Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)

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Liberation of the Daleks was a comic story published in Doctor Who Magazine, starring the Fourteenth Doctor, as portrayed on television by David Tennant. It is the longest serialised strip in the magazine's history, running at fourteen chapters over a thirteen month period.

In what was pre-emptively described by editor Marcus Hearn in DWM 583's editorial column as an "unprecedented" move in the magazine's forty-three-year history, Liberation of the Daleks was the first full story in any medium to star the Fourteenth Doctor, beginning serialisation a mere two-and-a-half weeks after the broadcast of The Power of the Doctor, and picking up immediately from the Thirteenth Doctor's regeneration, officially beginning a line of stories that were effectively "in lockstep" with the television continuity for the first time in the DWM comic series. Indeed, the strip's fourteen-part run encompassed the entire year-long gap that came between the aforementioned Centenary Special, and the Children in Need minisode, Destination: Skaro.

Liberation of the Daleks was also the first DWM strip since the Eighth Doctor story Children of the Revolution to feature the Daleks as a major force, and the first strip to serve as a "post-regeneration story".

All 14 parts of the comic was collected as a graphic novel released on 23 November 2023.

Plot

Part One: Liberation

The Fourteenth Doctor outside his TARDIS.

From a sheer cliff face overlooking the sea, as a beautiful new day dawns, and the Doctor has been born again. Returning to his TARDIS, the newly regenerated Fourteenth Doctor takes a look to see what the universe has to offer, before being distracted by a noise. Noting the changes in his new, yet familiar, body, the TARDIS suddenly dematerialises without his input; it is following Automated Protocol Epsilon Delta Rho to respond to a distress signal, with the Doctor only too happy to help.

When the TARDIS lands, the Doctor sees he is outside Wembley Stadium on Saturday 30 July 1966: the date of the 1966 World Cup Final. Wondering who is supposed to be in distress, he enters the stadium with the score at 2-2 and begins to ask the crowd one by one if they're in any distress. Realising his method is futile, the Doctor starts discreetly scanning the crowd with his sonic screwdriver, not realising he is being watched by outside forces.

Suddenly, the screwdriver gets a signal three rows behind him, but not a distress signal. Instead, he spots a family of four glowing faintly blue. He confidently tells them that their psychic shields should be properly adjusted in public, and, after they deny all knowledge, he sonics their disguises off, revealing them to be a group of four purple-skinned and space-suited aliens. The Doctor thinks they are time tourists there to see the game, but they dispute his accusation, and point out that nobody is watching the match anymore.

Confused, the Doctor looks back towards the pitch, where all the players have stopped. Hovering above Wembley is a Dalek flying saucer. As the Doctor tries to herd the crowd out, telling them the game is over, a fleet of several dozen Bronze Daleks emerge from the ship and start exterminating the players. With the Doctor stunned into silence and the time tourists looking smug, they question his assertion that the game was "all over", declaring that "it is now", as the Dalek invasion begins.

Part Two: Daleks' Invasion Earth 1966 A.D.!

With the Daleks landing on Wembley's field, claiming the human race to now be under Dalek control, a TV commentator tries to make sense of the events to the watching audience. They note that the British Royal Family has been safely evacuated from the Royal Box just as the Doctor dashes into it, drawing the Daleks to himself with the sonic screwdriver and gaining the attention of the Supreme Dalek in their saucer.

The Doctor starts questioning whether it was them who sent the distress signal, calling them names and mocking them as he realises they simply wanted him to take notice. The Daleks aim their attention towards the Doctor and, right on his cue, start shooting at him. The Doctor begins to run, with the youngest alien noting the Daleks stopped caring about exterminating the football fans. The alien family note that the Daleks are everywhere across Earth, and decide to visit other parts of the space/time zone to revel in the carnage, going to the likes of Carnaby Street in London, and the district between Haight Street and Ashbury Street and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, each time taking gleeful selfies in front of the Daleks and screaming humans for their tel•e•pixXx social media account.

The Doctor evades the Daleks' extermination attempts.

Meanwhile, the Doctor runs off to the TARDIS, mocking the Daleks on their missed shots. As the Supreme Dalek orders his drones to seize the TARDIS, Georgy Gold shows up at the door, handing the Doctor the World Cup's Jules Rimet Trophy, claiming the security guards at Wembley neglected to take it with them when they ran off. Presuming he is a policeman, she attempts to give it to him for safekeeping before someone tries to steal it again, but the Doctor rushes her inside the TARDIS at the same time a Dalek on a hoverbout grabs the TARDIS with a clamp. As it takes off without him, the Doctor yells at Georgy to close the door as he promises to talk his way out. The Supreme tells its fellow Daleks to not engage in conversation with the Doctor. The Daleks all direct their rays at the Doctor and start firing at him, and he faces his fate defenceless with his eyes closed and fists and teeth clenched.

