Doctor Who: Victory of the Daleks

Exterminate! Exterminate!

...well come on, it's the daleks we're talking about here. No other way to begin a discussion, is there? Or rant, as the case may be. Because all in all, of all the episodes I've seen of Series 5 of Doctor Who, Victory of the Daleks stands as the weakest.

The plot, which I think might have worked better if extended across two episodes, involves the Doctor and Amy being summoned by Winston Churchill to the era of the Blitz. A new weapon has been devised to combat the Nazis, the "Ironsides." Problem is, they're daleks, though feign ignorance of the Doctor and his past experiences with them. And with Churchill determined to bring the war to a close, he's not willing to listen to anything the Doctor has to say.

It's hard to say whether the post-'big reveal' scenario could have gone on longer than it did, but relatively soon in the episode, the daleks' plans are revealed-they trick the Doctor into saying "I am the Doctor and you are the daleks," recording his 'testimony.' The last three dalek survivors from the War in the Medusa Cascade (from the Series 4 finale), they found the last Progenitor Device, capable of rebuilding the dalek race. Unfortunatly, these daleks were produced from Davros's DNA and as such, the device would not recognise them as genuine daleks. But with the Doctor's 'testimony,' what with him being the daleks' most hated enemy, the device recognises them and begins creation of a new "master race." Or, in production terms, the new dalek models.

It's here that things begin to feel iffy. The daleks have always been able to bounce back, but even so, I don't think it should be first priority to bring them back for Moffat's era. Yes, Series 1 of the revived series did it quickly, but that was in the knowledge that the BBC had only authorized one series at the time and if there was only going to be one iconic enemy returning, the daleks had to be it. But bringing them back, yet again seems like overkill. And as for the designs...well, structurally the bulky daleks look more imposing, but the idea of daleks of different colours belies their true nature. They're uniform, their only emotions are rage and hate and hell, only the Cult of Skaro was actually allowed named daleks. I can only hope that subsequent daleks in the series keep a uniform appearance, otherwise we'll we asking for a pot of gold every time the 'rainbow brigade' shows up.

Suffice to say, through a series of standoffs, the Doctor is given the choice of destroying the daleks once and for all, or saving the Earth from a bomb they have planted in their 'creator.' Naturally, he chooses the latter and the daleks escape, ready to rebuild. A bittersweet ending at the most.

So yeah-the episode doesn't stand out as the strongest so far in my mind, both in content and pacing.