We are hitting the middle episodes of Doctor Who 2005 now, and the production team wisely re-ignited the public interest with those wonderful Daleks – the main reason the show took off in the first place. After just over a month on TV, this would have seemed a great idea – a definite pulling back of viewers after that initial excitement of the first few shows. Fact is though that Doctor Who 2005 has been pulling the viewers in regardless. Admittedly Aliens of London 2-parter had seen a slight drop in viewers – but it was still popular and massively in the public eye.

Dalek presented something extra special in a season that continues to enthral and amaze. Time and again this series has exceeded my expectations – and Dalek was no different – and those expectations were so high too!

Christopher Eccleston was at his best in Dalek, but increasingly it is Billie Piper who is claiming the major accolades for performance amongst some brilliant characters. Her lovely scene with Adam in the workshop was wonderfully flirty. It is Rose who has the confrontation with the creature at the end – the Doctor clearly bricking himself at the possibility of being anywhere near his Number One Foe. It is Rose who increasingly is the Major Star of Doctor Who – even though, I have to stress this, the 9th Doctor is brilliant too.

The episode was beautifully paced, and I think it’s the Director who deserves praise for that. The wonderful opening in the Museum, with all the strange artefacts on show. The inclusion of the Cyberhead was glorious – has anything looked so shiny and worthy of display more? The Dalek was introduced at perfectly the right time, and Christopher Eccleston excelled in his fear.

The supporting characters, from the cold collector Van Statton to the genius wonderkid Adam, were very good too. I rather warmed to Bruno Langley, and it will be interesting to see how Rose and Doctor take to this new travelling companion.

Dalek essentially was about the Dalek though – hence the imaginative and totally appropriate title. And in this regard we have brilliance. Isolating the major Doctor Who enemy this way made me think of Hugh, out Next Generation Borg fame. But then I moved beyond that – this individual of an enemy race was handled much better, and with far more gravitas. This lone Dalek was infinitely more powerful than anything seen in the series thus far. I genuinely believed that this Dalek, on his own, could produce more devastation than anything we had thus far seen. I was totally convinced because of the design and execution of this iconic Monster.

I am warming to Murray Golds music more too – and in Dalek he reached his peak thus far. The dramatic vocal score particularly emphasized the menace presented – and was a perfect counterpoint throughout to the action. Excellent production. Another reassuring aspect of Dalek was this was the first Directorial chore for Joe Ahearne. As he is directing the bulk of the rest of this series, that bodes very well for its quality.

The sets were marvellous, and I loved the totally appropriate use of the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. I have always thought Sports Stadia were very bunkerish. I will be watching for any Daleks the next time I go through any Sports Stadium!

Another interesting aspect of Dalek is the script. I have been a big fan of Rob Shearmans work on Doctor Who since Holy Terror. His scripts are continually superior to most of Big Finishs consistently excellent output – they are that good. Jubilee, the inspiration behind some of this TV script, was one of the best. But yet Dalek went its own way, with only the imprisoned Dalek of the start reminiscent of Jubilee. This story is mostly about a Dalek on the rampage in an underground bunker – there was none of that in Jubilee. All the usual Dalek put downs were present and correct here – but further emphasized how superior this new Dalek was.

In short Rob Shearmans script totally fitted its TV medium, as Jubilee totally fitted its Audio Medium.

I am convinced that Dalek will win the Poll for Best Story of the season – even if the Daleks return later on. I thought it was magnificent – the second brilliant episode of the Series so far (the Unquiet Dead was glorious too, for all kinds of other reasons). Dalek shows again that new Who is brilliant Who.

Aren’t we the lucky ones – we have 7 more stories this year, and another massive season next year. These are truly golden years for anyone who has ever loved Doctor Who. 10/10

Okay... now, how should I describe this episode? I have read everyone else’s reviews after I finally saw this episode on Saturday that has just passed. (Us poor deprieved people in Australia were five or six episodes behind the UK; I have been brave and not let myself look at any other reviews for future episodes).

While having watched the new Who every Saturday and the reruns of every all the old series (we are currently on the second series with Tom Baker) every weekday I thought the Daleks in the old Doctor Who weren't all that scary compared to the latest episode. I actually got really scared when the Dalek started to go one its killing spree because it showed many shots of the dead bodies. I did feel a lot of sympathy for it when Rose's DNA started to mutate it.

