War of the Daleks (novel)

War of the Daleks is the fifth BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures novel featuring the Eighth Doctor and Samantha Jones. It was written by John Peel. It features the Daleks, Davros and several Thals. This novel is also notable for significantly attempting to retroactively rewrite every televised Dalek story from Destiny of the Daleks onwards. It also features a reference to every single TV story featuring the Daleks from The Daleks through to Remembrance of the Daleks.

Publisher's summary
The Doctor is repairing the TARDIS systems once again when it is swept up by a garbage ship roving through space, the Quetzel.

When another ship approaches and takes the Quetzel by force, the Doctor discovers that he and Sam are not the only unwitting travellers on board - there is a strangely familiar survival pod in the hold. Delani, the captain of the second ship, orders the pod to be opened. The Doctor is powerless to intervene as Davros is awakened once again.

But this is no out-and-out rescue of Davros. Delani and his crew are Thals, the sworn enemies of the Daleks. They intend to use Davros as a means to wipe out the Daleks, finally ridding the universe of the most aggressive, deadly race ever to exist. But the Doctor is still worried. For there is a signal beacon inside the pod, and even now a Dalek ship is closing in...

Plot
The story opens up with the Doctor and Sam in the TARDIS doing some maintenance when they are collected by a ship which holds an escape pod containing Davros. A group of Thals arrive; they want Davros to alter their species so they will be better able to fight the Daleks. A force of Daleks then arrive and take the Doctor and Davros, along with other characters, to Skaro. Before landing on Skaro, the Doctor discovers that the coordinates he believed were Skaro's were actually those of the planet Antalin.

Since Davros's return the Dalek Prime has met considerable resistance with a number of Davros loyalists forming. Initiating a final civil war on Skaro, the Dalek Prime has all the Davros loyalists revealed and exterminated. In the mean time he releases the Doctor to leave Skaro. The Doctor discovers a planted device on board the TARDIS which would allow the Daleks to survive in case the Dalek Prime failed. He jettisons it into the vortex.

With his faction defeated, Davros is sentenced to death by matter dispersal. Prior to his downfall he had implanted a Spider Dalek as a spy amongst the Dalek Prime's forces. Davros is placed in a disintegration chamber and his atoms dispersed. His fate is left open when his data is either erased from the disintegrator or transmatted across space to a safe location.

Characters

 * Eighth Doctor
 * Sam Jones
 * Davros
 * Dalek Prime
 * The Daleks
 * Ayaka
 * Chayn
 * Cathbad
 * Delani
 * Harmon

Daleks

 * Skaro means "home" in the original Kaled language.
 * Davros still has Dalek supporters on Skaro.
 * Davros used the Hand of Omega, which destroyed what he thought of as Skaro.
 * Several types of Daleks appear: Dalek Striders, Spider Daleks, Marine Dalek.
 * Movellans, it is suggested, are of Dalek manufacture.
 * The Doctor says the Daleks "have no interest in anything but conquest and war. Art, decoration, poetry, music - it's all irrelevant to them."
 * At Davros's (or the Dalek Race's, depending on how you see it) trial the Daleks play a recording of Professor Rachel Jensen concerning Coal Hill School and the battle that took place there.
 * The Dalek Prime is one of the original Daleks. It is the leader of all the Daleks.

The Doctor's items

 * The Doctor has another sonic screwdriver, which he uses to kill the Daleks with high frequency shock waves.
 * The Doctor's jacket came from a costume shop in San Francisco.

Foods and beverages

 * Sam Jones is vegetarian.

Individuals

 * Sam cries out, "I'm too young to die!", before breaking into hysterical giggles that turn into odd laughter. She's been in the TARDIS for around six months.
 * The Doctor, Sam, the Thals and the crew of the Quetzel are taken by the Daleks to Skaro.

Planets

 * It is suggested that the Seventh Doctor destroyed a planet called Antalin rather than Skaro.

Species

 * Mechanoids have fought the Daleks on more than one occasion.
 * A Slyther makes a brief appearance (during an interlude).
 * Some Draconians make an appearance (also during an interlude). They die.
 * Varga plants are mentioned briefly as the crew of the Quetzel consider what could be within the pod.

TARDIS

 * The Doctor removes the TARDIS lock to discover how the Master got through the lock in San Francisco.

Vehicles

 * The Quetzel has a Bussard Ram Jet which Sam learnt from reading Jane's Spaceships.

