‘THE DALEK DEFENCE’/’THE TRIUMPH OF DAVROS’

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Davros, Daleks and Movellans with the Tenth Doctor and Anya

‘THE DALEK DEFENCE’ (Part 1)

As ‘Dalek Universe’ began with a two-part opener, here we are on the two-part finale of the ‘Doctor Who’ season featuring the Tenth Doctor and Anya – ‘The Dalek Defence’/’The Triumph of Davros’. 🙂

This seemed to be a pretty exciting two-part season finale by Matt Fitton. It had Davros and the Daleks in it as well as the Movellans. Would this two-parter fulfil my expectations upon hearing it? 😐

Following on from ‘The First Son’, the Doctor and Anya find themselves rescued by an Earth ship, captained by Joseph Millson as Colonel Keelan with Ajjaz Award as Vilsa, from Daleks and Movellans.

Ajjaz Awad is no stranger to ‘Doctor Who’, as she played Katarina in ‘Daughter of the Gods’ and was in ‘Nightmare of the Daleks’. Both of those audio stories featured Daleks. A coincidence perhaps? 😀

Joseph Millson is well-known for playing Alan Jackson, Maria’s dad in ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’. Apparently, this seems to be his first association with Big Finish in a ‘Doctor Who’ audio adventure. 🙂

Joseph Millson and Ajjaz Award also play Movellan characters in this story. Joseph Millson plays Ramell whilst Ajjaz Award plays Jeska and Dranta. I found them pretty good as Movellans in this story.

It’s also intriguing to hear this Tenth Doctor audio adventure set during the events of the Dalek/Movellan War. This is especially when the Doctor learns Keelan has a prisoner aboard his ship.

This prisoner happens to be Terry Molloy as Davros. David Tennant’s Doctor is encountering Davros between ‘Destiny of the Daleks’ and ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’, which I found rather fascinating. 🙂

I enjoyed the scenes featuring David Tennant’s Doctor interacting with Terry Molloy’s Davros. David Tennant has joined the great league of classic Doctors who have encountered Terry Molloy’s Davros.

In the TV series, David Tennant’s Doctor encountered Davros as played by Julian Bleach in ‘The Stolen Earth’/’Journey’s End’. It’s so fascinating how Doctor Ten meets Davros before the Time War.

In the story itself, the Doctor could easily be tempted to change things concerning what led up to the Time War. This is especially after his attempt to destroy the Daleks ‘failed’ in ‘Genesis of the Daleks’.

This isn’t the first time that the Tenth Doctor has visited the Daleks’ past before the Time War. After all, the Tenth Doctor encountered Daleks in ‘Prisoner of the Daleks’ during the Dalek/Draconian war.

I enjoyed how Jane Slavin as Anya was portrayed in the story, especially when she was torn between helping the Doctor and abiding by the authority that she had as a SSS agent, which Keelan identified.

Anya sussed out that Vilsa wasn’t what she seemed to be and that perhaps she was a Dalek agent. It’s interesting how Vilsa had connections to the technology used by Kamen Vers in ‘The First Son’. 🙂

Eventually, Keelan’s ship ends up crash-landing on the planet Kembel. It’s amazing that Kembel keeps coming back in ‘Doctor Who’ beyond ‘Mission to the Unknown’ and ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’.

Anya also visited Kembel as Ann Kelso in the story ‘The False Guardian’/’Time’s Assassin’ with the Fourth Doctor in ‘The Sydnicate Master Plan’ season. Incredible the planet is still intact after all these years.

There are references to previous Daleks stories, such as Tyssan’s name being mentioned in ‘Destiny of the Daleks’. There’s also mention of the Cult of Skaro and the Dalek Emperor by the Tenth Doctor.

It’s also great to hear the Daleks voiced by Nicholas Briggs in the third ‘Dalek Universe’ box set compared to hearing the not-Daleks in ‘The Trojan Dalek’. Their appearance here is so well-earned. 🙂

Anya ends up being captured by Daleks with Colonel Keelan and Vilsa. The Doctor and Davros meanwhile get captured by the Movellans. They’re brought to their ship to meet the First Movellan.

The First Movellan was someone River Song warned the Tenth Doctor about. And it turns out the First Movellan happens to be…Joe Sims as Mark Seven. Wow! Wasn’t he killed in ‘The Trojan Dalek’?

I wondered how this was possible and whether this was the same Mark Seven that the Tenth Doctor and Anya knew in their travels? Or was this not Mark Seven? Was it a Movellan created in his image?

‘THE TRIUMPH OF DAVROS’ (Part 2)

In ‘The Triumph of Davros’, the Doctor is shocked Mark Seven is the First Movellan. Mark seems to have retained memories of his travels with the Doctor and Anya, but does not recall their friendship.

I did wonder if this was the real Mark Seven or whether he was someone built from Mark’s ‘corpse’ in ‘The Trojan Dalek’. I believe he’s sort-of both and it’s very interesting Mark is the First Movellan. 😐

I quite like the notion that the Tenth Doctor inadvertently created the Movellan race without intending to. This is a contrast to Davros, who had deliberately created the Daleks in his own image.

I liked the scenes between David Tennant’s Doctor and Terry Molloy’s Davros where the Doctor denies being responsible for creating the Movellans. He also struggles to tell the future to Davros. 😐

Davros guesses what the Doctor might have experienced in the Time War. Thankfully by the end of the story, the Doctor’s future with the Daleks and the Time War is secured without changing a lot. 🙂

It’s interesting a comparison is made with Mark Seven being the First Movellan as a weapon created to use against the Daleks compared to weapons in ‘The House of Kingdom’ and ‘The Trojan Dalek’. 😐

I enjoyed how Davros tended to keep switching sides and lying to the Movellans when carrying out his plans for the Daleks. Davros has his comeuppance though when Colonel Keelan has him arrested.

