Day 506: Destiny of the Daleks Episode 1

When viewing an episode of Doctor Who, you can see the influence of four key voices: the producer, the script editor, the writer and the director. In the case of viewing Destiny of the Daleks I suddenly realised that three of those key voices (writer, director, script editor) were slightly at odds with one another, and that each one of these voices is interesting in their own way. So, for the next three days, I'll look at these three voices and see what they bring to the table in Destiny of the Daleks.

Let's begin with the script editor, Douglas Adams. One of the most recognisable names in science fiction, he is world famous for his work on such series as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He's also written for Doctor Who before with last series' The Pirate Planet and he contributed some minor editing work to The Armageddon Factor as well. This is his first full story as script editor though, so it's nice to see what a fresh faced young writer will bring to the table as he looks over this script.

The answer is jokes. This story is filled with small jokes, such as the Doctor openly criticising a book on The Origins of the Universe whilst being crushed by a large pillar, or the two minute scene at the start of the story where Romana decides to regenerate and goes through a charade of trying on different bodies in much the same way as someone would choose some clothes. It certainly makes the story feel more fun, and it helps to magnify the on-screen chemistry between the Doctor and Romana, thus relieving any tensions that new viewers might not accept the new Romana but it also raises questions about whether these jokes are right for this type of story...