Actually coming to Rose I thought that Billie Piper acted brilliantly, especially all of her scenes with the Dalek and as usual all of her scenes with the Doctor were a joy to watch. The Doctor's reaction to thinking that Rose was actually dead and gone was extremely convincing but his reaction to seeing her alive was even better to watch. Christopher E's acting though stole the show when he first encounters the Dalek and his reaction and speech to the Dalek after he realises that it actually can't hurt him because his laser can't "Exterminate!" I did get a bit disturbed though when the Doctor threatened the Dalek with a massive gun, even though the Dalek had opened his casing and only was trying to feel the sun. Since when did the Doctor become a military man? Her reaction though was extremely well played and her asking the Doctor, "What about you Doctor? What the hell are you turning into?"

Excellent acting but the only thing that peeved me off was the introducing the character of Adam.

Why on earth did the Doctor take him? I can understand from Rose's point of view but why oh why Doctor? Hopefully he'll die or something in the next episode!

I also really hope that the Doctor and Rose get together in the end.

Overall I would give Dalek a 9/10.

Dalek was undoubtedly one of the most disturbing, emotional and exciting episodes of Doctor Who I have ever seen. Writer Robert Shearman skilfully gave us an episode that had the requisite amount of thrills and drama, but with an emotional wallop that has surely never been seen in the series before.

With just one Dalek to contend with, the battle for the Doctor against his deadliest enemy was far more personal and totally believable. It was disturbing to see the Doctor first cowering with fear as the Dalek threatened to exterminate him (for the umpteenth time, you’d think he’d be used to it by now!) But then to then see him taunting the Dalek and explode with uncontrollable fury. Then just when you’re reeling at that, he actually tries to kill the Dalek in cold blood…

This was powerful emotional stuff and superbly played by Christopher Eccleston. Never before have we seen a Doctor be so scared; not even Patrick Troughton! The gradual development and exposition of the Time War back story actually had me on the edge of my seat. This episode, perhaps more than any of them so far, really gave Eccleston a chance to excel and show just why the production team chose him in the first place, regardless of him only wanting to do one season.

Nicholas Briggs gave the Dalek voice so much more character than any other Dalek voice actor before. The sixties Dalek voices (apart from the films) always sounded camp, while Roy Skelton in the seventies was scary yet monotonous, mainly due to the script. Here, for the first time, the Dalek ran through a gamut of emotions, even managing to instil some sympathy in us while still maintaining its menace. And when the Dalek spoke about Rose being the "woman [the Doctor] loved!" I was gobsmacked!

And what of that woman? Well, Billie Piper continues to impress due not only to her talent but also due to the writing. The production team are aiming to show true character development and consistency, plus building up a relationship between the Doctor and Rose that is genuine and believable. The scene where she says goodbye after the bulkhead closes was heart-wrenching, I literally was on the edge of my seat!

It wasn’t just the emotional level being hiked up, the Dalek had its image updated too and its scare factor significantly increased. No more sink plunger jokes thank you; although you knew it was coming, the new and improved deadly plunger no doubt had audiences cheering. The exterminating effect was superb but an old Git like me missed the old-style negative effect. Any traditionalist fan however will be pleased that this Dalek story fulfils the usual requirement of a high body count, with not only the electrocution scene being memorable, but also the individual deaths of minor characters like DiMaggio were realistic and shocking.

With the trio of the Doctor, Rose and the Dalek taking up the majority of screen time, the other actors should be praised for making their characters quite memorable. Corey Johnson was suitably menacing as Van Statten, perhaps being more of the story’s villain than the Dalek. Anna-Louise Plowman as Goddard had little to work with but still gave a solid performance. The character of Adam Mitchell threatens to be another Adric, although fortunately he is, at least, well played by Bruno Langley.

The ending was odd, but in a good way. I had imagined that we would actually see the Doctor blasting the Dalek to bits. To see it just give up and self-destruct at first seemed wrong but on reflection, it does seem to be the more appropriate ending. The Dalek mutant was another triumph for the special effects crew.

And the Cyberman cameo at the start was strangely moving, focusing as it did on the "teardrop" design. Despite it being one of the dated designs, it managed to look realistic and not retro or quaint. Maybe I’m getting old too?

Dalek was fantastic as the Doctor would say! The best episode of this series so far, full of wonderful moments and for me it managed to demonstrate in just 45 minutes, all that is wonderful about Doctor Who.

