Picking a favorite Dalek episode is difficult. While most are good, they are not all that different from one another. The dales are either fighting a massive war or they have conquered a planet and are having trouble keeping their subjects under control. That being the case, I am going to go with the Ninth Doctor story “Dalek.” I have the joy of ticking off the purists with my choice. Traditional Wholigans do not like the episode because the lone Dalek, after regenerating itself from the background radiation coming off the time traveler Rose, begins developing a conscience about its indiscriminate killing in the name of xenophobia.
But before that happens, kill this little blob of hate does. The body count clocks in at 150. For reference, Rambo killed 67 bad guys on screen in Rambo: First Blood, Part Ii in a story that was twice as long as “Dalek.” weare talking about brutal kills here, too, including a mass electrocution of security forces.
Those forces are protecting the underground museum f billionaire Henry van Statten. Van Staton is a collector of alien artifacts, many of which are recognizable from classic Doctor Who stories. He has captured the Dalek soldier after it fell through time during the Time War. Van Staten has no idea what the Dalek is, but is fascinated y the showdown between the last Dalek and Time Lord, presumably the only survivors of the war.
I liked the duel myself, but what I really liked was the claustrophobic sense of dread. Too may times, we have been told Daleks are brutal killing machines that are nearly impossible to defeat. Yet, we see them destroyed and defeated quite often. This lone soldier is nigh invincible. There is a true sense if it escapes into Salt Lake City above, it will kill a million people easily.
The episode received criticism in the United Kingdom, not only for the violent deaths, but for two torture sequences and the use of the term “canoodle” as asexual reference aimed at Rose. Since she jiggled quite a bit while wearing a white tank top in chase scenes, one wonders why a word like canoodle attract attention, but bouncing boobs do not. I agree the torture scenes were particularly brutal for Doctor Who.
I have to laugh at the anti-Americanism, though. Van Statten earned his wealth by “owning” the internet, a real notion Americans have and the rest of the world resents. Van Statten also quips about appointing the next president, a snide remark that corporations run American politics. There are American flags everywhere. Even the gun obsessed security forces have flag emblems on their sleeves. The Brits have some quite unflattering views of Americans.
Note a bit of retroactive continuity, as well. The ear pieces worn by one of Van Statten’s staff is identical to those worn by Torchwood. She orders the place cemented up so no one can get to the alien technology and orders Van Statten’s memory wiped. It has been argued in some circles getting rid of Van Statten and his collection was an early Torchwood operation long before the team ever appeared. I do not know if that was the intention, but it is fun to speculate.
