"Doctor Who" The Executioners (1965)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Richard Martin

Writer:

Terry Nation (writer)

TV Series:

"Doctor Who" (1963)

Original Air Date:

22 May 1965 (Season 2, Episode 30)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The Daleks pursue The Doctor through time and space, with the intentions of exterminating him. Places they land include the Mary Celeste, a haunted house and the empire state building. |

Plot Keywords:

Dalek | Eccentric Senior Citizen | Stubborn Old Man | Time Lord | Alien

Cast

William Hartnell	...	Dr. Who
William Russell	...	Ian Chesterton
Jacqueline Hill	...	Barbara Wright
Maureen O'Brien	...	Vicki
Robert Marsden	...	Abraham Lincoln
Roger Hammond	...	Francis Bacon
Vivienne Bennett	...	Queen Elizabeth I
Hugh Walters	...	William Shakespeare
Richard Coe	...	Television Announcer
Peter Hawkins	...	Daleks (voice)
David Graham	...	Daleks (voice)
Robert Jewell	...	Dalek
Kevin Manser	...	Dalek
John Scott Martin	...	Dalek
Gerald Taylor	...	Dalek

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG

Trivia:

This serial was released by the BBC on video cassette in the UK in September 1993.

Quotes:

Dalek: To defy the daleks is death!
Dalek: They will pay for their crimes!

Movie Connections:

Features "Top of the Pops: (1965-04-15)" (1965)

Soundtrack:

Ticket to Ride

The Chase

If you firmly believe that Daleks should always be completely threatening, evil, and menacing, you will not like "The Chase". Outside of the portrayal of the Daleks I simply cannot understand why "The Chase" is not widely liked among fans of "Doctor Who". Sure, it is completely preposterous, it needs to be seen to be believed, it is completely bizarre, and it seems to have an identity crisis at times. What it also provides is:

- An explanation for the mystery of the Mary Celeste... involving time-traveling Daleks.

- The Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Vicki in a haunted house with the Daleks after them. Surely the Daleks demanding of Frankenstein's Monster to tell them where the time-travelers are and threatening extermination is a classic bit of fun from early sixties Who?

- A giddy fellow from Alabama atop the Empire State Building encountering the time-traveling Daleks and the TARDIS and its crew.

- A brilliantly executed battle between the Daleks and the Mechonoids.

Among many other delights. Sure, "The Chase" is silly and a bit rubbish in places but it simply is not boring. Terry Nation was not attempting drama here, he was attempting a silly adventure/comedy featuring the Daleks. If you can't laugh at a Dalek falling off the Mary Celeste and another going around begging people to stop jumping off and just answer its question... I truly feel sorry for you. "The Chase" is legitimately successful at being a truly fun comic adventure, and is capable of solid drama when it wants to go in that direction. Ian and Barbara get a good send-off, Richard Martin's direction is inconsistent but for the most part quite good and better than his work on "The Web Planet", and the Daleks look and sound better than they did in "The Dalek Invasion of Earth".

"The Chase" is just really great fun. It never aspires to be high drama, so why try to judge it by criteria it never aspired to? It's a fun, silly adventure, just go with it and have some fun. The Daleks aboard the Mary Celeste is one of the finest moments in "Doctor Who". It's a darn good romp and as far as I'm concerned the better Dalek story in season 2.

Episode 1: 9/10, Episode 2: 7/10, Episode 3: 10/10, Episode 4: 9/10, Episode 5: 6/10, Episode 6: 9/10.

Average: 8.33/10