At first glance - or rather, at first listen, since only one episode of this story still exists - it's hard to know exactly what's going on. We have an antiques dealer in the '60s who is something of an antique himself, leading our time travelers to an experiment being conducted in the Victorian era with time travel, all done with mirrors. And then the Daleks appear, to conduct their own experiment on one of the Doctor's companions - with the Doctor's help. This story is a slow build, but when the reasons behind it all are revealed, it's absolutely chilling. (Kudos to Daleks in Manhattan for at least trying to do something similar, even if it was a failed attempt.) Of all the episodes still missing, this story and the next entry are the most tragic for Dalek fans, and the extant second episode gives us only a taste of how atmospheric this entire story must have been. Even more tragic is that we have next to nothing on film of the Emperor Dalek, a beautiful design that we'd argue has never been matched since, even by the new series (seen in glorious colour above). Thankfully for all of us, the 'final end' of the Daleks that this story was meant to present was neither.
Tony Whitt has previously written TV, DVD, and comic reviews for CINESCAPE, NOW PLAYING, and iF MAGAZINE. His weekly COMICSCAPE columns from the early 2000s can still be found archived on Mania.com. He has also written a book of gay-themed short stories titled CRESCENT CITY CONNECTIONS, available on Amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle format. Whitt currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.