Part Three: Dead Again

After the exterminations of the Daleks, the Doctor is shocked to find he is still alive and speaks to the Supreme Dalek. In return, the Supreme orders the Doctor's extermination again, but with no effect no matter how many times it is tried. The Doctor points out that it is getting boring watching the rays pass right through his body, so the Supreme orders that the Doctor is to be brought up into the Dalek flying saucer. Meanwhile, the alien family visits Mount Rushmore and take a picture when the Daleks come and add the Supreme Dalek to the rock face.

Inside the saucer, the Doctor continues to mock the Supreme Dalek, who orders that he will be taken to total physiological examination, but the Doctor does it right in front of them with his sonic screwdriver. Upon doing so, he notices that nothing has changed and that regeneration would not normally make him immune from Dalek fire. Knowing he cannot be harmed, he climbs onto the Supreme Dalek's casing and promises to give them answers if they call off the invasion of Earth. The Daleks comply, temporarily halting their invasion. In front of the Great Pyramid of Giza and the destroyed Great Sphinx, the alien family are worried because it is not time for the Daleks to go. The father calls in demanding why the Daleks are leaving Earth.

Above Earth, the Doctor examines the Daleks and explains that the drones appear to all be biologically identical, so they are fake, while he is real, explaining why they can not kill him. In response, the Supreme declares the Daleks are real and attempts to prove as such, ordering their saucers into Formation Red Icosahedron around the planet. It tells them to use pulsator beams, and, with a colossal explosion, they seem to destroy Earth right in front of the Doctor, to his utter horror.

Part Four: Earth Shock!

The Doctor stares out of the window of the Dalek saucer, watching the Eiffel Tower float through the remaining debris of Earth in space, and promises to exact revenge upon the Daleks if the destruction turns out to be real. The Supreme Dalek orders his drones to leave for Skaro to take the Doctor for personal dissection, but the Doctor states that he will just find his TARDIS and leave. As he does, however, he smells a change in the air, like something is coming.

He is proven right when two heavy-set, body-armoured figures, one wielding a claw and the other an energy net, materialise on board, although the Daleks do not notice them, with the Doctor saying it is because they're using the same psychic shields the alien family did. Identifying them as "human-ish", the Doctor politely declines their insistence to come with them and removes their shields. The figures respond by immediately capturing him and teleporting away, alarming the Supreme Dalek. He declares that the Dalek Science Division will conduct a full sub-atomic analysis of their flotilla to prove if the Doctor was lying about them, then reveals the TARDIS itself, claiming it to be their "prize".

The Doctor is introduced to the Dalek Dome.

The Doctor and his captors arrive on a blue-lit ship, with the Doctor being allowed to move freely if he behaves. More confused than angry, he is left with even more questions upon realising that his captors are a pair of bipedal gorillas named Claire and Claudine. Suddenly, the exterior doors open into a wide room with lots of doors and a blue sky ceiling, revealing Georgette Gold. Walking past the alien family demanding compensation from another gorilla, Georgette promises to explain all, but the Doctor is distracted by a large door reading "MAIN DOME THIS WAY" in Dalek font. She describes it as "the biggest thrill you'll ever know [and] the greatest adventure you'll ever have", as he opens the door onto a massive multi-tiered observatory with hundreds of visitors watching famous moments in Dalek history, complete with direct views of Skaro: the Dalek Dome.

Part Five: The Atrocity Exhibition

In the kingdom of Albion, King Arthur receives word from Merlin that the Daleks are going to attack Camelot from the sky. After a short discussion with Lancer Lotte and the disguised alien family, Arthur decides to meet the Daleks in battle. Shortly afterwards, Arthur, his knights, and the alien family defeat a group of Imperial Daleks while riding on dragonback.

Georgette asks what the Doctor thinks, but he replies that he thinks it is "a tacky, tasteless tourist trap", sarcastically giving it a rating of nought out of five stars. However, the chief of the Dalek Dome, who resembles a bipedal lion, objects, feeling that the Doctor is overlooking the educational value. The Doctor denies that the Dalek Dome is at all educational, before questioning the chief's cross-species body-mod.

