WHAT ARE YOUR BEST DALEK EXTERMINATIONS?

The big kid, which still lives inside of my 58-year-old body, loves Doctor Who and his glorious enemies. Especially the Daleks! I can remember, as an infant, being terrified and compelled by the splendid bad guys. I recollect the later William Hartnell stories. Most of all, The Dalek Master Plan. The whole thing about the Daleks was scary yet very necessary to me. I enjoyed being spooked by them. I wanted them to be defeated but never completely destroyed. They always had to come back with another diabolical plan.

At the beginning of a Doctor Who Dalek story, there always seems to be a character that is nicely prepared for the big ghastly finish – a sooner or later reckoning with the Dalek death ray. A laser blast that engulfs its victim in a hideous and deadly aurora. A ball of pulsating energy in which the victim’s photographic negative withers in the final stages of agony before dropping to the floor dead.  Sometimes coupled with an agonising and blood-curdling shriek!

1. Power of the Daleks Lesterson.

As I kid, I remember the first Patrick Troughton story. I knew that the character of Lesterson in The Power of the Daleks would get exterminated. He started off thinking he knew what he was doing – much against the Doctors warnings. Then he was discovered coming out of the production line capsule. I have that vague memory of him trying to pathetically amuse and patronise the Daleks as he nervously tries to talk his way out of his predicament. It was to no avail as he was bathed in the deadly energy glow. His body form went to negative and then he seemed to linger before dropping lifeless to the floor.  

2. The Day of the Daleks - The Controller 

I also knew The Controller from Day of the Daleks was going to meet the same type of fate. The Controller was a robust character who led the downtrodden human slaves for the Daleks. He was no more than a superior slave and not really a bad person. Just someone trying to make the best of a bad job. He was untrustworthy material for the Daleks. When the Controller saw an opportunity to defeat the Daleks he secretly joins the conspiracy by aiding the Doctor’s escape but was later discovered. When he stood before the Dalek who made the accusations of treachery, the Controller went bravely before being bathed in the deadly energy glow that briefly turned his body form to a photographic negative. The glow went and he fell to the floor dead.

3. Genesis of the Daleks - Ronson.

Then there was the kindly Ronson from Genesis of the Daleks. A man that we all liked. A Kaled scientist who had genuine concerns about the way the development of the advanced mutations of his people was going. He was concerned about the mutated Kaleds being put into the mark one travel machines and having all their emotions removed except for hatred. Hatred was enhanced. I knew this well-intentioned man would become a victim of the Dalek death ray. As it happened, he was technically the first ever victim of a Dalek. Davros, the creator of the Daleks, accused him of being a Thal spy and orders him exterminated in front of the science committee. 

Ronson, in his final moments, is given space as his fellow scientists back away from him. The man stands there, vainly trying to protest his innocence. The scream comes from Davros, “Exterminate!”

Ronson is pleading, “No Davros…”

The Dalek ray zaps and poor Ronson’s body is bathed in the negative glow as he withers and screams in agony. Then the engulfing glow vanishes as Ronson lies dead across a table. I think Ronson was the most likeable of the characters that I remember getting exterminated. Not that the others, I’ve mentioned, were bad. The others started off a little up themselves but realised the error of their ways before getting exterminated by the Dalek heat ray.

4. Revelation of the Daleks - Vogel.

Vogel and Kara

My next memory, and perhaps my favourite, was the extermination of Vogel in Revelation of the Daleks. To be fair to the character of Vogel, he knew exactly what the Daleks were and was stealthily against them from the start. The character of Vogel is delightfully repulsive to me. He is a Uriah Heep type character. A snide and a complete crawler to his employer Kara. They (Kara and the subservient Vogel) both have delusions of grandeur concerning their cleverness against Davros and his Daleks. They believe they have outwitted the mad creator of the Daleks. During an over presumptuous celebration drink to the obliteration of Davros, they are rudely interrupted by a Dalek delegation. The actor, Hugh Walters, plays Vogel with a superb show of empty bluster as he tries to scold the Daleks for their rude interruption. In the most arrogant and camp voice he reproaches them.

