Doctor Who: 5 Best Dalek Stories

Please note that Mission To The Unknown, The Daleks€™ Masterplan, Power Of The Daleks, and The Evil Of The Daleks are all exempt from this list as many of their episodes are currently missing from the BBC archives and I do not think that it is fair to judge an incomplete story next to complete ones.

5. Bad Wolf/The Parting Of The Ways (2005)

DrWhoThePartingOfTheWays

In the year 200,100 the Doctor, Rose, and Jack are abducted and forced to play life or death versions of Big Brother, The Weakest Link, and What Not To Wear. But behind the scenes, a new Dalek fleet is preparing to invade Earth. Okay, so the reality and game show recreations in the first episode are a bit grating but once the Daleks arrive on the scene, it€™s a whole different story. Part entertainment satire and part base under siege story, these two episodes are a triumphant finale to the first series of New Who. It crams a huge amount of character and story material into ninety minutes and even manages to wrap up the Bad Wolf story arc pretty well. Though, that said, the way Rose dispatches the Daleks is a bit of a cop-out. Also, it€™s surprisingly dark. In this story, every non-recurring character dies and the Daleks literally wipe Australia off the map (although this is only shown over a scanner). It also sees the Doctor get dangerous as he beats up security guards, grabs a gun, and seriously considers killing every human on Earth in order to wipe out the Daleks. We get a new Dalek Emperor, the Daleks directly killing a companion for the first time, and thanks to the advances in special effects since the original series, we get to see the Daleks out in full force as they attack the Game Station. It also briefly takes the Daleks in a considerably direction as the new Daleks are self-hating religious fanatics led by an Emperor with a god complex. It was a daring move and it works brilliantly. And finally, it ends with an excellent regeneration scene. A sterling effort from all involved and a fitting send-off for Christopher Eccleston€™s Doctor. Best Quote "This is what I€™m going to do. I€™m going to rescue her. I€™m going to save Rose Tyler from the middle of the Dalek fleet, then I€™m going to save the Earth, and then, just to finish off, I€™m going to wipe every last stinking Dalek out of the sky!" €“ The Ninth Doctor Useless Trivia In a subtle nod to 1967€™s The Evil Of Daleks, the Dalek Emperor is accompanied by a guard of Daleks with black domes just as the Dalek Emperor in that story was.
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JG Moore is a writer and filmmaker from the south of England. He also works as an editor and VFX artist, and has a BA in Media Production from the University Of Winchester.