Georgette explains that the site used to be an animal park until clone safaris were banned. In order to stay in business, the staff modified themselves into animals to avoid unemployment. The chief then further explains that after the first alien zoo was opened nearby, the park's visitor numbers plummeted and they had to sell it to the military. He then asks Georgette who the Doctor is, calling her "Lieutenant Gold", and the Doctor realizes that it was Georgette who sent out the distress signal that led him there. She explains that, after discovering the TARDIS's time/space signature, she sent out intelligent code to find him, and that she is surprised that it worked. The Doctor replies that it didn't and he turns to leave. Georgette tells him he cannot go back into "the 66-scape" because the psychoplasm needs venting first.

The Doctor questions what psychoplasm is, and Georgette says that the dome's zones are not holographic, but she is interrupted by a priority call before she can explain further. Merlin, the staff member who had played the role of the wizard in the Daleks Versus Dragons Zone, tells Georgette that she needs to come to surveillance due to an issue with Specimen Six Sigma. Georgette tells the Doctor that she cannot take him with her or else she would be atomised, but remarks that the Doctor should be able to get in on his own before going through a security door, which the Doctor opens a moment later with his sonic screwdriver.

As Merlin explains the problem to Georgette, the Doctor enters and deduces that psychoplasm is "the stuff dreams are made on", as Georgette previously claimed. He notes that what his TARDIS landed in was actually real, a dream made reality, with a Dalek mutant chained inside a tube as the dreamer; the problem now being that the Dalek has woken up.

Part Six: When the Sleeper Wakes

Georgette explains how she and her crew discovered Specimen Six Sigma, trapped inside its casing sometime after its saucer crashed on an alien world. Georgette speculates that it survived from static electricity gathered from lightning, but the Doctor suggests it survived off spite alone and claims they should have let it die instead of using it for entertainment. Georgette protests that he does not understand, which the Doctor rebukes. He explains that there are twelve Kaled mutants, each linked to one of twelve zones filled with psychoplasm. The Daleks each think they are the boss in a quantum simulation that the tourists are then teleported into, complete with visual monitoring and image capturing equipment so they can have their picture taken, similar to a flume ride.

Merlin calls Georgette again as Specimen Six Sigma is still spiking. Meanwhile, inside the 66-scape, a bronze Dalek reports to the Supreme that they had just finished a sub-atomic analysis of the flotilla. The Dalek reports that the Doctor was telling the truth: each and every one of them is molecularly identical. The Supreme refutes this, saying it outranks all others, and claims that its vision is no longer impaired. It then looks to a monitor that shows what Specimen Six Sigma is seeing in the real world; the Doctor staring right at it.

As the Doctor wonders if Specimen Six Sigma knows where it is, Merlin informs Georgette that, despite having pumped it full of synaptic inhibitors, its cognisance continues to climb. The Doctor then remarks that might be his fault for telling the Supreme that it was not real. Georgette responds in shock and explains that the reason tourists wear psychic shields is to keep them from being perceived by the Daleks, thus keeping the Daleks from questioning their true nature. Georgette then hits the button to vent the psychoplasm and collapse the simulation. Inside the 66-scape, the bronze Dalek informs the Supreme that space-time is collapsing. The Supreme demands a special escape pod that can escape space-time, calling for its communications division to focus on a transmitter inside the Doctor's TARDIS.

The Doctor hopes that the venting will not damage his TARDIS, then realises that he left Georgy inside it. Georgette explains that she was a simulacrum: the first time someone is teleported inside a zone, they are scanned so their likeness can be used for models, and these Psychoplasmic Avatars cannot exist outside the attraction. Georgette then receives a call from the chief saying that a "blue eyesore" has appeared in the main concourse. The Doctor and Georgette head out as the insignia on Georgette's intelligent uniform disappears in the public space.

As they arrive, the TARDIS door begins to open, which the Doctor says must be Georgy, but Georgette refutes this as impossible. Nonetheless, Georgy walks out of the TARDIS. The Doctor holds her and assures her she is safe now. She apologises, saying "they" had tricked her and made her open the door, just as the Supreme Dalek from the simulation emerges from inside the TARDIS.

Part Seven: The First Death!

One-hundred-and-fifty rels earlier, Georgy is inside the TARDIS when a hologram of the Doctor angrily instructs her to open the door due to having misplaced his key. Though she is confused by the way the hologram speaks, she does as it instructs. With the door open, the Supreme Dalek appears, revealing it to be behind the hologram, and declares that only two Dalek guards will follow it, as if the TARDIS has crossed between universes once, it can do so again. Once inside the TARDIS, the Supreme states that, at the moment of singularity, the crew of the Dalek saucer will be the last remaining life forms in the universe, which it declares to be the ultimate triumph. At that same moment, the crew of the saucer are destroyed as the simulated universe collapses.

