Personally this story is revolutionary. Firstly Terry Nation secured the future of the Daleks - up till this point the Daleks had been seen as these racist entities living in their city but now they are an all conquering galactic superpower, the Daleks here are the template for all Daleks afterwards. Secondly this story saw the first ever companion departure which I will comment upon later. Thirdly I think this story marked a massive change in tone for the series. For the first season and Planet of the Giants it felt like the Sydney Newman Master Plan but this story was the first story personally where the Doctor Who which we know and love came into being. Season Two was the transition between the original intentions of the show in Season One to good old Doctor Who of Season Three.
Now onto the story. There is something about this story as there are constant references to it (Remembrance of the Daleks, The Stolen Earth...). Furthermore Big Finish have gone to this period on several occasions and it seems that they are going to return once again to the 22nd century occupation in Masters of Earth.
This was the second time I have ever watched it and the first time I watched it I hated it. I thought that there was so much potential but it was wasted by poor performances and an overlong boring script but I am pleased to say that on this occasion my opinion has changed...
There is a lot of scope to this story. There is a constant change of location as the characters (like a normal First Doctor Dalek Story) are chased out of the original location into another (this time without a TARDIS). I have a lot of respect for the set designers who had so little money and produced this!
Overall there are a lot of good characters, the performances are not quite there but are fine for the most part. The Robomen are an interesting creation and I like how they have in recent years returned firstly during Dark Eyes Two and Lucie Miller/To The Death along with the Dalek puppets in Asylum of the Daleks and Time of the Doctor (these are essentially the re-imagining of the robomen). William Hartnell is spot on as usual but I am not totally convinced by his companions but in all honesty I think they all give some of their best performances. The story is possibly one episode too many but unlike the original Dalek story, I am not bored.
7/10