The Boy and the Dalek

"The only fruit the Daleks should harvest is death!"

Writer: Mike Tucker

Format: Short Story

Released: October 2024

Printed in: The Adventures Before 01

Featuring: Second Doctor, Jamie, Victoria

Synopsis

Discover what happened before...

What did Osgood do the morning of The Day of the Doctor?

What happened to Tegan before Arc of Infinity, and why does it involve strange sentient lights in the Australian outback?

What was the Tenth Doctor doing in a hall of mirrors, right before Planet of the Dead?

Answers to all these questions lie in an incredible collection of new Doctor Who short stories that give a glimpse into the moments just before we saw the Doctor step on screen.

From Skaro to Apalapucia, from a shop front drained of colour to Rassilon's tomb, join a host of incredible adventures across the universe with Doctors, companions, friends and foes.

Verdict

The Boy and the Dalek was a great story to kick off my reading of The Adventures Before set of prequels! The idea behind this book is right up my alley as I'm a sucker for any kind of continuity when it comes to Doctor Who adventures. I think it works well to split between the classic and modern era and you can't get much more Classic than doing a prequel to The Daleks! I think it's such a good prospect and whilst I would define this as something of a loose prequel, it didn't make it any less enjoyable! I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was a Second Doctor story and his reaction to finding a Dalek in the crashed ship was fantastic. I did think it was a little strange for him to proclaim that he hadn't visited Skaro in quite a long time considering that his current companions of Jamie and Victoria were there with him during The Evil of the Daleks. That must be set before this story as that's where Victoria made her debut as companion., but other than that I thought this went by very nicely! I thought the TARDIS reacting to a distress call and having a somewhat annoying tone in doing so was fun although it didn't quite feel befitting of the era. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Emperor Dalek featured in a prominent way and the description of the golden dome was another treat. We never got that version on screen and it returned in all its glory a few years ago for the Time Lord Victorious saga, but for it to feature in official prose was a nice treat. Its thoughts towards Dalek 444 as a designated scientist were intriguing and that Dalek became the central character pf the piece. It was a fascinating insight into what the Daleks could be at this early stage in their development. Clearly from the reactions of the scientist and Emperor, they hadn't yet ventured into space travel but that was something desired. Finding Harrison and his ship would potentially give them the means, but 444 saw the potential in cooperation with other species. That felt very un-Dalek like. Almost disturbingly so in how good this Dalek was. I loved that the Emperor thought he'd been lied to with 444 previously stating that its vision was not impaired, but how could it not be with the attachment built to Harrison? That attachment was almost literal too when it exterminated two other Daleks after they questioned its claim of Harrison being a scientific and experimental attachment. That was quite amusing! I liked how the Scientist was pondering on the potential of engaging with other races but actually sacrificed the potential of Dalek space travel by helping Harrison get home. It had been space worthy all along and after seeing the actions, the Dalek Emperor wasn't having it. I thought the twist of the Dalek casing being opened and Harrison actually greeting the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria was brilliant and something I must admit I didn't see coming! The fact it offered up its casing as safe passage for Harrison given the experimental plant sap that made it immune from extermination was quite something. It painted quite the picture and showed just how different the Daleks could be at this point. I thought Jamie and Victoria were a little too keen to show a Dalek mercy and compassion, but it worked well. The description of the agonising crawl of the Dalek mutant creature into the petrified forest worked well and I also loved that we had continued mentions of the menace that was the Magnedon. That was really strong continuity that I greatly appreciated! The mutant being on the verge of death and believing itself hallucinating when it came to the materialisation of the TARDIS and the arrival of the First Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara was very well played. Before that I was wondering how this was a prequel at all! Overall, a very strong outing to kick off what looks set to be an exciting collection.

Rating: 8/10