Back in the present, the Supreme Dalek attempts to inquire about the dimension they are currently in from a Informational Dalek machine before realising that it is not a Dalek and destroying it. The Supreme realises that they are in an exhibition on an alternate Earth and declares that the Daleks have conquered Earth many times before and will do so again. The Doctor then reminds the Supreme that the Daleks could not kill him before and are unable to do so now due to being simulacra and scans them with the sonic screwdriver to prove it.

The Doctor claims that the scan proves they are fake, but, realising something is wrong, quietly tells Georgette and Georgy to run. The Supreme Dalek demands the Doctor relinquish the sonic screwdriver and knocks it out of his hand. The Doctor argues that the screwdriver is useless to them because its data is all in Gallifreyan, but the Supreme retorts that its content is conveyed by the Doctor's physiognomy and orders its guards to destroy the sonic screwdriver, which they do, allowing them to realise that their gunsticks are functional again.

As the Doctor collapses to his knees and mourns the loss of his screwdriver, the gathered crowd begins to laugh and applaud what they believe to be a staged performance. Despite the Doctor's attempt to convince everyone to leave, the crowd ignores him, as the Supreme Dalek calls them all hostages that will be exterminated. Upon hearing this, a small boy, followed by the rest of the crowd, begin to beg the Daleks to exterminate them, as the Doctor grabs the boy by the wrist and tries to pull him to safety.

Part Eight: Dome of the Brave!

The Supreme Dalek again demands that the Doctor surrender to spare the crowd's lives, but the boy again interrupts the Doctor, insisting that the Daleks are all pretend, showing him that the Supreme's red colouring has rubbed off onto his fingers. The Daleks instead focus on the boy, but the Doctor is restrained from helping him by some visitors, believing him to be an overzealous actor ruining the boy's fun.

The boy shoots at the Supreme with his "Anti-Dalek Fluid Gun" and it remarkably works, impairing it and forcing it to demand its drones to analyse the fluid inside. Georgette, however, knows that it is simply water; the Doctor explains that the Daleks themselves are not just rubbing off, but are becoming anatomically unstable from leaving their simulated universe. He theorises that the TARDIS's artron energy allowed them to temporarily maintain their form, but they should dissolve soon. Georgy suddenly realises that the same fate is coming for her, being a psychoplasmic construct too, but the Doctor is too busy with the Daleks to focus on her. Angry, she recounts to Georgette all the previous deaths and Dalek invasions she lived through in previous simulations and runs away in fear.

The Dalek guards finish analysing the boy's water, but the Doctor once again distracts the Supreme by holding it to a stand-off, revealing that he has a hostage as well: Specimen Six Sigma, its real self. The Doctor reveals that earlier, he set up a 50,000-volt pulse to kill the Kaled mutant on command. Using Georgette's earpiece, he convinces Merlin to begin typing the command sequence, against both Georgette and the Supreme's wishes.

Meanwhile, with Georgy having remembered all her past simulations, she realises there is only one place she can go to find sanctuary. Running through the Dalek Dome's corridors, she enters a room and teleports away to Skaro.

Part Nine: Deep in Hyperspace

In the Dalek City on Skaro, a trio of Daleks survey their videoscopes of local goings-on, watching Skyway Seven's space station defeat a group of Monstrons and Engibrains, the Sub-Aquatic Defence Squad repelling some Terrorkons, and the City Defence Patrol detect a human female intruder - Georgy. Although the patrol threaten to exterminate her, the surveyors tell them to take her to Dalek Central Control for interrogation.

Meanwhile, the Doctor balks at the Supreme Dalek's insistence that he does not have the right to kill it, but the Supreme insists that he could not commit an execution as it remembers him, "from before". The Dalek guards insist that if the Doctor is not bluffing, then he must be a simulacrum too, and the Supreme, in its confusion, begins wildly dripping; it is starting to molecularly deconstruct from leaving its simulation. The Doctor reveals that his plan all along was to keep the Daleks talking until they disintegrate - his electrocution plan was indeed a bluff. Once they attempt to exterminate the Doctor, the three Daleks finally collapse into a large puddle.

The Doctor tries to receive some congratulations, but the visitors are more cross at being coated in Dalek "paint", while Merlin confirms that Specimen Six Sigma has entered a vegetative state. As the Doctor regrets what happened to Georgy, Georgette explains the real reason she brought him to the Dalek Dome: to help in her PhD in Dalek Studies, having built a space-time telegraph purely to see if he was real. The Doctor is furious at her and demands that she shut the entire "horror show" down first, but the Chief re-enters, forcefully telling him to leave for threatening "Park Security". Seeing that he is going to be ignored, the Doctor returns to the TARDIS, telling Georgette to call him when it all inevitably goes wrong.

