Dalek (TV story)

EXTERMINATE!Lone Dalek

Synopsis

The Doctor and Rose arrive in 2012 to answer a distress signal and meet a collector of alien artifacts who has one living specimen. However, The Doctor is horrified to find out that the creature is a member of a race he thought was destroyed: A Dalek.

Plot

The TARDIS is drawn off course by a signal, and materalises underground in a bunker located in Utah in the year 2012. As the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler step out to investigate, they find that the bunker is a very special sort of museum, full of alien artefacts, including a mileometer from the Roswell crash, a stuffed Raxacoricofallapatorian arm, and even the head of a Classic series Cyberman. As the Doctor muses over the fact that he's getting old, he touches the glass casing of the Cyberman exhibit and sets off an alarm. Immediately, he and Rose are surrounded by armed guards.

They are taken to see the owner of the Vault — Henry van Statten, a billionaire who claims to own the Internet. Van Statten fires one of his employees when the employee says that he can't replace the President. Van Statten says "Thank you so much for your opinon, you're fired!" Van Statten fires his employee. He has been collecting alien artefacts for years, and is impressed when the Doctor manages to identify a new piece that one of his assistants, a young English researcher named Adam Mitchell has acquired in an auction. The Doctor shows Van Statten how to play the alien musical instrument, but is disturbed when he tosses it aside carelessly. Van Statten asks the Doctor if he would like to see his one living specimen, which is locked up in a part of the Vault called the Cage. Van Statten calls it a "metaltron", and his scientists have been trying to get it to talk, torturing it, but it has so far remained silent except for screaming.

The Doctor enters the darkened Cage, and begins by saying that he is here to help. When he introduces himself, however, a grating, familiar screech repeats his name, synchronised with flashing lights. The Doctor is shocked at the impossibility of the sight before him as the lights come up. It is a Dalek, in chains, declaring him an enemy of the Daleks and crying its intent to exterminate. The Doctor, panicked, bangs on the door and demands to be let out, until he realises that the Dalek's casing is cracked and worn and its weapon stalk does not work. Delighted, the Doctor rounds on the Dalek, who is demanding orders. The Doctor says that no orders will be forthcoming; the Dalek race is dead, all ten million ships of its fleet burning, and the Doctor was the one who destroyed them. The Dalek asks what happened to the Time Lords, and the Doctor grimly acknowledges that all of them are dead as well, casualties of the last Time War. The two of them are the last of their kind, but he is going to finish the job. In a fury, he pulls a lever, sending electricity coursing through the Dalek, but Van Statten sends his guards to stop the Doctor.

As they ride up to the upper levels, Van Statten's assistant, Diana Goddard, tells the Doctor that the Dalek fell to Earth fifty years before, on Ascension Island, where it burned in a crater for three days before anyone could approach it. It then passed through the hands of several collectors before Van Statten bought it at an auction. The Doctor concludes it must have fallen through time somehow, and Van Statten notes that the Dalek is not the only alien on Earth now. The Doctor is chained up, stripped to the waist and painfully scanned. As Van Statten gleefully observes that he can patent the Doctor's bicardial circulatory system, the Doctor realises that Van Statten is not just a collector. He scavenges technology from the artefacts and then sells them. Van Statten proudly admits this, revealing that broadband was derived from Roswell technology, and that recently his scientists found the cure to the common cold in bacteria recovered from the "Russian crater".

Meanwhile, Adam is showing Rose (who is unaware of the Doctor's predicament) around the base. When Adam shows her the Dalek on the monitor, they see one of the technicians, Simmons, torturing it, trying to get it to speak again as per Van Statten's orders. Rose asks to be taken down to the Cage so she can stop Simmons. There, Rose talks to the Dalek, offering to help. The Dalek feigns haplessness, getting Rose to approach it. In sympathy, Rose touches the Dalek casing, and immediately the Dalek absorbs some of her DNA, which allows it to regenerate part of its casing and break free of its chains. When Simmons approaches it, the Dalek uses its plunger-shaped manipulator arm to crush his face. The Cage is sealed, and Van Statten alerted. The Doctor calmly tells Van Statten to release him if they want to live.

Although the lock to the Cage has a billion combinations, the Dalek easily runs through them in a matter of moments. It then smashes a computer terminal with its manipulator arm, absorbing electricity from the Vault and seven states in the Western United States to completely repair itself, as well as absorbing the collective information of the Internet. Rose and Adam are evacuated from the level as Van Statten's guards surround the Dalek, firing at it. However, a force field melts the bullets before they hit its casing, and its middle section can swivel around, giving its energy weapon a 360-degree field of fire. Van Statten shouts over the guards' communicators that he does not want the Dalek damaged, but there is no answer — the Dalek has killed all of them. The Doctor tells Diana to have weapons distributed to everyone.

