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2020 has been a year of unprecedented times but perhaps the biggest turn up for the books of all was the surprise announcement of a brand new spin-off for Doctor Who in the form of animated YouTube epic, Daleks!
Freshly finished its first run, the series has taken the Whoniverse in a direction we've never quite seen done like this before, and certainly not in such circumstances. I will try to avoid any major spoilers yet I'd advise you to read on at your own discretion if you want to watch the series absolutely unaware of the details going into it.
Having worked alongside animators, I can account for the fact that making an animated series is trying enough at the best of times, yet in the conditions that the COVID-19 pandemic has presented, Daleks! truly is a sight to behold once you consider its remarkable standard of output in such a time of adversity. Its brilliance relies on a 5x15-minute format to tell a continuing storyline that gets deep into the mindset of the Daleks and puts a refreshing spin on their characters by placing them directly at the forefront of the narrative and adopting the role of the protagonists. Household name in the Whoniverse, the series' writer, James Goss is as masterful as ever, emulating the golden days of the Russell T Davies era with some gloriously camp dialogue and maintains a storyline throughout that perfectly treads the balance between light-hearted comedy and serious drama. Moreover, the creative choice to remove the Doctor entirely from the storyline gives the Daleks a chance to stand on their own two... hover-pads? Yet what excites me more is that the story gives us a chance to explore more of the universe than the live-action series would allow for. Over the course of the series, it finds time to explore several different worlds and bring back the Mechonoids from 1965’s The Chase (written as Mechanoids in Daleks! in line with the spelling of their home planet, Mechanus, which also features) and it introduces us to a brand new Dalek empire, already on the brink of collapse. As the story goes on, it becomes clear that the story title itself - Daleks! - is seemingly not about the race as a whole first and foremost, but about the two Dalek protagonists that drive the story. In battle scenes with each episode, as would be expected of a warrior race, countless Daleks and adversaries are destroyed as collateral damage, yet the two that always prevail above all else is the Dalek Emperor and the Dalek Strategist, whose relationship is hard to define, with Goss setting up an interestingly complex power dynamic between the two. As a homage to the Dalek Chronicles comics of the 60s, most evidently in its exploration of vibrant alien cities and the spherical head design of the Dalek Emperor, Daleks! is a triumph and highly recommendable to long-term fans.
Considering especially that the entire series was put together over lockdown, it is utterly phenomenal the way in which it delivers in every aspect from its visuals and soundtrack to its dialogue and vocal performances. In particular, I want to draw attention to the possibilities that Daleks! opens up. First, the characterisation of Goss' main characters, the Dalek Emperor and the Dalek Strategist, accompanied by the vocal talents of Nicholas Briggs see the lords of Skaro back on form. Yet what is particularly significant about these two, is that among a race of mutants in identical military tanks, these two are given distinct personalities that are reflected in every detail from their visual appearance to their distinguished voices. The entire series is reliant on Goss' scripts to deliver, and these stories shine both narratively but from a character-focused perspective too. Having been around for nearly 60 years now, it is incredibly impressive that this production has found a way to do the Daleks that feels unlike anything we've seen before, and the anthropomorphic qualities of these two leading Daleks make for compelling protagonists that we can actually relate to, which even by the standards of 2020, empathising with a Dalek is a strange feeling, which, again, hasn't really been explored since Rose Tyler first encountered the 'Metaltron' in 2005's Dalek. Secondly, and perhaps even more notably, the series serves as a blueprint for so many potential new ideas. The animated style itself enables less emphasis on realism which makes things somewhat easier when exploring new settings and if the series proved anything, it was undeniably that a series without any intervention from the Doctor could not only be successful but thoroughly enjoyable, perhaps paving the way for more stories in this format.
That said, the series isn't without its minor drawbacks, whilst the visuals overall are excellent and seem to go from strength to strength as the series goes on, the effects are sometimes lacking in realism which has brought them under scrutiny from certain fans. Yet in my opinion, the vibrant colours and magnificent alien worlds depicted are more than up to scratch for appealing to the younger demographic on YouTube and competing with other popular animated series. Moreover, the alien worlds themselves are something to behold as well, yet in making the story accessible to casual viewers within the 5x15-minute format, the scripts leave little time to explore the worlds that Goss builds on, which is something of a shame, but leaves many tantalising questions that deserve to be picked up in a second series.
Overall, Daleks! is not going to be for absolutely everyone, chiefly due to its art style, but then Doctor Who never has been absolutely everyone's cup of tea, and nevertheless, the series does go along way in trying to achieve it. What the show does wonderfully throughout its first run is take viewers on a journey across the stars leaving a trail of fire and debris behind them as the Daleks stay on brand, trying to battle every sentient being they cross paths with. The show does well to survive without any influence from a certain familiar Time Lord, or indeed any other humanoid characters, and not only excels in its easy-to-follow storyline but creates three-dimensional characters that are believable and accessible in a considerably short timespan. For a first attempt at a proper animated spin-off for Doctor Who, the first series of Daleks! does brilliantly even without considering the hardships of production during a global pandemic and national lockdown, which makes it not only a commendable feat but well worth watching and thoroughly deserving of a second series.