Liberation of the Daleks Serviceable 14th Doctor Prelude

Posted in: BBC, Comics, Doctor Who, Review, TV | Tagged: Alan Barnes, bbc, Comics, david tennant, doctor who, doctor who magazine, Lee Sullivan, Panini Comics, russell t davies, Terence Dicks

Doctor Who: Liberation of the Daleks is an official in-canon look at the Fourteenth Doctor’s first adventure that’s passable but inessential.

We’re close, very close to the return of Doctor Who to TV, starting with the Children in Need mini-episode on November 17th, then “The Daleks in Colour” on BBC4 on Thursday the 23rd before the first of the 60th Anniversary specials “The Star Beast” premieres on Saturday the 25th on BBC One and Disney+. But before that, we’ve had “Liberation of the Daleks,” the first canonical story that takes place right after the Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) regenerated into the Fourteenth (David Tennant).

“Liberation of the Daleks” is a comic story originally serialized in Doctor Who Magazine in October 2022, the issue that came out just as “The Power of the Doctor” aired. The final special left with the Fourteenth Doctor standing on the top of the cliff, mystified that they had regenerated into an old face, the face of the Tenth Doctor. The comic story takes place immediately after that. It doesn’t delve into the mystery of why the Doctor has his old face and body back after wondering why before the TARDIS whisks him to the 1966 World Cup, the moment of England’s greatest football victory in Sports history, only right before the fateful goal is scored, Daleks show up and start blasting away the England players, as Daleks do. Now the Doctor has to unravel the mystery of why the Daleks are attacking the 1966 World Cup and whether a bunch of time-traveling alien tourists who want to witness key historical events have to do with this. Before long, he’s tangling with multiple Dalek factions again, making deals with Emperor Dalek and dealing with betrayals and counter-betrayals from all sides, all to distract us from wondering why he looks like David Tennant again. It’s all business as usual for a comic book story.

And that’s the downside of the comic and many Doctor Who comic stories. They’re heavy on plot and fanfiction continuity with a bit of social commentary but hardly anything else. It lacks the memorable emotional or character moment that sticks in the memory. What better to kick off the first post-regeneration story than more Daleks? The writing by Alan Barnes, who has written many tie-in stories, phones in the story beats like a seasoned pro as much as the late Terence Dicks. The art by Lee Sullivan, one of the best artists to draw Doctor Who comics since the 1990s, is more than adequate, but like too many of the comics, spends too much time getting the actor’s face right and not enough showing that Doctor’s personality. Tennant’s performance as the Doctor was always on the verge of a full-on bug-eyed manic freak-out which is what made him fun to watch, but that’s not on display in the writing or the art in “Liberation of the Daleks.” It’s a perfectly generic Doctor Who comic story that doesn’t break any of the show’s lore or continuity. Russell T. Davies has a more hands-on approach with the tie-in material for the show again, just like he did back in the 2000s, so this story has his approval. It leads directly to the Children in Need special, where The Doctor travels back to Skaro on the dawn of the Daleks’ creation. Maybe you might get a little bit of extra background on the story from reading “Liberation of the Daleks,” but it’s inessential, and you would still understand what’s going on in the special short episode if you never read the comic story that precedes it. Maybe that’s all “Liberation of the Daleks” needed to be: a disposable story to tide us over until the real story begins on TV.

The chapters of “Liberation of the Daleks” have been collected into a single trade that’s now available in the UK and out in the US on November 28th.

Doctor Who: Liberation of the Daleks

Review by Adi Tantimedh

6.5/10

A perfectly adequate and passable “Doctor Who” comic story featuring everyone’s fan favourite villains the Daleks that’s a canonical continuation from the end of “The Power of the Doctor”. It’s perfectly fine if inessential, full of plot but lacking the memorable character and emotional moments of the show, designed to give fans a new story to tide them over before the 60th Anniversary Specials premiere on television.

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