Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks (2021) - Review

 

She's back...and it's about time! It feels like an eternity since the Doctor last appeared on our screens, but at long last Doctor Who is back for a feature-length special. 'Revolution of the Daleks' has a lot going for it: the Doctor's in prison, the "fam" are stuck on Earth, Captain Jack Harkness returns, 'Arachnids in the UK''s Jack Roberston is back and the planet is about to be invaded by a new breed of Daleks. It's an episode with a lot going on, and after such a difficult ten months away from TV, with unrealistically heightened expectations that the production team could never have imagined (the special was filmed in October 2019), it's no surprise that 'Revolution of the Daleks' doesn't live up to the hype.

This is a blockbuster episode in a lot of ways, with scope, spectacle and some tremendous-looking visual effects shots, but also lacking in the overall narrative. In 71 minutes, 'Revolution' rockets its way through a good two-hours' worth of story without ever taking a second to breathe. At some points Chris Chibnall's script feels a bit convoluted, jumping around from plot beat to plot beat rather than developing a relatively straightforward story. The prologue hints at an espionage plot that goes nowhere, there's a scene which hints at a storyline revolving around militarised police which never comes up again, and I think Chibnall may have even tried to add in a bit of political satire, but none of this really sticks. There's a joke to be made about the Daleks taking over Downing Street, but the episode simply doesn't have time to make it.

After ending 'The Timeless Children' on the big cliff-hanger of the Doctor trapped in prison, she escapes surprisingly quickly - thanks to the return of Captain Jack Harkness. It's lovely to see John Barrowman in the show again, although his role in the story feels undercut somewhat with such a large cast, and his exit feels spectacularly mishandled. I do hope that this isn't the last we've seen of Jack, as 'Revolution' sets up an interesting older version of the character unlike what we've seen before in the series. There's potentially a whole episode's worth of story just set in the prison; I like the idea of an automated space prison, and the Doctor struggling to adjust, before meeting Jack and plotting their escape. As it is, the prison stuff feels like one extended sequence, although it is bolstered by some fun monster cameos (Sycorax, Ood, Silence, Weeping Angels and The Mighty Pting - AKA the best Doctor Who monster in years).

I think the big issue with having the Doctor escape so early on is that the story never really explores the impact of her disappearance. She returns to Earth with enough time to work out the Daleks' plot and prevent it, and while the episode sets up the idea of a rift between her and the "fam", it doesn't have enough time to really explore it. Yaz seems to have taken the Doctor's disappearance quite hard, now sleeping in the spare TARDIS on Earth (and seemingly having forgotten that she's a police officer); while Ryan says that he's moved on with his life, and decides to depart the TARDIS for good. It's a nice character beat for Ryan - and results in Tosin Cole's best performance since 'Resolution' - but we never actually see how Ryan's changed. All of this character development happens off-screen and just gets summarised in a few lines of dialogue; we never see him reconnecting with his dad (who hasn't appeared in the last two years), we never see him being there for his mates (despite 'Can You Hear Me?' setting this up), and while he mentions that he's realised what he wants to do with his life, we never see what that is. Poor Graham, however, barely gets any screen-time dedicated to him, resulting in his exit feeling a bit sudden. Bradley Walsh has been a constant highlight of the series, but Graham himself hasn't really had any character development since 'The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos', making his departure feel a bit too late. Their final scene is a nice call-back to their introduction in 'The Woman Who Fell to Earth', although Grace's cameo was a bit on-the-nose.

There's definitely some interesting character development hinted at for the Doctor though, which sets up Series 13 in an intriguing way. Jodie Whittaker has always been good in the role, but the character struggled to break beyond the archetypal Doctor "tropes" we're all familiar with until 'Spyfall, Part Two' last year started the Timeless Child arc. I was worried that the big reveals in 'The Timeless Children' would be ignored going forward, but at least for now, the Doctor does seem to have been affected by them. Her scene with Ryan was a nice character beat for the both of them, and the tease of the Doctor going to find out who she really is and where she comes from makes me excited to see where they could take this aspect in Series 13. Jodie's Doctor is more interesting when the show pushes her out of her element, either when she's forced into a situation she doesn't know how to get out of (like in 'Spyfall, Part Two') or when she's pushed emotionally in a way she struggles to reconcile (seen in this episode and 'Fugitive of the Judoon') - and I hope that this forms the backbone for where Chris Chibnall and the other writers take the character in the next series.

But then we come to the Daleks themselves. 'Revolution' sets up an interesting new breed of the iconic baddies, created from clones of the Reconnaissance Dalek, and the black casings are really quite distinctive - before they're very quickly disposed of by the "proper" models. There's a whole episode just building up to the defence drone Daleks taking over the planet - them turning to the news cameras in Downing Street is a great cliff-hanger moment - and yet they never really get a chance to show off. I was glad to see some continuity between 'Resolution' and 'Revolution of the Daleks' (including the mutant possessing Leo), although once again, it all feels a bit rushed.

These new Daleks are quickly destroyed by the SAS Daleks in what feels like the start of a 'Remembrance of the Daleks'-style civil war which ends before it ever really begins. Once again, there's a heck of a lot of mileage just in that one idea, and yet 'Revolution' packs it into one brief scene. I know a lot of fans were pleased to see the bronze Daleks make a return, and while it was interesting to see how they looked with the show's updated aesthetics, I also can't help but wonder if their presence overshadowed the newer models. These "new" SAS Daleks were just the usual models with claws (instead of sink-plungers), which should make for an easy toy release but did somewhat disappoint me - why build up a "take me to your leader" moment if the leader was just a normal Dalek? Surely that's another toy opportunity missed? I did like the idea of the Doctor luring the Daleks into the spare TARDIS in order to defeat them though, even if it wasn't set-up as well as it could have been - and once again, it all feels a bit rushed.

And that's a good summary of 'Revolution of the Daleks': it hits all the right beats, with some nice character development, fun action and a good story, but it goes so fast that nothing ever really manages to develop into something more interesting. This could have easily been a two-part special akin to last year's 'Spyfall', and the end result feels like several missed opportunities. On the upside, there's a lot to love here: it looks great, with solid direction from Lee Haven Jones, big-budget cinematography (I'm glad the show's now being made in 4K / HDR) and some surprisingly good visual effects work, not to mention the blockbuster score by Segun Akinola. All in all, 'Revolution of the Daleks' is a solid blockbuster episode of Doctor Who, and a welcome bit of escapism to welcome in the new year - I just wish that it could have been a bit more than that.