Adam, Rose and a female guard named De Maggio are climbing the stairs to the upper levels, hoping to escape the Dalek, but it hovers up after them, killing De Maggio. Van Statten still thinks the Dalek can be negotiated with, but the Doctor bluntly tells him that the Dalek will kill everyone who is different from a Dalek, because it honestly believes they should die. It is the ultimate in racial cleansing, and Van Statten let it loose.

In the Vault's weapons testing range, another group of guards takes up a firing position. Once Rose and Adam are clear, they open fire on the Dalek, but it sits there, impervious, even allowing the Doctor to see this on the monitors to prove it. It then hovers in the air, triggering the sprinklers. With one shot, it electrifies the water on the floor and kills the guards there. A second shot runs through a metal walkway, taking care of those guards. It demands to speak to the Doctor, and reveals that absorbing Rose's DNA — the genetic code of a time traveller — allowed it to "extrapolate her biomass" and regenerate itself. Its search through the world's satellite and radio telescope systems revealed no Daleks anywhere, confirming the Doctor's claim that it is the last of its kind. As the Dalek now knows that no new orders will ever come, it intends to carry out the default Dalek function — to destroy and conquer. The Doctor suggests, with almost uncharacteristic venom, that if it wants an order, it should just kill itself. The Dalek observes that the Doctor would make a good Dalek.

Van Statten has managed to restore some power to the bulkheads, but not for long. The Doctor holds off activating the doors for as long as he can to allow Rose and Adam to get to safety, but the power is failing, and he has no choice but to shut them. Adam makes it to the other side, but Rose is trapped. Over her "superphone", Rose tells the Doctor it was not his fault, and the Doctor hears the Dalek cry, "Exterminate!" and the sound of the Dalek weapon firing. Furious with grief, he blames Van Statten for all the deaths that have transpired, especially Rose's.

The Dalek, however, has not killed Rose. The DNA it absorbed from her is making it hesitant, and it can feel Rose's fear, something that a Dalek should not be able to do. It contacts the Doctor, holding Rose hostage and demanding that the bulkheads be opened or it will kill her this time. It taunts the Doctor, saying, "What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?" The Doctor tells Van Statten that he already killed Rose once; he cannot do it again. He then unseals the doors. Adam informs the Doctor that, while the alien weapons Van Statten has collected are down in the lower levels, there are some uncatalogued ones in his laboratory. Van Statten mindwipes his employees after he terminates their service, and Adam wanted to keep some aside in case he had to fight his way out. The Doctor sorts through the pile and finds a large weapon not unlike a handheld cannon.

The Dalek reaches Van Statten's office, and threatens to kill Van Statten for torturing it. Rose stops it, and the Dalek hesitates once more. Rose tells the Dalek that it does not have to kill anymore and asks it what it wants. The Dalek replies that it wants freedom. They ride up to Level 1, and there, the Dalek blows a hole in the roof of the Vault, letting the sunlight stream through. It opens up its casing to reveal the mutated creature inside, a tentacle waving up to capture the warmth of the Sun. The Doctor appears, weapon in hand, telling Rose to get out of the way, but Rose refuses to let the Doctor kill it. The Dalek did not kill Van Statten — it is changing. But what, Rose asks, is the Doctor changing into?

The Doctor, appalled at his own actions, lowers the weapon. Thinking on Rose's words, he realises that the DNA the Dalek absorbed from Rose is mutating it further. The Dalek also realises this, as its mind is filled with so many new ideas, and it cannot reconcile it with the Dalek notion of species purity. It asks Rose to order it to die, which Rose reluctantly does. The Dalek rises into the air, the globes on its shell disengaging to form a sphere formation around it. The spheres emit energy and it implodes, completely disintegrating. Goddard orders the guards to take Van Statten away and mindwipe him for causing the events that resulted in the death of 200 people. She also orders the Vault to be filled in with cement.

Rose and the Doctor make it back to the TARDIS, where the Doctor ruefully observes that the Time War is finished, and as the last survivor he "wins", although this obviously does not fill him with joy. Rose asks whether it is possible, since the Dalek survived, that some of the Time Lords did as well, but the Doctor says he would feel it if they had, and it feels like there is no one. Adam comes by, saying that they have to leave as Goddard is sealing the base, and Rose hints to the Doctor that they should take Adam along, as he always wanted to see the stars. The Doctor is sceptical, but does not object. Adam, not knowing what they are really saying, follows the Doctor and Rose into the TARDIS with a puzzled expression, and it dematerialises.

