Doctor Who: Fear of the Daleks

The Companion Chronicles #1.2

by Patrick Chapman, Nicholas Briggs (Narrator), Wendy Padbury (Narrator)

Why has Zoe Heriot been having nightmares about the Daleks? Who is the Doctor, a mysterious man from her past? When an evil scientist hijacks her mind to control a galaxy-conquering weapon, Zoe must stop him. First, she and the Doctor will face an enemy they had thought destroyed forever.

Genres: Doctor Who, Audiobook, Science Fiction, Fiction

Audio CD

First published January 31, 2007

Reviews

[Emilija · Rating 3 out of 5]

2024 52 Book Challenge - February Mini Challenge - 3) By An Author Born In A Leap Year

I quite enjoyed this audiobook. I liked the premise that Zoe was narrating a dream. It really tied into the story being an audiobook rather than a normal cast acted story by Big Finish, and I just thought that was really cool. I did also think that it was well voiced.

Plot wise, it was a standard Doctor Who Dalek story, nothing really out of the ordinary or stand out.

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fear of the Daleks - The Companions 2
Second Doctor, "Almost no" Jamie McCrimmon & Zoe

Zoey Harriot is telling someone about her dreams. She tells him about the first time she met the Daleks with the Doctor and Jamie. This story involves mind control technology. Supposedly she was controlled by an ally of the Daleks and her mission was to kill one of two presidents in peace conference. With the help of the Doctor and the redemption of that ally they thwart the plans of the Daleks.

Basically this is a very straightforward tale with worthy mention to Zoey. Jamie is almost non-existent and the funny doctor (I think that the Second Doctor is a funny one).

Worth of hearing? I don't think so. There are so much better out there.

[TheTimeScales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Other negative reviews I have read are totally unwarranted or don’t hold water in my opinion. Fine narration and emotive performance (especially after episode 1) by Padbury, including interplay with multiple characters and voice-acted Daleks that are in fact the crux of the story and present.

So… my review inevitably must go full-force into defense mode as this is the perfect story and after listening to well over a hundred releases at least, I can only imagine that the negativism has gone onto to shape “old” Doctor Who into convoluted new post-classic era, post-science-fiction territory and aesthetic. I definitely had read other reviewers online who have a total disdain for anything but a re-invention of the wheel, looking for some sort of constant expansion universe, instead of inventive adventures in figuratively familiar time and space!

Clear — not boring at any point (unlike its predecessor release, which I do actually like regardless for Maureen O’Brien’s performance) and is very much in the exact vein of 2nd Doctor. I listen to Doctor Who to get clear classic stories that have integrity and embody what it means to be and reflects the classic era, as advertised on the covers. This is such a story, and excellently so. I have to question whether harsh naysayers even enjoy original Doctor Who or prefer stories that extend beyond what the show was, or want character drama or stories that seek to deviate and detach instead. In light of such harsh others reviews that seem to rehash same points, some not true, I defend this clear, digestable and unconfused straight-laced story.

Great fx and use of music, narration and a decent story, for fans of the classic series and Zoe. Classic mold Doctor Who (for kids as well as those who grew up watching the original series) and far from being a blunder (quite the opposite) that others have suggested. One reviewer called this a sad mess, which I find ridiculous and must aggressively disagree because if that were to be true, literally 95% of the entire Doctor Who TV series would also be crap and the same. Out of many Companion Chronicles, this one of the closest in feel, writing and plot to a vintage episode reflecting this team. It’s a crucial imo. File under old school. By Dalek anatomical terms, this one definitely tickled my one-eyed protuberance. (Got a problem?)

Have no fear going into this one, if you have desire and pride in classic Doctor Who… You’ll at least get a decent audioplay here, regardless of my love, and definitely not subpar. This was, refreshingly, one that I was actually happy to have picked up and issued a very rare 5/5. I read many negative reviews first, but finally buckled being of a fan of Zoe (and the stellar Padbury), got this on-the-cheap and had to give this a listen. Turns out it was opposite of “a mess” and taught me to listen for myself, and not only that, but to gauge other frequent reviewers, many of whom are apparently at odds with my tastes.

