| THE EVIL OF THE DALEKS by David Whittaker |
| Story 36 Synopsis: The Doctor and Jamie's investigations lead them to a watchmakers. Edward Waterfield has been using two men, Perry and Kennedy, to lure the time travellers back to his shop. Kennedy wants to exploit Waterfield's access to antiques, but in his searches comes across a Dalek, who kills him. Waterfield is distressed, but he manages to knock out the Doctor and Jamie, and all are transported back to 1866. The Doctor is told that the Daleks have lured him here so that they can carry out a test on Jamie. They want to distil the "human factor", to make them stronger. Jamie is put up against a mute brute called Kemel, but they join forces to find and rescue Waterfield's daughter, Victoria. The Doctor, monitoring Jamie, selects various traits for the test. The final result is put into 3 Daleks. They seem child-like. They go to Kembel, and the Doctor, Jamie and Edward follow. The Emperor Dalek summons the Doctor, and reveals the truth of his plan. The discernment of the human factor has shown the Daleks what the Dalek factor is. With the use of his TARDIS, the Doctor is to be Dalek-ised, and then to spread the Dalek factor throughout human history. The Doctor goes through the machine to be processed, but it doesn't work (as he isn't human). He switches the machine into a human factor machine. The initial three Daleks begin to question orders, and the Doctor has the Daleks pushed through the machine. Civil war breaks out. Waterfield dies, and the Doctor and Jamie take Victoria away with them. The Doctor wonders if this is the end of the Daleks. |
| Review:- The Daleks had helped Doctor Who become a huge success, enough to spawn two feature films, and smooth over the change of lead actor. Not, at the end of a four-year reign of terror, it was time to kill them off, before too late. David Whittaker has a neat idea at the heart of this story, and this helps turn his 3-act drama into one of the most popular stories ever done. The opening stuff in 1966 is almost a stopgap between The Faceless Ones and the bulk of the action in Victorian England. The mystery of the missing police box proves a neat diversion, leading to the bigger problem of why an antiques dealer appears to have a unique suply of genuine antiques. It's almost a burst of excitement when a Dalek finally appears, killing the hapless Kennedy. From there, it's just a matter of time before the Doctor and Jamie are back in time. Maxtible proves a more intriguing villain than Waterfield. His material desires have blinded him to the rationale of working for alien psycho-killers. At least Waterfield can tell himself he's only doing what he does for love. The physical test angle seems rather curious, and as soon as Jamie and Kemel unite, it does become even more so. The Doctor's manipulation is only done because he sees no other solution, and tries to find positive elements all the time. Once everyone slides off to Skaro, then the action begins. The humanised Daleks are clearly meant to be expendable, and it takes real skill for the Doctor to keep them safe. The realisation of the Emperor Dalek's bluff, that the Doctor has been misled all along, is both clever and dramatic. With the prospect of the Dalek Factor spread throughout history, the odds are higher than usual. Sadly, despite the overwhelming power of the resulting Dalek civil war, it does highlight what seems to me to be a rather awful plot error. The Daleks use Jamie to find the Human Factor, because the Doctor is "more than human". So, who do they put through their human-to-Dalek machine. Yep, Mr more-than-human. Is it so surprising that it doesn't work on him? Despite this, the story is a strong one. Jamie gets plenty to do, Victoria is at least given a good introduction and reason for joining the TARDIS, and the Doctor shows real power and brain. The Daleks are conniving and cruel, in one of the best adventures. I recommend this most indeed. |
| Disclaimer: I've read the book, and heard the audio. |