War of the Daleks (novel)

From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference
Revision as of 22:01, 17 April 2010 by 90.200.235.192 (talk)


Publisher's Summary

The Doctor is repairing the TARDIS systems once again when it is swept up by a garbage ship roving through space, the Quetzel.

When another ship approaches and takes the Quetzel by force, the Doctor discovers that he and Sam are not the only unwitting travellers on board - there is a strangely familiar survival pod in the hold. Delani, the captain of the second ship, orders the pod to be opened. The Doctor is powerless to intervene as Davros is awakened once again.

But this is no out-and-out rescue of Davros. Delani and his crew are Thals, the sworn enemies of the Daleks. They intend to use Davros as a means to wipe out the Daleks, finally ridding the universe of the most aggressive, deadly race ever to exist. But the Doctor is still worried. For there is a signal beacon inside the pod, and even now a Dalek ship is closing in...

Plot

The Thals are battling the Daleks on the planet Terakis, and the primitive natives, caught in the midst of a battle between two species more advanced than they can comprehend, are taking the worst of it. When the Daleks commit their forces to a full-scale assault, the Thals pull out -- and destroy the entire planet. The Thal Ayaka is horrified, especially when she learns that there was never anything strategically significant about Terakis. The Thals lured the Daleks there simply to dispose of them, and they have exterminated an entire innocent race in the crossfire.

The TARDIS is scooped up in the ramjets of an interstellar garbage scow, the Quetzel, while the Doctor is repairing his ship’s lock. He and Sam emerge in the cargo hold to find that the Quetzel, which has been patrolling the edge of Dalek space, has picked up a great deal of debris from Dalek battle cruisers, including a mysterious sealed pod. The engineer Chayn is assigned to open it, but her fellow crewman Harmon has already contacted the Thals and arranged to sell the pod to them. He sabotages her equipment to prevent her from opening the pod before the Thals arrive, but he wasn’t expecting the Doctor to show up; intrigued by the unopened pod, the Doctor helps Chayn to repair the damage to her equipment. Before they can open the pod, however, Harmon holds them off until the Thals arrive. Two Thal ships arrive and dock with the Quetzel, and the Thal commander, Delani, demands to be taken to the pod, shooting the Quetzel’s captain without hesitation when he refuses.

The Doctor identifies himself, and is horrified to learn that the Thals have become ruthless warriors because he taught them to fight; Sam, however, insists that he’s not responsible for the way the Thals have corrupted his teachings. Delani, meanwhile, opens the pod to reveal that it contains Davros, who entered suspended animation after his encounter with the Seventh Doctor in 1963. At first the Doctor assumes that Delani is here to kill Davros or put him on trial, and he is stunned when Delani reveals that he intends Davros to genetically manipulate the Thals and turn them into better warriors, better able to destroy the Daleks forever. Delani, unable to understand why the Doctor of legend is treating him with such contempt, orders Ayaka to lock up the Doctor and his friends. She does so, but due to the Doctor’s attempt to reawaken her buried humanity, she neglects to search them, and Chayn is thus able to use her tools to break out of their cabin.

Delani fits Davros with an explosive collar to ensure his co-operation, but Davros easily disables it with an electronic pulse. The Doctor arrives just in time to stop Davros from killing his guard, and Delani reinstalls the collar with a circuit which will kill Davros if his guard dies. Nevertheless, realizing that discipline over his troops is slipping, Delani orders Ayaka to shoot the Doctor for disobedience. Realizing that Delani has gone too far, Ayaka shoots him instead, but then surrenders herself to her fellow Thals for punishment rather than helping the Doctor to stop them from rescuing Davros. As the Thals prepare to move Davros onto their ship, however, the Quetzel’s communications officer detects a distress signal being transmitted from his pod -- and before the Thals can react, six Dalek kill-cruisers arrive and demand their surrender.

The Thals release the Quetzel’s crew, except for the Doctor, Sam and Chayn, who must still answer for their crimes against the Thals. They then prepare for battle, but although one of their ships is destroyed, the Daleks uncharacteristically capture the other ship without exterminating the captive Thals. The Doctor becomes concerned when the Daleks allow him to live as well; their standing orders are to exterminate him upon sight, and if they are letting him live they must have something even worse planned. He is startled to learn that their ship is being taken back to Skaro, which he believed to have been destroyed; has he destroyed the wrong planet? Meanwhile, one of the Daleks contacts Davros to inform him that there are elements back on Skaro which still accept his claim to be the rightful ruler of their race. On his command, his supporters will rise and overthrow the usurping Dalek Prime...

Upon arriving on Skaro, Chayn and the Thals are locked up while the Doctor and Sam are taken for an audience with the Dalek Prime. The Dalek Prime explains that following their invasion of Earth in 2154, the Daleks found documented evidence from the 1960s that the Doctor and Davros had between themselves destroyed Skaro. When their invasion was defeated, the Daleks attempted to change history via Styles’ peace conference, but when this attempt failed they came to the conclusion that it was impossible to change history. To prevent Skaro’s destruction, therefore, they needed to make it appear as if it had been destroyed, and to that end they terraformed the planet Antalin to resemble Skaro and moved Davros there. They then manufactured a race of robots called Movellans and faked a war with them to give themselves a plausible reason for unearthing him. Ever since the Doctor unwittingly stumbled across the wrong planet using the Randomiser, the Daleks have been manipulating him and Davros into fulfilling history in such a way that Skaro would survive whilst its destruction was recorded.

Davros has now proven his unreliability, and the Dalek Prime has brought him to Skaro for a public trial to draw out those elements of Dalek sociey which still follow Davros. Once Davros and these traitors have been eliminated the Daleks can rebuilt their empire. The Doctor is being allowed to live as a backup plan, and the Thals are being kept alive as hostages to ensure his co-operation; should the Dalek Prime fail, the Doctor must destroy Davros. The trial begins, and Davros is allowed to speak his case. Once again he insists that as the Daleks’ creator he knows them better than anyone, and that only he can lead them to their true destiny as masters of the galaxy; he refuses to believe that this is really Skaro, certain that the Dalek Prime has rebuilt a new world and renamed it Skaro to cover up the destruction of their homeworld. The Dalek Prime insists that under Davros’ command, the Daleks have been defeated time and again, and that it is Davros’ bungling that led to the destruction of his entire army on the planet he believed to be Skaro. Davros is sentenced to death by matter dispersal, but before sentence can be carried out, the Daleks loyal to him make their move, and civil war breaks out.

In the midst of the confusion, the Doctor and Sam escape and help Chayn and the Thals to break free as well. Both battling Dalek factions are attempting to seize control of the spaceport, but the Thals manage to fight their way through and escape. They get past the Dalek defense satellites by broadcasting stolen Dalek command codes which the Doctor suspects should no longer be effective. Despite the heavy casualties they have suffered he believes their escape was too easy, and as he tries to work out what’s going on the Thals are attacked by Spider Daleks which apparently boarded the ship to protect something. As they fight off the Spider Daleks, the pilot Cathbad notices that the ship’s reactions are more sluggish than normal, and the Doctor scans the ship using the TARDIS and discovers that its mass has increased by five percent. The Daleks have planted a dimensionally transcendental factory unit on board and allowed the Thals to escape; without realizing it, the Thals were about to carry an army of Daleks into the heart of Thal territory. The Doctor uses the TARDIS to expel the factory ship into the Vortex, assuring the worried Sam that although it is bound to re-emerge, he’s already dealt with that problem elsewhere in Time.

Chayn decides to accompany the Thals home, and help Ayaka to turn them away from their destructive path before it’s too late. The Doctor and Sam return to the TARDIS, where they find and defuse a bomb planted by the Dalek Prime in case the Doctor’s “assistance” was not required. Just as they think it’s safe to relax, however, they are attacked by a Dalek assassin planted on board in case the bomb failed; they defeat it as well, however, and are finally able to depart, free of the Daleks’ plots and counterplots. Back on Skaro, Davros’ faction is eventually defeated, and he is placed in a matter dispersal unit. He managed to infiltrate one loyal Spider Dalek into the Dalek Prime’s forces before his defeat, but is unsure whether it is the one operating the matter dispersal unit; it is either transporting him to safety or killing him, disintegrating his body and scattering his atoms throughout Skaro’s solar system. Certain that Davros has been disposed of at last, the Dalek Prime regroups his forces and prepares to rebuild. The traitors have been weeded out, and now the Dalek race can go forward, as of one mind, to achieve their ultimate destiny.

Characters

  • Is vegetarian.
  • Cries out "I'm too young to die!" before breaking into hysterical giggles that turn into odd laughter.
  • Has been in the TARDIS for around 6 months (page 98).
  • Is one of the original Daleks.
  • Is leader of all the Daleks.

References

Story Notes

  • The meaning of Dalek colours is revealed in this novel: Grey Daleks are the foot soldiers with limited intelligence, next are the Blue Daleks which serve as corporals and sergeants. The Red Daleks have some intelligence and autonomy from the Dalek command structure. Black Daleks are smarter still, the Gold Daleks are the elite at the top is the Dalek Prime.
  • This story was the first to feature a Dalek inside the TARDIS until The Parting of the Ways.
  • Counting the Interludes every single Dalek story is referenced in some way (except Death to the Daleks).
  • The Dalek Prime looks like the Dalek Emperor from The Dalek Chronicles.
  • War of the Daleks begun life as a four part TV story, but when the series was cancelled it held off, then it was put forward by John Peel as a possible Virgin New Adventures novel, but was rejected before finally becoming a Eighth Doctor Adventure. Peel noted in an interview "Another reason for the story was to bring back Skaro. I feel that its destruction in Remembrance (of the Daleks) - was a bad move, as did Terry Nation. When I sought his permission for War, he asked me to try and rectify the destruction, which I think I've done very sneakily."[1]

Retcon

War of the Daleks is controversial for its retconning of every Dalek story from Destiny of the Daleks to Remembrance of the Daleks, although it is not really a true retcon. The retcon also makes reference to other Dalek stories.

Events of original Dalek story Events of original Dalek story with added War of the Daleks context
The Daleks invaded Earth in the 22nd century (The Dalek Invasion of Earth). During the invasion defeated in The Dalek Invasion of Earth (set in the 22nd century), the Daleks discovered records showing that Davros had destroyed Skaro in 1963 (Remembrance of the Daleks).
The Daleks used time travel to conquer Earth and it is implied that this was to prevent the failure of the 22nd-century invasion (Day of the Daleks). The Daleks then used their nascent time travel abilities to try to prevent the failure of the invasion. This attempt created a parallel timeline (Day of the Daleks). When this failed, the Daleks realised that they could not save Skaro by changing history.
The Daleks entered into a war with the robotic Movellans. Both sides were entirely logical and reached an impasse. The Daleks returned to Skaro to revive Davros, so he could help them break their stalemate. The Daleks and Movellans on Skaro were defeated and Davros was captured and taken for trial (Destiny of the Daleks). The Dalek Prime came up with a new plan. The planet Antalin was terraformed to resemble Skaro. Davros was excavated from the Kaled bunker and moved to Antalin. The Daleks also created the Movellans and faked a war with them to give them a plausible reason for reviving Davros. When Davros was revived, he believed himself to be on Skaro, and was told by the Daleks that they needed him to solve the logical impasse in their war with the Movellans. The Daleks ensured that Davros would be captured and taken for trial (Destiny of the Daleks).
Davros was sprung from his imprisonment by the Daleks, who wanted him to find a cure for the Movellan virus. At this time, the Daleks also wanted to invade Gallifrey by using robotic duplicates, as well as 1980s Earth in the same way. To this end, their ship contained a time corridor (Resurrection of the Daleks). It was then arranged that Davros was sprung from his imprisonment and given access to the time travel technology he needed to return to 1963, acquire the Hand of Omega, and destroy Antalin (Resurrection of the Daleks).
Davros began to create the Imperial Dalek Faction. (Revelation of the Daleks). At this point, the plan seemed to go a bit wrong, as Davros instead began to create the Imperial Daleks (Revelation of the Daleks).
Davros conquered Skaro with his Imperial Dalek faction. The Imperials and the Renegades and travelled back in time to 1963 in order to acquire the Hand of Omega. Tricked by the Doctor, Davros destroyed Skaro (Remembrance of the Daleks). When Davros was finally able to travel back to 1963 with his Imperial faction, the Renegade faction - ultimately loyal to the Dalek Prime - ensured that he acquired the Hand of Omega and destroyed what appeared to be Skaro to fulfil the historical record. Tricked by the Doctor who was tricked by the Dalek Prime, Davros destroyed Antalin (Remembrance of the Daleks).