My tastes admittedly do leaning towards firm classic science-fiction territory, not totally new renderings or one-sided political partisan preachings or portraitures. I listen for fine perfomance and relaxing or solid Who stories; don’t expect masterful writing from the limited and sometimes bigoted or BBC-affiliated writers that Big Finish only commonly employs to-date and who push neo-liberal politics or worse distorted views on history at times. (Honestly, read my slamming reviews when I post them). That last harsh but true point said, and since I painted myself so ferverently old-school: Some of my favorite stories are found in all ranges from all the Doctors including some “new-school” material, however, it is my opinion that classic Doctor Who rendered adventures are largely missing – and as a longtime fan and listener/reader I just don’t have faith in the writers out there. Big Finish does not really offer much diversity (real diversity – meaning writers who can actually write science-fiction and appreciate core classic Who beyond their own agenda), and I can follow these implied associations back to BBV days forward aligned with “Doctor Who 2005” (that is what is what at first, 2005 not classic and before they decided to drop the label after the mainstream popularity explosion). Some fabric of space has been torn at this time but the oddly low ratings for this release. This is easily one of the best Big Finish, with nothing offense, but perhaps that depends if you enjoy the 2nd Doctor era and Zoe. Props to Padbury, a total gem and literally timeless in her abilities of performance and voice.
This was 5/5.

Director: Mark J Thompson
Writer: Patrick Chapman

[Danny Welch · Rating 1 out of 5]

This one seems to be a bit of a mixed one amongst fans with some finding enjoyment out of it and some like myself finding it to be a pretty poor story. Apart from the performances from Wendy Padbury and Nicholas Briggs in this audio, I found the story an utter bore with some pretty atrocious dialogue and some ideas that could have been interesting but were handled rather weakly. Overall disappointing. 1/10

[David Layton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Companion Chronicles are almost entirely narrated stories, with only a bit of dramatizing. The narrator plays nearly all the voices. Here, Wendy Padbury is Zoe talking to a counselor about her dreams in which she vividly recalls adventures with The Doctor and Jamie that she thinks she could not possibly have had. This one involves a Dalek plan to use surrogates to wreck a peace conference. The evil plan does not make much sense as evil plans go.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know if this is a story that would have worked with better writing. Some of it was desperately cardboard-y (granted that the format of the Companion Chronicles is always less vivid) I felt I needed at least some little grunts of encouragement from the counsellor Zoe's talking to about her dreams, more from the Doctor and Jamie. There was a flicker of entertainment near the end but on the whole I found I was visualising shaky sets rather than engaged with a good Whovian tale.

[Xander Toner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just fine. I love Wendy Padbury a lot so that greatly improved my enjoyment of this, but I must say that this really wasn't that interesting of a story. The Daleks definitely didn't feel like a necessary addition to the plot, maybe only there because this is was a new range and they needed some involvement from a notable villain. The only real reason I can give for someone to actively seek this one out is if they're doing a completionist streak.

[Billy Martel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Difficult to rate this. Most of it is a quite bad, unintentionally goofy story in which everyone is woefully out of character. And then that ending comes in and almost makes me forget all the bullshit I had to go through to get there.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat decent, but you can only do so much with few voices in a Companion Chronicle.

[Cynik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Doctor Who stories told by campanions (audio book.) They have been OK but Doctor Who seems to mainly be best on the screen.

[Jamieson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a decent story, if not overly memorable after the fact. When Zoe's memories of her travels with the Doctor begin resurfacing, she tells her therapist about it. In this case, a story about the Daleks using mind transference crystals to attempt an assassination during peace talks between two warring races. It's an enjoyable story in the moment and Wendy Padbury does a decent job narrating and conveying the characters voices while guest actor Nicholas Briggs does hisnormal good job as the Daleks. I don't know, this just doesn't stand out to me like Doctor Who: Frostfire did. That said, the Companion Chronicles is a good concept and before the era of recasting at Big Finish, they were a good way to get new Hartnell, Troughton and Pertwee stories (and Tom Baker before he joined up with the company).

[Jacqueline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fear of the Daleks is the most "bookish" of the Doctor Who Companion Chronicles CDs I've listened to so far - but it is also the earliest. The story is told by Wendy Padbury (who played Zoë Heriot on the original Doctor Who television series) with Nicholas Briggs providing the voices of the Daleks. Zoë is in therapy, trying to deal with the dreams she's been having - dreams of monsters.

