Dalek

Robert Shearman had an epic task in bringing back the daleks but has carried it perfectly. He has made the dalek far more then just a machine or a henchmen to Davros as they had become in the eighties, he has transformed them into entirely convincing genocide obsessed alien. He has also proved how truly powerful one dalek can be as well as being manipulative and calculating.

This episode also began with a humbling nod to the past as one of Von Stratten's exhibits is a cyberman helmet from Revenge of the Cybermen. Parts of the dalek which were mocked in the past were updated in this episode to great effect. For example the plunger having a sinister function and, ofcourse, it could climb stairs and fly. Hopefully this will silence critics who claim that daleks can't climb stairs but they ignored it last time...

Another old aspect which has now been effectively updated is the dalek gun laser which has similarities to the part in Remembrance were the guard is shot and his skeleton is exposed. The dalek in this episode also seems to have a greater manipulative intelligence not seen since Power of the Daleks or Evil of the Daleks. For example it gets Rose to touch it and this results in it's resurrection. It also kills a large amount of guards in one shot as it sets off the sprinklers, the dalek then goes on to blast the water and bathes the guards in electricity.

Towards the end of the episode we see the inside of the dalek and the kaled is exposed. The kaled looked good but i still prefer the dalek interior as portrayed in the Dalek Book. The dalek self destruct sequence is also very effective. We also learn more and possibly all about the Time War, but i still think this Bad Wolf character will be involved with it somewhere (most likely episode twelve, seeing as it is called Bad Wolf). Adam also joins the Tardis and it will be intersting to see if his character develops to rival Rose.

If feel that Robert Shearman has made one of the most menacing dalek stories which have not been seen for far too long. He should be congratulated in making such an excellent story which i think is possibly the best in the series so far, although its a close call between The Unquiet Dead and Dalek.