Retrospective Discussion | Doctor Who (2005) | 1x06 "Dalek"
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this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2025
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This is almost enough to be its own thread. I agree...but I'm also not sure it's possible.
There are certain villains in sci-fi that are set up for inevitable diminishing returns. Usually, it's because they are (a) immensely powerful, and (b) single-minded. I think the Daleks and the Cybermen fall into this grouping, as do Star Trek's Borg.
When you set up an enemy like that...it seems like you can only really use them once or twice before you have to start making changes. Either they have to get less threatening, because otherwise it's ridiculous that they keep getting beaten, or you have to start tweaking the "single-minded" aspect of them to find new storytelling angles.
With the Daleks, they've done both since 2005, to varying degrees of success. Hell, this episode does it to an extent, giving the Dalek a mutation to allow it to be unwilling to kill Rose, and eventually declare itself to be...not a Dalek, really.
But to keep them as a powerful, single-minded "kill everything" type of villain...it's just not sustainable, even though they're a powerful metaphor.
As much as I miss the crazy pepper pots, it's probably a good thing that the RTD2 era has given them a "rest" so far (though I quite liked Chibnall's Dalek-centred New Year's specials).