The Dalek Occupation of Winter

 

The Dalek Occupation of Winter by David K Barnes

I've banged on about this one for quite a while, and it made my top 25 list (I mean, I only made it a few months ago, and it's severely outdated, but as it is, Dalek Occupation of Winter would still make it. It's a tense claustrophobic story, that is so claustrophobic, I had to pause the audio to literally breathe. That may be my problem, but still. Dalek Occupation doesn't hold any punches, as it is quite literally a metaphor for villages under Nazi Power in world war two that had entire economies based around building weapons for the war effort, all completely spellbound with the horrifying patriotic propaganda that their leader was their savior. It's the exact same situation here, played terrifyingly realistically, as the intelligent are being sent away once a month to never be seen again, the innocent children are being brought up to do terrible things, and it's heavily implied, not told, but the scariest conclusions are those not shown to you, that the reason that Winter needs so many Dalek casings, is that the intelligent ones, are not just placing the Mutants in the canister, but are being subjected to the Dalek mutations and radiation, slowly dying for the Dalek cause, because the Daleks need as many as they can, however impure for the war.  

Yeah. I told you this one doesn't pull any punches, and obviously it doesn't go out and scream that at you, but it does make it remarkably clear, especially with Amala's brother at the end, nigh-confirming it. Meanwhile, Robert Daws and Sara Powell are especially creepy public officials that are fronts for Dalek power, and the scary bit is that they are ordinary people that utterly believe what they're saying. The end of the story is by far the most chilling, as This is one of the few stories that the Doctor walks off, unaware of that he's lost. He's saved a few thousand lives, sure, but even that isn't a victory here when the Daleks instantly come back into power as soon as he's gone. "Things are Gonna Change Around Here...." Chilling. 

Vicki and Steven (pulling a double shift as a remarkably well done First Doctor, that sounds both nothing and EXACTLY like him) are really amazing as well, this story solidifying why they are my favorite First Doctor companions, even when Ian and Barbara exist! Vicki is especially wonderful, she's still the same 60s girl who screams "Oh!" but she's also remarkably strong-willed, intelligent, and all of the other parts that make companions great. 

This is the best Dalek story. I love me Jubilee and Dalek (Tied at Number Two), Remembrance, Genesis, many others, but essentially this is as brutal a story as Genesis, with more Human focus, and well, as Jubilee put it, Humans are the scariest parts of Daleks. I cannot imagine a better outing for these guys, it works perfectly for me, and I probably won't listen to it again as I had a panic attack last time, but pro on you if you can write a story and make the panic attack worth it: 10/10