Dalek was astonishing. One of the most consistent aspects of this new series of Doctor Who has been how astonished each episode has left me (for very different reasons) and this was perhaps the most breathtaking so far. Perhaps it was because, after seeing all of the hype and publicity pre-transmission, I had catalogued it in my mind as the 'event' episode of the season - all big guns, big action, lots of soldiers and old enemies coming back shiny and new. A kind of Earthshock for 2005 - shouting impressive, griity action and set-piece scenes with the old foes, but not a lot else. I was probably then not really prepared for the intense 45 mins that were to follow as I sat down and (once again) caught the end of Graham Norton's dance fest.

The striking thing about Dalek, in comparison to what has preceded it in the new series, is how dark, humourless and, at times, positively horrific it was. The fart gags and iPod jokes have gone, to be replaced by gunfire and screaming. We knew that Dalek was going to be more hard-edged (which was needed for some balance in the series) and it certainly delivered. Completely shot in darkness, or dim light, the violence was unending. I suspect that the BBC may get the odd complaint! The shots of dead bodies, the screaming of the woman killed on the stairs (what a pointless act of self-sacrifice that was!), the moment when Simmons is 'suckered', the skeletal exterminations, the Doctor's 'crucifiction' - all very cinematic stuff. However the scenes that I found the most disturbing (and actually a little difficult to watch) were the ones where Simmons was torturing the Dalek - his drill thing not quite managing to drown out the Dalek's screaming. Yes, the Doctor's been wired up to some machine or other that electrocutes him in the past, but the depiction of torture here was quite shocking. It was probably even more so as we were actually being forced to feel sorry for a Dalek, just as Rose did.

And this is the key to why Dalek was so astonishing. It completely turned the tables on us. There was I, expecting my Earthshock-style romp, all guns and no story, and instead I am faced with an episode that ends with a bitter, crazed, hate-filled Doctor, brandishing a massive gun, about to blow up a tortured Dalek that doesn't want to kill and just wants to be free to do some sunbathing. When Rose asks the Doctor "what are you changing into?" and the Doctor almost breaks down, it's a devastating moment. That last scene is one of the most emotionally intense that the series has produced and dares to do something wonderfully different and eschew all-out action in favour of depth of character and story. It was absolutely fantastic.

Christopher Eccleston is at his most angry (and probably most effective - I'm not sure that humour really suited him as well), Billie Piper is wondeful (again) and Bruno Langley is also good. When the Doctor comments on how pretty Adam is, it's another indication of the refreshing relationship that the Doctor and Rose have - close, fun, loving and very almost sexual. When before has a companion been refered to as "the woman you love", or whatever the Dalek said? But how true would it have been if it had been said of the Third Doctor and Jo? Or the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa? (well maybe not fun - for all of her intelligence, Nyssa could hardly have been labelled the most 'fun' person in the world!). It will be interesting to see what happens to Adam next week...

So, despite the fact that I had to watch it a second time before I could make up my mind (and also to get my head around all of the Rose DNA stuff), Dalek was truly astonishing - in a good way. Adult, gripping, intelligent, emotional, well-acted, well-realised and ground-breaking Doctor Who. I had some very minor gripes (the editing seemed a little jumpy, the Slitheen arm a little conveniently placed, and Van Statten a little too much), but the tear-jerking end made me forget all of that. Probably best of the series so far (with The End of the World coming in at second place).

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.

Back in 1965, the production team sent up the Daleks. We had one interrogating a talior's dummy, one "thicko" (which doesn't sit well with the idea of purity and perfection) and the Doctor calling one "Aunty".

There's no time for that now. Since Terry Nation died the Daleks have been mocked left right and centre, and have been turned into figures of fun. Rob Shearman has been given 45 minutes to make them cool again-and he wipes the floor with everyone who ever took the mick.

Starting at the beginning, the Cyberman reference was great, but I would have kept it in the background more. (Not that I'm complaining, but does this mean that if the Cybermen ever appear they'll have to be the Revenge style ones? Because, frankly, there are better).

The Dalek itself...all the elements that people laugh at (the monosyllable voice, the sink plunger, and of course the stairs) are subverted beautifully. So now we get a deadly sucker (in more ways than one) and a fantastic job by Nicholas Briggs as the voice to make the creature far more realistic. Their agenda is obvious, but it's worthy and carried off with brilliance.

