Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site spock.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!epsilon!zeta!sabre!bellcore!decvax!yale!spock!ckuppe From: ckuppe@spock.UUCP (Charles A. Kupperman '87 ) Newsgroups: net.tv.drwho Subject: The Daleks. Message-ID: <256@spock.UUCP> Date: Sat, 1-Jun-85 18:15:53 EDT Article-I.D.: spock.256 Posted: Sat Jun 1 18:15:53 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 6-Jun-85 04:24:37 EDT References: <2600039@acf4.UUCP>, <255@spock.UUCP> Organization: Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, CT. Lines: 74 I was thinking about the Daleks the other day, for no good reason. They really are the perfect adversary for the Doctor, and that I think is the reason for their success. They are not simply logical like the cybermen or brutal like the Sontarans, but they have a great cunning and intelligence. Also, they bring out the best qualities in each Doctor. In the first Doctor, they brought out his own cunning and wit. More than any other adversary, the first Doctor was continuously battling with all of his wits against the daleks. The best example would be Dalek Invasion of Earth. The Daleks lock him in a cell. He figures out the fantastically complex locking mechanism and escapes, but it turns out to be a Dalek trap. The best thing was the uncertainty that he would win. He was occasionally ruthless (e.g., the time destructor) and in the end it was only the Doctor's caring for his companions that seperated him from the Daleks. Both were logical and cunning. (The first Doctor would never "abandon methodical procedure for blind instinct.") The second Doctor was immediately thrown into conflict with the Daleks in "Power of the Daleks," and in him they brought out his wayward humor, as well as his great humanity. He was not nearly as clever in battling them as Hartnell, and "Power of the Daleks" was quite a different dalek adventure from the others. If "Power" brought out his humor, "Evil of the Daleks" brought out his great humanity and kindness. This culminated in the great confrontation scene between him and the Emperor Dalek. The irony was that he was human (The Daleks tricked him into nearly enslaving all of mankind) but when they tried their new process on him it didn't work- He wasn't human. The third Doctor showed his great moral strength against the daleks. He had numerous speeches in "Day of the Daleks" which exposed his attitude to the daleks, enslaving mankind ruthlessly. He never seemed to directly confront the daleks, but in his conversations with humans, he demonstrated himself as the antithesis of everything "daleky" (Terrance Dicks' word, not mine.) The fourth Doctor, of all the Doctors, was the least well opposed with the daleks. "Genesis of the Daleks" was close to the moralisation of the Pertwee stories, and "Destiny of the Daleks" was simply humerous. If anything could be said to be exposed in the Doctor in these two stories, it is his great color- In his scarf he offsets the grey daleks trundling around, and he is mobile as opposed to their impotence in climbing a rope. He demonstrates the great creative energy of mankind against the grey "bureaucracy" of the daleks. The fifth Doctor's most noticeable trait, some have said, was his persistent yet hesitant optimism. This was what he showed best with the daleks. While the cybermen were too monolithic for the Doctor to really oppose well, the daleks are used to good discussions, as is Davros. He fights them with optimistic lines such as, "You know, without the threat of death, you're quite useless," and when Davros says to him, "The universe is at war, Doctor. It is the only reality." He says sternly, "Which I do not accept." The sixth Doctor, ranged against the grey pepperpots of evil, will probably demonstrate his love of self and of expressing that self. I can picture him facing the all pervading daleks, constantly vying for attention. He could easily upstage the daleks in any scene. I've only seen Twin Dilemma at a convention, so I can't really say what his dominant outlook on life is. But I would say that he would not be inconsistent with something like Walt Whitman's, "Song of Myself." Not egotistical, just daring to be more than yourself. And it is this that he ought to show against the daleks. Charles Kupperman, "You know, Doctor, sometimes you amaze me." "Only sometimes?" -Dalek Invasion of Earth. "I am not a student of human nature. I am a professor of a far wider academy of which human nature is only a part." - Evil of the Daleks. "Is it madness to want to see a world free from their rule?" - Day of the Daleks. "If you're supposed to be the superior life form in the universe, why don't you try climbing after me?" - Destiny of the Daleks. "Davros, before I came in here, I mistakenly hoped you might have changed enough not for me to have to do this." - Resurrection of the Daleks.