“How dare you.” He blasts in his ladylike voice.

It is wonderful theatrics. We all know what is coming and his character has been nicely fattened up for the kill. I remember gloating and enjoying the scene because this character is a snide who has sent a knight and his squire on a deadly fool’s errand for his and Kara’s gain.

The Daleks delegation has no time for such a man off ill-deserved confidence. The Dalek heat ray engulfs him. The nasty side of me is treated to Vogel screaming and withering in the negative glow. When the deadly glow abates, Vogel has a lingering moment of thespian theatrics. He is still alive for one last pathetic and pitiful look at his mistress and employer Kara. He then falls to the floor dead. I loved this scene. It made me feel so wonderfully wicked and then I felt ashamed of myself. The actor was brilliant in his portrayal of this despicable man who only wanted to destroy the Daleks but is somehow portrayed as bad.

Kara kneels down beside Vogel’s dead body and says. “How inconvenient…” and then goes on to make a reference to how difficult it is to find good accountants these days. This was all smashing and fun stuff. I was 26 by this time and still watching the show with my sons. They were glued to it.

Dalek Empire I - audio story (My Goodreads Review)

Dalek Empire I: Chapter One - Invasion of the Daleks by Nicholas Briggs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had just finished a book and then noticed I had downloaded this audio from Big Finish on my mobile app. I thought I would give it a go as it was only 71 mins in length. I was very surprised at how well the production was done. The sci-fi drama was very atmospheric with the old Doctor Who bad guys, the Daleks. In this particular story, there is no Doctor Who. Instead, we are taken to a planet called Vegas. There is a human colony there and it is about to be invaded. The dialogue was splendid and I would say this story is rather adult. Although it was only 71 mins long, it is part one of a four-part story. If the other episodes are as good as this, I will be pleased. I shall listen to the others in due course. If you are retro Doctor Who fans looking for something a little more adult and with a bit of a bite; then I would recommend giving this a go.

View all my reviews

DALEKS, DALEKS, DALEKS! It's all happening with POWER OF THE DALEKS.

The big kid inside this 55-year-old body got all excited this week. A missing Doctor Who story from 1966 was brought back under an animation. I remembered watching the first ever Patrick Troughton story when I was five years of age. I can remember near Christmas time with pictures in the newspaper of Ben and Polly (The Doctor's travelling companions) They were kneeling down with the dreaded Daleks in the background. It was the final episode of the six-part story and the Daleks went on an extermination spree. I was looking at it from behind the armchair. Not daring to turn my eyes away.

I eagerly bought the BBC download the other day and have been watching an episode each day. Today was the sixth and final animated adaptation and the Daleks went on that good old killing spree. I was back in 1966 again in my old house in Limehouse, East London. Good old days and the adaptation via animation made me swoon with nostalgic little boy memories. GREAT STUFF! :D

Old Doctor Who Story Animation (MISSION TO THE UNKNOWN)

From YouTube

This single episode story was a prelude to THE DALEK MASTERPLAN. The Doctor was not in this introduction story, but what followed was a twelve episode story. Thirteen episodes if one includes this single introduction story.

The Evil of the Daleks: Part of a great reconstruction on YouTube.

When I was a kid, I can remember watching this retro Doctor Who adventure in the late sixties. It was when Patrick Troughton was the Doctor with Fazer Hines as Jamie and Deborah Watling as Victoria. Most of this story is now missing from the BBC archives, but on YouTube, a person called android65mar has taken the trouble to put together a CGI reconstruction. It is in episodes and is well worth a look. So visit YouTube and look up android65mar to see other parts of this exciting retro styled reconstruction.

ME 163 Komet

The Me 163 was the only rocket powered aircraft to see operational service and its performance speed reached 698 miles per hour. This was colossal at the time of 1944.

