Doctor Who 2021 Special - Revolution Of The Daleks - Review

Starring: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill & John Barrowman

Written By: Chris Chibnall

Directed By: Lee Haven Jones

It says a lot about how long 2020 has felt that it's only been ten months since the Series 12 finale. 2020 somehow felt like forever and no time at all, and with the months spent in lockdown thanks to COVID, it's hard to believe that 'The Timeless Children' wasn't really that long ago. Thankfully although the film and television industry is only barely running, 'Revolution Of The Daleks' was filmed before COVID hit, so we still have some new 'Doctor Who' to tide us over. Series 13 is in production, albeit a truncated run of only eight episodes, but honestly given the restrictions the production team have to work with, I'm grateful for just that. But for now we have the Daleks back for another New Year's special, so can Chris Chibnall capture lightning in a bottle a second time? 

In 2019, the Doctor and her friends stopped a deadly Reconnaissance Dalek that awoke and rebuilt itself on Earth. Having thrown the mutant into a supernova, it seemed the threat had been dealt with. But the remains of the Dalek's makeshift casing were left at GCHQ, and when ambitious politician Jo Patterson tips off businessman Jack Robertson about the advanced technology they have at their disposal, the two smell opportunities. Two years later, Patterson, now the UK Prime Minister, is about to announce a new line of security drones ready to roll out across Britain... drones that bear a striking resemblance to Daleks. With the Doctor imprisoned billions of lightyears away, Graham, Ryan and Yaz are left alone to face the possibility of a Dalek invasion. 

Much like the bulk of Series 12, 'Revolution Of The Daleks' has a lot on its plate right from the start. The UK government rolling out drones that look and function much like Daleks is a premise that you can easily flesh out into a feature-length special on its own, but let's back up and look at how that idea came about in the first place. I loved the connective tissue between this and 'Resolution'. It helps ground 'Resolution' even more into a believable real-life context and ensure that it had serious consequences. It might have once been assumed that the destroyed Dalek shell at GCHQ would just be scrapped and tidied away, but this idea that some opportunistic individual in the government saw this technology and started working towards using it for their own aims is gold. Because let's face it: if a hostile force like the Dalek in 'Resolution' slaughtered dozens of people, rather than making sure that its technology could never fall into the wrong hands, someone in government would instead see an opportunity there. So right off the bat, 'Revolution Of The Daleks' justifies its own existence.

The episode makes no secret of the fact that it has a lot of political commentary to get off its chest. While that may piss off all the angry internet people who see agendas and political correctness being shoved down their throats around every corner, when I first saw 'Revolution's promotional material, I was absolutely onboard for it. Those stills of one of the Dalek drones working alongside riot police were incredible and after the things we saw in 2020, if ever that kind of image was going to hit home, now's the time. Unless you've been living under a rock, you'll know that 2020 was the year of the Black Lives Matter protests, and where systemic racism and police brutality were placed firmly under the spotlight. Together with the ever-increasing prominence of fascism in the UK and US, the sight of a Dalek fighting alongside riot police struck a chord with me. I even said on Twitter that I hoped they'd milk this stuff for all it's worth... and it's such a shame that it doesn't. The theme is there don't get me wrong, but it's incredibly limited and doesn't go nearly far enough as far as I'm concerned. Early on there's a scene where Robertson (the same clumsy Trump allegory from 'Arachnids In The UK'), and Jo Patterson attend a demonstration of one of the drones in action. You've got the drone going up against a crowd of rioters, but it's just one small, staged riot. Sure there's the novelty of a Dalek using a water pressure gun and CS gas to control the riot, but it's still just staged and beyond this one scene, there's no connection to the subject of riots or protest again. It's such a waste and while we do still get images such as the Prime Minister introducing her new Dalek drones outside No. 10, the potential to develop this kind of imagery further goes untouched. 

Similarly under-utilized is the Doctor's time in prison. You'd think with the ten-month gap since 'The Timeless Children' and with plenty of us having endured lockdown in that gap, we'd get the feeling that the Doctor has been in prison for a long time. But while the episode says that, it certainly doesn't feel all that long and that's down to one simple reason: the Doctor's broken out of prison by the twenty-minute mark, and pretty easily too. That original synopsis of Graham, Ryan and Yaz having to fend off a Dalek invasion on their own never really amounts to anything, because the status quo is restored really quickly. The Doctor's back and joining in the fight against the Daleks so quickly that we never even see a single Judoon guarding that prison. Was anyone else surprised that they didn't appear? Even if in just a minor capacity, I'd have thought they'd be here. Though we do see a Pting again, so I can't complain too much. 