This secures Davros being kept in a cryogenic state in ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’ of course. The Daleks cause trouble too, especially when the Supreme Dalek overrules Davros’ authority in this story.

Incidentally, Vilsa got killed off at the end of ‘The Dalek Defence’. Anya and Keelan remain alive, as they’re sent in by the Daleks to infiltrate the Movellan base. The Daleks eventually backstab them. 😐

I liked it when Anya overhears Mark Seven as the First Movellan in conversation with his Movellan subordinates. She’s silent throughout and Colonel Keelan notices her shocked reaction afterwards. 🙂

It’s good when audio does that and you can imagine what Anya’s reaction would’ve been like had this story been made for TV. It’s astonishing Big Finish audios like this aren’t presented in visual forms. 😐

The Doctor reveals to Anya that Kembel was where her aunt Sara Kingdom died in ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’. It’s been a while since the Doctor and Anya discussed Sara and Bret Vyon in ‘The Lost’.

I like how eventually, the Doctor is able to get through to Mark Seven, as he recalls memories of his travels with the Doctor and Anya at the end. Not sure how it ties up to Mark’s fate by the story’s end.

In the epilogue, Mark Seven is the First Movellan again. As I can gather, the android’s memories of first life were deleted forever, which is sad, and the First Movellan personality takes over from here.

Also, I think in the epilogue, the First Movellan orders his fellow Movellans to create a virus against the Daleks, setting up what is about to occur in ‘Resurrection’, which is a good lead-in to that tale. 🙂

It’s also sad how the Doctor and Anya parted company in the story. I hoped the Tenth Doctor and Anya would be able to continue travelling together once the Doctor was able to return to his TARDIS.

In the end, the Daleks are about to come in and stop the Doctor using one of their time machines. Anya gave the Doctor time by fighting against the Daleks. Thankfully, Anya isn’t killed off in the story.

She’s there to see Davros be cryogenically frozen and she helps out with Colonel Keelan in the 46th century. At least Anya gets to live a life in the future despite being out of place and out of time here.

Meanwhile, the Doctor ends up back in Bury St. Edmonds where he left the TARDIS and continues to travel alone, having the memories of Anya and Mark. I’m very glad he got safely back to the TARDIS.

Incidentally, I like the reference made by the Tenth Doctor to ‘The Chase’ where he, as the First Doctor, got Ian and Barbara back to London 1965 when sabotaging one of the Daleks’ time machines.

‘The Dalek Defence’/’The Triumph of Davros’ is a satisfying finale to the ‘Dalek Universe’ season. Everything is wrapped up well, as Matt Fitton concludes story arcs and sets up some upcoming ones.

BONUS DISC – BEHIND-THE SCENES

Disc 4 of the third ‘Dalek Universe’ box set is a behind-the-scenes making-of documentary looking into the two stories ‘The First Son’ and ‘The Dalek Defence’/’The Triumph of Davros’. Like the first two ‘Dalek Universe’ box sets’ behind-the-scenes making-of documentaries, I really enjoyed this one.

There are behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews to enjoy. There’s an introduction by writer/script editor John Dorney who talks about the development of the ‘Dalek Universe’ season. We then go into the making of ‘The First Son’, which features an interview with writer Lizzie Hopley.

I have to say, despite the criticisms I have about Lizzie Hopley’s stories, she comes across as a nice lady and seems to have put some thought into the ideas behind writing her ‘Doctor Who’ episodes. It was really nice when she was talking about writing for Nyssa with Sarah Sutton’s voice in her head.

I’m currently looking forward to hearing ‘The Stuntman’ soon. There are also interviews with Jane Slavin, David Tennant, Matthew Jacobs-Morgan and Paul Panting who share their thoughts on working on ‘The First Son’. It’s a pity Alex Kington who played River Song wasn’t interviewed here. 😦

At least the actors share their thoughts about Alex Kingston as an actress, including Jane Slavin who wrote episodes of the original Big Finish audio series ‘Transference’ for her. Soon, we have a look into the making of ‘The Dalek Defence’/’The Triumph of Davros’, which includes an interview with Joe Sims. 🙂

There are also interviews with Terry Molloy and Joseph Millson. A shame Noma Dumezweni, Ajjaz Awad and Nicholas Briggs weren’t interviewed for this documentary. There are some nice closing thoughts on ‘Dalek Universe’ overall from people like David Tennant, Jane Slavin and Terry Molloy. 🙂

‘Dalek Universe’ has been a very enjoyable Big Finish audio season of ‘Doctor Who’ with David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. I enjoyed how it explored various avenues of the Daleks’ history, as established by creator Terry Nation. It’s also interesting how the Tenth Doctor is without his TARDIS.

I also enjoyed the stories David Tennant’s Doctor had with Jane Slavin as Anya Kingdom and Joe Sims as Mark Seven, encountering Alex Kingston’s River Song and Terry Molloy’s Davros along the way. I’m currently looking forward to hearing more ‘Doctor Who’ audios starring David Tennant’s Doctor.

‘The Dalek Defence’/’The Triumph of Davros’ rating – 8/10

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The previous story For the Tenth Doctor was ‘The First Son’ (Audio)  For Anya was ‘The First Son’ (Audio) For Mark Seven was ‘The Trojan Dalek’ (Audio) For Davros was ‘Destiny of the Daleks’ (Audio) For the Daleks was ‘The First Son’ (Audio)	The next story For the Tenth Doctor is ‘The Day of the Doctor’ (TV) For Davros is ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’ (TV) For the Daleks is ‘Doctor Who and the Dogs of Doom’ (Comic)
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