Simply put, The Power of the Daleks is a master piece. From the wonderful direction, to the incredible acting performances what's not to love about power? Not to mention that this is the bet portrayal of the daleks in doctor who history. They are the most disturbing and eerie they've ever been here, posing not only a physical effect, but a physiological effect too. This is demonstrated the best through the character of Lesterson, one of my most favourite one off characters. The way that he just falls apart by the end shows the true power of the daleks, if you pardon the pun, over the mind. Talking of them, the way in which they multiply so quickly and gradually dominate the colony proves what the doctor says, that only one Dalek is needed to wipe out the colony. Talking of the main man himself, Patrick Troughton gave a masterful first performance as the 2nd doctor, making the part his own. The dynamic between the newly changed doctor and his companions would be relatable to the audience as this is obviously the first time the doctor had changed. They help to ease the audience into the idea. Fine performances all round, the su;porting cast were absolutely exceptional and believable, especially the aforementioned Lesterson who is a well rounded, believable character who I felt very sorry for by the end. And, there are exceptional cliff hangers in this, 'We will Have our power' 'i am you're servent' and my personal favorite, episode 4 when Lesterson finds a dalek production line. Also, the direction in this episode is top notch. Especially with the dalek scenes, it only adds to the eeriness. So to review, the Power of the Daleks has expert direction, performances, plot, serves as an incredible post regeneration story, and has the best portrayal of the daleks in doctor who history. Truly a classic, 10 / 10

Wow, this story is simply brilliant. It is the best of any of the short stories I've heard so far (Vol I & II) and delivers a beautifully cleaver plot that had me in awe. I was very taken aback by the tragic beauty of it at the end and it brought a tear to my eye on first listen. I wouldn't want to spoil this for anyone but I will just say a basic outline. The TARDIS lands on a planet and the doctor and Ian go to have a look around. They discover these phantom like creatures that fly past them in the blink of an eye. And, any more would ruin. Seriously, to deliver something as tragic, intelligent and touching as this in a matter of twenty minutes shows exceptional writing. Also, William Russell's impression of Hartnell is great. A must listen and the first and best story in the short trips vol I (this story can also be obtained freely as a freebie on sound cloud posted by big Finnish alongside many other freebie stories, https://soundcloud.com/big-finish/doctor-who-short-trips-rise?in=big-finish/sets/complete-free-big-finish). overall a 9 / 10 (it would be a 10/10 but some of the other stuff iv'e heard from big Finnish are absolute master pieces (though this is borderline) and I need to set this as a benchmark as other audio plays surpass it and i need to highlight that those are better than this. Had this been a TV story, it would be a 10 / 10, the context of surrounding stories has unfortunately lowered this one.

