We Are The Daleks (audio story)

We Are The Daleks was the two hundred and first story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Jonathan Morris and featured Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Bonnie Langford as Melanie Bush.

You may be looking for a similarly-titled short story.

It featured the return of Mel who last appeared with the Seventh Doctor nearly a decade earlier in 2006's Red. In the intervening years, Mel had appeared in multiple audio stories with the Sixth Doctor.

Publisher's summary

The year is 1987, and Britain is divided. In Bradford, striker are picketing and clashing with the police. In the city of London, stockbrokers are drinking champagne and politicians are courting the super-rich. The mysterious media mogul Alek Zenos, head of the Zenos Corporation, is offering Britain an economic miracle. His partners wish to invest – and their terms are too good to refuse.

While the Doctor investigates Warfleet, a new computer game craze that is sweeping the nation, Mel goes undercover to find out the truth about Zenos's partners.

The Daleks have a new paradigm. They intend to conquer the universe using economic power. The power of the free market!

Plot

Part one

to be added

Part two

to be added

Part three

to be added

Part four

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
• Melanie Bush - Bonnie Langford
• Serena Paget - Kirsty Besterman
• Alek Zenos - Angus Wright
• Celia Dunthorpe - Mary Conlon
• Niles Bunbury / Frank Lewis - Robbie Stevens
• Brinsley Heaton - Ashley Zhangazha
• Shari - Lizzie Roper
• Afrid - Dominic Thorburn
• The Daleks / The Dalek Emperor / Newsreader / Thal - Nicholas Briggs

Worldbuilding

Daleks

• The Daleks use a time corridor to travel to London.
• The Daleks do not recognise the Doctor initially based on his physiognomy, indicating that they have not yet encountered him following his regeneration.
• The Daleks have a Supreme Council.

The Doctor

• The Doctor informs the Daleks that he has many names.
• The Doctor refers to the fact that he defeated the Daleks using the Human Factor during his second incarnation.

Mel Bush

• Serena Paget has a car phone. She is surprised that Mel has a mobile phone.

United Kingdom

• There are three million people unemployed in the United Kingdom.
• Zenos mentions that Britain has a rich culture of artists such as William Shakespeare, Thomas Gainsborough and Edward Elgar.

Skaro

• Niles Bunbury believes that Skaro looks like "something from a Dan Dare annual."
• Thal refugees from Skaro inhabit the world of Callico Nine, a Dalek slave world. The only Thals who remain on Skaro are slaves.

Technology

• Brinsley believes that Warfleet is the most realistic video game ever made.

Notes

Textless cover

• This story was recorded on 5 and 6 January 2015 at The Moat Studios.
• The story makes use of pre-title sequences, a format used occasionally by Big Finish and the television series during the original run in the 1980s.
• It is noted in the CD extras that this story is now a "historical" story in the same way Remembrance of the Daleks was and a similar amount of time existed between the publish date and the date this story is set.
• Mel answers a phone call with the phrase "Hello, IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again?"

Continuity

• Mel previously encountered both the Daleks and Davros on Lethe. The Daleks recognise her from this encounter. (AUDIO: The Juggernauts)
• Mel claims that 1987 is a year into her future, (PROSE: Head Games) something that both PROSE: Business Unusual and AUDIO: The Wrong Doctors contradict.
• A Dalek says, "Would you like some vol au vents?" (TV: The Power of the Daleks)
• The Doctor describes the Dalek mutant as a "bubbling lump of hate". (TV: Death to the Daleks)
• Shari mentions that the Doctor have helped the Thals before. (TV: The Daleks, Planet of the Daleks)
• The Doctor says, "I say, you've had the place redecorated. I don't like it." (TV: The Five Doctors)
• The Doctor comments, "Lead on, McDalek!" (AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks)
• The Dalek Emperor believes that using children as battle computers is a good strategy because they enjoy it. They would later use a young girl, Judith Winters, as their battle computer in November 1963. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
• The Doctor refers to the fact that he defeated the Daleks using the Human Factor during his second incarnation. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks)
• The Doctor creates a time storm on Skaro. (TV: Dragonfire)
• Upon the destruction of the Daleks, the Doctor comments "Ashes to ashes, rust to rust." (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
• Celia Dunthorpe makes herself Prime Minister of the Daleks. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
• At the end of the story the building-sized Dalek is left on Skaro, suggesting it is the same as the one which appears at the beginning of TV: Asylum of the Daleks.

External links

• Official We Are The Daleks page at bigfinish.com