Exit Strategy

"It had gone wrong because the Dalek Emperor had been ambitious."

Writer: James Goss

Format: Short Story

Released: December 2020

Series: Eaglemoss TLV 03

Featuring: Dalek Strategist 

Synopsis

After a plan enacted by the Dalek Emperor goes awry, the Dalek Strategist contemplates its leadership and the hierarchy of the Daleks...

Verdict

Exit Strategy was a great story to continue my very sporadic reading of the Time Lord Victorious short stories that accompanied the Eagelmoss release of figurines to mark their part in the epic multi-media collaboration adventure. I think in hindsight Time Lord Victorious is getting more acclaim as time passes by and it's certainly something I look back on fondly. It's staggering to think that it was five years ago now as time really does fly by and part of the reason it perhaps wasn't too successful is down to the timing of the pandemic. It's a shame we didn't get the vinyl Echoes of Extinction on time and money was tight and the future uncertain at the time of story releases, but I'm glad to catch up later rather than not at all. At the time these figurines were released I didn't have much room at all in a small flat, but fast forward five years and in a house of my own with my own figure display room, I couldn't resist buying this third Dalek figurine release. It is easily the rarest and I'd been searching for quite some time after quickly acquiring the first two releases last year, but this one evaded me with quite scandalous prices on the second hand market! Thankfully I was able to put an offer in on a listing recently that was gratefully accepted and the Dalek set of the Eaglemoss contribution to Time Lord Victorious was complete. The figurines themselves are splendid and whilst this story focuses on the Dalek Strategist, it's the Dalek Executioner that appealed to me from an aesthetic point of view. I think the battered appearance gives it a unique quality and alongside the description of it within this story of seeing the mutant within we have quite the Dalek! I'm a sucker for different types of Daleks and the number of variations in figures and figurines in my collection is unhealthy! There are so many and if they keep making different versions I'm still going to buy them. I can't help it. There are still quite a few I want to add to my collection but those that accompany this story were very high on my list. I like the idea of conflict within the Daleks and with so many different titles it's not a surprise the hierarchical structure is prone to break down. Emperors, Supremes, Strategists and Executioners to name a few, where does the command truly lay? The Strategist touching upon that here was excellent and I like how it questioned the actions of the Emperor. It seemed to understand and accept that the Emperor was above it, but what if there was a different Emperor? Should the Emperor Dalek be ambitious? That was a fun thing to touch upon because are ambition and logic compatible? That was some really good philosophy. I thought the reference to All Flesh is Grass and getting embroiled with three different incarnations of the Doctor was good stuff and the whole prospect of eradicating the Time Lords before they even existed was fantastic. It's fitting that the Daleks have their own version of the Genesis of the Daleks interference in their origin for the Time Lords. Why wouldn't they retaliate? How couldn't they? The Strategist was looking at a much wider picture though and I liked touching upon time as a weapon. It was a fantastic foreshadowing of events to come with the Time War and utilising something like the fourth dimension for attack is a great concept. The Time War is still such an untapped resource when it comes to storytelling in the Whoniverse and that's saying something given how many ranges are set within it. But it really is endless when it comes to the possibilities. The Strategist being intrigued by that after foreseeing its coming was terrific and really did show a different edge to this kind of Dalek. There is truly no size fits all approach when it comes to the Daleks and I love that. The Strategist utilising an emergency temporal shift in the hopes of injecting itself into the Time War conflict was fascinating, although I do think that ability has perhaps been overdone now in multimedia since it was first used at the end of Doomsday. Regardless, this was a very solid tale that showcased a very different Dalek very nicely. I enjoyed it a lot! 

Rating: 8/10