Doctor Who Unbound: Masters of War Review

 

Released in 2008, Eddie Robson's Big Finish play featured the Manchester-

born actor David Warner in his second appearance as the Doctor. His TV

work ranges from Z Cars to Ripper Street, whilst his Doctor Who debut at the

BBC was in the animated adventure, Dreamland then Cold War. In 1981,

he earned an Emmy Award for Masada. Warner's film work includes notable

roles in Tron, Time After Time, The Thirty Nine Steps, Titanic, and Mary

Poppins Returns - he even starred opposite Patrick Troughton in The

Omen (1976).

The premise of the Unbound stories basically offers a “what if?” scenario. In

this instance, what if the Doctor had never been UNIT’s scientific advisor?

In Sympathy for the Devil (2003) this alternate third Doctor was exiled

to Earth in 1997, not the 1970s of the Pertwee era. He found a world that had
endured three decades of alien encounters and incursions.
In this sequel, the Doctor and his companion Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
(Nicholas Courtney) arrive on Skaro during curfew, to find that the Thals are

ruled by the Daleks. Thal leader Gillen is played by Sarah Douglas (best known

as Ursa in the Superman films). As you’d expect, the Doctor vows to end the

Dalek occupation and sets out to capture a Dalek. Now reprogrammed to think

 that it’s their fabled creator Davros, the Dalek returns to the city and confronts

the Black Dalek. Two Dalek factions soon emerge and a civil war erupts just as

the alien Quatch land on Skaro with their Chief Technician - Davros (again

portrayed by Terry Molloy). The Daleks’ revered leader has returned to

 subjugate his creations for the Quatch empire. Naturally, the Daleks refuse to

be enslaved and are forced into an uneasy alliance with the Thals.

When the Doctor questions a Quatch prisoner using a truth-drug, it reveals

that it’s race manipulated the original Thal-Kaled conflict. Davros was crippled

in that war and this led to his drive to create the Daleks. Betrayed and seeking

revenge, Davros activates a secret device that he’s installed in the Quatch casings.

He sacrifices himself in the ensuing explosion and the Quatch are banished back

 to their pocket dimension.

As the Doctor prepares to leave Skaro, the Brigadier elects to stay and help the
Thals and Daleks in their peace process. This story could easily have been sub-titled Redemption of the Daleks.