‘LIBERATION OF THE DALEKS’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Daleks with the Fourteenth Doctor
The Fourteenth Doctor’s adventures begin here! 🙂
At this point, I’ve seen the 60th anniversary TV specials of ‘Doctor Who’, which comprise of ‘The Star Beast’, ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ and ‘The Giggle’. I’ve also seen the Children in Need mini-episode ‘Destination: Skaro’. All these feature David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor in his short era on TV.
But it wouldn’t do to complete my checking out of the Fourteenth Doctor’s era of ‘Doctor Who’ by not checking out ‘Liberation of the Daleks’, the 14-part comic story that was published in ‘Doctor Who Magazine’ from November 2022 to November 2023. I’m glad I’ve checked out this story at last!
Incidentally, if you haven’t checked out the 60th anniversary specials of ‘Doctor Who’ yet then I suggest you do so before reading this review. Whilst ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ is the first Fourteenth Doctor story, this review is likely contain spoilers related the 60th anniversary specials themselves. 🙂
After ‘The Power of the Doctor’ was transmitted on BBC TV in October 2022, it was decided to not have another Thirteenth Doctor comic story filling in the gap between the BBC Centenary Special in 2022 and the 60th anniversary specials in 2023. Instead, ‘DWM’ did the first Fourteenth Doctor story.
This might sound strange considering the Fourteenth Doctor’s era on TV didn’t start until November 2023, but ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ is in fact the very first Fourteenth Doctor era story to be made, following on from the end of ‘The Power of the Doctor’. This is all established in the story’s opening.
‘Liberation of the Daleks’ begins with the sheer cliff face overlooking the sea that the Thirteenth Doctor stood on to regenerate into the Fourteenth Doctor. It continues from there with the Fourteenth Doctor re-entering his TARDIS and he’s curious about why he’s got his Tenth Doctor face back. 🙂
This is an approach I don’t mind at all. It makes sense to have the Fourteenth Doctor’s first story to be in comic form, as it would be a while for the fans to wait for ‘Doctor Who’ to come back on TV in November 2023 and with David Tennant. It’s amazing how ‘DWM’ kept up with the story in 14 parts.
I would have done a variety of stories from November 2022 to November 2023 rather than one story to keep the Fourteenth Doctor’s era aplenty, considering his era on TV is short-lived. Perhaps have a second story with Fourteen facing the Cybermen and a third story with Fourteen facing Ice Warriors.
But then again, it’s good to have an epic ‘Doctor Who’ comic story featuring the Fourteenth Doctor spread out across 14 issues of ‘Doctor Who Magazine’ and featuring the Daleks in all of them. Avid ‘DWM’ readers must have found it exhilarating to check out ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ every month. 😀
In terms of the story, upon the Fourteenth Doctor’s entry into the TARDIS, there’s a sudden distress call. The Doctor soon finds himself at the World Cup Final on Earth in 1966. But instead of the footballers scoring goals, an invasion of Daleks takes place. The Doctor is clearly put out by all of this.
It soon transpires that the Doctor’s not where he thinks he is. It’s revealed the Doctor is inside a Dalek theme park inside a Dalek Dome in the year 2323 A.D. Trying to make sense of this, the Doctor soon sees this all building up to trouble, as the Daleks begin to uncover where they are and are determined to break free.
One of the advantages of the Fourteenth Doctor looking like the Tenth Doctor is that the writer and artist know what to do with progressing his character. The writer is able to recreate the mannerisms of the Fourteenth Doctor being like the Tenth and the artist’s drawings can match that accordingly. 🙂
‘Liberation of the Daleks’ as a story is by Alan Barnes. Alan Barnes used to be a regular writer and editor on ‘Doctor Who Magazine’, particularly in the Eighth Doctor’s run of comic stories, so it’s fitting he should return to write this unique Fourteenth Doctor adventure for the 60th anniversary. 🙂
Alan Barnes has also contributed significantly to the Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’, both as a writer and as a script editor. So, I was able to get into his storytelling, particularly in comic form. I’m not sure if Alan Barnes is better as a comic writer or an audio writer, but he does keep me entertained.
The story’s artwork is by Lee Sullivan, who’s renowned for drawing superbly when concerning Daleks and such. I’m impressed by the artwork for ‘Liberation of the Daleks’, as Lee Sullivan has done stunning work for the story. 🙂 I’ve met Lee Sullivan at a Milton Keynes comic con once in November 2014.
