Doctor Who: Enemy of the Daleks

This is an unremarkable dalek story, although not one entirely without merit. The format is the traditional base-under-siege, complicated by one of the 7th Doctor's secret agendas - although, in this instance, it's not terribly clear why he's being all mysterious about it to his companions.

The daleks themselves are well written here, bringing out their merciless and murderous qualities, and giving them quite a sense of real menace as they advance through the base. It's a nice touch that this is then inverted by the reveal of the titular “enemy”, and it's good to see something that treats the daleks with such utter contempt.

The incidental music is another positive point, with a rock guitar theme not commonly seen in Big Finish productions. As is the way that the story impacts on Hex, unable to save those he sees as being in his charge. (One can, perhaps, see something of Rory in this, although it was written back in the Tennant era, and, if anything, Hex's role as a nurse comes to the fore more often than Rory's did).

It's somewhat let down, unfortunately, by some of the guest acting, with those playing the Valkyrie soldiers being largely to blame. I confess that I found the main villain's thick accent somewhat distracting, too, although, given the actor's name, it's presumably not a fake one. The fact that the cast is quite a bit smaller than the number of characters supposed to be in the story is also rather too obvious at points, and the sub-plot concerning the Valkyrie commander is resolved too easily and quickly for it to be at all believable.

The main story is followed by a ten-minute segment of a Second Doctor story read by Polly, following on from the introduction in the previous release, The Magic Mousetrap. Perhaps a little more happens in this one than in the first segment, but the characters are still wandering around in search of a plot. One gets the feeling that these might be rather better when listened to together, rather than in such short chunks, but it's how they were released.