Destiny of the Daleks

"The Dalek fleet will be wiped from the heavens and nothing will stand in the way of our conquest of the galaxy…"

Accompanied by the newly regenerated Romana, the Doctor lands on a mystery planet intrigued by the evidence of drilling taking place there, deep underground.  The discoveries he makes are chilling.  For the planet is Skaro and the Daleks are in charge of the operation.  But just what are his old enemies searching for?  And why?  Perhaps the answers lie with the Movellans, a beautiful humanoid race led by Commander Sharrel.  They are waging a war of their own with the Daleks and the situation is now at a stalemate. 

Should the Doctor tip the balance of power to aid the Daleks’ ultimate destruction?  Or are the Movellans’ intentions no less sinister than the Daleks themselves?  Suddenly the Doctor finds himself enmeshed in a deadly battle which could result in the destruction of the Universe itself as, once more, he summons the strength to face an all too familiar timelessly evil adversary…

• Mary Tamm, unwilling to return as Romana is recast with Lalla Ward in the part.  It is explained as an offscreen regeneration.  To make matters more confusing, however, Lalla Ward had appeared as Princess Astra in the previous story "The Armageddon Factor."

• The regeneration of Romana showed the character "picking" the body she wanted, rather than it being a random selection.

• An on again/off again romance would develop between Baker and Ward culminating in a marriage in 1981 and a divorce shortly afterwards. 

• Another person who failed to return for the season was the voice of K-9 (John Leeson).  Taking over for him for the season was David Brierly.  A brief mention of K-9's laryngitis was apparently used to explain the change in voice.

• The Daleks return (as if the title didn't give it away) after a 4 year absence from the series.

• The Movellans were introduced in this story as a competitive force against the Daleks in the universe.  Issues raised in this story continued in the next Dalek story, "Resurrection of the Daleks."

• This would be the final Dalek story actually written by Terry Nation for Doctor Who.

• Watch closely in episode 3 for Davros to go ricocheting off of a wall when he smacks into it.