Review: Doctor Who: TNT Films: Power of the Daleks Re-imagined (complete)

The South Atlantic: a mysterious object buried deep in the clay. Its occupants: the Daleks!

The complete version of Nick Scovell’s update of the David Whitaker classic story Power of the Daleks was aired at the Power Reimagined convention in Fareham on September 1st. This was a well put together, and enjoyable event overall, which saw Anneke Wills and director Christopher Barry on stage together for the first time, and a Dalek masterclass from Barnaby Edwards and Nicholas Briggs that was the perfect set up for both the showing of the new film and the broadcast of Asylum of the Daleks later that evening.

Taking some of the central beats from Whitaker’s tale, but never afraid to move in a totally different direction when the requirements of his version of the story needed it, Scovell and his team of helpers produced a fast-paced 50 minutes. Sometimes it plays on your memories of the original, but you never need to have seen the 1966 story to understand this: many of the audience members at the premiere probably had not even heard the BBC audio version but still were able to follow it (and get quite scared along the way).

It’s a fan film, so it shouldn’t be judged against the all-singing, all-dancing (quite literally!) BBC version, but there were very few weak links in the whole production, with Barnaby Edwards and Lisa Bowerman adding a little extra to the scenes in 10 Downing Street. A couple of bits of “as you know” dialogue (the dreaded phrase is actually heard!) could perhaps have been reworked, but these really are minor quibbles.

The final third – premiered at the convention, and coming to a YouTube near you soon – compresses the Dalek takeover of the base, and adds its own little wrinkle to the famous Dalek production line scene. There’s also a fun sting in the tail, and I know of at least two audience members who want to know what happens next!

Verdict: TNT Films has walked the very difficult line of honouring the original while creating something new. 8/10

Paul Simpson