Resurrection of the Daleks

I’ve noticed that this story seems to be rather divisive round these parts, so I thought I’d do a poll on it to assert what the general consensus truly is.

I veered between below average and piss poor and erred on the safe side by voting the former.

The thing is, I can watch it through easier than most Davison stories, there are some good scenes in there and the story does have a lot going for it. I think on balance there's enough stuff I like in between the stuff that makes me cringe and curl under.

And I could certainly never rate it as low as Series 11. There's only one classic story I reserve that rating for.

Rather good I think.

I fully recognise Bernard and Tanmann's objections to the story and some i do see my self to a degree (poor acting, the late introduction of the plot to attack the High Council of the Timelords) but on the whole i think its an entertaining action story which uses the daleks well and presents them as a serious threat, ruthless and really quite murderous in their efforts to achieve their aims. Much better than Planet, Death and Destiny. Revelation got me really enthused about the daleks for the first time in years. Destiny just bored me. With the sole exception of Revelation, Molloy was never used better as Davros in the tv series.

Robert and Tanmann's discussions about this story in another thread have been really interesting even if they run contrary to my own opinions. Long may they continue.

Fairly good.

Upon further consideration, I’d go for somewhere between nothing special and below average, though aspects of the narrative structure and plotting are truly piss poor. I’ll go for below average due to how many writing issues it has.

It’s also relatively well directed at times, though, and has the occasional very good scene.

I think it's crap. Well made, but crap. It pisses me off royally that this tends to get a free pass from mainstream fandom, who then turn around and shit all over Attack despite the latter being vastly superior in every department.

Resurrection Of The Daleks is a frustrating story for me because as much as I want to like it, it just leaves me feeling even more hollow than the last viewing, It's certainly gone down for me over the years as whilst I knew it was an flawed Earthshock clone originally, I could at least look past that and still enjoy it as a 100 minute slice of mindless fun. But now looking back on it, it just bores me rigid. the first episode starts off pretty good with its tense atmosphere boosted by the direction and Malcolm Clarke's excellent score but then when the Daleks themselves turn up, it just feels like it starts going downhill from thereon.

The Daleks themselves are frustratingly characterized. One minute they feel like a force to be reckoned and the next minute, they are so bumbling and incompetent they make the Daleks from The Chase look like fucking geniuses and as much as I love Molloy's performance as Davros, I still feel like he should have been left after Genesis.

Tegan's departure feels just tacked on and her motivation is pretty bizarre (You'd think Adric's death or the massacre of Sea Base 4 would have spooked her off) and since when did she ever fun, Black Orchid aside? ''It's stopped being fun Doctor'' is a pretty good leaving reason, just not for her.

There are a lot of good moments in there but sadly at the end of the day, Resurrection Of The Daleks is just another poor mans Earthshock but without the fun and energy of that story. 2.5/5

Doesn't hold a candle to Howdy Doody.

Incidentally, Trillbe's done a review:

I voted Citizen Kane. Legendary stuff!

It has to be the most underrated Dalek story of all time. The whole thing is extremely well done and the script has plenty of bite to it.

Destiny and Death are underrated, Resurrection is just boring. But I haven't watched it in a few years, I could give it another chance.

The problem with Resurrection is that whilst there's some really good standout scenes amidst it all, as a whole viewing experience there just comes a point amidst all the gratuitous death that you stop trusting the writer even knows what they're doing anymore.
And when you do that, you lose sympathy and don't see the point in investment anymore.

Resurrection of the Daleks is a full on bona fide classic, far superior to that Graham Williams shitfest Destiny of the Daleks.

It's flawed by Saward overloading it with too many elements, but it's still more exciting to watch than the Pertwee Dalek stories too.

It's certainly better than every single NuWho attempt at a Dalek story too.