloak that threatens to trip him up. As he does so, an ornate ring drops to the floor.)
BEN: Doctor?
(As the Tardis engine springs to life and dematerialises, the man raises his hands to his face once more, feeling his features as if they belonged to a stranger. Polly moves to pick up the fallen ring, eyeing the newcomer with open curiosity and a little unease. The little man makes his way over to a storage chest, his stiff-legged gait reminding Polly of a small child learning to walk. He trips, but recovers quickly.)
DOCTOR: The muscles are still a bit tight.
BEN: What are we going to do?
POLLY: It is the Doctor. I know it is. I think.
BEN: It's not only his face that's changed. He doesn't even act like him.
(The stranger is rummaging through the contents of the chest.)
BEN: Come on, it's time we sorted this out. Now look here!
DOCTOR: Hold that.
(He hands Ben a mirror.)
.. continued until ...
DOCTOR: I think we'd better get out of here before they send us the bill.
[Mercury swamp]
(The Doctor and his companions walk to the Tardis. The Doctor is playing his recorder.)
BEN: Well, I mean I didn't expect the brass bands to be playing, but I wouldn't have thought a thank you would have hurt anybody.
POLLY: But Ben, think of all those poor people all killed.
BEN: I know, but the Doctor saved the colony from being completely wiped out.
POLLY: Hmm.
BEN: Yeah, and he was telling them all along, but would they listen?
POLLY: Mind you, he wasn't very convincing when he was trying to explain it to Valmar and Quinn and everybody.
BEN: No, he wasn't, was he?
POLLY: Doctor, you did know what you were doing, didn't you?
(The Doctor just chuckles and gives Polly a wink. There is a Dalek next to the Tardis, its casing melted and scorched.)
BEN: Oh, you needn't worry about them anymore, Doctor. Just a heap of old iron now.
(Ben taps the Dalek casing and they all go into the Tardis. Moments later it dematerialises and the Dalek's eye-stalk lifts as if to watch.)
February 20, 2023
I've tried to watch this a few times over the years, but never been able to get past the first few episodes for some reason. I regret it now! Although it's a little slow to start with its plot, this is such an exciting, well-written and refreshing Doctor Who story. The regeneration - or 'renewal' - is handled with such confidence it's incredible to think it had never happened before. The Daleks are written so cleverly and brutally, and the final episode is genuinely devastating at times. This is such a bold and original story, and brings an amazing vision to the show.
February 1, 2020
Overall *****
Performance *****
Story *****
Performance *****
Story *****
Read
September 13, 2010http://nhw.livejournal.com/1014627.ht...[return]There was a time when this was literally the only Doctor Who book in existence (under its excellent original 1964 title of Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks); indeed it was the only commercially available representation of any Doctor Who story, in those days long before video-recorders (let alone DVDs). So we have Whitaker taking much greater liberty with Terry Nation's TV script than almost any other novelisation (John Lucarotti's treatment of The Massacre differs even more from the story as broadcast, but he was reverting back to his own original script).[return][return]And the result is quite possibly the best of the novelisations, judged as a novel. The opening of the story is comprehensively rewritten, Ian being an unemployed research scientist who accidentally encounters Barbara, who has been tutoring the mysterious Susan, and gets involved with the Doctor and his Tardis. So much time is invested - wisely - in setting the scene that we are a third of the way through the book before we reach the equivalent point to the end of the TV story's first episode (out of seven).[return][return]The biggest novelty, for those of us who have read almost any of the subsequent hundreds of Who books, is that the whole story is told in the first person, from Ian's point of view. (It's not unknown in later Who literature, but it is very unusual.) This does require a certain amount of narrative juggling, but Whitaker gets away with it better than I remembered from when I first read this, three decades ago.[return][return]Today's generation of fans will squee at the pronounced sexual tension in the Ian/Barbara relationship here - the TV story has Barbara close to flirting with Ganatus, one of the Thals, but he barely gets to look at her on the printed page. Poor Susan rather fades into the background as well after she has done her mercy run to the forest. The characterisation of the Doctor is much more harsh and edgy than Hartnell's depiction; since Whitaker was the story editor, perhaps this was what he had originally in mind? (A possibility supported by the surviving first cut of the first ever episode.)[return][return]And the Daleks themselves are pretty memorable here, though Whitaker seems a bit confused about their size - three feet high at one point, four foot six at another, though the illustrations are of our 'normal' sized pepperpots. However, this confusion is compensated for by the glorious description of the mutants within the metal casings, and their glass-enclosed leader. The TV show has never managed such memorable presentations of the creatures inside, though it has occasionally tried. (The versions encountered by the Ninth Doctor come closest.)[return]Anyway, this is an excellent read, well worth hunting down.
May 19, 2019
There's a number of different ways to approach the missing Doctor Who serials, and I've tried them all. There's everything from telesnap reconstructions, to audio releases and even the odd animated version, but none of them have ever done much for me. For the most part I've just written them off as a lost cause.
However, after reading the script to another missing BBC sci-fi serial, The Quatermass Experiment, earlier this year and thoroughly enjoying it, I thought I'd see if something similar existed for Doctor Who, and while for the majority of missing serials the answer is no, there were a handful published in the late 80s and early 90s, of which The Power of the Daleks is probably the most notable.
