Dalek (Doctor Who episode)

"Dalek (Doctor Who)" redirects here. For other uses, see Dalek (disambiguation).
161 – "Dalek"
Doctor Who episode

The Dalek overcomes its supposed weakness.
Cast
Others
Production
Writer Robert Shearman
Director Joe Ahearne
Script editor Helen Raynor
Producer Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s) Russell T Davies
Julie Gardner
Mal Young
Incidental music composer Murray Gold
Production code 1.6
Series Series 1
Length 45 minutes
Originally broadcast 30 April 2005
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by →
"World War Three" "The Long Game"

"Dalek" is the sixth episode of the revived first series of British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on 30 April 2005. This episode is the first appearance of the Daleks in the 21st century revival of Doctor Who; it also marks the first appearance of Bruno Langley as companion Adam Mitchell.

The episode is set in Utah in the year 2012, in the underground bunker owned by Henry van Statten, a rich collector of alien artifacts. The Doctor encounters his one living exhibit: a creature called "the Metaltron", which the Doctor is horrified to discover is a surviving Dalek. When the Dalek escapes, the Doctor races against time to stop it from getting to the surface and wreaking havoc on humanity.

Plot

The Doctor and Rose land the TARDIS in a massive underground bunker near Salt Lake City, Utah in the year 2012. They were drawn there by a distress signal being transmitted from the bunker. They look around at various alien artifacts that have been set up on display in glass cases. After touching one case, they are surrounded by soldiers who take them to see Henry van Statten, the owner of the collection. The Doctor talks to van Statten, while Rose tours the facility with a technician named Adam Mitchell. Van Statten wants the Doctor's opinion on the pride of his collection, which he calls the "Metaltron". Van Statten orders the Doctor locked into the vault with the Metaltron. The Doctor is first shocked and then horrified to find that the Metaltron is actually a Dalek, all of whom he thought had been destroyed in the Time War. The Doctor finds out that the Dalek is weakened and chained down, unable to fight back. The Doctor attempts to destroy it, but is stopped by van Statten's guards and escorted back to his offices.

Meanwhile, Adam takes Rose to the vault to see the Dalek. She takes pity on the Dalek, touching its casing. The Dalek absorbs her DNA and the time energy she has been exposed to from travelling in the TARDIS. The Dalek becomes re-energised, plugging itself into the electrical grid and drawing power from all over the western United States to recharge itself. It rebuilds its casing and breaks the chains that were holding it. In another part of the complex, van Statten reveals to the Doctor that not only does he collect aliens, but he also tortures them; he proceeds to invasively and violently scrutinize the Doctor's body so that he can learn more about his physiology. Upon hearing the alarms sound, van Statten releases the Doctor who tries to stop the Dalek. The Dalek breaks out of the cage it was sealed in and plugs itself into the Internet, learning that it is (apparently) the last Dalek. Without other Daleks coming, it reverts to its original mission - the destruction of all non-Dalek life. The Dalek chases Adam and Rose, killing the guards in the way. It kills a large group of soldiers in a warehouse before declaring it will speak only to the Doctor. The Doctor then suggests the Dalek kill itself to remove the presence of its race from the universe, but the Dalek decides to proceed with exterminating everyone.

Adam tries to help Rose escape, but she is trapped inside the vault when it is sealed by the Doctor. The video feeds are disrupted moments before the Dalek encounters Rose. The Dalek finds that it cannot exterminate Rose, and is conflicted by the human DNA it absorbed from her. The Dalek forces the Doctor to let it out of the vault in exchange for Rose's life, and it makes its way to van Statten's office to kill him. Rose convinces the Dalek to spare van Statten and accompanies it to the highest part of the vault, where it blasts a hole in the ceiling. The Dalek opens its casing and basks in the sunlight as the Doctor arrives with an alien weapon. Rose pleads for the Dalek's life, arguing that it has changed because it couldn't kill her or van Statten. The Dalek is disturbed by the new emotions and ideas that it has developed from absorbing Rose's DNA and is now repulsed by its own existence. It asks Rose to order it to self-destruct. She reluctantly agrees, and the Dalek engages its self-destruct mechanism and implodes.

Van Statten's assistant takes over, ordering van Statten's mind wiped and having him dropped off on the side of the road somewhere beginning with S. The Doctor and Rose head back to the TARDIS with Adam following them. He tries to convince them to leave immediately because the vault is about to be filled with cement, but instead Rose invites him to travel with them.

Continuity

The Dalek ability to fly or hover dates back to The Chase, where a Dalek was implied to have taken flight,[1] while in Revelation of the Daleks, a Dalek hovered to exterminate two victims. The first part of the 1988 serial Remembrance of the Daleks shows a Dalek who was clearly seen to hover up a flight of stairs to the Doctor's horror.[2] Rose and Adam allude to a long-held fan joke about the Daleks' inability to climb stairs,[3][4][5] and are horrified when it does so.

This episode marks the first on-screen appearance of the Daleks as a primary adversary, without their creator Davros, since the 1974 Third Doctor story Death to the Daleks. Since his introduction in 1975's Genesis of the Daleks, Davros had appeared in every subsequent Dalek story in the original series run. He is not named in this episode, but the Doctor describes him as "a genius... a man who was king of his own little world". Davros would later be re-introduced in the 2008 two-part story The Stolen Earth/Journey's End.

The museum's display items feature the arm of a Slitheen (Raxacoricofallapatorian) from "Aliens of London", which Rose recognises, and something that the Doctor refers to as "An old friend, well, enemy... " – a Cyberman head (from Revenge of the Cybermen, but the label on its display case references The Invasion). A reference book, Doctor Who: The Visual Dictionary, describes the exhibit behind the Doctor's and Rose's heads when they are looking at the Cyberman's helmet as the decayed head of a Sea Devil from the Jon Pertwee serial The Sea Devils. As well as a dead Mechanoid from the serial "The Chase" seen from a few long shots in the darkened side of the Vault after they first materialize, and before they depart.

The callsign for van Statten's personal helicopter is "Bad Wolf One", a recurrent phrase throughout the first series. An excerpt from this episode is used in "Bad Wolf", when Rose recalls where she had encountered the phrase before.[6]

Production

Conception

Rob Shearman, the writer of the episode, had his first encounter with the revived series of Doctor Who in 2003 after he created the Sixth Doctor audio Jubilee. Executive producer Russell T Davies drew heavily on Jubilee to create "Return of the Daleks" for his pitch to the BBC, a story which Davies hoped to recreate the menace shown by the Daleks in their 1963 debut The Daleks. The adventure changed the setting from the alternate Earth in Jubilee to 2012 Utah, with the lone Dalek featured being held captive by businessman Henry Van Statten, a caricature of Microsoft's chairman Bill Gates.[7]

The script went through several changes. The story itself was initially called "Creature of Lies", and Van Statten was originally called Hiram Duchesne. For a short period of time, Adam was the villains son, but Shearman decided against it.[7] The most notable change to the script happened when the Nation estate, holders of the rights for the Daleks, blocked the use of the Daleks due to the BBC licensing them out too much. The changed story contained an alien akin to a child who kills for pleasure, which eventually evolved into the Toclafane from "The Sound of Drums" and "Last of the Time Lords".[8][9] Finally, the BBC were able to secure the rights from the Nation estate, and at the same time gave the episode its final name, "Dalek".[7]

Filming

The episode was placed in the third production block, along with "Father's Day" and "The Long Game", the latter taken out due to delays in special effects creation. The episode's placement in the series was intentional so as to stave off an anticipated mid-series drop in viewership, although the BBC suggested that the episode be the premiere.[7] Filming of the episode began on 25 October 2004 at the National Museum Cardiff,[10] before moving to the Millennium Stadium the following day, where most of the episode was filmed. Most of the filming finished on 3 November 2004, with pick-up shots completed at the show's studio space in Newport throughout the remainder of the month.[7]

