Dalek (Doctor Who episode)
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"Dalek" is the sixth episode of the revived
first series First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
of the British science fiction television programme ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
''. It was first broadcast on
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
on 30 April 2005. This episode is the first appearance of the Daleks in the 21st-century revival of ''Doctor Who''; it also marks the first appearance of
Bruno Langley Bruno Langley (born 21 March 1983) is an English former actor. He is known for his roles as Darren Michaels and Todd Grimshaw in ''Coronation Street'' (2001–2004, 2007, 2011, 2013–2017) and Adam Mitchell in ''Doctor Who'' (2005). In Octob ...
as companion Adam Mitchell. The episode is set in Utah in the year 2012, in the underground bunker owned by
Henry van Statten This is a list of villains from the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. For other, related lists, see below. See also * List of ''Doctor Who'' supporting characters * List of ''Doctor Who'' henchmen * Lis ...
( Corey Johnson), a rich collector of alien artefacts. In the episode, the alien time traveller the
Ninth Doctor The Ninth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Christopher Eccleston during the first series of the show's revival in 2005. Within the seri ...
(
Christopher Eccleston Christopher Eccleston (; born 16 February 1964) is an English actor. A two-time BAFTA Award nominee, he is best known for his television and film work, which includes his role as the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC sci-fi series '' ...
) and his travelling companion Rose Tyler ( Billie Piper) encounter the bunker's only living exhibit: a Dalek, which breaks loose and attempts to exterminate everyone in the bunker after repairing itself.


Plot

The
Ninth Doctor The Ninth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Christopher Eccleston during the first series of the show's revival in 2005. Within the seri ...
and
Rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
are drawn by a distress signal to a massive bunker beneath Utah in 2012, filled with alien artefacts collected by the bunker's owner, Henry van Statten. Rose is offered a tour of the facility by Adam Mitchell, a man who buys and catalogues artefacts for van Statten. Van Statten takes the Doctor to show him a living alien being, which the Doctor recognises as a Dalek, a race thought to have been wiped out in the Time War. The Dalek is seriously wounded and weakened, and unable to break its bonds, but when the Doctor attempts to destroy it, van Statten orders his guards to restrain the Doctor and return him to his offices. There, van Statten has the Doctor secured, noting that not only does he collect aliens, but also tortures them to gain information, and proceeds to invasively and violently study the Doctor's body to learn more about his physiology. Meanwhile, Adam has taken Rose to the Dalek. Rose takes pity on the weakened creature and touches its casing; the Dalek promptly absorbs her DNA extrapolating the
biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bi ...
of a time traveller, and is able to re-energise itself. It escapes its bonds, kills several guards, and connects to the Internet where it learns of the fate of the Daleks and realises it is the last surviving member of its race. With no other purpose, it proceeds to target and exterminate all non-Dalek life forms. Van Statten is forced to release the Doctor to help stop the Dalek, but the Dalek refuses to cooperate, and continues killing all those left in the Vault. The Dalek readies to kill Rose but it cannot, having found compassion embedded in itself from Rose's DNA. The Dalek is tempted to kill van Statten out of revenge, but Rose instead convinces it to spare his life. The Doctor arrives and prepares to kill the Dalek but Rose stops him, convincing him he is becoming like a Dalek. The Dalek is unable to cope with its new emotions, and asks Rose to order its self-destruction. Rose agrees to end its misery, and the Dalek implodes. Van Statten's assistant Goddard takes over the bunker, planning to wipe van Statten's memories and fill the bunker with cement. Rose offers Adam the chance to travel with her and the Doctor since he will have no job after this.


Production


Conception

Rob Shearman Robert Charles Shearman, sometimes credited as Rob Shearman, is an English television, radio, stage play and short story writer. He is known for his World Fantasy Award-winning short stories, as well as his work for ''Doctor Who'', and his asso ...
, the
writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...
of the episode, had his first encounter with the revived series of ''Doctor Who'' in 2003 after he created the Sixth Doctor
audio Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum *Digital audio, representation of sound ...
'' Jubilee''. Executive producer Russell T Davies drew heavily on ''Jubilee'' to create "Return of the Daleks" for his pitch to the BBC, a story with which Davies hoped to recreate the menace shown by the Daleks in their 1963 debut ''
The Daleks ''The Daleks'' (also known as ''The Mutants'' and ''The Dead Planet'') is the second serial in the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast on BBC TV in seven weekly parts from 21 December 1963 to ...
''. The adventure changed the setting from the alternate Earth in ''Jubilee'' to 2012 Utah, with the lone Dalek featured being held captive by businessman Henry Van Statten, a caricature of Microsoft's chairman
Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
. According to Shearman the script went through 14 revisions. The story itself was initially called "Creature of Lies", and Van Statten was originally called Hiram Duchesne. For a short period of time, Adam was the villain's son, but Shearman decided against it. The most notable change to the script happened when the Nation estate, holders of the rights for the Daleks, blocked the use of the Daleks due to the BBC licensing them out too much. The changed story contained an alien akin to a child who kills for pleasure, which eventually evolved into the Toclafane from " The Sound of Drums" and "
Last of the Time Lords "Last of the Time Lords" is the thirteenth and final episode of the third series of the revived British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was broadcast on BBC One on 30 June 2007. It is the last of three episodes that form a l ...
". Finally, the BBC was able to secure the rights from the
Nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by those ...
estate, and at the same time gave the episode its final name, "Dalek". Davies wished for the episode to be emotional rather than "rely on people running down corridors". Shearman expressed a desire "to take all those things people find funny about the Daleks and turn them into something people would find memorable."


Filming

The episode was placed in the third production block, along with " Father's Day" and "
The Long Game "The Long Game" is the seventh episode of the first series of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'' that was first broadcast on 7 May 2005 on BBC One. It was written by executive producer Russell T Davies and directed b ...
", the latter taken out due to delays in special effects creation. Filming of the episode began on 25 October 2004 at the National Museum Cardiff, before moving to the
Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...
the following day, where most of the episode was filmed. Most of the filming finished on 3 November 2004, with pick-up shots completed at the show's studio space in
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throughout the remainder of the month.


Critical reception and awards

Before the broadcast, media watchdog organisation
Mediawatch-uk Mediawatch-UK, formerly known as the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (National VALA or NVLA), was a pressure group in the United Kingdom, which campaigned against the publication and broadcast of media content that it viewed as harm ...
complained about certain elements of the episode, characterising Van Statten's chaining and invasive scan of the Doctor as a " sado-masochistic" torture scene. Mediawatch also objected to Van Statten's invitation to Adam and Rose to "canoodle or spoon, or whatever you British do" as inappropriate sexual language. When it was released on DVD, the
British Board of Film Classification The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of f ...
(BBFC) gave the episode a 12 rating, because of the scenes where the Doctor is seen to torture the Dalek. The BBFC stated, "We are concerned about role models for children using the sort of tactics that Doctor Who used against the Dalek. If that was transferred into the playground it would be something we would want to tackle." Reception to the episode was positive. The episode's overnight ratings were 7.73 million viewers with 46% of the audience share, later finalised to 8.64 million viewers. The episode received an
Audience Appreciation Index The Audience Appreciation Index (AI) is an indicator measured from 0 to 100 of the public's appreciation for a television or radio programme, or broadcast service, in the United Kingdom. Until 2002, the AI of a programme was calculated by the B ...
score of 84. ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' stated that the episode was an "unqualified triumph". ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' commented that "Shearman's script bamboozles expectations", and the episode "should hopefully show 2005's kids what was always so wonderful about the iconic tin-rotters." ''
The London Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after bei ...
'' found the lack of surprise (namely, calling the episode "Dalek") the only disappointment, and ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...
'' simply stated that "for 30 pant-shittingly wonderful minutes, BBC1's new Doctor Who was the best thing on telly. Ever." In 2010 Den of Geek placed the episode as number 2 in their list of the Top 10 Dalek stories. The episode was nominated for the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form along with other ''Doctor Who'' episodes " Father's Day" and " The Empty Child"/" The Doctor Dances". The stories came third, fifth, and first, respectively.


Commercial releases


In print

A
novelisation A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...
of this story written by Robert Shearman was released in paperback and digital formats on 11 March 2021 as part of the ''
Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...
Collection''.


Notes


References


External links


BBC Doctor Who Homepage
* *
Doctor Who Confidential
' — Episode 6: Dalek
"Exterminate!"
nbsp;— Episode trailer for "Dalek"
The Last Dalek
nbsp;—
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game by New Media Collective based on the episode
Streaming for More
nbsp;— Article from ''
The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...
'' about the multicast test leak
GeoComTex.net
nbsp;— the website of Henry Van Statten's company * {{good article Ninth Doctor episodes Fiction set in 2012 Dalek television stories Doctor Who stories set on Earth Works by Robert Shearman Fiction about memory erasure and alteration 2005 British television episodes Television episodes set in Utah