As both Patrick Troughton's debut serial and a Dalek story there's obviously a lot of historical significance attached to it, but putting that aside and viewing it on the strength of the narrative alone I found it to be pretty middling. The characterisation of Troughton's Doctor is still developing and the character here is not quite the character he'd come to be in later serials. All his eccentricities are turned up to the max and a lot of the subtlety is lost, although some of that may be down to only having the words on the page without Troughton's performance to add depth to them.
Outside of the Doctor himself we've got a pretty bog standard story of a power struggle on a space colony, with the Daleks lurking in the background playing the servant and waiting for their time to strike. It's hardly the most creative use of them, but I understand that most of the focus had to be on establishing Troughton in the role so it does make some sense for them to take a bit of a back seat.
On the whole I think the script works well as a way of experiencing the missing episodes, and I enjoyed reading it more than I've enjoyed watching any of the reconstructions in the past. I do own the novelisation too, although I've not yet read it, so maybe I'll give that a go at some point to see how it compares.
However, after reading the script to another missing BBC sci-fi serial, The Quatermass Experiment, earlier this year and thoroughly enjoying it, I thought I'd see if something similar existed for Doctor Who, and while for the majority of missing serials the answer is no, there were a handful published in the late 80s and early 90s, of which The Power of the Daleks is probably the most notable.
As both Patrick Troughton's debut serial and a Dalek story there's obviously a lot of historical significance attached to it, but putting that aside and viewing it on the strength of the narrative alone I found it to be pretty middling. The characterisation of Troughton's Doctor is still developing and the character here is not quite the character he'd come to be in later serials. All his eccentricities are turned up to the max and a lot of the subtlety is lost, although some of that may be down to only having the words on the page without Troughton's performance to add depth to them.
Outside of the Doctor himself we've got a pretty bog standard story of a power struggle on a space colony, with the Daleks lurking in the background playing the servant and waiting for their time to strike. It's hardly the most creative use of them, but I understand that most of the focus had to be on establishing Troughton in the role so it does make some sense for them to take a bit of a back seat.
On the whole I think the script works well as a way of experiencing the missing episodes, and I enjoyed reading it more than I've enjoyed watching any of the reconstructions in the past. I do own the novelisation too, although I've not yet read it, so maybe I'll give that a go at some point to see how it compares.
May 31, 2017
The power of the daleks as a simple story about human arrogance. Humans think that they are smart than everything. But the Daleks prove them wrong.
This is the first tale with the second doctor and it was a bit odd because the process of regenaration is not mention and the second doctor treated the first one as a third person.
Maybe at the time of this tv series they didn't knew how to cope with it end of one doctor and the second?
This Doctor is quite different. Always playing his flute but at the same time more in the center of the action.
A rebellion, the daleks being brought to life to be the humans slaves. Good but at the same time simple, too simple and didn't dwell much on the Doctor. But it was a good effort. Advisable to anyone who doesn't want to see the Reconstructions made for this episode but don't expect enlightnaments on the new doctor.
This is the first tale with the second doctor and it was a bit odd because the process of regenaration is not mention and the second doctor treated the first one as a third person.
Maybe at the time of this tv series they didn't knew how to cope with it end of one doctor and the second?
This Doctor is quite different. Always playing his flute but at the same time more in the center of the action.
A rebellion, the daleks being brought to life to be the humans slaves. Good but at the same time simple, too simple and didn't dwell much on the Doctor. But it was a good effort. Advisable to anyone who doesn't want to see the Reconstructions made for this episode but don't expect enlightnaments on the new doctor.
June 16, 2016
A grand introduction to the Second Doctor. He speaks in the third person, he isn't sure it is himself, and goes about in erratic ways. The companions, clueless as to what is happening, rolling with the punches, and hoping for the best.
Troughton set the standard for our Doctor Who regeneration process.
I hadn't seen any of his episodes that weren't ensemble casts. It was pleasant being able to experience him in his first storyline.
This plot would be echoed in future series with the over curious scientist that doesnt' realize they are fully sentient, and using that naivete to their advantage. Now, in this story, they are said to run on static electricity. That certainly seems a rather paltry way to get around. I was amused by that.
I don't presently have access to The Highlanders; the second story line for Troughton, and we meet Jamie. I will keep looking.
Troughton set the standard for our Doctor Who regeneration process.
I hadn't seen any of his episodes that weren't ensemble casts. It was pleasant being able to experience him in his first storyline.
This plot would be echoed in future series with the over curious scientist that doesnt' realize they are fully sentient, and using that naivete to their advantage. Now, in this story, they are said to run on static electricity. That certainly seems a rather paltry way to get around. I was amused by that.
I don't presently have access to The Highlanders; the second story line for Troughton, and we meet Jamie. I will keep looking.
July 12, 2008
This is the first reconstruction of a lost Dr. Who episode using on air audio that I've listened to before. It works very well and the linking narration blends nicely. It comes across like old radio show. The plot for this particular story is somewhat disappointing. Still, this was really just written to have the new Doctor fight some Daleks in the hopes of showing people that even though this isn't William Hartnell, this is still Dr. Who. As we all know, they succeeded.
August 24, 2022
It was nice experiencing this story for the first time as I’m a fan of the second doctor and haven’t managed to see many of his stories because a lot of them are lost. The Daleks were really brutal in this one but I liked it and I can see how it could’ve been used as inspiration for later dalek stories like Victory of the Daleks
June 10, 2016
I'd hoped for something a bit better for the debut of one of 'my' Doctors, but I suppose the character legitimately needed time to develop. Usual sort of story and I may possibly see fit to adopt a dalek-y "I am your SERV-VANT"
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews