Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

Daleks are my favorite Doctor Who villains: creepy as fuck, based at least partly on nazis (and yet somehow they don't freak me out so much since I didn't realize this for a while), and at least partly mechanical.   They believe they are superior to everyone and everything, are deadly, pretty damn near indestructible, and do everything in their power to destroy everything inferior to them.   (Or at times enslave them, although I always got the impression that their ultimate goal was to eradicate the inferior once they were done using them.)

This is a Dalek story without the Doctor, and it works wonderfully.   In fact, without the use of the sonic screwdriver, regeneration, or the Doctor's cleverness, it makes this a bit more of a taut storyline.   After all, no one can depend not the Doctor to act as a Deus Ex Machina, nor for him to cleverly figure out things on his own, or by someone suggesting something to them.   Even the Doctor has trouble with the Daleks and now the humans are alone fighting them. 

Pure, pure fun.   I didn't even miss the Doctor.   Excellent, and it shows just what the universe can do without him for an hour or two.   And once again, I tip my hat to Big Finish Productions.   They put on an amazing production, and supplemented the stage play which had a lot of action with a narrator.   I don't listen to all of the interviews, but I was mid-painting during one and the director - and the voice of the Daleks - spoke about the trouble with keeping true to the stage play without the action, and why and how he used the narrator.   I think it worked wonderfully.   I had pressed play without double checking if this was a stage play remake or not, and I didn't even realize until that interview, so I'd say he did an excellent job adapting this into an audiobook.   I can't speak as to how true it was to the original production as I've not seen it, but he spoke a bit about the trouble with keeping true to the original play in the interview as well.   Fun, fun times.  I'm going to clean and keep listening to audiobooks.