Changes: The Message of Mystery (comic story)

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The Message of Mystery

Release details

Printed in:

The Dalek Book

Release date:

30 June 1964

Dalek annual - *The Dalek Book*
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The Oil Well	The Secret of the Mountain

The Message of Mystery was a fumetti comic strip in The Dalek Book. Using photographs taken from The Daleks, it told a brand new story with Susan Foreman as the main character.

The story also had a puzzle element to it. The story tells the tale of how Susan helped the Daleks decode a message, but it ends with her not having actually revealed that message to her captors. The reader is then given the tools Susan is purported to have used — the so-called "Dalekode" — to untangle the mystery themselves. Despite the reader interaction, the answer is certainly a part of the story and the correct answer to the puzzle is an integral part of the narrative.

Summary

Centuries before they embarked on universal conquest, the Daleks on Skaro receive a message they cannot decode. Nervous, they begin preparing for war footing immediately. Meanwhile, Susan Foreman borrows her grandfather's TARDIS for a short trip to Venus. Instead, she lands in Skaro's petrified jungle. She is quickly captured by the Daleks, who believe she might be responsible for the mysterious message, and taken to the Dalek City. She tries to escape, but they soon overwhelm her again. They force her to try to decode the message by threatening not to feed her unless she helps.

Susan stands up for herself and gets the Daleks to back down a bit. They will feed her first, then she will decode the message. They concede the point, and their admiration grows for the young girl. As she talks to them some more, one Dalek in particular grows fond of the young space-time traveller. He doesn't want her to decode the message, because that will mean she has to leave Skaro.

Susan takes a look at the message and uses what she calls "Dalekode" to solve the puzzle. She begins to laugh in delight. The Daleks respond fearfully to the sound, which they've never heard before. Some of them are so afraid that they topple over. Susan doesn't understand what's going on, and runs off to the TARDIS.

Just as she nears her grandfather's borrowed ship, she finds one Dalek waiting for her - the one who'd grown so fond of her. It begs her not to go, but she leaves anyway. In the aftermath of her departure, the Daleks keep watching for enemies until one Dalek uses the notes Susan had left behind to decode the message, which says: "Peace and good will to all".

Characters

References

to be added

Notes

This is the only story in all Dalek annuals to make a positive reference to the Doctor and the Doctor's TARDIS.
This story contradicts the televised series in a number of ways:
- There is no precedent either for Susan flying the TARDIS solo or the Doctor allowing anyone to "borrow" his TARDIS, though his wife River Song would later be shown to frequently do so without his knowledge. (TV: The Husbands of River Song)
- Neither Ian nor Barbara are mentioned in this story, making it is unclear if it takes place before or during the time they were travelling with the Doctor and Susan. Thus, either this story or The Daleks would be her second encounter with the Daleks, but in neither one does she seem to recognise them, and they don't recognise her in the latter.
- The Daleks' characterisation is very different from most other stories: they are fascinated with Susan, admiring her courage, and one Dalek even wants her to stay with them (in contradiction with Daleks' usual deep-rooted disdain for all non-Dalek lifeforms). Laughter is also shown to frighten the Daleks to the point that they literally topple over in fear; this has never had this effect on Daleks in any other story (though in fairness, few have depicted people laughing in the face of Daleks).
- The Daleks are able to leave their city, which they couldn't do in The Daleks due to being powered by static electricity; this later became the norm, from The Dalek Invasion of Earth onwards.

