Prisoner Of The Daleks (2009) Review

Prisoner Of The Daleks is a fantastic Doctor Who novel that perfectly recreates the feel of a classic Dalek story from the 70s combined with the efficient pace of the RTD era. It's fun, satisfying and charming to top.

PLOT

After the Tenth Doctor is rescued by a group of bounty hunters(he got stuck behind a door), he and his new "buddies" get involved in a Dalek plot to directly control history via a time rift. Captured and sent to a secret Dalek base, the Doctor must face "Dalek X"(yes, you read right) and prevent him from stealing his TARDIS...

ANALYSIS

I love it. It certainly has the length of a good 6-parter Dalek story and according to the foreword, was inspired by Planet Of The Daleks, but it also has characterisation much more akin to the RTD days - a gritty future with mercenaries flying a clunky Millennium Falcon-style spacecraft whilst judging the Doctor's fate as he surreptitiously blends in(or not).

Besides atmosphere, the book also has a great sense of humor. In fact, there's one scene I can safely say is my favourite comedy moment in Doctor Who, period.

One thing that may upset a few readers is the amount of continuity injected in, which I certainly don't think was necessary. And for as great as the humor is, some jokes just fall flat. But the positives certainly outweigh the negatives. When you put down the book with a smile, you know it.

CHARACTERS

The Tenth Doctor walks a thin line between irritating and lovable here. It could just be me, but all the "ooh" and "bla-bla-bla-well, bla-bla" moments just aren't as good on paper as they are on-screen.

The captain of the ship, Jon Bowman eventually redeems himself, but is an unlikable moron for a large part of the novel. I'm actually surprised the Doctor didn't punch the daylights out of him for all the sniping he does, pacifist or not.

I wish Koral(a catlike lady who owes her life to the captain and ultimately falls in love with him) would've stayed on as a companion. Even though no direct physical description was never given of her, she sounded sexy even on page.

Scrum and Cuttin' Edge(what a name) were both pretty human. They could be arses, but they could also be really nice, in the end. Neither were anything special, but they were just... well, human, if you get what I mean.

Stella was a decent would-be companion, but we didn't see much of her, so I'll just leave it at that.

DALEK X... oh boy. I love Dalek X. I wish I had my own Dalek X. Is that a great name or what(a clue... no)? Anyway, Dalek X is basically the Heinrich Himmler of the Daleks, striking fear into every mutant's... erm... (do Daleks have hearts?) He works really well as a surrogate Davros-esque figure and his scenes with the Doctor were gold, particularly their final conversation.
In fact, the Daleks here are as good as they were in the Troughton stories, I am not making this up. Their emotions seep through the book.

NOTES

*Having the Daleks talk in the Dalek font was a brilliant touch. Absolutely brilliant.

*Considering that Dalek X survived via astronic radiation AND he was a time-oriented scientist, could he be the famed Dalek Time Controller from Big Finish?
 
*On the cover of the copy I have, there is a Time-War era Dalek, painted bright red. No such Dalek appears in the book.

*Another lovely touch: the Daleks do not recognise the Doctor because he's jumped a time-track and met them before the Time War even happened. Explanations like this need to be explained to Steven Moffat.

*The Doctor believes that the Daleks are searching for the time rift on the basis that one of them told him that "the Daleks will become masters of time and space"(and it turns out to be a deliberate trap). That's a bit contrived in my opinion.

*At some point, the Doctor sees something brilliant(I won't spoil what, but it's pretty awesome), causing him to shout out "a new sight!" as if he saw something new for the first time in years. That's a nice tie-in with the Eleventh Doctor.

*The date when all these things are happening is as inconsistent as the Doctor's age. At one point it's "thousands of years after Morse(the code guy) was born", at another it's 500 years in the future.

*The Daleks' plot to control time travel is also a neat tie-in to Day Of The Daleks.

*The Doctor bizarrely does not mention being an alien whose home planet was wiped out by the Daleks to the crew despite being accused of not understanding the exact same situation by another alien whose home planet was wiped out by the Daleks.

*A lot of references to the Draconians in this book. This guy really liked Pertwee, I see.

BEST QUOTE

"WHERE DID YOU LAST HAVE IT?!" - Dalek X, after the Doctor accidentally dropped the TARDIS key. Best. Moment. Ever.

CONCLUSION

It's not just a great Doctor Who novel, it's a great sci-fi novel. Lots of planets and sights to see and heroes and villains to meet. Action and humor, the way every Star-something nerd likes.