Doctor Who/Recap/S17/E01 Destiny of the Daleks

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< Doctor Who‎ | Recap‎ | S17


I want to get a closer look at that body

Well Davros, I see the long dark has done nothing to cure your megalomania. Have a Jelly Baby.
The Doctor

Is there a stowaway aboard the TARDIS? No, it's just Romana, who has regenerated off-screen, for no apparent reason, and chosen to do so into an identical double of Princess Astra. (One might think that she'd had enough of being a princess's exact double after the incident on Tara, but clearly our Romana is made of stronger stuff than that.)[1]

Meanwhile, the TARDIS has arrived on a seemingly deserted planet that the Doctor finds naggingly familiar. Turns out it's Skaro, home planet of the Daleks, which the Doctor last visited five seasons ago, when he crossed metaphorical swords with the Daleks' creator, Davros. The Daleks exterminated Davros when they decided he had outlived his usefulness, but now they need his help so they've come back to find him—and isn't it lucky for them that Davros wasn't killed, but has only been in suspended animation all this time?

The Daleks' problem is that they've reached a stalemate in a war with the Movellans, and need Davros to cast a fresh eye on the problem. Speaking of Movellans, there's a group of them come to find out what the Daleks are up to, and when they find out they decide that if the Daleks are taking advice from Davros, they'll take advice from the Doctor—whether he wants to give it to them or not.


This story was a turning point for the Daleks—every Dalek story for the next decade was more of a Davros story with some Daleks in it than an actual Dalek story.

This story is also known because Terry Nation seems to forget what he himself established about the Daleks, calling them robots and portraying them as perfectly logical Straw Vulcans... even though they're usually the opposite.

Watch it here


Tropes

Romana: "I thought I'd try this one, but it's a bit short."
(The Doctor stands up, revealing Romana is the size of a child)
Doctor: "Well lengthen it then, go on."
(Exit Romana. The Doctor crawls along the floor for a while and then bumps into a toga-wearing beauty. He stands up...only to find he only goes up to Romana's shoulders)
Doctor: "Too tall, take it away!"

  1. The Expanded Universe attempts to explain several times over why Romana regenerated, as well as why she was able to change her form several times without wasting Regenerations. Few make real sense.