Written by Rob Shearman
Directed by Joe Ahearne
“YOU WOULD HAVE MADE A GOOD DALEK.”
It’s been a long time since I watched something that left my gut trapped in a vice. Dalek certainly did it for me last night.
The best thing about Dalek is that it’s a touchstone to the past and a pointer to the future. In regards to the past, we get layers upon layers of spoken (and unspoken) subtext between the Doctor and the Dalek — both of them becoming raving lunatics at the sight of each other! Everyone else becomes secondary as they are merely spectators to an centuries-old struggle…and bloody-good drama is the end result.
As good as he’s been, THIS is Christopher Eccleston’s break out performance. Have we ever seen the Doctor so terrified, enraged, heartbroken, and unfathomably dark…all in the span of 45 minutes?!? Eccleston takes our hero and lays him bare in a way we haven’t experienced in quite a while…if ever! It’s a stunning, gorgeous performance, and one we won’t soon forget.
The other great performer is the Dalek itself, with a vocal range (courtesy of Nicholas Briggs) that’s absolutely shocking. This single-minded, racist creature of war is given a character, a personality, and an identity…which ultimately enables it to gain our sympathy. Sympathy for a Dalek? It’s not as crazy as it sounds — like the Doctor, it’s coming to terms with its place in the universe…but the results are much, much uglier…
The rest of the cast, barring Rose, is disposable. Even Van Statten, the stock character of evil, is fairly standard (although possessing a delicious & ridiculous evil in his own right). But they’re all window dressing for the Doctor-Dalek confrontation: they’re there to die horribly, or be threatened with horrible death…and they do that very well.
Rose plays a much more interesting role. Having caused the Dalek’s regeneration, she has also inadvertently given it a taste of her alien emotions…and it goes haywire trying to figure out how to live with them. In the end, it can’t, and that’s the neat twist of this take on beauty-and-the-beast: all the Dalek demands of Rose is a suicide order, which she reluctantly gives after intervening in a final confrontation between the Doctor and the Dalek that has to be seen to be believed.
Naturally, it all looks like a million dollars. The new Dalek is a gorgeous prop, and its smooth movements, new triple-swivel-action, and magic sucker arm make for one geek-chic cool machine. It also possesses some fabulous retro elements, such as the blue beam of death introduced back in 1975, and the lit up, focusing iris in the eye…an element not seen since 1966.
It also manages to kill hundreds of people — and finally, itself — in stunningly gruesome fashion.
I could go on and on…this was such an amazing episode of raw emotions and all out action. In terms of impact, energy, and intensity, it’s by far the best episode of the season to date. If you haven’t watched it yet, shame on you…
What are you waiting for? Borrow the tape!
10
And speaking of touchstones to the past, I wonder if that wonderful moment with the Cyberman head in the museum is foreshadowing something? It was certainly one of those hair-standing-on-end moments that brought a warm glow to the heart of this slowly-aging fanboy. Knowing how well Russell T. Davies runs this show, I won’t be surprised if they show up in season two…
