The Dalek Defence

Dalek Universe #3.2

Released: 13 October 2021

Listened: 12/11/22

We’re down to the final two-parter by Matt Fitton, and yes, we can now, finally, have some Daleks. In fact, we can have a bona-fide sequel to “Destiny of the Daleks.” It seems that the Earth Forces prisoner transport that Davros was on at the end of that story ran into some trouble, and had to pass off its cargo to another ship, which the Doctor and Anya are now on, in between the Dalek and Movellan battle fleets. Which is bad news for everybody involved, because the only option is to defrost Davros and use him as a bargaining chip. It’s an interesting dynamic, seeing this version of Davros – “Destiny” and “Genesis” were recent for him; skipping over long periods of suspended animation, he’s still relatively young. He does recognize the Doctor right away, though. For the Doctor, however, he last saw Davros in “Journey’s End,” going way off the deep end and trying to destroy reality. So there’s some bitterness there. In fact, the Doctor spends large parts of this story insisting that he knows best, only to get ignored by absolutely everybody, including Anya at times. All of which sets up a cliffhanger in which the First Movellan turns out to be real, and someone we know.