Continuity

to be added

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{title dab away}}
 {{real world}}
-{{TitleComic}}
+{{ImageLinkComics}}
-{{Infobox Other Short Story
+{{Infobox Story
-|name={{StoryTitle}}
 |image=TheMessageOfMystery.jpg
-|series=[[Dalek annual]] -<br />[[The Dalek Book]]|
+|series=[[Dalek annual]] - ''[[The Dalek Book]]''
 |main character=[[Susan Foreman]]
 |featuring=[[Dalek]]s
-|year= [[Skaro]]
+|setting= [[Skaro]]
 |writer=
-|publication=[[The Dalek Book]]
+|publication=''[[The Dalek Book]]''
+|release date= [[30 June (releases)|30 June]] [[1964 (releases)|1964]]
-|previous story=The Oil Well (comic story)
-|next story=The Secret of the Mountain (comic story)
+|prev=The Oil Well (comic story)
+|next=The Secret of the Mountain (short story)
-|}}'''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' was a [[wikipedia:fumetti|fumetti]] comic strip in ''[[The Dalek Book]]''.  Using photographs taken from ''[[The Daleks]]'', it told a brand new story with [[Susan Foreman]] as the main character.
+}}'''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' was a {{w|fumetti}} comic strip in ''[[The Dalek Book]]''. Using photographs taken from ''[[The Daleks (TV story)|The Daleks]]'', it told a brand new story with [[Susan Foreman]] as the main character.
-The story also had a puzzle element to it.  The story tells the tale of how Susan helped the Daleks decode a message, but it ends with her not having actually revealed that message to her captors.  The reader is then given the tools Susan is purported to have used — the so-called "Dalekode" — to untangle the mystery themselves.  Despite the reader interaction, the answer is certainly a part of the story and the correct answer to the puzzle is an integral part of the narrative
+The story also had a puzzle element to it. The story tells the tale of how Susan helped the Daleks decode a message, but it ends with her not having actually revealed that message to her captors. The reader is then given the tools Susan is purported to have used — the so-called "Dalekode" — to untangle the mystery themselves. Despite the reader interaction, the answer is certainly a part of the story and the correct answer to the puzzle is an integral part of the narrative.
 == Summary ==
-Centuries before their attempted conquest of the [[Solar System]], ([[DAN]]: ''[[Invasion of the Daleks (comic story)|Invasion of the Daleks]]'') [[Dalek]]s on the peaceful [[Skaro]] receive a message they cannot decode. Nervous, they jump to a war footing almost immediately. Meanwhile, [[Susan Foreman]] borrows [[First Doctor|her grandfather]]'s [[the TARDIS|TARDIS]] for a short trip to [[Venus]]. Instead, she lands on [[Skaro]]. She is quickly captured by the Daleks, who believe she might be responsible for the mysterious message. She momentarily escapes, but soon they overwhelm her again. They force her to try to decode the message by threatening not to feed her unless she helps.
+Centuries before they embarked on universal conquest, the [[Dalek]]s on [[Skaro]] receive a message they cannot decode. Nervous, they begin preparing for war footing immediately. Meanwhile, [[Susan Foreman]] borrows [[First Doctor|her grandfather]]'s [[the Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]] for a short trip to [[Venus]]. Instead, she lands in Skaro's [[petrified jungle]]. She is quickly captured by the Daleks, who believe she might be responsible for the mysterious message, and taken to the [[Dalek City]]. She tries to escape, but they soon overwhelm her again. They force her to try to decode the message by threatening not to feed her unless she helps.
 Susan stands up for herself and gets the Daleks to back down a bit. They will feed her first, ''then'' she will decode the message. They concede the point, and their admiration grows for the young girl. As she talks to them some more, one Dalek in particular grows fond of the young space-time traveller. He doesn't want her to decode the message, because that will mean she has to leave Skaro.
-But Susan isn't sticking around. She takes a look at the message and uses what she calls "Dalekode" to solve the puzzle. She begins to laugh in delight. But the Daleks respond violently to the laughter. They've never heard such a sound before. Some of them are so afraid that they topple over. Susan doesn't understand what's going on, but she does know a lucky break when she sees one. She heads off towards [[the TARDIS]] immediately.
