The Day of the Daleks @ The TARDIS Library (Doctor Who books, DVDs, videos & audios)


The Day of the Daleks
 

No. 7 of 135 in the BBC classic series videos series
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Starring: Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning, Nicholas Courtney & Richard Franklin
By:Louis Marks
Rating:   7.6  (71 votes)  Vote here
Review:  A return to be proud of  Read more (8 in total)
Editions:  UK UK (edited VHS) | UK UK (Betamax) | Australia Australia (edited VHS) | US US (VHS) | Israel Israel (VHS) | US US (Laserdisc) | UK UK (unedited VHS) | Australia Australia (unedited VHS) | UK UK (Laserdisc)

Cover image for The Day of the Daleks
Edition: UK UK (edited VHS)
Released:  July 1986
Publisher:  BBC Video
Format: 1 x VHS PAL
Owned:
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Note:  Movie format. Was re-released in March 1988 at a lower price and with a different catalogue number (BBCV 4109, compared to the original’s BBCV 2036). The contents and back cover blurb were identical, and the front cover only different in a very minor way — i.e. the alignment of the photo is subtly different and the placement of the logo was tweaked by a couple of millimetres. So the differences are too small to list here as a separate edition.

Cover blurb:
An exciting, action-packed thriller in which The Doctor (Jon Pertwee) comes face-to-face with his oldest and deadliest enemy...

World peace hangs in the balance. Sir Reginald Styles, a high-ranking diplomat is the only person that stands between mankind and a third and final World War. But a mysterious and savage guerilla force from the 22nd Century believe Styles is the agent that shaped their terrifying future and therefore must die...

The Doctor and Jo find themselves flung into the guerillas’ world; a brutal dictatorship policed by the merciless and ape-like Ogrons. The Daleks have invaded Earth, enslaved the population and face certain triumph unless The Doctor betrays all he believes in and condones the cold-blooded murder of Styles in an attempt to change the course of history... irrevocably.

No cover available
Edition: UK UK (Betamax)
Released:  July 1986
Publisher:  BBC Video
Format: 1 x Betamax
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Cover blurb:
No cover information available yet.

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Cover image for The Day of the Daleks
Edition: Australia Australia (edited VHS)
Released:  December 1986 (Exact date unconfirmed)
Publisher:  PolyGram
Format: 1 x VHS PAL
Owned:
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Cover blurb:
Same as edited UK edition.

Cover image for The Day of the Daleks
Edition: US US (VHS)
Released:  March 1989
Publisher:  BBC Video
Format: 1 x VHS NTSC
Owned:
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Note:  Movie format.

Cover blurb:
Earth ruled by Daleks!

Perhaps it was inevitable. The ultimate war came to pass. And with it went all vestiges of civilization as we once knew it. It was exactly the opportunity the evil robot Daleks had been waiting for to seize control of Earth!

But wait! If a band of rebels sent from the future can assassinate the “murderous fanatic” Sir Reginald Styles, history will be changed and the Daleks foiled!

Only one thing stands in the way of their mission to rewrite history and save the world — Doctor Who!

The Day of the Daleks is one of the strangest, and most intellectually challenging chapters in the Doctor’s 25 year history. Now, follow every bizarre twist and exciting turn, all the way to the explosive conclusion!

Cover image for The Day of the Daleks
Edition: Israel Israel (VHS)
Released:  January 1990 (Exact date unconfirmed)
Publisher:  Echo Arzi
Format: 1 x VHS
Owned:

Note:  Appears to have been a rental-only tape.

Cover blurb:
No cover information available yet.

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Cover image for The Day of the Daleks
Edition: US US (Laserdisc)
Released:  January 1992
Publisher:  CBS/Fox
Format: 1 x Laserdisc
Owned:
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Note:  Third of seven Doctor Who stories released in laserdisc format during the 80s and 90s, as well as the only story released twice on laserdisc (see also the 1997 UK edition below)

Cover blurb:
THE STORY

Maverick Time Lord Doctor Who (Jon Pertwee) once again shatters the boundaries of space and time on a perilous quest to save planet Earth from an inhuman army of robotic Dalek conquerors!

The time: somewhere in Earth’s future. A final, apocalyptic world war has wiped away all traces of the cultures and civilisations that once flourished on this remote, blue-green orb. The remaining Earth society has degenerated into a state of chaos and weakness — ideal conditions for invasion and subjugation by the sinister robot legions of the Dalek empire!

Then, from this distant, Dalek-ruled future, a small band of dedicated rebels return to Earth’s dangerous past with a desperate plan: assassinate the murderous fanatic Sir Reginald Styles, change the course of history and thwart the Dalek takeover.

