10 Greatest CGI Moments In Doctor Who History

4. Planets In The Sky & The Dalek Invasion (The Stolen Earth)

Doctor Who The Stolen Earth
BBC Studios

The Stolen Earth and Journey’s End have so many strengths – Daleks, Davros, double David Tennant and every modern companion you can shake a sonic at – and among all that epicness there is also some powerful CGI.

Firstly we have the stunning visuals of the planets in the sky. Right from the off as Rose stands in awe of the crazy plan the Daleks have concocted, this incredible image showed that the two-part finale to Series 4 was going to be something special.

The depth of the image, the colours, the way it blends into the live action footage – it's beautiful, but also quite scary. It makes you wonder how on earth the Doctor is going to fix this one, and that's because the CGI here looks so damn believable.

The arrival of the Dalek fleet also looks incredible. Entire CGI sequences from the perspective of space as the Dalek ships head towards Earth, a combination of live action and CGI as Rose walks down a London street and the planets can be seen overhead as a Dalek ship emerges and attacks – not once did this ever feel fake or unrealistic. It felt terrifying, and terrifyingly real!

And then we have the Medusa Cascade. Vibrant, vast, ethereal. It looks like an oil painting. This is a great improvement on even the CGI of the beginning of the modern era. How far they came in only the first few years, and how much further they’d go in the decade that followed.

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Ellie has been part of the WhatCulture team since 2021 where she began as a freelance presenter for the WhoCulture channel. As a diehard Whovian with a BA (hons) degree in Drama and Acting, this role was the perfect opportunity for her to combine her screen presence training with her extensive Doctor Who knowledge. From there, she branched out to various other WhatCulture channels, including TrekCulture, and became a full time Content Producer/Video Presenter in 2023. Ellie is now a regular fixture on both WhoCulture and TrekCulture and has become a well respected public figure within both fandoms, building up a substantial following across her social media platforms and being given the opportunity to represent the channels and the wider communities at several industry events. Her favourite Doctor Who character is River Song and her favourite Star Trek character is Captain Janeway - which tells you everything you need to know about how she approaches her role within a generally male dominated field.