Certain scenes had me gasping-something I haven't done with Doctor Who for ten years-such as the part where the Dalek breaks free and the spinning mid-section that nullifies the joke about them being able to move at two mp/h; now they can draw like Clint Eastwood. In fact, it was so good when it was over my mum rang me and we had a long conversation about how great it was, to the bemusement of my housemate.

But the best part of the episode, the very very best part, is that the Daleks are characters again. The last time they were characters, the series was in black and white. Pertwee's Dalek stories were colourful runarounds (except Death To The Daleks, which was a runaround in various shades of brown) and after that Davros turned up. By Remembrance they were boring drones that squawked nothing by "exterminate" three thousand times and couldn't shoot straight. That catchphrase can be very badly used; here, the number of times it is uttered more or less matches the number of people who get exterminated. That's good. People have complained that the Dalek was made into too sympathetic a figure; frankly, the noisy little cliches from Resurrection and Remembrance can take a jump.

Add to this some superb special effects (the exterminations were a wow!) and some nice characterisation from both the Doctor and Rose, and the episode just gets better and better. The Americans were characterised as corny G.I. Joe types, which I'll peg down as satire from the pen of an English writer. Even with tiny little uncomfortable bits, like the Doctor relishing holding a huge gun, this is still an utterly, utterly brilliant episode.

The one final question is how it relates to the other Dalek stories. It beats every colour Dalek story bar Genesis; it beats Revelation by inches, as the Doctor's lack of involvement in that story means it can never truly satisfy. The black and white ones are harder to judge-it's better than The Chase, but after that I'm hedging my bets. Still, this is a superb episode and while I can understand that being asked to sympathise with a Dalek can be hard to swallow for some, with time I think this episode will be very well remembered indeed.

Wow! What an episode. The Dalek looked great. OK there was a lot of meaningless technobabble (extrapolating the time traveller's biomass?) but the emotional content more than made up for it.

The first scene in the space museum was interesting, didn't the Cyberman head look great in the glass case? "The stuff of nightmares" indeed. The first alien in a glass case that the Doctor looked at may have been the shami kebab version of the metamorph in Red Dwarf but I'm not sure.

Van Stratten was a fine over the top performance and all the speaking parts in the show acted well enough but the star, of course, was the Dalek. The voice was just right from its' screams while being tortured to its' final melancholy "exterminate". Probably just as well it committed suicide at the end, if it had escaped and gone to Salt Lake City in that damaged emotional state it could have ended up becoming a Mormon and I wouldn't want a Dalek going door to door trying to convert people.

The Dalek's appearance was very impressive. It was the T1000 of Daleks. Super intelligent, able to fly, indestructible and able to download the entire internet in seconds (just what would a Dalek do with all that porn?).

And at the end? Who would have thought that you would feel sorry for a Dalek? Great writing and just so true to the nature of Daleks. It could stand the death of its' race, it could survive a hail of bullets but it couldn't stand the idea of changing into anything other than a Dalek.

As for the rest of the cast, Billie Piper was excellent as usual, Chris Ecclestone went foaming at the mouth bonkers and the new companion was competent, more to come from him. The plot was interesting, one of the best Dalek stories since 'Power of the Daleks'. The comedy content was limited this week but there were still some good throwaway lines ("Broken, broken, hairdryer, broken, hey hey, lock and load") although I'm still waiting for a Doctor Who moment as funny as the death of Adric.

This vies with 'The Unquiet Dead' as my favourite episode of the new series but I would give Dalek the edge because of the Dalek's death scene. This was the saddest moment in Doctor Who for ages. The only moment I could compare it with would be the the part in 'Inferno' where the Doctor leaves the alternate Earth as it, the Brigadier et al are destroyed.

There was another random mention of 'Bad Wolf' in this episode. How can this phrase turn up in so many different situations? Can there be a reason for this or is Russell just playing with us? Perhaps the Doctor is really in the matrix and his mind is trying to tell us something. By the way wouldn't something of the Time Lords have survived in the matrix? Didn't they keep a backup? Maybe they were using an MS operating system and it crashed.

So anyway, onwards and upwards to the next episode.

Here is the episode most of us have been waiting for. Did it disappoint or did it meet expectations? Let's find out.

The story opens with a nice scene in a museum featuring a few references to past stories including one that will have fans jumping for joy! This was one of the best opening teasers so far in its writing and build up to the opening credits sequence.

The rest of the story follows at the very fast pace which is now firmly established for the current series which does not allow for some of the characters like Goddard and even Adam to develop enough for us to care if they are in danger or not. Which is a shame given the apparent importance of Adam's character especially. Yet it does yield the best character moments between The Doctor and a Dalek ever. Van Statten is another nicely developed character and well played by actor Corey Johnson who brings a subtle performance to a role that most actors would have had overacted in tremendously.

Billie Piper again brings an impressive performance and is easily establishing herself as one of the best actresses to ever play a companion and Christopher Eccleston is proving to be a very versatile actor with all the different emotions he has to convey. He may become known as the conflicted Doctor as his morales and range of emotions are being tested like no other Doctor.

The Dalek itself is just brilliant with its new modifications and new budget for special effects. I can't imagine the devastation these new improved Daleks could accomplish with their upgrades. One Dalek by itself has never been this threatening before. The special effects people as did a wonderful job with the Dalek creature as it is able to convey a surprising amount of emotion with just a fine voice performance by Nicholas Briggs and only an eye to convey feeling. A tremendous act to accomplish without a mouth or facial expressions.

The story also does a nice job at providing just enough of a piece of the puzzle to the overall season storyarc to make it move forward and yet keep us wanting to know more.

One downside to the story is that if you've heard the audio story "Jubilee" by Robert Shearman himself, a lot of this story will seem like a retread of past material. I'm glad to hear that Shearman was commissioned to adapt his audio story into a TV story, because I was left wondering at his lack of originality at first. There are a lot of new things to offer however and the story is just so good anyway that its hard to hold that against it too much.

At six episodes in, I have to say that from a story standpoint, Doctor Who works best in a 90 minute format whether that be as episodes or movies. As good as some of these stories are, if they were given an extra 45 minutes to develop, I believe they would be even better. There is just too much to establish with introducing new characters, setting and threats in every episode for a show running less than 45 minutes. Having stated that criticism, I think that Russell T. Davies and crew are doing a fabulous job with the time limitations they have. With only 45 minutes or less to work with, I seriously doubt anyone could do better. It is also appropriate to note that in a world where there is so much entertainment to distract you, it does make sense to shorten the episodes to attract an audience that either doesn't have the time to devote 90 minutes to one programme, or the attention span to see it unfold.

So despite some criticicisms about the format of the show itself and the retreading of old material, I have to say that "Dalek" is still one of the best Doctor Who stories ever and the best one of this series so far. The story has great tension, action, special effects, acting and writing. Truly a triumph!

I usually like to watch the new episodes a couple of times before I review them but alas, fate has had its way with that idea. Overall, I was pleased and I'm sure new viewers thought it was the best thing ever!

'Jubilee' - pardon me, 'Dalek' - was an episode full of expolsive action; the stuff that really turned me into a Doctor Who fan. The scene where the dalek rises, turns the water on and electrocutes all the troops almost had me literally weeting my pants with glee and surprise. "Oh my God!" was my exact words when I saw that. Great stuff! And the x-ray image and Dalek POV, used sparingly in Remembrance were well used here and really did show the Daleks to be evil killers that they were. Van Statten should have got exterminated though, although his actual fate was probbaly more fitting. Goddard was gorgeous - but I have athing for powerful women.

Christopher Eccleston's portrayal as the Doctor was quite surprising - like Troughton in 'Power' but on speed and red bull! This Doctor is a lot more ruthless than previous, and contrasts with Baker's 'Genesis' speech have already been alluded to by more capable reviewers. Such ruthlessness hasn't been seen since the infamous rock scene from 'An Unearthly Child'. I like it though; we don't want this Doctor to be too like previous ones do we?

As for the emotional Dalek - i wish I hadn't listened to the masterpiece that was 'Jubilee' as I would have enjoyed this episode more. Jubilee, I'm sad to say, literally had me in tears at the end so this 'adaptation' was a bit of a dissappointment. I'm glad I know the Jubilee similarities were intentional, as the whole world should enjoy that story - if only in the truncated auspices of a 45 minute episode. So good, but too much like Jubilee for me to really appreciate it.

And what the hell is the next episode about? I really can't tell from the trailer at all.