| THE APOCALYPSE ELEMENT by Stephen Cole |
| Story 11 Synopsis: The TARDIS lands on Archetryx, where a conference on time travel is underway. The Doctor meets his old ally Vansell, and learns that President Romana disappeared on Etra Prime 20 years ago. Now, it seems the planet has returned - piloted back by the Daleks. They steal the timeship of the Monan Host, and force the other delegates to stay on Archetryx. They finish synthesizing a special element, and then leave Etra Prime, sending it on a collision course with Archetryx. Romana escapes from Etra Prime, transmatting to Archetryx, where she finds the Doctor. The delegates are evacuated before the collision. Back on Gallifrey, Vansell admits a Monan ship fleeing the Daleks, but it contains Daleks. Shields are raised to keep them out, but the Daleks use a dead Gallifreyan retina to bypass the system. Romana uses her Presidential codes to afford the TARDIS access to the Capitol. She has found a way to link in to the Daleks' crystal element - it can warp the fabric of the universe. The Doctor uses Evelyn's retina print to change the security system to thwart the Daleks. The Black Dalek appears on a monitor, threatening that if the Gallifreyans don't submit, they will set a neighbouring galaxy on fire - the blueprint for what they can do to the whole universe. They want to use the threat to get their way. The Gallifreyans refuse, so the ignition begins. The Doctor and Romana frantically try to use the Eye of Harmony to create a containment field without giving the Daleks access to Gallifrey. The Daleks realise the ignition effect is working faster than they predicted, and suggest an alliance to help contain it. They capture Evelyn, and reach the Eye of Harmony. Using telepathic crystals, they help boost the Time Lords' power, sufficient to decelerate the effect, and create new life, at the cost of their own lives. But the Black Dalek lives long enough to say that the affected galaxy will be now ripe for invasion by the Daleks. Romana vows that won't happen. The Doctor and Evelyn return to the TARDIS, and leave. |
| Review:- It had to happen - the Daleks take on the Time Lords. But that only becomes clear after the calamitous collapse of a conference on Archetryx... There's a lot going on in this story. The scope for what can happen in 4 episodes is put under some strain, as we move from the mystery of the missing Etra Prime, to the deadly flames in the Seriphean galaxy. This is one sense admirable. But it rather sacrifices any sense of appreciation for the story. The idea that the end of a story can follow naturally on from the beginning of the story is not an issue here. Nobody could see that the time travel conference would lead to the Daleks defeating their own object. Further, if this story is theoretically supposed to follow The Genocide Machine (in the Dalek Empire sequence), it doesn't. Except in the sense that it features Daleks using fantastic gimmicks to threaten the power of the universe. Which isn't that different to their usual fare. The story reintroduces characters met on Gallifrey in The Sirens Of Time, mainly the President, and the scheming Co-ordinator Vansell. It also writes Romana back into the mythos, seemingly having been on the elusive Etra Prime in capitivity under the Daleks for 20 years. She seems to slip back into "normal" life after release with remarkable ease, and no after-effects from her prolonged ordeal. Alien or not, it seems a little bit convenient, and therefore unrealistic. With her return, though, there is no need for the other President, who is mercilessly killed by the Daleks, at least giving some sense of their threat. Evelyn's highpoint here is to have her retina used as the pivot in defending Gallifrey. Already, the allegedly witty idea of an old woman as a companion is wearing tiresome. Thankfully, the Doctor is at the heart of the story, and really goes through the wringer. From dodging Dalek mutants in the gravity wells on Archetryx, to trying desperately to thwart the Daleks with the Eye of Harmony, he manages to seem heroic, despite the weight of the story smothering everything. Perhaps the aptest thing about the story is its ending - anti-climactic. Having led the audience along, Cole has to slip away before the realisation that a Dalek-Time Lord War would be quite boring, or bloody, or short. I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone, even someone who really wanted the thrill of the Daleks landing on Gallifrey. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |