Doctor Who: 6 Biggest Dalek Disappointments Of The New Series

6. Their Defeat In Journey's End

The Daleks have been the enemy that have faced the Doctor the most, which has had the side effect of making them the enemies defeated the most. Some of these defeats were better than others, however, and their defeat in Journey’s End was in the latter category.

The Daleks and their creator Davros have created a bomb to destroy all of reality and leave the ultimate extermination in their wake when their defeat comes at the hands of Donna Noble. Having temporarily acquired the abilities and intellect of a Time Lord (it's a long story!), she defeats them by rendering them useless with a few levers. Which would only be a bit of an anti-climax normally. However, these levers happen to be kept in a room described as the Daleks' prison, which suggests that they’ve been foolish enough to allow their prisoners close access to their weaknesses. From a race genetically created to be geniuses, that’s incredibly underwhelming.

This defeat also causes them to start spinning around and flailing as they’re pushed away by the Doctor’s companions - basically becoming spinning tops - some of whom even start up casual, relaxed conversations while shoving the most evil creatures in the universe into each other. It makes them seem completely comical and wrecks their threat level, something they didn’t start to get back until the Series 5 finale.