Blood of the Daleks Part 1

"The Daleks are coming to save us!"

Writer: Steve Lyons
Format: Audio
Released: January 2007
Series: EDA 1.01

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Lucie

Synopsis

"People of Red Rocket Rising, my fellow citizens. Our long night is over. I've been contacted by a benevolent people. They too have known great trials, but they have overcome them and made it their mission to help others do the same. They have offered us refuge, and passage to the nearest human worlds. They have the resources, and the patience and compassion, to evacuate every one of us. My fellow citizens, my friends, rescue is at hand!"

Verdict

Blood of the Daleks kicked off in great style with this fantastic first part! It served as an excellent start to the Eighth Doctor Adventures range of audios and was also a brilliant introduction for Lucie Miller as the new companion. I have been waiting a tremendously long time to catch up with the Main Range stories so to finally be on the EDAs is very exciting for me. I was even more thrilled to find that I could listen to the entire first series for free on Spotify but this would definitely have been worth paying for! Sheridan Smith was terrific on debut and the way Lucie was introduced to the audience was intriguing and immediately got us asking questions. She was interesting right from the word go and that's very important. The prospect of the Time Lords sending her but placing a perception filter on her mind was good and I look forward to hearing how things develop with Lucie in the long term. The title of this audio has intrigued me for a long time and whilst I'll probably get more answers in part two, the role of the Daleks in this story was brilliant. I liked the history behind Professor Martez but I was not expecting her to still be alive in the form of Asha! The explanation of a brain transfer was quite impressive but something even more so was that some Daleks, which clearly sounded like they were in their infancy, recognised her as their creator. That came towards the first part's conclusion but that's something I'm very excited to hear further. Tom Cardwell was a lovely character and I really enjoyed how defensive he was of having the Daleks coming to save the inhabitants of Red Rocket Rising. The history books were clear but that didn't stop Eileen Klint from accepting their offer of salvation. The concept of the Daleks offering help to refugees is pretty preposterous so I was interested to know their motive. The relationship between the Doctor and Lucie was wonderful and I loved how she was just thrown straight into the companion role. The banter regarding where and when she came from was great and I just liked how the pair clicked almost instantly, despite her intruding in the TARDIS and not seeing too perplexed by everything. The cliffhanger of the story was decent and cliche but I couldn't help but enjoy it. The threat of the Doctor being exterminated is always good and I look forward to hearing how he dodges it. I should also mention the Dalek Supreme having to backtrack when nearly stating that the Doctor should be exterminated rather than facing trial. I liked how the Doctor was labelled a terrorist and as a whole, this was just a marvellous opening part to a brilliant first story of the series!