The Daleks are always a classic enemy of the Doctor, and this one introduces Deborah Watling as a companion, and starts right where the last adventure left off. Another of the missing episodes and a shame too, because it would be so much fun to see the Doctor Manipulating Jamie as he does in this one. Interesting to see the Doctor so manipulative towards Jamie too. He is trying to save them, but still he really puts Jamie through the ringer here, and we get to see just how great Jamie truly is, and how truly good.

The Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) in London’s Gatwick Airport watch as the TARDIS is loaded on a truck and driven off. They give chase and end up at the antique shop of Edward Waterfield (John Bailey) who sells victorian antiques that seem brand new. In a back room we see that Waterfield is being forced by the Daleks, who kill Kennedy (Griffith Davies) who stole the TARDIS for Waterfield. When the Doctor and Jamie go to investigate, they are knocked out, and dragged into a time machine, and wake up in 1866 in the manor of Theodore Maxtible (Marius Goring), Waterfield’s partner. They had been working on a time machine using mirrors and static electricity, when the Daleks arrived through the machine, and took over, taking Waterfield’s beautiful daughter Victoria (Deborah Watling) as a hostage, so that Waterfield would lure the Doctor here. Maxtible meanwhile seems to be going along with the Dalek’s for his own reasons. The Daleks threaten to destroy the TARDIS unless the Doctor will help them in their experiments to isolate the “Human Factor” that allows humans to constantly defeat the Daleks. They want to the Doctor to implant his Human Factor into 3 Daleks and create a new Dalek Super Race. They force the Doctor to put Jamie through a series of test in an effort to rescue Victoria.

REVIEW CONTAIN SPOILERS…

Jamie goes to rescue Victoria, running into the huge Kemel (Sonny Caldinez) who works for Maxtible, but ends up saving him, and Kemel ends up helping Jamie to rescue Victoria.

The Doctor meanwhile distills the human factor and implants it into 3 Daleks named Alpha, Beta and Omega, who are childlike, but mature quickly, but are very much Human Daleks and are even kind. The 3 are sent back to Skaro the Dalek’s home planet through the time machine.

Waterfield learns that Maxtible has betrayed them all to the Daleks for the secret of alchemical transmutation. Maxtible who has gone to Skaro, is tortured by the Daleks for not delivering the Doctor to them. The Doctor manages to get him, Jamie, Waterfeld and Victoria to Skaro through a short range time machine before the daleks destroy Maxtible’s house.

On Skaro they are brought before the Dalek Emperor, who has tricked the Doctor, because by isolating the Human Factor he has also isolated the Dalek Factor, so they can convert humans into mindless killing Daleks! And the Emperor wants the Doctor to do it with his TARDIS.

Maxtible is turned into a Dalek, and he converts the Doctor as well, but it is a trick, since the Doctor is not human at all. The Doctor looks for Alpha, Beta and Omega.

The Doctor suggests they send the the daleks through the arch to make sure they are all Dalek, but he has substituted the human factor, and made an army of Human Daleks to fight the Emperor.

Waterfield is killed saving the Doctor, and the Doctor promises to take care of Victoria.

The Emperor is exterminated by Human Daleks. The Doctor and his companions leave, while Maxtible runs back into the exploding Dalek city.

The Doctor tells Jamie that Victoria will be coming with them, and as the city burns, he declares the Dalek threat gone, and they leave in the Tardis.

••••

Quite fun and quite different. And the 3 hunan Daleks are so much fun. It is weird to see the Doctor so cold and calculating with Jamie though. Makes for an amazing series though.