Discontinuity and Errors

  • War of the Daleks is considered by many to be non-canonical, or at least on the outskirts of established canon as it makes numerous revisions to 'established' Dalek history.
  • In short, every TV Dalek story from Destiny of the Daleks to Remembrance of the Daleks is revised to fit War of the Daleks' plot.
  • The only 'question' this book seems to answer is where the Dalek Factory Ship seen in The Power of the Daleks came from.
  • However throughout the various discussions the events of Resurrection of the Daleks don't appear to gel with the story given to the Doctor by the Dalek Prime (its motivations do not make sense given what is said in this novel with regard to that story).
  • If the Movellans were created by the Daleks then who were the humanoid robots causing the Daleks grief in MA: A Device of Death.
  • Additionally if the Movellans were a ruse to trick Davros, why was there a Movellan virus created, why was it on Earth and why have all the Dalek shock troops (all from DW: Resurrection of the Daleks)
  • The Dalek Prime claims that the Daleks recovered Davros on Skaro, relocated him to Antalin, and altered his memories so that he would believe Antalin to be Skaro. However, if the Daleks did indeed find Davros before the events in Destiny of the Daleks, why did they not simply finish him off there? Davros had to apparently destroy Skaro. Perhaps the Daleks were afraid that if they killed Davros and created a paradox then the universe would end, or something.
  • In one of the Interludes in the book (page 81 - Interlude Human Space), it's set on a planet covered entirely by water, called Antalin. (This planet has the same name as the planet which was made to look like Skaro). Perhaps it simply shared Antalin's name, like there can be two places on Earth with the same name.
  • If during the events of The Dalek Invasion of Earth the Daleks discovered records of Skaro's destruction and set about preventing it, why would they not also find out about the cataclysmic (for the Daleks) events of Doomsday and Journey's End? The events of the Last Great Time War disorted the events of the timeline, so that it no longer follows the Laws of Time in a linear sense; wibbley wobbley, timey wimey...
  • The Daleks moved Davros from Skaro to Antalin. They buried him in a replica of the Kaled bunker. Once they had finished doing that, they presumably immediately set about digging him up again, all to fool him into thinking he was on Skaro. Did the Daleks use the slaves to bury Davros as well? If so, why didn't the slaves mention that in Destiny of the Daleks? If not, why did the Daleks need the slaves to dig Davros up? Maybe they used a different group of slaves.
  • If the renegade Daleks in Remembrance of the Daleks were taking orders from the Dalek Prime, and presumably were in on the plot, then why did the Black Dalek at the end of Remembrance blow itself up when told of its race's defeat by the Doctor, when it should know full well that everything is going according to plan?
  • The Antalin scheme requires either extreme carelessness on the part of the Doctor and Davros, or very careful alteration of maps by the Dalek Prime. In Remembrance, the Doctor sees a star chart of what is allegedly Antalin, and believes it to be Skaro; it also seems that at no point between being revived on Antalin in Destiny of the Daleks and leading his Imperial faction in Remembrance did Davros ever bother to look at his home planet on a map, which surely would have shown clearly that the planet he was ruling from was NOT the planet he had been born on. The Doctor had only been to Skaro four times before Remembrance. The first time, in The Daleks, the TARDIS was not working properly. The next two times, in The Evil of the Daleks and Genesis of the Daleks, he went there without the TARDIS (although he did leave in the TARDIS in Evil). The fourth time was in Destiny of the Daleks, and that was actually Antalin. If the Doctor had used his knowledge of Skaro's location gained in Destiny, then he would have false coordinates as that planet was Antalin.

A lot of this supports the theory put forward by some fans that the Dalek Prime's story about Antalin is actually untrue and is a fabrication for propaganda purposes, and that Skaro was destroyed in Remembrance. If this is true, it is possible that the "Skaro" featured in War of the Daleks is actually Antalin, as this novel reveals that "Skaro" simply means "home", and so presumably could be used to refer to whatever the current Dalek base of operations is. Evidence for this includes the fact that in War, "Skaro" is not radioactive.

Continuity

External Links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Interview with John Peel, which appeared in Broadsword issue 11

Template:BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures Series Box

Retrieved from "https://tardis.wiki/w/index.php?title=War_of_the_Daleks_(novel)&oldid=328688"