Doctor Who: Daleks (Dr Who) [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Having heard both the Evil of the Daleks and the Power of the Daleks on cassette format, I was intrigued to find how much different the CD versions were. To be honest althought the transformation is subtle, it is much more effective. Complements must go to the BBC restore team who have considerably 'cleaned up' the recordings somewhat since the cassette releases and ensured that the new narration doesn't prevent us from hearing the dialogue.

Unfortunately, whilst Power is an excellent story and is significiant in Doctor Who history, I feel that it is severely undermined by Anneke Willkes narration. Unlike Frazer Hines' commentary in Evil, hers is staid and monotonous - and in some places it seems as if she is bored.

The audio stories themselves are excellent and are made more atmospheric by the transition to audio. For example, the scene in the Dalek capsule in Power is probably more atmospheric than it ever would have been on TV, as is the overall Dalek threat in this story.

I feel that Power is probably weaker than Evil. I agree with other reviewers that Troughton's Doctor is significantly different to the one presented in Evil, and just as Troughton was trying to adapt to his new role, it can be seen that the production team was too. There are, for example, some serious holes in the plot, that unfortunately are captured on audio, such as the 'rebellion' and Ben and Polly's capture in subsequent episodes....
You may feel that I am being too harsh on Power, but I feel that as it is a 'lost' story and is Troughton's first outing as the Doctor, it is regarded as a 'classic' because of this.
Whilst not a catastrophe, the believable characters of Lesterton, the Doctor (once he get's going) and the cunning Daleks lay the foundation for a story, that is on the whole a good one.

Evil represents Doctor Who at its zenith - Troughton's acting is superb, and the story shines because of the strenght of the main characters. In Seven Episodes, the story spans across past, present and future, and aside from focusing on science-fiction, it raises questions as to the nature of humanity. The apparent 'end' of the Daleks in 1967 (to concentrate on Cybermen adventures) is strong - the idea of the Dalek Civil War comes across brilliantly on audio, and the bonus track at the end of the third disc allows the listener to hear it in all its glory (without narration.)
The audio CD also hides obvious limited special effects problems - the Dalek Civil War can be imagined as that - (not toy Daleks fighting as was the case on TV) and the booming voice of the Emperor Dalek is much more agressive and threatening on audio.
An excellent story which rounded off Troughton's first season as the Doctor. From this point, Troughton's Doctor excells, I would recommend to those who wish to start collecting 'missing' stories (especially Troughton ones,) to start here and continue into the fifth season - which included gems such as the Yeti adventures and The Enenmy of the World.

The presence of the My Life as a Dalek CD is clearly only there for the 40th anniversary celebrations, and is useful as a history of the Daleks but is otherwise pointless.

For all fans of Doctor Who this is a MUST - for the casual listener, I would say that the tinset is excellent and as the stories come across very well on audio, are worth buying. Read more ›