Review

The Doctor and Rose touch down in a huge underground complex in Utah, sorry didn't note if this was the past, present, or future. They quickly discover that the complex houses a museum of alien artefacts. We have a Slitheen arm, a Cyberman (YAY!!!!) head, and Marvin the Martian, amongst other things. Okay, one of those was a joke.

The complex is the brainchild of Henry van Statten, who besides being American and thus eee-vil in the whoniverse, owns the internet, and is developing technology from alien devices that wind up on Earth. His pride and joy is a "metaltron", the sole live alien he has. We soon learn that Statten's chief exhibition is the last of the Daleks! OMG this can't be good, especially with the Doctor demanding that it should be immediately destroyed.

Rose and an employee of van Stattens' head on down to the Dalek holding pen to check things out. Naturally, cause she's a girl and all, Rose feels sorry for the Dalek and touches it with a reassuring hand. This of course re-invigorates the alien metal warrior who is soon happily crying out "exterminate" as he proceeds to do just that. Can the Doctor stop the unstoppable, is the internet going to be the death of us all, and how many deaths can we lay at the feet of Rose? A rocking episode ensues. Ready to face one of the Doctor's most serious nemeses?

Simply put, Dalek is one of the best ever Doctor Who episodes I have seen, either from the new series or from the old. Oops, sorry to the site owners, that's going to lead to a barrage of indignant email - hey, I call them as I see them. We get a pretty menacing Dalek - loved it when the Doctor came face to eye stalk with it in the dark of the holding pen - surprisingly some pathos from an unexpected source, and the cherry on top of this sci-fi sundae, the Doctor having to look at his own reactions. Awesome stuff, and the Director and Writer knock one out of the ball park for the home team.

Every now and again you run across an episode that redefines why you like a particular series

First things first, the helicopter that van Statten arrives at the complex in is called "Bad Wolf One". Without trying to read too much into things, we have one Dalek in the episode, you don't suppose "bad wolf" might be leading to mucho Dalek action or perhaps even Davros! For those not up on the whoniverse, Davros was the evil mastermind behind the creation of the Daleks in the old series.

Alrighty, so everyone reading this is no doubt fanging to read what I thought of the new look Dalek design and stuff. It simply rocks folks, any concerns we had over the tampering with the traditional look of the Doctor's enemies can be put aside, we are in freakingly good hands here. The look is the same as the old Dalek design, with ray gun, and sucker hand, and everything. You can't complain about the Dalek attitude, it hasn't evolved from ethnic cleansing really, and the conquest of the entire universe. But wait, that's not all, we also get some new groovy stuff. The Dalek's armour comes with a built in force field, not unlike the one the aliens used in Independence Day; bullets simply dissolve in the force field before causing damage to the Dalek. Not too sure how the fan base are going to take the next new attribute to heart, but you might want to take a seat if you are a Who purist. You know how the ultimate organism in the universe could be defeated by a simple flight of stairs? Well those days are over, friends and neighbours - the Daleks can now "elevate' to head on up inclines - damn! Their armour basically comes with a sort of hovercraft ability, not so sure this will go down well with the fan base but I was digging the new ability.

What's interesting in this episode, and maybe it will be lost on new whoniverse devotees, is the change in roles of the Dalek and the Doctor. Wonderfully handled by Robert Shearman's above-average script. We first get the full skinny on the "last of the time wars", referenced but not explained in previous episodes of the season. Seems the Time Lords and the Daleks mutually destroyed each other, thousands of ships on fire, and the one pushing the button of mass destruction was the Doctor. The Dalek survived, the last of its race, by falling through a rift in time and space. Don't know about you but I'm demanding the Beeb make a tele-movie about the "last of the time wars" immediately! Anyways, the upshot of this is the Doctor goes apeshit and is demanding the Dalek is destroyed immediately, that would be "apeshit" as in Time Lord style. Naturally this is contrary to everything the Time Lords hold of value - we are talking the final genocide of an entire species - and the Dalek surprisingly forces the Doctor to face up to his darkside. On the flip side of the super nova the Dalek, via Rose's DNA, has taken on some human attributes and is questioning its place in the world. The pathos here is that the Dalek only wants freedom and to feel the sun on its body, and commits suicide in the face of its dark side. Fantastic stuff and no doubt female viewers would have been reaching for the tissues right about then.

The sharp eyed amongst us would have noted the Doctor flipping a wink to Ellen Ripley (Alien franchise people, keep up with the play) via comparing the Dalek's pure motives to van Statten's mercenary outlook. You simply can't trust those corporate dudes is the message of both franchises, especially if they are American corporate dudes. As stated before I love this sort of stuff.

Quick mention of director Joe Ahearne before we close this one out. The dude is welcome any time over at my place for a beer - you're on my Christmas card list Joe. The introduction of the Dalek, one of the most anticipated happenings in television in the Commonwealth ever, was simply sublime and I got a chill from the whole thing. The Doctor then going ballistic was the icing on the metallic cake. Ahearne nailed it to the barn door, then simply poured petrol over the door and set it alight with the rest of the episode. I'm calling on the BBC to put Ahearne in the director's seat for the tele-movie of "the last of the time wars". Maybe I should get a petition or something happening, who's with me?

I was bouncing off the walls when I found out the Daleks were coming back to the whoniverse, sort of like that cat I had on a string the other day - nope can't swing a cat around in the study friends and neighbours. Of all the evil aliens the Doctor has faced through the years the Daleks are my personal favourites, closely followed by the Cybermen. The worry of course was that the new look Dalek design would be pants compared to the old look or the producers would water things down for a modern PC audience. Nope didn't happen, the Daleks are back as the evil cockroaches of the universe intent on conquest and destruction. I'm applauding over here and high fiving my imaginary friend into the bargain. Simply a knock out episode that still has me firing on all cylinders.

When the return of Dr Who was announced by the BBC, speculation immediately turned to what alien perils the new Doctor would face from his past. The estate of Dalek creator Terry Nation initially balked at the resurrection of the salt shakers - don't ask, you need to be a fan - but finally signed on board. The stipulation was that the new Daleks had to respect the old Daleks, hence I think why we get the traditional design. Besides the elevation thing, most fans will be happy I think and no doubt chomping at the bit for more Dalek episodes, I've got a feeling "bad wolf" is going to be the plot device used to achieve that. For anyone saying "hey pull up to the curve buddy, the Daleks have been wiped out", do I need to mention the whole time travel thing!

If you have never seen a Dr Who episode or have been putting off watching the new series then I urge you to catch episode six, Dalek. This episode might just turn you into a fan of the whole concept, and on the bright side of the sonic screwdriver there's only thirteen episodes in the season hence you can rip through them over a single weekend with time to grab a few beers between episodes. Must see for fans of British television, one of the greatest ever villains has been resurrected, it really can't get much better than this.

ScaryMinds Rates this episode as ...