The Dalek Protocol

Fourth Doctor Adventures special

Released: 13 April 2021

Listened: 4/17/22

This one, unfortunately, is one of those times when the timeline of this project doesn’t serve well. If you listen to this before the next era’s boxed set, you’ll run into a major spoiler. It also connects to the Dalek Universe stories in the Tenth Doctor era, but it can be safely viewed as a prequel to those. You can tell it’s a Nick Briggs story, because it starts out on Exxilon, and Briggs loves “Death to the Daleks” to pieces. You can also tell because Briggs is playing Captain Bernard with his “northern” accent, which could double for “congested” if need be. This story is the first meeting of Space Security Service agents Mark Seven and Anya Kingdom, who will make up a lot of Dalek Universe, so they get plenty of screen time here. However, Mark spends a lot of time “not himself,” and Anya spends a lot of time trying to avoid the Doctor, for…reasons. She’s not entirely successful, but that seems to be OK. Leela doesn’t have the biggest role here, but she’s clearly come a long way. She remembers Exxilons, Daleks don’t phase her, her reading skills are improved, and she’s starting to learn when the Doctor is blowing smoke. The Doctor himself seems a little too flippant again, especially when Daleks are involved, but I think that’s the influence of Tom Baker on the scripts. Bottom line: If you like the Dalek Universe characters, you’ll like this.