Doctor Who (2005)

Dalek

Season 1, Episode 6, Aired 4/30/05

Episode Summary

Location: Utah, Earth
''Date: 2012
''Enemy: Dalek
The Doctor and Rose find themselves in an underground museum in Utah in the year 2012. The museum houses all kinds of extra-terrestrial artefacts the only living exhibit being one of the Doctor's oldest enemies - a Dalek. But soon after, it escapes from its "torture chamber", and goes on a killing spree. Will Rose be one of the victims?moreless

9.1

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Cast & Crew

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Billie Piper

Rose Tyler
Christopher Eccleston

The Ninth Doctor
Barnaby Edwards

Dalek Operator

Fan Episode Reviews (32)

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Dalek sad

3.0

"Bad"

By z0mbieZero, Jun 10, 2011 Report Abuse

Having watched Doctor Who as a kid, I enjoyed the reboot it got with this series. I found the new Doctor a little annoying in the pilot, but he's starting to grow on me. I liked the first few episodes partly because they didn't ask me to take them too seriously, but this one did ask me to take it seriously, and I just couldn't. The idea of the stray, crashed dalek being revived on Earth was kind of cool, but it quickly degenerated into such over the top melodrama that it was uncomfortable to sit through. I put this one squarely on the writing; the actors were fine, the production values were fine, and the dalek itself had a nice modern polish on an old design, especially when it opened up to show its withered little body at the end...but if you're going to ask viewers to get emotionally invested as a dalek learns to empathize with its enemy then question its existence, it's just got to be better than this. This idea has been done before (the 'Hugh' episode on Star Trek Next Generation, the Starbuck/Cylon stranded together in the original Battlestar Galactica, the film Enemy Mine, etc.) but to much better effect. If you're going to cue a swell of violins while the Doctor and his companion emote over 'who is the real monster' in front of a sad, alien tank with its eyestalk cast down, you're wandering out onto some thin ice in my opinion. Kudos for the attempt, and the series is not bad, but this episode made me cringe and not in a good way.moreless

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"Alright then, if you want orders, follow this one. Kill yourself. Why don't you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth. Why don't you just die!?" - The Doctor. "You would make a good Dalek."- The Dalek.moreless

6.5

"Fair"

By 10thdoctorfan, Jun 10, 2011 Report Abuse

The Doctor and Rose take less than a decade trip into the future, following a distress signal from the last surviving Dalek of the Time War. Note: A Mondasian Cyberman head is in the glass case in Van Staunten's vault, probably refuged form one of their previous attacks on 20th century earth.
This will be mentioned in the parallel Earth story Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel.
The Doctor's ragefulness and hatred surface promently in this episode, showing that he'll do anything to keep a Dalek from killing people, even stoop to commeting murder against the Dalek.
Hard to notice, but there is a joke about how the Doctor and Rose got into the Vault.
"How did they get in? In true da (intruder) window."moreless

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An epic enemy has everyone running for their life.

9.0

"Superb"

By Lord_Fly, Oct 13, 2010 Report Abuse

The first time we see the Daleks in Nu Who, and for new comers who aren't familiar with this particular enemy we get introduced to them at the best. This is a great episode were you truly feel you have entered the Who-verse. Needless to say if the Doctor is terrified of these guys then I think we can assume they are bad news.

They do a good job of making you want to empathize with the damaged Dalek. It has been tortured, bruised and even the Doctor looks down with disdain upon it. Yet, this episode really shows the danger the Daleks pose. It is good to see the Dalek use some creativity in its destruction demonstrating the intelligence of this enemy. It is also nice to see that stairs will not be a problem.

Again we see that Christopher Eccleston's Doctor has a little darker side with the comment "you would make a good Dalek" striking a cord.moreless

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Our first meeting with a Dalek!

8.5

"Great"

By Pucktweety, Sep 21, 2010 Report Abuse

Our first meeting with a Dalek brings up to Utah where some rich American has decided to put a lot of space 'Junk' and artifacts into a cellar deep underground so he can be with the stars, ironic much? The Doctor thinks so too.

Anyway, yeah, quite an interesting episode. We meet Adam who appears in the next episode. I love how they make him really likeable in this one but in the next one you really hate his stupidity, haha!

The plot was interesting, the lady who takes over in the end I really liked UNTIL she took over. In general the American accent through me a little at the start because I don't know why but everyone else has an English accent in the show, even the other species. (Has anyone else realised this?)moreless

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irony or real? just dont get it!

6.0

"Fair"

By hp79, Jun 10, 2010 Report Abuse

Im sorry, but i just dont get it! i am a big fan of sci fi. perhaps this is a little smarter that scifi (i like shows like late Star Trek and stargate etc.), because i dont understand what the fuzz is about. Bad effects, silly story (are they ironic, or is it for real? dont know), and not much of acting either.

Perhaps its better if you know the whole story. i have only seen these first 6 episodes of the new doctor who. Perhaps it is such smart comedy (or scifi?or what is it?), that i just dont get it.
But thats how it is, i dont understand what its about, i dont understand if it is supposed to be funny or serious, and i dont understand why so many people love it.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- The map of the United States on Van Stratton's monitor is missing Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Edit
- When the Doctor tries to kill the Dalek, it screams "Have pity!" In Genesis of the Daleks, the lead Dalek claimed the word was not registered in their databanks. Edit
- The fictional Geocomtex website lists under its Products section Node Stabilized (in Lupus and Nocens variants). Lupus is Latin for wolf and nocens for harmful or bad. Interestingly, they also offer Argentum Ordnance, otherwise known as silver bullets. Edit
Notes
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- Original International Air Dates: Turkey: October 4, 2009 on CNBC-e Edit
- This episode was nominated for a Hugo Award for Dramatic Presentation: Short Form. Edit
- In an early draft of the script Van Statten's character was named 'Will Fences' in joking allusion to Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Russell T. Davies later changed it to Henry Van Statten, a name he had also used in his series Mine All Mine. Edit
Quotes
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- (Diana Goddard orders Van Statten's men to take him away) Henry Van Statten: What the hell are you doing? Diana Goddard: Two hundred personnel dead and all because of you, sir. Take him away, wipe his memory and leave him by the road someplace. Henry Van Statten: You can't do this to me! I am Henry Van Statten! Diana Goddard: And by tonight, Henry Van Statten will be a homeless brainless junkie living on the streets of San Diego, Seattle, Sacramento… Someplace beginning with S. Edit
- Dalek: Why do we survive? The Doctor: I don't know. Dalek: I am the last of the Daleks. The Doctor: You're not even that. Rose did more than regenerate you. You've absorbed her DNA. You're mutating. Dalek: Into what? The Doctor: Something new. I'm sorry. Rose: Isn't that better? The Doctor: Not for a Dalek. Dalek: I can feel. So many ideas. So much darkness. Rose, give me orders. Order me to die. Edit
- Rose: I'm begging you, don't kill him. You didn't kill me. Dalek: But why not? Why are you alive? My function is to kill. What am I? What am I? Edit
Allusions
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- Henry Van Statten: Just last year my scientists cultivated bacteria from the Russian crater.
  
  Given that this episode is set in 2012, there may be another explosion of extraterrestrial origin in Russia, however it is more than likely this refers to the Tunguska event of 1908. A massive explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai of Russia. The event is sometimes referred to as the Great Siberian Explosion, although it left no crater and is believed to have been caused by a 20 metre asteroid airbursting 10 kilometres above the planet. Edit
- Adam:It doesn't do much - the alien. It's weird, it's kind of... useless, it's just like this... great big pepper pot. An account in Jeremy Bentham's Doctor Who — The Early Years says that after Nation wrote the script, Designer Raymond Cusick was given only an hour to come up with the design for the Daleks, and was inspired in his initial sketches by a pepper shaker on a table. However, Cusick himself states that he based it on a man seated in a chair, and only used the pepperpot to demonstrate how it might move. Edit
- Henry Van Statten: [to Adam, about Rose] Hey, Little Lord Fauntleroy, I got you a girlfriend. Little Lord Fauntleroy is the central character in the children's book of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924), originally published in 1886. Edit