Return of the Daleks was first released as a special for the subscribers of the regular Big Finish stories in December 2006. The previous story to be given a subscribers special treatment was Cyptobiosis which was frankly a mixed bag. With the word Dalek in the title there was a heightened sense of anticipation. What is so special about it is that it combines Doctor Who and Dalek Empire which is the most successful and arguably the most popular spin off from the main series. The last Dalek Empire story was in October 2004 and it was a nice to have the old familiar characters of Susan 'Angel of Mercy' Mendes and Kalendorf back. This story also features the Seventh Doctor minus Hex and Ace which was good because that would have complicated the story and taken ten minutes to have to explain things. This story was written by Nicholas Briggs who was behind the Dalek Empire series.
The story is set on the planet Zaleria which is at the beginning of the story is occupied by the Daleks but it turns out to be actually Spiridon. The story takes place during the Dalek Empire series and so there is some knowledge required to understand what is going on. I like how it this story has a direct link to the Third Doctor story Planet of the Daleks and the whole purpose of the story is that the Daleks are trying to get to the frozen Daleks that the Doctor helped freeze. The Doctor also seems a lot more mysterious than in normal stories, it harks back to the mystery that surrounded his version of the character in his final two series as the Doctor. I quite liked the return of the Ogrons. I like the idea that they are sort of the Daleks slaves. They previously appeared in Day of the Daleks and in Frontier in Space. They helped add that touch of nostalgia from those stories. There is an air of nostalgia in this story ranging from the classic series to the Dalek Empire series.
I liked how despite the significant lapse in time, the Gareth Thomas and Sarah Mowat have got the voices down to exactly the same as they were. If you just listened to them in the chronological order then you would be able to tell because the voices are the same. The narration is also something that I quite like in this story. Christine Brennan has a really nice voice and that is what helps make it seem like the massive story that it is. Other members of the supporting cast include Hylton Collins who plays Mendac and Jack Galagher as Aytrax. Both characters are really well acted characters and are written well. Collins also provides the voices for Dorla, Zalerian and the Ogrons with Galagher doing the voices for the other Zalerian and some of the Ogrons. The rest of the Ogrons, Daleks and Talamar are provided by Nicholas Briggs. All voices are well acted and the voices all add to the adventure and create a nice image in my head.
Even though Slyvester McCoy was in this story he wasn't the driving force of the plot and he did what you would expect him to do when he is involved with the Daleks and that is to try and send them packing without what they came for but this time he tried hard not to get involved which I thought was a nice change. The end of the story was a nice moment for McCoy as it was quite sad and moving. Gareth Thomas was on top form in this story as Kalendorf, I have always liked his character in the first two series as Thomas has a nice voice that makes you wish he had his own spin-off series called I, Kalendorf or something equally amusing. Sarah Mowat was also very good as Susan Mendes. The Angel of Mercy character is a curious one and it the scheming side that is shown in this story. One thing I liked was towards the end when the Doctor had the chance to blow things up and trap the Daleks again he decided against it so that Kalendorf would live and continue working with Susan Mendes and went to work for the Daleks only to turn on them was a brilliant twist. Nicholas Briggs who is probably the only person who could write this story and to his credit on the second listen I thought that it was a better story because I realised that it was a story really to fuel the Dalek Empire story along a bit to remind people of what the series is like. On second examination I think the story is good with good character development and a very sad end.
The biggest flaw in this story is that it doesn't quite know what it wants to be.. Does it want to be another instalment of Dalek Empire or does it want to be a Doctor Who story? When I first listened to it back at Christmas 2006 I was a little disappointed because of this confusion however on second listen I had a different reaction to it, I think that it actually quite good. I think that as a stand alone story there are some elements that might be lost. Like why should the listener really care any more about Susan Mendez and Kalendorf than they would about anybody else that would be captured by the Daleks. For those like me who have heard every instalment of the Dalek Empire series will know exactly why we should care about them.
This story is well worth a listen. I would advise you at some point to purchase at least the first series of Dalek Empire because according to some websites, Return of the Daleks is aimed between the first two episodes. Once you’ve done that then buy the rest because they are a superb piece of entertainment and shows how evil the Daleks can really be.
The story is set on the planet Zaleria which is at the beginning of the story is occupied by the Daleks but it turns out to be actually Spiridon. The story takes place during the Dalek Empire series and so there is some knowledge required to understand what is going on. I like how it this story has a direct link to the Third Doctor story Planet of the Daleks and the whole purpose of the story is that the Daleks are trying to get to the frozen Daleks that the Doctor helped freeze. The Doctor also seems a lot more mysterious than in normal stories, it harks back to the mystery that surrounded his version of the character in his final two series as the Doctor. I quite liked the return of the Ogrons. I like the idea that they are sort of the Daleks slaves. They previously appeared in Day of the Daleks and in Frontier in Space. They helped add that touch of nostalgia from those stories. There is an air of nostalgia in this story ranging from the classic series to the Dalek Empire series.
I liked how despite the significant lapse in time, the Gareth Thomas and Sarah Mowat have got the voices down to exactly the same as they were. If you just listened to them in the chronological order then you would be able to tell because the voices are the same. The narration is also something that I quite like in this story. Christine Brennan has a really nice voice and that is what helps make it seem like the massive story that it is. Other members of the supporting cast include Hylton Collins who plays Mendac and Jack Galagher as Aytrax. Both characters are really well acted characters and are written well. Collins also provides the voices for Dorla, Zalerian and the Ogrons with Galagher doing the voices for the other Zalerian and some of the Ogrons. The rest of the Ogrons, Daleks and Talamar are provided by Nicholas Briggs. All voices are well acted and the voices all add to the adventure and create a nice image in my head.
Even though Slyvester McCoy was in this story he wasn't the driving force of the plot and he did what you would expect him to do when he is involved with the Daleks and that is to try and send them packing without what they came for but this time he tried hard not to get involved which I thought was a nice change. The end of the story was a nice moment for McCoy as it was quite sad and moving. Gareth Thomas was on top form in this story as Kalendorf, I have always liked his character in the first two series as Thomas has a nice voice that makes you wish he had his own spin-off series called I, Kalendorf or something equally amusing. Sarah Mowat was also very good as Susan Mendes. The Angel of Mercy character is a curious one and it the scheming side that is shown in this story. One thing I liked was towards the end when the Doctor had the chance to blow things up and trap the Daleks again he decided against it so that Kalendorf would live and continue working with Susan Mendes and went to work for the Daleks only to turn on them was a brilliant twist. Nicholas Briggs who is probably the only person who could write this story and to his credit on the second listen I thought that it was a better story because I realised that it was a story really to fuel the Dalek Empire story along a bit to remind people of what the series is like. On second examination I think the story is good with good character development and a very sad end.
The biggest flaw in this story is that it doesn't quite know what it wants to be.. Does it want to be another instalment of Dalek Empire or does it want to be a Doctor Who story? When I first listened to it back at Christmas 2006 I was a little disappointed because of this confusion however on second listen I had a different reaction to it, I think that it actually quite good. I think that as a stand alone story there are some elements that might be lost. Like why should the listener really care any more about Susan Mendez and Kalendorf than they would about anybody else that would be captured by the Daleks. For those like me who have heard every instalment of the Dalek Empire series will know exactly why we should care about them.
This story is well worth a listen. I would advise you at some point to purchase at least the first series of Dalek Empire because according to some websites, Return of the Daleks is aimed between the first two episodes. Once you’ve done that then buy the rest because they are a superb piece of entertainment and shows how evil the Daleks can really be.
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