A Big Hand for the Doctor

Exterminate! Exterminate! For this observer, the full-skirted, clunky Daleks are even more laughable than bandy-legged, toy-Tokyo-trampling Godzilla. But to the gazillion fanatics of BBC-TV's stubbornly enduring "Doctor Who" series, they are the dreaded, ruthless, (snicker) cunning aliens intent on cosmic mayhem. This audio skillfully joins excerpts from the episodes with narration by the current Dalek voice, Nick Briggs, to form a history of their numerous (losing) skirmishes with the Doctor. The seamless, quick-paced interweaving of well-chosen elements contributes an excitement and spectacle that the individual episodes themselves did not always possess. The skillful compilers have thus produced a nostalgic, swashbuckling tribute and first-rate sci-fi audio drama. Y.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine