Dalek Universe Two

 

Dalek Universe Two

To make up for the fact that I got away scot-free on the big one with Dalek Universe One, I got spoiled to hell and back on Dalek Universe Two, and as such I am coming at this from the perspective that literally nothing in the boxset surprised me. Nothing at all. Somehow, I got spoiled on everything in the Trojan Dalek and The Lost, even the most minute details spontaneously combusted in my face, and I knew everything from hour one to the part three cliffhanger. I am not sure HOW I got spoiled to such an extent so quickly - probably a partial mixture of reading other people's theories on where the series went as of Dalek Universe One and me actually being spoiled on the few actual surprises. So ...poop. 

Nonetheless, Dalek Universe Two (whilst not set One's magnificent ascendency) is an assured affair from a TARDIS team that is legitimately stellar in every sense of the word. It's done for Tennant that was once done for with every other Big Finish Doctor, and that's shove them deep into the fabric of the Whoniverse and let them work. Big Finish did four very nice and appealing audio volumes starring Tennant for the "general public," but they know who their central audience is, and so we get to marvel at this insane series' brilliance. Damn the general public's understanding, insert The Kingdom Family, The Visians, The Mechonoids, Mark Bloody Seven, The Motherfucking Varga Plants and The Insanity That Was The Newcomer in the same volume. Throw them all at us. Damn the plebians to hell. I'm all for it. I would like to say that Tennant's true brilliance in this series isn't down to fanservice, but in actuality really smart writing with scripts that weren't written in two-seconds because they suddenly realized they had David Tennant availible. But come on, the Fanservice can't hurt. I love this era a lot - well, I did in set one - so what is set two going to give us?

Cycle of Destruction by Roy Gill

Well, a very average story that, despite it's flaws, is straight out of the RTD era - in a forty-five minute format, just developed enough, and with lots of gay undertones. The level of brilliance of the previous set does depart a bit here, but I think that this story is quite similar to several runarounds like The Unicorn and The Wasp or Gridlock. It's at neither stories' level, but saying those stories out-loud gives you the idea of what the tale is going for. It's not trying to be revolutionary television, it's trying to be entertaining, and develop this TARDIS team a bit, and it's absolutely excellent at that. Not that it needed to - Ten, Anya and Mark were already one of the most developed and textured teams in the Whoniverse by set one! While The House of Kingdom was Anya's character piece, this one is Mark's. Mark is played really excellently by Joe Sims - you'd be hardpressed to think he was the guy from Broadchurch and not literally Data from Star Trek. He's endearing, and I think the story really works. There's not much to say about it, really. There's very little to say about it at all - I think it may be one of the most average stories I've ever heard. But the strength of the cast works to it's favor, and the result is good enough. Not every story is a classic, some are just fun: 7/10 

The Trojan Dalek by John Dorney

What the Fuck? An Original Dalek story? That's not supposed to exist! John Dorney, you bastard! Kidding aside, Trojan Dalek is cutting edge audio drama. It's a story that works very well off of the basis established for it in the House of Kingdom - this secret program in the middle of nowhere that turned down Dr. Malkin's Varga project for something else. Oh boy the word Dalek is in the title I wonder what it could be mm yes so mysterious 

But then the story goes from there and without you really realizing it (unless you were spoiled) deftly sets up the seeds for an emotional punch that really makes the story go from not just a unique Dalek story concept into something a lot more. It's rare I hear a Dalek story these days that doesn't make me groan, and Big Finish, while they occasionally spit up a classic, does have a lot of stinkers in the Dalek realm - it comes from them putting out like eight of them a year. Imagine my surprise when the series subtitled Dalek Universe uses them very liberally and only to the story's benefit. Imagine my surprise when despite me knowing the ending, my heart was in my throat. Imagine my soul fucking spontaneously combusting JESUS CHRIST WAS THIS ONE GOOD: 10/10 

The Lost by Robert Valentine

I'd heard a lot of comparisons when it came out of The Lost being the Tenth Doctor's Scherzo, and I think that made my standards go a bit too high, but that being said, the Lost is a experimental audio that is almost entirely a character study - in terms of story relevance to the series it moves the ongoing plot forward absolutely 0%. It's JUST character stuff. If anything, The Trojan Dalek was the stereotypical-finale to this set and this is an hour long coda. But honestly, it's in it's own way, very important, as it's really the ultimate Tenth Doctor essay. It's a bit like those scant moments in the Clone Wars where you know Revenge of The Sith is coming and that adds distant atmosphere and dramatic tension that the characters are completely unaware of (to use another Star Wars reference because I have zero ideas I am dumb sci-fi man) and in this story, you can really see The Waters of Mars coming. It takes that story as almost a foundation and really uses it to analyze this Doctor's character - and why in fact, he may be one of the least caring Doctor's of them all. It's compelling stuff, made all the more so by a shapeshifting alien that really gets under the character's skin. Nothing concept-wise in this is revolutionary, unlike Scherzo, but I can't stop making that comparison, because it is so apt. We've seen the Eighth Doctor at his lowest point lashing out at his friend, and now we see the Tenth. Jane Slavin is equally on fire, throwing Martha and Rose under the bus and readying the gun to blow Donna Noble's head in as the best Ten Companion (she hasn't yet, don't worry, but still) 

This set is so different from the previous one, but honestly, I find it hard to notice much in the way of flaws. It's a bit of a thinking man's Who, this one, so at times it did lose me a bit, but the result is just stellar. I need to listen to more Robert Valentine, and soon: 10/10