History Recap / DoctorWhoS17E1DestinyoftheDaleks

The one where the Doctor makes the "Daleks can't climb" joke and Romana casually upends the rules of regeneration.

The Daleks' problem is that they've reached a stalemate in a war with the human-looking android Movellans thanks to both species basing their strategies on logic, and need Davros to cast a fresh eye on the problem. Speaking of Movellans, there's a group of them come to find out what the Daleks are up to, and when they find out they decide that if the Daleks are taking advice from Davros, they'll take advice from the Doctor -- whether he wants to give it to them or not.

The Daleks' problem is that they've reached a stalemate in a war with the human-looking Movellans, and need Davros to cast a fresh eye on the problem. Speaking of Movellans, there's a group of them come to find out what the Daleks are up to, and when they find out they decide that if the Daleks are taking advice from Davros, they'll take advice from the Doctor -- whether he wants to give it to them or not.

* BigBadEnsemble: With the conflict between the Daleks and the Movellans turning out to be a case of BlackAndBlackMorality, the Doctor ends up at odds with both factions, led by Davros and Commander Sharrel respectively.

* SelfPlagiarism: The scene where the Daleks try to get the Doctor to surrender by executing prisoners is lifted from the ''Series/BlakesSeven'' episode "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS1E2SpaceFall Space Fall]]", which was also written by Creator/TerryNation.

Finally, on a more trivial note, this is the only serial after [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E5TheGreenDeath "The Green Death"]] in 1973 to call each individual installment an "episode" rather than a "part," the latter of which had been standard since [[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E1TheTimeWarrior "The Time Warrior"]]. The show would immediately go back to the "part" labeling with [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath the next story]], keeping it in place for the remainder of the Classic Series' run.

* NotQuiteDead: Davros, who was saved by the backup functions of his life-support system.

-->'''Davros:''' There was damage to my primary life support system. The secondary and back-up circuits switched in immediately. Synthetic tissue regeneration took place whilst bodily organs were held in long-term suspension.

This story was a turning point for the Daleks, for better or for worse -- every Dalek story for the next decade was more of a Davros story with some Daleks in it than an actual Dalek story, and the Daleks themselves would be more disposable flunkies to Davros. Conversely, this story would also mark the beginning of a prolonged story arc that would stretch for the remainder of the Classic Series, in which Davros' reawakening and his ideological differences with his own creations snowball into a Dalek civil war, coming to a climactic head [[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks nine years later]].

This story was a turning point for the Daleks, for better or for worse -- every Dalek story for the next decade was more of a Davros story with some Daleks in it than an actual Dalek story, and the Daleks themselves would be more disposable flunkies to Davros.

The Daleks in this story are also a bit more on the StrawVulcan side than usual, and the episodes insist on calling them "robots" and "computers" a lot. Nobody can quite seem to agree on whether this was done by [[Creator/TerryNation Nation]] or [[Creator/DouglasAdams Adams]]. A Dalek mutant outside its casing even shows up, so it's not like they ''really'' intended them to be robots - it seems either Adams or Nation just really liked the word "robot".

Written by Creator/TerryNation. This serial first aired September 1-22, 1979.

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: The Doctor ends up in a MexicanStandoff with the Daleks. He is threatening to destroy Davros with a bomb unless they let him leave with his captive, but the Daleks respond by bringing in several human captives and exterminating them one by one until the Doctor surrenders. He threatens to set off the bomb right on the spot, but the Daleks argue that such an action would be irrational and impossible because it would kill the Doctor as well. Davros tells them that the Doctor is actually willing to do just that since "his logic is impaired by irrational sentiment".

Meanwhile, the TARDIS has arrived on a seemingly deserted planet that the Doctor finds naggingly familiar. It's Skaro, home planet of the Daleks. The Doctor last visited it five seasons ago, when he [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks crossed metaphorical swords with the Daleks' creator, Davros]]. The Daleks have also returned, looking for their creator; they'd left him for dead when they decided [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he had outlived his usefulness]], but now they've found a new use for him.

The Daleks in this story are also a bit more on the StrawVulcan side than usual, and Adams insisted on calling them "robots" and "computers" a lot [[note]]Although some sources claim Nation was the one actually responsible for treating them as "robots" in his script[[/note]]. A Dalek without its casing is encountered by the Doctor, though, and the story does emphasize that they're a living race, so it can be assumed that Adams just really liked the word "robot".

** Romana's regeneration happens off-screen due to Creator/MaryTamm deciding during production that she wasn't interested in returning as Romana and not being available to film for a regeneration scene. As a result, they could only do it with Romana already appearing in the form of Lalla Ward, and since this was all happening over a Terry Nation script that wasn't concerned with the ongoing events of its characters, it had to be a scene quickly tacked on over the beginning of the story.

The Daleks in this story are also a bit more on the StrawVulcan side than usual, and Adams insisted on calling them "robots" and "computers" a lot [[note]]Although some sources claim Nation was the one actually responsible for treating them as "robots" in his script[[/note]]. A Dalek without its casing is encountered by the Doctor, though, and the episode does emphasize that they're a living race, so it can be assumed that Adams just really liked the word "robot".

