'Liberation of the Daleks' (14 Parts) by Alan Barnes

Part 1 (DWM #584):
After the TARDIS responds to a distress signal, the newly-regenerated Doctor arrives at Wembley Stadium on the day of the 1966 World Cup Final. As the crowd watches the historic match between England and Germany, the Doctor identifies a family of alien time tourists disguised as humans. Just then a huge spaceship appears over the pitch, unleashing a squad of Daleks who immediately exterminate the players...

Part 2 (DWM #585):
While the Doctor goads the Daleks into chasing him instead, the alien time tourists teleport away to take family photos amidst the Daleks' invasion of Earth. Reaching the TARDIS, the Doctor meets a young woman, who has rescued the World Cup trophy during the Dalek attack. But before the Doctor can join her in the TARDIS, his ship is stolen by a Dalek on a hoverbout. Stranded, the Doctor is powerless as the Daleks close in and open fire on him...

Part 3 (DWM #586):
The Doctor is surprised to learn that he is immune to the Daleks' extermination. Brought aboard the Dalek saucer for questioning, the Doctor forces the Supreme to call off its invasion of Earth - much to the dismay of the alien tourists sightseeing amongst the destruction on the planet below. Using his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor discovers that the Daleks are not only all the same, but they are also fakes; but this news does not go down well with the Dalek Supreme, who orders its fleet to open fire and crack open planet Earth!

Part 4 (DWM #587):
Having destroyed Earth, the Daleks prepare to take the Doctor to Skaro for dissection - only to watch in surprise as he dematerialises before their eyes. The Daleks were unable to see the Doctor’s kidnappers: two space-suited gorillas who teleport their captive to a corridor filled with numbered doors. Here the Doctor meets the alien time-tourists, and a familiar-looking woman named Georgette. Stepping through a door marked ‘Dalek Dome’ the Doctor is astonished to find himself in a theme park dedicated to his nemeses’ greatest battles…

Part 5 (DWM #588):
The Doctor's outrage at the Dalek theme park turns to surprise when he learns that the locale’s supervisor, Lieutenant Georgette Gold, sent the distress call that lured his TARDIS there. Then the Doctor discovers the truth behind the exhibition: the psychoplasm running each of the interactive time-zones is powered by captive Dalek mutants - and one of the creatures is now awake...

Part 6 (DWM #589):
When the theme park’s technicians fail to subdue the waking Dalek with synaptic inhibitors, Lieutenant Gold resorts to collapsing the simulation the creature is controlling. Trapped within the rapidly-shrinking psychoplasmic simulation, space-time seemingly collapsing around its ship, the fake Dalek Supreme hastily forms an escape plan. Back in the real world, the Doctor is delighted to hear that his TARDIS has left the simulation and materialised in the theme park. The Doctor is amused at Lieutenant Gold’s reaction to a psychoplasm copy of herself stepping out of the blue box – but then the Dalek Supreme emerges too…

Part 7 (DWM #590):
By hacking into the TARDIS’ emergency hologram system and posing as the Doctor, the Dalek Supreme has tricked Georgy into allowing it and its comrades into the TARDIS. Arriving at the Dalek theme park, the Supreme faces off against the Doctor. Angry at having his ship compromised, the Time Lord uses his sonic screwdriver to discover that the Daleks are no longer formed of psychoplasmic matter, and are now real. When the Supreme orders the destruction of its enemy’s sonic, the crowd reacts with applause, believing that the Doctor and Daleks are just part of the show. To the Doctor’s horror, the tourists turn to the Daleks and eagerly request that they be exterminated…

Part 8 (DWM #591):
When a young boy’s ‘Anti-Dalek Fluid Gun’ starts to dissolve the Dalek Supreme’s casing, the Doctor deduces that the Artron energy from his TARDIS has temporarily firmed up the Daleks on a quantum level. In time the Daleks will dissolve – but so will the duplicate Georgy. The Doctor forces the Daleks into a stand-off, using the threat of destroying the Supreme’s real self, its mutant body still imprisoned in the secret chambers below the complex. Meanwhile, Georgy begins to recall all the times she has been killed by the Daleks in the theme park’s different zones; in a panic, she transports herself to the Skaro scenario…

Part 9 (DWM #592):
The Doctor’s bluff stalls the Daleks long enough for their psychoplasmic forms to start dissolving; as the fake Dalek Supreme turns to liquid, the mind of its real body, still held in captivity, appears to shut down. Lieutenant Gold reveals that she called the Doctor to the theme park to help with her PhD in Dalek Studies; the Doctor is furious, and insists that the park be shut down - but his actions draw the attention of the security team, who force him to leave. Convinced that that the park is doomed, the Doctor jumps the TARDIS a year forward in time – and when he steps out of his ship, the Doctor finds the place now under the rule of the Gold Dalek Emperor!

