20 Things Doctor Who Wants You To Forget
1. The New Paradigm Daleks
Victory of the Daleks was anything but for the Doctor’s most iconic enemy. The idea sounded great on paper – after all, short of giving them an extended break (allegedly not possible for contractual reasons), a redesign could be the very thing to freshen them up, boosting toy sales and creating new storytelling possibilities with their specific ranks. It turned out to be the show’s biggest mistake since the Sixth Doctor’s tasteless coat.
Steven Moffat didn’t let them go down without a fight however, efforts were made to persuade a sceptical public that the new design could be just as menacing as Russell T Davies’ bronze Daleks. First came the stone version (The Big Bang), and when that didn’t work, the metallic ones (Asylum of the Daleks). They were both marked improvements but it all smacked of desperation and proved the truth behind the maxim ‘if it aint broken, don’t fix it.’ Thankfully, the next time we were treated to ‘every dalek ever’ (The Witch’s Familiar), the new paradigm were conspicuous for their absence.
With their garish colours they were the pantomime dames of Dalek. Worryingly they are presumably still out there somewhere, but hopefully on their travels they will run into the Sixth Doctor and in an epic battle, both the coat of many colours and the daleks of many classes will be gone forever.