Eve of the Daleks

Chapter the 289th, it's recursion all over again.

Plot:
New Year's Eve in a storage facility in contemporary Manchester; owner Sarah is on duty because her colleague Jeff has let her down. Her only customer Nick comes in just before midnight as he does every year; he clearly has a massive crush on Sarah but she hasn't realised. The TARDIS materialises in the building, and the Doctor, Yaz and Dan leave it to rebuild itself after the ravages of the Flux. A Dalek arrives and exterminates Nick, Sarah and the three time travellers. They then all find themselves alive again; it's eight minutes to midnight and they are back where they started with major déjà vu. Despite their efforts to avoid it they all get exterminated again, and find themselves alive again at seven minutes to midnight. It's a rapidly deteriorating time loop caused by the TARDIS rebuilding itself, the next loop starts at six minutes to midnight, then five, then four, and so on. Two more Daleks end up materialising in this temporal fold in later loops, as they learn how to navigate it: they want to kill the Doctor because they blame her for the Flux destroying millions of Daleks. There's a Dalek forcefield around the building to prevent escape. Through the different loops, the Doctor and friends find lots of contraband items Jeff has been storing including a big pile of fireworks, and an alternate exit not covered by the forcefield. The Doctor's plan involves tricking the Daleks into shooting at the fireworks to cause an explosion that allows their escape and ends the time loop. A passer-by sees the firework display and thinks it's just been laid on for him. Sarah realises that Nick likes her, and that she likes him too. 

Context:

This one came up randomly towards the end of the year, but I held it back to watch on the afternoon of December 31st 2023. The majority of the episode is set, as indicated by the title, on the last day of the year leading up to midnight fireworks, so it makes more sense to watch it on a New Year's Eve rather than New Year's Day as it was initially broadcast. I viewed the story from the iplayer, starting off on my own; but, one by one, each of the children (boys of 17 and 14, girl of 11) came in and started watching alongside me.

Milestone watch: I've been blogging new and classic Doctor Who stories in random order since 2015, and I'm now closing in on the point where I finish everything and catch up with the current stories being broadcast serially. Eve of the Daleks is the final one of the four Jodie Whittaker episodes / specials shown on New Year's Days between 2019 and 2022 to be covered for the blog. With this story, and recently having blogged The Snowmen and The Church on Ruby Road in quick succession, I have completed all the Doctor Who festive specials as at the time of writing. Another such special is planned this year, though, already having started production in late 2023, so - presuming I haven't run out of stories by the end of 2024 - this won't be the last time the blog visits the Yuletide period.

First Time Round:

I watched this go out live on its BBC1 broadcast on January 1st 2022 accompanied by the same people as eventually joined me for this latest watch, i.e. all the kids but not the Better Half who still didn't take the opportunity to see the story this time despite my encouragements that she'd like it. I remember enjoying the story very much at the time, but there was one minor thing that I do remember everyone commenting on back then, and indeed they also repeated their comments this time: nobody knew who the bloke at the end watching the fireworks was. Both times, everyone assumed that it was Jeff, the unseen employee of Sarah's storage company who is mentioned many times in dialogue. That would make more sense than who it actually turned out to be, and I needed to look it up online to find out who that was: Karl, a fairly minor character from the first ever Jodie Whittaker story. I guess it's nice to know that he's still out there somewhere, albeit wandering the streets of Manchester alone on New Year's Eve, but it didn't feel particularly necessary or apt.

Reaction:

I'd very much enjoyed Flux, the season-wide story that preceded Eve of the Daleks, running from October to early December 2021, and which I'd just rewatched over the holiday period that year (I covered it in a bumper blog post published on December 31st, the day before the Eve of the Daleks was broadcast). With this Dalek festive special only a few weeks later, it felt like Chris Chibnall's version of Doctor Who was on a hell of a roll. Alas, it only had a couple of stories left, but the era built to a high point. Eve was probably my favourite story of the Whittaker years; no major pyrotechnics, but a good, simple idea well constructed and well realised. The series had featured time loops before, but never made one the sole focus of a story (Heaven Sent doesn't really count, as it features a spatial prison, time is still passing even if the Doctor isn't immediately aware of it); it has also featured comic and romantic subplots before, but had never properly done a full-on rom-com plot either. Combining the two makes something unique for Doctor Who. It may not at first glance look unique in the wider world beyond Doctor Who; the time loop romantic comedy is a reasonably well established subgenre, certainly since the movie Groundhog Day (which is namechecked in a funny moment where it's Dan's go-to phrase to explain the situation he finds himself in). Around when Eve of the Daleks was likely being written, and it may or may not have been an influence, there was a different take on the same template in the 2020 movie Palm Springs.

