Order of the Daleks

 


Order of The Daleks by Mike Tucker

In a story that's roughly Doctor Who meets Cadfael, I was honestly surprised by it's depth and general fun. There are few stories I think, personally, that truly understand The Daleks, especially out of the ones I've heard in Big Finish. They often do similar things, stories like Genocide Machine, Mutant Phase, Dalek Transaction, Energy of The Daleks, Time of The Daleks, Dalek Contract/Final Phase, the list goes on, and these are merely the audios I've heard, as I don't seek out these pepperpots. In my mind, you have to be careful utilizing these magnificent monsters, and Order of The Daleks is suitably grisly and wonderfully macabre. These Daleks have been redesigned in medieval times, they scavenge, in a way similar to that later shown in Resolution on TV. 
They are wonderfully monstrous here, without a doubt a highlight. They mutilate people to take their vocal chords so they can speak! The mutants are encased in animal stomachs and fed with human blood! It's hammer horror stuff contrasted with their beautiful cover design. The Daleks are incredibly well done in that they are brutal, and devastating, but in this story, it's not their firepower which is what allows them to conquer, it is their mindset, their deadly nazi-esque outlook, which has worked very well before in such great stories such as The Dalek Occupation of Winter. As such, they are definitely the highlights, which is a rare statement for these guys in Big Finish. Constance and The Doctor have a great rapport and are well realized, even if they are separated with their own companions, planetary assessors who mostly only exist to follow them around and give a nice bookend, but I actually did like them. Mostly, one of them complains a lot. Either way, besides the Daleks, everyone gets nice little beats with the side characters, even if it somewhat borders on predictable, but it's a completely and utterly solid four-parter that I just thought was, in all honesty, pretty smart. As mentioned glancingly before, the best part is the setting, which evokes the best Middle Ages media with the wonderfully gothic monastery making the action all the cooler. The stories I come back to the most aren't always the 10/10s, they're the fun ones like this, where you just go along for the ride and are utterly delighted with nice solid entertainment. 8/10  

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