Deciding to skip forward in time, the Doctor is unsurprised to see Automated Protocol Epsilon Delta Rho start up once again and draw him back. Presuming that he has barely jumped forward even one day, he exits feeling smug, but does not meet Georgette as expected. Instead, he comes face to face with Georgy, mascara still running, standing in the command centre of the Golden Dalek Emperor himself.

Part Ten: Golden Age

In a flashback, Georgy is held in Skaro Central Control, where a Dalek interrogator tries to force her origins out of her, but she insists she needs to speak to the Supreme Dalek. The interrogator claims that no such Dalek exists, forcing its subordinate to display her memories on-screen. Upon seeing the Doctor, the interrogator demands to know who he is. The Dalek Emperor is summoned and Georgy explains that she came to help them, believing this version of Skaro to be a simulation like herself and hoping that the Doctor could help save them all. The Emperor has never heard of the Doctor, but the name troubles him, and he decides to take over the Dalek Dome. Georgy, however, insists that they join forces to get the Doctor's help and save all the simulacra. The Emperor decides to consider it. Gliding through his Corridor of Conquests, the Emperor muses on Georgy's claims and asks the Dalek City's Brain Machine for answers; it confirms that the entire planet is indeed a simulacrum. Undeterred, he immediately begins to form a plan to capture the TARDIS and set the Daleks free.

Back in the present, the Doctor questions Georgy on why she is with the Dalek Emperor on Skaro, but she ignores him and commands a Dalek to encase the TARDIS in a force field so he cannot escape. With him theorising that he was attracted to Skaro due to Georgy's understanding of Georgette's existing knowledge, she finally explains her plan to him and the Doctor reluctantly admits the blame. However, he warns her that in the real universe, the Dalek Dome will shut down this simulation when they realise the Emperor is becoming self-aware, making him even more furious and playing straight into the Doctor's hands. As the Emperor realises that his time is limited, he and Georgy enact their plan, and the Dalek interrogator uses its hypno-pulse on her. Meanwhile, as a Dalek wedding takes place in the Dalek Dome, Georgette picks up a message on her earpiece, which emits the hypno-pulse and puts her under the Daleks' control. With a psychic link established between the two Georgettes and the two universes, the Dalek Emperor claims that the Dalek Dome will soon be theirs.

Part Eleven: Slave to the Rhythm!

Inside the Dalek Dome, a voice actor pretending to be the "voice of the Daleks" provides security updates to the visitors through the speakers of the Dalek-shaped info points. As he does, he is interrupted by Georgette, carrying a gunstick from the Dome's museum and, without saying a word, she coldly exterminates him before he can react. Taking over the microphone, Georgette claims to be the real voice of the Daleks and emits the Hypno-Pulse from her earpiece over the Dome's loudspeakers, making all visitors of all species Dalek slaves.

Watching the footage from the simulated throne room of the Dalek Emperor, the Doctor asks what his plan is now. The Emperor replays Georgette's memories that he extracted from Georgy, seeing the Doctor's earlier admission that simulacra could be permanently stabilised in the real world, and demands that the Doctor explain how or hostages in the Dome will be exterminated. The Doctor states that a quantum-powered reality gate would be needed, but even then, the process would take millennia without innumerable elite mathematicians to do the work. Pleased, the Emperor commands the psychoscape controllers in the Dome to expand their simulation. In the control room, Merlin orders a subordinate to enlarge the parameters on the orders of Specimen Nine Lambda.

On cue, a new moon appears in the sky of Skaro, populated entirely by countless Quadruple-Brained Algebraists that the Doctor previously mentioned could run the calculations. Guessing that the Emperor plans to build the gate, use the algebraists to stabilise the Daleks, then subjugate the universe, the Emperor confirms that "all things shall be Dalek". Finally, Georgy realises that the Daleks have been lying to her about trying to save her as well, and, in fury, she wrenches off the hypnotising eyestalk of the Dalek interrogator, thereby breaking the link to the Dalek Dome.

The Emperor commands his drones to exterminate Georgy, but the Doctor leaps in front to save her. The Doctor, however, forgets that the Dalek simulacra's death rays are ineffective on him, and the Daleks use this knowledge to shoot straight through him, exterminating Georgy.

Part Twelve: The Garden of Death

With the hypno-link to the Dalek Dome broken, Georgette feels Georgy's death, with the Doctor resting her body gently on the floor. The Dalek Emperor, however, states that he still has control over the Dalek Dome. Meanwhile, Georgette tells Claire and Claudine to follow her as they leave to teleport to Skaro and save the Doctor. Two of the imitation Daleks threaten them to remain still, but the chief appears, taking full advantage of his lion body to lunge at them and maul and tear the head off one. While his employees are determined not to lose him, he promises to die like a lion - with pride - and buys enough time to allow Georgette, Claire, and Claudine to escape before he is exterminated.