The small odd looking craft used special fuel and the pilot was surrounded by the extremely corrosive and volatile mixture. Many test pilots were killed by tank ruptures when fuel spilt over them.

As a fighter, the Komet Me 163 was ineffective. The craft only scored 16 victories for 10 losses. Over 300 were built and many of these were divided among the allied forces when the air fields were over run by the enemy. There are many on display in museums around the world including the UK. I have seen one at an aircraft museum.

Above is footage of the Me 163 and an interview with a British test pilot who flew a captured Me 163.

 

Confederate soldier being interviewed age 100+

This is a recording of a real Confederate soldier being interviewed in the 1940s. He speeks of his life during the Ameerican Civil War and is a great piece of history from the very man - an account of what Julius Howell witnessed back in the early 1860s as a young man during this terrible conflict. He lived to be 102 and died in 1948.

The Red Baron's Funeral

I have done a blog on the Red Baron's last dogfight in April 1918.

This is a moving news film of the flying Ace's funeral conducted by his respectful enemy. His crashed plane was in an Australian section of the front and he receives full military honours.

Elephant in the garden of Eden finds Adam.

And so; the mighty elephant did wander into the garden of Eden - where upon, he came to a clearing, and here stood the man, Adam.

Looking the man up and down, the elephant did say unto Adam; "How the blooming hell do you feed yourself with that?"

Eugene Ely & First aircraft carriers

First successful take off

In 1910 the US Navy put flat decking on USS Birmingham off of waters in Virginia. They were conducting experiments for the first ship to be able to launch an aircraft at sea. Their man who undertook the mission was called Eugene Barton Ely - a stunt pilot. He took off from the flat deck of USS Birmingham on 14th November 1910. His craft dived towards the water at first but he managed to level out skimming the surface before lifting up and flying just over two miles to land at a navel base. This was the first take off success.

First successful landing

From this achievement, Eugene Ely then travelled to San Francisco for his second big contribution to naval aviation. On 18th January 1911, Eugene Ely flew over San Francisco Bay to land his aeroplane upon the flat deck of USS Pennsylvania. This was also a success. The dashing young stunt pilot had burnt his name into the history books.

On 19th October of the same year, Eugene Ely was killed during a flying exhibition at Macon Georgia. He pulled out of a dive too late and crashed his plane. He was 31 years of age.

Eugene Barton Ely
1879 - 1911

Early steam powered H.M.S. Thunder Child of War of the Worlds

H.M.S. Thunder Child

(Fictional ironclad from Victorian science fiction story)

Thunder Child's ram

I think H.M.S. Thunder Child would have looked similar to a Devastation type battleship in 1898. But would also have been smaller. Perhaps a cross between H.M.S. Devastation and H.M.S. Cyclops. It would have been one of the earliest steam powered battleships so she would have been built in the early 1870s. It would have still had short stubby muzzle loading guns. (Although muzzle loaders were fazed out in 1889) I would fantasise that Thunder Child did not receive the due attention of breech loaders because she was getting close to decommission.

I wanted the ship to have a certain vulnerability, but make good when the chips were down. She would be an old vessel that was expendable. In the real world none of these early Royal Navy battleships or ironclads were tested in battle so a pastiche story of War of the Worlds seemed like a good opportunity.

From 1815 to 1914 the Royal Navy was not really challenged during the height of Empire - only fictitious Martians did in H.G. Wells War of the Worlds story.

Stern

The pastiche story (The Last Days of Thunder Child) was done from a small piece of work in a writing class in Leigh-on-Sea, UK. It was only about 1,200 words, but it recieved good critism from the rest of the group. I decided to go back a few days and start the ship's journey towards its inevitable confrontation with three Martian tripods in the river Blackwater of Essex UK. As I did so, all sorts of things began to full into place. It became a 54,000 + worded story published by emp3books and is on sale in USA, CANADA, AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND. It can't be sold in the EU until 2017

Metaphysical journey across strange worlds. (surreal art.)