The story changes scenes from Zoë telling her therapist about her dream to the story, where she, Jaime, and the Doctor arrive on an asteroid that is home to a huge, domed city. The city is to be host to a peace conference to end a war between two space-faring races in the nearby system. But before the TARDIS crew can do anything, they are arrested. They are taken to a lab where a megalomaniac plans to use a Dalek mind transfer machine to control Zoë and use her to assassinate one of the planet's leaders - thus continuing the war. The scientist also plans to use The Doctor in a similar way.

However, although the machine works on Zoë, projecting her astral self to the spaceship hosting one of the two alien races, and controlling her movements; when the Doctor tricks the scientist to use it on him - he is able to resist the conditioning and prevents Zoë from killing the planetary leader. The Daleks are revealed to be behind everything, and the Doctor, again, tricks them into revealing their true nature - causing the scientist to reverse his plan.

Wendy Padbury has a wonderful voice and she reads well - performing what parts she can, though this particular story is more narration than some of the other Doctor Who Companion Chronicles I've listened to. Nicholas Briggs has played the Daleks many times, both on the television series, and in Doctor Who audios from Big Finish, though having met him at Chicago TARDIS - I couldn't help but picture him while listening to this story. The problems with Fear of the Daleks though include it not really being a scary story, some rather silly dialog, and a plot that's a bit simple. I've never been a big fan of the Daleks as a Doctor Who monster - I prefer the Cybermen, and the over-usage of every word ending in -ate imaginable starts to sound silly rather than scary. The plot also was someone flat and simple - I actually wanted to learn more about Zoë and how the Time Lords mind-wipe had affected her life. However, from looking at later discs in this range, I suspect Zoë's story might continue, and this was only an introduction to her eidetic memory cancelling out the Time Lord's erasure of her memories of her time with the Doctor.

[Jon Arnold · Rating 3 out of 5]

The initial Companion Chronicles are a strange hybrid; stories which account for the aging of the actors reading but which tell of them in their youth. It’s undoubtedly the right approach too, to have actors now in their sixties and beyond attempt to recreate their teenage self would sound ridiculous but it allows the fleshing out of what were often thinly drawn plot facilitators masquerading as characters. Like Frostfire this one uses its necessary framing device well, postulating that someone with an eidetic memory would need therapy for their dreams.

Really it’s the readers which make or break these stories. Fortunately this story is blessed with Wendy Padbury, who brings clarity and playfulness to a fairly thin story of Zoe being used as an indirect puppet of the Daleks. It feels like a halfway house between one of the annual stories and a TV story, not quite having the courage to be as absurd as you might hope for. Still, Padbury’s impersonations of Troughton are fun and the characters are all well written, with a certain Sixties ambience. It’s just a shame that the story feels the need to hit a reset button on the Doctor’s thoughts on the Daleks at the end though. A mixed bag then, a fine example of how a good reader can elevate a story.

[Nicholas Whyte]

Fear of the Daleks has Wendy Padbury reprising her role as Zoe, telling her therapist about these weird dreams of Daleks and the Doctor she has been having. There is a real poignancy in Zoe having had her mind wiped by the Time Lords at the end of The War Games, and so forgetting all of her adventures with the Doctor; and the framing narrative takes that and uses it rather well. Unfortunately I think Peter Anghelides already did it better, and the narrative which is actually framed is a confused one of half-fish-shaped scientists and Daleks, with Nicholas Briggs as ever giving it his all, but it didn't quite hang together for me. Good for Wendy Padbury who does a fantastic performance with less than fantastic material, and there is a real poignancy in her line about being young again.

[William Vaudin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I get the feeling that the writers of the Companion Chronicles just weren’t interested in using the 60s and 70s format and were just trying to write New Who stories with old Doctors. It works for Doctors 5-8, but not 1-4.
This one is no exception, this is just full of big space opera style sci-fi, but it just doesn’t work for the Second Doctor. This should really be a Tenth Doctor Comic from Doctor Who Magazine, rather than a Second Doctor Big Finish audio.
Also, the fact that the Dalek’s are back after the Evil of the Daleks, isn’t really played upon that much. Also, the whole idea of humans is Dalek body made for some nice scenes like with Atrikta, it didn’t really do enough with the ideas.
Over all, while this audio has some nice ideas, it was mostly a waist of time.

[Debra Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great story involving Zoe, Jamey and the Doctor on an alien planet getting a surprise from an old enemy they thought were gone.

[Ritchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zoe relates an experience that she shared with Two, Jamie and the Daleks. Good story, but not great.