History Recap / DoctorWhoS21E4ResurrectionOfTheDaleks

Finally, due to the 1984 Olympics, this serial was broadcast as two fifty-minute parts rather than the typical four twenty-five minute episodes -- with episodes 1/2 and 3/4 being joined together. This format would be reused for Season 22.[[note]]Contrary to fan myth, the success of this unusual format did not lead the production to decide to use it permanently -- the decision for Season 22 to be broadcast as 50-minute episodes had already been taken before this serial was aired.[[/note]]

London, circa 1984. A bum watches several oddly-dressed people attempt to escape from a random warehouse only to be gunned down by British cops wielding modern (for 1984) submachine guns. The bum is then gunned down himself, and the cops pull out a remote and make the bodies vanish in a glow of red light. However, one man was able to hide...

* ContinuityNod: [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks The Doctor mentions that he once held back from destroying the Daleks]].

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Many fans have criticised this story for giving the impression that the Doctor is biased against non-humanoid beings, since he is unable to bring himself to shoot Davros (with a lengthy SwordOverHead scene), but casually shoots a naked Dalek (with a SmokeBlowingGesture) and deliberately uses a biological weapon against the Daleks in the end.

The one where a Dalek gets [[DestinationDefenstration shoved out a window]].

* DestinationDefenstration: The now-infamous shot of a Dalek being shoved out an upper-story window.

The one where the Daleks bleed foam.

* TheGhost: The Captain of the space station where Davros is imprisoned, who is talked about a great deal but dies without ever appearing onscreen.

* WhamEpisode: One of the bloodiest, goriest Dalek episodes of the original series. Tegan gets upset by all the death and violence in the Doctor's travels and this is the straw that broke the camel's back, prompting her very abrupt and somewhat cold departure. It was the first time that we actually get a good insight on how the Doctor's travels can take a psychological toll on a person.

Finally, due to the 1984 Olympics, this serial was presented in ''two'' parts rather than the typical four -- with episodes 1/2 and 3/4 being joined into episodes nearly an hour in length. This format would be reused for Season 22.

* DownerEnding: Even if Tegan hadn't pulled a ScrewThisImOuttaHere, the overall tone of the story and Lytton's escape would have made it a BittersweetEnding at best.

* AllThereInTheManual: In the fan novelisation, it is mentioned that Professor Laird is UNIT's scientific adviser, who is currently on attachment to Colonel Archer's Bomb Disposal Squad. This was not derived from any information given in the televised version.

* MindRape: The Doctor gets mind-raped with his [[spoiler:own memories]]. It doesn't help that his painful screams sound disturbingly sexual, if you read too much into it.

* SequelEpisode: The story picks up from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E1DestinyOfTheDaleks]]", namely Davros' imprisonment and the Daleks' war with the Movellans.

* SnapBack: After the previous story retconned the Daleks into being entirely mechanical beings, this one reverts back to having the Daleks as blobby mutants travelling around in armoured machines. Which is a little unfortunate for them, as it meant the Movellans could create their Dalek-killing virus.

* TheGhost: The Captain of the space station were Davros is imprisoned, who is talked about a great deal but dies without ever appearing onscreen.

* RuleOfCool: The plot's convoluted, but most people are too busy looking at the decent (for once) production values to notice. And there's that awesome shot of the Doctor chucking a Dalek out of a second-floor window and it exploding to impact.

* CaptainObvious: "The Dalek ship has been destroyed." Said by the Doctor right after... everyone sees the Dalek ship being destroyed.
** Although ''at a stretch'' it could be HandWaved as them only seeing the internal view of the Supreme Dalek suddenly exploding, though the editing makes this hard to explain away.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Davros is apparently killed by the Movellan virus, and his body blasted to oblivion when the space station self-destructs. This was intended to kill off Davros permanently, but Terry Nation kicked up a stink, and so he got better for the next story.

* KillEmAll: This serial has the highest on-screen body count in a ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode to date, with a total of 60-75 deaths.
** Think ''that's'' shocking? At the time, it had a reputation for having a higher on-screen body count than ''TheTerminator'', for Chrissakes!
* MadeOfExplodium: Daleks, apparently. Shoves one out a second story window, bam, hits the ground, instant explosion.

