Released February 2007

With the introduction of Lucie Miller and her mysterious recent past with connections to the Time Lords firmly in place and the tale of a burgeoning Dalek race about to collide with their forebears taking precedence, ‘Blood of the Daleks Part 2’ quickly and confidently picks up the threads of the first part with the Daleks as an integral component as the Doctor tries to prevent his recurring nightmare from playing out before him once again.

As a conclusion to the opening serial of a brand new range designed to bring in a new audio audience while bridging the gap between televised eras, it makes perfect sense that ‘Blood of the Daleks Part 2’ follows a rather traditional storyline. However, it nonetheless allows for a fantastically brutal exploration of the Daleks’ devotion to racial purity in the process. This is a topic that has, of course, been touched upon in the television and audio stories many times previously with elements such as the human factor and hybrids, but the notion of a group of Daleks halting hostilities in another war to destroy a planet on which a new race of Daleks is being created more directly emphasizes that point and reaffirms their utter hatred of everything that is not themselves brutally and concisely. At the same time, with Asha essentially playing the role of Davros with her own creations, there are elements of a burgeoning Dalek civil war as well as an opportunity for the Doctor to reconsider his own inaction in ‘Genesis of the Daleks,’ lending plenty of emotional and dramatic weight to the conflicted story of what is ultimately a race fueled only by hatred.

Interestingly, the Eighth Doctor boldly treads into darker and more morally ambiguous territory here than he often even comes close to approaching. The Daleks describe the Doctor as a genocidal maniac, which is justifiable from their point of view, but he shows a remarkable bloodlust here that only centuries of animosity could possibly foster. Still, the Doctor witnessing one lone survivor from each faction continuing to fight against each other to the very end is an inspired scene that proves to himself that he has made the right decision in once again condemning them all to death. This is not necessarily a story in which the Doctor is presented as the clear-cut protagonist, but he is at the very least the lesser of two evils, and the decisions that Eileen Clint must make as the weary leader of this human civilisation are given the requisite weight to highlight her tough situation. The story could have done with a little more exploration of Martez to give more credence to her martyrdom and the Doctor’s willingness to let her die as well as to Clint’s accusations of the Doctor being a fascist, but the story still manages to strike a fairly good balance between morality play and action adventure within its running time.

Buoyed by some incredibly emotional scenes such as Lucie seemingly relenting and deciding to betray the Doctor, The Eighth Doctor Adventures has already proven that it is willing to go to darker areas than either televised era of Doctor Who would normally enter. With McGann anchoring a strong cast and a cinematic scope and direction that manage to hint at a much deeper moral tale beneath the surface, ‘Blood of the Daleks Part 2’ is a satisfying conclusion that firmly starts this fledgling range off on a strong note and bodes incredibly well for the continuing adventures of this new duo as they enter uncharted territory.