It must have been a challenge for Lee Sullivan to draw plenty of Daleks in this story, including the blood-red Supreme Dalek from ‘The Stolen Earth’/’Journey’s End’, the gold Emperor Dalek from the TV Century 21 comics and the Dalek Emperor from ‘The Evil of the Daleks’. I’m sure he enjoyed it. 😀
Apparently, ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ was overseen by Russell T. Davies when he took charge of ‘Doctor Who’ as showrunner. I think this is evident when seeing a same-sex marriage in the Dalek Dome in ‘Part Ten’ of the story. I’m sure RTD added that part in rather than Alan Barnes writing it. 😀
According to the introduction by Alan Barnes in the collected graphic novel released on the 23rd of November 2023, RTD wanted something epic with Daleks in this ‘Doctor Who’ comic story. Something akin to a 1960s TV Century 21 Dalek comic story with the Doctor thrown in. Sounds nice!
I’ve not read any of the TV Century 21 comics featuring the Daleks in them, but if ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ is anything like them, it’s certainly enjoyable. I enjoyed checking out each instalment of ‘Liberation of the Daleks’. I purchased the collected graphic novel from Amazon in December 2023. 🙂
Usually, I would wait for an entire comic story to be completed before checking it out. I purchased every issue of ‘DWM’ containing ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ in the hope of reading the story in its entirely. Had I known about the collected graphic novel’s release, I would have saved a lot of money. 😀
Apparently, this story wasn’t written in advance. ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ was written and drawn in a monthly progression from November 2022 to November 2023. Not sure if it’s clearly shown in each instalment, since the story’s consistency is good and it was easy to get into each of the 14 parts.
Also, to think RTD allowed ‘DWM’ to write the first Fourteenth Doctor story in comic form. I know RTD considered allowing ‘DWM’ to draw the regeneration between the Eighth and Ninth Doctors in comic form before it was dropped, but this is something else in the interim between 2022 and 2023.
It speaks volumes when ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ is a recent comic story compared to when ‘Doctor Who and the Star Beast’ featuring the Fourth Doctor was released in 1980. I’m just saying, why can’t RTD keep the continuities of ‘The Star Beast’ is one place whilst ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ is published?
‘The Star Beast’ has after all been released as a Fourth Doctor story both in comic and audio form and as a Fourteenth Doctor story in TV form. There’s an element of risk where ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ could be adapted for TV or audio and not with David Tennant playing the Fourteenth Doctor.
There may come a time when ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ will be adapted for TV someday, perhaps for the TV show’s 70th anniversary. Jodie Whittaker could return as the Twentieth Doctor and face off the Daleks in ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ instead of David Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor. A possibility. 😐
Actually, thinking about it, I wonder if ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ would be released as a one hour TV episode or a one hour audio drama if it were adapted for TV or audio? Each instalment in ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ is quite fast-paced. I think YouTube versions of this story are about over an hour long.
Incidentally, the events of ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ are supposed to form the first hour of the Fourteenth Doctor’s life. So in-between the end of ‘The Power of the Doctor’ and the beginning of ‘Destination: Skaro’, ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ is done within an hour of the Fourteenth Doctor’s life.
That’s quite a busy first hour for the Fourteenth Doctor, isn’t it? Again, this reinforces my argument that there could have been more stories told in the ‘DWM’ comics featuring Fourteen rather than just one story. Doing that, you’re permitted the amount of flexibility to expand Fourteen’s life more.
Limiting ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ to just one hour of the Fourteenth Doctor’s life is quite tight. I know the Fourteenth Doctor’s an alien and all, but there’s a likelihood that stories could take place in-between ‘Liberation’ to make it more than an hour. The Doctor must have been out of breath too. 😀
As well as Alan Barnes writing the story and Lee Sullivan providing the story’s artwork, the colours are by James Offredi and the lettering is by Roger Langridge. The then editor of ‘Doctor Who Magazine’ was Marcus Hearn and credit is given to acknowledge Terry Nation created the Daleks. 😀
There are lots of twists and turns featured throughout the story, particularly involving the story’s supporting guest characters. I’m not sure that I fully get what goes on in the story, but it has to do with duplication and psychoplasm. This clearly indicates that everything is not what they seem to be.
