"It would take a mountain to crush an ego like yours."

Doctor Who's twenty-second season (Colin Baker's first season as Doctor Number Six) closed in the spring of 1985 with Revelation of the Daleks, written by then-script editor Eric Saward and directed by Graeme Harper. Revelation may not be as strong as Genesis of the Daleks (with Tom Baker) or Resurrection of the Daleks (with Peter Davison), but it is one of the stronger Sixth Doctor stories. The Doctor and Peri (Nicola Bryant) arrive on the funeral planet of Necros, home of the cryogenics repository run by Jobel (played by Keeping Up Appearances' Clive Swift). The time travelers have come to pay their respects to the late agronomist Arthur Stengos. Terry Malloy returns as Davros, the creator of the Doctor's oldest enemies, the Daleks. Malloy is the third actor to play Davros, and the only actor to repeat the role. Davros has created a whole new breed of Daleks obedient only to him rather than the Supreme Dalek on Skaro, the Daleks' original homeworld. I love the ivory and gold color scheme for Davros' Daleks. Eleanor Bron (who made a cameo in the Tom Baker story City of Death) plays Kara, who runs a factory which produces and distributes protein concentrates as food for developing planets. Kara's profits are being sucked away by The Great Healer (a.k.a. Davros) to fund the creation of his new Daleks. She hires Orcini (William Gaunt), a former member of the Grand Order of the Knights of Oberon, to assassinate Davros. Alexei Sayle of The Young Ones fame adds some comic relief as the DJ, who provides music along with humorous announcements. Producer John Nathan-Turner had been gradually increasing the violence over the past three seasons with Peter Davison's Doctor, and Season 22 was the most violent yet, and Revelation was, without a doubt, the most violent story of the season. The story's greatest strengths come from acting performances--especially from the supporting cast, including Swift, Bron and Gaunt--as well as the Eric Saward's writing (Saward also wrote Earthshock and Resurrection of the Daleks, two of the best stories from the Peter Davison era) and the direction of Graeme Harper (The Caves of Androzani). Revelation of the Daleks made a strong close to a largely disappointing season, and I expect this to make an excellent DVD release.

One of Colin Baker's best stories...

I'll be the first to admit that the 6th Doctor isn't my favorite and his stories weren't the best but 'Revelation of the Daleks' is one of the best of a fairly mediocre batch of stories (I'd put 'The 2 Doctors' as his best story). I always liked Colin Baker and liked the approach he took to the character but I just wish he had better material to work with. At least the 6th Doctor has shown some growth on the Big Finish audio adventures-check them out if you haven't already.

The thing that struck me the most about this story is what a minor part the Doctor plays in the events of the story-he's like a guest star in his own show. Still you can't complain when you've got Davros and the Daleks and some decent guest stars, in particular William Gaunt as the down on his luck knight selling his services as an assassin. Definitely well worth watching.

Saward is God!

I loved Resurrection of the Daleks and Earthshock is my all time favourite story, but this is still a very good example of the brilliance of Eric Saward and is as radically different to everything he wrote before as The Visitation was to what he did after it! Amazing man and an amazing time in Who history! This is the pinnacle of Colin Baker's era, where the mix of comedy and horror which his era attempted right from the start finally fulfills it's promise completely. If you liked psycho Peri-choking post reneration Baker, grisly TV violence on Varos, hand crushing Cybermen and bad puns from the Doctor on Telos, and the canabalistic butchery of Vegetarians with a little help from Pat Troughton, then this trip to the biggest funeral parlour in the galaxy where people eat their own dead and your dead's head is inside a see though Dalek with brains popping out will make your day! Left unchecked, Colin Baker's era may have evolved into a work of art unsurpassed in TV history, if this story is any indication of the direction it was taking. Dark satire with slick style and wicked humour, this is the blackest, smoothest dose of Dr.Who ever. It is not for everyone and that's for sure, but what a shame we never got to see what came next. Instead, BBC head honcho Grade stepped in (he hated the show!) and the Trial of a Time Lord followed instead. Ah, well.