(702) Dalek

Today’s episode sees the return of the Daleks who in episode terms appeared 33 episodes ago but in time terms it was 17 years since Remembrance of the Daleks. This is also the first Dalek story (remarkably) since Death to the Daleks that doesn’t feature Davros. I remember back in 2004 when there was talk about the Daleks not featuring in the new series and there was something in the Sun paper about them appearing in Times Square. Of course this nowadays seems like publicity for the show. I don’t know how real it was that there weren’t going to be in the show but the thought of them not being in the new series seemed horrible. This story was written by Robert Shearman who wrote the 2003 Big Finish play Jubilee and it’s clear that some of the elements from that story have made it into this episode.

A Cyberman’s head make an appearance in the pre-title scene and it’s almost a nostalgic moment. It’s a nice pre-title scene as it’s the only quiet scene in the entire episode. This is an episode that doesn’t have any scenes outside. There is one shot of a helicopter but apart from that there is nothing.

Despite the episode being called Dalek the build up to its first appearance is quite good. The first thing it does is scream as its being tortured. It’s first encounter with the Doctor is one of the best scenes of the series. The Doctor in a dark room with just the eyes glowing when it talks. It’s quite impressive how one Dalek causes so much mayhem and gets to the Doctor.

Henry Van Statten is some who has all the money you could want but doesn’t really have much intelligence. Corey Johnson is very effective as a villain and he is utterly unlikeable. When he realises that he is out of his depth then he loses all of his power and menace. Christopher Eccleston is superb in this episode. It’s episodes like this one that shows why he is such a good actor. The scene where the Doctor is talking to the Dalek just after its killed all the soldiers is a great one because the Doctor is telling the Dalek that it should die and its replies by saying that he would have made a good Dalek. The flirting between Rose and Adam is just annoying. They have a scene together and its excruciatingly bad and I couldn’t wait for it to be over. In fact Rose is the biggest problem with this episode. She decides to befriend the Dalek because she feels sorry for it. If she had not put her hand on its casing then everyone that gets exterminated by it wouldn’t have died. The look on their faces when the Dalek rises into the air is fantastic because they were so smug and I have found them so irritating that I wanted the Dalek to exterminate them. For me this is the first time that Rose has put a foot wrong this series. When she points out to the Doctor that he is pointing a gun at her and seems to think that he is worse than the Dalek at the moment is a frustrating scene.

The death of Simmons is quite horrific. The sucker arm has never been useful until now and its used in quite a clever way. The effect of the Dalek coming back to life is quite good and I love the design of the Dalek. My favourite livery is the white and gold design but this is a good version as well. Nicholas Briggs is so fixed in my mind as the voice of the Daleks that it has always seemed odd when I have heard the stories before this one which weren’t voiced by him. There is a technical bit about the Daleks which is new as well and it’s the noise that it makes when its moving or its head is moving. This effect has made its way into the Big Finish audio. The effect of its middle section swivelling to shoot on both sides of it looks a little bit ropey by todays standards and the shot of the bullets stopping in front of the Daleks does seem very much borrowed from The Matrix (1999) film.

The episode doesn’t end on a particularly good note because for some reason. Adam ends up boarding the TARDIS. Just what the show needs is an annoying buerk in the TARDIS. To be honest its been a frustrating 45 minutes. Its good to have a Dalek back but I just found the whole Adam/Rose dynamic so boring and sadly there is going to be more of this. In rating terms, this is the lowest rated episode but it’s purely because of Rose and Adam. The rest of the episode is rather entertaining and Joe Ahearne directs the episode superbly and Robert Shearman’s only contribution is just as good as anything that appears in this season.