| THE JUGGERNAUTS by Scott Alan Woodard |
| Story 65 Synopsis: On a spaceship about to explode, the Doctor packs Mel into an escape pod, then heads for the TARDIS. She lands on Lethe, where she joins a research team working with an elderly wheelchair-bound Professor, awaiting the rescue of the Doctor. He is a prisoner of the Daleks, who show him Mel, and that the Professor is his old enemy, Davros. He reluctantly agrees to help them. When he arrives, Mel doesn't believe that the Professor could be Davros. But when the Doctor goes to confront him, he sees through Davros' deception. He also learns Davros has 3 Daleks, and that his big project are the Juggernauts - ultimate service robots, with the ulterior motive of wiping out the Daleks. The Doctor recognises them as Mechanoids, and when Mel is brought in, Davros drops his act with her, too. She has created an over-ride in the Mechanoid system, allowing the Doctor to examine one. They discover that inside are human organs, which Davros has ruthlessly cannibalised from workers who met 'accidents'. When outside investors plan to halt the expansion and production of the Juggernauts, Davros ensures they meet with more 'accidents'. The Doctor gets Mel to wipe computer files on the Mechanoids, but Davros explains that that data has been transmitted elsewhere for months. The Doctor calls in the Daleks who captured him, and Davros commands the Juggernauts to protect him. In the chaos, the Doctor and Mel find there are far more Juggernauts in operation than they realised. With the situation getting out of control, the people working at the colony make their way to ships to escape. The Doctor and Mel find more evidence and destroy the production line. When they return to find Davros, he still insists that his creations are a force for good. They also learn that the Daleks have been manipulating the Doctor and Mel all along. Mel, furious at being used, orders the Mechanoids to attack him. They burn him, and trigger his self-destruct sequence. With the colonists away to safety, the Doctor and Mel use a transmat to reach the Dalek ship and the safety of the TARDIS. Davros blows up the colony. |
| Review:- In what is effectively a sequel to Davros, the Doctor and Mel find that the mad genius creator of the Daleks has another grand scheme to bring chaos to millions. A scheme Mel is an unwitting accomplice in... The set-up to this dilemma appears at first listening, to work quite well. Mel and the Doctor are separated by circumstance, and when he fails to find her, she just gets on with her life, putting her brains to good use on Professor Vaso's wonder project, the Juggernaut. What she doesn't realise is that the Doctor has been held captive by the Daleks, and that Vaso is really Davros in disguise [Dr Vaso (anag)?] The notion that the Daleks conscript the Doctor as a pawn in their power game with Davros is rather fun, and ostensibly works well as long as it lasts. He both has a genuine incentive to put a stop to Davros' latest scheme in the name of science and compassion, but is concerned for Mel, and bound by the loss of the TARDIS to obey. Once he arrives on the scene, he wastes little time in finding Mel, and then going straight to confront Davros. This rather direct approach at least prevents the play from getting complacent, which the largely entertaining scene-setting earlier suggested was on the cards. But once the Doctor and Davros have yet another verbal battle over the rights and wrongs of Davros' latest scheme, the story enters neutral gear whilst Mel has to be let in on the secret, and once both she and the Doctor learn the truth of the Mechanoids, and the Doctor has brought in the Daleks, then the story judders back into life. Whilst Mel's colleagues on Lethe are fairly well-presented, they're almost all ciphers who either get killed, or escape by the skin of their teeth. Such is their lack of interest that their characters get little depth. Unlike Geoff, who not only gets the fun of being Mel's special friend, but also spends a lot of time as if he were some kind of special agent himself. Without explanation and elaboration, it seems he was just a bit more brave and daring than anyone else, which doesn't do him or them any favours. The crux of the story is Davros' plans for his Juggernauts. Apart from the Doctor's information of their actual identity as Mechanoids, it seems that Davros' motives are better than usual - his anger with the Daleks and desire for revenge is appreciable, and the chance that the creatures would otherwise cause no trouble seems all too good to be true. It is the unexpected revelation of their human components that means they're not deemed fit for purpose after all. Davros, it seems, cannot resist tinkering at the expense of others, and though his arguments of defence that organ donors would provide the raw material, this biomechanical turn puts him dangerously close to the territory of the Cybermen. On the plus side, the distinctive vocal style of the Mechanoids is still present, though some familiarity with their sole TV appearance in The Chase is a plus for any listener. Their language is still utterly inimical to human conversation, though, which limits their appeal. It seems somehow apt that two brainboxes like Mel and Davros should between them help create such a mind-boggling complicated machine. So, it all seems to be a top-drawer exciting tale doing justice to the Mechanoids as well as Davros and the Daleks. Alas, it isn't quite that good. The last episode becomes something of a runaround once the Daleks admit they've been pulling the Doctor's chain. That then casts a shadow over the opening - has the Doctor really been an unconscious prisoner for over 11 weeks, whilst Mel works her way into Lethe? Aren't the Daleks cutting it fine sending him in just as Davros is on the point of triumph? Unlike their recent TV battles with the Cybermen (in Army of Ghosts/Doomsday), the Daleks here seem to be quite well-matched with the Mechanoids, which does both sides credit. Mel proves to have quite a ruthless streak in turning the Juggernauts against Davros to avenge Geoff, and his plaintive suffering is treated generously by the Doctor, whilst not pretending it isn't deserved. How he gets from here to his presumed next appearance in Remembrance of the Daleks is another matter. As for the Doctor, scuppering a production line and then transmatting back to the TARDIS seems almost an anti-climax. The rescue of the colonists goes on without his help, and Mel gets the last word, leaving her music box to irritate some Daleks. On the whole, then, for most of the time, it's an exciting and well-handled tale, but in the end, it can't last the distance. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |