We found out that Mrs. Know-It-All had not, up to this point, seen the original first series of the 2005 Doctor Who reboot, the one with Christopher Eccleston. We’ve since corrected that. So this week the two of us are reviewing episode six, “Dalek,” and it’s the first one we’ve done since we changed the setup around. We’re facing one another now, so I can actually have a conversation with her, and I dig that.

The TARDIS is drawn off course by a signal, and Rose and the Doctor end up near Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2012, in an underground bunker owned by Henry van Statten, a rich collector of alien artifacts. The Doctor encounters van Statten’s one living exhibit, which he’s horrified to discover is a Dalek that survived the Time War. It’s the last survivor of a race of genetically manipulated mutants bent on purging the universe of all non-Dalek life, and it’s the Doctor’s greatest enemy. One of van Statten’s employees, Adam Mitchell, leads Rose to the Dalek, but she takes pity on it and touches it, which lets it absorb her DNA and become active. The Dalek kills many soldiers before catching up with Rose, Adam and the Doctor. Rose ends up trapped with it, but it spares her life, because it’s gained sympathy from Rose’s DNA, and it destroys itself. As the Doctor and Rose leave, Adam boards the TARDIS to avoid the closure of van Statten’s vault.

I remember that episode. Oh my goodness, that episode. And I’m skipping around here, so spoilers if you’ve never seen it.

Fresh Off the Time War

We know he’s fresh off the Time War, so to run into a Dalek blew Mrs. Know-It-All’s mind. She called it so dramatic, very much almost melodramatic at points, but they sell it well. Christopher Eccleston and his pain at seeing it.

For me, watching it now both through her eyes and through the fact that I’ve watched these in the past, the real one is the end. Rose is standing in the way and he’s telling her to get out of the way, that thing’s a killer. And she tells him it’s not the one pointing a gun at her. He starts in with “but I didn’t, I didn’t mean,” and he’s so stuck at, oh crap, what have I become. She really makes him look at what he’s become because of the Time War. And especially since it’s a Dalek.

There’s the moment earlier that sets all of that up. Van Statten has this thing down there and he can’t make it do anything, so the Doctor goes down to see what he can do. He can’t see what’s there. He walks in and he’s saying, I’m here to help, I’ll see what I can do, I’m the Doctor. And immediately you see it. The horror in his face. Mrs. Know-It-All said it’d be like running back into some traumatic event, for anybody.

As you go further into the series, you come to see that the Doctor regretted what he had to do in the Time War. But the more he experiences new Daleks, the more you get this building self-loathing of, I didn’t have to do that, because doing it clearly didn’t help anything. He carries that burden for so long. Right now, though, it’s simpler than that. He’s the only Time Lord left, and this is the only Dalek left, that he believes at this point.

What Rose’s DNA Did

Mrs. Know-It-All liked that the Dalek, she wanted to say reanimated, took her DNA. Which is a detail she’d missed later on, because she didn’t have this episode in her arsenal. In the finale of season two, with David Tennant’s Doctor, there are these other Daleks that have been hidden outside of time in the void, and they come to find out they can use the DNA of a Time Lord, or anybody who’s traveled in time. That fills in the gap. Here, Rose touches it and it starts to repair itself, because of that time traveler DNA.

The interesting thing to her was that Rose’s DNA also held her compassion and her empathy, and that transferred to the Dalek. Her read was that it came out so imperfect that it hated itself.

So, the Daleks were always an allegory. When they were created, they were created to be an allegory of Nazis, the show being very British, and Nazis being the epitome of fascism. And they weren’t about being perfect. The only thing that made them perfect, as the Daleks considered it, is that they were free of emotion. Free of any of that baggage of love, compassion, that nonsense. We are who we are. We’re above this. You are impure, you are not worthy of living. Mrs. Know-It-All jumped on that word, impure, and yes, absolutely.

So even though it was able to fix itself, it was tainted. It doesn’t understand what this feels like. Why do I feel? To the point that it opens up its casing and you get to see it feel the sun. And it hates itself.

The Moment He Becomes the Doctor

Even Rose is asking, wait, why do you have to kill yourself? And the Doctor has to explain it to her. I feel like this is sort of the moment he shifts into being the Doctor fully. The old classic. Because now he’s explaining that it’s in pain. This is not how it’s supposed to be. This is its version of hell, that it feels. So this is the only choice it’s got for itself, and we have to kind of respect that.

I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but Canada has just passed brand new right-to-die laws this year, and I feel like this is a conversation we’ve been having forever. Even the Doctor, who eradicated the Daleks and his own species in the Time War, is looking at this Dalek and going, look, this is what it feels like it’s got to do. You’ve got to kind of respect that. Even he finds himself saying, okay, you stopped me from killing it, but if it wants this, it’s got that much.

It’s very poignant at this point in our history. Mrs. Know-It-All pointed out this was from 2005, even if it’s set in 2012. That’s what I mean. The kind of conversations they were having, even in 2005. I find that interesting.

The Museum

Mrs. Know-It-All thought it was cool when he shows up in the middle of this museum. The milometer from the Roswell crash, which is super alien, why not. The Slitheen arm. And the first time she would’ve seen the Cybermen, because that head is an old one, from the old series. The Cybermen stories she knows from the seasons after this are really good. They’re wonderful.

For her it was seeing an old one, and seeing him be reflective looking at it. He says it’s an old friend of his. Well, old enemy. And you’re like, oh yeah, dude, totally. He hasn’t encountered the Cybermen probably since before the Time War, because the Cybermen didn’t get involved in the Time War.

Van Statten Owns the Internet

I know van Statten’s supposed to be this Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk style, I am richer than rich guy. At one point they say this is Henry van Statten, he owns the internet. And the answer is, what, nobody owns the internet. And van Statten says, let’s make sure everyone keeps thinking that. Okay.

Mrs. Know-It-All related him to the Collector from Marvel, because he was extremely rich. It’s funny how we both got there. I’d say it’s a good combination.

He’s the only actual American speaking actor in those scenes. The assistant, Goddard, the way she says “Goddard,” you can tell she’s trying to not use her British accent. It’s so great.

It was almost prescient of Elon Musk, before Elon Musk owns Twitter, which some people think is the internet, and it’s not.

The other reason we figured out that dude’s not nice (we’ll just put it that way, he’s just not nice) is that he was experimenting on them. The Dalek was the only living specimen he had until the Doctor showed up. And I hate that part. That’s the only part of this episode I hate, when they’ve got the Doctor all shirtless and chained up and it’s, oh, you have two hearts, I’m going to have to patent that. Like somehow he can. Mrs. Know-It-All said that’s where he became really slimy. It’s one thing to own the internet.

Adam Gets On the TARDIS

For the first time since the old series, we got an additional companion at the end. Mrs. Know-It-All could totally tell Rose has a little bit of a crush. He’s like a mini Doctor to her, and he thinks he’s more clever.

Dude, Mickey. I feel so bad for him. He’s so out of sight, out of mind. Mrs. Know-It-All’s answer to that was that he had the choice. He had the opportunity to join them and he chose not to.

The Verdict

Doctor Who’s “Dalek” lands at an 8 out of 10 on the Know-It-All Index from me, and Mrs. Know-It-All gives it an 8.5.

Hers comes from how much information she got out of it. It was a very interesting episode for her because of the history she found with the Dalek. Now when she moves forward and rewatches Matt Smith’s, she’s got total new context, and that’s what she likes about it.

I’m with her. A lot of interesting things, especially seeing it now. I always try to judge these as if it’s the first time I’m watching it, but with the context, this episode fits so much better in my head canon now.

What did you think of “Dalek,” back from season one of the 2005 reboot of Doctor Who? The conversation lives in the comments on the video above.