Remembrance of the Daleks is the first serial of the 25th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The serial was first broadcast in four weekly episodes from 5 to 26 October 1988.
The Seventh Doctor and Ace arrive in Shoreditch in 1963. They meet a military unit led by Group Captain Gilmore and Sergeant Smith, tracking abnormal local magnetic fluctuations, originating mainly from Coal Hill School where a transmat device in its basement is tied to a Dalek ship in geostationary orbit.
A second, weaker fluctuation is emitted by a nearby Dalek. There are two Dalek factions: Imperial Daleks on the orbiting mothership, controlling the school, and Renegade Daleks, who reject the Emperor’s authority, controlling the junkyard. Both sides seek the Hand of Omega, a Time Lord device the Doctor left on Earth during his first visit to 1963.
Smith is a secret associate of Ratcliffe, leader of a group of fascists, reporting to a Renegade battle computer, which uses a schoolgirl as its eyes and ears. The Doctor has the Hand buried in a local cemetery, but Ratcliffe finds it, tipped off by Smith. Imperial Daleks arrive to seize it from the Renegades, but the Doctor and Ace defeat them and destroy their transmat.
Anticipating a siege, the Doctor has Gilmore fortify the school while he disables the Renegade “time controller”, fleeing with Daleks in pursuit, returning to the school just as the Imperial Daleks land. The Imperials eventually defeat the Renegades after deploying a Special Weapons Dalek, wiping out all but a Supreme Dalek, allowing Ratcliffe and Smith to escape with the controller, pursued by the schoolgirl, who kills Ratcliffe.
The Imperial Daleks take the Hand to the mothership, leaving for their home planet, Skaro. Ace follows Smith to recover the controller. The Doctor establishes communication with the Dalek Emperor, who is really their creator, Davros, who means to destroy the Time Lords with the Hand. The Doctor mocks him but then feigns fear. Davros launches the Hand, Skaro’s sun goes supernova, and Skaro is destroyed, the force of the explosion also wrecking the mothership. The Hand returns to Gallifrey.
Smith captures and attempts to kill Ace, but the schoolgirl finds them and kills Smith first. The Doctor persuades the Supreme Dalek to relinquish control of the girl. The Supreme Dalek self-destructs, and the girl screams and faints, but is unharmed. At Smith’s funeral, Ace asks the Doctor if what they have done was good, to which he responds: “Time will tell”.
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To view the list of other Doctor Who serials, please click this link
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