Brace yourself: a list of Dalek stories that you might have forgotten! Can these even be classed as ‘Dalek stories’? What is a Dalek story, anyway? The debate starts here…
The Waters of Mars
Now, just because a Dalek makes a cameo in a certain adventure doesn’t mean it’s a Dalek story, right? Ordinarily we’d agree, but we’ll make an exception in the case of ‘The Waters of Mars.’
In this adventure, the Doctor tells Captain Adelaide Brooke of Bowie Base One about her past, proving that he’s a time traveller. He recounts a moment from her childhood when the Daleks invaded planet Earth, and she saw a Dalek out of her bedroom window. It moved on, choosing not to kill her; the Dalek knew how important she was to human history, and spared her life.
We’ve added this to our list of Dalek stories because of its significance to the plot. ‘The Waters of Mars’ hinges around Brooke’s death, and it’s this ‘fixed point’ in history that leads to the Doctor’s hubris – “the Time Lord victorious.” You might want to exterminate us for classing this adventure as one of the canonical Dalek stories, but we’ll stick to our (Dalek) guns. This is an important adventure for the metal mutants, however fleeting their appearance.
Or, to look at it another way, this moment is a deleted scene from ‘The Stolen Earth,’ which is one of the greatest Dalek stories of all time…
The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang
The Daleks made a surprise appearance at the end of Matt Smith’s first season, along with a whole host of classic Doctor Who monsters, vying for attention. In the adventure, the Time Lord’s greatest enemies are panicking about the cracks in the skin of the universe, which foretell the end of all things. Moreover, they know the cause of these cracks – the TARDIS. And, as one of the Daleks puts it, “only the Doctor can pilot the TARDIS.”
Therefore, the Daleks, the Judoon, the Terileptils et al. form an alliance. They conspire to lure the Doctor into the fearsome Pandorica, and seal him away for all eternity. And they would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for that darned TARDIS exploding anyway. The universe is wiped from the face of – well, the universe, leaving planet Earth as the last light of creation.
So it’s not the cheeriest of our Dalek stories (is there such a thing as a cheery Dalek story?) but it’s a Dalek story nonetheless.
That being said, the metal mutants who torment the Time Lord in this adventure are the paradigm versions, so you might need a pair of sunglasses when you watch…
The Time of the Doctor
Monster mash-ups have become more common in the modern era of the show – which is surprising, when you think about it: why don’t they join forces more often? They could wipe the Doctor out in minutes.
Anyway, the next of our Dalek stories is one such mash-up. ‘The Time of the Doctor’ is similar to ‘The Pandorica Opens’ in that it sees many of the Time Lord’s greatest enemies uniting behind a common cause: to stop the return of Gallifrey. This makes ‘The Time of the Doctor’ one of the most epic Dalek stories on our list, as it features not just the polycarbided mutants, but the Weeping Angels, the Sontarans, and a wooden Cyberman to boot.
Crucially, towards the end of the episode, the Daleks take centre stage. The Doctor is dying, having spent centuries defending the town of Christmas. His enemies know that the bell is tolling, and circle his clock tower sanctuary decrying, “You will die now, Doctor! This is the end of you! The rules of regeneration are known! You have expended all your lives!”
They’re right, of course, and there could be no greater showdown than this: a head-to-head battle with the metal mutants – a battle to the death in defence of Gallifrey. It’s powerful stuff, and a worthy entry on our list of Dalek stories.
The Power of the Doctor
Perhaps Chris Chibnall took inspiration from Steven Moffat for the Thirteenth Doctor’s regeneration story. Like many of the other adventures on this list, ‘The Power of the Doctor’ sees the Time Lord coming up against pretty much every villain ever, with every companion ever, and every Doctor ever. And a Lovarzi sweater.
Okay, we’re exaggerating (but not about the sweater.) This is a significant addition to our list of Dalek stories because of the sheer number of classic characters it re-introduces, and also because – at the time of writing – it is the most modern Dalek story to date; there hasn’t been a Dalek adventure since ‘The Power of the Doctor’ in 2022, and indeed Ncuti Gatwa went through his entire era without meeting them. We’re due some Daleks, BBC.
This time, they’re aiding the Master in his plan to erupt every volcano on planet Earth. Alas, they didn’t reckon on the return of Ace and her baseball bat, and there’s a lovely moment where Sophie Aldred gets to re-enact the iconic moment from ‘Remembrance of the Daleks‘ in her classic Ace clobber. It’s worth watching the episode for this moment alone.
That being said, you could easily forget that this is a Dalek story in the midst of everything else that’s happening: the return of Tegan, the return of the Master, the return of the Cybermen, the regeneration, the return of Jo Grant, the return of Ian Chesterton, the return of all the surviving Doctors… It’s like a fever dream, and quite rightly so; this episode was written to mark the BBC’s centenary, so it’s good that we have a few celebratory nods to the past.
Are there any other ‘unofficial’ Dalek stories you would add to this list? Well, there’s ‘Destination: Skaro’ starring David Tennant and a version of Davros from 2023, even though the Daleks don’t really appear. And then there are the very brief cameos that you might struggle to pass off as Dalek stories, like ‘The War Games’ and ‘The Wedding of River Song,’ but hey… a Dalek’s a Dalek, right?
Leave your suggestions down below…
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