Day 99: Golden Death

The Doctor's TARDIS has now landed in Ancient Egypt, closely followed by the Daleks and the Meddling Monk. It is, once again, interesting to note how little the Daleks make appearances, they stick to the sidelines mostly, making only intimidating orders or attacks on slave workers. The Doctor, for instance, never encounters the Daleks directly, and Steven and Sara only get a brief moment with them before being captured by some Egyptians. What this means is that the Daleks get to have more control over the story by not being on screen for as much of it, which is to say, their role is defined by their absence. Each scene that they appear in is important, and has repurcussions for the scenes that follow. The Monk, for instance, goes from being meddlesome to carry out a revenge scheme, to having to fight the Doctor for his life, while Steven and Sara don't just have to escape from their captors for freedom's sake, they need to warn the Doctor that the Daleks are here. Whilst the Daleks may not be on screen for long in this episode, their presence is felt throughout.