With so much going on in 'Revolution Of The Daleks', its 70min runtime felt justified before going in. I mean, we have the Daleks, the Doctor in prison, Captain Jack's reappearance, the return of Robertson and of course saying goodbye to two of the fam. But even taking that into consideration, I did start to feel the length of this one. The space between the Doctor's prison breakout and the Dalek drones going rogue sagged quite a lot. For an episode that predominantly stars them, the Daleks also take something of a backseat for a large part of the story. It isn't until the last half-hour that they really come into their own and take more of a centre stage. However to compensate, we do have Jack's return. After being reduced to just the broad strokes and used only to tease the finale, Jack's role is massively expanded and improved upon here from 'Fugitive Of The Judoon'. Thank god too, because like I said in my review of 'Fugitive', if that had been Jack's only appearance then it would've been a massive waste of time bringing back John Barrowman. Here though, Jack is an active presence in the story, and delightfully we get to see him and the Doctor interact after such a long time apart. It's a welcome appearance that marries together the show's 2000s heyday with the current team. How Jack knew about the Lone Cyberman, that he had to warn the Doctor, or indeed how he got arrested and eventually locked up in the cell next to the Doctor... is all left unexplained. Usually that would tick me off, but I suppose Jack's long been a wanderer getting himself into various places and predicaments, so it's not as if him knowing any of this is unlikely.

The Daleks' time to shine is definitely the latter half of the episode, with the proper bronze Daleks making their first full-on appearance since... 'The Witch's Familiar'? That long ago? Huh. And no, 'The Pilot' doesn't count. One consistent thing Chibnall appears to have a good grasp of is the big three - the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Master. While I don't think the use and characterization of the Daleks is as strong here as it was in 'Resolution', Chibnall still handles them well. He seems to have taken inspiration from past Dalek stories too. Obviously there's the mutant using humans as hosts again, but there's also the facility in Osaka where more Dalek mutants are being grown, which put me in mind of the conveyor lines from 'The Power Of The Daleks'. When the bronze Daleks show up to deal with the "impure" race, we're treated to something of a little Dalek civil war not unlike the one from 'Remembrance Of The Daleks'. And just like in 'Remembrance', the Daleks destroying another group of Daleks for some sort of perceived impurity is 100% in character for them. One oddity I did find was Robertson's decision to ally with the Daleks. This decision itself isn't shocking - we all know Robertson's a Trump stand-in so it's no surprise that he'd see an ally in the fascist death tanks. It's also no surprise that the Daleks would turn on him. What is unusual is how easily Robertson's let off the hook and it gets forgotten about. I'm not talking about him being seen as a hero by the rest of the world, but about how quickly the Doctor and her companions let it slide. Obviously they wouldn't leave him to die, but it's a tangent that's just strangely dropped.

But this minor point aside, there is plenty more to like than dislike in this bit of the episode. One of the most impressive things about the final act is some of the direction and VFX work. Shots like the fleet of Daleks surrounding the TARDIS high up in the sky, or them flooding in through the TARDIS doors look incredible. Jodie Whittaker sells it too, taunting the Daleks from the TARDIS doors - it all just looks stunning, as does the later shot of the TARDIS exterior crumpling away into nothing. Once the bronze Daleks' ship is destroyed, the way the remaining Daleks are dealt with genuinely surprised me. I hadn't expected that other TARDIS from the end of 'The Timeless Children' to end up being such a vital plot point, but the way these two things tied so neatly together made for one very satisfying conclusion.

Speaking of conclusions, this is also where we bid farewell to Graham and Ryan. Although it's not nice to say, it was time for them to leave. Complaints about the crowded TARDIS have only grown throughout Series 12, and for these two, any arcs that they had were concluded by the end of Series 11. Series 12 just didn't have much for them to do, particularly Ryan. Yaz on the other hand came into her own I feel in Series 12, and I'm glad we're not saying goodbye to her just yet. After a very tepid start, I've finally come to like her and I really want to see what else can be done with Yaz in Series 13. 'Revolution Of The Daleks' does build up to the departure well, without letting it overshadow the whole thing. While Chibnall is still having trouble blending together his main plots with more character-focused scenes, the conversation in the TARDIS between the Doctor and Ryan was vital. I'd been feeling increasingly disinterested in Ryan, and this scene aside from being so nicely delivered, restored some of my goodwill towards him. I also liked that both Ryan and Graham left of their own accord and on good terms, with a touching group hug before they departed. Returning to the same hill from 'The Woman Who Fell To Earth', with Ryan continuing to practice riding a bike - it's corny sure, as is Grace's brief cameo, but it left me warm and fuzzy all the same. The fact that Graham's last televised words might be "You're doing it mate!" after all the memes that spawned is perfect. It's exactly what I'd have done, not just because it's funny in a bittersweet way, but because silly as the memes were, they meant a lot in their own ridiculous way.

So there we have 'Revolution Of The Daleks' and for the most part, I enjoyed this one. It's another blockbuster New Year special with the Daleks, and while it's not as tight as 'Resolution', this one does have more to check off on its to-do list. The Daleks themselves aren't the stars of the show here unlike 'Resolution', which is a shame because what is here is strong and I'd love to see them go further with the timely imagery they invoked. But on the other hand, Jack gets a far better deal here this time around, and Graham and Ryan's departure is handled well. You win some, you lose some I guess. At least we're set up with a less crowded TARDIS for Series 13 - just the Doctor, Yaz... and John Bishop? Now I wasn't expecting that...

Revolution Of The Daleks

7/10