The Dæmons Lets Magic Into Doctor Who by the Back Door
Doctor Who's most definitive stance on magic is almost perfect, and it's undoubtedly the best Roger Delgado's Master has ever looked.
Plot summary
The Master seeks ultimate power from a colossal alien whose long influence on humanity has manifested over the centuries as devil worship.
Notable for:
Lots of location work was done, including filming at a village called Aldbourne. The cast universally reports this being one of their favorite filming experiences.
Script has one of the few mentions of Hitler in the classic series.
Cementing the UNIT “family” status quo at the end of Season 8, with the Doctor, Brigadier, Jo, Benton, and Yates all deployed in a single, tightly focused village crisis that sums up the Pertwee era’s Earthbound formula
The capstone to the Master’s first full-season run
Takes Doctor Who’s long‑running “science vs superstition” theme to its logical extreme by framing the plot as black magic and witchcraft that are ultimately revealed as alien experimentation and psionic energy
Has the Brigadier’s most quoted line: “Chap with the wings there. Five rounds rapid.”
A touchstone for later “ancient devil is an alien” stories, echoed in Pyramids of Mars and The Satan Pit.
Pete commentary:
The Dæmons definitely feels like the original Doctor Who Halloween episode. The format, though, is more along the lines of a cop-buddy episode with Benton and Yates getting a TON of scenes and things to do. The Doctor and Jo are almost forgotten in places, but they certainly have good meat as well. The only one sidelined is the Brigadier, but they make the sidelining interesting with the heat barrier.
In all, the Dæmons does a great job of weaving all the characters—both the regulars and the guest cast—into this rather straightforward Master power-grab story.
It’s refreshing to watch the Daemons today, post-Gatwa. I see the message of the Daemons as fundamental, even doctrine for Doctor Who: that there is no such thing as magic. Everything can be explained with science.
That said, much of the “science” here depends on psionic energy and the Master (and others) directing that energy. Psionics are a fun thing to pull out for adventures like this, but you wonder why they don’t feature more often. As Miss Hawthorne observes, “that’s exactly what black magic is.” It almost ends up being a semantic debate.
I’m very happy to have come to the Daemons out of order, since seeing the Master for a FIFTH time in the same season—giving him a clean sweep of the season, being the villain in every story. I remember thinking, “Again?!” when I saw it for the first time. But coming to it randomly pushes those feelings aside, and I can appreciate Delgado’s great performance here.
It’s also fantastic to see the story in color for the first time. The Master’s red cloak is killer, and Benton and Yates’ civvies give them more character.
It’s a little unclear how to pronounce “Dæmons.” Generally, characters talk about dee-mons, but when the Doctor states their proper name in episode 3, he does a variation: day-mons from the planet day-moss. I think fans, and the show, have settled on dee-mons, which is probably correct. Though you could argue that they’re both right: dee-mons is the generic, which certainly applies, whereas when you’re talking about the actual race, then it’s day-mons.
Pertwee got to drive Bessie and the motorcycle, which is cool
Brig gets great lines:
The thought had occurred to me.
Wish I worked in a bank.
Chap with the wings, there. Five rounds rapid.
I’d rather have a pint.
Miss Hawthorne is quite compelling as a character, and Damaris Hayman’s performance is very memorable—it’s hard to forget those fluttering eyes. She starts out clearly interesting, though a bit irritating. It’s her first scene with the Master (which is also his first scene), it’s clear she’s on the side of good. And she ends up being pretty instrumental in advancing the story.
Bok is pretty great. The design is legendary—creepy in all the right ways (that tongue is doing a lot of work), and the “zap” effect isn’t too bad for the time. I also really like how they show UNIT’s brute force is ineffective against the psionic forces—”five rounds rapid”, then the bazooka. Its first appearance as a gargoyle is cool, though the “look at me” bit on the hillside in episode 2 is a bit much.
So what happened to Bok? He turns back into a statue, but you have to think it’s in some kind of UNIT vault.
