Well its taken quite a long time but we have the first Dalek Empire story since 2003 and it was always going to be an important one for new and old fans of Big Finish. It had to deliver a new story and relate it into the previous three series. The first part of Dalek Empire: The Fearless was going to determine whether the series would work or not. Essentially what Nicholas Briggs has done is hit the reset button on this series because with time having moved on and Briggs concentrating on the Cyberman series. The first part of this story seemed to be done mainly to introduce the character of Salus Kade and Agnes Landen. Setting up these two characters who would go on to probably perform a major role in this series was important and thankfully Nicholas Briggs got it right. It’s a very rare thing to say in Big Finish plays but there was a sense of stunt casting. This series’ two mains stars are people who have appeared in Doctor Who at some point. Noel Clarke played Rose Tyler’s boyfriend from 2005 to 2006 and then there is Maureen O’Brien who played Vicki back in 1965 and Vicki is a character that I really like.
Despite this fear of stunt casting I have to say that those fears went away more or less within seconds. Noel Clarke was very good in this story because when I heard him I didn’t think of Mickey. The role of Kade is one that has the family side which shows him as a nice guy and then he switches all of a sudden to a leader who doesn’t like to be told walked over. The best thing about the role of Kade and the way that Noel Clarke plays him is that he is just right because otherwise he would have been too annoying and that would have ruined the whole series. He is believable and you start to warm to the character as the play moves on. I quite like the plot of this story as it is told in flashbacks and we learn why Kade is the way that he is and that he has become emotionally unstable due to the events of Landen. There is only one critiscm to this first part, the first is that the character of Lajitta didn’t really work. Despite the best efforts of Ginita Jimenez. I just didn’t connect to her and wasn’t realy that bothered about her. This might be rectified in later episodes but she didn’t really have much of an impact to justify her role in the story. She should have had more time to help create a proper sense of family. It was nice that they bothered to cast someone for the child because that added another angle for the family. The fact that the Daleks weren’t in it as much as they normally would be was quite strange but when they did make an appearance they were well used and the scene where they were waiting for Kade and company to appear out of the cave and tried to attack them was very exciting. Maureen O’Brien also deserves a mention because she was very good as well as Clarke. She had previously appeared in the 6th Doctor adventure Year of the Pig and the first story from the Companion Chronicles series Frostfire. The character of Landen was well written and interacted well with Salus Kade. It seems like these two characters will work very well in future Dalek Empire stories. The cliffhanger at the end was brilliant and made me want to wish that Part 2 would come through the post the next day. That is what a Dalek story or any Doctor Who story should do and for that I am most relieved. These two have the sort of relationship that shows signs of blowing up at the most pivotal part of the series so that will be a joy to come across. Leading up to this release I had concerns because I wondered whether Nicholas Briggs could keep the pace and the interest in what is now the 15th episode of the Dalek Empire series and I have to say that he has done so by looking at the Dalek War in a different way and using a different character from Susan ‘Angle of Mercy’ Mendes. Following on from the ok Return of the Daleks which was intended I believe to be a taster or a reintroduction to the Dalek Empire series its back to normal. Noel Clarke, Maureen O’Brien and the rest of the cast have a brilliant script that only had one downside this story sets up the rest of the series very well. The different way that the story started as well as a complete freshness I found myself really glad that I purchased the whole series and cannot wait for the next instalment. Bring on Part 2
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