As the army of Quadruple-Brained Algebraists continues calculating the necessary parameters to form a reality gate, the Dalek Emperor orders it to be built. However, the Doctor questions how he could generate enough psychoplasm to convert a whole space fleet. The Emperor decides to drain the power of the other eleven Dalek Dome zones, even at the expense of the other artificial realities, as he believes that only his reality counts - despite the Doctor explaining that this simulation is based on children's books from the 21st century.

Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Georgette's group, crashing through the ceiling while riding a hoverbout and carrying a gunstick, destroying one Dalek in the process. The Doctor orders them behind his force-shielded TARDIS so the Dalek's death rays can bounce off it and potentially damage themselves. Realising the TARDIS is still out of action and teleporting back to the Dome is too dangerous, the Doctor orders Claire to carry a Dalek informational headscreen while he works on Claudine's 'porting glove. He puts his glasses on and teleports them away to the next psychoscape along, the Jungles of Spiridon Zone, aiming to get to his destination in short hops. Upon being spotted by two Marsh Daleks accusing them of being Thal agents, they teleport again.

The group lands in a dark black and blue alleyway, where the Doctor admits his plan is a bad one. He follows a menacing "ba-dum" noise to the nearest Dalek control centre, where he cheerily greets its occupant: the huge immobile Dalek Emperor, controller of the Dalek City.

Part Thirteen: The Hell Gate!

On the Golden Emperor's Skaro, a Dalek informs it that a space/time disturbance has opened above the Mathematicians' Moon, that the Golden Emperor identifies as the reality gate, which also opens on Earth. Above the Dalek Dome, the Golden Emperor sends a Dalek Scout Craft through the gate, declaring it a paramount success and that Earth is now for the taking.

In the Dalek City, the immobile Emperor questions the Doctor invading his inner sanctum and his guards threaten to exterminate him, but the Doctor explains that the Emperor's universe is in danger due to the Golden Emperor making raw psychoplasm for his fleet. As the Emperor declares he is the only Emperor, the Doctor wires up visuals of the Golden Emperor and explains his plan. Unhooking two of his support cables to grab the Doctor's body like tentacles and raise him to eyestalk height, the Dalek City Emperor asks how to stop them.

The Golden Emperor launches its flotilla through the reality gate, with a large fleet of saucers emerging above the Dome. In the Dalek City, mass production of Short-Range Teleport Daleks are being produced to teleport to the Alt-Skaro in 300 rels, but the Doctor says production is not fast enough and half the universe could be laid waste to by the time they are finished; he says he needs to join the assault and sends Georgette back to the Dome to manually link up the eight remaining mutants. Claire and Claudine also teleport back to the Dome to create a distraction and teleport back as visitors are prepared for robotising.

Georgette asks Merlin to open channels to every mutant except Specimen Nine Lambda and patch them through to Specimen Eight Delta on a shared wavelength. As she does, the Golden Emperor orders the protection of Nine Lambda at all costs. In the Dalek City, the Emperor receives transmissions from eight alternate Dalek leaders and the Doctor asks them all to help save the Earth if it is not too late, just as the Golden Emperor orders his fleet to attack targeted population zones on 2323 Earth, with people from London, San Francisco and Giza posting their help pleas via tel•e•pixXx social media posts.

Part Fourteen: The Nightmare Ends

As the Golden Emperor watches his fleet fly through the reality gate, the Black Dalek tells him that the World Government of Earth wishes to surrender in full, but the Emperor promises only to subjugate the planet. However, he is interrupted by a group of Daleks from the alternate Dalek City on hoverbouts, and the Dalek City Emperor orders them to destroy the "false" Golden Emperor. Although the Doctor protests, the Daleks obey and destroy the Black Dalek, while the Dalek City Emperor tells the combined Dalek Alliance from the other psychoscapes to teleport in en masse and destroy everything. Sure enough, a mass war breaks out across the simulated Skaro.

The Golden Emperor escapes into his control centre, planning to fly it as a rocket through the reality gate to Earth, which the Doctor describes as "predictable", so with only sixty rels to go, he teleports on board next to his TARDIS. The Golden Emperor's comms drone alerts them to the fact that the Dalek City Emperor has rebelled and sent an Imperial Phalanx through the reality gate towards the Dalek Dome as well. The Doctor claims this is also predictable, knowing in advance that the other Emperor would plan to assassinate all of the other Dalek Dome mutants and lay claim to Earth himself.

