What Lies Inside?: Paradox of the Daleks

"She was not a Dalek. Her life was worthless."

Writer: John Dorney

Format: Audio

Released: November 2022

Series: Eighth Doctor Adventures 9.01

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Liv, Helen

Synopsis

When the TARDIS is drawn to a space station running temporal experiments, the crew discover Daleks in control in the aftermath of an invasion. But these are no ordinary Daleks...

To stop his mortal enemies gaining control of the time technology, the Doctor must work out why these Daleks are here and where they came from.

A war fought through time has many fronts – and in this battle, the Doctor, Liv and Helen will face mortal danger in every time and place they find themselves.

Verdict

Paradox of the Daleks was an excellent start to the What Lies Inside? series of Eighth Doctor Adventures! I've got this down as the ninth series but that is certainly debatable given the nature of everything between Dark Eyes and Stranded, but I'm counting each of those quadruple boxset series as their own series, but hey, what does it really matter? I liked that this is a new direction for the Eighth Doctor, Liv and Helen and it's just nice to see them actually travelling the cosmos. I thought the reference to Best Year Ever with Helen mentioning it being five weeks since they departed Baker Street was good and gave us a good frame of reference. We're still close to those events but we're also enough time past them now for the TARDIS trio. The Doctor being enticed by what he named as the temporal helix was fun because despite there being no danger and the TARDIS not scheduled to go anywhere near it, he had to investigate. He's always been curious and this was another great example. It didn't take long to establish that the Daleks were around and I loved the idea of them being from the future. The insinuation that these were Daleks from the Time War was excellent and their effort to establish a bridgehead and attack with surprise was intriguing. I thought it was silly of the Doctor to realise that their conflict would not be with the Time Lords, although his name dropping the Sontarans certainly gave me a wish list of temporal conflict! This story was a typical John Dorney effort and that's a brilliant thing. He is known for being out there when it comes to the nature of time and the format of storytelling and this was another great addition to the list. The title itself was exciting because I do love a good paradox and this was just full of them. It certainly lived up to its name! I thought the cliffhanger finish was outstanding in just exterminating the Doctor dead repeatedly and announcing that there were no life signs. That is pretty darn emphatic. I figured that the paradox was going to come into play somehow and those events would be reversed and not happen, but the truth was actually so much more fun! The whole madness of Liv and Helen being sent back in time by Peetom and to basically set up everything they would hear on their arrival and meeting him was ludicrous and it got barmy but in a very enjoyable way. Sure, things may have got a little repetitive as events played out again and we got the same dialogue, but it wasn't overkill. Liv and Helen hiding within Dalek casings and the splash of paint to mark them out was terrific, but then so was the Doctor as being inside the Black Dalek without them knowing! The little nod to The Space Museum as he acknowledged being inside a Dalek before many faces ago was lovely and it was all just a bit mental from there. I appreciated how Jemash was on hand to be the one confused and she initially was not going to run from the Daleks. The way she played along with the Doctor's bluff was great and the way he framed the Supreme Dalek as the impersonator and traitor was sublime. He was the only Dalek that was actually true to form! I liked how this was Helen's first experience of the Daleks and it was a big one. Liv having knowledge helped and I liked that even the Kaled mutants were presented as a threat. The Doctor then having to create the temporal helix that he himself was captivated by that brought them to the space station in the first place was wonderful. It was the very definition of a grandfather paradox in so many respects! Nearly every aspect of the story was a paradox and the very nature of that meant the knowledge of the Time War was ironically kept from the Doctor at this point in his life. I did like how he meant to discover the origin of the bronze Daleks, but not today. Overall, a fantastic story to start the series! 

Rating: 9/10