The 8th Doctor Adventures #1.1 - “Blood of the Daleks: Part One” by Steve Lyons

Besides the Main Range, I think the 8DAs would have to be the most popular audio series Big Finish has put out, containing fan favourite after fan favourite in both the story and character camps. I’ve been meaning to get into them for a long time now, and by meaning to get into them I mean I’ve started it a couple times in the past and haven’t made it past the halfway point but that’s neither here nor there and I can’t remember the stories I did listen to anyway. So, ready now to sit down and finally give these a listen, how do I think the 8DAs’ pilot fares?

The planet of Red Rocket Rising is dying, smothered in an asteroid’s toxic dust cloud. Lumped with an unwanted interloper, the Doctor finds himself stuck with the last remnants of the planet’s population as a benevolent alien saviour comes to rescue them: an alien saviour that calls itself the Daleks.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

I’ve heard pretty much nothing but good things about Steve Lyons. Well deserving of being in the top echelon of Who writers shared by a select few, Lyons consistently creates popular works throughout both the novels and the audios so, he seems a good choice to kick off Big Finish new, fancy spin off series. And for the most part he is; I think the quickest way to assess the quality of a writer is by judging how much character their prose and dialogue exudes. Is it fast, witty, poetic, whip smart, believable, hilarious, engaging? If it is, you’re probably on the right track and Lyons comes right out of the gate with an intelligent and fast paced style that lands somewhere between realistic and outwardly comedic. The dialogue is witty but not overwritten and it gives the characters some nice personality out the gate, especially with Eight, McGann gives a brilliant performance and sells you on the upcoming series right away.

As for our new companion, we have the much beloved Lucie Miller entering the fray. I’m in two minds about her in this episode because, whilst Sheridan Smith gives a stunning first performance and she seems like a distinctly fun character, her actual introduction is rocky. This story overall has pacing issues but it’s worst with Lucie, who immediately is comfortable with the whole time travel thing, making it feel like we’ve skipped a bit of her characterisation. Yes, there are story reasons as to why she’s so blasé about it all but it still leaves the problem of her intro being remarkably abrupt.

As for the story itself, I have my issues but one thing that did stand out was the setting: the ruined colony world of Red Rocket Rising, smothered by the fallout of a meteor crash and left in ruin and endless winter. It makes for a wonderful soundscape and the imagery of wrecked buildings and acid rain showers create a brilliant dystopian world.

However, the people populating our world are just alright, with a surprise Anita Dobson mixed in there. The stand out would probably be paranoid conspiracy theorist Tom Cardwell, who is a pretty easily endearing side character (even if he won’t stop repeating his own name).

But, as a pilot, does Blood of the Daleks succeed at hooking me as a listener? Eh. It is only one part so I’m assuming it’ll pick up but this episode suffers from severe pilot syndrome - when a show is more focused on setting up a series than actually delivering something worthwhile. The story feels pretty generic and mostly like it's just waiting for Part Two to come around, with only a couple fun moments throughout.

It also, as I said before, has issues with pacing that ruin the plot’s cohesiveness. We’re dropped into everything in media res and we don’t really get a breather past then, constantly running backwards and forwards in search of a cliff hanger. Plus, I find the plot to be somewhat bland by itself. It seems it’s pulling the “Daleks have turned good (but not really because obviously)” stint that The Power of the Daleks did successfully and everybody else tried to imitate, which marks this script down for me somewhat. There is nothing worse for me than yet another Dalek story that does nothing new with the infamous pepper pots.

Blood of the Daleks: Part One is promising, but it's nothing special; only a part one after all. Our new characters are fun and the style is engaging but I’m yet to be sold on the story going forwards. I’m optimistic but it’s not like this really tells me anything.

7/10

Pros:

+ Nails Eight’s character and McGann lends a great performance

+ Sheridan Smith has a brilliant debut performance

+ The setting of Red Rocket Rising was decently atmospheric

+ I found Tom to be genuinely endearing

Cons:

- Pacing issues start the story on rocky footing

- Relatively focussed on set up

- The Daleks seem relatively bland