The Doctor reveals that he made a deal with the Dalek City Emperor to have him rebuild his sonic screwdriver in return for the use of the TARDIS, so he activates his new screwdriver and sends the rocket flying towards the Mathematicians' Moon that powers the reality gate. Proud of himself for being about to defeat nine Dalek Empires in one go, and with only thirty rels until impact, the Golden Emperor destroys the sonic screwdriver once more and reminds the Doctor that he will die when the psychoscape collapses, meaning he has no choice but to take the Emperor in the TARDIS with him. However, when he opens the doors, the Golden Emperor realises only too late that his casing is too wide and is left stranded outside as the rocket destroys the moon, leading to the meltdown of all the simulated saucers attacking Earth just as the TARDIS returns to the Dalek Dome concourse.

Later on, Georgette notices that the Golden Emperor's mutant, Nine Lambda, is still alive and very angry. Thousands have died across the world, which the Doctor says is the price of promoting Daleks as providing "family-friendly thrills". She asks if she should destroy the mutants, but the Doctor says that, as the Dalek Studies expert, the choice is on her, and ignores her cries for help as he leaves for good.

Finally returning safely to the TARDIS again, the Doctor takes a look to see what the universe has to offer next and is disappointed to see that the simulated Jules Rimet Trophy has melted over the console. He hopes aloud that it did not jam the fast return switch before he left, adding that he would not want to return to Skaro any time soon, as the TARDIS flies on through the time vortex once more...

Characters

Worldbuilding

Notes

Doctor Who Magazine #585
  • Working titles for Liberation of the Daleks were Enclave of the Daleks, The Dalek Zone, Enslavement of the Daleks, Daleks in Chains, Daleks Unchained and Visitation of the Daleks.[1]
  • Liberation of the Daleks is set immediately after The Power of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"], making this the first full adventure of the Fourteenth Doctor. It was not, however, the first non-televised story to feature the first full, post-regenerative story for the Doctor, as the audio drama Light the Flame [+]Loading...["Light the Flame (audio story)"] was the War Doctor's first post-regenerative story.
  • This was the first Doctor Who Magazine comic story to feature the Fourteenth Doctor, and the first words spoken by him in his tenure as the incumbent incarnation of the DWM range are: "All right then, universe - what have you got for me today?"
  • As detailed in DWM 584's The Strip of a Lifetime, an article printed on the pages immediately following the first part of the strip, Liberation of the Daleks was overseen by returning showrunner Russell T Davies himself, specifically to make the TV series and DWM comics end up "in lockstep" and "in sync" for the first time.[2] To account for this, a break in tradition saw the Fourteenth Doctor make his comic debut immediately after his regeneration scene, rather than his first full TV appearance like previous Doctors. Davies also confirmed that, despite being the longest DWM comic story at fourteen parts long, it comprises only the first hour of the Fourteenth Doctor's life.
  • Russell T Davies had originally wanted a similar story to be featured in Doctor Who Magazine in 2005, following the casting of Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor. He offered the magazine the chance to show the Eighth Doctor's regeneration, thus depicted the Ninth Doctor's first adventures, but the idea was ultimately abandoned when further stipulations were made, such as the Ninth Doctor not traveling with any companion other than Rose Tyler. (REF: The Flood Commentary)
  • A few umbrella titles draw inspiration from previous releases, such as Daleks' Invasion Earth 1966 A.D.! from the Peter Cushing film Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., and Earth Shock! from the Peter Davison TV story Earthshock.
  • In order to avoid spoiling the appearance of the Daleks at the end of the first instalment, the title was given on the spine of DWM 584 as simply "Liberation Part 1", was not given at all on the magazine's contents page, and does not appear in the strip itself until the final page.
  • The yellow text box in the first frame reads, "Born Again, Again", a reference to Born Again, the 2005 Children in Need special.
  • When questioning random members of the crowd in German, the Doctor asks, "Welches team unterstützt du?", which roughly translates to, "Which team do you support?" However, this is not exactly grammatically correct as the informal "du" is only used towards friends, relatives and other people that you know well. When addressing strangers, especially in the apparent 1960s setting, "Sie" would typically be used instead, to be polite. Additionally, with Sie as the pronoun, the correct conjugation of the verb would be "unterstützen", with the full sentence becoming "Welches team unterstützen Sie?"
  • The alien family's line, ""All over"? Well..." "It is now", is based on the famous final words of Kenneth Wolstenholme's BBC TV commentary of the World Cup final.
  • The cover of Doctor Who Magazine #585 featured a photo-realistic version of the 1966 Dalek invasion of Earth on the cover and as a full-size poster inside.
  • Georgette advertises the Daleks Versus Dragons Zone with, "So close you can feel the fire!", a paraphrasing of a similar line from a trailer for Dr. Who and the Daleks, also used as the strapline for DWM 580.
  • When rescuing Georgy, the Doctor comforts her by saying "Hey there, Georgy girl!", in reference to the song "Georgy Girl" by the Seekers.
  • A young boy is seen carrying a version of the real world Dr. Who's Anti-Dalek Fluid Neutraliser toy gun.
  • Although not explicitly stated, one of the previous Earth Invasion Zone simulations lived through by Georgy is based on the Beatles' real-life concert at the Shea Stadium in New York City. This is evidenced by discarded banners reading "Shea welcomes the..." and "We wanna hold...", a reference to the song "I Want to Hold Your Hand".
  • It is left unexplained if the Dalek Fire of London simulation is meant to be the Great Fire of London, given its placement of 1666, in which the Great Fire took place.
  • The first pages of Deep in Hyperspace and Golden Age are intentionally designed to replicate the TV Century 21 The Daleks comics, with the credits taking up a frame of the comic, sideways with red writing, a masthead with the story title, a white background to the page instead of black, and 1960s-style text boxes setting the scene of Skaro. This is reflected in the mentions of several species that originated in the aforementioned comics: the Monstrons, Engibrains, and Terrorkons. Additionally, the design of the Skaro Daleks and the Golden Emperor is based on the style they were illustrated by Ron Turner.
  • Marsh Daleks make a brief appearance in the Jungles of Spiridon Zone after having previously only been seen in The Dalek Book comic story Monsters of Gurnian in 1964. Here, they are shown to be entirely gold and feature some differences: they have a more traditional upper casing with slats and have gained an extended claw manipulator arm.
  • When the simulated Golden Emperor's attack fleet dissolves, Claire and Claudine state "It's raining Daleks", followed by "Hallelujah", in reference to the song "It's Raining Men" by the Weather Girls.
  • The Dalek Dome re-uses several alien crowd members whom Lee Sullivan had pencilled for similar panels in the comic stories Land of the Blind and Bazaar Adventures. These aliens include:
  • The voice actor speaking through the Dalek-shaped info points in the Dalek Dome is clearly modelled after Nicholas Briggs, the long-time voice of the Daleks since 2000.
  • This story — the Fourteenth Doctor's comic debut in DWM — is set three hundred years after its real world publication in 2323, similarly to how Mancopolis [+]Loading...["Mancopolis (comic story)"] — the Fifteenth Doctor's comic debut in DWM — is set four hundred years after its publication in 2424.