Dalek continues the season's downward trend with an episode that promised much but ultimately delivered little of any real quality.

A lot of fans seem dazzled as usual by the high production values, but this was a resolutely uninspired run-around. Take the Dalek climbing the stairs incident - I'm no fan of the McCoy era, but at least the climax to Remembrance part one had pacing. Given that everyone know the bloody thing was going to levitate, what was the point in having it sit there for about two minutes listening to a load of old piffle about being made to surrender? The subsequent death of the trooper was gratuitous and contrived - there was no reason for her to stay and get killed - she already knew her weopen would be useless.

But these are small points compared to the more serious charges that, with each passing episode, can be laid at the feet of Christopher Eccleston's Doctor. People seem to be enjoying his "anti-hero" stance, but this idea that the Doctor is now some sort of intergalactic war veteran with psycologicial scarring and a predilection for bouts of gut-level brutality -well, does any of that do anything to evoke or develop the essential magic of Doctor Who?

The Doctor is supposed to be a HERO folks, he was never meant to be Avon, or Garibaldi from Babylon 5. By all means make other supporting characters messed up and flakey, but for God's sake, give the kids a central hero they can rely on. In the Unquiet Dead he ended up with his back to the wall, having made a monumnetal error of judgement and almost destroyed the world - fortunately Dickens was there to save everyone. In the next story he allowed himself to be cooped up in one room for nearly a whole episode, eventually replying on Rose's mobile phone and a council estate urchin to save the day by proxy. And now we have him standing around getting all emotional while Rose inadvertently defeats the Dalek with a dose of her own humanity.

Come on Russel T. Davies - give us a story in which the Doctor finally DOES something heroic and positvie, where he behaves like the Doctor! Subverting his character is an act of sabotage that will only be appreciated by hard-core fans. A new generation of children need the brave, resourceful centre-stage hero which we were treated to between the years 1963 and 1980. Anything other approach and we end up slipping down distinctly Carmel-esque slopes.

One other thing about this episode that drove me nuts was the heavy handed and over prescriptive incidental music, which became positively unbearable at the climax. Having revealed the Dalek creature in all its one-eyed glory, the story then slipped into slushy melodrama with the kind of string-driven pap that blights american movies. The whole of the final sequence had enough emotional content already - here was a Dalek choosing suicide! Why do we need to be told how to feel by slushy music? Can you imagine that happening at the end of Ark in Space as Noah sacrifices himself? A flurry of strings as Chase gets eaten by his compost machine? Those fine memorable dramatic deaths happened in the complete absence of music!

And finally - it seems we have another Adric on our hands. I've already forgotten the name of the character, along with his face, his voice, and his non-contribution to the story. Just what is it about him that the production team felt would be a good companion? Blandness personified! Rose's boyfriend would have been infinitely better, and that's not saying much.

All in all, this episode (SFX trumped up as potentially the greatest episode ever!) reminded me of a forgettable Doctor-less comic strip from the back pages of Dr Who weekly. A major disappointment.

‘Dalek’ reintroduced ‘Doctor Who’s’ most enduring and iconic villains to a new audience, and at times during this story we can’t help feeling a kind of magic. When the Doctor approaches the hurt, shadow-shrouded alien in friendship, only to hear that horrible, familiar voice (“DOC-TOR? THE DOC-TOR?”), it’s a moment filled with horror and delight – an instant classic scene.

The idea of an emotionally tortured and stranded Doctor facing off against a *literally* tortured and stranded Dalek counterpart is a fascinating one, rich with dramatic possibilities, but unfortunately this story is not the mini-masterpiece it might have been. This is not really to do with the ‘time-traveler DNA’ element that seems to have angered so many fans (it’s really amazing to me how many of us seem to have convinced ourselves that classic ‘Who’ was above absurd – often *extremely* absurd – pseudoscience).