+Susan takes a look at the message and uses what she calls "Dalekode" to solve the puzzle. She begins to laugh in delight. The Daleks respond fearfully to the sound, which they've never heard before. Some of them are so afraid that they topple over. Susan doesn't understand what's going on, and runs off to the TARDIS.
-Just as she nears her grandfather's borrowed ship, she notices that one Dalek is blocking her progress. It's the one who'd grown so fond of her in the [[Dalek City]]. He begs her not to go. But she leaves anyway, never telling the Daleks what the message says.
+Just as she nears her grandfather's borrowed ship, she finds one Dalek waiting for her - the one who'd grown so fond of her. It begs her not to go, but she leaves anyway. In the aftermath of her departure, the Daleks keep watching for enemies until one Dalek uses the notes Susan had left behind to decode the message, which says: "Peace and good will to all".
-In the aftermath of her departure, the Daleks remain on a war footing, until a Dalek was able to use the notes Susan had left behind to decode the message. Far from being a threat, the message is, "Peace and good will to all". The Daleks stand down.
 == Characters ==
 * [[Susan Foreman]]
 * [[Dalek]]s
 == References ==
 ''to be added''
 == Notes ==
-* This is the only story in all [[Dalek annual]]s to make a positive reference to [[the Doctor]] and [[the TARDIS]].
+* This is the only story in all [[Dalek annual]]s to make a positive reference to [[the Doctor]] and [[the Doctor's TARDIS]].
-* There is no precedent in the televised series for Susan flying the TARDIS solo.
+* This story contradicts the televised series in a number of ways:
-* Similarly, there is no precedent in the televised series for the Doctor allowing anyone to "borrow" his TARDIS.
+** There is no precedent either for Susan flying the TARDIS solo or the Doctor allowing anyone to "borrow" his TARDIS, though his wife [[River Song]] would later be shown to frequently do so without his knowledge. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Husbands of River Song (TV story)|The Husbands of River Song]]'')
+** Neither [[Ian Chesterton|Ian]] nor [[Barbara Wright|Barbara]] are mentioned in this story, making it is unclear if it takes place before or during the time they were travelling with the Doctor and Susan. Thus, either this story or ''The Daleks'' would be her second encounter with the Daleks, but in neither one does she seem to recognise them, and they don't recognise her in the latter.
-* The implication of the story is that Susan would've been able to pilot the TARDIS back to wherever the Doctor, [[Ian Chesterton|Ian]] and [[Barbara Wright|Barbara]] had been dropped off.  However, the [[season 1]] TARDIS couldn't be controlled with this sort of precision.  Indeed, one of the themes of the first season was the Doctor's abject inability to get Ian and Barbara back to their home era.
-* Laughter is shown to frighten the Daleks to the point that they literally topple over in fear.  Laughter has never been seen to have this effect on Daleks in any other story.
+** The Daleks' characterisation is very different from most other stories: they are fascinated with Susan, admiring her courage, and one Dalek even wants her to stay with them (in contradiction with Daleks' usual deep-rooted disdain for all non-Dalek lifeforms). Laughter is also shown to frighten the Daleks to the point that they literally topple over in fear; this has never had this effect on Daleks in any other story (though in fairness, few have depicted people laughing in the face of Daleks).
+** The Daleks are able to leave their city, which they couldn't do in ''The Daleks'' due to being powered by static electricity; this later became the norm, from ''[[The Dalek Invasion of Earth (TV story)|The Dalek Invasion of Earth]]'' onwards.
 == Continuity ==
 ''to be added''
+{{Dalek comic stories}}
-== Timeline ==
-* For [[Susan Foreman|Susan]], the story takes place after ''[[The Daleks]]'', because it's implied she knows she's on [[Skaro]].
-* For the [[Dalek]]s, it happens well before the other events in the book, because they're described as being in a time of peace.  They also apparently have no experience of humans because laughter petrifies them.  Other stories in ''[[The Dalek Book]]'' show them as intimately familiar with humans and human society.
 {{TitleSort}}
-[[Category:Dalek comic stories]]
+[[Category:The Dalek Book comic stories]]
-[[Category:DAN comic stories]]
+[[Category:Comic stories set on Skaro]]

Tardis