Production errors

  • In Part 1, when the Doctor's TARDIS displays the notification for activating Automated Protocol Epsilon Delta Rho, its screen shows the Greek letters "ΔΣΡ", meaning "Delta Sigma Rho", instead of the correct "ΕΔΡ".
    • The error was fixed in Part 9, in which the Doctor uses the protocol again.
  • The tail of the last speech bubble in Part 1 is slightly cut off.

Original print details

(Publication with page count and closing captions)
  • DWM 584: (6 pages): Next Issue: Daleks' Invasion Earth 1966 A.D.!
  • DWM 585: (6 pages): Next Issue: Dead Again
  • DWM 586: (6 pages): Next Issue: Earth Shock!
  • DWM 587: (6 pages): Next issue: The Atrocity Exhibition
  • DWM 588: (6 pages): Next Issue: When the Sleeper Wakes
  • DWM 589: (6 pages): Next Issue: The First Death!
  • DWM 590: (6 pages): Next: Dome of the Brave!
  • DWM 591: (6 pages): Next Issue: Deep in Hyperspace
  • DWM 592: (6 pages): Next Issue: Golden Age
  • DWM 593: (6 pages): Next Issue: Slave to the Rhythm!
  • DWM 594: (6 pages): Next Issue: The Garden of Death
  • DWM 595: (6 pages): Next Issue: The Hell Gate!
  • DWM 596: (6 pages): Next Issue: The Nightmare Ends
  • DWM 597: (6 pages): N/A

Continuity

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Liberation of the Daleks Introduction
  2. ↑ It’s about time! New Doctor Who Magazine offers official comic prequel to upcoming TV stories
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For the purposes of this list, a "post-regeneration story" is one in which the after-effects of a regeneration is actually and initially depicted and the Time Lord fully settles into their new body. For this reason, Rose is not included below, even though it is commonly thought of as a "post-regeneration story". It doesn't actually include a clear scene of regeneration, and the preponderance of stories in other media confirm that the Ninth Doctor has not immediately regenerated prior to the story.
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