I recognised Nicholas Briggs in this ‘Doctor Who’ story when he’s being the Voice of the Daleks at the Dalek Dome. It was quite funny to see an in-universe version of Nick Briggs in comic form. I’m sure he must have been chuffed when seeing Lee Sullivan’s depiction of him in ‘Liberation of the Daleks’.
Two supporting guest characters in this story, whom you may call the Fourteenth Doctor’s one-off companions if you want to, are Georgette Gold and Georgy Gold. Georgette is a lieutenant in the Dalek Dome, and she’s an aspiring Dalek Studies expert. This is something the Doctor disapproves of.
Georgy – The Doctor, at one point, calls her “Georgy Girl” as in the 1966 song by the Seekers – is a psychoplasmic construct that’s been derived from Georgette. Apparently, she got killed a lot by the Daleks in the Dalek Dome for entertainment and is determined to stop this when she learns the truth.
Unfortunately for Georgy, she gets killed off for real by the Daleks when they shoot through the Doctor (who can’t be killed by the Daleks in this) at the end of ‘Part Eleven’ and at the beginning of ‘Part Twelve’. The Daleks can also form a telepathic link between Georgy and Georgette in the story.
This is especially when the Daleks, commanded by the gold Emperor Dalek, use Georgette through Georgy, via a Dalek with hypnotic vision, to take over the Dalek Dome. This formed the cliffhanger ending to ‘Part Ten’. There are several dramatic cliffhanger endings featured in this epic comic story.
At the end of ‘Part Two’, the Doctor is being exterminated by the Daleks before it’s resolved in ‘Part Three’ that the Daleks can’t exterminate him. At the end of ‘Part Seven’, the tourists in the Dalek dome beg to be exterminated by the Daleks for fun, unaware the Daleks would truly slaughter them.
Apparently, there are actual Dalek mutants encased in chambers to generate the Dalek Dome theme park. Specimen Nine Lambda would be the golden Emperor Dalek; Specimen Six Sigma would be the blood red Supreme Dalek, and Specimen Eight Delta would ‘The Evil of the Daleks’ Dalek Emperor. 😐
Most of the Daleks featured in the story are Simulacra Daleks, meaning that they are copies made in the likeness of something else. I’m not sure if most of the Daleks are holographic or made of some gooey stuff, especially when they’re seen melting away once the Doctor finds ways to destroy them.
It does sort-of explain why they can’t exterminate the Doctor, especially, if they’re holographic, they wouldn’t fit to the Doctor’s laws of physics and such. After all, the Daleks are able to kill Georgy by shooting through the Doctor, since she’s made of the same substance that the Daleks are made of. 😐
Incidentally, the Fourteenth Doctor’s TARDIS interior is still the Thirteenth Doctor’s TARDIS interior from the end of ‘The Power of the Doctor’. This is before it changed into the TARDIS interior as seen in ‘The Star Beast’. Fourteen still has Thirteen’s TARDIS interior by the time of ‘Destination: Skaro’. 🙂
The Fourteenth Doctor is also still using the Thirteenth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver in ‘Liberation of the Daleks’. That is until the Daleks exterminate the Thirteenth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver once it’s shot out of Fourteen’s hand and ends up on the floor. Fourteen is distressed by the sonic’s demise. 😦
Fifth Doctor: I feel as though you’ve just killed an old friend.
What’s weird though is that in ‘Part Fourteen’ of the story, the Doctor gets to have another Thirteenth Doctor sonic screwdriver for a bit to defeat the Daleks once and for before it’s destroyed too. 😐 Would it not have made sense for Fourteen to have his brand-new sonic screwdriver by then?
I mean, I know I’ve had it in my Fifth Doctor stories that the Fifth Doctor takes out sonic screwdrivers from TARDIS drawers that are on limited power sources and such, but surely this would have been a good opportunity for the Fourteenth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver to have his debut here.
Maybe Alan Barnes didn’t get the memo or the design for what the Fourteenth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver would look like from Russell T. Davies when writing ‘Liberation of the Daleks’. Plus, it probably would have taken time for the Fourteenth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver to be put together. 😐
Either way, it would have been better to save the death of the Thirteenth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver till the end or at least use something else instead of the Thirteenth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver to save the day. Killing it once and having a new one appear briefly to be killed off at the end is overkill.
