Dalek 

The TARDIS is drawn to an alien museum deep below the Utah desert, where a ruthless billionaire keeps prisoner the last of the Doctor's most fearsome enemies.

Director:

Joe Ahearne

Writers:

Robert Shearman, Terry Nation (character: "The Daleks")

Stars:

Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper, Steven Beckingham

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Christopher Eccleston	...	Doctor Who
Billie Piper	...	Rose Tyler
Steven Beckingham	...	Polkowski
Corey Johnson	...	Henry van Statten
Anna-Louise Plowman	...	Diana Goddard
Bruno Langley	...	Adam Mitchell
Nigel Whitmey	...	Simmons
John Schwab	...	Bywater
Jana Carpenter	...	De Maggio
Joe Montana	...	Commander
Barnaby Edwards	...	Dalek Operator
Nicholas Briggs	...	Dalek (voice)

Storyline

The Doctor and Rose travel to the year 2012 and land in a museum of extra-terrestrial objects accumulated by the very wealthy Henry van Statten. He's an avid collector - the TARDIS lands on the museum's 53rd floor below ground level - but he's also using alien technology to develop new weapons from which he derives his large income. He's particularly proud of one device he's acquired but has not yet been able to make functional and to the Doctor's horror, it turns out to be a very old and very dangerous enemy from the past.

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Plot Keywords:

dalek | alien | alien technology | billionaire | doctor who | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Family | Mystery | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 April 2006 (USA)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

45 min 45 min (50 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (Dolby 5.1)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Before writing the script, Robert Shearman asked his girlfriend what she thought were the silliest things about the Daleks. He then took the responses he got - that they couldn't go upstairs, that they had that silly plunger, that they couldn't see anything behind them, that bullets could damage them, etc - and had the characters actively invoke them in the story. And then had the Dalek completely subvert the expected weaknesses and even use them to kill said characters horribly.

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Goofs

At the end of the episode, Adam informs the Doctor and Rose that the bunker is going to be filled in with cement. As Adam self identifies as a genius, he should have known the bunker would be filled in with concrete, of which cement is the binding ingredient.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Rose Tyler: So, what is it? What's wrong?
The Doctor: Don't know, some kind of signal drawing the TARDIS off course.
Rose Tyler: Where are we?
The Doctor: Earth, Utah, North America. About half a mile underground.
Rose Tyler: And... *when* are we?
The Doctor: 2012.
Rose Tyler: God, that's so close. So I should be... 26.
[the Doctor flicks a switch and lights flood the area]
Rose Tyler: Blimey! It's a great big museum!
[...]

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Connections

Featured in Daleks! Conquer and Destroy (2010)

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Soundtracks

Doctor Who Theme
(uncredited)
Written by Ron Grainer
Arranged by Murray Gold
Performed by BBC National Orchestra of Wales

User Reviews

Doctoooooor, thheeeeee Doctoooooooor

This was where Series 1 went up a level, 'Dalek' remains a truly classic episode, a real game changer. We learn of the Time War from the dalek, that all Daleks and Timelords are dead, with the exception of this Dalek and The Doctor, The Dalek draws parallels between the two which make the Doctor uncomfortable. The story in brief, Super rich American Henry Van Statten owns an Alien Museum, the Dalek is chained up as prized possession. Rose is uncomfortable seeing the Dalek tortured so steps in and unwittingly restores it from a decayed state into the zipped up, no nonsense metal meanie that we now recognise. Rose becomes locked in a vault with it, but will it kill her? One thing I particularly loved about this episode is that the Dalek which had seemingly softened during the 80's, was now a highly intelligent killing machine with true menace. The 'matrix' moment, is well done and shows the Daleks are finally tough to deal with. Rewatching it I agree with my initial decision about the best scene, where the guards lay in wait for the Dalek, and the Dalek sets off the water sprinkler fires onto the floor and electrocutes them all with one shot, genius. Roses closing scenes with the Dalek are brilliantly done. I can see why people would class this as the overall best episode of Series 1, but in my humble opinion even better was to come. Little note of trivia, the picture that appears above Van Statten's desk was used years ago in a Poirot, 'The Underdog.' The painting is really of Dennis Lill not Corey Johnson, but there is a resemblance.