Who Review: Revolution of the Daleks

The Doctor has been imprisoned by the Judoon but help is on the way. Meanwhile, American businessman Jack Robertson (see “Arachnids in the UK”) has taken the shell of a reconnaissance Dalek (see “Resolution”) and created a drone security force that he plans to sell to the British government. These Daleks don’t kill, however; they merely spray water and gas. But traces of the original Dalek shell occupant are still present, and that’s all you need to make a clone. Ryan, Yaz, and Graham reunite with the Doctor to investigate these new Daleks. But it soon becomes apparent that these harmless drones are under new management, and they are now far from harmless…

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those who haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

Chris “Chibbers” Chibnall’s New Year’s offering picks up on story threads leftover from last New Year with the reconnaissance Dalek, and the end of the last season with the Doctor in prison. The story starts with the Doctor languishing in her cell reciting Harry Potter from memory, the new drone Daleks being created and deployed, and Yaz inside the house-TARDIS (see the end of the last episode) trying to figure out what happened to the Doctor. It’s a bit of a slow start, but clearly, Chibbers had time to kill.

To be fair, I didn’t think “Revolution of the Daleks” is a bad story overall. We’ve had a lot worse over the past couple of years. The woke messaging was not overt, and the plot rolled along without causing too much offense to people who just want to enjoy a good story and not be preached at. *ahem*

The special effects were good, but dodgy effects have rarely been a problem for Nu-Who since the BBC started throwing real money at the show (from around 2006 or 2007). On the whole, it’s entertaining and does the job.

(You’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, aren’t you? And I’m not going to disappoint.)

BUT… it’s not what it could have been. For a start, this could have been trimmed to an hour. I think we spend too much time watching the Doctor in prison. What do we learn that’s relevant to the story while she’s pacing her cell? Perhaps something I just don’t remember, or maybe I missed something? Let me know in the comments. As I said, I think cuts could have been made to get to the story quicker and step up the pace. However, that’s my most minor complaint.

As you know if you’ve seen the episode or been following news reports, Graham and Ryan left at the end of the story. Throughout the episode, there are moments that build up to this supposedly emotional departure. I say “supposedly” because, honestly, it wasn’t at all emotional, at least for me. These characters have been in the show for two seasons now and I have absolutely no sense of attachment to them. The Doctor could have left all three behind and I wouldn’t have cared. It’s not that there were too many companions. The First and Fifth Doctors both had three companions to begin with, and their companion departures were much more significant. Three companions can be done, but you need: a) chemistry, and b) good writing. And that’s why I don’t think it worked here.

I cringed at the scene between Ryan and the Doctor, where Ryan, this young guy who had hardly seen much of the world before the Doctor came along, gives deep wisdom to the Doctor about accepting change and embracing who she is. The Doctor is a 900+-year-old Time Lord who has regenerated at least thirteen times and had numerous companions. In other words, she is no stranger to change and learning to accept herself or himself, depending on the regeneration. I don’t deny that older people can learn from the young, but this scene should have been cut. Not only does it seem odd and out-of-character for Ryan to be giving life lessons to the Doctor, but it’s out of place with the story, and makes reference to the “Timeless Child” revelation of the previous story that I thought we had moved on from, and which has no bearing whatsoever on the current adventure. This scene exists purely and solely to set us up for Ryan’s departure. That fact is so obvious it’s painful.

And then there’s Jodie’s Doctor. As I’ve said since her first season, Jodie Whittaker is a fine actress making the best of what she’s been given. There are moments when she gives a Doctor-ish performance, but on the whole, I’ve not felt the same sense of gravitas, or authenticity from her performance as I have from previous Doctors. I’ve pondered what it is that’s missing that would give Jodie’s Doctor that edge. I’m still not sure what it is. Is she suppressing the opportunity to allow the Doctor to be a strong female lead because of some woke commitment on the part of the showrunner to make the Doctor “genderless”? Is it simply that she was miscast for the role? The jury’s still out for me, but there were times in this episode where a very dramatic moment missed the mark because Jodie simply wasn’t selling it. For example, when the Daleks are closing in and the Doctor needs to come up with a way to defeat them and escape without killing herself or her friends–I didn’t feel that this was life-and-death, that what the Doctor was about to do was extremely risky and highly dangerous. Whether it was badly written, or whether Jodie was playing it safe–I don’t know. Perhaps something to discuss in the comments. If you’ve seen Jodie in Broadchurch, you know what she’s capable of, so I’m disappointed.

Perhaps my thoughts on this story can be summed up by reflecting on the title. The story is called “Revolution of the Daleks.” The Fifth Doctor had a story called “Resurrection of the Daleks,” the Sixth had “Revelation of the Daleks,” and the Seventh had “Remembrance of the Daleks.” Clearly, Chibbers is playing on the “R” theme, perhaps hoping that his story would somehow be elevated to the lofty ranks of these stories (they are darned good Who stories–see my reviews) simply by name association. However, using another R-word for a title is about as far as the comparison with these classic stories goes. There is similarity in name, but definitely not in substance.

To sum up, I think this story was not the best, but it’s entertaining and not a waste of your time should you decide to watch it. However, aside from the companion departures, you really aren’t missing anything if you give it a miss.

It looks as if there will be a season thirteen. And rumors abound that Jodie will leave at the end of that season. I think there’s every reason to believe the rumors. Neither the BBC nor Jodie herself are denying them, also this will be her third season and it’s kinda-traditional for a Doctor to consider bowing out at that point. I think for the sake of her future career, Jodie needs to quit. Ratings are the worst they’ve been since 2005, and the show has lost a lot of support from fans. I can’t say I’m particularly thrilled for the next season. Heck, look how long it took for me to post this review! I still maintain, perhaps even more so now, that Who needs to rest for at least five years and then come back with a new Doctor, new show-runner, and new production team. And it needs to happen now before it suffers the shame of cancellation.

Have you seen “Revolution of the Daleks”? What did you think? Let’s discuss in the comments!