No, instead it’s more to do simply with the storytelling methods. If classic ‘Doctor Who’ can be criticized for giving its audience too much detail (and boy, can it ever), then ‘Dalek’ can be criticized for giving us too little. Oh, we have everything we need to follow what’s going on – but we have nothing more, and it is that ‘more’ that so often made the old series feel like it existed in its own true fictional universe. ‘Dalek,’ on the other hand, feels like a plot outline. Gone is the fun of the Doctor having to figure out where he and his companion have landed and why; this time he simply tells us in the story’s first minutes. (In fact, he tells us we’re in an alien museum before we can even *see* that we’re in one!) Then we are asked to swallow that the paranoid van Statten would immediately take an intruder found in his maximum-security compound and dump him in (unchaperoned!) with his most prized possession . . . . These problems aren’t really the fault of Rob Shearman’s script; the writer simply does what he has to in order to bring the viewer up to speed within the constraints of a single 45-min. episode. But to anyone approaching the new ‘Doctor Who’ in the context of the old, ‘Dalek’ can’t help feeling somewhat shallow and rushed – blink and you’ll miss it.

The supporting cast of characters doesn’t add much. Van Statten is an extremely annoying stereotype – he bellows his own *name*, for crying out loud – and his self-conscious banter with Goddard is shrill and witless. He’s as bad as Chinn in ‘The Claws of Axos,’ and the fact that the character is such an obvious joke makes it seem ridiculous that the Doctor would take him seriously enough to give him a Pertwee-esque indignant lecture. And the irritating Adam contributes little to this story, except for his obvious plot function as provider of the secret Dalek-killing weapons.

That’s not to say that all is bad about ‘Dalek.’ The fundamental premise is still compelling, and Christopher Eccleston effectively plays the Doctor’s jumble of emotions at the resurfacing of his oldest foe – bafflement, fear, fury and mockery all combine convincingly in this performance. Rose is plonked into a ‘Beauty and the Beast’ clichй, but Billie Piper makes as much of it as she can. The finale is rather melodramatic (especially Rose’s ‘What the hell are *you* changing into?,’ accompanied by ‘Tara’s Theme’ style sweeping music, which made me cringe a bit), but even so, it’s hard not to be touched by our first good look at the sad, lonely mutant inside the travel machine.

As for the Dalek itself, it is also somewhat better in the concept than in the execution (this is nothing new for the series, I suppose!). Nicholas Briggs seems to be channeling the ghosts of Dalek voices past – he sounds like Roy Skelton when angry, like Michael Wisher when hysterical, and like Brian Miller much of the rest of the time. It’s a messy, mixed bag of a performance: Briggs jumps up and down vocally where Dalek inflections traditionally go up and up and up, and I found it rather distracting. The Dalek machine itself does look very good, and it’s certainly nice to see its lights flashing in synch for once. But it also seems to move slower than any Dalek in ‘Doctor Who’ history (who would have thought that was possible?), and the production team has inserted a C-3PO-esque mechanical squeak when it moves its eyestalk, which makes it more robot-like than ever. As for the Dalek’s character, it does show cunning and manipulation in its dealings with Rose, true, but it doesn’t really resemble the resourceful, scientific Daleks of old at their best (the weaponless Daleks in ‘Death to the Daleks,’ for instance, take control of their situation much faster than this mopey old philosopher).

All in all, it’s of course worth watching, and nostalgia alone should raise it a couple points in any fan’s estimation. But there should have been another way . . . .

When I first saw “Dalek”, I had the same sort of vibe as I did when watching “The Green Death”, “Planet of the Spiders”, “Genesis of the Daleks”, “Earthshock” and “The Caves of Androzani”. In other words, here in 2005, we had another member of my personal “Doctor Who classic” club.

Subsequent viewings have confirmed that first impression (which, in my experience, are so often right). From beginning to end, I loved “Dalek”. It was my favourite episode of the new series – and I’d be surprised if it didn’t rank similarly highly in any season surveys.

It was a very shrewd move from Russell T Davies to position “Dalek” at Episode Six in the series running order. This guy plays the TV game beautifully, and he must have known there was a chance if things weren’t going well, ratings-wise, in the new series, the promise of the Daleks’ return – even if it was just the one truly-amazing Dalek – would provide a mid-season boost. As it happened, it did just that, even though the season’s success was already guaranteed by this point.

I’d thoroughly enjoyed the new series to this point, but “Dalek” took things to another level. It wasn’t “just” an excellent “Doctor Who” adventure, it was a first-class piece of TV drama in its own right. I’m sure even the people out there with no imagination could have found something in there!

And the “old school” fans who found the new series too far removed from what came before must have found an affinity with Robert Shearman’s beautifully-crafted, perfectly-paced piece. Unlike any of the other episodes in the series (with the possible exception of “The Unquiet Dead”) I think “Dalek” could have appeared in another Doctor’s tenure but, given the choice of any Doctor at their best to play the Time Lord in this story, Christopher Eccleston would have been my pick.

