Fellow Doctor Who Watch contributor Meagan Bojarski has recently watched and reviewed the classic William Hartnell story The Daleks. Be sure to check out her review here, which certainly doesn’t shy away from what she didn’t enjoy about the serial.
Personally speaking, while it’s not my favorite Dalek story, The Daleks is definitely a serial that I have a soft spot for. The production is surprisingly impressive for ‘60s Who; there's a strong sense of atmosphere, and it’s a solid old-school adventure story.
However, while I disagree with some aspects of Meagan’s review, there's one point that's hard to argue with: how slow it is. The Daleks is 7 episodes long, and each episode is 25 minutes. That’s a total running time of almost 3 hours.
Long story, light plot
If you're wondering if the plot justifies the length, here's a summary: the Doctor and his companions arrive on Skaro and get captured by the Daleks, becoming prisoners in their city. They escape, but because a vital component of the TARDIS gets left behind, they have to go back.
Crossing swamps and caves to sneak into the city, the Doctor and his companions fight the Daleks with the help of the Thals, Skaro’s other surviving race. After defeating the evil pepper pots, the travellers leave in the TARDIS. That’s a decent amount of plot to tell across ninety minutes, but twice that long? Yes, it’s hard to deny that the story moves slowly.
Which is what reminded me of The Daleks in Color. Released last year for Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary celebration, The Daleks in Color is more than a simple colorization of a classic story. Edited down to just 75 minutes and with new effects and a new soundtrack, it’s essentially a brand new presentation of the classic serial. So how well does it work?
In living color
The first thing that stands out is how bright a lot of the colors are. The seemingly stone forest is made into something much greener underneath Skaro’s deep red sky. The look of Skaro in this story matches the bright colors of the '60s Dalek comics, something that I suspect was a very deliberate choice.
As a massive fan of the pepper pots in general, I loved seeing the Daleks themselves in color. In all the photos I’ve seen of the ‘60s Dalek stories, the silver and light blue de has always looked great, and that’s true in this new version of their debut story.
Beyond the colorization itself, there are other notable changes to the presentation of the story. There are a couple of new effects shots of Skaro that thankfully avoid looking too out of place, perhaps because the original look of Skaro still holds up. There are also new extermination effects, and even new lines recorded by original Dalek voice actor David Graham!
New edit
However, for someone more than a little familiar with the story, what stands out almost as much as the colorization itself is the new edit. The Daleks runtime is reduced from approximately 175 minutes to just 75 - that’s a reduction of 100 minutes, the length of your standard four-part story. So how well does the new edit work?
As I mentioned, I’m a fan of The Daleks and have watched it a number of times. So with the new edit, it’s hard not to feel like the story is moving on fast forward. But objectively speaking, there are elements of this new edit that work.
One thing that helps is, as noted before, the original serial was slow-paced anyway, so the main story is still retained even with the significantly shortened length. The core remains intact, although a few elements are trimmed.
For example, in the original version, Susan is startled when she’s touched by a stranger in the first episode. She’s clearly shaken up, but the rest of the TARDIS crew are reluctant to believe her. That is until they hear a knocking on the TARDIS doors before finding drugs outside.
This entire part of the storyline is completely removed from the new edit, and it’s easy to see why. This is when the editing works best - removing scenes and developments that have minimal impact and won’t be missed. However, while some aspects work, that doesn't mean that the new edit is perfect.
“No, please! Please! You’re too quick for me!”
The above quote is said by the Thal Alydon when he meets Susan, and honestly, it sums up the biggest faults of the new edit. Lengthy conversations are edited down to just the bare essentials, cutting away to a shot of a character or location to try to make the edits harder to spot.
Some of these edits work and some of them don’t, especially when the shots used are extremely brief. Many of the edited conversations feel too fast, with characters not even pausing for breath in the new edit. While it’s true that modern Who moves at a significantly faster pace, even the quickest conversations felt more natural.
Sometimes, however, the quick editing works well. There are one or two moments where the story cuts between different characters and conversations rapidly. Rather than feeling unnatural, these moments help to increase tension quickly, which genuinely impressed me.
New edit or original serial - which is better?
The Daleks in Color isn’t a perfect new version of the classic story. If I’m honest, as long as it is, I still prefer the original 7-part serial. It might be longer than it needs to be, given the light plot, but at the same time, there are plenty of moments that flesh out both the TARDIS team and the Thals.
In fact, one of my favorite aspects of The Daleks is almost completely removed from the new edit - the relationship between the two brothers Ganatus and Antodus. One brave and the other cowardly, the brothers clash at several points on their journey to the Dalek city. It all builds up to an incredibly tense scene where Antodus sacrifices himself to save Ian’s life, leaving his previously heroic brother grieving and ready to give up.
The Daleks in Color keeps Antodus’s death, but that’s essentially all it keeps. And I won’t deny, it’s easy to see why this story was removed from the new edit - like Susan encountering the stranger in the forest, it doesn’t really add anything significant plot-wise. But it’s also something that makes the original version that little bit more special.
Still, as much as I’m a fan of the original version, I can’t deny that The Daleks in Color just about works as a fresh take for newer fans to enjoy. It perhaps could’ve benefited from an extra 10-15 minutes, just to allow a little more breathing room. But overall, this experimental take on a classic story is a successful one. Whether you’re watching the story for the first time or are curious about the new take, The Daleks in Color is worth a watch. (And if you get it on Blu-ray, you get both versions to enjoy and compare.)