Renaissance of the Daleks

"Isn't there enough evil already in a Dalek?"

Writer: Christopher H. Bidmead
Format: Audio
Released: March 2007
Series: Main Range 93

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Nyssa

Synopsis

A random landing in London and a trip to the Savoy Hotel yield unexpected results for the Doctor. Tea, scones, an American general who knows far too much, and the threat of a Dalek invasion of Earth.

Meanwhile, the Doctor's companion Nyssa is in Rhodes during the time of the Crusades, where her position proves to be distinctly precarious.

It seems the Doctor's deadliest foes have woven a tangled web indeed. And in order to defeat them, he must cross the forbidden barriers of time and walk into the very centre of their latest, most outlandish scheme of conquest.

Verdict

Renaissance of the Daleks was an excellent audio adventure! I had high hopes going into this one and I was not let down. I really thought it was terrific and I liked how it started right in the midst of something happening. The Doctor was immediately greeted by General Tillington and I was very intrigued how he knew all about the TARDIS whilst the Time Lord had never met the man. The story's links with The Dalek Invasion of Earth were magnificent and once the Doctor's location was revealed to be Earth in 2158, I was very excited. That First Doctor story is one of my all time favourites so playing around with its events here was great. Nyssa recalled the Daleks following her encounter in The Mutant Phase which was fantastic and I was very interested to know why she was in Rhodes in 1310. She ended up jumping into the American Civil War which humorously confused the Doctor. There she met some terrific characters Mulberry and Floyd really being great additions to the story. Adding Alice to the mix gave us quite a full and exciting TARDIS team for the story and they really did work well together considering the differences of times they were from. The reference to Logopolis was very good and the similarities here with that story were most intriguing. The title of this audio is brilliant and hearing it come into fruition was fantastic. The Daleks didn't really appear until the second half of the adventure but the descriptions of the city being built out of Dalek casings all intertwined was hugely interesting. I was a big fan of it. The toy Daleks that Winton brought into the TARDIS were good and the thought of little Daleks terrorising the TARDIS was quite comical. The way the Doctor knew he was simply spying for his uncle was very good too. The plan of the Daleks to avenge the First Doctor's defeat of them was most intriguing because of their method. Their goal of conquering Earth was hardly a surprise but the fact they wanted to do it bloodlessly was a surprise. They claimed it would make them undefeatable though and the nano-Daleks entering mankind and subconsciously welcoming the occupation was a horrifying scheme. It really was a terrific plan. The Greylish was a good cliffhanger to part three and the concept behind this Seed Dalek was quite frightening. The way the Doctor manipulated it to actually defeating the Daleks through a simple conundrum was beautiful though. I thought Peter Davison was on top form as the Fifth Doctor here and even though he wasn't pleased with the sacrifices made, notably that of Mulberry in taking the nano-Daleks into the Vortex with him, he had defeated the Daleks once again. Overall, an excellent audio adventure! I've finally made it to the new cover designs - it's like I'm almost caught up...

Rating: 9/10