The Tertiary Console Room: Review - Dalek Empire II: Dalek War

"Sometimes caution can loose you the battle, even the war!"

Nicholas Briggs' second chapter of his Dalek War opus confirms that this series is shaping up to be a very different beast to the Dalek Empire one, with the reason for this being the downsizing of the scale of the story being told. While Dalek Empire was a genuine epic in that it was told on a grand scale, Dalek War is more interested in creating intense drama. The tighter focus to the story gives the drama a more personal feel about it and given the fascinating characters Briggs has created, Chapter Two makes for absorbing entertainment. This change in emphasis may also attribute to the fact that Dalek War is made up of chapters, rather than each release being an individual story in itself, as each part is a piece of a greater whole.

There are three main elements to the drama, with the bulk of the story focusing on the resolution to the previous instalment's cliffhanger ending which saw the Enemy Daleks boarding Mirana's ship, demanding to know the whereabouts of Susan Mendez, while this is balanced by a flashback sequence to Alby's exploration of the deserted Space Station from Dalek War - Chapter One and more sly posturing from Kalendorf and the Mentor as their suspicions grow towards each other in the aftermath of the first attack on the Solar System. Briggs structures the story well in the way these events unfold, but given the situation Kalendorf's fleet finds itself in, these sections of the drama do come across as a little uneventful although this may have been intentional to provide a respite between the frenzy of Chapter One and whatever may follow.

In Chapter Two the emphasis is much more on reflection, rather than action, as the recovering Suz begins to contemplate her continued existence and the fact that she may hold the key to the revival of the Enemy Daleks, as she once again finds herself their prisoner. There are some interesting parallels to earlier events in the Dalek Empire series in the way that Suz deals with the threat of the Daleks, which culminate in her belief that by giving into their demands to ensure the survival of Alby and the other captured humans, she hasn't really progressed as she's allowing the Daleks need for her to do their bidding affect her actions. Suz shows her strength of character by threatening to kill herself to ensure the others' survival, but there is always a sense that she wouldn't do it anyway because if she kills herself, there will be no reason to keep the other humans alive. It's a standoff where neither she nor the Daleks can win. They need their Angel of Mercy, and she, to her regret, still needs them to survive. Sarah Mowat shows all the qualities that made Suz such a wonderful character to hear as she puts in a precise performance, full of emotion and power.

Another notable aspect of this section of Chapter Two is the fact that it sees the long awaited reunion of Suz and Alby, which, bar a few near misses, is the first time the characters have been together since the opening minutes of Invasion Of The Daleks. As their ship has been captured by Enemy Daleks, it's no wonder that Suz remarks that this is not a good time for this to happen. As one of the fundamental aspects of the story has been Alby's seemingly futile quest to find the woman he loved and lost again, this coming together of these two characters could have seen Briggs be tempted to take the story into overblown melodrama as the forlorn lovers meet again after so many years apart, but this is successfully avoided and Briggs does the less obvious thing of making their reunion rather awkward and unsettling for both of them.

Imprisonment in the ship's hold means there is very little for the main characters to do but reflect upon the course they've taken, but Briggs also uses this to highlight the attitudes of the ordinary members of the Alliance, by showing how Mirana's First Officer Marber reacts when he realises that his Captain has been acting against the orders of the Mentor. This is an appealing development for the story, as it shows that the image the Allied Daleks have presented as being for peace and order has been believed totally by the population who are grateful for the fact that the Mentor and her Daleks are the reason why they have been able to drive back the Daleks who enslaved them, but through choice ignore the rumours about the way that the Mentor treats worlds who will not comply with her wishes. Marber's views can be seen as representative, and his perspective demonstrates the short-sighted vision which is typical as they haven't thought through the consequences of the alliance and what would happen after the Enemy Daleks have been defeated and the Alliance has won.

Although reflection is the main focus of this episode, there's still plenty of action provided through the flashback to Alby's trip to the abandoned Space Station, heard towards the end of Chapter One, and this explains how he encountered the character of Morli there too, who is the only survivor of a battle between the two Dalek factions. Briggs' uses this to examine the character of Alby well, by showing him under pressure from both the damaged hull structure of the station as well as the threat of the returning Enemy Daleks. Over the course of the last few audios, Alby has become much more aggressive and confident in his actions, and boarding the Station is an example of this. As the danger builds up though, Alby realises that he isn't a hero in the same way that Kalendorf is. He wasn't born as a "noble warrior", but he's just this guy who is in way over his head, doing it all for love. The relationship he develops with Morli is odd, and she becomes attached to him in gratitude for saving her life, so much so that if Alby was a hero, Morli would be his devoted sidekick. As the story progresses, Mark McDonnell's performance becomes very intense and in particular in his scenes towards the end he really shows a curious, but believable, mixture of pain, bitterness and fury towards the Enemy Daleks and the actions they have committed that it's an incredibly powerful moment.

Dalek War - Chapter Two is the proper introduction of Dannie Carr's new character, Morli, who featured very briefly at the end of the last chapter. Her Geordie tones seem a little out of place in this type of drama initially, but the distinctive nature of her voice provides a good contrast to the other actors. Morli herself is a strange character, and based on what happens in this chapter it is hard to see the reasoning behind her introduction, but her simplistic naivety endears her to the listener quite quickly and with hints that her background is not as clear cut as her unassuming manner suggests, Briggs creates enough intrigue to suggest these answers will be forthcoming.

The least successful area of Dalek War - Chapter Two is in the scenes with Kalendorf and the attack on the Dalek-controlled Solar System, which while there is nothing technically wrong with them, suffer from a lack of progression for the most part. With the first wave of Dalek forces defeated, but after suffering heavy casualties themselves, the Allied forces are unable to push forward to Earth yet. This means that there is very much a lull in the action here as the best way to proceed is discussed. The tension between the Mentor and Kalendorf is rising as she begins to see too many coincidences in the fact that it was Mirana's ship who salvaged the cargo from the destroyed freighter, which just happened to contain the pod containing Suz. Both Gareth Thomas and Hannah Smith are excellent in this, with Smith in particular really ensuring that the Mentor's dialogue drips with menacing undertones through guarded responses. The most interesting part of this element of the release is the unexpected discovery of something on Jupiter, which will obviously be explored in Chapter Three.

After being forced to share the limelight with their alternate universe counterparts in the previous release, Dalek War - Chapter Two puts the Enemy Daleks back as the focus as the nature of their plan becomes clear through the lengths they are prepared to go to in order to achieve their goal. Briggs also shows the deviousness of the Daleks which is something that often gets overlooked, as they are perfectly capable of playing upon human emotion to get the result they want from any of their captured prisoners. There is also some interesting moments where the Enemy Daleks seem to know much more about what is happening with the Allied faction than they should, perhaps hinting that they may have infiltrated the Alliance somehow. Also present again, is a tantalising short 'flash-forward' to the future commentators of Siy Tarkov and Saloran Hardew, which Briggs uses to emphasis Kalendorf's mistrust of the Mentor, but doesn't give any clue about the significance of their role within the Dalek War series.

As usual with his Dalek stories, Nicholas Briggs' sound design is smoothly polished with the different settings being realised evocatively and realistically, with the effects used for the Space Station being particularly successful. His musical score is very filmic, and compliments the drama well by emphasising the tone of the scenes skilfully.

One of the best features of the Dalek Empire series was the cliffhangers between stories. Dalek War - Chapter One featured an effective moment of drama for its final scene, but it lacked the punch of its predecessors. Happily, Dalek War - Chapter Two is right back on form with a cliffhanger so powerful and emotive that the listener can really emphasis with the screams of one of the lead characters as they witnesses it. While the result of this is predictable immediately prior to it occurring, the anticipation and dread as the listener's suspicions are confirmed are what makes it so successful.

Dalek War - Chapter Two is an interesting progression of the series, by contrasting the frantic nature it began in though slowing the pace down and letting the characters take over. This story seems to setting up the chess pieces ready for a brutal endgame for the Dalek War, but in doing this it means that Chapter Two, whilst tense and gripping, feels a little uneventful and as such means the pressure is on for Chapter Three to pick up the pace significantly. But, with the position the ongoing story is left in by this chapter, there is plenty of exciting dramatic possibilities for the Dalek War story to go into as it moves towards the beginning of its climax.

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