DOCTOR WHO - Venturing Into The Dalek

Christopher Morley ponders what may happen if Peter Capaldi's Doctor goes into the Dalek.

There are no series 8 spoilers, or information from the leaked scripts included in this article.

Following on from Deep Breath, we might just have time to pick our jaws up from the floor before Into The Dalek ( the working title for Episode Two of Series Eight, written by Phil Ford) returns them there! The implication being, of course, that the Doctor & Clara will be forced to literally get inside the mind of his greatest foe. He's tried to influence their development before, during his Fourth incarnation in Genesis Of The Daleks...

...but add in a touch of The Invisible Enemy and we've really got something!

An invasion/infection by the Swarm forces the Doctor into desperate measures in a bid to find a cure for their virus- clones of he & Leela are miniaturised & injected into the sickly ' original' Fourth's body to try & hunt down the Nucleus, the Swarm leader. He's hidden himself deep within that unique brain ( busy no doubt with thoughts of scarves & jelly babies, maybe even Leela) in a bid to use the TARDIS, or ' old girl' as the Doctor calls her long before he'll ever think to dub her ' sexy'.

Interestingly enough there's a further link between Four & Eleven made implicit in Philip Reeve's The Roots Of Evil, his contribution to the Eleven Doctors, Eleven Stories anthology. Arriving on the Heligan Structure- a giant sentient tree- the man in the scarf discovers the residents have it in for him. He's not got a clue as to why until he discovers a future self visited earlier in the settlement's history.........

But now we must take the Warped Factor TARDIS forward a little, with a few relevant trips back. We know the Daleks have sought to use the Doctor's knowledge even before Genesis, perhaps most radically in Evil Of The Daleks...



...& Daleks In Manhattan/Evolution Of The Daleks...



Is it too much of a stretch to suggest that they might seek to use the Twelfth Doctor to aid a new phase in a planned march towards evolution?

Whether he'd meddle in their plans, as in Evil (secretly using the ' Human Factor' to give any Daleks who pass through a conversion arch back on Skaro emotion & by extension a sense of independent personality) or seek to help them start afresh as in Evolution is certainly an interesting one to debate. Or would he look to go a step further than Genesis & actually bring about the final end of the former Kaleds? After all it must rank as one of the biggest of the many mistakes the Doctor will be seeking to put right now he's got a new body?

Also look out for what appears to be the inside of a Dalek. It could well be that he's tasked with going inside its mind by the Time Lords to sow the seeds of the destruction of the entire race having wimped out last time. Such an eventuality would offer ample revenge for their bluff in Victory Of The Daleks soon after his previous regeneration. Hard to picture the Twelfth using a Jammy Dodger for anything much, though!

Looking further down the Eleventh's time-line, we might also consider the possibility that his next self could be called upon to forcibly save the Daleks once more, going by Asylum Of The Daleks at least. Remember also that this was where the Doctor met Oswin Oswald...



...& it becomes near impossible to ignore the many potential permutations for both the Doctor & Clara, especially now that Oswin's attempt to make the Daleks forget all about the Doctor has been undone.

Given the timey-wimey nature of things we also can't discount a return for Oswin herself! The chance to see her interact with Clara ( the reason for her existence, having splintered versions of herself across the Doctor's time-stream) must be enough to whet appetites, as if the early promise of Series Eight weren't enough already...

A change of outlook for the new Doctor could also radically colour his own reunion with Oswin. Where he had shown her compassion, the scope is there for that to change. And if its her mind he's off into, taking a version of her in with him, it could be wibbly-wobbly indeed. Just as The Invisible Enemy was for his earlier self!


It's also notable as the point in time at which the Fourth adopts K-9, the ' tin dog' staying by his side until The Invasion Of Time.

Take a moment also to have a listen to Dudley Simpson's great music for that particular adventure. Of course there's a K-9 Mark II, built by the Fourth after its predecessor departs to remain with Leela on Gallifrey! This one remains in service up until Warriors Gate ( which means it gets to be a part of the great Key To Time arc). His successor, Mark III, is the one we see with the Tenth Doctor in School Reunion. His presence of course means a certain special lady companion's return, too, having taken her last previous journey in The Hand Of Fear.

But what, if anything, could Into The Dalek tell us about the mindset of the universe's nastiest robots that we didn't already know? We've seen their creation & numerous attempts at evolution/ assimilation...



We've even witnessed their rebirth as religious fanatics under a new Emperor ( The Parting Of The Ways)...



Their role in the Time War is now better understood thanks to The Day Of The Doctor...



And we've seen the creation of the ' officer class' otherwise known as the New Dalek Paradigm...

In retrospect then, it seems incredible to think that not once have we seen into the inner workings of a Dalek! And if indeed it's the case that we will, it promises to be quite a first battle with them for the newest of the Doctors. With the Ninth having previously been told he would make a good Dalek could the Twelfth come close to fulfilling that prophecy? It would certainly be quite the departure from his earlier selves, but we've been promised a hint of darkness. Is he a good man? This could be the first real step towards answering the question!