I really like the heat barrier. It’s smartly realized with the budget and capabilities at the time, and it’s a fantastic plot device, cutting off our heroes from crucial resources and making them the underdogs. It also creates tension and anticipation as the Doctor and Osgood work to circumvent the barrier, which finally happens in the final episode.
Azal kind of sucks. His central character trait is being “shouty.” His actions feel random throughout—walking along the countryside, shrinking, enlarging himself, and arriving for a third and final time. Why? What’s he doing? The Master has summoned him, I get it, but then why is the final part of his experiment to give his power to some other being?
If the Daemons has a fatal flaw, it’s the ending. Jo offering to give up her life for the Doctor doesn’t seem like something that would confuse a hyper-advanced being, let alone persuade him to destroy himself. Moreover, it’s not even an interesting act—at least, not in a way that relates to the subject material. Self-sacrifice ultimately doesn’t have anything to say about the occult.
What did Pete’s family think?
Grace wasn’t as enthusiastic as she has been about other stories, though she did like Bok and the Master’s look.
Four Questions to Doomsday - Pete
Why did the Randomizer take us here? Hitler reference! Contrast with Kinda/religiosity angle.
What if the evil plot had succeeded? Azal isn’t thrown by Jo’s sacrifice, gives his power to the Master. Doctor and Jo dead, the Master rules the Earth, and begins directing his power out to the cosmos.
Where’s the Clara splinter? She’s the controller of BBC 3, who decided this small-town satanic panic was a big story to get ahead of.
Dalek, Ogron, Professor Hayter, Viscount Banger, Fixed Point in Time, Lady Cassandra, or Zarbi? I almost made this a Viscount Banger, but the ending and Azal are fatal flaws. It’s still great Doctor Who—it’s a Dalek-Banger hybrid.
Chris commentary:
Episode 1, for all its quirks, feels like a banger with all its rising anticipation – and I wish we’d seen more of the TV crew.
Yes, this is the story that tells us all magic in Doctor Who has a basis in science, and I’m down with that – but I was surprised that it doesn’t stop to explain how, at least not as much as you might want based on that reputation. Even the Doctor himself doesn’t explain why Devil’s End is stirring a memory, etc. Plus there’s a lot that doesn’t make scientific sense about Azal’s awakening and the earthquakes/heat shield, Bok’s integrity in the face of a bazooka (breaking the 2nd law of thermodynamics?) etc. What it is doing, in setting the template, is actually letting “magic” into Doctor Who by the back door marked “this is ALL actually science, trust us, maybe we’ll tell you how.”
The epitome of this is the black magic ritual that turns out to be exactly what you need to “control the psionic forces” of the Daemos representative. Yes, this is Doctor Who setting out its stall alright – the stall of technobabble, which is all that will now be required for anything unexplained.
After having calmly explained magic v science to Jo, while being rather condescending, the Doctor decides to double down … on the condescension. The unintentionally hilarious apex of this is when he has to drive up to the heat shield and be condescending to Osgood in person. Maybe he should go hit the books on the science of getting things done faster by being nice?
This may be the most jerk-like the Doctor has ever been since Hartnell, to Jo especially. That bit where she attacks the Brig in exactly the way the Doctor normally does, complaining that his military mind can only think of dropping bombs, and the Doctor barks at her that the Brig is doing his best and she should be nicer to a superior? Ooof.
Chap with the wings for MVP? I love his folded arms at the end of all that.
Four Three Questions to Doomsday - Chris
Why did the Randomizer take us here? Colonel to Brig. Journalist to journalist. Comedy soldier (Evans) to comedy soldier (Osgood). The mention of Hitler, that “bounder!”
Where’s the Clara splinter? Encountered Azal during his last awakening on Earth (the industrial revolution?). Azal killed her partner, and Clara declared she didn’t care because he was a jerk. This seemed entirely logical to Azal. She reinforced this notion so much that it became deeply embedded in Azal’s logic … circuits?
Dalek, Viscount Banger, Fixed Point in Time, Lady Cassandra, or Zarbi? Dalek-Banger-Zarbi tribrid
