Victory of the Daleks (TV story)

Victory of the Daleks is the third episode of Matt Smith's first series. It marks the re-appearance of the Daleks and the Eleventh Doctor's first encounter with them.

Synopsis
The Doctor and Amy are called to London during World War II by an old friend of the Doctor: Winston Churchill. To the Doctor's horror he finds the Daleks posing as a manmade "secret weapon" that Churchill calls "ironsides" and hopes will win him the war.

Plot
The TARDIS materialises in the Cabinet War Rooms during World War II, in response to Winston Churchill's call for help at the end of The Beast Below. The Doctor is greeted by the Prime Minister, who the Doctor recounts past experiences with, revealing to Amy that they are friends. They soon learn that they have arrived one month after Churchill called, due to the new TARDIS still being rather innaccurate. When a Luftwaffe squadron approaches London, Churchill takes the Doctor and Amy to the roof in order to show them his latest weapon. As the squadron of Stukas comes into view over Blitz-torn London, they are shot down by energy weapons with amazing precision by the "Ironsides". Professor Edwin Bracewell, the man in charge of the "Ironside" project, reveals at the Doctor's request a camouflaged, Union Flag-wearing and obedient Dalek.

Although the Doctor says they are alien, the Professor insists that he invented the "Ironsides", and that they are docile, offering to help their human colleagues and serving them cups of tea. Churchill defends them, thinking of the victories he could have. The Doctor tries to get Amy to tell Churchill about how the Daleks invaded Earth, but Amy has no recollection of any planets in the sky or the Dalek invasion, with no reason why she would have missed them.

The Doctor, intent on proving the Daleks' evil, goes to the Professor, their "creator". The Doctor asks Professor Bracewell how he came up with the idea for the Daleks. To answer this the Professor shows the Doctor several other highly advanced inventions he came up with. When the Daleks and Churchill enter the room, the Doctor repeatedly strikes a Dalek with a large, heavy wrench, trying to make it react. He tells them how he has defeated them, how he is their greatest enemy, and eventually that "I am the Doctor, and you are the Daleks!", before kicking the Dalek across the room. The Dalek recovers and reverts to its true personality, and revealing its true identity. The other Dalek then replays what the Doctor said, before transmitting the "testimony" to the Dalek ship, behind the moon. As two soldiers run in to stop the no-longer-obedient Daleks, they are exterminated. The Professor yells at them to stop, as he is their creator. One of the Daleks shoots his hand, leaving only exposed wiring, revealing Bracewell to be an android. They reveal that they are his creator, and then teleport away.

The Doctor runs to the TARDIS, telling Amy to stay behind as it is too dangerous. He then materialises in the Dalek ship. The Doctor pretends to be brandishing a TARDIS self-destruct control (a Jammy Dodger biscuit), so the the Daleks do not exterminate him. The Daleks reveal that one ship survived the destruction of the Dalek race during the War in the Medusa Cascade, and that it went after the last remaining Progenitor device. The Doctor figures out that they built Professor Bracewell because the Progenitor Device did not recognise them as Dalek. If the Daleks became part of the army, Winston Churchill would lure The Doctor in, and the Doctor would confirm them as Daleks. The Progenitor accepted this as proof, because The Doctor is the Daleks' greatest enemy.

The Daleks then tell the Doctor to leave, or they will destroy London. The Doctor says they do not have that power. The Daleks then fire a ray turning all of London's lights on, making them an easy target to the incoming Luftwaffe bombers, and rendering London's blackout efforts ineffective. Then the Progenitor completes its process, and creates a "new paradigm" consisting of five "pure" Daleks, larger, more imposing, and presumably more powerful than their antecendents, which disintegrate the original Daleks, who willingly offer themselves for extermination. In the Cabinet War Rooms, Amy and Churchill realise they can use Professor Bracewell to fight back against the Daleks. Stopping him from committing suicide, they convince him to use anti-gravity technology on adapted Spitfires help them attack the Dalek ship in the Earth's orbit, equipped with Dalek laser cannons. The Daleks discover the Doctor has not really got a self-destruct device, just as the Spitfires begin their attack. The Spitfires destroy the Dalek transmitter, assisted by the Doctor. The Daleks then tell the Doctor to stop the attack on their ship or they will destroy the Earth using an "Oblivion Continuum" bomb concealed inside Professor Bracewell.

The Doctor hurries back to Earth, in order to stop the detonation but leaving the Daleks to escape. He reveals the bomb inside Bracewell, realising that the only way to stop it exploding is to convince Bracewell that he is a human, not a bomb. He tries to remind the Professor of all his memories and how they hurt, but he cannot seem to stop the countdown. As the Oblivion Continuum approaches detonation, Amy steps in and asks him if he has "ever fancied someone [he] shouldn't". While dwelling on this, the countdown retreats to zero, cancelling the detonation. The Doctor immediately dashes to stop the Daleks, but he is told by the Professor that they have escaped. For a few moments, he feels that he has lost, but Amy reminds him that he saved the Earth.

After bidding farewell to Churchill (who is chagrined by the fact that the Doctor has removed all the alien technology) and his staff, the Doctor is puzzled and worried that Amy did not remember the Daleks from their previous attack over London or the Medusa Cascade incident, and the TARDIS dematerialises. Where the TARDIS once stood, a shining crack is seen...

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * Winston Churchill - Ian McNeice
 * Bracewell - Bill Paterson
 * Blanche - Nina De Cosimo
 * Childers - Tim Wallers
 * Dalek 1 - Nicholas Pegg
 * Dalek 2 - Barnaby Edwards
 * Dalek Voice - Nicholas Briggs
 * Lilian - Susannah Fielding
 * Todd - James Albrecht
 * Air Raid Warden - Colin Prockter
 * This cast order is interesting, from a historical perspective, because it marks the first time Dalek Operators have been credited so high in the list of players. Generally they are amongst the last, if not the last to be credited.

Uncredited cast

 * Civil Servant - Jamal Nasir
 * Spitfire Pilot - Mark Gatiss
 * In addition, there were, according to Doctor Who Confidential, a number of new Dalek Operators in this production, necessary because of the unusual number of Daleks onscreen simultaneously. None other than the "lead" operators were credited however

Story Notes

 * In Doctor Who Confidential, it was revealed that each Dalek was given a name or title. Whilst it is unclear which title belongs to which Dalek, Steven Mofatt mentioned "Soldier", "Drone", "Scientist", "Strategist", and "the Eternal", but Moffat and Gatiss both admit they don't know what that means yet ("but it sounds cool").
 * The red, blue and yellow Daleks were first revealed in the Radio Times and the colours were used to symbolise the different colours of the British Parliment parties: Labour (red), Conservative (blue) and Liberal Democrats (yellow).
 * Colin Prockter previously appeared as the Head Chef in DW: The Long Game.
 * Winston Churchill wants the Doctor's TARDIS key. It is acknowledged that he has met the Doctor before, which the character has done in spinoff media.
 * Like DW: The Unquiet Dead in Series 1, this episode is the third in the series, is a pseudo-historical, is penned by Mark Gatiss, and is both preceded and followed by two episodes by the head writer.
 * Ian McNeice previously portrayed Winston Churchill in the Royal National Theatre's 2008 production of Never So Good.
 * This is the second Dalek episode in the new series to use the infamous "___ of the Daleks" title scheme, the first being DW: Evolution of the Daleks.
 * Mark Gatiss said in the Radio Times: "They're bigger than they've ever been; and in technicolor!" This would show that the new Daleks shall be different colours like the 'classic' Daleks of the earlier eras.
 * This is the third time in the new series that the Daleks have featured mid-way in the series, following Dalek in series one and then in series three two part story DW: Daleks in Manhattan and DW: Evolution of the Daleks.
 * The Daleks seen since series 1 were designed so that the eye stalk lined up with Billie Piper's eyes. The new Daleks are designed to match Karen Gillan's height.
 * For narrative and filming purposes, the Cabinet War Rooms in the episodes are far larger than the real ones and have an RAF "spotter" table that was not really present.DoctorJammyDodger.jpg
 * The Dalek model on the "spotter" table appears to be a Character Options Dalek toy painted grey, likely the "mutant reveal" Dalek figurine with the removal front given the visible separation lines on the front of the model.
 * This episode holds the record for the most non-CGI Dalek models used in a single story, with no less then eight Dalek models on-screen at the same time.
 * The Doctor mentions how the Daleks always manage to recognise him despite his regenerations, as they first did in DW: The Power of the Daleks with his second incarnation; However, this has not always been the case: In DW: Revelation of the Daleks, only Davros's Daleks recognised his sixth incarnation, with the other faction disbelieving that he was the Doctor.
 * It is not clarified whether these dalek were part of the half human ones from Parting of the Ways or the Journey's End ones, implied to be from the latter but never openly stated.

Ratings
6.2 million viewers

Filming Locations
to be added

Rumours

 * Adolf Hitler was rumoured to make a brief appearance. He was mentioned, but not seen.



Production errors

 * In the scene where the Doctor and Amy are discussing Bracewell's possible deactivation, editor John Richards fails to match the frontals of the Doctor with the reverses looking at Bracewell. In the frontals, Matt Smith clearly has his hands in his pockets or clasped together in front of him. On the reverses, his right hand is seen dangling rather lifelessly at his side.


 * At the end, when Churchill is talking to The Doctor and Amy, he bends down to light a cigar, and puts it in his mouth. When he gets up, it is no longer anywhere to be seen.
 * When the Doctor was talking to the Dalek Supreme on the "actual" shot he was further away from the Dalek but on the screen provided by Bracewell the plunger is nearly touching him.
 * The Progenitor device changed from gold to silver between appearances.

Continuity

 * The Doctor mentions sending the Daleks back into the Void and saving the whole of reality from their efforts. (DW: Doomsday, The Stolen Earth/Journey's End)
 * Subservient Daleks is also the theme of the first Second Doctor adventure. (DW: The Power of the Daleks)
 * The end of DW: The Beast Below directly follows up into this story.
 * The Dalek Saucer seen in the dogfight with the Spitfires is similar to those from DW: Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways and DW: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End
 * The Doctor has has a group of soldiers point weapons at him shortly after or while exiting the TARDIS before, in the Torchwood Tower and in Albion Hospital (DW:Army of Ghosts, Aliens of London).
 * The Doctor mentions that his TARDIS is a Type 40 TARDIS. (DW: The Ribos Operation)
 * The new Daleks use a Time corridor to depart from the era. The last time a Time corridor was used on-screen was in DW: Resurrection of the Daleks.
 * Another one of the cracks can be seen on the wall of the Cabinet War Room after the TARDIS dematerialises.
 * One of the disguised Daleks says, "I am your soldier." This is an obvious paraphrase of the Dalek line, "I am your servant." from The Power of the Daleks.
 * In Doctor Who Confidential, Gatiss confirms that the brightly coloured restored Daleks are a nod to the 1960s Amicus films.
 * Churchill remarks that the Doctor has changed his face again, implying that he has encountered at least two incarnations of his prior to the current one. The Doctor had already met Churchill in his Sixth Incarnation in (PDA: Players) & (PDA: The Shadow in the Glass)

DVD/Blu-Ray release

 * BBC Video - Doctor Who Series Five - Volume One is scheduled for release on DVD and Blu-Ray on 7th June 2010 (UK only), featuring The Eleventh Hour, The Beast Below, Victory of the Daleks, and the featurette The Monster Diaries.