From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated   
   From Address: jphalt@aol.com   
   Subject: Re: jphalt's Doctor Who reviews   
      
   Season 22 (and my second set of 6th Doctor reviews) comes to a close   
   with the best, if most atypical, story of the season:   
      
      
   REVELATION OF THE DALEKS   
      
   2 episodes. Approx. 90 minutes. Written by: Eric Saward. Directed by:   
   Graeme Harper. Produced by: John Nathan Turner.   
      
      
   THE PLOT   
      
   The planet Necros is home to Tranquil Repose, a facility in which   
   people with enough money and status have themselves stored in   
   suspended animation until a cure is found for their assorted diseases.   
   The Doctor and Peri have come because Arthur Stengos (Alec Linstead),   
   a professor and friend of the Doctor's, has died and his services are   
   to be held at Tranquil Repose.   
      
   But something isn't right here. The two have barely arrived before   
   being attacked by a hideous mutant, a pathetic figure who croaks about   
   the experiments of "The Great Healer" before he dies. A great wall   
   separates the outside from the facility within: A wall with no door.   
   Inside, Jobel (Clive Swift), the chief embalmer, prepares for the   
   funeral of the President's wife, even as the staff worries that   
   Tranquil Repose's best days are behind it.   
      
   Meanwhile, the wealthy Kara (Eleanor Bron) has hired the infamous   
   assassin Orcini (William Gaunt). Orcini is a former Knight of the   
   Order of Oberon, and he has dreamed of ending his career with an   
   honorable kill to make him feel like a knight once again. Kara has   
   such a kill for him. On Necros, at the heart of Tranquil Repose, the   
   Great Healer resides. But the Great Healer has another name, one he   
   refuses to use on an open channel. That name... is Davros!   
      
      
   CHARACTERS   
      
   The Doctor: Much has been made about the Doctor's limited screentime   
   in this story. Perhaps too much, given that he does have a sizable   
   role in Part Two. But instead of focusing on the size of the part, I'd   
   like to observe just how much Colin Baker does with it. His   
   performance is noticeably softer and more subdued than in most of the   
   rest of the season. In a fairly typical "bickering" bit at the start,   
   he avoids delivering his lines as barbs, even responding to Peri's   
   question about whether the local animals bite by putting a note of   
   sympathy in his voice as he says, "Only each other." Even when   
   confronting Davros, Colin remains subdued, showing as much with a   
   glance at a dead body as with his voice. It's very good work, one that   
   stands in stark contrast to his reputation in some circles as "the   
   shouty Doctor."   
      
   Peri: Nicola Bryant is also more restrained here than in previous   
   stories, which leads me to think director Graeme Harper was pushing   
   the actors to embrace the funereal atmosphere. Her interactions with   
   the Doctor continue to show that, for all the spikiness, these two are   
   quite fond of each other. When she thinks the Doctor is dead, Jobel   
   asks if the Doctor was a friend. Unhesitantly, she says he was "the   
   best." When they are reunited at the story's end, the Doctor   
   immediately expresses sympathy to Peri for the death of a friend she   
   made in the course of the story.   
      
   Davros: "He sits like a spider at the heart of this planet, using the   
   money he extorts from us to rebuild his disgusting creatures." Davros   
   is the dark heart of this story. He lurks, watching the interactions   
   of those who work at Tranquil Repose. Like any group, there are   
   weaknesses, imbalances, and Davros pushes at the weakness of   
   Tasambeker (Jenny Tomasin) at just the right moment to make her do her   
   worst. He doesn't even have any real purpose: It simply provides a   
   diversion while salving his wounded ego. When he's done, he disposes   
   of Tasambeker like a child might do to a used-up and broken toy. Terry   
   Molloy's performance is the best of his three televised showings   
   (bettered only by the Big Finish audio story, Davros); he dominates   
   the proceedings with a gloriously malevolent glee.   
      
      
   THOUGHTS   
      
   Doctor Who's final serial before the infamous 18-month hiatus that   
   would cripple the show, that makes this the final classic Who story   
   that was made when the series was  still at full strength. Thankfully,   
   this is no "so-bad-it's-funny" runaround, but rather a meticulously-   
   crafted, wonderfully shot piece that demonstrates that this series was   
   far from the tired husk its fiercest critics made it out to be.   
      
   Revelation has an ambitious script, the most ambitious of Eric   
   Saward's writing efforts by a considerable margin. Saward does an   
   enormously good job of making Tranquil Repose into a place that feels   
   convincing and real. The personalities of the egotistical Jobel (Clive   
   Swift), the fawning Tasambeker (Jenny Tomasin) and the stable and   
   steady Takis (Trevor Cooper) feel right, not just as characters in   
   their own right, but as characters who fit into this setting and who   
   fit in their relationships with each other.   
      
   The structure is made up of strands: Character pairs and interactions   
   that form a tapestry as we see them building on each other, even when   
   they don't directly intersect. Like everything about this serial, this   
   structure is ambitious: Jobel and Tasambeker's strand has no   
   connection with Orcini's story, and both characters only lightly brush   
   up against the Doctor and Peri. But all of the strands feel like parts   
   of the same whole, because they all "fit" within the setting.   
      
   I'm no fan of Eric Saward's, but this is his best work and shows that   
   he did have real ability. No punches are pulled - This is Season 22 at   
   its purest, with black comedy and grim horror intertwining to ghoulish   
   effect. It also gets an incredible boost from director Graeme Harper,   
   who constantly finds ways to keep things visually interesting within   
   his meticulously framed shots. Whether by color schemes emphasizing   
   the coldness of Kara (Eleanor Bron)'s ship, or by color tints on the   
   lighting, or by smoke in the frame, there's almost always something to   
   push the visual element and keep the action dynamic. This is one of   
   the best-looking stories of the classic series, with very little here   
   that invites the viewer to laugh at the cheapness.   
      
   Harper's direction emphasizes the greatest strength of Saward's   
   script: The atmosphere. The cold and somber mood of a funeral home in   
   decline. That atmosphere can be felt in every scene, every   
   performance. More than any other element, the craftsmanship behind the   
   camera pushes this from simply being a good story into being a great   
   one.   
      
      
   Rating: 10/10.   
      
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