Masters of War

Continuing their adventures together, the Doctor and the Brigadier land on a world devastated by a nuclear war; the soil is barren and at first glimpse the planet seems to be totally dead. But there is life in the ashes; the Thal people live under the protection of the machine-like Daleks, who in turn are awaiting the return of their creator, a man named Davros. This is far from what the Doctor knows of the Daleks from his previous adventure with them - they are killers, they have no love for the Thals at all so this must all be a big mistake. But when Davros does return from his mission, the truth behind matters is revealed and the Doctor doesn't know whose side to be on.

It's a bit unusual with this limited series to create a continuity within itself with the Doctor and the Brigadier having left Earth together and now making up a TARDIS team. After all there are only eight of these stories and their purpose seemed more to look at how things could have been different at pivotal moments rather than go off on a big tangent. But then again, things are very different in this story for the antagonists as well, mainly for Davros.

Chronologically Davros is introduced much sooner this way than he would be if I were only looking at televised episodes; here in Masters of War his origins and his role as Dalek creator are not touched on; it is assumed that the listener at this point would know who Davros was and how his backstory played out. As with the Unbound series itself, Davros and his story are given a bit of the old "what if" treatment and this is the result: a double length adventure (why wouldn't it be considering it's a Dalek story) with a lot of the old rules tossed out the window. Probably best enjoyed after getting through the entire regular series, though, or at least after Davros shows up in it, then the "what if" factor here will be more obvious.

Delving too far into that will only serve as a spoiler, though, so let's just look at how well the Brigadier and this alternative Doctor played by David Warner work together as a team. The Brig, it has been argued, would not work so well as a companion with the Doctor on a regular basis because his strength lies not only in his allegiance to the Doctor but his skills as a leader of an army. Take that away and the Brig has a bit less of a purpose, unless of course he were a retired man and no longer had his military duties. Doesn't take long for him to find himself a new army though once this tale gets rolling, and then he's the Brigadier we all knew in his heyday. This is, however, where this travelling duo stop although the alternative Doctor does make a return eventually in the future. Can't say where though. More spoilers.

NEXT EPISODE: THE MAGICIAN'S OATH