Daleks Among Us

Main Range #177

Released: 11 September 2013

Listened: 3/15/21

At some point, Klein had to encounter the Daleks. Of course they’re the major player behind the effort to acquire Schalk and the Persuasion Machine. Because they’re both UNIT members, Klein and Will both know about Daleks (although Will’s a bit awestruck to meet one), and the TARDIS crew spend the first episode tracking them down, rather than running from them. However, the next few episodes turn into a gambit pile-up, as Alan Barnes drives home the parallels between the Nazis and Daleks (which has never really been hidden). Davros shows up, and there are Dalek duplicates running around, and everybody seems to be bluffing someone. Eventually, Klein takes the TARDIS back to shortly before their Dusseldorf visit in “Persuasion” and learns about her true origins and the destiny that was planned for her. On the one hand, it’s so appalling that it shouldn’t be credible, but Tracey Childs sells it well. Part 4 is a bit of a mess, though, with more bluffs than are entirely reasonable, the Persuasion machine being used in a way that didn’t seem possible, and a literal deus ex machina. Poor Will doesn’t really get much room for character development in this one. He seems a bit more independent, but his naivety gets him in trouble a couple of times. Most of the development is on Klein, which is appropriate, as this is the big climax for this version of her. It’s fair to wonder where the character can go from this point. Although the story is open-ended, with Will and Klein continuing to more adventures, there haven’t been any follow-ups yet. So we’ll say goodbye to Will at this point, but not Klein.