Doctor Who: Victory of the Daleks - series 31, episode three

SPOILER ALERT: This weekly blog is for those who have been watching Doctor Who on BBC1. Don’t read ahead if you haven’t seen episode three. Daniel Martin’s episode two blog “Observe, Doctor, a new Dalek Paradigm!” There’s been some grumbling about the Daleks on here lately. But to complain about the Daleks being over-used in Doctor Who is like getting angry at the grass for being green and growing. They are the series’ headline villain, the Doctor’s arch enemies, and as crucial to the inner mythology as the Tardis being a police box or the companion being a girl. They’re the thing the Doctor is most afraid of. A series of Who without the principal antagonists would be as inconceivable as Star Wars without the Empire or Holmes without Moriarty or a general election without the Conservative Party. And as Steven Moffat says: for a child, a year is an awful long time to wait for a Dalek story. Right then, onto the story! It’s easily the best that Mark Gattis has written for the show. Facing the Daleks off against Winston Churchill was just always going to be funny, and the idea of them as “man-made” war machines wasn’t as heavy-handed as you might have expected. But really, the WW2 backdrop was really just window-dressing for the real story. This was an infinitely better resurrection of the Daleks than the ropey Peter Davison adventure of the same name . It’s true that the repetitive thing of them always being the last ever Daleks in the universe was getting implausible. And what fun it is to impose plausibility on a show about time travel! Victory of the Daleks serves as a prologue for something bigger to come – restored and pimped up into a sleek new technicolour upgrade, they’ve scuttled off through time to grow in number. And will be back, deadlier than ever. Although if I was Moffat I’d leave them be for the rest of this run and have them return in a massive cliffhanger ending leading into an all-out Christmas Special. Now wouldn’t that be a thing? “And here’s me thinking we’d be running through time being daft and fixing stuff.” Beneath the glorious galactic dogfighting, the Doctor and Amy’s arc is quietly bubbling along. It’s interesting that it never even seemed to occur to Amy that things might get dangerous; that her Raggedy Doctor had real and dangerous enemies. It’s a thoughtful point, beautifully played out. And once Amy does understand, she still strides on to save the day, stopping the bomb going off with her lustful human instincts. Go girlfriend! “Keep buggering on!” Ian McNeice plays Winston Churchillas a doddering, mischievous sweetheart, and the cosy bromance between him and the Doctor brings some unusual warmth to a story set at the height of the blitz – although Churchill does have a point when he asks why the Doctor won’t stick around longer to help. The war is clearly one of those fixed points in time. “You should remember…” Amy doesn’t remember a thing about the last Dalek invasion (in The Stolen Earth ) which surely can’t be right. Whatever they have planned here, it’s a cunning address to the show’s biggest continuity conundrum. With so many alien invasions, it wouldn’t ring true that ordinary civilians who’d never worked for UNIT wouldn’t be getting wise to it by now. Talking of mysteries … that crack is back. Fear factor Once again, the emergence of the new, pimp-my-Daleks from the progenitor fully restored the menace they had way back in series one (or series 27, or whatever). And tellingly, that was the one last part of Who-lore that the new team had yet to tweak. Invading celebrities It’s all very Sunday-night-cop-drama this week. McNeice brings the right gravitas to Churchill and Bill Paterson expertly tugs the heartstrings as Bracewell the unwitting robot. Next week! The Moffat mythology really kicks in with a two-parter: we get the returns of his two most potent creations; the Weeping Angels, and the Doctor’s backwards love interest, the kick-ass space-archaeologist Professor River Song. Season 2 Episode 1: The Robot Revolution Episode 2: Lux Episode 3: The Well Episode 4: Lucky Day Episode 5: The Story and the Engine Episode 6: The Interstellar Song Contest