What’s it about: Kalendorf’s victorious fleet has entered
the solar system. But what has happened to Jupiter? Meanwhile, Alby and Suze
are being held by enemy Dalek forces. But with the Emperor’s consciousness
inhabiting Suze’s mind can Alby ever again trust the woman he loves? And could
it be that Kalendorf and the Mentor have stumbled into a Dalek trap? Time may
be running out for the human alliance with the Daleks from another universe…
Angel of Mercy: Suze calls Morli brave for attempting to
kill her. She knows it is the best thing for everybody but both she and Alby
are too scared to pull the trigger. You might be tricked (as I was) into
thinking that Suze, Kalendorf and Alby have all been together before but this
is the first story where that happens.
Anti Hero: Alby is trying to tentatively find out if Suze is
who she says she is and not the Dalek Emperor trying to pretend to be her.
Finally there is a moment of intimacy between the two of them (although
typically for this pair one of them considers it a kiss goodbye) which
helps to sell the relationship much more.
Knight of Velyshaa: The best Kalendorf story yet and the one
which reveals how future historians view him as something of a monster. Or a
warrior who was prepared to risk everything in order to win his war. At first
it would appear that Kalendorf is entirely behind the Mentor’s attack on
Emmeron but it soon becomes clear that he is being observed and is saying what
she wants to hear. Mirana knows that in order to defeat two factions of Daleks
(probably the greatest threat the universe has ever seen) Kalendorf has to be
planning something massively dangerous and life threatening and asked not to be
told what that plan was. She’d rather follow his orders in absolute ignorance
than have her loyalty compromised by whatever insane lark he has up his sleeve.
That’s probably for the best because once it is revealed that Kalendorf has had
to make a pact with the devil, with the very Daleks from our universe he was
fighting in Dalek Empire, even I was surprised. At one point he thought that
fighting alongside the alternative Daleks and the Mentor would wipe out his old
enemies but the only consequence of that was for the Mentor to get a foothold
in their universe. To conquer them world after world in the name of peace and
prosperity. Now the lesser of two evils is to team up with the ultimate evil to
take down the ultimate peace keeping force. When he finally meets up with Suze
under the gaze of his new Dalek allies it appears that Kalendorf is even
willing to sacrifice his closest of friends in order to see this thing through.
Standout Performance: This is much more of an ensemble
series than many of the other spin off ranges and this week everybody is pretty
much at the top of their game. You’ve got Gareth Thomas at his enigmatic best
as Kalendorf appears to be playing everybody off against everybody, Sarah Mowat
and Mark McDonnell giving the series real heart as star crossed lovers Suze and
Alby and the ever impressive Hannah Smith who is revealing more venom by the
scene as the softly spoken Mentor.
Great Ideas: The opening is one of the best moments of this
series yet as the Mentor soothingly purrs out a message to the people of
Emmeron that the government is refusing to adhere to Dalek orders of peace and
order and issuing a final warning of obey or suffer the consequences. Its as I
feared – these Daleks are no different from ours in their methods but
insidiously they hide the fact by pretending to be a peacekeeping force of good
in the galaxy. Somehow that’s even more frightening. I love the idea of
touching down on a terraformed Jupiter – that’s the sort of visual I would love
to see brought to life on TV but perhaps it’s a good thing that this is on
audio so my imagination can do most of the work. All you need to do is add in
the horribly grotesque Varga plants and suddenly I am swept up into an
atmosphere of sixties Dalekmania! They are native to Skaro but I guess the
Daleks like to take a few specimens with them (like the Slyther) to guard the
planets that they conquer and rape. A hybrid creature of part animal, part
plant; the poison from its spines attacks the brains of its victim and rational
thought is replaced by an overwhelming desire to kill. Eventually the poison
seeps through the system and the victim is turned into a Varga. Its just as
horrible a concept today as it was in 1965. Terry Nation might not have been
the most subtle of writers but by jove could he think up some imaginative
dangers! The Vargas have become a mass psychotic army intent on the destruction
of all others – Jupiter was a trap for Kalendorf’s men to be transformed into
disgusting, homicidal slaves of the Daleks. The scenes of Mirana and her ally
running out of oxygen are surprisingly emotive considering we haven’t spent
that much time with either character. It’s the fact that his only consolation
before dying is to find out what they have been fighting for all this time –
what Kalendorf’s plotting has been leading to. Morli has been snuck into the
series almost invisibly as an associate of Alby but suddenly she is spouting
anti-Dalek propaganda which under normal circumstances would be a sign of
stability but in these uncertain times might disguise another agenda… Morli has
been subjected to the mind control procedure created by the Mentor to subjugate
the dissident populace of the worlds that they are claiming and she reveals
that anybody who it didn’t work on was sent to sleep for a long time.
Audio Landscape: Flies buzzing, a ship landing, jungle
atmosphere and the sinister Varga plants, gunfire, the air running out.
Standout Scene: In a moment that really makes you sit up the
two characters that have been talking about the events of Dalek War from the
future, Siy Tarkov and Saloran Haredew, discuss the likelihood if Kalendorf is
really the monster that brought about the ‘great catastrophe.’ Now we know that
this series is leading to something spectacular and Kalendorf is right in the
heart of it. You’ve sown the seeds now Briggsy, I hope that they yield something
truly impressive.
Result: Tightly focused and full of dramatic incident, this
is the best instalment of Dalek War so far and it promises and awful lot for
the finale. I’ve always said that the Bernice Summerfield range with its 60
minute stories is just about the right length to tell a story without it
getting bogged down in too much unnecessary padding by lopping off 10 minutes
off its running time this third instalment is all the pacier and more attention
grabbing for it. With Alby and Suze snogging on the sidelines it is Kalendorf’s
turn to take the limelight and his awesomely dramatic scenes with the Mentor
reveal that he had a badass plan in place all along that would frighten even
his own people and the consequences of which would be talked about in hushed
whispers long into the future. The set pieces are more dramatic than ever (the
opening Varga scenes are grippingly realised) and there is a feeling that all
the elements of the series are coalescing and gaining momentum to give the last
story all the ingredients it needs to blow your head off. With the Angel of
Mercy restored to glory and the Mentor furious at Kalendorf’s betrayal all the
pieces are in place for a grand face off. Bring it on: 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment