Oh boy. So this is I think a severely underrated episode so I'm going to talk about it a lot.


This might be one of my favorite episodes of all time. Imo it's is pretty important to the Dalek stories that are told over the new series, and in understanding Moffat's interpretation of the Doctor and the show's mythos.


And how fitting it is to see what this new incarnation is made of than to pit him against his most oldest and dangerous foe in his second story?


First up I love the premise of shrinking the protagonists. It's such a fun idea that again harkens back to a First Doctor serial. The story itself and its portrayal of the Doctor also echoes the 9th Doctor 'Dalek' story. And I don't think the s9 opening 2 parter would have as much impact without it. In summary I think the quality of the episode increases in retrospect. 


Also sidebar, the look of the episode itself has a very retro 80s feel, right up my alley.


We get our first look at the 12th Doctor post-regen sickness. And

Danny and Clara were adorable in this episode.

It was nice to see the Doctor unsure of himself enough to call in Clara for help, and nice to see him actually get someone back home at the right time for once.

Also, I liked the way he handled the woman with the gun at the start.

Not much else to say about this episode. It wasn't outstanding but it was pretty solid.

The longer his hair gets, the more likeable he becomes.

That's so true. Especially in episodes like 'Time Heist', he's such an arsehole he's almost unrecognizable as the 12 who is around now.

It also gives a good contrast to how far he has come by the end of Series 10.

Whilst the regeneration episode is important for a new Doctor, it's always the one after that which seems like it should count more. It gives you more of an idea for the tone/attitude that Doctor will take when things are settled down. This one definitely gives you the idea of the more dark/cynical Doctor.

Neat how Twelve starts his era by failing to turn a Dalek good only to end his era by being able to turn the Master good

> Why is going through the eye particularly weird for the dalek? 

Well, in Fantastic Voyage, it makes perfect sense since the heroes are in a submarine and the eye has fluid for the sub to move through and tear ducts that lead into the rest of the body.

In a Dalek the eye is a lump of metal and plastic and who knows what, and protected by a force field. If they can enter that way, they can probably enter just about any other way. I mean the mesh grill under the head unit would seem to at least offer an opening if you could get past the forcefield protecting the entire Dalek.

> We've seen plenty of times that the dalek eyes are their weakest point. If a bullet can get through there (and not anywhere else) why not use that site for surgery?

On the other hand, they're not trying to destroy the eyestalk through kinetic energy. It's possible that the Dalek force field is weaker at that point, I suppose. Although I always assumed it was more a case of the eye being relatively fragile com

Why is going through the eye particularly weird for the dalek? We've seen plenty of times that the dalek eyes are their weakest point. If a bullet can get through there (and not anywhere else) why not use that site for surgery?

I agree that this one's better the more you watch it, though. For me I'm also more and more fond of the secondary characters every time it comes on, particularly journey blue (perhaps because of the actresses excellent turn as Vod on fresh meat.)

This one gets my personal Most Improved On Rewatch award for any NuWho. Letting Ross die the way he did seemed terribly out of character at the time, but on rewatch it struck me that didn't *do* anything that the others wouldn't have done; he just refused to sugar coat it.  There's a real sense of how incredibly desensitized to death and violence he had become during the long years on Trenzalore.

And once I got past that... it occurred to me that this Doctor is the one I'd hoped we'd see from Capaldi. Abrasive, impatient, proactive, and taking charge. Sadly he was destined to spend most of the rest of the season either bumbling ineffectually in the background or working off Matt Smith scripts.

On the downside ... the Fantastic Voyage riff was way beyond silly. I mean going in through the eye made sense in Fantastic Voyage; for a Dalek, it's just daft. And this episode also sees the debut of the utterly missable, sadly unforgettable Danny Pink. Still those are minor quibbles. One of t

There haven't been many decent Dalek stories in the revival; this was probably one of the better ones

A really great episode. I was never really the biggest fan of "Dalek," but I loved this one. It was tense, well directed, well acted, and really intriguing. 8 out of 10

Hence the username.

But no, not quite. No matter what I watch, when I see something stupid, or something that doesn't make sense, or is weak or sloppy storytelling or direction, it drives me a little crazy. I write it down to get it out of my head and enjoy the rest of the story. (Residual effect of my former career writing film reviews.) I write down good stuff too, as evidenced by a few of my notes above.

Being a huge "Doctor Who" fan since about 1979, I'm used to there being plot problems in every story. An episode being good doesn't erase its weaknesses. Nitpicking "Doctor Who" and enjoying the hell out of "Doctor Who" are not mutually exclusive. I almost always do both, and this episode is a great example. I didn't enjoy "Into the Dalek" much the first time I saw it. By my 3rd viewing, I had both taken the notes above *and* ended up liking it more and more.

