Doctor Who: 10 Episodes That Should Have Changed Things Forever (But Didn't)

4. Dalek & The Parting Of The Ways (Christopher Eccleston)

OK, so we€™re a little Dalek heavy here but, to be fair, they do have an extremely complicated time-line and have been supposedly wiped out on so many occasions. Even the date of Skaro€™s destruction is debatable dependent on what time-line you follow. These two episodes together serve as analogous to all the other last times we€™ve seen the Daleks €œfinished off€ only to have them reappear whenever it seems necessary (which usually means once a season) In Dalek we meet Henry Van Statten who has captured and tortured his Metaltron to discover its secrets and copy its technology. Reanimated by Rose€™s time-traveller DNA, the rogue 'last' Dalek goes on a killing spree before committing suicide on her orders. Prior to this we see an emotionally charged scene with the Doctor and Dalek sharing their loneliness and pain. The Dalek even scans for signs of other Daleks out there only to find none. So the last Dalek kills itself and the Doctor wins right? Wrong. Barely six episodes later we find hundreds of Dalek ships surrounding Earth, supposedly controlling humanity for hundreds of years, guiding and stunting their development (yet the Dalek from the previous episode heard no orders). Rose, empowered with the time-vortex, sees ALL OFF SPACE AND TIME and selects every atom that makes up the Daleks and divides them. Now THIS should really be the end. These were the last, rag-tag, put together, Frankenstein€™s monsters of Dalek DNA left and every atom was destroyed. Done, dusted, quite literally. Well, no, because when we get to the end of the next season we find a Dalek TARDIS containing millions of the little blighters, all but a few of whom are sucked into the void. When it comes to the Daleks, every time seems to be the last time, until the next time.