DW 01-06: Dalek

A Guide to Classic Who references in New Who episodes.

The sixth episode of the new series.  Rose & the Doctor travel to Utah in the near future and find a museum of alien artefacts.

Warning: May contain Spoilers for

"Dalek."

Viewing Order

• 1-01 "Rose" (Suggested viewing - introduction of characters.)
• 1-04 & 1-05 "Aliens of London" & "World War Three" (Suggested viewing - Slitheen arm on display.)

References

[1ST] - The first appearance of things in Doctor Who series.

[NEW] - Stuff seen previously in the New Series.

[OLD] - Things that first appeared in the classic series (or the film.)  Episode List.
[REF] - A reference outside of Doctor Who.
[INJ] - An in-joke.

• [1ST]  2012 - First on screen reference to this year.
• [REF]  The Roswell Spaceship - Most famous event in UFOlogy, the supposed crash and subsequent cover of a UFO containing aliens in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947.
• [NEW]  Slitheen - A limb from a creature from Raxacoricofallapatorius, probably, as Rose states from the Slitheen family who tried to destroy the Earth in the previous episode (Six years earlier.)

• [OLD]  Cybermen  - A cybernetic race from Mondas (Earth's twin from the other side of the Sun which has long since left the Solar System).  They first appeared in the First Doctor story "The Tenth Planet" and last appeared in the Seventh Doctor story "Silver Nemesis."
• [REF]  Little Lord Fauntleroy - Is a play from the 1880s about an American boy who is taken to Britain when it is discovered he is to inherit his grandfather's title and estate.

• [OLD]  Dalek -  The Doctor's longest running enemy, first appearing in the First Doctor's second story.  The "Pepper-pot" robot usually seen is armour used by the actual Daleks, members of the humanoid Kaled population mutated into emotionless killing machines by a scientist called Davros.  In popular culture the Daleks were mocked as ultimate enemies due to the 60s design of having a plunger and not being able to climb stairs.
• [NEW]  The Time War - More details, especially that the Doctor caused the destruction of the Daleks and the death of the Timelords.  The Doctor survived - but not by choice.
• [OLD]  United Nations cover-up - Probably a reference to UNIT (who appeared in the original series and in the previous episode.  The previous episode also mentioned that the Slitheen plot was easily dismissed by the public.  This also implies that UNIT has covered up every alien invasion attempt between 2006 and 2012.
• [OLD]  A Genius... King of his own little world - This is a reference to Dalek creator Davros, who appeared a number of time in the classic series.

• [OLD]  Two hearts - The fact that the Doctor had two hearts was first noted in Spearhead in Space, the Third Doctor's first story.  Previously it was implied that the First and Second Doctor only had one heart.  Since then it is usually implied that Timelords always have two hearts (with early references being retroactively regarded as goofs) although some non-televised sources claim that Timelords have only a single heart in their first body (or the number changes).  Other non-televised sources state that the First Doctor and his granddaughter Susan actually had two hearts.
• [REF]  The Russian Crater - Most likely a reference to the 1908 impact in Tunguska.
• [INJ]  "Watcha gunna do sucker me to death?" -  As noted above, much fun was made of the uselessness of the Dalek plunger.  Having your skull crushed doesn't look like too much fun.

• [OLD]  "Defeated by a flight of stairs" - Daleks have been shown to levitate as far back as the Sixth Doctor story "Revelation of the Daleks" and were explicitly shown levitating upstairs in the Seventh Doctor story "Remembrance of the Daleks."

• [OLD]  Actual Dalek - The mutants inside the robot armour have been been seen a number of times, including a tentacle in their first story.  The FX haven't really been this good before.

• [1ST]  Globes - This is the first time a canon use for the "Dalek bumps" has been shown on screen (although the parodic Curse of Fatal Death referred to them as Etheric Beam Locators - a device the Fourth Doctor carried.)

The 10 Rules to Doctor Who.

10.  TARDIS:  The TARDIS is to travel to and from the episode. [1]

9.  Meeting Yourself:  No one tries.  [X]

8.  Non-sequiturs:   Yes.  [1]

7.  Serious/Frivolous:  Shows aspects of both personality.  [1]

6.  Series Final:  This is not a series final.  [X]

5.  Companion:  Rose, contemporary British female.  (Near-Contemporary American story).  [1]

4.  Emotionless:  The emotionless   [0]

3.  Title Spoilers:  The episode's called Dalek, but tries to hide the fact that it is about a Dalek for more than 7 minutes.  [1]

2.  The Threat:  The viewer has glimpses of the Dalek before the Doctor sees it, and of course, there's the title.  [1]

1.  Last of It's Kind:  The Dalek is the last of its kind.  It may be more dangerous than the Doctor.  [.5]

Score:  6.5/8.

~ DUG.