Finished this today. I’m not a huge Daleks fans at all, especially on audio where I find I zone out if they have lots of dialogue. But something about this series just works.
The humans characters are great - Alby with his ‘everyman’ attitude but with secrets under the surface and knowing more than he lets on. Kalendorf, another man with secrets and powers and Suz - a woman thrust into an unenviable position.
The three main cast members, Mark McDonnell, Sarah Mowat and the incomparable Gareth Thomas give their all and Nick Briggs is on his A game as the many different Daleks (I’m especially fond of the booming Emperor).
The humans are what makes this work - their plight (which rattles along giving the audience hardly time to draw breath) is horrific. Suz and Kalendorf are literally at the rock face of Dalek occupation. Alby meanwhile is thrown from near death situation to near death situation. Self-preservation almost makes him seem selfish but his knowledge of the Daleks means he knows he has to play the long game if he is to survive long enough to find Suz and complete his mission.
But what surprises me here is the Daleks. As I say, they often lose me on audio but this group are fascinating. This is the scheming Daleks of David Whitaker. Their manipulation of Suz is astounding but the subtle in-fighting gives them an edge rarely seen in the Daleks. Lower ranked Daleks questioning how Suz is being allowed to dictate Dalek policy and being shouted down by the Supreme but then the Emperor shouting down the Supreme - the hierarchy is fascinating and really makes their scenes something worth listening to.
Even though I’ve listened to this before, I can’t actually remember many of the details as to where the story goes so I’m looking forward to exploring this world again.
(It would help, though, if they didn’t have Nick Briggs and Ian Brooker obviously playing so many different parts in the same episode though…)
I started the series; I do think it is fine, even if I fell asleep in the middle and had to go back (fairly sure it was a me problem, though.) I wonder how Suz will compare to other people who tried to collaborate with Daleks. If she is doing it out of love, will she succeed?
Thought I’d give this a go as its on Spotify. It was OK. I did like the human characters, though I’m not sure if one of them is called Susan or not I never heard her name mentioned lol
I do find extended scenes of Daleks quite tiresome so that was an issue for me, then again this is called Dalek Empire. A bigger issue for me was that the Daleks invade then enslave humans to work in mines. We’ve seen that before & even though its slightly different here it’s still not a very original an idea.
But overall there was enough here to make me want to carry on & find out what happens next.
I remember enjoying this episode 7 or 8 years ago but never got round to continuing Dalek Empire, but relistening I remember why I loved it that first time. The Daleks are threatening. They are a force in this, a powerful, dangerous enemy and not a joke. As others have said, the scheming amongst them is great and gives so much character, and Briggs Emperor Dalek is great. It’s also so refreshing to have another person voicing the Daleks. I love Briggs, but sometimes another Dalek voice is wonderful.
The characters are great too,each of them engaging in their own way. Looking forward to continuing this series!
Finally went and did the first Story of this Spin off and uhhh…
I feel a bit conflicted on this Story. Technically speaking it’s a solid Opener, setting up Bits and Pieces in place which will (I am sure) later pay off. Susan is honestly a pretty great Character from the Bits we have gotten here, and a lot of the Things presented here are Concepts which I do genuinely like (especially the second Half of the Story). The big ‘but’ here is sadly that I really couldn’t connect much with this Story that much, maybe my Opinion will change on it as I continue this Series/Spin Off Series, but I don’t know.
Solid Story, just not one, which doesn’t do much for me sadly.
This series is certainly proving more divisive than Gallifrey - or even the Excelis Saga - proved to be, so it will be interesting to read your thoughts going forward.
