A new Doctor Who spinoff just launched today and it’s free to watch wherever you are in the world. The BBC is in the midst of its massive Time Lord Victorious transmedia initiative, with basically every kind of Who media outside of TV uniting to tell stories set within the TLV framework. One of the most ambitious projects is Daleks!, an animated webseries focusing on the Doctor’s oldest enemies, and the first episode is available to view now on YouTube.
Titled “The Archive of Islos,” the 13-minute action-packed adventure sees the Daleks invade the planet Islos as part of their scheme to get their sucker arms on the Archive of Islos, a vast resource of valuable knowledge. Unfortunately for the evil pepper pots, however, the robotic Archivians who guard the Archive are not as easily threatened as they expected them to be.
Though it falls under the Time Lord Victorious umbrella, Daleks! can be enjoyed on its own as much as it can as part of the overarching narrative. Those who’ve read the comics and novels that’ve already been released will be familiar with the Dalek Emperor, the Dalek Strategist and the Dalek Executioner, who feature prominently here. Veteran Dalek actor Nicholas Briggs once again lends his talents, while the rest of the cast includes Anjli Mohindra, Ayesha Antoine and Joe Sugg.
Unfortunately, the animation style is being criticized on social media, but it’s worth pointing out that this is a mini-webseries produced for a limited budget during lockdown, so it’s fair enough that it’s maybe not as polished as it could be. The story, penned by TLV mastermind James Goss is fast-paced and thrilling, though, and ends on a fun cliffhanger teasing the next chapter. Daleks! has four more 10-minute episodes to go which will air weekly on Thursdays.
And when that’s finished, they pepper pots return to Doctor Who proper in special “Revolution of the Daleks,” which is likely dropping on New Year’s Day.
