The Tertiary Console Room: Review - Dalek Empire: Chapter Two

Time has moved on since the events of Invasion Of The Daleks, and Susan and Kalendorf have moved around the captured territories bringing hope to the prisoners. Susan is almost revelling in her role as the ‘Angel of Mercy’, but Kalendorf is starting to feel a resentful at being forced to help the Daleks keep their workforce alive. But this status quo cannot last and events are in motion which will shatter this calm ...

The second of the four part Dalek Empire series, The Human Factor, begins with a couple of scenes designed to establish the events of the previous story through two of its main characters and a lengthy monologue by the nameless narrator covering what happened in Invasion Of The Daleks. This is a necessary aspect for the continuation of the story and Nicholas Briggs’ script gets the balance between repeating old and information and providing a useful reminder right and as such its presence isn’t as intrusive as it might have been.

One of the essential problems of releasing a continuing story over a long period of time as Big Finish have done with the Dalek Empire series is that while each part should ultimately form a greater whole, they should be individually interesting enough to keep the listener happy. And The Human Factor does that admirably.

By beginning this part some time later than the first, it allows Nicholas Briggs to develop his characters without having to go through the process of developing them and as such this puts the listener into the position of having to work out just how much has happened since the end of the previous story, and this ensures that it is quite involving to listen to.

The performances of the main actors build on their commendable starts made in the previous story well, with the script bringing both Suz and Kalendorf to the forefront of the story in this episode for the most part.

Sarah Mowat turns in another excellent performance, developing Suz into a more rounded person as she comes to accept her position as the Dalek captives ‘Angel Of Mercy’ and can see the good she’s doing, despite the doubts of her friend about what they are doing. Gareth Thomas is much more involved in this story than he was in the previous tale and The Human Factor benefits tremendously from this as he brings a refined quality with his acting ability. His character of Kalendorf still remains something of a mystery throughout, but the change in him brought about by the events of the Dalek invasion is shown well through the script.

Mark McDonnell doesn’t play as active a role here as he did in Invasion Of The Daleks, at least at first, but when he is in the story his acting is of a high standard, and while his dramatic acting is good he also provides a comedic element of the story which works well as it contrasts the gravity of the situation. John Wadmore’s Gordon Pellan is much more active in this story and the air of desperation his character feels when everything seems to be going against him and Alby is very tangible and Wadmore rises to the challenge of conveying this excellently.

There are some very harrowing scenes present in The Human Factor, perhaps most notably the scene where Susan allows the Daleks to exterminate all the members of a band of rebels because they know too much of her and Kalendorf’s plan. Kalendorf’s shock at the manner in which Suz allows this to happen is very palpable, but at the same time the listener can sympathise with her point of view. This increased level of horror at the Daleks actions ensure that the drama has more of an edge to it than the first part did and as such it becomes more shocking as the Daleks demonstrate their brutality against all those who would openly defy them.

The Daleks themselves play a much more prominent role in the storyline of The Human Factor than the first part of the Dalek Empire saw them. They are utterly ruthless in obtaining their objectives, yet their plans are carefully crafted and devious. As to what their ultimate goal is, there are subtle hints running through the story, and it seems that Susan Mendes has a big part to play in them. Once more the effects used for the Daleks are perfect. Nicholas Briggs and Alistair Lock once more provide the voices, and the quality of their performances is as good as any of their best ones in the past. By recreating the Daleks so effectively, it ensures that their booming, metallic voices are as a deadly and menacing as possible.

One of the things that is becoming evident now about the Dalek Empire series is that Nicholas Briggs is using it very much to return to areas touched upon in his other Doctor Who audios, and The Human Factor is no different. Especially evident here is the sound effect used for the Garazone system being the same as that which featured in Sword Of Orion so prominently. This gives The Human Factor a broader scope and having heard these other stories it puts it into the context of the universe as a whole.

Briggs’ sound design and musical score are as potent as ever, assisting in the creation of the atmosphere of the story well. By repeating aspects of the past story, it really ensures that there is a sense that The Human Factor is part of a greater whole, one which is yet to be fully discovered.

Like Invasion Of The Daleks, the ending to the Human Factor is very sudden but the essential difference is that where the former just seemed to fade away at the end, this one ends on a dramatic high with massive questions left unanswered, characters fates hanging in the balance and the unexpected nature of this cliffhanger ending ensures that the listener is desperate to know what happens next in the third part ‘Death To The Daleks!’

The Human Factor is an excellent piece of drama in itself and continues the strong start that the Dalek Empire series has had. It’s a big improvement on the very enjoyable first part, and moves the bigger picture along nicely ready to be set up for the next episode ...

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