You watch Dr Who and write down things you don’t like?

Man.  

> Well reasoned.

Heh, thanks. 

 >Haven't seen the episode in a while, so I don't recall if it's explained at one point Rusty became different from other Daleks. But if he went cuckoo while still in contact with the Dalek fleet, the argument could be made that the Daleks would want to destroy him (in which case why not just blown up the ship?)

Maybe because thats not certain destruction? We know  that Daleks have a temporal teleport  for emergencies, so you could make the argument  that they  wanted to  make sure to destroy him. 

> If that's the case, one line of dialog would have cleared that up.

Well, I have a bit  Time to kill, so let me quickly go over  a transcript of the episode, maybe we both just missed the line. 

... 

Nope. Just finished, its  never directly stated. Its  implied slightly,  but you have really dig yourself into the scenario and the dialog to make the connection. 

One  of the weaknesses of Moffats writing: Sometimes he is  just to eager to cut information

Well reasoned. Haven't seen the episode in a while, so I don't recall if it's explained at one point Rusty became different from other Daleks. But if he went cuckoo while still in contact with the Dalek fleet, the argument could be made that the Daleks would want to *destroy* him (in which case why not just blown up the ship?), but a rescue? I do agree that repairing a nutcase Dalek could make for a valuable asset. If that's the case, one line of dialog would have cleared that up.

Just  two nitpicks I dont necessarly agree with: 

> Highly unlikely Daleks would care about rescuing just one of their own

To this  point I  would say: I guess they were  more worried  about them getting informations  out of the Dalek instead of rescuing it. We dont  know which  Rank  Rusty  had, so he could very well have some Intel on Millitary Tactics and Ambushes they plan. Daleks might be kind of  arrogant, but they are not  stupid.  Not really,  anyway. 

> And what are they doing in there anyway? Their mission is never explained. Why repair a Dalek?

I  think the  idea was  that they wanted to use  that  Dalek as a weapon, as he  claimed to hate other Daleks. And I mean, a Dalek isnt a  bad weapon of  mass  destruction. Its at  least better than none Dalek. 

Whenever I watch a "Who" episode for the 2nd or 3rd time, I write down all my little nitpicks. Thought I'd start doing something with them.

- Practically the same opening as "Night of the Doctor" (crashing ship running from Daleks)
	- Is that on purpose? Did the Doctor learn to not give her the choice?

- Holy hell, Capaldi is hitting it out of the park in this one

- Nano-scaling is impossible and impractical

- Virtual reality in nano-bots would make more sense, and would be easier tech to come by
	- And what are they doing in there anyway? Their mission is never explained. Why repair a Dalek?

- Ridiculous notion that the inside of a Dalek would have anything resembling corridors

- Down a chute into muck, recycled from "The Beast Below"

- Why would a Dalek have internal cameras? If it has that kind of detailed internal tech, why can't it control its own antibodies?

- Absurd that there would be any part of a Dalek that Clara could figure out while crawling through
	- and even mor

DOCTOR (near the beginning): "Am I a good man?"

RUSTY (near the end): "You are a good Dalek."

I'm pretty sure this is intentional, but hardly anyone seemed to pick up on it.

Brilliant concept, insightful look into the Doctor's new personality, memorable side characters (a rarity in Moffat's era) and an episode which successfully explored the Dalek's psyche AND made them effectively threatening. Speaking as someone who adores Moffat's era, I have to say none of his other episodes have ever achieved this combination. Easily one of my favourite s8 episodes

I remember watching the B&W leaked version of this. Such a fantastic time! I felt like I had time-travelled into the Doctor's own future! But say, didn't that version of the episode end with Rusty blowing himself up, along all the other Daleks that were assaulting that human base? I remember that would've been only the second time they had shown on-screen the self-detonation sequence with the "Dalek bumps" swirling around the body and eventually imploding. SO cool. Too bad they had to tone down the aired version... while I understand the reasoning behind the Robyn Hood original ending, this one was fitting and could've been left intact. 

You can ask questions, post comments, or point out things you didn't see the first time!

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\# | NAME | DIRECTED BY | WRITTEN BY | ORIGINAL AIR DATE
:-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :--
NDWs08e02 | Into the Dalek | Ben Wheatley | Phil Ford &amp; Steven Moffat | 30 August 2014

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&gt;Surrounded by his greatest enemies, the newest Doctor will journey into the most dangerous place in all of the universe. With the limits of his compassion being tested, the Doctor will be forced to ask a question about himself that he doesn't know: "Am I a good man?"

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TARDIS Wiki: [Into the Dalek](http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Into_the_Dalek_\(TV_story\))

IMDb: [Into the Dalek](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3737226/)

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New Doctor Who Rewatch: Series 08 Episode 02 "Into the Dalek"