Day of the Daleks

Perhaps it was inevitable.  The ultimate ware came to pass.  And with it went all vestiges of civilization as we once knew it.  It was exactly the opportunity the evil 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 - the Doctor!

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! 

• "Day of the Daleks" marks the first appearance of the Daleks since "Evil of the Daleks" some 5 years earlier.  It also introduces a new villain, the Ogrons, dumb put effective allies to the Daleks.

• **Omnibus Format**  Unfortunately, this story was originally released in an edited "movie" (or Omnibus) format.  This means that individual episodes have been cut and pasted together into one viewing.  The BBC released Doctor Who videos like this until the early 90's.  Since then they have gone back and issued "re-releases" of virtually all of their omnibus versions.   Unfortunately, the U.S. (i.e. CBS/Fox at first, and then later Warner Home Video) hasn't been eager to follow suite, as they have only done two re-releases "The Brain of Morbius" back in 1997 and  "Terror of the Zygons" in 2000.  Additionally, many stories first released in the late 80's and early 90's are seeing re-release on DVD.  Unedited titles such as "Spearhead from Space," "The Ark in Space" and "Robots of Death" are all available now in their unedited formats.

• The U.K. has re-released "Day of the Daleks" in its unedited episodic format some time ago.

• An interesting experiment occurred in this story.  At the reprise from the previous episode, the closing title "sting" was retained.  It has the curious effect of making you think that the end credits are about to start again even though you've just begun a new episode.

• Another neat touch was the cliffhanger to episode 3.  An interesting fade effect is used while the Doctor's previous incarnations are being shown on the familiar closing title effects.  Unfortunately, if you only have the omnibus version, then you won't be able to see this.

• Since this story was released nearly 15 years ago, and the fact that it is a Dalek story gives it a running chance of being an DVD release in the next few years (well, one can hope anyway).  If that were to occur, then it would be the first time this story would be available in the U.S. in its unedited format.