10 Doctor Who Moments That Will Haunt You Forever

The Doctor ordering a lone Dalek to kill itself has become one of the most well-remembered moments of Series 1, and a defining point in the Ninth Doctor’s character arc. It’s a shocking moment of the Doctor going too far, giving in to the sort of hate and anger he's supposed to be fighting against. As is later pointed out, he is acting like a Dalek.

But it’s not nearly as bad as that time the Seventh Doctor actually forced a Dalek into self-destruction.

At the end of Remembrance of the Daleks, both Dalek factions have been eradicated, Skaro has been destroyed, and Davros has been sent scurrying off with his tail between his legs once again. All that remains is the Supreme Dalek.

The Doctor calmly and forcefully talks the Dalek into taking its own life, pushing just the right buttons until it has a complete mental collapse and destroys itself. Satisfied with his work and seemingly not that concerned with the destruction he's personally wrought across the previous four episodes, the Doctor scrapes the tip of his umbrella through what’s left of the Dalek, muttering "ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

What makes this moment so eerie is that for all intents and purposes, this is the introduction of a new Doctor. Gone is the idiot in a box, bumbling around the universe, righting wrongs as they crop up. Instead, we’re left with a cold and calculating Doctor who has a plan, and no qualms about doing whatever needs to be done to execute it.

A Doctor like that is more than a little bit terrifying.