Fear of the Daleks [AUDIO/2007.2.?]

★★☆☆☆

  Story-centric people would probably find this more enjoyable than I do; there's a good idea of the Daleks' inner psyche being examined and (for the nth time) an alien race/humanoid's greed for power overshadowing the truth that these evil pepperpots cannot be controlled. They're like a force of nature in that sense; they're untamable, and they only truly adhere to their own code and will.

  Such a story, about the exploration of this side of the Daleks with a healthy dose of mind projection and Zoe becoming an assassin, would be genuinely exciting with the kind of production that brings out that excitement factor. Alas, Fear of the Daleks is not that kind of production; it's a boring (sometimes dreadfully so) audio drama that has little in the way of creativity. Being a Companion Chronicle made during its earliest days, it has an awkwardness to it throughout the production -- as if it doesn't know just how much of an audiobook it wants to be before slipping back into full-cast audio drama territory. Wendy Padbury has always been a superb audio narrator/actor (just listen to her turn in the superb Davros), but she's particularly unengaging here, which is a shame. If it was because she was also bored out of her wits by the script she was given -- the worst crime, having a good idea and squandering it with lots of boring talk and exposition and whatnot -- I wouldn't blame her at all. If you're going to dip your feet into the Companion Chronicles range from Big Finish... as you should... stay well clear from Fear of the Daleks.