Finally exterminated
- Publication: The Daily Telegraph
- Date: 2005-05-02
- Author: James Walton
- Page: 25
- Language: English
Throughout this series, Doctor Who (BBC 1) has proved miraculously good at being true to its past, while also modernising itself for a new audience. On Saturday, though, came its sternest test so far.
The episode began with the Doctor and Rose (Billie Piper) arriving in a vast underground complex in Utah in 2012. It was run by Henry Van Statten (Corey Johnson) - billionaire and, as it turned out, conspiracy theorists' dream. When not choosing American presidents, Van Statten collected the many aliens who've fallen to earth and put them in a remarkably private museum. His prize exhibit was a certain metal robot equipped with a sink plunger, an egg whisk and a tendency in times of stress to shout the word "Exterminate"...
At this point, the Dalek was chained and powerless - but absorbing Rose's DNA allowed it to burst out and start killing people just like in the good old days.
In doing so, it had some pretty convincing answers for all those sceptics who've suggested that Daleks weren't brilliantly designed for world domination. When it came to a staircase, it paused a while - then croaked "Elevate" before starting an effortless airborne ascent. (In many ways, this moment summed up the entire series: a knowing joke for grown-ups, suitably scary for children, and actually rather dramatic for everybody.) Meanwhile, that sink plunger was used to give 'someone a particularly nasty suck.
Saturday's episode, the new Pope may be sorry to hear, also added a touch of contemporary moral relativism. Apparently, we shouldn't blame Daleks for being ruthless killing machines. That's just the way they were programmed. In the final analysis, even the Doctor may be no better than they are.
By the end, indeed, he may have been worse. When it absorbed Rose's DNA, the Dalek took in her human emotions. Or something. Either way, it definitely began to express such un-Dalek sentiments as "I'm frightened" - and before long, was plunged into a full-scale existential crisis. ("What am I?" it croaked in bewilderment.) Eventually, overwhelmed by the irreducible sadness of things, the Dalek topped itself.
For people of a certain age (ie mine), the idea of a Dalek with a tragic poetic soul may have been pushing the modernisation process a bit far. On the whole, however, this unexpectedly melancholy tale did make for another fine episode. It also confirmed my worries about David Tennant taking over. Good though he was in Casanova and Blackpool, after Christopher Eccleston's welcome toughness, mightn't he seem disappointingly fey as the Doctor?
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- APA 6th ed.: Walton, James (2005-05-02). Finally exterminated. The Daily Telegraph p. 25.
- MLA 7th ed.: Walton, James. "Finally exterminated." The Daily Telegraph [add city] 2005-05-02, 25. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Walton, James. "Finally exterminated." The Daily Telegraph, edition, sec., 2005-05-02
- Turabian: Walton, James. "Finally exterminated." The Daily Telegraph, 2005-05-02, section, 25 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Finally exterminated | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Finally_exterminated | work=The Daily Telegraph | pages=25 | date=2005-05-02 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=5 April 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Finally exterminated | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Finally_exterminated | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=5 April 2025}}</ref>