But when the time-hopping Doctor Who becomes involved, the plot to rewrite history and save the Earth takes a startling — and potentially deadly — new turn!

Considered one of the most exotic and intellectually-challenging instalments in Doctor Who’s 25-year history, THE DAY OF THE DALEKS will intrigue and amaze even the most discriminating fans of this truly timeless series!

THE RISE OF THE DALEKS

Popular on a worldwide scale, the British Broadcasting Corporation’s DOCTOR WHO is easily one of the best-known, most enduring science fiction television series ever produced. And as the good Doctor’s archest of arch-enemies, the Daleks are clearly one of the sci-fi world’s favorite groups of anti-social aliens.

The half-electronic, half-organic Daleks made their first sinister appearance on December 21, 1963. Immediately catching the imagination of the British, and then American, viewers, they helped catapult DOCTOR WHO from a moderately successful British show to an international sensation.

Bizarre survivors of a devastating nuclear conflict on their home planet of Skaro, the Daleks are actually sentient beings whose physical bodies have atrophied away, leaving their superior brains housed in powerful metal “shells”. Evolving into highly sophisticated killing machines, the Daleks are ego-maniacs of galactic proportions. Driven to ruthlessly dominate any world or race they encounter, they’ll stop at nothing to achieve their despotic goals.

Naturally, the renegade Time Lord Doctor Who often finds himself at odds with the Daleks’ evil, on-going campaign for universal tyranny, and over the years these robotic raiders have developed into the Doctor’s most formidable foes.

Oddly enough, in the early days of DOCTOR WHO, the Daleks almost fell victim to a BBC decree attempting to eliminate the appearance of “bug-eyed monsters and other unlikely space aliens” on the show. But the popular Daleks had powerful allies of their own inside the BBC — and the steel-coated electro-bad guys continued to turn up in future episodes, making life miserable for the poor Doctor, while sending the show’s ratings into orbit!

Cover image for The Day of the Daleks
Edition: UK UK (unedited VHS)
Released:  February 1994
Publisher:  BBC Video
Format: 1 x VHS PAL
Owned:
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Used:  £7.99
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Note:  Unedited episodic format.

Cover blurb:
Same as edited UK edition, except that the first sentence begins An exciting four part adventure in which...

Cover image for The Day of the Daleks
Edition: Australia Australia (unedited VHS)
Released:  August 1996
Publisher:  ABC Video
Format: 1 x VHS PAL
Owned:
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Note:  Unedited release.

Cover blurb:
Same as edited UK edition.

Cover image for Day of the Daleks
Edition: UK UK (Laserdisc)
Title:  Day of the Daleks
Released:  December 1996
Publisher:  Encore
Format: 1 x Laserdisc
Owned:
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Note:  Third of seven Doctor Who stories released in laserdisc format during the 80s and 90s, as well as the only story released twice on laserdisc (see also the 1992 US edition above)

Cover blurb:
The Earth stands teetering on the brink of a Third World War, with the future of mankind resting in the arms of peace diplomat Sir Reginald Styles. But Sir Reginald reports seeing ‘ghosts’ at his country mansion, and the military are called in to investigate. UNIT (the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce) send in their top scientific advisor, the Doctor, and his assistant Jo Grant, who quickly discover that all is not well at Auderly House.

Hurled into a terrifying future world in which the human race has been subjugated by the evil metal-clad Daleks and their gorilla-like Ogron servants, the Doctor and Jo must team up with a desperate gang of guerilla terrorists who plan to journey back in time to alter the course of history — by killing Sir Reginald Styles!

Day of the Daleks epitomises Jon Pertwee’s era as Doctor Who. The regular UNIT family are all present — the ever-resourceful Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney), Captain Mike Yates (Richard Franklin) and the stalwart Sergeant Benton (John Levene), along with the Doctor’s scatterbrained but well-meaning assistant, Jo Grant (Katy Manning). There’s action, battles and chases a-plenty, include [sic] the use of an ingenious bubble trike, plus Jon Pertwee’s first encounter with the dreaded Daleks (who hadn’t been featured since The Evil of the Daleks some five years earlier).

The description of the Ogron creatures in Louis Marks’ original script was somewhat vague (merely calling them ‘monsters’ in early drafts) but as luck would have it, specialist sculptor John Friedlander had recently trained a group of make-up artists in the techniques required to create latex half-face masks, and six completed examples were sitting ready for use in the BBC’s workshops. Normally a customised mask would be constructed for each actor, but in this case only a couple of masks fit snugly enough to be used in close up sequences, with the rest of these ‘off the peg Ogrons’ banished into the background.


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