Once upon a Dalek

Sixie came upon Mother Goose
The settlers turned her loose
She was exterminating

Somehow Julian Richards did something new with Daleks. Or, at least, new to me.

The latest compendium of the Sixth Doctor's adventures is The Cosmos and Mrs Clarke and the first tale therein is called "The Story Demon". It concerns a village that settlers constructed from the wrecks of spaceships, including, much to the Doctor's chagrin, a Dalek war saucer or whatever they're called. Even more harrowing is that children's story hour is done by a Dalek - the titular Story Demon. Well, the case of one.

But the betentacled devil that normally occupies the case is still around and terrorizing the settlers unbeknownst to them.

It was a clever twist that did something new with a Dalek. But what really sealed the deal for me was the scene when one of the settlers, Wyatt, who has been driven to despair, ends up inside the Dalek. He is thoroughly distraught and cries out for help as his boyfriend, Hoekstra, looks on powerless. In this story we learn that the Dalek casing is operated by the emotions of its inhabitant. Apparently imbued with a very truculent AI, the Dalek armor takes Wyatt's tearful pledge of love for Hoekstra and, after a pregnant pause, perverts it into a cry of "EXTERMINATE!" before striking him down.

This was a genuinely disturbing scene. Its gloomy intensity reminded me of another great Sixie story, Project: Twilight.

Great stuff. Now onto the rest of the set.