Big Finish Doctor Who Audios: The Time of the Daleks - Justin Richards
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A group of Daleks attempts to detonate a temporal extinction device, which fails, although several of them escape through a time corridor locked onto the destabilising time fissure.
Charley reveals she's ignorant about the existence of Shakespeare, which prompts the Doctor to discover that the time fissure runs backwards from the 21st century so he plots a course for New Britain, where General Mariah Learman has just announced that the elections will be delayed, much to the consternation of rebels Hart and Priestly who are planning to restore democracy and Shakespeare.
The Doctor and Charley meet Learman's niece, Viola, and they realise that Shakespeare's removal from time is not yet set. Learman plans to use orthopositronium-coated mirrors to travel through time to witness Shakespeare's plays and has enlisted the help of the Daleks, who appeared through the mirrors, to help perfect the machine, which requires a source of Chronons to make it work. As Learman operates the machine, a time corridor is created, which allows the Daleks to enter Learman's palace, where they proclaim themselves the masters of time.
Learman, it transpires, has bargained with the Daleks to restore Shakespeare in return for giving them the facility to repair their Vortex-trapped vessel, and the Doctor is ordered to help with the temporal stabilisers. The Daleks believe Learman's Master Clock is the source of Chronons which they had located earlier and they use it as the temporal stabiliser together with the palace's nuclear reactor to recharge their engines. The rebel forces storm the building and attack the Daleks, freeing Viola who tells them to leave while she steals the Master Clock. In the mirror chamber, Viola is caught by the Daleks and after a stand off, she and Charley escape through the mirror to London 1572 where Viola plans to return through the rebels' own mirror.
The Doctor, meanwhile, has persuaded Professor Osric to help bring them back, but before he can do so, Viola and Charley are confronted by Daleks. When these change into humans, Charley realises history has altered again and they can still win. The Daleks and Learman are waiting for Charley and Viola when they come through the mirror, but the rebels arrive and a fight ensues. In the confusion, Charley is hit.
The Master Clock absorbs the blast, thereby saving Charley. The Daleks prepare to send a squad back in time, but the Master Clock will no longer function so they order the Doctor to repair it. The Dalek Supreme informs the Emperor that the second extinction device will be powered by the humans' nuclear reactor. The rebels capture the reactor, believing that if they can destroy the Daleks now, history will be restored. The Doctor and Charley are taken to the Dalek ship, where they secretly observe Learman and the Daleks, and discover that she actually wants Shakespeare dead so only she will ever remember his plays, thereby ensuring that the rebels cannot use him as a figurehead. The Daleks intercept the Doctor and Charley, believing they have fixed the Master Clock given they are able to detect Chronons, and they prepare to send their assassination squad through the mirrors, which depict the Daleks conquering time. As the main reactor fails, the Doctor realises the explosion will travel through the mirrors and the time corridor, rupturing the web of time. This, then, is the start of the time of the Daleks.
Charley sends the Daleks into different time periods by reseting the clock, and they are then destroyed. The Daleks attempt to take the reactor, but become trapped when radiation is released. The Daleks have created their own Eye of Harmony to gain mastery over time but they need a replacement pilot for their ship, so they choose Learman, who is mutated and placed into a Dalek casing with a memory sphere of Shakespeare's work.
The Doctor realises they are within a paradox, and that the fissure the Daleks are attempting to open caused it. The Master Clock has never really worked as it was a Chronon-charged Dalek which gave it the initial power that allowed Viola to bring their kitchen boy, the young William Shakespeare, to the future. The Daleks take Charley hostage aboard their vessel, and the Doctor realises she is the key. Fortunately he manages to rescue her before the detonation takes place. And when the temporal extinction device malfunctions, it leaves the Daleks back where they started. With history preserved, Viola and Will can go home. However, Charley is causing the web of time to unravel all around them...
Thoughts:
There is something very seriously weird and utterly spine-chilling about hearing Daleks reciting Shakespeare!!
The scene where Learman is mutated and placed into the Dalek casing is blood-curdling and made me glad I couldn't see what was going on!
The plot itself is a bit meh - but it contains lots of Shakespeare quotage! And I'm such a Shakespeare Nerd that this, like "The Shakespeare Code" TV episode, automatically wins me over - which I realise is very biased (and possibly elitist), but I don't care!
So now comes the big trilogy of Neverland/Zagreus/Scherzo - this'll be interesting!!
A group of Daleks attempts to detonate a temporal extinction device, which fails, although several of them escape through a time corridor locked onto the destabilising time fissure.
Charley reveals she's ignorant about the existence of Shakespeare, which prompts the Doctor to discover that the time fissure runs backwards from the 21st century so he plots a course for New Britain, where General Mariah Learman has just announced that the elections will be delayed, much to the consternation of rebels Hart and Priestly who are planning to restore democracy and Shakespeare.
The Doctor and Charley meet Learman's niece, Viola, and they realise that Shakespeare's removal from time is not yet set. Learman plans to use orthopositronium-coated mirrors to travel through time to witness Shakespeare's plays and has enlisted the help of the Daleks, who appeared through the mirrors, to help perfect the machine, which requires a source of Chronons to make it work. As Learman operates the machine, a time corridor is created, which allows the Daleks to enter Learman's palace, where they proclaim themselves the masters of time.
Learman, it transpires, has bargained with the Daleks to restore Shakespeare in return for giving them the facility to repair their Vortex-trapped vessel, and the Doctor is ordered to help with the temporal stabilisers. The Daleks believe Learman's Master Clock is the source of Chronons which they had located earlier and they use it as the temporal stabiliser together with the palace's nuclear reactor to recharge their engines. The rebel forces storm the building and attack the Daleks, freeing Viola who tells them to leave while she steals the Master Clock. In the mirror chamber, Viola is caught by the Daleks and after a stand off, she and Charley escape through the mirror to London 1572 where Viola plans to return through the rebels' own mirror.
The Doctor, meanwhile, has persuaded Professor Osric to help bring them back, but before he can do so, Viola and Charley are confronted by Daleks. When these change into humans, Charley realises history has altered again and they can still win. The Daleks and Learman are waiting for Charley and Viola when they come through the mirror, but the rebels arrive and a fight ensues. In the confusion, Charley is hit.
The Master Clock absorbs the blast, thereby saving Charley. The Daleks prepare to send a squad back in time, but the Master Clock will no longer function so they order the Doctor to repair it. The Dalek Supreme informs the Emperor that the second extinction device will be powered by the humans' nuclear reactor. The rebels capture the reactor, believing that if they can destroy the Daleks now, history will be restored. The Doctor and Charley are taken to the Dalek ship, where they secretly observe Learman and the Daleks, and discover that she actually wants Shakespeare dead so only she will ever remember his plays, thereby ensuring that the rebels cannot use him as a figurehead. The Daleks intercept the Doctor and Charley, believing they have fixed the Master Clock given they are able to detect Chronons, and they prepare to send their assassination squad through the mirrors, which depict the Daleks conquering time. As the main reactor fails, the Doctor realises the explosion will travel through the mirrors and the time corridor, rupturing the web of time. This, then, is the start of the time of the Daleks.
Charley sends the Daleks into different time periods by reseting the clock, and they are then destroyed. The Daleks attempt to take the reactor, but become trapped when radiation is released. The Daleks have created their own Eye of Harmony to gain mastery over time but they need a replacement pilot for their ship, so they choose Learman, who is mutated and placed into a Dalek casing with a memory sphere of Shakespeare's work.
The Doctor realises they are within a paradox, and that the fissure the Daleks are attempting to open caused it. The Master Clock has never really worked as it was a Chronon-charged Dalek which gave it the initial power that allowed Viola to bring their kitchen boy, the young William Shakespeare, to the future. The Daleks take Charley hostage aboard their vessel, and the Doctor realises she is the key. Fortunately he manages to rescue her before the detonation takes place. And when the temporal extinction device malfunctions, it leaves the Daleks back where they started. With history preserved, Viola and Will can go home. However, Charley is causing the web of time to unravel all around them...
Thoughts:
There is something very seriously weird and utterly spine-chilling about hearing Daleks reciting Shakespeare!!
The scene where Learman is mutated and placed into the Dalek casing is blood-curdling and made me glad I couldn't see what was going on!
The plot itself is a bit meh - but it contains lots of Shakespeare quotage! And I'm such a Shakespeare Nerd that this, like "The Shakespeare Code" TV episode, automatically wins me over - which I realise is very biased (and possibly elitist), but I don't care!
So now comes the big trilogy of Neverland/Zagreus/Scherzo - this'll be interesting!!