There are security guards at the Dalek Dome who appear to resemble wild animals. There’s Claire and Claudine, who appear to be humanoid gorillas. They acquire the Doctor when he’s first in the 1966 Dalek invasion zone of the Dalek Dome and they join Georgette to help the Doctor in the story.
There are zones for the planet Skaro, I believe, including the one where the golden Emperor Dalek from the TV Century 21 comics belongs to. There’s also a zone for the planet Spiridon from ‘Planet of the Daleks’, which is where the Dalek Emperor from ‘The Evil of the Daleks’ is based at in the story. 🙂
It’s where the Doctor, Georgette, Claire and Claudine meet the Dalek Emperor from ‘The Evil of the Daleks’, and the Fourteenth Doctor remarks that the big Dalek Emperor sounds like Brian Blessed. Now Brian Blessed doing the voice of a Dalek Emperor in ‘Doctor Who’ would be fantastic to hear. 😀
The chief of the Dalek Dome happens to be a humanoid lion, who’s concerned about the Doctor’s presence in the dome when Georgette had Claire and Claudine retrieve him. The chief gets to tackle with the Simulacra Daleks to allow Georgette, Claire and Claudine to escape before he’s sadly killed.
It’s fascinating that there are twelve zones in the Dalek Dome, including the Jungles of Spiridon Zone, the Skaro Civil War Zone, the Vulcan Factory Zone, the Death Wheel Zone, the Zeg Duel Zone, the Dalek Wedding Zone and the Earth Invasion Zone which includes subsections of various zones. 🙂
In the Earth Invasion Zone, there’s the Dalek Verses Dragons zone (Not sure if that’s a reference to ‘Dungeons and Dragons’. It probably is 😀 ), the Daleks’ Invasion Earth 1966 A.D. zone where the Fourteenth Doctor was, and the Daleks of the Sierra Madre zone. A pity we didn’t explore them more.
Another previous simulation in the Earth Invasion Zone included the Dalek Fire of London zone. Not sure if this is a fabrication of the Great Fire of London as seen in ‘The Visitation’, but you can consider it being that if you want to. Recognisable faces are within the crowds at the Dalek Dome. 🙂
There are Raxacoricofallapotorians, a Sycorax, a Voord, a Menoptera, a Trod from the TV Comics of ‘Doctor Who’ and surprisingly Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock from ‘Star Trek’. They must have slipped in from the ‘Star Trek’ universe into the ‘Doctor Who’ one, as established in ‘Assimilation2‘. 😀
‘Liberation of the Daleks’ ends with the Daleks defeated and the Earth saved. Georgette wonders whether she should destroy the mutants that are still alive in the Dalek Dome, but the Doctor says that the choice is hers. Ignoring Georgette’s cries for help, the Doctor leaves in the TARDIS for good.
As the Doctor is about to set off for his next destination, he hopes he won’t return to Skaro any time soon as the TARDIS flies on through the time vortex. Well, Doctor, you might end up on Skaro in an alternative universe where the ‘genesis of the Daleks’ is done differently compared to TV and audio.
The story’s last comic image is the TARDIS spiralling in the time vortex, which leads nicely into ‘Destination: Skaro’, the Children in Need mini-episode. I’m not sure if the ‘timelines and canon are rupturing’ thing from ‘Destination: Skaro’ started in ‘Liberation of the Daleks’, but it’s quite unlikely.
‘Liberation of the Daleks’ is a very enjoyable ‘Doctor Who’ comic adventure featuring the Fourteenth Doctor. I’m glad I’ve checked out this comic story before the end of 2023. I enjoyed the TV Century 21 style of the story both in terms of the writing by Alan Barnes and the superb artwork by Lee Sullivan. 🙂
There’s a lot to take in, especially with the turns and twists involving the characters and the situation the Fourteenth Doctor finds himself in, but the story in each of its fourteen instalments are very easy to get into. The flavour of David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor fighting Daleks is very juicy enough.
I enjoyed this as a Fourteenth Doctor story more than I enjoyed the 60th anniversary TV specials. It would be nice if Big Finish adapted ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ into an audio drama for David Tennant to reprise his role as the Fourteenth Doctor. Whether that will happen or not remains to be seen. 🙂
‘Liberation of the Daleks’ rating – 9/10
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