Critical reception and awards

Before the broadcast, media watchdog organisation Mediawatch-uk complained about certain elements of the episode, characterising Van Statten's chaining and invasive scan of the Doctor as a "sado-masochistic" torture scene. Mediawatch also objected to Van Statten's invitation to Adam and Rose to "canoodle or spoon, or whatever you British do" as inappropriate sexual language.[11]

When it was released on DVD, British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) gave the episode a 12 rating, because of the scenes where the Doctor is seen to torture the Dalek.[12] The BBFC stated:

"We are concerned about role models for children using the sort of tactics that Doctor Who used against the Dalek. If that was transferred into the playground it would be something we would want to tackle."[12]

Reception to the episode was positive. The episode's overnight ratings was 7.73 million viewers, 46% of the audience share, a figure that was finalised to 8.64 million viewers.[13][14] The Times stated that the episode was an "unqualified triumph". The Guardian commented that "Shearman's script bamboozles expectations", and the episode "should hopefully show 2005's kids what was always so wonderful about the iconic tin-rotters.". The London Evening Standard found the lack of surprise (namely, calling the episode "Dalek") the only disappointment, and Daily Mirror simply stated that "for 30 pant-shittingly wonderful minutes, BBC1's new Doctor Who was the best thing on telly. Ever."[15] In 2010 Den of Geek placed the episode as number 2 in their list of the Top 10 Dalek stories.[16]

The episode was nominated for the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form along with other Doctor Who episodes "Father's Day" and "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances". The stories came third, fifth, and first, respectively.[17]

References

  1. ↑ Terry Nation (writer), Richard Martin, Douglas Camfield (uncredited) (directors), Verity Lambert (22 May – 26 June 1965). The Chase. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1.
  2. ↑ Ben Aaronovitch (writer), Andrew Morgan (director), John Nathan-Turner (producer) (5 October 1988). "Part One". Remembrance of the Daleks. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1.
  3. ↑ Birkett, Peter (1981-08-05). "Well, this certainly buggers our plan to conquer the Universe.". Punch. Retrieved 2006-12-01.
  4. ↑ Dippold, Ron (1992-02-06). "Federal Department of Transportation Bulletin #92–132" (USENET post). alt.fan.warlord. Google Groups. Retrieved 2007-01-15.
  5. ↑ Heath, Ben (2005-12-08). "Best records, 2001–2005". dtweekend. Daily Texan. Retrieved 2007-01-15.
  6. ↑ Russell T Davies (writer), Joe Ahearne (director), Phil Collinson (producer) (11 June 2005). "Bad Wolf". Doctor Who. Series 1. Episode 12. BBC. BBC One.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Sullivan, Shannon. "Dalek". Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time (Travel). Retrieved 2008-01-23.
  8. ↑ Sullivan, Shannon. ""The Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords"". Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time (Travel). Retrieved 2008-01-23.
  9. ↑ "50 Fascinating Doctor Who Almosts...". SFX. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-16.
  10. ↑ "Walesarts, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff". BBC. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
  11. ↑ Lyon, Shaun (2005-04-25). "Weekend Series Coverage". Outpost Gallifrey. Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
  12. 1 2 "Under-12 ban on Dalek torture DVD". BBC News (BBC). 2005-05-16.
  13. ↑ Lyon, Shaun (2005-05-01). "Dalek Overnight Ratings". Outpost Gallifrey. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
  14. ↑ Lyon, Shaun (2005-05-13). "Mid-week Series update". Outpost Gallifrey. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
  15. ↑ Lyon, Shaun; et al. (2005-05-01). "Saturday Series Press Roundup". Outpost Gallifrey. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
  16. ↑ http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/doctor-who/20411/doctor-who-the-top-10-dalek-stories
  17. ↑ "Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form". 2006 Hugo Award & Campbell Award Winners. 2006-08-26. Retrieved 2006-08-28.

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