I would love to be able to do the type of art work these people can do. It certainly takes me into a dream world of various imaginations. I wonder what it will be like in the future? Will human beings one day travel across such landscapes in a space craft? I hope so - it's all out there waiting for us - one day. If only we could be born 200 years from now - what type of universe would it be for humans? Technology would be so much more advanced by then. Maybe such places might be reached by this time?

Stigmata wounds. (Poeple with the scars of Christ)

Marie Rose Ferron

It does not matter if you believe or don't, but Stigmatists do fire the imagination. So I'm trying to write this little blog as neutral as possible because I think sometimes things are difficult to explain. Religion is something I struggle with and sometimes scientists can be arrogant in their own theories of what is or what is not. As priests were dogmatic about things in the middle ages; how do we know if some of our scientists are not as bigoted in their views. That is not to say all scientists are like this, but many might be different and dismissive in their opinions as middle-aged religious orders were about things. Therefore many scientists, like ancient priests, often insist on telling us that things are; when they might not be. There are millions of wondrous things to discover and many theories that will, one day, be blown out of the water.

So science aside for the moment; Stigmatists are people who bare the same wounds suffered by Christ during his crucifixion. These comprise of wounds to the wrists, where Christ had his arms raised and nailed to the cross - plus nail wounds to the feet. Also, there can be scars to the head, where the crown of thorns was placed, lacerations across the back and the scar in the ribs, from a stab wound of the spear that was thrust into Christ as he lay dying, nailed upon the cross.

It would be relatively easy for a determined person to find horrid and ghastly ways of imitating such wounds. No doubt, on some occasions, people do try.  

This condition of Stigmata is found mainly in Roman Catholics and in eighty per cent of cases; suffered by women. It is said that the Vatican sends out agents across the world to examine such unexplainable cases. Many investigators are scientists that are still religious. It is believed that the vast majority of the time, the level headed priest can discover a hoax and most are explained away for one reason or another. Sometimes from self-infliction by a person mentally unstable.

The Roman Catholic church is evolving to discoveries of the new world and often finds itself in conflict with many issues. The last thing it wants is to go on a fool's errand and be seen to be tricked by unbalanced hoaxers. 

However, now and then, even a level minded examiner, searching for hoaxes or trickery can come upon a composed person, or perhaps, seemingly so. For there occurs occasion when Vatican agents can find no rational explanation as to why such wounds occur. They can find no evidence of self-infliction and no reason as to why such wounds appear. This leads to speculation of supernatural, Godly or diabolical powers bringing about such phenomenon.

 St Francis of Assisi was said to be a Stigmatist and it is believed he bore the wounds I speak of. Still, he lived in times when such things could be tricked or lied about. In his time, the church was executing innocent people for all sorts of things. If a person suffered epilepsy or Tourette's syndrome, they could be accused of being possessed and from this point subjected to torture for confession of treating with demonic forces etc. Wounds of a Stigmatist were conveniently placed - perhaps making them acceptable and not viewed in such dreadful ways.

Marie Rose Ferron was a young woman who raised such questions and she lived in the more enlightened times from 1902 to 1936 and died at the age of 33. She is often called the Little Rose and was an American-Canadian stigmatist. This fame comes from the wounds she bore and the time she lived in. I think this makes her interesting and I'm not dismissing her Stigmara, or believing either. I don't know what to make of this, except she is remarkable and interesting.

What makes Marie Rose Ferron compelling is the fact that she is someone close enough to our time, but just out of reach to be examined properly, having died in 1936. There are photographs of her, as above, and she would have been examined by reputable people of the Roman Catholic church during this time. She is a young woman that falls into the category of speculation where no one could find an earthly explanation for her stigmatist wounds. This caused her to be revered by some Roman Catholics.

