Blood of the Daleks, Part 2

Eighth Doctor Adventures #1.2

Released: 7 January 2007

Listened: 9/8/21

Lucie Miller’s debut continues, with suitably high drama. Lucie still doesn’t trust the Doctor much, but it’s clear to her early on that the Daleks are seriously bad news. In fairness, the Doctor’s plans are fairly desperate, as there’s not a lot he can do against the Daleks at this point. The scientist from last story is revealed to be transferred to Haley Atwell’s body, and he’s been busy creating a new race of Daleks out of humans, adding a new dimension to the conflict. Haley Atwell is excellent as this proto-Davros, who has just a touch more morality than the original. The Daleks, of course, react the way they always do to “impure” Daleks, but the lengths they’ll go to are pretty horrible this time. The Doctor, for his part, treats the Daleks as a very serious threat, more than he has in the past. He’s not quite up to the Ninth Doctor’s reaction, but he currently believes that his decision in “Genesis of the Daleks” was wrong, and that genocide is justified when the target is the Daleks. Lucie is a bit afraid of the Doctor, and not really impressed, but does decide that he’s a good person. She still wants to stay behind when he leaves, but the Time Lords don’t really offer them that choice, for reasons yet to be determined. This premier definitely achieves the goal of having new-series pacing and scale, with the Daleks as a major threat. Still a bit too much friction between Doctor and companion, but that’ll change.