This is such an interesting little story. Atmospheric, gloomy, tense - I really like it. It’s been a while since I watched it and I just love how immersive it is. One of Nation’s better stories for sure, and I love the taste of intergalactic politics and the sense of impending doom that builds and builds and builds
9 Likes
Perfect little prologue to an epic
2 Likes
Both with the telesnap recreation and the UCLAN remake, I like this one. Bit of an odd placement in its season as a whole, but it was an interesting experiment that turned out to be quite influential with the NuWho ‘Doctor-less’ staple. I rate the UCLAN version slightly higher just because of the effort put into making it as period-authentic as possible.
5 Likes
I’ve always quite liked this story and think it’s fun to have an episode without our main cast, that also serves as a prologue for an epic tale that is on the horizon.
It’s a interesting idea that I think mostly works here, although I am glad that it’s just a single episode long. I do think I’d grow tired of it had lasted much longer.
As others have said, the Vargas are genuinely creepy and I’d love to see them return. I just think there’s a lot more that could be done with them.
Generally I’m pretty positive on this one, but wouldn’t want many episodes like this in DW.
5 Likes
I watched the recreation of this and they did a great job! (Besides the actors seeming a little on the young side 
)
I do view this as more part of Master Plan rather than its own thing, and I think it serves it’s purpose as a prologue perfectly well.
Not a huge amount to say about it besides that, it’s a fun concept having an episode without any of the main cast.
6 Likes
Great idea for a story that won’t be replicated again, I love how it works as a prequel and standalone story, especially in this era of Who
3 Likes
Was a good story I liked having a doctorless episode that was pretty good. Also the fact it’s a prequel but can work by itself really shows how good it is
2 Likes
LOVED this. Won’t repeat more knowledgeable people than me on how good the uni recreation is, but synced with original audio, it barely feels like it stands out as a (Varga) thorn in my classic watching at all.
Really enjoyed the episode and story, inspite of the goofy as hell council of villains.
I only had a quick glimpse of the wikis, but of all of the wider world of Big Finish, how on Earth is there not a Marc Cory spin-off? License to kill versus the Daleks would be an absolute treat, at least I feel like. Is there any range that touches what they swung for here?
4 Likes
An adaptation of an unmade pilot script for Nation’s planned US Dalek series:
Big Finish’s development of that world:
Also, have a look here:
5 Likes
The thing made by students is absolutely incredible!
5 Likes
At first I was disappointed that there was no Doctor or main characters but I got invested in the story pretty quickly. I watched the telasnaps the first time, and I loved the varga plants and I found the characters interesting enough to follow. I read the target novel later and then watched the remake which helped a lot in filling in holes from the the first. I still prefer stories with the Doctor but it was a good set up to the Daleks master plan
4 Likes
Space Security Service literally being a thing shuts me up pretty fast, and simultaneously gets me wound back up.
Please do tell me it’s not half bad?
3 Likes
Can’t help, sorry, as I haven’t heard it yet. The Lost Story adaptation is fine if nothing special.
2 Likes
Thanks for the nudge nonetheless. Looks like a fun rabbit hole to fall down, if only for a short time.
5 Likes
I have been debating on it myself. I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t have much interest in the whole organization until Anya and Mark Seven came along
5 Likes
I’m shocked to see how recent they are, too, with an upcoming set. I imagine the uni recreation would have renewed interest specifically though to be fair.
4 Likes
How is the novel? I feel I have some recollection from earlier reading that it’s another Target that’s not a 1-1 representation of the episode - does it scratch more itches?
It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t a one for one either. I think it also ended slightly earlier than the episode.
2 Likes
This story has always been tricky for me to rate, but I’m going with an 8/10 for a few reasons. First, the love and care that went into the recreation is quite evident and deserves its flowers. Second, while many view this as a prologue to DMP, and it is, I feel it can also be viewed as an epilogue to Galaxy 4 in the sense that, if we choose to believe she’s referring to Kembel, we receive an answer to Vicki’s question as to what’s happening on that planet they see on the scanner. However, because we’re going into a four-part adventure in between, they’ve kindly provided us with a 20+ minute snapshot of events rather than the few seconds or couple of minutes we had been receiving as a tease of adventures to come. I see it as the first real instance of the show illustrating that things happen elsewhere across time and space while we’re flitting about in our little blue box.
Overall, I quite like this one.
2 Likes