The daleks' master plan, the mother of all Hartnells. This is my favorite 1st doctor story (and Iv'e seen all the surviving stories, animations and galaxy 4 and mission to the unknown on audio). It is simply superb, from the blockbuster plot, to the outstanding side cast and regulars alike, and the devastating departure of not one but two companions; the daleks' master pan has it all. For a story that is almost 5 hours long, it barely ever drags (I say 'barely' due to episode 11). Kembel is a chilling planet that provides a great scene for the dalek's base and just under half of the episodes. We were introduced to Kembel and the daleks' plan in mission to the unknown which I highly recommend listening to before this story as it provides good context and I think it's a great story (it comes bundled with daleks' master plan CD). The scenes at the base are great and intersect well wit the story enhancing the plot. Day of Armageddon survives so we get to see all the different races of aliens which was great as actually being able to see them makes it easier to picture them in the rest of the story. Maveck Chen, the guardian of the solar system, is the main vllian (along side the daleks of course) of the story. He's a great villain and I love is evil, power hungry personality. We also meet Bret Vyron, a space agent who is working against the daleks and joins the doctor and co in this story. I like Bret so much so that I think he could be companion material. He is portrayed by the legendery Nicolas Courtney who plays the exceptional Brigadier lethbridge-Stewart in subsequent stories. We learn that the daleks are after a teranium core, that chen will provide, to power the weapon that they have devised. After part 2, the chase is on. This was the third different place every week dash around type story (after the keys to marinus and the chase) done in doctor who and the best. So, episode 3 sees us visit desperus the prison planet. There, we acquire one of the prisoners as the doctor and co try to take off in chens ship that they stole from kembel. Spoiler warning, read no further if you care about major spoilers.
Katrina is held hostage in the airlock with the prisoner. He demands to be taken to Kembel despite the fact that that would be a suicide mission for the others. Katrina then sacrifices herself by opening the airlock and killing both herself and the prisoner. It's a tragic goodbye and she dies like a hero. It would have been nice to see more of her as the only other story she made an appearance in is the myth makers. I believe big finnish has done some more with her though, and sara kingdom. With Katrina's death still weighing on them, the crew arrive on earth to meet one of Bret's contacts who turns out to be in league with chen. Sara kingdom, bret's sister, kills bret as she thiks he is the enemy. This is great and truly symbolizes the military mind and what corruption, and the daleks, can cause. The crew, along with kingdom, are transported to the planet miri which has on it the teranium core. Miri's okay, nothing special. I do like the idea of the invisable monsters though who offer resistance to our characters. The fact that the teranium core is there means that our team can aquire it and have a bargaining chip. They find a dalek ship and escape, sara kingdom on their side from learning the truth. Then they learn that the ship can be controlled and they are brought back to kembel where the doctor hands them a dud teranium core and they make a swift exit in the TARDIS. I just realised that this review is exceeding 650 words so i'm going to try and be a bit more consise. After this follows parts of the story that fulfill the dash around aspect of the story. The crew have a 1 part Christmas special which is fun and wall breaking and serves to develop the relationship the doctor and steaven have with sara. There's a controversial fourth wall break which i'm fine with. Then, a quick escapade with the meddling monk on a volcano. I liked it and welcomed the change of scene. Talking of change of scene, we quite randomly visit egypt for a couple of episodes. Some fans hate these but I like them and feel they could have worked better as there own stand alone story as they don't have much to do with the plot. The meddling monk follows them here and he's as good and funny as always. Any way, the daleks show up in the end and we're back in the plot again as we leave Egypt. Then episode 11 which is the epitome of filler. It should have just been left out. It can feel like episodes 7 - 11 are just the new writer brought in just hoping a bout planets because he needed to make the story last for 12 parts. Though as previously mentioned I like these episodes, they are not on par with the ones written by nation. What is on par, in fact exceeds the other parts is episode 12, my favourite. This behemoth of a story is brought to a beautiful conclusion as the daleks and chen are foiled at the price of half of kembel and the most horrible way a companion has met their demise, sara getting aged to death by the time destructor. At this point, we really car about sara and to see her die in the most brutal way is just tragic. The doctor gives a beautiful little speech at the end of what a waste all the death has been. Overall, for the longest doctor who adventure that was so well developed, had so many great characters and performances and tragic demises I could give no less than a 10 / 10. he only major negative is part 11, WHY DO YOU EXIST?! (thank you for sitting through over a 1000 word review / series of ramblings, you deserve a medal :) ).

I really like mission to the unknown. It serves as a great warm up to the Daleks' Master plan while being an enjoyable story in it's own right. It is the shortest TV story in the shows history, clocking in at about 25 minutes (1 part of classic who). This means it wastes no time and the tension is up throughout. The varga plants impose a great threat and are a brilliant concept. Though we don't spend all that much time with the characters, I still feel sorry for them when they reach their eventual demise. The daleks are superb in this and completely juxtapose their previous appearance in the chase. They begin setting up the world of the Daleks' master plan before the story begins and I feel this story adds to it significantly, providing the foundations. The doctor and co are not present what so ever, the first time this had ever been done. This means that in the Daleks' master plan we know roughly what's going on and the characters don't creating dramatic irony. Overall, I give this story an 8 / 10 and I feel like it is necessary to watch / listen to it before the Daleks' master plan as it definitely got me raring to go. I would highly recommend watching the animation on youtube as it is just great, better than some of the official animations on the DVD's