Episode 7: Wish World Episode 8: The Reality War Season 1 Episodes 1 & 2: Space Babies / The Devil's Chord Episode 3: Boom Episode 4: 73 Yards Episode 5: Dot and Bubble Episode 6: Rogue Episode 7: The Legend of Ruby Sunday Episode 8: Empire of Death Christmas special: Joy to the World 60th anniversary specials Special 1: The Star Beast Special 2: Wild Blue Yonder Special 3: The Giggle Christmas special: The Church on Ruby Road Flux / Series 13 Chapter one: The Halloween Apocalypse Chapter two: War of the Sontarans Chapter three: Once, Upon Time Chapter four: Village of the Angels Chapter five: Survivors of the Flux Chapter six: The Vanquishers New Year's Special: Eve of the Daleks Spring special: Legend of the Sea Devils BBC centenary special: The Power of the Doctor Series 12 Episode 1: Spyfall part one Episode 2: Spyfall part two Episode 3: Orphan 55 Episode 4: Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror Episode 5: Fugitive of the Judoon Episode 6: Praxeus Episode 7: Can You Hear Me? Episode 8: The Haunting of Villa Diodati Episode 9: Ascension of the Cybermen Episode 10: The Timeless Children New Year's special: Revolution of the Daleks Series 11 Episode 1: The Woman Who Fell to Earth Episode 2: The Ghost Monument Episode 3: Rosa Episode 4: Arachnids in the UK Episode 5: The Tsuangra Condundrum Episode 6: Demons of the Punjab Episode 7: Kerblam! Episode 8: The Witchfinders Episode 9: It Takes You Away Episode 10: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos New Year's special: Resolution Series 10 Episode 1: The Pilot Episode 2: Smile Episode 3: Thin Ice Episode 4: Knock Knock Episode 5: Oxygen Episode 6: Extremis Episode 7: The Pyramid at the End of the World Episode 8: The Lie of the Land Episode 9: Empress of Mars Episode 10: The Eaters of Light Episode 11: World Enough and Time Episode 12: The Doctor Falls 2017 Christmas special: Twice Upon A Time Series 9 Episode 1: The Magician's Apprentice Episode 2: The Witch's Familiar Episode 3: Under The Lake Episode 4: Before The Flood Episode 5: The Girl Who Died Episode 6: The Woman Who Lived Episode 7: The Zygon Invasion Episode 8: The Zygon Inversion Episode 9: Sleep No More Episode 10: Face The Raven Episode 11: Heaven Sent Episode 12: Hell Bent 2015 Christmas special: The Husbands of River Song 2016 Christmas special: The Return of Doctor Mysterio Series 8 Episode 1: Deep Breath Episode 2: Into The Dalek Episode 3: Robot of Sherwood Episode 4: Listen Episode 5: Time Heist Episode 6: The Caretaker Episode 7: Kill The Moon Episode 8: Mummy on the Orient Express Episode 9: Flatline Episode 10: In the Forest of the Night Episode 11: Dark Water Episode 12: Death In Heaven 2014 Christmas special: Last Christmas Series 7 Episode 1: Asylum of the Daleks Episode 2: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship Episode 3: A Town Called Mercy Episode 4: The Power of Three Episode 5: The Angels Take Manhatten 2012 Christmas special: The Snowmen Episode 6: The Bells of Saint John Episode 7: The Rings of Akhaten Episode 8: Cold War Episode 9: Hide Episode 10: Journey to the Centre of the Tardis Episode 11: The Crimson Horror Episode 12: Nightmare in Silver Episode 13: The Name of the Doctor 50th Anniversary special: The Day of the Doctor 2013 Christmas special: The Time of the Doctor Series 6 Episode 1: The Impossible Astronaut Episode 2: Day of the Moon Episode 3: The Curse of the Black Spot Episode 4: The Doctor's Wife Episode 5: The Rebel Flesh Episode 6: The Almost People Episode 7: A Good Man Goes To War Episode 8: Let's Kill Hitler Episode 9: Night Terrors Episode 10: The Girl Who Waited Episode 11: The God Complex Episode 12: Closing Time Episode 13: The Wedding of River Song 2011 Christmas special: The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe Series 5 Episode 1: The Eleventh Hour Episode 2: The Beast Below Episode 3: Victory of the Daleks Episode 4: The Time of Angels Episode 5: Flesh and Stone Episode 6: The Vampires of Venice Episode 7: Amy's Choice Episode 8: The Hungry Earth Episode 9: Cold Blood Episode 10: Vincent and the Doctor Episode 11: The Lodger Episode 12: The Pandorica Opens Episode 13: The Big Bang 2010 Christmas special: A Christmas Carol