Dalek

The Doctor meets his greatest foe, well just one of them but one is enough. First stellar episode of new who and an amazing spittting with anger performance from Eccleston.

Coming at the approximate mid point of the first series of the revived Doctor Who, Dalek came at a perfect moment to bring about the return of another of the icons of the series: the Dalek. Yet the episode is much more then the return of an icon. It is a story that takes the hero (the Doctor) and the villain (the Dalek), our notions of them and to what lengths they will go to survive. The result is the best episode of the series.

Dalek is notable for featuring Christopher Eccleston single best performance as the ninth Doctor. In the space of forty-five minutes Eccleston gives a performance that is nothing short of remarkable. While the lighter side of the ninth Doctor is evident during the opening minutes there is also a darkness that, while mostly submerged previously, comes to the surface. It all starts in one of the best scenes to ever be put in the show when the two enemies are locked in a room together. In the space of just a few minutes Eccleston covers a whole range of emotions from caring to frightened (in a moment which utterly convinces you the Dalek is a real threat) to the moment where the Doctor takes the catchphrase of his enemy and uses it chillingly. Add to that moments where the Doctor tells the Dalek to die or the last couple of scenes of the episode which show us a Doctor who is battle scared to the point it comes as a surprise when we see just who it is pointing a weapon at the end. While Eccleston gave fine performances the whole way through this episode would mark his single best performance in the role.

Then there's the title villain: the Dalek. Bringing back the iconic villain could have been easily misdone but here we get the full force and power of the Dalek. Not only is the Dalek itself magnificently redesigned on the outside but writer Robert Shearman shows us what the Dalek is at heart as well. This is not a tin robot armed with a whisk and a plunger by any means. This is a killing machine that is just as capable of being conniving if not manipulative as well as demonstrated throughout much of the episode's first scenes with the Doctor and his companion Rose Tyler. Not only that but for the first time ever really we get to see the Dalek as a killing machine capable of putting that plunger and whisk to remarkable (and chilling) effect. Then Sheraman as writer and Nicholas Briggs as the voice do something even more remarkable then that: they give it sympathy. Slowly we watch as this killing machine begins to change and by the end becomes something greater then that before meeting a fate that is truly tragic. To do all that in less then an hour is an achieve met in itself.

That's not forgetting the other human members of the cast of course. There's Billie Piper who gives a fine performance as Rose which helps to bring both great amounts of fear and then sympathy to the Dalek in both their first and last scenes together. She also shares some nice chemistry which Bruno Langely as Adam, who gives a nice performance here which makes the final scene in the story believable and a shame about what happens in the next episode. Corey Johnson makes a nice, if at times over the top, appearance as the billionaire Henry van Statten who, while not quite believable, works rather well. There's also nice performances from Anna-Louise Plowman and Nigel Whitmey as two of van Statten's employes at the base where the episode is set. All together they make for a nice supporting cast in a fantastic episode.

There is also some fine work behind the camera as well. The CGI effects shots of the Dalek are fantastic pieces of work which help to make certain bits of its return all the more better (watch the episode for which bits!). The cinematography of Ernie Vincze gives the entire episode a claustrophobic feel that, even in the larger areas, give the tension a considerable boost. To help with the tension is the the editing of Graham Walker coupled with the relentless and in the later sections of the episode haunting music of Murray Gold. All of these when coupled with the first rate script of Robert Shearman show off some of the finest work yet seen in the new series.

So why do I call this episode the best of series one? Well it has the best performance of Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor, the return of the Dalek at its best, some nice performances and some fantastic work behind the scenes as well especially in the script by Robert Shearman. There is more then that though. This episode is about survivors and what lengths they will go to keep on doing just that. It is also about our very own notions of good (the Doctor) and evil (the Dalek) and what it takes to turn them on their head. If nothing else that is what this episode is all about.

Attracted to a subterranean bunker in the Utah desert the TARDIS carries the Doctor and Rose to confront the last of the Time Lord's greatest of foes. A Dalek in a chain, tortured, suffering and in pain, power and desire lost in The Time War and rapidly on the wane. However, a petal rests on the case, the slightest sense of empathetic embrace, setting a genetic recharge off at pace, resulting in a battle and a race - and some guy called Adam at the end, for reasons unclear I won't pretend, hitches a lift into... space.

This was where Series 1 went up a level, 'Dalek' remains a truly classic episode, a real game changer. We learn of the Time War from the dalek, that all Daleks and Timelords are dead, with the exception of this Dalek and The Doctor, The Dalek draws parallels between the two which make the Doctor uncomfortable. The story in brief, Super rich American Henry Van Statten owns an Alien Museum, the Dalek is chained up as prized possession. Rose is uncomfortable seeing the Dalek tortured so steps in and unwittingly restores it from a decayed state into the zipped up, no nonsense metal meanie that we now recognise. Rose becomes locked in a vault with it, but will it kill her? One thing I particularly loved about this episode is that the Dalek which had seemingly softened during the 80's, was now a highly intelligent killing machine with true menace. The 'matrix' moment, is well done and shows the Daleks are finally tough to deal with. Rewatching it I agree with my initial decision about the best scene, where the guards lay in wait for the Dalek, and the Dalek sets off the water sprinkler fires onto the floor and electrocutes them all with one shot, genius. Roses closing scenes with the Dalek are brilliantly done. I can see why people would class this as the overall best episode of Series 1, but in my humble opinion even better was to come. Little note of trivia, the picture that appears above Van Statten's desk was used years ago in a Poirot, 'The Underdog.' The painting is really of Dennis Lill not Corey Johnson, but there is a resemblance.

The truth lies in the middle, people often say. In this case, the truth is that surrounding the appeal of Doctor Who, and it is revealed almost halfway through the first season of the revived show: no other genre series (currently airing, that is) juggles action, drama, comedy and pure suspense like this.

Thes story takes us to a new, interesting location: a museum in Utah where an eccentric billionaire, Henry Van Statten (Corey Johnson), collects various artifacts proving the existence of extraterrestrials (Fox Mulder would love a tour of the place). This peculiar characteristic draws the Doctor's attention, only for him to be captured by Van Statten, who's thrilled to have a second live specimen to brag about. The other one, we soon learn, is a pretty rusty reminder of the Doctor's troubled past: the last of the Daleks. Before anyone can scream "Run for your lives", the Time Lord's most lethal foe is already repeating a certain dreaded phrase: "Exterminate!".

Moving away from the more apocalyptic story lines conjured by Russell T. Davies, writer Robert Shearman proposes something more contained and claustrophobic, although this doesn't mean he gives up the occasional playfulness these scripts allow. In fact, the teaser contains a very amusing moment, when the Doctor notices a familiar face (actually, it's a head) in the museum - fans will recognize it on the spot - and tells Rose it's "an old friend. Well, enemy.". Taking on the rather challenging task of reintroducing the protagonist's oldest, most enduring and popular adversary, Shearman accomplishes the mission by inserting another reference to the past (the Time War and Davros are mentioned more or less directly) while continuing in the darker direction required by the 21st century update.

The performances are as sharp as expected, with Nicholas Brigg's vocal rendition of the Dalek's dangerous presence standing out. Also worth checking out are the darker undertones on Eccleston's behalf, as his take on the Doctor becomes more serious in this episode than it's ever been, mainly because Shearman makes the bold decision of following Michael Mann's example and establishing a similarity between the hero and his nemesis. "Look at you.", Eccleston tells the decrepit machine, "You're alone." "So are you." the Dalek retorts.

More than any other episode of the new series, Dalek is the definitive proof of the fact that Doctor Who, like the revamped Batman, isn't really "for kids" anymore. Sure, it's harmless compared to more adult productions coming from the States, but it's undeniable - a lot has changed since William Hartnell first entered the TARDIS in 1963.