I’ve been a fan of Eccleston’s Doctor right from the off. I like the physicality he brings to the role. Jon Pertwee and both Tom and Colin Baker were all powerful men who really filled the screen – and Eccleston is of that ilk. And, without the bouffant or curly mops, his shorter hair marks him out as someone who can really handle themselves. I also enjoy his sometimes-criticised “inane grinning” – he’s playing an alien, why shouldn’t he grin inanely and have a rather odd stride pattern as he bounds along?

And he really delivers his lines with a passion. When Eccleston’s Doctor goes through a gamut of emotion when he uncovers the Dalek for the first time – fear, loathing, sarcasm, relief, anger, the lot, all in the space of a couple of minutes – you really feel those emotions with him.

I must admit I found the back-up characters in this story less remarkable than in previous episodes – including companion-to-be Adam Mitchell. However, this way have been because this was all about the Doctor, the Dalek and Rose.

The setting for the episode was ideal. The Daleks have always been at their deadliest in an underground setting (after all, that’s how it all began) and the basic idea of the last Dalek being held in a museum, and being tortured by a megalomaniac, was a cracker.

The initial encounter between the Doctor and the Dalek really was gripping. Nicholas Briggs’ Dalek intoning, “Doc-tor. THE Doc-tor!” emphasising the definite article was an edge-of-the-seat moment – one of the best scenes of the whole series. Simple, but so effective.

And displaying the Doctor showing genuine fear – an emotion never shown in previous incarnations – is one big improvement to the Time Lord’s character in the new series. Of course, the Doctor is a superhero. He’s physically powerful and mentally strong. But he’s seen terrible things. He may have caused terrible things in the Time War. His whole race have been destroyed. He isn’t invincible. He is vulnerable – and he knows it. And, although we’re not used to seeing the Doctor afraid, he is afraid here. Even of this chained-up, impotent Dalek. Very afraid.

Briggs – now, undisputedly THE voice of the Daleks – had some great dialogue to work with, but I really enjoyed the softer monotone he brought to his character looking for pity. “Character” being the operative word. Too often in the past, the Daleks have been one-dimensional killing machines or, as in “Revelation of the Daleks”, mere drones. But here, without Davros for the first time since the Pertwee years, a Dalek by itself was able to take centre stage and be a “character” in its own right.

And who’d have thought the viewer would have cared about that character? A tribute to Shearman, Briggs - and Eccleston and Billie Piper in their scenes with the Dalek. It must be difficult acting against what is essentially a giant metal pepperpot, and making it so utterly believable and watchable, but they managed to pull it off.

The Dalek itself was another triumph for the design team. I loved the transformation from old, battered Dalek to majestic, gold, killing machine after its extrapolation of Rose’s DNA. It really looked the part as it glided along the corridor (you can never have enough corridors and running in a Dalek story!) at no great pace, exterminating indiscriminately. This is part of the menace of a Dalek when it’s handled properly – you can’t stop it. It doesn’t have to be move quickly. You have nowhere to run to. It will catch you, and it will exterminate you.

Obviously, the effortless “elevation” upstairs was an added bonus, as was the “kitchen sink plunger” being used for more nefarious purpose than just being there. I wonder if the production team were tempted to go further with the “sucking” of the Dalek torturer’s face – now that would have been worth the 12 rating on the DVDs!

Talking of added bonuses, the Doctor actually allowing Rose to die (or so he believed when she was trapped by the Dalek) was a fabulous scene. The only thing from the old series which was comparable was Adric’s death in “Earthshock” (one of the great scenes in “Doctor Who” lore) and, even then, the Fifth Doctor didn’t directly seal his companion’s fate. More scope for great moments from Eccleston and Piper, who must look back on this episode with tremendous pride.

And a truly great ending to boot. Eccleston’s Doctor is, by this stage, mentally all over the place, waving around a huge gun for goodness’ sake! The Dalek’s plea for an order to die, and Rose’s softly-intoned clearance for the creature’s suicide was gripping stuff.

This was a great story – have you got that impression from these words? If there was a serious fault, it wasn’t one I could find. Even if the rest of the series had been rubbish, it would have been worth it for “Dalek”. Full marks to all involved. This was “Doctor Who” at its very best. And maybe time will show “Dalek” to be the best of the best.