Blood of the Daleks, Part 1

Eighth Doctor Adventures #1.1

Released: 23 December 2006

Listened: 9/7/21

The new era starts off with a bang: Lucie suddenly appears in the TARDIS without explanation -- it’s very similar to how Donna appears, in an episode that came out at the same time. Also much like Donna, Lucie initially doesn’t explain how she got there or why, and doesn’t get along with the Doctor at all. It eventually comes out that she’s been placed with the Doctor by the Time Lords as a form of witness protection because of something she saw, but Lucie doesn’t know what that was. The Doctor isn’t very sympathetic; we don’t know how long it’s been since Charley and C’rizz, but he doesn’t seem very welcoming to the idea of a new companion. However, because this is a new-series style story, they don’t get much time to discuss this before ending up on planet Red Rocket Rising (a Russell T Davies name if ever I heard one), and immediately bump into a bunch of important characters. Red Rocket Rising suffered an asteroid strike (that wasn’t supposed to happen), so most of the population fled, leaving some behind. The leader of the remainers is a low-ranking government official who promptly fails the Laura Roslyn test by accepting an offer of help from the Daleks. The Daleks’ reputation has gotten a new-series boost; the Doctor considers them a universal threat, and expects that a colony of humans would remember them from history (they do, but it was a long time ago). For their part, the Daleks immediately react to the Doctor’s name. Hayley Atwell (pre-Peggy Carter) plays a scientist whose boss was arrested for immoral experiments, who carries a secret of her own, and she’s wonderful as always. There’s also a conspiracy theorist who remembers the Daleks, and in new-series style, is completely right about everything, but no one will listen. It’s a lot of plot and running around packed into an hour, even as the first part of a two-parter. Lucie is an absolute breath of fresh air with her accent and language choices. It’s a promising start.