Back when I was in college, my best friend and I invented a fake hair metal band named Baby Factory. (I swear there's a point to this.) Their first album was titled Pre-Mature Labor, with cover artwork that showed a sweatshop factory with conveyor belts manned entirely by babies wearing hard hats. There first big single was O.B.G.Y.N. (Oh Baby, Gimme Your Number). They also had a second album titled Oedipus Complex, with a cover design showing a block of suburban tract houses with the hard hat babies out front mowing their lawns, and each house had big Roman columns framing their front doors. It's been 25 years, and every once in a while I still noodle around with the idea just because it's so fun. I even started actually writing the song once. What does that have to do with Doctor Who? Well, in today's episode there is a big reveal with the Daleks constructing a fleet of new pepperpot tanks, and then manning them with freshly-grown tenticularly blobby baby Daleks. They have literally built a Baby Factory.

Let's talk about that.

The Power of the Daleks - Episodes 3 & 4

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

I'm not going to write much on this one. It's late, and I have to be up early, but I don't want to get a day behind. The third episode has the first working Dalek continuing to bluff the lead scientist into thinking that the Daleks are willing slaves. In short order, the two other Dalek tanks we had seen in the previous episode are brought online. Then they convince the scientist that if he brings them a bunch of raw materials, they can construct a new asteroid-tracking device with 100% efficiency. Meanwhile, Polly is separated from the Doctor and Ben and then she is captured by the underground rebels and held hostage. This conveniently gives actress Anneke Wills a week off for the fourth episode. By the end of the third episode, after the scientist agrees to bring them more supplies, the three active Daleks start chanting "We will get our power! We will get our power!" Nope, nothing sinister about that at all.

In the fourth episode, some of the secret plots by the different colonists start to be revealed. The head of the colony is off visiting the perimeter of the colony, his second in command has been framed for murder and put in jail, and the head of security - who has arranged it all - has taken over active control of the colony. The Doctor is able to find a hidden message that leads he and Ben to the location of a meeting of the rebels. There, more of the plans are revealed, and ultimately Ben is captured. This conveniently gives actor Michael Craze the week off for the fifth episode. The final scene of the episode has the scientist finally realizing he has made a horrible mistake. He sneaks into the space capsule where the Daleks had been found, and discovers that they have constructed an entire factory and are building an army of Daleks. He even sees an actual Dalek (the organic intelligent being, not the pepperpot tank) being pulled out of some kind of vat and brought to life in a Frankensteinian fashion. The new living Dalek is placed into a brand new pepperpot tank, and joins the row of them rolling off the production line. It is a staggering sequence, beautifully executed.

I am absolutely loving this story. By the third episode Patrick Troughton has finally started settling down into the role and doing less of the random weirdly manic business, and becomes much more focused. He is still intentionally clownish at times, but does so in a way where it is clear that he is cunningly observing everything going on around him. Also, the animated reconstruction is absolutely top notch. I hope it was financially successful, because I would really like to see this treatment given to some of the other completely lost stories - particularly Marco Polo.

Four episodes in, and it doesn't drag or feel padded at all. Tomorrow comes the big finish, and I can hardly wait to see it.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Second
Companion(s): Ben Jackson, Polly Wright
Episode(s): The Power of the Daleks - Episodes 3 & 4
Steps Walked: 6,893 today, 474,379 total
Distance Walked:  3.48 miles today, 223.27 miles total
Weight: 285.88 lbs (five day moving average), net change -21.42 lbs