-->'''Davros:''' You hesitate Doctor. If I were you, I would be dead.
-->'''The Doctor:''' I lack your practice, Davros.
-->'''Davros:''' You are soft, like all Time Lords. You prefer to stand and watch. Action requires courage. Something you lack.
* RuleOfCool: The plot's convoluted, but most people are too busy looking at the decent (for once) production values and exploding Daleks to notice. And there's that awesome shot of the Doctor chucking a Dalek out of a second-floor window.

Meandering around the streets of London, the Doctor and companions run into that lone survivor: a terrified, stuttering man named Stien. The Doctor recruits Stien into helping his party search for the right warehouse which has the time corridor in it. However, before they can go much further, the Doctor and crew stumble across an army bomb disposal squad. They've been called in to dispose of several things that are supposedly unexploded bombs, despite looking like naff props from a 1980s science fiction show. Turlough stumbles into the time corridor -- winding up on the alien ship. (To his credit, he decides to hide rather than be captured in seconds.) The rest of the crew are updated soon enough, as the time corridor activates again... revealing a Dalek! Good golly gosh, it certainly would be fantastic to have a companion who [[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E6TheKingsDemons is a robot and probably couldn't die easily]], wouldn't it? The (magically fully-armed) bomb squad shoot at the Dalek, but since it's ImmuneToBullets, it kills several of the squad's men before the Doctor advises them to focus their fire on its eyestalk, blinding it. In the resulting struggle, he throws the Dalek out a third-story window.

Tegan, for her part, is hit by a ricochetting bullet and is out of action for almost the rest of this serial.

Back at the space prison station, a few of the crew, led by Dr. Styles and Lt. Mercer, are still alive, and they're planning to re-take the station. By activating the self-destruct system and blowing it all up. Meanwhile, Lytton and Davros have a discussion where Davros bitches about the Doctor for a time before being told ''why'' he's needed: [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E1DestinyoftheDaleks the Daleks' enemies, the Movellans]], made an anti-Dalek virus, and Davros is needed to make a cure. One typically loud Davros rant about the Daleks later, Lytton has vowed to help.

Back on Earth, the Doctor and the bomb squad drag in the remains of that fallen Dalek -- but are assaulted by the Kaled mutant that piloted the unit. After nearly shooting a cat, the Doctor grabs a gun and pumps the blobby mutant full of lead. Repeatedly. Looks like we're not going to be seeing the TechnicalPacifist side of the Doctor today. The Doctor takes Stien with him into the TARDIS and they go inspect the other end of the time corridor. Once there, Stien declares that he's an agent for the Daleks! The Doctor is taken into custody. Turlough continues to evade capture as he joins up with the few remaining guards of the space prison and vows to help them blow things up.

Back on Earth, more people die as those policemen kill off parts of the bomb squad.

Luckily for everyone, the Doctor's meddling begins to break down Stien's programming and delays the process just long enough for Turlough to pop in to save the Doctor (and Tegan, who is now magically there). Stien is allowed to tag along as the Doctor and Turlough attempt to stop the Daleks. However, the Doctor has a moral crisis and decides to [[BatmanGrabsAGun go kill Davros]]. So he takes off with the guards and Stien -- abandoning Tegan and Turlough in a pre-programmed TARDIS that will whisk them off to the Earth.

The Doctor confronts Davros, and the two of them engage in a philosophocal debate at gunpoint. The Doctor is fascinated to find out that Davros wants to make Daleks with emotions, because them being purely logical has caused an impossible stalemate in the Movellan war. They tensely discuss the idea until Stien's programming takes control again long enough to let Lytton's troops kill Lt. Mercer. The Doctor and Stien escape again -- but Stien runs off, refusing to risk the Doctor's life by staying around him. As it turns out, Davros has been reprogramming Daleks and random humans to obey only him, and the regular Daleks don't like this. As he begins his big escape, Davros drops a vial of the anti-Dalek virus to prevent the regular Daleks from killing him off -- destroying several Daleks in seconds, making them spout lots of shaving cream as they die.

Back on Earth, a massive battle is going on between the Daleks and Davros' Army. The Doctor, now also back on Earth, figures out that those "unexploded bombs" are really giant capsules holding more samples of the virus. And sets them off, killing all the Daleks off instantly. Lytton escapes and puts on a cop's uniform -- wandering off into the sunset, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E1AttackOfTheCybermen to... somewhere.]]