The Dalek Project (comic story)
The Dalek Project was BBC Books' second original graphic novel. Originally scheduled for publication in the autumn of 2009, it originally featured the then-current Tenth Doctor. Due to some narrative similarities to the then-in-production Victory of the Daleks, however, its publication was delayed until September 2012 — by which time it had to be reworked so as to accommodate the Eleventh Doctor.
Publishers summary
A stunning new graphic novel, featuring the Doctor as played by Matt Smith.
It's the height of the Great War and Hellcombe Hall is a house full of mystery: locked doors, forbidden rooms, dustsheets covering guilty secrets, and ghostly noises frightening the servants.
Most mysterious of all, the drawing-room seems to open directly onto a muddy, corpse-filled trench on the Western Front . . .
Arriving at this stately home, the Doctor meets Lord Hellcombe, an armaments manufacturer who has a new secret weapon he believes will win the war: he calls it ‘the Dalek’.
Soon, the Doctor and his new friends are in a race against time to prevent the entire Western Front from becoming part of the Dalek Project!
Plot
2017 - North Eastern France a century after the Great War. Two archeologists, Jules and Guillaume, uncover a Dalek saucer buried in the ground. They attach a power cable to it to get past the door. However, one of the Daleks inside is revived. It exterminates Guillaume. Jules manages to escape but is put in shock.
Characters
References
to be added
Notes
- This may have been originally cancelled due to the episode TV: Victory of the Daleks that was being filmed around the time this comic was due to be released. There are some similarities and differences between this and Victory of the Daleks:
- In the comic a man called Lord Hellcombe claims to have created the Dalek. Similary, in Victory of the Daleks a man called Professor Bracewell claims to have created the Daleks.
- The Dalek Project was to be set during the First World War while Victory of the Daleks is set during the Second World War and features Winston Churchill.
- The Doctor is without a companion in this story. He is joined by Angela Todd as a one-off companion. PROSE: Dark Horizons, PROSE: Plague of the Cybermen and PROSE: The Dalek Generation also featuring the Doctor travelling solo.
- Despite featuring prominently in GAME: City of the Daleks and COMIC: The Only Good Dalek, the Daleks of the New Dalek Paradigm do not appear in this story. Only the standard bronze 2005 Dalek design is featured, much like how they are the standard Daleks soldiers in TV: Asylum of the Daleks. Later in PROSE: The Dalek Generation, the 2005 Daleks would also feature instead of the 2010 redesign.
Continuity
- A Dalek on low power attempts to kill Jules using its Manipulator arm the same way the Dalek killed Simmons in TV: Dalek.
- The Doctor dons a Panama hat and claims "Panama hats are cool", as he does with his bow tie (TV: The Eleventh Hour onwards) and fezzes (TV: The Big Bang onwards) among other objects.
Gallery
Original Tenth Doctor cover
