Emissary of the Daleks

 Emissary of the Daleks by Andrew Smith

Emissary of the Daleks is one of those rare Big Finish plays that although good, you know is indeed probably made for monetary reasons - Dalek plays do sell well, and Briggs probably wanted to play the Daleks again this month, and if you look at the shuffleboard, uh, um, Peri hasn't met the Daleks in a while. I think! See! It's a no brainer! ...Yeah, I suppose that does sound rather thin, but to be fair, that is my point. I've done plenty of Dalek plays by now and I don't see much that makes Emissary stand out. It's got a good idea, but it's one of those classic who stories that is more about events than ideas. Technically, I see no reason, no real passion behind it, but it isn't abysmal, it's clearly trying to be as interesting as it can, it just wants to do that and also not really have any point other than "this is our Dalek story this month." The plot of the story is essentially that on a secluded planet with a star thousands of light years away from any others, the Daleks have set up a dictatorship that they don't have to be involved in. This is a smart idea for a story. A world under the power of the Daleks, but where there are so few that truly the fear of the Daleks from the human inhabitants rules. If I was to write this story, I would have no Daleks appear at all - or have Daleks call in on radio signals to give commands, but never in person, and truly focus on the identities of these humans who appear here, and what the Dalek rule has done to them. Make the Daleks more powerful by limiting their contact. That's what I'd do anyway. It's an interesting concept with a lot to say - which is why it's an awful shame that the story can't even make it to the part one cliffhanger to break out the Daleks, and they're incredibly prevalent from here on out. Yeah, they're absolutely everywhere in this story, and any world building set up in part one and early part two about there not being many of them feels a bit like the story is lying to you. It's kind of blown up it's own premise. There's a great scene near the start with an unmarked graveyard because writing has been deemed illegal, and the way the inhabitants of the planet use their own dwindling memory to rebel, by memorizing entire books before they're burnt. This is all good stuff. That being said, the Daleks are suitably ruthless and deadly to maintain that all important sense of threat. I did feel Six and Peri were in danger which is a rare thing. And I can’t truly lie and say it’s devoid of good qualities!! It’s quite good on the whole, it’s just not what's advertised. It's a Dalek story, and well, that's what it is, but it's got some talented work behind it that can make you briefly forget how you've probably seen this sort of thing before, with some really sharp and nasty dialogue from the Daleks that makes them very entertaining. There's a few moments where the Daleks can be so over-the top in their cruelty that it just makes me think they're great: Later on in the story one of their soldiers dies so they decide that as retribution they will destroy half the planet. It's moments like that, really stellar individual moments of writing that help the piece work. I think it's closest comparison is Destiny of the Daleks in that regard, because in Destiny, Douglas Adams breaks out all the stops as script editor to use his trademark style to make a very droll concept story exceedingly entertaining. Emissary isn't a comedy like that one, but it's brief moments of proper brilliant writing help it shine above what could have been a miserably boring dullard. In that regard, with a talented writer trying to elevate simplistic material, it is very much the same: 6/10