Released October 2021

SOME SPOILERS FOLLOW

Caught between battling Movellan and Dalek forces as Dalek Universe 3 continues with Matt Fitton’s ‘The Dalek Defence,’ the Doctor and Anya find that only Earth’s intervention can help get them out of trouble. However, when the Doctor discovers that the humans have none other than Davros as their prisoner, he finds himself confined by the established events of his own history while struggling to keep everyone alive.

Without question, the reunion of the Tenth Doctor with Davros- albeit a version of the latter from far in the former’s past- is the highlight of this release, and David Tennant and Terry Molloy each give sterling performances that capture the long history these two characters share. As Davros, of course, boasts about his creations’ power and importance, he continues to press the Doctor he knows to be from much farther in his future about the assured conquests his Daleks will achieve, and this creates an immense amount of drama as the Doctor must confront what he himself has done and become in response. It’s unsurprising that the Doctor should long for the days of this earlier Davros before the devastation of the Time War, and Davros’s implicit knowledge of the role he would play in the Doctor’s tumultuous development wherein his Daleks are never truly defeated is a strong underlying component to the plot that highlights the mutual respect the two unwittingly share.

The action with both the Daleks and the Movellans is fairly tame since the focus is so prominently on Davros and the Daleks’ inevitable path to continuing their universal spread of terror, and although the plot itself follows a fairly formulaic path as necessary secrets are revealed, the continued incorporation of more ideas from throughout Terry Nation’s catalogue gives another boost that firmly integrates the two distinct eras of Doctor Who on display. Indeed, the callbacks to and exploration of the immense fallout of the events of “The Daleks’ Master Plan” provide a brilliant backdrop to the continuing discussions between the Doctor and Davros and further put into context why both figures can instill such different types of hope in humanity despite an increasingly dangerous wartime setting.

Of course, while the Daleks here are measured against the Movellans as Davros looks at the competition and realizes further potential, the surprising appearance of the First Movellan who had been foretold in the previous story proves to be yet another source of reckoning for the Doctor as he is yet again directly faced with the consequences of his previous adventures. With Davros likewise reminding him of just how much he has experienced and how much he has changed and sacrificed, the scene is perfectly set for a monumental conclusion to this epic Dalek Universe saga that should bring out the very best of the Tenth Doctor who is still struggling to find his place in the universe as the sole Time Lord to survive the Time War and the eternal battle against the Daleks. Given the incredible performances that bring out so much characterization for two monumental characters as well as the eventual backdrop that provides such context for where the Doctor and Davros have been and are inevitably headed, the actual plot doesn’t need to be the most compelling; as such, the end result of ‘The Dalek Defence’ is a compelling piece of character drama that more than capably overcomes the more generic plot points and surprisingly light action that keeps the battling Movellan and Dalek forces as more of a background presence.