Roots: Time Tunnel, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Stargate (SG-1). The Fly (1988) ('be frightened, be very frightened'). While not quite the complete works of Shakespeare, there are quotations from Coriolanus, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, King Lear (only one - appropriately from Learman, although 'do not come between the dragon and his wrath' may be another reference to a past work by Justin Richards (see: 'Whispers of Terror'), Henry IV:I, Henry V Henry VIII, Richard II, The Tempest, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and of course Hamlet. Tellingly, in a play where nearly everyone has a turn, the Daleks tend to quote directly and from the more bloodthirsty tragedies (Hamlet, Macbeth), while the heroes tend towards paraphrasing (or, in the Doctor's case, making terrible puns); Learman opts for a range of tragedies and histories, while young Will tends towards the comedies. The Doctor and Charley discuss Ben Jonson and Kit Marlowe. The Rock ('You know we cannot obey that order.'), The Doctor quotes Godwin ('He who loves reading has everything within his reach') The Daleks in 1572 refer to 'the main Warwick compound', which happens to be where Justin Richards lives. Learman's tannoy jingle is based on contemporary Elizabethan song 'The Rain It Raineth Every Day'.

Intertextuality: The future of continental states [as well as an opposing American one] is also featured in Lance Parkin's BBC Book Trading Futures.

Goofs: The Doctor describes orthopositronium as 'a material where the electron and the positron orbit in the same direction' (it is in fact a very exotic sub atomic particle where a single electron orbits a positron rather than a neutron, and they spin in the same direction. They are highly unstable and tend to annihilate rapidly. If they could be stabilised it would probably be as a gas - not a mirror lining metal).

Double Entendres: 'Free Will, remember that.'

'I'm not supposed to come here.'

'She said it was time to act.'

'There's Learman and Professor Osric working on their equipment.'

'This is the end of history as we know, and the start of the Time of the Daleks.'

Dialogue Disasters: 'Lay on, MacDalek.' (and pretty much all the Doctor's dreadful puns)

'Shakespeare must be exterminated!'

Dialogue Triumphs: 'It's not like Daleks are going killing anyone.' 'No it isn't and that's what worries me most.'

'You can drop the pretence, we're all enemies here.'

'Think of your worst nightmare, think of the most repellent disgusting nauseating thing you can possibly imagine, think of pure evil made malignant flesh.' 'Is that what it's like?' 'No, it's a thousand times worse.'

'It's hard to take seriously a weapon that has the acronym TED.'

Technobabble: The Daleks use temporal stabilizers, and access temporal portals

A temporal fissure is a rupture in the fabric of time.

The pilot in the Dalek ship is slaved to the flight systems via positron linkage.

Continuity: Chronons are released by time travel [or successful experimentation], but time travel cannot succeed without chronons - it is, according to the Doctor, a classic "chicken and egg" relationship.

Learman and Osric's time machine contains 111 mirrors and over 1600 hundred clocks. Learman has an original folio of a complete collected work of Shakespeare.

The palace draws its power from a nearby nuclear reactor. Smoked salmon is available, as is cheese, pickles and pineapple (the Doctor orders a cheese and pickle sandwich, Charley is partial to 'those cheesy-pineapple things).

The Daleks of 1572 have a compound in Warwick. Other potential timelines seen in the hall of mirrors include Dalek invasions of Roman Britain (see: Links), Regency England, London during the Blitz and also the Great Plague.

The Daleks are led here by both the Dalek Supreme and the Dalek Emperor. Their fleet consists of seventeen hundred ships. The Dalek fleet is powered by harmonic energy - that is, a Dalek-made Eye of Harmony based upon that of Gallifrey (see: Links), with some adjustments using the technology of temporal barriers used on Kar-Charratt (also made with Time Lord involvement - see: Links). Dalek saucers retain archived monitor data as a form of 'black box' recorder. The potential explosion of seventeen hundred saucers in the Vortex would be sufficient to damage the web of time. A Dalek beach head may typically consist of two strategists and a pilot.

Osmotic energy is need to stablise a black hole/Eye of Harmony It was Omega who enabled the smooth flow of harmonic energy in the original Eye, shifting its potential fractionally into the future so it could proceed in an 'osmotic stream', rather than 'all in one gulp".

Mutagenic drugs are used in the creation of transgenic Dalek mutants in conjunction with exposure to radiation (it would appear that these drugs prevent the subject from perishing from the radiation and also accelerate the rate of mutation). Daleks may open their casing individually (presumably they are also able to disable the accompanying distress beacon when their dome is lifted). They are connected to their casings via positronic links, while the mutants themselves access nutrient feeders and control mechanisms from their internal chamber.

With Shakespeare taken out of history the present has been affected, with the populace having nightmares about a world under the rule of the Daleks, (a potential history of Earth). Standard Shakespearean quotes are used by the Rebels to test their own. When two different temporal versions of an individual come into physical contact, the 'older' version is destroyed (as the younger has to live to become the older). As time is disrupted, potential consequences become possibilities, increasing in probability gradually every moment.

The Doctor realises that he has been simultaneously chasing and been chased by temporal paradoxes. At the end there is a new paradox - Young Will reads his future works, with nothing revealed to undo this.

Future History: The Euro Wars split Europe in the early 21st century. By the middle of the century Britain has become 'New Britain', a 'benevolent dictatorship' (created as General Mariah Learmen fired at the ceiling in the General House of Assembly) although there is still a king on the throne with the (apparent) power to dissolve parliament.

Links: 'Evil of the Daleks' and 'Warrior's Gate' (mirrors as a means of travelling between different time zones), 'Mawdryn Undead' (the Doctor explains the ending and the idea of time differentials), 'Invaders from Mars', 'Seasons of Fear', 'The Apocalypse Element' ('You underestimated the Time Lords when you invaded Gallifrey'), 'The Genocide Machine', the Dalek Empire series.

Location: New Britain, 21st Century. (The portal connects to 1572, 1599, 305, 1666, 1585, 1940.)

Q.v.: 'The Dalek Empire Timeline', 'The Web of Time'

The Bottom Line: 'It's an open and shut case of Shakespeare being taken out of time.'

Hearing Daleks quote Shakespeare is a surreal experience, and works well to spook the listeners. Somewhat separated by the other episodes of the Dalek Empire series, the Daleks continue to be nicely effective, with a few scientific romance elements to give things a spin. The paradox is a big one this time, with the Doctor's admission of being frightened a set-up, hopefully, for a stunning conclusion.