Note: This is my review of Blood of the Daleks as a whole. (This is also the same review as I did for Blood of the Daleks 1.)

Having started an 8DA listenthrough with a friend, I have finally dusted of this release again and relistened to it. In previous listenthroughs I thought this to be one of the more boring 8DAs, and by and large, I still agree that it is. However, while I often thought that the plot was the problem, this time around my opinion has changed.

The plot is very functional. A bit straightforward but it has all the right beats, a plot twist, stakes and an actually decent-to-good appearance by the Daleks (why they keep spoiling the appearances of the Daleks in the title I'll never know). However, for a companion introduction story the story is particularly colorless and bleak. The environments described don't help this at all, with its nuclear winter and the desperate and angry people, making every scene of the plot feel a bit same-y and blend into eachother.

However, I've come to the conclusion that the problem here is more the way the plot is told. I've got an issue with two major things:

• Scene changes are barely highlighted, in sound design or in dialogue. The backdrop of every scene is only subtly given by realistic sound design, but this makes it hard to imagine anything but the most general area of where the story takes place.
• The music is not at all dynamic. In fact, I think the main reason there were parts of the play I completely drifted off is because the music does not seem to flow with what is actually occurring at the moment at all.

With this listenthrough, I made an effort to really follow the story behind the droll presentation, and thought it fine. It certainly gives both 8 and Lucie time to shine on their own and together, which should be the first goal of a companion introduction story. 8 and Lucie carry this release completely. Their dynamic is fun, the tension between the characters is refreshing and Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith seem to have the right chemistry for this duo. The arc of the Head Hunter and the Time Lord witness protection program are also set up well.

Sadly, the play is just such a bore to listen to (which is also why I don't review the separate parts). In a series so colorful as this one (especially with Human Resources) I wonder how they could have such a grey opener.

The 8th Doctor Adventures #1.2 - “Blood of the Daleks: Part Two” by Steve Lyons

This is the first distinctly two part audio I’ve ever reviewed so this should be interesting. Blood of the Daleks opened with a (somewhat muffled) bang, giving us a charismatic duo, a fun location and a slightly boring story. But that’s forgivable, Part One was focused mainly on setting up our characters and story so I can easily forgive the relatively bare plot. However, only half the job is done and I’m counting on Part Two to do what One didn’t: deliver a genuinely hooking story that gets me to keep on listening. Did it succeed? Let’s see.

Faced with an obscene experiment and a hostile Dalek fleet, the Doctor finds himself in the middle of a bloody war and ruthless genocide as Lucie finds herself face to face with pure evil.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

The nature of this being a Part Two does immediately eradicate one of the previous audio’s worst parts: the pacing. This time, the in media res works and is necessary, leading to a far better and more cohesive structure that is fast paced and rarely slows down but services the script in a fun way, making this feel more like an action movie than Doctor Who.

On top of that, we have a cast in full swing; even if some of the characters feel more like cast fillers than actual personalities, Eight and Lucie still excel, with each getting a nice amount of agency and their own heroic moments. Eight especially is a really understated force here, playing once again with the concept of a “good dalek” and having the Doctor as a bitterly hopeful on looker to a fruitless war.

Now, I have a number of problems with the actual plot of this story but I do have to highlight the ending, which ties into what I just said about Eight. For as much as I think this story is relatively generic, the conclusion still felt satisfying and the final confrontation between Eight and the Dalek Supreme was genuinely engaging and dare I say even somewhat tragic, the Doctor looking down at this broken species, now indistinguishable from the supposed lesser versions of themselves created by Martez, with a kind of spiteful pity was an astonishing piece of acting from McGann and if nothing else sold me on Eight going forwards (even if I already knew he’d be great).

However, I did hint at my issues with Blood of the Daleks before and I have to say, I dislike this more than Part One. Part One had some nice atmosphere and actively felt like it was going somewhere, but Part Two basically equates to a series of underwhelming action scenes with a nice ending, but the same way a good hat doesn’t save a bad outfit, the rest of Part Two is just kind of bland. For one, it abruptly throws out the direction it was going for with the Daleks in place of a story about clone Daleks and genetic purity, which, whilst certainly more interesting, doesn’t really get enough space to play around and just amounts to the laser fire sound effect being layered over itself again and again. Also, our secondary antagonist, the body hopping Professor Martez is just not particularly intimidating. He has some interesting character beats but for the most part is just getting repeatedly defeated by the Daleks.

On top of that, Red Rocket Rising becomes significantly less interesting. Because of the heightened focus on action, we lose a lot of the atmosphere of Part One and whilst the pace is improved, the lack of downtime means we’re jumping from pivotal scene to pivotal scene, making the world feel tiny and significantly more uninteresting, the desperate population turned into background noise.

Blood of the Daleks: Part Two wasn’t that big a deviation from its first part, but was a let down nonetheless. I am looking forward to seeing where these characters go but this opening can only be described as “just another Dalek story”. It scrapes at something innovative but always manages to just miss the mark. A worthy pilot but you can find both better Dalek stories and better Steve Lyons stories elsewhere.

6/10

Pros:

+ Decently energetic and entertaining

+ McGann and Smith have brilliant chemistry together

+ Satisfying and interesting resolution

Cons:

- Professor Martez is somewhat underwhelming

- The world feels a lot smaller in scope

- Relatively derivative

As so often with Dalek stories, things devolve into a run around and you’re left wandering where all the promise of the initial set up disappeared to. The main issue is that fans have seen and heard this story many times before, with various Dalek factions facing each other off.

Despite this Sheridan Smith and Paul McGann continue to delight as an audio power couple. As with all the best Doctor / companion duos they lift proceedings.

Blood of the Daleks Part 2: 8.9/10 - This was a very enjoyable and well done finale to the first story of the Eighth Doctor adventures. I really liked the Daleks in this story and thought the Daleks vs Daleks concept was particularly good here. Martez worked really well as a villain truly believing in their actions. Klint and Tom were good side characters here as well and it was nice getting to know them more after the first part. The Doctor and Lucie's relationship is also fleshed out more here which was really nice and the dynamic between the two is very good! The two cliffhangers, the Telos mention and the call between the headhunter and Mr. Hulbert are good at setting up intrigue and I am excited for where this goes from here!