** K-9's sidelining due to robo-laryngitis. Sources differ on to why exactly this happened — some say it was because Creator/TerryNation hated K-9 and didn't want to "degrade" his Daleks by making them appear with K-9 on-screen, while others have said that because of the amount of quarry filming in this episode, there was no way that K-9 would ever have been able to play a major part in the episode.

* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: While Gallifreyans are depicted as tougher than humans in some ways, being somewhat stronger is something not often touched upon. Romana provides an example during a struggle with a Movellan over a detonator switch, where she kicks his arm hard enough that it tears away at the joint. At the end of the episode both Time Lords are digging out the TARDIS and tossing [[StyrofoamRocks boulders]] larger than themselves (perhaps another BBCQuarry gag as the debris includes an inexplicable steel truss).

* HandWave: K-9 sits out the adventure in the TARDIS with ''robot laryngitis''.

Is there a stowaway aboard the TARDIS? No, it's just Romana, who has regenerated off-screen, for no apparent reason, and has chosen to do so into an identical double of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E6TheArmageddonFactor Princess Astra]]. The Doctor tells her to pick something better, and she shows off several more very alien bodies (none of which meet the Doctor's approval either) before returning to the one she started with. (The Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse has made several attempts to explain ''why'' Romana regenerated, as well as ''how'' she was able to change her form several times without wasting regenerations. Few make real sense.) Also, K-9 comes down with a case of robot laryngitis and stays in the TARDIS for the rest of the adventure. If you've begun to notice just how impractical K-9 is as a prop that the writers have to keep finding ways to sideline him out of stories filmed on location, you're not the only one.

* TheNthDoctor: Romana becomes only the third Time Lord in the show's run -- the first obviously being the Doctor, and the second K'Anpo/Cho-je -- whose regeneration we actually get to see, albeit only part of it and leaving out Mary Tamm.

** Romana's regeneration happens off-screen due to Mary Tamm deciding during production that she wasn't interested in returning as Romana and not being available to film for a regeneration scene. As a result, they could only do it with Romana already appearing in the form of Lalla Ward, and since this was all happening over a Terry Nation script that wasn't concerned with the ongoing events of its characters, it had to be a scene quickly tacked on over the beginning of the story.

* HypocriticalHumor: During Romana's regeneration scene, the Doctor talks about how it's "what's inside that matters," yet he rejects each of Romana's prospective bodies purely due to their appearance. When Romana comes out dressed exactly like him, he applauds her newfound sense of style. Romana, of course, calls him out on this.

* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: "Humanoids are effective work machines!"
* WrongGenreSavvy: Davros apparently still thinks it's the Hinchcliffe era, and that the story is another grim Nazi allegory. In the far LighterAndSofter Williams/Adams era, he ends up coming across as an overblown idiot rather than a dangerous villain.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: K-9's sidelining due to robo-laryngitis. Sources differ on to why exactly this happened — some say it was because Creator/TerryNation hated K-9 and didn't want to "degrade" his Daleks by making them appear with K-9 on-screen, while others have said that because of the amount of quarry filming in this episode, there was no way that K-9 would ever have been able to play a major part in the episode.

Is there a stowaway aboard the TARDIS? No, it's just Romana, who has regenerated off-screen, for no apparent reason, and has chosen to do so into an identical double of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E6TheArmageddonFactor Princess Astra]]. The Doctor tells her to pick something better, and she shows off several more very alien bodies (none of which meet the Doctor's approval either) before returning to the one she started with. (The Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse has made several attempts to explain ''why'' Romana regenerated, as well as ''how'' she was able to change her form several times without wasting regenerations. Few make real sense.) Also, K-9 comes down with a case of robot laryngitis and stays in the TARDIS for the rest of the adventure. If you've begun to notice just how often they go out of their way to sideline the old tin dog, you're not the only one.

Is there a stowaway aboard the TARDIS? No, it's just Romana, who has regenerated off-screen, for no apparent reason, and has chosen to do so into an identical double of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E6TheArmageddonFactor Princess Astra]]. The Doctor tells her to pick something better, and she shows off several more very alien bodies (none of which meet the Doctor's approval either) before returning to the one she started with. (The Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse has made several attempts to explain ''why'' Romana regenerated, as well as ''how'' she was able to change her form several times without wasting regenerations. Few make real sense.) Also, K-9 comes down with a case of robot laryngitis and stays in the TARDIS for the rest of the adventure.

The Daleks in this story are also a bit more on the StrawVulcan side than usual, and Adams insisted on calling them "robots" and "computers" a lot. A Dalek without its casing is encountered by the Doctor, though, and the episode does emphasize that they're a living race, so it can be assumed that Adams just really liked the word "robot".

It's worth noting that, though this story was credited to Creator/TerryNation, the [[WordOfGod director]] claimed on the DVD release that it was "98% written" by then-Script Editor Creator/DouglasAdams.

The one where the Doctor makes the "Daleks can't climb" joke.