Power Play (comic story)

Power Play
Main character(s):	Sala, Astolith
Main enemy:	Krattorians, Skaro City Daleks
Main setting:	Skaro
Key crew
Publisher:	City Magazines
Editor:	Alan Fennell
Writer:	unclear authorship
Artist:	Richard Jennings
Release details
Number of parts:	7
Printed in:	TV Century 21 4-10
Release date:	13 February - 27 March 1965
Reprinted in:	DWM 33, DWM 34, DWM 183, DWM 184, DWM 185, DWM 186, DWM 187, DWM 188, DWMS The Dalek Chronicles
Format:	Comic
The Daleks comics
← Previous	Genesis of Evil
Next →	Duel of the Daleks

You may be looking for the audio story.

Power Play was an instalment of The Daleks, set after Genesis of Evil. It was composed of several one page comic strips which lacked individual names.

Plot

The Dalek Emperor oversees the completion of new Dalek City. Then Dalek instruments detect a strange object arriving on Skaro, which unbeknownst to the Daleks in a spaceship. They cover the city in sand to hide it from the invaders. The ship is owned by the Krattorian Kest. He sees the fortune of sand waiting on the planet and sets his slaves to work gathering it. Realising they are at risk of being discovered, the Emperor orders them destroyed. However, the magnetism from the Dalek City begins disrupting Kest's ship's instruments and it tells the slaves they can rest. The Emperor has them examined and learns that two slaves, Sala and Astolith, are planning a rebellion against Kest. The Emperor believes this is the chance for the Daleks to seize the ship for themselves.

Meanwhile, Sala's uncle Andor betrays his niece and warns Kest. Kest instructs Andor to find the rebels and bring them before him but Sala is captured by the Daleks while exploring outside and is nowhere to be found. The Emperor offers to help her and the others fix the problem with the ship's instruments. As Kest interrogates Astolith as to Sala's whereabouts, Astolith punches Andor in the face in anger before Sala reappears and tells them of the Daleks. She leads Astolith, Kest and some of his guards to the city but once they are gone, the Daleks slaughter the guards around the ship and move it into the city for study. When Kest notices his ship had gone he threatens to kill Sala but she and Astolith manage to shove him and his guards off the edge of the mountain range. Kest survived the fall.

The Daleks finish their records of how the ship is constructed but they sill do not know how to operate it. Sala and Astolith try to sneak past them so they can escape the planet with the other slaves. Kest finds his way into the city and the Daleks capture him. He offers to show them how to fly his ship if they find and kill the rebels, with no intention of keeping his word. Sala and Astolith evade the Daleks and reach the ship, just as Andor is found cowering within. He shows the Daleks the papers detailing how to operate the ship. At that moment, Sala, Astolith and the slaves take off and smash a hole in the roof of the Dalek City. Kest, Andor and several Daleks are killed in the blast-off but the Emperor sees it as of no consequence. They now have all the information they need to begin the construction of their own spacecrafts, allowing them to begin their conquest of the universe.

Characters

• Andor
• Astolith
• Kest
• Sala
• Dalek Emperor
• Daleks
• Kest's Krattorian guards
• Kest's slaves
• Steve Zodiac
• Doctor Venus
• Professor Matic
• Correspondent

Worldbuilding

• Space City officials fear for the safety of the Fireball XL5 crew if the leader of the Batmen takes revenge for Robert's attack.
• The submarine carriers under Titan's control are heading for the U.S. Western Seaboard in direct line with Marineville. Attack is imminent.
• Space engineers report that because of a technical fault in the Neutroni Radar Satellite, Fireball XL5 pictures and report will be relayed via Laser-Accelerated Spectroview.
• It has been reported that Space Station M5 has launched an emergency rescue ship in a desperate bid to save Zodiac, Venus and Matic who are stranded in space with only the life-giving effect of their oxygen pills keeping them alive.
• A Pentagon correspondent reports that the 3rd Battalion of the US Army has been rushed to the Brazilian Jungle.
• Scientists at the Naples Laboratory of Seismographic Studies have issued a warning to the Vesuvius area. Pressure is building up in the volcano and an eruption is expected within the next twenty-four hours.
• Jodrell Bank reports that contact lost with Omega-Minus device. Space City officials are concerned but confident XL Patrol Ships will be able to track and destroy but this confidence is not echoed at Jodrell Bank.

Notes

• The comic shows the origins of the Dalek space travel program, first seen on television in The Dalek Invasion of Earth. The Daleks are in the process of researching space travel in the next story, Duel of the Daleks, and The Amaryll Challenge later shows the Daleks developing and testing their first spaceships.
• A new version of the title frame by Richard Jennings makes its first appearance in the fourth instalment, replacing that of the rather tall and thin Daleks used from TV21 Issues 1-6; and would be used until Issue 51.
• The comic also shows the construction of the Dalek City seen in the television story The Daleks.
• In 2005, Altered Vistas released an animated adaptation of this story.

Reprints

• Doctor Who Weekly 33-34 in black-and-white
• Doctor Who Magazine 183-188 in colour
• DWMS The Dalek Chronicles in colour

Continuity

• Marineville are waiting for an attack. (PROSE: Fireball Surrenders!)
• The arrival of the Krattorian spacecraft into Skaro's atmosphere is detected by Earth's Space Agency and reported upon on 13 February 2065 (PROSE: Fireball Surrenders!) and the Space News Agency would then release a comment describing the situation on Skaro as "extremely confused" due to the presence of the Krattorian ship on 20 February of the same year. (PROSE: Titan Declares War!)
• The Brazilian jungle crisis is ongoing. (PROSE: Superjet Shot Down, Jungle Terror!)