Dalek

Went to my friend Robert's for his every-other-weekly dose of the new Doctor Who. Yesterday featured episode 6, "Dalek". Bloody brilliant.

Featuring only one Dalek made the episode work quite well. This Dalek talked quite a bit beyond the usual exhortations of "Exterminate!". I really liked the first conversation the Doctor and the Dalek have in the beginning--comparing their present states of existence was quite moving. And later, when the Dalek tells the Doctor; "You would make a good Dalek." Well...I shivered.

After a certain point, the story did get pretty predictable. You could see where it was going, but overall the writing was very good. It seemed as if the writer, Robert Shearman, really understood the potential of the Doctor's enemy. It's about time somone did! Again, having just the one Dalek in this ep made the story very tight--you can't really do a good invasion story in a 45 minute runaround. But with one--you get differing p.o.v.s and can focus the action on just a few characters.

The only thing I didn't like too much was that we got to see the inside of a Dalek. It was the first full look at what the organic creature inside the metal casing looks like since they first appeared in 1963. I understand the scene was to get us to feel for the Dalek, to understand what it was going through. But still. I think it robbed some of the mystery of what lied underneath the metal shell--what exactly a Dalek looked like has always been hinted at or cryptically described in previous episodes.

Overall, a very good episode. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Also, Sherman managed to slip in the word "Minneapolis" into some dialogue. How cool is that?