What both those movies did though, and what Heaven Sent did too, was forefront the sheer length of time, the number of repetitions, that the characters go through. It's a key point in all three, as they are about being stuck trying and improving before finally achieving a goal. Eve is not like that at all; the time loop deteriorates at a steady, rapid rate, with the characters reliving one minute less before midnight each time; as such, the loop becomes the 'ticking clock' that any action narrative needs, and the story is propelled efficiently through escalations towards its climactic sequence. To do that in 60 minutes and find time to fit in a romance plotline (well, two romance plotlines, more on that in a moment) is some good storytelling. Chibnall got a lot of stick for any writing flaws in his Doctor Who work during his years in charge, so it only seems fair to give him his dues for putting together something so enjoyable. The only even slightly duff note was making love-interest Nick a little too creepy, storing the items left at his place by his many ex-girlfriends. It seems only to have been included to set up the later gag about the therapeutic power of the Daleks for Nick when they destroy all those abandoned possessions (his exs are terminated, geddit?). Even this didn't feel so bad on this watch; the performances of guests and regulars alike are of such quality that their combined efforts sell even that less convincing moment. I really do believe in Sarah's realisation that she cares for the "good-hearted weirdo" that is Nick, and I believe in the echoes that phrase has for Yaz and Dan thinking about another potential relationship.

Given that the story had such a limited set of characters, it's essential that they are cast well, and Eve of the Daleks is cast impeccably. Aisling Bea is phenomenally good in this, a major star turn, but Adjani Salmon matches her. The sudden realisation, after a careless word from her, that he's caused her to be in danger, and his decision to sacrifice himself, is a powerful but understated moment. Nick Briggs's vocal work as the voice of the Daleks should not be overlooked either, he even gets to deliver a couple of jokes (including, in the line "I am not Nick", an in-joke). Even a small role like Pauline McLynn's performance as Sarah's Mammy, who wishes her daughter a happy new year just before midnight (as she's convinced, and won't be told otherwise, that the lines will be busy later), is perfect. The regulars are on top form too. Yaz's feelings for the Doctor have been such a slow burn across the previous three years that to have them suddenly acknowledged by Dan was almost shocking. It was great to have both the characters prompted by Dan face up to their long-term denial. It nicely sets up the episodes to come where this is explored in more depth. That those later episode's slightly fumble the emotional arc of their relationship shouldn't reflect badly on Eve; it should also be remembered that this episode, as well as those in Flux that proceeded it and the following two specials of 2002, were made under the most difficult circumstances of any modern Who, with ever-changing Covid restrictions impacting everything.

I think that the stories in 2023 have tied things up neatly and retrospectively fixed any loose ends of the Doctor and Yaz subplot, anyway. Clearly the Doctor is restless and needs to be constantly moving, and has concerns about how this may impact any close relationship; she explains this to Yaz in Legend of the Sea Devils; after that, she wants to regenerate alone to protect Yaz from the loss of her Doctor, and that regeneration starts a process of healing. By regaining an old face, the Doctor knows that he has to go back and fix another relationship that didn't get closure, and in doing this and then going through bi-generation, the restlessness and constant movement can stop and the Doctor is able to sort their mind out and have some settled time, with friends rather than in a romantic relationship. This then allows the fifteenth Doctor to be free of any baggage. It's a shame for Yaz, of course, but she has the ex-companion network from The Power of the Doctor to help her get through it. It wasn't perfectly presented, but as an emotional arc crossing multiple stories, multiple showrunners and multiple Doctors, I think it is pretty amazing (but maybe I'm just a good-hearted weirdo). Eve of the Daleks kicks all that off, and also has action and comedy and some wonderful emotional moments ("Not many people would have done that - some close friends and family included, actually" "I've never told anyone... not even myself"). Lovely.

Connectivity:

Both Eve of the Daleks and The Church on Ruby Road are festive specials of the 2020s set in a city in contemporary England.

