After weeks of waiting and anticipation we finally see the Daleks back on screen, in an episode that not only is the best in the 2005 series so far, but also one of the greatest Doctor Who stories of all time.

The beginning of the episode salutes the classic series wonderfully, with a rather touching scene containing some superb dialogue from the Doctor regarding the Cybermen. It's well executed and well written and is a fantastic teaser for the main episode.

The plot execution is pacey and interesting, but the moment everyone has been waiting for is certainly a scene to behold. The confrontation between the Doctor and the Dalek is fantastic. We finally get some more insight into the great 'Time Wars' and learn of the Daleks' involvement. The Doctor seems to be unable to control himself, as his mood swings do begin to get slightly questionable by the end of the scene although this is understandable considering the characters current state of mind.

The prospect of having the Doctor lashing out and attempting the Dalek is a wonderful piece of drama, and a bit of a shock to the viewer considering the Doctor's passiveness towards violence. The final confrontation between the two foes is also quite interesting, and we see how Rose has something of an influence on the Doctor in the way of bringing him back down to Earth.

The CGI of the episode id good, although the CGI Dalek goes seem somewhat plainer and simpler than the actual model so there is detraction. The death of the Dalek is very interesting as we finally find out what those bumps are for. However, the death is very smooth and in retrospect, a bit of a let down as it seems slightly anti climactic (there could have been an explosion at least)

The characterisation of the Dalek is a daring leap into the 21st Century. We're not used to the Daleks speaking dialogue that is typically 'human', but then again it does possess Rose's DNA and so would take on some of her characteristics. In all, the characterisation is good although a little OTT at times 'I AM FRIGH-TENED'

Bruno Langley has a somewhat small role in the episode but it will be interesting to see how and if he develops in the next episode. The last scene is good but Langley just doesn't seem to be on top acting form in his very last few lines, a little too whiney for the moment.

The teaser trailer for the next episode is good, but does seem to be a bit of a muddle, with there being no plot exposition to it when compared with others. The Daleks episode in all is a fantastic one and a dead cert at being a ratings phenomenon.

Of course this was the episode we have been waiting for - the long overdue television confrontation between the Doctor and his nemesis. And what a result! We finally see the Doctor getting rattled - and with good cause. The Dalek portrayed here is fare deadlier than anything we have previously seen.

Some reviews I've noticed criticising this episode for it's portrayal of teh Doctor as prepared to kill or losing control and temper - as opposed to Sylv 'reasoning' the black Dalek to death. I have to say that one is certainly not more Doctor-ish than the other. The Sylv thing always sort of rankled with me anyway as there really wasnt much 'reasoning' going on. "Your planet's dead" causes the Dalek to blow up? A bit too convenient.

But here, the Doctor has been through a lot more with the Daleks than ever before. He has seen them wipe out his people. He has seen them reach heights of atrocity never before seen in the series - and as such it would be a major stretch to imagine that this wouldn't have affected the Doctor's attitude towards them.

And he has certainly been capable of destroying Daleks before with violence, even to the point of encouraging Ace to kill Daleks with that bat in Remembrance again.

This was the Doctor at his most desperate, confronted with a vision from his worst nightmare. Whereas previously he always approached the Daleks with a sort of smarmy arrogance, here he is genuinely terrified of them and we can only guess at the true extent of the time war.

This was a jaw drop of an episode and Joe Ahearne has squeezed every last bit of tension from the script. Shearman has turned in something exceptional and the reasoning way in which the Dalek coldly destroys the humans whilst slowly moving through the bunker was truly chilling. Who else was incredibly impressed by the way the Dalek dispatched an entire squad with the sprinkler system and one blast? Rob did more than just present a Dalek mindlessly killing, he presented a highly developed killing machine and then continually upped the stakes.

Bravo. This episode has put the Daleks back where they belong, in people's nightmares and shown that they can exist outside of the shadow of Davros at long last.

Back in 1963 I watched the first Dalek story, if not actually from behind the sofa, then at least through the crack in the door. Since the 1960s, however, the Daleks have rarely impressed me as a terrifying presence: while this is doubtless attributable in part to the effects upon me of advancing age, it also reflects the lacklustre treatment of the Daleks themselves in too many of their subsequent televisual appearances. Happily that trend has now been reversed by Rob Shearman's triumphant episode "Dalek", in which the eponymous alien finally reinstates its species as a powerful, ruthless and cunning force to be reckoned with.

In contrast with most of the preceding episodes of this season, there was little humour in "Dalek". That was, however, entirely appropriate given the nature of the story: and it is one of the many virtues of the new series that it can accommodate more than one tone of storytelling, from the essentially comic to something (as here) a good deal grimmer. In this respect the series' eclecticism is reminiscent of the Hartnell era.

"Dalek" is essentially a story of parallels, contrasts and transformations. When the caged Dalek comments to the Doctor - the only other survivor of the Time War - that "We are the same", the Doctor's initial reaction is to reject the comparison out of hand. However, he then appears to render it only too plausible by attempting to destroy the Dalek with a cry of "exterminate". Subsequent events show that this was not simply an isolated rhetorical gesture on the Doctor's part, but the beginning of a process which brings him perilously close to transformation into his arch-enemy: as the latter comments, "You would make a good Dalek".

In parallel to the Doctor's transformation is the Dalek's own (equally disconcerting) journey towards a form of humanity under the influence of Rose's DNA. Ultimately, both the Doctor and the Dalek come to a realisation of what is happening to them: while for the Doctor the resolution lies in regaining his own character, for the Dalek the only way out is by a final assertion of Dalek values through extermination - in this case, its own. The Dalek's cry of "exterminate" is not only fitting for the last utterance of the last Dalek, but also brings a satisfyng closure to the sequence of transformations which began with the Doctor's own use of the word back in the cage.

The demands of the story drew strong performances from all the cast, notably of course Chris and Billie. As for the third star of the show, the Dalek was the most impressive representative of its race since "The Evil of the Daleks" not only in terms of its character but also as a physical presence. The new casing was quite superb, being appropriately solid and with fine detailing: and I especially loved the rotating centre section when it went into "battle mode".

For me "Dalek" instantly takes its place as one of the finest Dalek - and indeed "Doctor Who" - stories ever made, and reminds me why I fell in love with this monster, and this programme, back in 1963.

Um...wow.

What more can I add to that?

Well, this I guess:

[lj-cut text="EX-TER-MIN-ATE!"]

Well. This was definitely the 2nd best ever Dalek TV story (sorry, "Remembrance of the Daleks" still holds the title), and probably my favorite of the season so far. The atmosphere was tense, you knew there was going to be a high body count (that thing with the sprinklers? Daaaamn), and you knew we would see the Doctor in High Militant Mode when it comes to the Daleks. After all, he's already come yea shy of wiping them from history before they were born, he held a gun to Davros' head once, and oh yeah, also kinda sorta destroyed their home planet. So yeah, he's never really in the mood to be a nice guy where the Daleks are concerned.

Thing is, despite the greatness of it all...I've experienced this story before. And oddly enough, it was by Rob Shearman too. Because about half the Dalek's dialogue was almost a direct lift from his Big Finish audio "Jubilee." "I NEED OR-DERRRS!" "I AM WAI-TING FOR OR-DERRRRS!" "YOU DO NOT FEAR ME EVE-LYN SMY--"ERRRR "ROSE TY-LER" "I AM A SOLLL-DIER!"

So yes, unfortunately there is an element of fandom who's seen a captured, tortured, insane, suicidal Dalek before. Or heard, rather. And dammit, aren't Dalek torture-screams about one of the most bloodcurdling things you've ever heard?

At the same time tho, once again Shearman uses the Daleks to say more about humanity, in the guise of Van Statten. What kind of man DOES it take to ruthlessly collect alien artefacts, rape them for technology, and oh yeah, capture and torture a live Dalek, anyway? The same kind of man who thinks he owns the Internet. And as with all Alpha Males, van Statten quickly realizes when there's a bigger, badder, meaner dog in the yard. Hell, he had no problem with letting 200 employees die, or torture the Doctor, either. Face it, when it comes to torture and death, we're #1! We're #1! We're #1!

Rose (and I'm sure, some viewers) saw sides of the Doctor she'd never seen, and didn't much like. But then he's not human, he never will be. (ANd for you continuity wankers, half-human does not equal human. Do the math.) He, too, is the last of his kind, and he doesn't much like it.