Cast

Crew

to be added

References

Rose states that there is a piece of Slitheen on display, but this is a misnomer. The arm is from a Raxacoricofallapatorian; the Slitheen are a family of Raxacoricofallapatorians.
Bad Wolf is mentioned as Van Statten's helicopter lands: "Bad Wolf one descending..."

Story Notes

The Time War is mentioned and elaborated on by the Doctor and the Dalek.
This is the first story of the new series not to feature the TARDIS interior.
Van Statten is heard to utter the curse word "goddamn" - the first time a word of this type had been heard in a televised Doctor Who story. At the time of broadcast, however, little attention was paid to this; instead, the episode attracted criticism for Van Statten's use of the word "spoon" in a possibly sexual context.
Davros is mentioned by the Doctor when saying that Van Statten would have liked the creator of the Daleks.
Accrding to Doctor Who Confidential, Robert Shearman had to write a second version of the script because it was not initially known if the new series could obtain the rights to use the Daleks from Terry Nation's estate, so he had to create an alternate alien race that would have been used had the Daleks not been available.

Ratings

8.6 million viewers

Myths

This is the first episode to show a Dalek hovering up the stairs. Remembrance of the Daleks was the first clear instance, and Revelation of the Daleks had Daleks hovering, but the angles didn't clearly show it. The Season 2 story The Chase implied that Daleks could hover.
This is the first episode to show the actual creature inside the Dalek shell. Actually, the creatures had been shown on screen almost from the very start (a blanket-covered creature was seen in The Daleks. This is the first time an "uncanned" Dalek was shown to speak, however.

Filming Locations

Wales, Cardiff, Millennium Stadium.

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

Van Statten's computer keyboard are of the UK layout, rather than the US layout.

The map of the US shown on Van Statten's monitor is missing the upper peninsula of Michigan.

The Cyberman head shown is a Revenge of the Cybermen style, but states it was found in the London underground sewers The Invasion

If Rose stated she was 26 if she lived up to this time, this would place the events of Rose in 2005. This would then make her 19 years old and not how she looks as 21 years. If she was, the events would either take place in 2007 or she could've been 28. The Doctor states in the episode, "she was nineteen years old," after she was left with the Dalek, implying she is indeed 19 but merely looks older.

The Dalek can find no trace of his race on the internet. Has no-one noticed the events of Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks, Remembrance of the Daleks or Army of Ghosts/Doomsday? Perhaps organisations such as UNIT and Torchwood have removed all mention of these incidents from the internet. However, the Dalek might still be able to scan their own networks and access classified information.

How can Van Statten (who seems to own the President) not know what a Dalek is, even though they stole and attacked the earth 3 years earlier in The Stolen Earth and Journey's End? The events of the latter story seem to have altered the timeline as the doctor would certainly have noticed earth missing if it was an established event thus the events have yet to happen

At the start they mention that a previous technician who touched the Dalek burst into flames. So:

a) Why didn't the Dalek absorb his DNA? b) Why didn't Rose burst into flames?

*OK, so the story is set in 2012, and Van Statten's bunker is chock full of alien technology and artefacts... so surely they'd have something more advanced than a chain to hold the Dalek prisoner? Or a drill to torture him??

[What is this, the Spanish Inquisition?]

*So who exactly turns the lights on in the cell when the Doctor goes in to talk to the "Metaltron"? If it was Van Statten or his staff, why didn't they flick the switch before the Doc entered the room? Or is it the Dalek who controls the lights??

[You can just imagine Van Statten saying "OK, we're going to chain you up and torture you, but on the bright side, you can turn the lights off when you want some rest!"]

*With a security breach that major, surely the guards would have had a sniff around and noticed the great big blue police box standing about twenty feet away from them under a spotlight? 
 
*On a related note, the TARDIS is left with its doors apparently open – the light is still spilling out when all the guards rush to capture the Doctor and Rose – but nobody in this Museum of Alien Artifacts is remotely interested in it even being there, let alone noticing that there's something odd inside. (Plus, at the end, the doors are seen to be shut and locked as the Doctor lets himself and the others in.) 
 
*OK, so it's somewhat plausible that a Dalek can somehow sample DNA to rebuild itself – but it's inferred that this will also transfer emotions, experience and ideas...??

*When Rose goes to touch the Dalek, in the wide shot she places her hand to the right of his eyepiece. Then in close-up, her hand is touching to the left of his eyepiece. 
 
