Doctor Who: Revelation of the Daleks

In the '80s, Doctor Who was in trouble. The massive popularity of Tom Baker's era gave way to a well-liked Doctor (played, of course, by Peter Davison), but also to a damaging new weeknight schedule and an obsession with referencing the past that soon led to a show only fans could understand. When Davison was replaced with Colin Baker, things got worse still. The new Doctor was initially violent and garish, a total contrast to the previous meek incarnation. In spite of the dad-friendly sight of Peri's cleavage, viewing figures plummeted (I should rewrite that with a different gag...) For its 22nd season, the show was reshaped from twenty-six 25-minute episodes to thirteen 45-minute ones -- surely that could never work?! Obviously, it does if you handle it correctly, but 1985 was not the right time for Doctor Who, and it was put on an 18-month suspension... You can catch the next part of this story when I come to review my next serial, but for now let's stick with this one -- Revelation of the Daleks, the last story broadcast before the hiatus.

Colin Baker's era is generally looked down upon (not without reason), but Revelation is a brilliant story for all sorts of reasons. The subject matter is wonderfully grim. Consequently the story is packed with violence and gore, all of it effectively achieved, especially considering the programme's budget. This is underscored by a set of great guest performances, both from recognisable faces like Eleanor Bron and Clive Swift, and lesser-known (to me, at least) actors such as William Gaunt. Even Alexei Sayle's DJ character, while incredibly irritating, provides a change of pace and style that is almost entertaining -- plus, whoever thought you'd get to see a Dalek killed by rock 'n' roll! Speaking of pace and style, both hold up incredibly well 23 years on -- with a few modifications, this might even fit quite comfortably into the new series. Graeme Harper's direction especially is as accomplished as ever, some of the best you're likely to see in classic Who -- or, I'd wager, in much drama from the same period.

There are flaws, of course. The Doctor and Peri take too long to actually get involved, meandering across Necros for the whole of Part One, while inside there's some actual plot going on. In the same vein the Daleks and Davros do next to nothing for the whole of the first episode -- their return is so underplayed, and then they're so underused, that one has to wonder if the story would be even better with an original enemy. Part Two does something to address these faults, but simultaneously discards much of what was going on in the first episode. Perhaps it goes without saying that the story might've been stronger if it could have mixed the two halves together, especially as the first half has quite a slow pace while the second rattles through events in a rush to get everything done.

The DVD of Revelation has the option for both new CGI effects and 5.1 Surround Sound. I'm a purist only as far as the original at least being an option, so I merrily turned both of these on for my viewing. The surround mix is great, making good use of the rear speakers for both effects and music (one of the things that most often annoys me about surround mixes is when they don't put the music across all the speakers. Why not?! It's not occurring either on screen or in the off-screen space (to get mildly technical!), so it should come from everywhere, not specifically the front!) Mark Ayres, the Restoration Team's audio expert, seems quite happy to add new effects, recreate dialogue, etc, for these surround mixes, so that they work as well as possible. As I said, this is fine as far as I'm concerned, as the originals are always included and are the default setting, but semi-purists may have different feelings. (For more information on the work Ayres did here, check out the Restoration Team's article.)

The new CGI effects, meanwhile, are so well integrated that most, if not all, would go unnoticed to an unaware first time viewer. I didn't compare them to the originals, which may of course be flatly bad -- I sometimes find classic Who's video effects, such as laser beams, are even worse than I remember -- but these new versions don't jump out as totally incongruous. In this respect I suppose the story benefits from not having any big model sequences, or dodgy aliens that could do with replacing, so doesn't have entirely CG-model sequences that would stand out like a sore thumb. It lessens the importance of any debate over whether to turn the new effects on, whereas on other, more heavily CGI'd stories I'm still not sure which version I'd plump for (especially for a first viewing).

Before he was unceremoniously booted off the show, C. Baker only managed to make eight stories -- less even than Chris Eccleston! (Though, this is because I count The Trial of a Time Lord as one story; if you listen to those who count it as more, Baker managed twelve tales.) Whilst I haven't seen them all (in fact, I've thus far missed out on the two widely considered to be among the programme's worst ever), I think it's safe to say Revelation is among his best. That might not be saying much, so I'll add that there are probably a sizable number of the stories from all the other Doctors I would rank lower than it too. Maybe, just maybe, I might even place it somewhere in my personal favourites... but then, as I've only seen 42% of classic Who, I'm always wary of making such sweeping statements.