The Dalek Tapes (comic story)

The Dalek Tapes
Main character(s):	Narrator
Featuring:	The Doctor
Main enemy:	Daleks
Main setting:	Planet
Key crew
Publisher:	Marvel Comics UK
Release details
Printed in:	DWM 33 - 42
Release date:	15 May - 24 July 1980
Cover date:	21 May - 31 July 1980

The Dalek Tapes was the name given to the linking narration of a series of reprints published by Doctor Who Magazine of the reprints of the first seven stories in The Dalek Chronicles, beginning with Genesis of Evil and concluding with The Menace of the Monstrons.

The main character was a narrator who served as the guide through the fictitious Dalek Tapes which told of early Dalek history. Each story was assigned a tape number as part of the linking narrative.

Summary

In an ancient library on a twilight world, the Doctor discovered a comprehensive collection of tapes about the history of the planet Skaro - these tapes were known as the Dalek Tapes.

Tape one told of the creation of the Daleks by their humanoid ancestors. Each of the succeeding tapes told of a different adventure concluding with tape seven and the Daleks' encounter with the Monstrons. At the end of the last tape, the narrator assured the listener that after this event the Daleks continued to spread their evil throughout the galaxy in their quest for domination.

References

• Zolfian's murder of Drenz takes place in the year 2003.

Notes

• As the linking material for The Dalek Chronicles, The Dalek Tapes is one of the only stories in Doctor Who history to acknowledge the creation of the Daleks as depicted in Genesis of Evil. The more accepted version of events as seen in Genesis of the Daleks was broadcast some years prior to the publication of The Dalek Tapes. As such, the added context is vague enough that the tapes could have been corrupted in their old age or plain wrong on the part of the narrator, casting some doubt on what was once the sole Dalek origin story in favour of the Davros-centric version.
• Although the new material is largely prose, a single new panel featuring Skaro from orbit in what would have been the second part of Genesis of Evil was also added.
• The dating of the first part of Genesis of Evil to 2003 originates from The Dalek Book.
• DWM 43 promised a continuation of The Dalek Tapes on its cover with Eve of War but the story was not contained within the issue. When the reprinting of The Dalek Chronicles did continue in DWM 53 it was not under the guise of a collection of Dalek Tapes.
• The Dalek Tapes were occasionally referenced in the Fourth Doctor's letter to readers of Doctor Who Magazine and surmising of the issue's content located in the contents section. The fact he has knowledge of the tapes indicate the unspecified incarnation of the Doctor who discovered the tapes were one of the first four. Additionally, in DWM 36, he noted the events of the tapes were "safely out of harm's way" and "a long way in the past" from his perspective.