She was born in Saint-Germain-de-Grantham, Quebec, as the tenth child of a large family which moved to Massachusetts 1906 and then to Woonsocket, Rhode Island in 1925, where she lived the rest of her life. Her stigmata (including a crown of thorns) were repeatedly photographed and she is considered the first American stigmatist.

Of course, there have been others like Anne Catherine Emmerick and Marie Rose Ferron and it is highly likely that there could be a rational explanation, but sometimes one can't be found, even by examiners who are trying to disprove such things. Marie Rose Ferron was one such case.

Had she lived in this same area of the world three hundred years earlier when the country was ruled by the Presbyterian fundamentalist orders of England and Scotland after the civil war, Marie Rose Ferron might have been subject to the more dreadful attentions of the witchfinder generals that were about in that day and age. Especially being Roman Catholic. After all, it is a region where the Salem witch trials were held. 

Moyra Melons ear rings in minimalist room

Moyra Melons was always looking for new ways to allow men to notice her splendid taste in ear bling. Her latest idea was to clear her room of furniture paint the walls plain white and wear a plain white dress.

Then she sat there, very contentedly waiting for her husband to come home from work. She was certain that amid plain white walls and white dress, in a minimalist decorated room; her poor husband could not help, but notice the subtle glow of the ear rings she was wearing.

Picture, if you will, her husband as he walks through the door. What will be the first thing screaming at him when he looks upon Moyra Melons sitting there? Yes you got it - her gorgeous ear wear because Moyra has cleverly fashioned things so that nothing else stands out - would you not agree?

http://tinyurl.com/355gsrh

 

Marillion - Torch Song

I had to put this other song up by Marillion. As I have said on another blog; this band really makes me drift and think on all sorts of issues.

http://tinyurl.com/355gsrh

High pitched singing geezer of 10 CC ( Donna)

I remember the first time I heard this on Top of the Pops in the early 1970s. I remember my mother and father laughing, but still they liked it enough to buy the single. The band went on to do some excellent songs and some fine albums too. It seems like yesterday, but it was 35+ years ago and I was in Secondary school. Happy days when everything always seemed to be exciting. I suppose we all love our own little era - even such little charming yet trivial things like this song, which is a fine and quaint tune by the band 10 CC. I sometimes wonder what some of the old school mates are doing nowadays after a few decades of trials and tribulations.

http://tinyurl.com/355gsrh

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Aeroplane

Another gem by Red Hot Chilli Peppers coupled with a nice piece of choreography to help the song along. Not that it needs any help, but this is a very happy and colourful presentation.

http://tinyurl.com/355gsrh

 

What Would Middle Age Priests Make of Marilyn Manson - Fight Song?

I would like to place this lot in a time bubble and put them on a stage in medieval Europe somewhere and watch the faces of the Christian religious orders when hearing the lyrics. I'm sure it would be a picture. Of course I would have to zap them away and back to today's times before the inquisitions could lay hands on them. I'm sure these people of our great protesting times would be regarded as the ant-Christ by the most moderate of people, during the middle ages. Peasants would be terrified of them and run willingly into the arms of fundamentalist Christian orders that ruled in those times.

Marillion - Sugar Mice

Another track from Marillion. I know they have recently been put on the blog before, but they are very good and this is another of their tracks which is very poignant. 






http://tinyurl.com/355gsrh

Guy goofs with army of lovely ladies

This advert is very well done for the reasons of comically getting its message across. It is an advert for spectacles and buying stylish ones. Personally I might not have cared, but the way to seduce a fella into, perhaps, thinking about it; is done wonderfully well here.

I can't help but giggle at this and when I'm next in the opticians, I might smile and think about this comical advert. It is very clever and once again, sex gets the message across for the average - wonderfully - shallow bloke like me. It is very light hearted, so even a feminist might lighten up and laugh - just a little perhaps... :)

http://tinyurl.com/355gsrh