| THE CHASE by Terry Nation |
| Story 16 Synopsis: The Time-Space Visualiser shows Daleks, who have created a time machine, and are using it to track down the Doctor. The TARDIS lands on Aridius, where the Doctor and his friends are treated kindly. When the Daleks invade, the TARDIS crew escape. They next land on top of the Empire State Building, then the Mary Celeste, where the crew abandon ship on seeing the Daleks. Then they land in a haunted house, accidentally leaving Vicki behind. She stows on board the Daleks' ship. They finally land in a jungle on Mechanus. The Daleks use a robot duplicate of the Doctor, but the travellers see through it. They are taken up to a city guarded by the Mechanoids, robot servants of humans who have never come back. They have one guest/prisoner : a pilot, Steven Taylor. The Daleks attack the city, where the Mechanoids fight back. In the confusion, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara, Steven and Vicki escape by climbing down from the roof. Ian and Barbara use the Daleks' time machine to return to Earth. Steven sneaks aboard the TARDIS, as the Doctor and Vicki depart, with the Dalek-Mechanoid battle still raging... |
| Review:- After facing the Daleks on their home planet, and on Earth, their 3rd run-in with the Doctor involves a crazy chase across the cosmos. It is a mark of the speed with which the Daleks were established as the Doctor's most dangerous foes that they managed to make in-roads in conquering time, and after decades of adventures, they remain one of the few races to achieve relative success at it. The other main plank to the story is the exit of the last of the original companions, Ian and Barbara, and the entrance of a new companion, Steven. Unlike the modern-day schoolteachers, he is a pilot from the future, and consequently less likely to panic about aliens and interstellar travel. So, he makes for a good companion, and a foil for Vicki. The chase aspect doesn't work too well here. Apart from Aridius and Mechanus, all the other locales are too bizarre to draw interest, seeming more to serve as comic fodder than any dramatic entertainment, although they do provide a bit of variation from the usual. Added to this, the Aridians are a thankless and tiresome bunch, and the Mechanoids are rather one-dimensional, although at least they represent the first major attempt to provide proper competition for the Daleks. There are occasional moments of tension, with Vicki being left behind and forced to use her initiative to avoid being abandoned forever, and the scenes with the robot duplicate of the Doctor present a foray into the ever-thrilling world of the doppelganger. Or they would, if he looked more like the real thing. In a way, it's rather a shame that the climax of the story depends on our heroes climbing down to safety, and leaving the Daleks to their battle. Presumably the Daleks give up on the chase, or they are intended to lose. Either way, with their time machine gone, their future on Mechanus looks bleak. But they're hardly the types to give up. Not one of the best, but there are moments here to enjoy. |
| Disclaimer: I've seen the video, and read the book.. |