Story notes

 * The meaning of Dalek colours is revealed in this novel: Grey Daleks are the foot soldiers with limited intelligence; the Blue Daleks serve as corporals and sergeants; the Red Daleks have some intelligence and autonomy from the Dalek command structure; Black Daleks are smarter still; the Gold Daleks are the elite; and at the top is the Dalek Prime.
 * This story was the first to feature a Dalek inside the TARDIS, which did not happen again until TV: The Parting of the Ways.
 * Counting the Interludes, every single Dalek story is referenced in some way (except Death to the Daleks).
 * The Dalek Prime looks like the Dalek Emperor from The Dalek Chronicles.
 * The Dalek Prime previous appeared in John Peels' Dalek novelisations The Chase, The Mutation of Time, The Evil of the Daleks (as the Dalek Emperor) and was mentioned in Mission to the Unknown. This is the Dalek Prime's first role in an original story. The second and only other would be AUDIO: The Four Doctors, it's only role outside of a novel.
 * War of the Daleks began life as a four-part TV story, but when the series was cancelled it was shelved, then was put forward by John Peel as a possible Virgin New Adventures novel. It was rejected, before finally becoming an Eighth Doctor Adventure. Peel noted in an interview, "Another reason for the story was to bring back Skaro. I feel that its destruction in Remembrance [of the Daleks] - was a bad move, as did Terry Nation. When I sought his permission for War, he asked me to try and rectify the destruction, which I think I've done very sneakily."
 * This is the only Doctor Who novel to feature Davros as a character.
 * The novel was released the same day as the Past Doctor Adventure novel Illegal Alien, another proposed TV story that was scrapped due to the show's cancellation and featured another popular recurring enemy. Additionally, like War, Illegal Alien was also the fifth novel of its line.

Retcon
War of the Daleks is controversial for its retconning of every Dalek story from Destiny of the Daleks to Remembrance of the Daleks, although it is not really a true retcon. The retcon also makes reference to other Dalek stories.


 * For discussion of narrative issues see War of the Daleks discontinuity and plot holes

Continuity

 * The Doctor basically retells the events of TV: The Daleks, Genesis of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks to Sam, Chayn and the others.
 * In conversation with the Dalek Prime the events of (in addition to the above stories) TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, Day of the Daleks, Destiny of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks are discussed in varying details. However, as mentioned in "Story notes" above, everything from Destiny of the Daleks onwards is retconned in some way.
 * This is set after TV: Planet of the Daleks.
 * The Dalek factory ship is suggested to be the factory ship in TV: The Power of the Daleks.
 * In PROSE: Salvation it's established that the Mechanoids were sent out in early stages of space exploration...so how do they recognise the Movellans (who were from a much later period).
 * In PROSE: GodEngine it is shown that the Daleks were hollowing out Earth's core to make an Osiran device work; here it's so they can pilot planets.
 * Sam complains about the lack of a kitchen in the TARDIS; there is one in PROSE: The Room With No Doors, PROSE: Autumn Mist and Escape Velocity.
 * The Doctor says the Daleks "have no interest in anything but conquest and war. Art, decoration, poetry, music - it's all irrelevant to them" (page 170); he's forgetting "The Lament of the Non-operational", mentioned in PROSE: The Also People.
 * In the 'Human Space' Interlude, TV: The Daleks' Master Plan is briefly visited upon.
 * In the 'Draconian Space' Interlude, Draconians first appeared in TV: Frontier in Space.
 * In the 'Hesperus' Interlude Mechanoids appear; they first appeared in TV: The Chase.
 * The Doctor says he took a trip to Skaro for the Master's trial. (TV: Doctor Who)
 * On page 187 the Doctor comments, "I was starting to get worried that you'd discovered religion.", which actually happens in TV: The Parting of the Ways.
 * In TV: Daleks in Manhattan, one of the Cult of Skaro states that its homeworld was "destroyed in a great war", presumably the Last Great Time War. If this world is Skaro (its name is not mentioned) then this could support the idea that Antalin was destroyed in TV: Remembrance of the Daleks. However, Russell Davies has said that the destruction shown in Remembrance was regarded as part of the Last Great Time War. It is also possible of course that this homeworld was not Skaro or that the Dalek's statement is a hyperbole, as the planet is visited post-Time War in GAME: City of the Daleks and TV: Asylum of the Daleks. It is also possible that at some point during the Time War, the Daleks managed to restore the original Skaro.