Are the Daleks still a credible Enemy Anymore ?

[BAYLOR]

I don't think it's that they're no longer credible, it's that they're over-used - familiarity breeds contempt and all that. Which would explain why they're still terrifying to kids - youngsters haven't encountered them enough times yet to have had enough of them. To me it kind of feels like the writers are a bit 'What do we do here? Oh, I know, let's just wheel out the daleks again.'

They need to be taken out of the picture for a nice long time and brought back when least expected. The first encounter with a dalek in New Who (I think with Rose and Christopher Ecclestone's Dr) was scary because it was so shocking, it simply shouldn't have been possible because the daleks were meant to have been totally wiped out. It worked brilliantly. And I say that as someone who couldn't stand CE's Dr. Since then, though, it's just become expected that the daleks will turn up and it's all a bit dull.

Dalek was a magnificent episode. Easily one of the best ever done.

 

[Idoru]

The shock and horror on CE's face when he first encounters that dalek is fantastic. There's something so much more terrifying about a bad guy that has an element of humanity, especially when that bad guy is so totally not human, and that episode does that so well. I think maybe that's what's missing from more recent encounters with the daleks. They're just destruction-obsessed machines.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I wonder if the lack of Davros is part of the problem? I confess to not entirely knowing what the Daleks go upto during Matt Smith's tenure.

 

[Laeraneth]

They were largely in the background actually for his tenure.
His first season had...
Victory of the Daleks: (the name said it all... crazy naming BBC!) Where they are posing as Churchill controlled war machines, basically. As mentioned above, it was fairly creative and different for the Daleks (they weren't obsessed with instantly killing everything)
... and they were 'around' with the stuff about the cracks in the universe, the Pandorica opening and the Tardis exploding and all that, but largely just there as a threat. It wasn't their scheme, they weren't driving it, they were just many of a multitude of the Dr's enemies that were in attendance to make sure things happened.
I believe they didn't show up at ALL in his second season.
Asylum of the Daleks was the first episode of his third season, and again was actually quite different by Dalek standards (and surreptitiously sort of introduced Clara)
They were all involved in the specials dealing with the Time War and Gallifrey, the name of the Doctor and all that stuff, and we just had Into the Dalek.

So... I guess they're not actually as overused as it might feel?... maybe it's just because they were quite a big presence during the specials? Though again, they really weren't the focus.

(and as for Davros, he hasn't been seen for a while )

 

[BAYLOR]

I wonder if the lack of Davros is part of the problem? I confess to not entirely knowing what the Daleks go upto during Matt Smith's tenure.

Davros presence does make the Daleks a bit more menacing. Perhaps having him in charge or trying to takes charge of the Daleks might ramp things up a bit?

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Davros presence does make the Daleks a bit more menacing. Perhaps having him in charge or trying to takes charge of the Daleks might ramp things up a bit?

Or maybe a new boss? Time to shake them up a bit. Davros has an offspring of some description or maybe one of the doctor's offspring who is bitter about his father's abandonment... I actually did write a script for Dr Who as fun. Had a pregnant Captain Jack who was being used as Wicker Man style bait with the Kandy Man as the villain. That personally is who I would love to see redone.

 

[BAYLOR]

Instead of Davros why not a new Emperor Dalek who is subtle and manipulative able to think outside the box like the Cult of Skaro did.

 

[Caledfwlch]

We need to see more Daleks behaving like the last Dalek did in Season 1.

Emotionally Manipulating Rose, making her feel sorry for it, all "woe is me I am the last of my kind.. Sob" so she touches it enabling it to power up. That was an incredible scene.

It is amazing how a Dalek prop can freak out someone who has never seen it, especially the original production crew in 1963. The way they built up that scene for Adventures in Time and Space was astonishing and chilling. Sydney, angry as hell about "bug eyed aliens" reading the script in the dark, as he hears sounds from ww2 echoing, machine guns and air raid sirens, then in the studio itself and the crew freaking out a little as they find the daleks so disturbing, so different.

If that sort of feeling could be captured on screen amongst people meeting them, it would be rather good.

 

[The Neon Seal]

I think the Daleks need to win a whole lot more. These days it's a given the Doctor will win, and that seriously needs a shake-up.

Also, as they are engineered to be what they are, it can't be said that they are evil. They were created by evil, for an insane purpose, but calling a Dalek evil is the same as calling a Shark or a Bear evil because it might eat a few people.

 

[BAYLOR]

They need to be fearsome and menacing and they need to win battles against the Doctor to be credible adversary.

 

[Graymalkin]

Has TD ever been soundly defeated?

 

[BAYLOR]

Has TD ever been soundly defeated?

I think the Doctor did suffer a defeat in Victory of the Daleks.

 

[Graymalkin]

is the clue in the title?

 

[Graymalkin]

They sprayed him with pepper until he sneezed and his eyes ran. I hope they celebrated.

 

[Vince W]

 

[BAYLOR]

This past season of Dr Who made the Daleks a bit more interesting.

 

[Rodders]

The trouble with reoccurring villains is that they always loose their edge after a while as they have to be beaten for the good guys to win the day. The Borg in Star Trek: Voyager are a great example.

I've yet to catch up fully to the latest Dr. Who, but as a child growing up in the 70's, the Daleks Terrified me and Davros in particular was especially frightening. I suspect the Cybermen will be the same. I think i'll always have a soft spot for them, though.

 

[BAYLOR]

The trouble with reoccurring villains is that they always loose their edge after a while as they have to be beaten for the good guys to win the day. The Borg in Star Trek: Voyager are a great example.

I've yet to catch up fully to the latest Dr. Who, but as a child growing up in the 70's, the Daleks Terrified me and Davros in particular was especially frightening. I suspect the Cybermen will be the same. I think i'll always have a soft spot for them, though.

If the Daleks had on occasion defeated the Doctor or at least came away with something , that would have been helpful.

Yes Unforuatley Trek did weaken the Bprg. Before Voyager the Borg were every bit as deadly as the Daleks.

 

[Vince W]

The main problem with the Daleks isn't the Daleks but the Doctor. The Doctor now treats them with an air of contempt and derision rather than fear and respect. The Doctor might as well fight them with cream pies for all the seriousness the Doctor takes now.

 

[ryubysss]

If the Daleks had on occasion defeated the Doctor or at least came away with something , that would have been helpful.

thematically, the Daleks represent everything the Doctor stands against. so, it would make sense. on occasion, they've used that. the 1965-6 serial "The Daleks' Master Plan" had them indirectly responsible for the death of two of the Daleks' companions... in the same serial! and, I think that that story ended with the Doctor's surviving companion saddened by the whole business. then, in "The Power of the Daleks", the fact that the Daleks recognized the Doctor after his first regeneration (neither his companions or the viewers had ever seen or known about regenerations before... they'd just invented that part of the mythology) proved to both viewers and companions that they could trust this new man as the Doctor. I could go on...

yes, I would like if, when the Daleks appeared, we'd know that some big important event in the mythology or the death of departure of companions or a regeneration would take place. or some concrete indicator that this particular story really mattered.