Deeper Thoughts:

Time Travel: back and forward. The last couple of years, I've had a go at predicting what will unfold in Doctor Who's year to come, as well as validating how well (or how badly) my predictions turned out for the year just gone. This post early in 2024 covering a New Year story seems like a good place for this exercise. If you want to play along at home, my guesses for 2023 were in the Deeper Thoughts section of the Robots of Death blog post here. I started strong, as I was bang on the money in predicting that the Doctor Who festive special would return to Christmas day. Perhaps it looks like a fairly obvious move with hindsight. Doctor Who had trialled being a Sunday night heritage brand for the whole of Jodie Whittaker's time playing the Doctor, and its festive specials moving to the first of January slot fit with that. Bringing back Russell T Davies suggested, given that it was something he'd done with much fanfare before, a return to Who as a shiny Saturday night and Christmas day proposition, and so it has come to pass. There have been some grumblings online about the overnight ratings not being as good as they should be for Ncuti Gatwa's Christmas special, but it nonetheless did very well, with the consolidated weekly ratings even better - I can't see it being moved from Christmas Day in 2024. I didn't make many other predictions about the content of the 60th anniversary specials as most of it had already been heavily rumoured (the Meep, the Wrath Warriors and the Toymaker were all spoilered in 2022). The one thought I had would be that any other returning elements would likely be from stories in the era from 2005 onwards rather than the 20th century stories. I was completely wrong there; the only other significant return was from Bonnie Langford as Mel who is resolutely classic era (bar a brief cameo in Jodie's last story).

For 2023 home video releases, I didn't predict (nobody really predicted) the return of missing episode animations, which had seemed to on indefinite hiatus from reports in 2022. Only one - The Underwater Menace - came out in the year, but this was one more than expected. William Hartnell story The Celestial Toymaker, backstory of the third of the 60th anniversary specials The Giggle, is slated for release sometime in early 2024. The different animation style seen in the animation's trailer suggests it is not being worked on by the same team as Underwater Menace, so I would hazard a guess that they'll have moved on to another story - I'll take a punt and suggest this will be the long-awaited version of Patrick Troughton Cyberman story The Wheel in Space (a short section of one episode was animated as a test years back, and it would be good to have the whole thing done). There was also a 2023 newspaper article in the UK that reported rumours of two stories being animated, The Celestial Toymaker and another Hartnell, The Smugglers. If the report was right about the former, could it also be right about the latter? Another thing that nobody predicted for 2023 was a completely new range of classic stories: colourised and re-edited versions of older stories. The Daleks in Colour is also slated for release early in 2024 after its broadcast and iplayer debuts in 2023. It's been confirmed that another story is being worked on; my guess would also be a Patrick Troughton Cyberman story, The Tomb of the Cybermen. I predicted three Blu-ray collections sets for 2023, but only two were released, perhaps because there's less room in the schedules with all the other stuff mentioned above. My guesses for the specific seasons were 6, 13 and 20 - only one of the three being correct.

As well as the 20th anniversary year set, there was also Jon Pertwee's third run, season 9, to enjoy in 2023 Blu-ray glory. I'll assume two sets for 2024 too; I'm the least well-connected fan ever, but I have heard a whisper that season 25 (Sylvester McCoy's second year) is imminent, so I'll go with that for one; for the other, I was going to pitch season 13 (Tom Baker's second year) for the third year running - I've got to be right sooner or later - but then a rumour circulated that it's going to be season 15 next (Tom's fourth year) so I'll have to go with that instead. What about predictions for new Doctor Who on the box? Another curve-ball that's been thrown at anyone trying to predict 2024's new broadcast content is the possibility of spin-offs. There's a persistent rumour about a spin-off with an eight word title (I'm not going to reveal it here), but aside from the probable potential for one old monster to feature the stars, structure, number and length of episodes are a complete mystery. Not much more is known about Ncuti's first series, either. I don't know why, but I'm getting a feeling that the stories are going to accentuate the new. A new UNIT 'family' has now been developed including Kate Lethbridge-Stewart as played by Jemma Redgrave, Ruth Bradley's scientific advisor Shirley Anne Bingham and the aforementioned Mel; I would guess there will be a couple of stories back on Earth where one or all of those characters appear. Will we see old monsters too? Davies has hinted at further supernatural threats, which might allow for creatures with some built-in brand recognition (like Goblins, say) without them having to be from Doctor Who's heritage. I doubt it will be too long, though, before Ncuti gets to face the Daleks or the Cybermen or both. That's about enough guesswork, I think - check in back here in a year or so to see how well I did!

In Summary:

Eve of the Daleks. Of the Daleks. The Daleks. Daleks!