While nothing can match the sheer surprise from the drop of The Night of the Doctor as part of the Anniversary run-up in 2013, the ‘re-‘ animation of The Power of the Daleks as an Anniversary ‘gift’ this year is no slouch. A complete casualty from the BBC Archives purge, the animation deftly uses the extant sound recordings, archival photos, and telesnaps to frame the story.
It’s no substitute for the real thing of course, but it is eminently watchable. Which brings us to a point, one made with Tour confines before. If you’re at all curious about those missing stories from the archives (Marco Polo immediately springs to mind), which there of course far, far too many of, and still want to know what it was all about, the BBC releases of these stories with linking narration are out there, perhaps even locally, if you know where to look, and the effort in doing so will be rewarded.
One last thing about episode 1 of The Power of the Daleks. We thought we had spotted a MAJOR continuity flaw in the animation. Did you notice that the Doctors clothes changed as well when he regenerated? We sure did. But then we consulted the tele-snaps and found that this was how it actually happened. Couldn’t get away with that today.
Enjoy the reanimated, or zombie, version of The Power of the Daleks. Now let’s get to work on that Marco Polo recon.