The Dalek Conquests (audio story)

The Dalek Conquests is a BBC Radio-produced retrospective on the Daleks from their first appearance in the television story The Daleks in 1963 to their (then) most recent appearance in the television story The Parting of the Ways in 2005. It was released by BBC Audio as a 2-CD set in 2006, with a running time of approximately 2 hours, 35 minutes.

The documentary is narrated by Nicholas Briggs with audio clips taken from every televised Dalek story in both the classic and revived series (except for incidental references and the 1996 TV movie) up to the end of the 2005 season, which are used to summarise the events of the various stories (this includes audio taken from several stories, including Mission to the Unknown, which do not exist in complete film/video form in the BBC Archives (although most of the soundtracks have been released by BBC Radio and BBC Audio in the past)).

The documentary is presented in a partly in-universe style, as if the BBC have sent a crew to investigate Henry van Statten's now-sealed facility in Utah, the Vault, at some point after the year 2012. The fiction of the production holds that the BBC is also aware of such events as the Last Great Time War, the Doctor's ability to regenerate, etc.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Daleks have a long and terrible history of aggression, and are among the most feared of all science fiction monsters. Ruthless, cunning, and utterly evil, they have no pity, no fear, and will stop at nothing to destroy all other forms of life. Now Nicholas Briggs - the voice of the Daleks in the BBC's Doctor Who TV series — goes deep underground to a deserted base in Utah to unearth the truth about the most nightmarish creatures in the universe. Packed with extracts from the Daleks' many TV appearances, The Dalek Conquests finds out where they come from, why they are bent on universal domination, and what part they played in the Time Wars. Above, all it explores their epic struggles with their nemesis, the Time Lord known as the Doctor.

Featuring clips from such classic stories as The Dalek Invasion of Earth, Day of the Daleks, The Planet of the Daleks [sic], Genesis of the Daleks, and the 2005 episodes Dalek and The Parting of the Ways, this CD pieces together the mysterious jigsaw that is the history of the Daleks.

This is essential listening for Dalek fans — and foes — new and old.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

In the mid-2010s, a BBC Radio documentary crew visit the remains of an underground vault in Utah where a Dalek incursion took place several years earlier. (TV: Dalek) A narrator describes the scene and discusses past recorded encounters between the Daleks and a mysterious individual known as the Doctor.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Nicholas Briggs narrates the documentary (which also includes sound clips of him performing the Dalek voice from the revived series). Sound clips feature the following major cast members (in approximate order of appearance; list is not complete):

Ninth Doctor - Christopher Eccleston
Rose Tyler - Billie Piper
Henry van Statten - Corey Johnson
Diana Goddard - Anna-Louise Plowman
First Doctor - William Hartnell
Ian Chesterton - William Russell
Barbara Wright - Jacqueline Hill
Susan Foreman - Carole Ann Ford
David Campbell - Peter Fraser
Marc Cory - Edward de Souza
Mavic Chen - Kevin Stoney
Second Doctor - Patrick Troughton
Polly - Anneke Wills
Ben Jackson - Michael Craze
Jamie McCrimmon - Frazer Hines
Third Doctor - Jon Pertwee
Jo Grant - Katy Manning
Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
Fourth Doctor - Tom Baker
Davros (Genesis of the Daleks) - Michael Wisher
Davros (Destiny of the Daleks) - David Gooderson
Romana - Lalla Ward
Fifth Doctor - Peter Davison
Lytton - Maurice Colbourne
Davros (Resurrection of the Daleks - Remembrance of the Daleks) - Terry Molloy
Kara - Eleanor Bron
Orcini — William Gaunt
Sixth Doctor - Colin Baker
Natasha Stengos - Bridget Lynch-Blosse
Arthur Stengos - Alec Linstead
Seventh Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
Ace - Sophie Aldred
Jack Harkness - John Barrowman

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Dalek Emperor sends the Master on his mission to divide humans and Draconians.
The Daleks invaded Earth in 2157 as a means for Project Degravitate.
The Dalek plot to start a war between humans and Draconians is known as Operation Divide and Conquer.

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

The only Doctor not represented in this documentary is the Eighth Doctor, as only televised Dalek stories are included (the Daleks have peripheral involvement in the events of the 1996 TV movie, but it was not a Dalek story otherwise, and this production predates The Night of the Doctor)
Continuity glitches between the various stories are rationalised as being the consequence of historical records being not 100-percent reliable over the course of centuries.
Both the 1963 Delia Derbyshire and 2005 Murray Gold versions of the Doctor Who theme are featured, along with an original piece of music that ends the documentary.

Clips featured[[edit] | [edit source]]

The documentary includes sound clips (sometimes extensive ones) from the following stories (in order of first appearance as some stories are excerpted more than once throughout the production):

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

The documentary indicates that at some point after the events of Dalek, the Vault is sealed and abandoned. This became a part of established continuity in the comic story Mystery Date.
The documentary covers the Ninth Doctor's confrontation with the Metaltron, (TV: Dalek) the First Doctor's visit to Skaro, (TV: The Daleks) the 2150s Dalek invasion of Earth, (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth) the attempt to assassinate the Doctor, (TV: The Chase) the invasion of 4000, (TV: Mission to the Unknown, The Daleks' Master Plan) the crashed ship on Vulcan, (TV: The Power of the Daleks) the "Final End", (TV: The Evil of the Daleks) the attack on Auderly House, (TV: Day of the Daleks) Operation Divide and Conquer, (TV: Frontier in Space) the Dalek presence on Spiridon (TV: Planet of the Daleks) and Exxilon, (TV: Death to the Daleks) the creation of the Daleks, (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) the Dalek-Movellan War, (TV: Destiny of the Daleks) the rescue of Davros, (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks) his work on Necros, (TV: Revelation of the Daleks) the Shoreditch Incident, (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) and the invasion of 200,100. (TV: Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways)
The documentary surmises that certain events in the Classic Series, such as the Daleks' ability to travel through time (TV: The Chase) and the Time Lords helping the Doctor navigate his TARDIS to Spiridon (TV: Planet of the Daleks) were early shots fired in the Time War, with the War beginning in earnest with TV: Genesis of the Daleks. This is consistent with comments made by Russell T Davies and others that the events of Genesis of the Daleks were part of the Time War. AUDIO: Ascension, the final chapter of the Gallifrey audio drama series, also suggests the war began with the events of Genesis of the Daleks.