I’ve talked before about the first season of new Who and how, while I was all in on the Ninth Doctor and Rose from the start, the stories themselves took a bit more time to convince me. “Rose” was shaky, “The End of the World” showed some promise, and “The Unquiet Dead” was pretty good, then “Aliens of London” / “World War Three” took us back into shaky territory. But after “Dalek,” I was ready for everything this series had to offer me.
The TARDIS rematerializes in the very near “future” of 2012 (man, time flies!), in the underground private collection of an American billionaire. Henry van Statten has always had a yearning to own the stars, and he’s collected every bit of alien technology he can get his hands on. He takes the Doctor to see the one live “specimen” in his collection, and the Doctor quickly realizes that van Statten’s avarice has endangered the entire human race: in his vaults is a Dalek, a last remnant of the Time War.
I came to new Who knowing very little about the show’s history and mythos. Going into this episode, I’m pretty sure I’d heard the word “Dalek” before, and I know I’d seen images of them, but I didn’t really know the Daleks or their history with the Doctor. This allowed me to see this episode with entirely fresh eyes. All I knew was what I saw onscreen, in the actions of the Dalek and the terror, anger, and pain on the Doctor’s face.
Christopher Eccleston’s performance in this episode is full-on master class. Earlier episodes give us glimpses of the Doctor’s guilt and grief, but this story puts it all on full display. His initial face-off with the Dalek is just beautifully heartbreaking, as the Doctor wrestles with his own actions from the Time War and the realization that it still didn’t end things, that one Dalek survived. When the Dalek’s inevitably escapes from van Statten’s “unbreakable” vault, the Doctor is frantic in doing whatever it takes to keep the Dalek from reaching the surface and devastating the planet.
Later seasons, with their skies full of billions of Daleks, take some of the impact away from these foes, and classic Who taught me that the Daleks were overplayed long before this episode. But this reintroduction in the new series is done so well. It shows us the power and menace of one lone Dalek, genuinely frightening as it stares through its cold eyestalk and kills without compunction.
On the surface, this might not seem like a great story for Rose, given that an unknowing mistake on her part causes serious trouble and she spends a chunk of the episode being damseled. But I still think it’s a good showing for her. First, we see how, in her short time with the Doctor, she’s learning how to see aliens as people rather than creatures; her care and empathy goes a long way. What’s more, this episode isn’t merely about defeating the Dalek. It’s also about the Doctor facing up to what kind of man he is, and Rose is instrumental in that journey for him. The last scene between the Doctor, Rose, and the Dalek is also exquisite, gold stars all around for everybody.
You’ll notice that I haven’t mentioned Adam, which is as it should be. If he counts as a companion, he’s my least favorite, and while his introduction is better than his final story, it still doesn’t do much to endear him to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment