The Trojan Dalek

"You're mutating people and putting them inside Daleks!"

Writer: John Dorney

Format: Audio

Released: July 2021

Series: Dalek Universe 2.02

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Anya, Mark

Synopsis

The Doctor, Mark and Anya head for an SSS space station searching for the missing temporal scientist, Arborecc. But the officer in charge denies all knowledge of his presence and demands their departure.

Unwilling to leave so easily, the group split up to investigate... and uncover a heinous plot involving the Doctor's oldest foes. Or do they?

Verdict

The Trojan Dalek was an excellent audio adventure to continue the second volume in the Dalek Universe! I was really glad to get some Dalek involvement, even if it wasn't strictly the Daleks we were used to. In actuality, they were not Daleks at all but actually a modified imitation with a mutated human within the casing rather than a Kaled. It was a horrific description that created quite the image in my head and finding out that Arborecc was actually inside one was a big shock and a really good revelation that I didn't see coming. The Doctor's reaction said a lot and I loved the characterisation of the Tenth Doctor here. Even with Anya and Mark having the correct paperwork to allow access to the space station through the traditional means of the front door, the Doctor was disappointed not to have used the psychic paper! I thought that was a lot of fun and he wanted to be something more than an unknown on the station's systems. I'm enjoying his relationship with Anya, but it was good to have him separated from her for the majority of this adventure and it allowed us a last hurrah with Anya and Seven. They've been a really strong pairing to accompany the Tenth Doctor in his displaced time and the fate of Mark was extraordinary and I didn't think it would be so emotional for an android to die! His realisation that Fliss had become a Dalek mutation was heartbreaking and the moment where he went back to save her believing that she was strong enough to overcome what had happened to her was brilliant. It was so sad for the Kaled/Dalek elements to take him out. The Doctor was equally gutted. I thought the entire concept concocted by McLinn was excellent and just really gruesome. It was a terrible fate for all of those that were subjected to Dalek mutation and McLinn doing this in order to fool the Daleks was terrific. Having the Doctor as the expert of Daleks to show that these initiations were far from convincing was fantastic and I liked how he was surprised by their voices which were really off-putting in a chilling and fearful way. The space station itself was the perfect setting for the type of story at hand and it was presented really well on audio to establish the atmosphere. Having the Doctor interact with some different Daleks to the usual gold designs we're used to from the modern era was great, even if it was in the audio format. For me though, this was all about Mark Seven and losing him which must have hit the Doctor hard. He was audibly distraught by the events and his final line about having lost was really intriguing especially given what the title of the next episode is! I really look forward to the finale of this boxset and hearing the fallout of what happened here. Overall, a really strong episode with a chilling and gruesome concept at its heart that really worked well. A great listen! 

Rating: 9/10