Into the Dalek (TV story)

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Into the Dalek was the second episode of the eighth series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales, and marked the Twelfth Doctor's first encounter with the Daleks.

Synopsis

A journey into the most dangerous place in the universe will test the limits of the Doctor's compassion and force him to ask the question: "Am I a good man?"

Plot

Journey Blue's ship is being shot at by a Dalek ship, and her brother Kai is unconscious. As it explodes, she appears in the TARDIS console room. She points her gun at the Doctor, demanding that he take her back to her command ship, the Aristotle. He waits for her to ask nicely, then complies. The TARDIS materialises and they step outside.

The pair walk onto the Aristotle, a base for Combined Galactic Resistance, the Galaxy's united front against the Daleks; while the other soldiers initially plan to kill the Doctor, Journey points out they have need of a physician.

Journey's uncle, Colonel Morgan Blue, takes the Doctor to a dying Dalek later named Rusty that they have managed to capture. At first the Doctor is uninterested in helping the creature until it voices its desire to slaughter the rest of its kind. Meanwhile at Coal Hill School, a new Maths teacher Danny Pink, a war veteran, is introducing himself to his class.

Danny ends class early after one of his students asks if he has ever killed a civilian, which visibly brings him to tears. Later Danny meets with Clara Oswald, one of his fellow teachers, who asks him out. Due to the awkwardness from the obvious connection between the two he initially declines, although she is able to ask him out for coffee.

Returning to her office, Clara discovers the Doctor standing there with the coffee she sent him for three weeks ago. The Doctor claims he needs Clara's help urgently and takes the liberty of asking her if she thinks he is a good man, to which she answers that she does not know. The Doctor takes her back to the Aristotle and introduces her to Rusty.

The Doctor explains that a malfunction that is also killing it has given the Dalek a conscience and he, fascinated by the idea, has agreed to help it. The group consisting of the Doctor, Clara, Journey and two other rebel soldiers (Ross and Gretchen) are shrunk down: they enter the Dalek through its Eye stalk and begin exploring the upper levels.

The Doctor takes the liberty of introducing the group to Rusty's artificial memory drive which filters out good memories and reinforces bad ones, calling it "evil refined and turned into a machine". The Doctor takes the liberty of asking Rusty what made it turn on its own kind, to which it says that it saw a star being born and made it realise the futility of the Daleks' mission.

Realizing that they have to go down Ross sets up a zip line which inadvertently damages Rusty's body and triggers the release of antibodies. Realizing that he cannot save Ross, the Doctor has him swallow a pill that allows him to track where the antibodies store his obliterated remains so that they can hide there. From there the group makes its way to the lower regions where they find the batteries.

Discovering a crack in one of the batteries that is leaking deadly radiation that is both killing Rusty and now them, the Doctor seals it off. Now that Rusty is fixed it immediately returns to its programming and begins slaughtering the station's soldiers. The Doctor however is ecstatic as his belief that there is no such thing as a good Dalek is restored.

Clara is enraged by the Doctor's apathy and points out to him that what they have learned is not that there is no such thing as a good Dalek but that it is indeed possible. Inspired by Clara's words the Doctor instructs her, Gretchen, and Journey to make their way to the Memory station and try to restore Rusty's memories of the star while he tries to reason with Rusty.

Gretchen sacrifices herself to set up a zipline to get Clara and Journey to the memory core while she fends off the antibodies coming after them. Dying from the antibodies, Gretchen meets Missy who welcomes her to Heaven. Meanwhile Rusty calls for back up from the rest of the Daleks and plots to join in their slaughter of the rebels.

Clara is able to deduce how Rusty's memory core works and reactivates all of his suppressed memories. With this the Doctor is able to form a Psychic link with Rusty and transfer all of his memories. However instead of reawakening its good side Rusty is inspired by the Doctor's own "Divine Hatred" to instead try to wipe out the rest of its kind, whom it once again sees as evil.

Rusty slaughters the rest of the Daleks on the station and everyone is returned to their proper size. Rusty has broadcast a signal to the rest of the Daleks voicing the Humans' (completely fictional) intention to set the station to self destruct, leading them to retreat. Rusty rejoins its kind stating it will continue to sabotage them.

Before it goes Rusty disagrees with the Doctor's assessment that there is no such thing as a good Dalek: it says that the Doctor himself would make a "Good Dalek." The Doctor also views it as something of a hollow victory: someone looked into his soul and saw nothing but hatred. Journey attempts to see the Doctor off when he reluctantly says an unemphatic farewell to the Aristotle personnel. She wishes to join him on the TARDIS as a companion, but the Doctor turns her down. He recognises the good in her under the battle-hardened exterior, but just wishes that she wasn't a soldier. Journey accepts his refusal and gives him a subdued smile, knowing the Doctor is only doing what he feels is best.

Clara is returned to Coal Hill, where she at last answers the Doctor's question. After changing into new clothes for her evening with Danny, she tells the Doctor that, while she cannot say for sure that he is a good man, he tries to be one, which is the important thing. She joins Danny for their date, trying not to adopt the Doctor's policy against soldiers.

Cast

Uncredited cast

Crew

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

Casting

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound



Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.


References

  • Journey says the TARDIS is "smaller on the outside.”
  • A molecular nanoscaler is used to shrink down the Doctor, Clara, Journey, Gretchen, and Ross.
  • The Doctor mentions that shrinking people in order for them to enter the human body would be a great idea for a movie. This is a possible reference to the movie Fantastic Voyage, of which this is the main plot. It could also be a reference to the movie Innerspace which was inspired by Fantastic Voyage.
  • 'Rusty' refers to the persistence of life using the phrase, "Resistance is futile", the catchphrase of the antagonistic Borg race of the Star Trek franchise.
  • The equipment of the soldiers of the Resistance is provided with a Geiger counter.
  • A trionic radiation leak is the cause of the malfunctioning of the Dalek.

Story notes

  • The conclusion of this story is similar to the conclusion of the Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories Jubilee, where a lone Dalek notices the error of its comrades and stops an invasion.
  • While this is the Twelfth Doctor's first proper encounter with the Daleks, he had previously appeared briefly in both the episodes The Day of the Doctor and The Time of the Doctor, which also featured the Daleks.
  • Footage of the extermination of security guard Bywater in Dalek and the Dalek attack on the Valiant in The Stolen Earth is seen in 'Rusty's' Dalek memories, and the destruction of the Daleks and the Crucible in Journey's End is seen when Rusty looks into the Doctor's mind.
  • This is the first episode since The Waters of Mars to have two credited writers. Like The Waters of Mars, it is co-written by Phil Ford and the show's head writer (then Russell T Davies, now Steven Moffat).
  • The Vent joke exchanged between the Doctor and Clara is a reference to the vent scenes from The Ark in Space between the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith. It also reflects a similar exchange between Rose Tyler and Toby Zed in The Satan Pit.
  • This is the first episode since Part 2 of The End of Time in 2010 to not feature an appearance from Matt Smith as Eleventh Doctor.

Ratings

5.2 million (overnight)[1]

Filming locations

Production errors

Continuity

Home video releases

to be added

External links

to be added

Footnotes