Dalek

OK, I will admit it, I didn't want to get my hopes up for this episode. Whilst I have found the new series enjoyable, I haven't quite clicked with it yet, nor have I entirely warmed to Eccleston's blokish portrayal of the Doctor. I will admit to being a long standing fan of the Daleks so the approach of a new Dalek episode filled me with mixed emotions. I wanted this episode to be good so badly indeed, the news that it had been written by Rob Shearman gave me hope but I didn't want to get my hopes up too high.

After 45 minutes of sitting on the edge of my seat, I realised that you can truly a judge a man by the quality of his enemies. "Dalek" didn't just entertain me, it blew me away! For the first time in the new series, I was utterly immersed in the story. I was no longer simply watching Christopher Eccleston playing the Doctor, I was watching the Doctor come face to face with his oldest enemy and loving every minute of it (despite the urge to duck behind my sofa).

RTD may be very good at drama but his writing of the Doctor has been slightly hit-and-miss for me and this is why I have taken a while to get into the new series. Rob Shearmen on the other hand nailed the character precisely. For the first time, I truly accepted that Eccleston was THE Doctor and not just A Doctor. The dialogue is sharp, the character is spot on and the tension is relentless.

The supporting cast are introduced in one of the sharpest 10 minutes of television I have seen. With a few economic scenes, we are introduced to the Dalek's captors and given a handle on their motives. The egotistical billionaire collector, his sycophantic second-in-command and the likable english boffin who catalogues his collection.

Shearmen doesn't mess long-time fans about, like the Doctor, we know that carnage and mahem is waiting the minute the Dalek bursts its chains. The scene where Doctor and Dalek come face-to-face for the first time is electrifying. Eccleston's immeadiate terror is replaced by sardonic mocking that would have made any of the doctor's earlier ascerbic incarnations proud. His diatribe against the Dalek contains the biggest revelation of the series so far. The Daleks were the antagonists of the much-mentioned "Time War", it appears the war ended with the Daleks and the Timelords wiping each other out leaving just the Doctor and this sole surviving Dalek.

From that point on the episode proceeds with relentless inevitability. Rose's compassion and ignorance of what the Dalek trigger's its release. It quickly goes on the rampage and proceeds to slaughter its way through the personel who try to stop it. Desparate to prevent the Dalek getting loose comletely, the Doctor tries to lock down the bunker and trap it. Unfortunately he traps Rose too who quickly comes to regret her earlier pity as she finds herself cornered. The Dalek however fails to exterminate her (to its own suprise as much as Rose) and instead demands its release in return for Rose's life.

Unwilling to see her killed, the Doctor releases both Dalek and hostage before heading off to find something powerful enough to destroy it. The Dalek and Rose reach the surface and Rose comments that she never expected to feel the sunlight again. The Dalek appears curious and shockingly unseals it's casing, allowing the mutated creature within to bask in the sunlight.

The Doctor rushes up with an alien weapon, determined to put an end to the last Dalek once and for all. Rose however refuses to let him simply gun down the creature. The Dalek is increasingly exhibiting human emotions including fear and pity. The Doctor realises that the Dalek has become contaminated by Rose's DNA and is slowly mutating into something new, a fate that is worth than death for the xenophobic creature. Unwilling to become what it despises, the Dalek self-destructs. The Doctor and Rose leave but not before taking the resident boffin with them.

This episode was undoubtedly the best in the series so far. The scripting, pacing, acting and story were excellent. However there were a few minor quibbles. The redesigned Dalek was a masterpiece. Without changing the basic design, the new-look Dalek looks considerably more sophisticated and dangerous than its plywood predeccessors. Unfortunately this good work is largely wasted in the second half of the episode when this menacing metal monster is inexplicably replaced by a sloightly dodgy looking CGI Dalek. The purpose of this appears to be to show off the Dalek's ability to hover to negotiate stairs. This is a total waste as the CGI work is nowhere near as good as the physical Dalek. A single scene with the Dalek climbing the stairs would have been adequate and then they should have switched back to the real Dalek. The poor CGI work mars the last 15 minutes of the episode unecessarily.

The other problem with the story is that it borrows heavily from Shearman's own Big Finish story "Jubilee". The premise of the last surviving Dalek being imprisoned and tortured by humans before forming a strange bond with the Doctor's companion will be very familiar to any fans of the audio series. I cannot entirely fault Shearman for this however since Jubilee was such an excellent story and deserved to be enjoyed by a wider audience.

The last few points are niggles but bothered me anyway. It is never explained how Rose's touch managed to regenerate the dying Dalek, nor how her DNA became mixed with it's own. Also the revelation that the Daleks are responsible for the destruction of Gallifrey and the Time Lords shocked me somewhat. The Daleks are powerful and deservedly a threat to the cosmos but the idea that they could go toe-to-toe with the Lords of Time just feels wrong to me.

Still an excellent episode and the trailer for next week has Simon Pegg in it so I finished the story on a positive note.