ENERGY OF THE DALEKS

The Energy of the Daleks from Big Finish is an example of how the two-episode limitation shows itself up, like a nooWHO episode, of being too short.  Even though each episode is 30 minutes, giving us a 1hr adventure, rather than 45 minutes on TV, you can tell that the writer has refrained from adding any complexity or additional levels to the plot simply because there wouldn’t be enough time to explore them.  So, instead of having a 90minute adventure squeezed into a 1hr slot, we have a 45 minute story stretched into a 1hr slot.

The duration is what prevents this story from being anything classic.

The simplistic plot is as follows – the Doctor and Leela follow a strange energy reading to London, Earth of 2015, only it turns out to be 2025.  The Doctor can’t, at first, identify the energy source and they get caught up in protest march, protesting against the energy crisis – of the government offering “free” or cheap energy via solar power whilst the energy companies keep the prices artificially high to make themselves the most profit.  A good bit of moralising in the way the classic WHO might have made statements such as this.

The Doctor spots a strange dome object atop the National Gallery, which turns out to be a receiver that collects the energy beamed from solar receptors on the moon.  These domes are present all around the world.

Where are the Daleks?  The technology for this “beamed solar energy” secretly comes from the Daleks, via brainwashing a scientist.  Their plan appears to be to transfer far too much energy to each of these domes around the world, causing a worldwide catastrophe that will wipe out the human race.

Mix in capturing Leela who inadvertently blurts out, under torture, that she’s a friend of the Doctor, and cue plenty of “Exterminate the Doctor!” shrieks, and that pretty much sums up the adventure.

I’m half-way through the second episode right now, but I don’t foresee too much more than that coming up before the end titles.

A better story than the previous disaster, and not one that’s overblown with Daleks (no sign of Davros), and one with a bit of a morale/statement.  All the ingredients are there – only the limited duration prevents this particular cake from rising too much.