My friend Todd “Scavenger” Kogutt keeps telling me about the Doctor Who spin-off he’d love to see: Abslom Daak: Dalek Killer, starring Bruce Campbell. The first time he told me this I must confess that I snarfed coffee on my monitor–I just didn’t see it. But after the recent Dalek two-parter Todd brought the idea up again, and I considered it.
Abslom Daak. For those unfamiliar with the character and his origins, WHOniverse offers a Discontinuity Guide-style entry on his first appearance, the New Zealand fanzine TSV has a detailed article on Daak’s history and appearances, and Wikipedia has a good summary of the character:
Convicted of “23 charges of murder, pillage, piracy, massacre and other crimes too horrible to bring to the public attention” in the mid-26th Century, when the galaxy was embroiled in the Dalek Wars, [Daak] was given the choice between being vapourized or entering into exile and becoming a Dalek Killer. Transported to the planet Mazam which was under attack by the Daleks, he destroyed a Dalek task force single-handedly and rescued the Princess Taiyan, with whom he fell in love. Tragically, however, she was killed by a Dalek survivor that Daak had overlooked, leaving Daak grief-stricken and vowing to exterminate every Dalek in the galaxy.
Daak pursued this vendetta in subsequent installments of his comic strip, taking on a crew called the Star Tigers and slicing a destructive swathe through the Dalek armies, often armed only with an energy pistol and his personal chainsword. He remained a tough-talking ruffian, almost psychotically eager for battle. The Daleks considered him the greatest enemy they had, together with the Doctor.
Todd’s idea is this. We’ve had two Doctor Who spin-offs thus far–Torchwood and the forthcoming Sarah Jane Adventures (though the pilot for this has already been broadcast). But what about a Doctor Who spin-off for a different market, co-produced by the Sci-Fi Channel? Doctor Who has been a success for Sci-Fi, so perhaps Sci-Fi might want a Doctor Who spin-off tailored for their viewership.
A chainsaw-wielding Dalek killer would be ideal for a one-off film. 🙂
And who could play a psychotic, chainsaw-wielding Dalek killer better than Bruce Campbell?
I keep thinking about this, and the more I think about it the more I like the idea. It’s a win-win on multiple levels. The Terry Nation estate would get their Doctor-less Dalek spin-off. The Sci-Fi Channel would get Doctor Who product that might appeal to a different audience.
What kind of story, though? A story of Daak’s first mission, the one where he vowed vengeance on the Daleks forevermore? Or perhaps a mission much later in Daak’s career? Perhaps Daak gets involved in events related to the Last Great Time War.
Or…
Six episode series. The two hour pilot could guest-star Paul McGann as the eighth Doctor (though probably without the wig–maybe later in his life the eighth Doctor kept a much trimmer haircut), and then four more episodes of solo Daak adventures. Lots of Daleks. Lots of blowing things up.
Now that I’ve thought about it I can see it. Completely. Sci-Fi needs to do this, though I realize that the rights–between the BBC, the Nation estate, and the creators of Abslom Daak–would be a mess. It would be a completely different Doctor Who spin-off. That’s not a bad thing. 😉
Kurt Russell in the movie version of Stargate is a dead ringer for Daak when he first appears onscreen (he’s unshaven and has a ponytail 🙂
Bruce Campbell would be perfect though. Oh, how I would love to see this!
I’d never really thought of Kurt Russell as Daak, but I can see that. I can see Russell as Daak completely in full-on Snake Pliksen mode. One little problem–I don’t see Russell doing a Sci-Fi Channel television movie. 😉
Here’s a completely nonsense idea, since the CGI is there to make this work. Daak and Frobisher, partners in crime. But who to voice Frobisher? I’ve listened to too many of the Crossover Adventures audios, so I can’t get Corey Klemow’s Frobisher out of my mind. But I doubt the Sci-Fi Channel would have access to Klemow. Billy West! Especially if he did something close to Futurama‘s Fry. 🙂
Daak is new series canon as well, unless you think the ninth Doctor accidentally chose to say he was going to wipe out “every stinkin’ Dalek”…
And Fry is soooooo Fitz.