*The guard who announces that the Dalek has escaped from the cage says "I repeat – this is not a drill"... but it's the first time he's said it!

The escaping Dalek fires a shot into a series of canisters marked "flammable", which then emit some kind of fog into the room. Just a few seconds later, sprays of sparks should have ignited the so-called "flammable" gas, but there was no explosion at all.

*How can the Dalek 'calculate' the combination code? To be pedantic, you can't calculate a random code! There's nothing to calculate – it's just randomly chosen. The Dalek could've used a scanning device to physically check the actual setting (or to ascertain the response of the system to different wrong codes – a common way of hacking electronic systems). Or it could've simply tried combinations very quickly (though most such systems only allow new attempts after a specified period, to stop people doing that). But it certainly couldn't 'calculate' it, super-genius or not. All it can do is guess! 
  
*Furthermore, the lock has got 100 million combinations, not a billion. (8 digits, not 9) 
  
*The Doctor didn't exactly rush when the Dalek broke free... he took time to change back into his jumper and leather jacket. 
 
*When the Dalek turns on the sprinklers, there's no steam, even though a few minutes earlier it was hot enough to vapourise bullets. I know it can obviously turn off this shield, allowing Rose to touch it, but surely something that hot couldn't cool down so fast? 

*When the Doctor starts raising his voice in Van Statten's office, his voice seems to echo a lot more than you would expect it to in a room that size, almost as if it was really just a set in a large warehouse.

[Surely not!]

*The security forces are wearing their American flag patches backwards on their right shoulders. The flag "looks" correct, in that the stars are to the left, but in reality, American troops wear the flag patch back-to-front on their right shoulders, i.e. so the stars are on the right (so they can be closer to your heart, apparently.)

After the Dalek has escaped and is roaming free, Rose and Adam encounter the armed guards. As they run in, Rose is standing at Adam's right, but when the camera angle changes, she's standing to his left.

*Why did all the guards die despite having bloody great rubber soles on their boots? The camera even lingered on one soldier's boots – clearly rubber (an excellent insulator) and not even slightly melted!

[Though, in fairness, streaming wet rubber soles might just do the trick]

*So the Dalek is clever enough to float up the stairs, but not clever enough to just float up the gap in the middle of the stairwell, in a fraction of the time? 
  
*When the Dalek was going up the stairs several levels behind them, why couldn't Rose and Adam double-back in the lift and make a run for the TARDIS? 
  
*When they're tracking the Dalek's progress on the monitor, the dot representing the Dalek appears to travel up one flight in around three seconds, when in reality it appears to take more like 20 seconds.

Why didn't the Doctor & Van Statten just shut the bulkhead door halfway down and let Adam and Rose roll underneath it to escape the Dalek?

[The Daleks may have conquered stairs, but they haven't learnt to limbo]

*Also, Rose and Adam literally run for their lives as the doors were closing. So Rose should have been out of breath when she reached the closed door – but she was able to talk normally on the phone.  
  
*Rather odd that there was such a huge kerfuffle about having to use emergency power quickly to seal the bulkhead door before it failed, then once the Doctor decided to open it again, all it took was pressing "Enter" on a keyboard. 
  
*When Rose steps back from the Dalek at the end, there's an audible sound of polystyrene as she treads on some debris on the floor.

[All the best nuclear bunkers are made from polystyrene, didn't you know?]

Continuity

This story was adapted by writer Robert Shearman from his Big Finish Audio Drama Jubilee.
This is the second story to feature Daleks (on screen) rising up stairs, the first being Remembrance of the Daleks where an Imperial Dalek "climbs" stairs.
In Doomsday there is a flashback to this episode.
Also in Doomsday, the Genesis Ark needs a time traveller to open it, similar to what Rose does here.
The Mondasian Cyberman head displayed in van Statten's museum is of a style from Revenge of the Cybermen. This is the first time an old-series Cyberman appeared in the revival series, but to date only Pete's World Cybermen have been featured in an active fashion in the revival. This is not the first story in which both Cybermen and Daleks have appeared, however; discounting flashbacks, that honor goes to The Five Doctors.
Adam Mitchell becomes the first on screen male companion of the Doctor since Vislor Turlough departed in the 1984 story Planet of Fire.

DVD and Other Releases

Dalek has been released on a single DVD together with Aliens of London and World War Three.
Dalek has been released on a single UMD (for Sony's Playstation Portable) together with Aliens of London and World War Three.
Dalek was also released as part of the Series 1 boxed set.

External Links

Template:Series 1