The Curse of the Daleks

"The natives are friendly."

Writer: Terry Nation & David Whitaker (Adapted by Nicholas Briggs)

Format: Audio

Released: November 2008

Series: The Stageplays 03

Featuring: Daleks

Synopsis 

The spaceship Starfinder is taking two dangerous criminals for trial on Earth. En route, they crash through a meteor storm and have to make an emergency landing on Skaro – the planet of the dreaded Daleks. But Captain Redway and his faithful crew don't anticipate any trouble. After all, the Daleks were defeated fifty years ago and now they are completely inactive. But when a crate full of mysterious devices is discovered and the Daleks start to come back to life, it becomes clear that there is a traitor amongst the Starfinder's crew... A traitor intent on reactivating the power of the Daleks!

Verdict

The Curse of the Daleks was not the greatest of stories for my enjoyment unfortunately. It wasn't all that bad but I must admit it was just a little bit boring by the time of the second act. It seems weird that in a story featuring only the Daleks as recognisable characters that once they arrived things took a bit of a downfall. I actually thought part one was shaping up to be pretty good about halfway through but I think it was also then guilty of just being a bit too long. I must say though, I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to listen to this story and I think it's a wonderful idea to do these stage adaptations. This is a story originally written way back at the start of the Daleks in Doctor Who and with Dalekmania running wild, it's not a surprise that they were the subjects of their own stageplay. I think this story would definitely have worked better on stage as as audience member would definitely have been more invested in the characters. I do think my means of jumping around from numerous eras and series was detrimental for my enjoyment here as there just wasn't anyone to associate with. Sure, I liked the concept of Harry Sline and John Ladiver as two criminals being transported back to Earth for trial for numerous and it was a fun twist to have the journey have to take an unplanned detour to Skaro. Given the name of the story, that wasn't a shock but it was brilliant. I liked that Skaro was recognisable as the planet of the Daleks and it was fun that they had been inactive for fifty years. It was left unclear if that was referring to the events of The Daleks, but I think that makes sense especially with when this story would have gone out on the stage. I loved the distinction between inactivity and death for the Daleks. They were just lacking power and could easily be switched back on. That provided a fun basis for the story and with a traitor on the ship, it seemed like it was going to be an exciting journey to find out who that was. It's weird because I think if knew more about the characters then it would have worked better, but by the time Bob Slater was revealed as the Dalek 'master', I couldn't help but feel like I just didn't care. That's a shame to say as there was a lot of interesting stuff going on here. The concept of the Daleks and a monarchy in particular was terrific and it was brilliant stuff to explore the position of a woman in this futuristic time. It felt very much 1960s in that regard which was a little off-putting. It was strange though to see how different the ratio of men to women was at this point in the future! A 7:1 difference is unfathomable and no wonder women would be deemed less important. The involvement of Thals in the story was nice continuity and I liked that there was a little love story going on with Ladiver and Ijanya. That is not something we often saw in early era Doctor Who, and whilst this isn't part of the show technically, it's all part of the same universe in my mind so I appreciated that. The use of the Daleks relying on static electricity playing into the conclusion did feel a little repetitive with their on screen debut, but I can't say I wasn't expecting it! It was always going to end that way with the Thals involved, Skaro setting and the 1960s release of the original stage play. I must also give credit to Nicholas Briggs as the narrator for the interluding parts in this story which were really helpful without the visuals that attendees would have had on stage. I am obviously jealous of each and every person that had a ticket for this show back in the 1960s and sometimes I do wish I was born where I would have lived through Doctor Who's rise, but at least I get to experience the adventure in some form! Even if it wasn't wholly to my cup of tea. There was enough there to make it feel like a worthy listen. 

Rating: 5/10