Part 10 (DWM #593):
The past: The ersatz Daleks and their Emperor interrogate Georgy, and learn that they are artificial life forms. Once Georgy reveals how the Doctor’s TARDIS enabled other fake Daleks to enter the real world, the Emperor decides to capture the Time Lord and his ship, to set himself and his fellows free… The present: The Doctor learns that Georgy’s wish to become real led her to form an alliance with the fake Dalek Emperor. The Doctor tries provoking the gold Dalek leader, to force its captive self’s mind into waking up, but the Emperor ignores him. Georgy allows the Dalek Interrogator to use a hypno-pulse to access her mind; using her mental link, the Daleks take over Georgy’s real-life counterpart: the park supervisor, Lieutenant Georgette Gold…

Part 11 (DWM #594):
Georgy uses the public address system to place the theme park’s visitors under Dalek control. With the hypnotised hostages under threat, the Doctor is forced to reveal how the Daleks can stabilise their ersatz forms. The Dalek Emperor uses the park’s resources to create a new simulation: a new moon, crammed with billions of mathematicians, all conducting the calculations required to build a quantum powered reality gate. Learning that the gate is for Daleks only, Georgy rebels against her allies, breaking the Dalek Interrogator’s hypnotic grip on the hostages – but in retaliation, the Daleks exterminate Georgy…

Part 12 (DWM #595):
Once the Daleks’ mathematicians have calculated the parameters of the reality gate, the Dalek Emperor orders the construction of a psychoplasmic conduit, which will turn him and his forces solid in the real world. Rescued by Lieutenant Gold and her simian security team, the Doctor uses their teleport glove to escape, hopping first to the simulation of the planet Spiridon, then to an alternative version of Skaro – where another Dalek Emperor awaits...

Part 13 (DWM #596):
With the reality gate now active, the Golden Dalek Emperor despatches his fleet to attack the real planet Earth in 2323. Meanwhile, in the simulation of Skaro, the Doctor warns the Dalek Emperor of the Golden Dalek’s plan to use the psychoplasmic energy of all other recreations to keep itself alive. Out of self-preservation, the alt-Skaro Dalek Emperor orders the creation of a cohort of Daleks equipped with teleport units, to stop the Golden Daleks’ forces. Realising this will take too long, the Doctor instructs Lieutenant Gold to return to the park and link up the minds of the remaining Dalek mutant prisoners; Georgette is successful, and the simulations’ Dalek leaders join forces. But they may be too late: the Golden Dalek Emperor’s fleet has already opened fire on the Earth’s population!

Part 14 (DWM #597):
The Dalek Emperor sends waves of death squads to assassinate the ‘False’ Emperor, forcing the Golden Dalek to evacuate to Earth. Using a replacement sonic screwdriver equipped with a teleporter, the Doctor arrives in the Golden Dalek Emperor’s ship and alters its course: by sending it on a collision course with the mathematicians’ moon he will ensure the destruction of the reality gate and all the ersatz Daleks. The Golden Emperor destroys the Doctor’s sonic and demands to be taken to safety in the TARDIS; the Doctor agrees - but the ship’s doorway is too narrow for the Golden Emperor’s bulbous head to pass through, allowing the Doctor to make a quick solo escape, just as the moon explodes and the Dalek fleet collapses into goop. Returning to the theme park, the Doctor rebuff’s Georgette’s request for advice, leaving her to decide the fate of the Dalek mutants she held prisoner for the delight of her patrons…


Art by Lee Sullivan
Coloured by James Offredi
Lettered by Roger Langridge
Editor - Marcus Hearn
Executive Producer - Russell T Davies

Publication Date (Doctor Who Magazine):
November 2022 - November 2023

Notes:
*Featuring the Fourteenth Doctor

*Published in 'Doctor Who Magazine' issues #584 to #597

*Unlike all the other comic strips published in 'Doctor Who Weekly / Monthly / Magazine' (as well as various comic books and annuals) this story is canonical, as confirmed by showrunner Russell T Davies