All in all, greatness, and I'm glad Shearman was able to tell the story (although I do wonder what his alternate script was....)

SQUEEEEEEEE!!

Oh yeah, and what's with the new companion, too? Hmm...tension on the TARDIS now?

Dalek is an accomplished story, which redeems the Daleks from years of frankly below par stories. Which naturally leads us to ask, is this the best Dalek story? Yes indeed it is! Borrowing heavily from Rob Shearman’s excellent Big Finish audio story Jubilee, Dalek takes the best elements of that story and mines them for all they are worth! Above all it is perhaps the strong sense of moral ambiguity that makes the story really stand out. It’s the dialectics at the centre of the script which linger. We are presented with the ultimate killing machine, and by the end of the episode our feelings have been complexly subverted as we “feel” sympathy for the Dalek, an outstanding achievement.

Daleks are genuinely chilling and this episode proves it better than any other episode in Doctor Who’s history! Note the scene were the Dalek chillingly electrocutes the soldiers. Finally we get a visceral insight into why the Doctor fears the denizens of Skaro so much. . . . The Daleks will no longer be a joke!

Christopher Eccleston’s performance in this story is what really drives it, his fear, guilt and his passion. It’s clear now that the Ninth Doctor is a wounded soul, who’s not always thinking straight. Rose sees a side to the Doctor in Dalek which she has not only not seen before, but finds questionable, and indeed so does the audience! That initial scene between the Doctor and the Dalek in the locked cell was absolutely electric, beautifully directed too by Joe Ahearn, notice the way the Doctor addresses the Dalek’s eyestalk directly! Oh the intensity. You can clearly see why Joe Ahearn is directing five of the series thirteen episodes. The bottom line hear is that the Doctor comes tantalisingly close to becoming what he fears most! Mention should also be made of Nicholas Briggs’ superb performance as the Dalek. Nick was spot when he said that what was needed was a real characterisation, rather than just a cod robotic voice. The end result is nothing short of extraordinary.

Again the script is brimming with contemporary satire. An American who holds a Dalek prisoner illegally and tortures it.. . . . On the subject of Van Statten, he was a witty and quite enjoyable villain, albeit he was straight from the James Bond mould. The references to the Internet and the cure for the common cold were particularly enjoyable.

The only thing that very slightly mars this episode is Bruno Langley’s performance as Adam Mitchell, which while passable enough was a bit patchy at times, but I’m sure he will be redeemed.

Dalek. The name says it all.

The sixth episode of Russell T. Davies' Doctor Who encapsulates the writer/producer's vision of the series perfectly. Action, philosophy, humour and social satire collide in a story that occasionally lulls you into thinking it's one thing, only to shock you into realising it's something else entirely.

There were several set-pieces and elements lifted from popular films and previous Doctor Who episodes: the Dalek being alone was reminiscient of the small, weak Cybermen "army" in Revenge of the Cybermen (a parallel made explicit by the appearence of a Revenge-style Cyberman head in Van Stratten's collection). The Doctor and Dalek alone in a closed chamber could've just as easily been Hannibal Lechter and Clarice Starling. The base under siege by an alien is a familiar cliche in telefantasy and sci-fi films in general and Doctor Who in particular. The "feeling" Dalek echoed the "human factor" Daleks of Evil of the Daleks as well as the numerous unemotional nonhumans-who-want-to-be-human that abound in Star Trek. Van Stratten using alien technology to make himself the uncrowned and invisible king of the world is something Tobias Vaughn would've been proud of.

And yet, just when you think Dalek is turning into a "greatest hits" collection, it whallops you across the head. There's a man out there who decides who the President is, and he owns the internet. Real emotion-*humanity*- is the absolute most terrifying thing in the universe if you're a Dalek. The Doctor- big gun in hand- can't speak when Rose asks him what he's becoming. The moment you think you're watching a kid's science fiction series with a cool mutant killer wiping out soldiers, Dalek turns right around and asks you to take a good long look at yourself and the world you live in.

Major, major kudos to Rob Shearman for an outstanding script, Russell T. Davies for bringing Doctor Who back to life, the Terry Nation estate for allowing these two gentlemen to restore some of the terror and mystique of the Daleks, Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper, and the rest of a uniformily perfect cast. The first unqualified success of the Davies era, and one of the very best episodes of Doctor Who ever made.