Revelation of the Daleks

The TARDIS takes the Doctor and Peri to the planet Necros, where the Doctor plans to visit his old friend Professor Arthur Stengos. But after an encounter with the Great Healer, Stengos is not quite the man the Doctor once knew.

The Great Healer works in the catacombs beneath Tranquil Repose, the galactically-famous final resting place for the dead and the not-quite-yet-dead. In the upper chambers the busy workers prepare the deceased for their final burial, while deep below the Great Healer is using their bodies for a sinister project of his own. For the Great Healer is also known by another name - Davros, creator of the Daleks, who's using the bodies to build himself a brand new Dalek army.

The Doctor attempts to stop Davros while Stengos' daughter searches for her missing father and the local DJ uses rock 'n' roll music as a defense against the Daleks. Many are searching for Davros, but the evil scientist has a plan that will eradicate all opposition and enable him to lead his Daleks on a new mission of universal conquest...

This stylish adventure with its uniquely dark humor was first broadcast 23-30 March 1985.

• "Revelation of the Daleks" was the final story in Colin Baker's first season.

• Season 22 had a slightly different episodic format than the rest of the series.   Episodes were 45 minutes long (effectively making two shorter episodes into one longer episode).  It was felt that longer episodes could foster better story writing.   However, the format was abandoned after this season and the series went back to the traditional 23 minutes/episode format.

• If the actor playing the D.J. looks familiar, then it should.  The D.J. is played by British comedian Alexei Sayle.

• Also, watch for memorable performances from Terry Molloy as Davros, Eleanor Bron as Kara, Clive Swift as Jobel, and William Gaunt as Orcini. 

• "Revelation of the Daleks" is another chapter in the Dalek storyline started in 1975 with "Genesis of the Daleks."  "Destiny of the Daleks" came along 5 years later.  The loose ends left by that adventure were picked up 4 years later in "Resurrection of the Daleks."  After the events of "Revelation" comes "Remembrance of the Daleks."  

• "Revelation of the Daleks" is much darker than most Who stories (such as Davros' manipulation of Tasambeker or his solution to Universal starvation) as well more violent (Davros' hand amputation comes to mind here).  However, the story ranks well with fans and has many twists and turns to the plot making it a "must have" for any Who fan.  

• "Revelation of the Daleks" was released in the U.K. as part of second Dalek box set (the first one was released several years ago and contained the Hartnell story "The Chase" and the McCoy story "Remembrance of the Daleks").  The other story released with in this new box set was "Planet of the Daleks" starring Jon Pertwee.  Rather than release these two stories as a box set here in North America they were instead released separately.