Dalek

This episode promised alot and delivered. The Daleks once again have some street cred which - without changing what is in many ways a very dated design - is a huge achievement.

Later on I make some sneaky comparisons with other stories as I feel casual viewers will be doing so with the episode from the previous week and this will effect their expectations of later installments.

The opening in an underground museum with stuffed alien relics and artefacts was lovely and very reminiscent of the original series. In the old series a moment like that would have been alot more drawn out and involved more of a 'lets explore' exchange with the companion which would have been great, but with these 45 minute episodes there understandably isn't time for that kind of measured drama. I got a twinge of excitement when the cyberman head appeared as an exhibit, though was a little surprised that the 1970s chunky version was used. Though it seemed to work with Christopher Ecclestone's very weighty perfomance which was the best we've seen so far.

This was really an episode for Ecclestone to get his teeth into and he seemed to enjoy the opportunity to up the tension and energy. I quite like the backstory that we're given about the time war and the Doctor being the last Time Lord left alive and am perfectly happy with this having damaged his psyche somewhat - the outbursts and uncharacteristic lack of control the Doctor has over his anger and hate. Though it did seem to jar at one point towards the end of the episode. I'm thinking of the scene where the Dalek opens its casing to feel the sunlight (what a treat that was - big smile, very happy. And they carried off tentacles without them looking too phalic!). Seeing the Doctor wield a large gun and appear to lose his usual attitude towards violence is presumably intended to put across how very damaged and alone he is, following the destruction of his people. The comparison between such total loneliness in the Doctor and in the last Dalek was a wonderful moment and made a powerful statement, leveling two sworn enemies in mutual despair. However (some people are never satisfied;) I wish we could have had a less trite line than 'I didn't... ...I wasn't...'. I also felt that having the Doctor ridicule someone for their reliance on knowledge (his comment to Adam about his A-levels) and then brandish a (comically) large gun and deliver the line 'lock and load' was going a bit too far. Despite the effort and conviction in Ecclestone's perfomance, this just isn't the same character - psychological trauma or not - and it starts to look a mite self-conscious. The leather jacket is fine so long as it's not a deliberate attempt at a macho charactersation. And Ecclestone's Doctor frequently isn't that, but now and again he comes over as too much of a knee-jerk reaction to the camper or more gentlemanly previous Doctors and can be really unpleasant to others. Colin Baker suffered from this when the programme makers had him try to throttle his companion shortly after regenerating, and Ecclestone's repeated telling people to shut up or undermining of anyone who isn't a pretty girl (what IS going on here?) really starts to grate. Efforts have been made to make the Doctor less sexist, but it may come full circle because of the pseudo-sexual tension he has with any young man who talks to Rose!

Back to the main stars of the episode. The part where Rose reached out to comfort the Dalek was the best moment in the whole series and in a lot of Doctor Who ever. The cunning of the Dalek and sudden reversal of mood in the scene when it 'extrapolated' a sample of Rose's genetic material was so exciting and well executed. It was a moment where the direction, the music and Nick Brigg's perfect portrayal of the melodic ascension in pitch in the Dalek's voice all worked perfectly together. I was definitely twelve again and was definitely watching Doctor Who!

All in all this was one of the two best episodes in the new series. It's almost meaningless to directly compare it with some of the others because of the change in tone and atmosphere, but alongside Mark Gatiss's episode it was an unparalleled piece of family television and a juicey slice of what the series should be like. And no one farted. It worries me a little that the stories I have enjoyed the most so far and that I have found more casual watchers were impressed by were those not penned by RTD. I don't quite understand how the man who's skill and vision is almost solely responsible for the return of the show can have introduced such clangers like the burping bin and the wind-breaking slitheen. A friend who is not a fan but has been enjoying the new series commented that the farting aliens from the previous story were more like characters from Austin Powers! 'Dalek' acheived a wonderful 45 minutes of drama and excitement without anything that unsubtle and when we look back at the best and worst parts of the show's history, it is the excess of humour and absecne of seriousness that is criticised the most. I do hope RTD and the rest of the team take note of how differently both journalists and the public seem to have responded to the more serious stories as opposed to the more childish episodes. Perhaps I'm forgetting what children enjoy on television as the show must fundamentally appeal to the pre-teen audience (though obviously I'd rather it was just for me!). And I suppose we should count ourselves lucky that this isn't the early sixties when like the Slitheen would have been called the Flatulatons from the planet Fartos. Fingers crossed we'll get some more wind-less Dalek stories before this run is over!