Doctor Who review: Return to Skaro is a worthy sequel to The Daleks

The Daleks is arguably one of the most important Doctor Who stories ever made. How well does Return to Skaro work as a direct sequel to it?

The first story in the latest volume of Doctor Who: The First Doctor Adventures takes us back to a very familiar place. As you can guess from the title, Return to Skaro takes the original TARDIS team back to the planet of their second adventure together. (If you’re thinking that this is quite a coincidence, especially as the Doctor can’t control his ship properly at this point, don’t worry: there’s a solid reason for this convenient return visit written into the story.)

When they previously visited the planet, it was the first time that the Doctor and his friends had ever faced the Daleks. They had also met the Thals, and with their help, they were able to fight the Daleks and destroy them.

It’s been some time since the TARDIS team was last on this world, from their perspective, at least. But for the Thals, it’s been far longer since “the travelers” visited their world, and a lot has changed on Skaro. The Thals have grown as a civilization, with a city of their own. And of course, there are no more Daleks to worry about. Aren’t there…?

(L to R) Nigel Hastings, James Camp, Jamie Glover, Claudia Grant, David Bradley and Tracy Wiles feature in Return to Skaro.

Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions

Balancing nostalgia and originality

Writer Andrew Smith had a tough job with handling Return to Skaro. For one thing, it’s an incredibly bold move to slot in a brand new Dalek story in between the first two, especially when those original stories are so iconic.

Having it set on Skaro is a nice touch, but at the same time, that still has its own set of risks. You want it to be reminiscent of the original story and capture some of that pure nostalgia. But at the same time, you don’t want it to be simply derivative. A sequel should have something that made the original so successful in the first place, but it should also tell its own story, too. Does Return to Skaro achieve that?

Absolutely. Return to Skaro is a brilliant story and one that reminds me why I love both this era and The First Doctor Adventures so much. Like the best stories in the range, it captures the distinctive style of that particular era – the slower pace, the sense of innocence, and yet paradoxically, a slightly darker tone than later stories, too.

But more than that: Return to Skaro feels like a very natural sequel to the original story, and that’s quite an achievement. Setting it decades after The Daleks really helped it to stand on its own terms, while still having plenty of appeal for fans of the original story.

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Slow (but effective) buildup

On top of that, there’s a fantastic sense of buildup and suspense. I mentioned that stories during this time had a slower pace, and Andrew Smith uses that to great effect. We know the Daleks are in this one, naturally. We’d know it even if they hadn’t been on the cover. But Smith takes his time to build up to them, making sure that they have a very effective entrance.

He also uses a few good twists, too. Sometimes, they take the story in an unexpected direction. Other times, you know exactly what’s going to happen next the moment the twists are revealed. But even that works to the story’s advantage, as it helps to add to the suspense. Also, the fact that this story is set so early in the show’s history means that it can get away with having such twists.

With the right mix of nostalgia and freshness, Return to Skaro is a fantastic opening story for The First Doctor Adventures: Volume 4. It captures so much of what made those early Dalek stories so great and works perfectly as a natural sequel to one of Doctor Who‘s most important stories ever.

Are you a fan of Sixties Dalek stories? Are you excited about a story set between the first two, or skeptical over whether it could really work? Let us know in the comments below.