History Recap / DoctorWho2021NYSRevolutionOfTheDaleks

''As the Thirteenth Doctor marks her days in prison, back on Earth the Daleks are presented on national television. They are the new Defence Drones, designed to protect the British public.

Left behind on Earth, Yaz, Graham and Ryan need their friend more than ever. Now with Daleks on the assembly line, and a familiar face behind their production... What would the Doctor do?''

Following on from the final moments of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren The Timeless Children]]", the Thirteenth Doctor finds herself locked in a supermax asteroid prison by the Judoon, no way to contact her friends, the TARDIS or anyone to save her. Simultaneously, Yaz, Graham and Ryan discover that the Doctor has vanished and, using their TARDIS from "Timeless Children" as a base, begin to investigate her disappearance. Something draws their attention, however -- the UK government has unveiled its brand new defence system. Autonomous machines that can be deployed on land and air, with heavy armor and weaponry at a fraction of the size of a conventional tank.

If the title hasn't tipped you off, take a wild guess what this "defence system" actually is -- it looks a bit like a salt shaker.

The trio must find a way to rescue the Doctor to stop this very deadly threat, or do it themselves, discovering that some familiar help is not too far away in the process...

* AesopAmnesia: Robertson has increased his security after what happened in "Arachnids in the UK", but still fails to keep a close eye on what his people are up to. This enables Leo Rugazzi to clone a Dalek, which then uses Robertson's corporation to construct an entire Dalek army under his nose.

* AngerBornOfWorry: Yaz's initial reaction to the Doctor returning is to shove her and yell about how worried the Fam were about her.

-->'''Dalek''': You will not escape us!\\
'''Doctor''': Yes I will. Every time.

** The "Defence Drones" use a similar design to the Dalek Scout from "[[Recap/DoctorWho2019NYSResolution Resolution]]" (because they were copied from its wrecked shell).
** The Fam have set the TARDIS from "The Timeless Children" as their HomeBase.

** The Doctor once again comments that Jack's had some work done only for him to respond with "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E11Utopia You can talk!]]"
** The Doctor traps the Death Squad Daleks in a BiggerOnTheInside capsule and sends them into [[VoidBetweenTheWorlds the Void]], the reverse of the Daleks’ tactic that was revealed in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E12ArmyOfGhosts Army of Ghosts]]" and explained in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday Doomsday]]".
** Ryan tells the Doctor that he has been able to [[Recap/DoctorWho2019NYSResolution reconnect with his father more]], since he previously saw the Doctor.

** Robertson remembers his last encounter with the Doctor and fam, and has increased his security since.

* CameraAbuse: After killing the Prime Minister on live television, a Dalek announces that the Earth is the territory of the Daleks and all humans will be exterminated, then opens fire on the camera, causing the TV screen to pixelate and FadeToWhite.
* ChekhovsGun: The spare TARDIS that the Fam used to return to Earth and have been using as a HomeBase ever since. The Doctor uses it as a decoy for the Death Squad Daleks, luring them in and then self-destructing it.
* CloneArmy: The Recon Dalek built a cloning facility in Osaka, and created multiple clones of itself to pilot the Dalek shells manufactured by Robertson.

--> [[AC: DALEKS ARE NOT PETS OF THE DOCTOR!!!]]

** Robertson unsurprisingly, even though everyone would feel well justified if they left him at the (lack of) mercy of the Daleks.
* ContinuityCavalcade: The monsters in Judoon Jail are past enemies of the Doctor, including a Silent, a berserk Ood, a Sycorax, a [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E10Blink Weeping Angel]] named Angela, and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E5TheTsurangaConundrum the P'ting]].

** A Weeping Angel, an Ood, a Sycorax, a Silent, and the P'ting are among the alien species incarcerated in the space prison alongside the Doctor.
*** The Doctor's interaction with the Silent consists of her walking up to it and saying "I forgot you were here", a cheeky reference to the Silence's memory wiping abilities.
** Jack uses a squareness gun to destroy walls and kill Daleks at various points in the episode, a weapon previously used by River Song in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E8SilenceInTheLibrary "Silence in the Library]]", and Jack himself in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E10TheDoctorDances "The Doctor Dances"]].
** You ''still'' don't want to know where Jack is [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E12BadWolf keeping his weapons hidden]].
** Rose and her tragic fate is mentioned by Jack. He also tells Yaz he's from the Boeshane Peninsula and that the Daleks were responsible for his first 'death'.
** Gwen gets mentioned at the end of the episode, apparently taking a Dalek out with a moped and her son's boxing gloves, with Jack staying on Earth. This is the first time in almost '''12 years''' Gwen gets a mention in a ''Doctor Who'' episode, being last seen in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd Journeys End]]". As mentioned, the nod also indirectly establishes that Anwen (Gwen's daughter revealed in ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth'', last seen in ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'') now has a brother.
** Ryan namedrops a number of alien races he and the Fam have defeated over the course of the past two series, including the Skithra and the Morax.

** Robertson's plan to offer himself as TheQuisling isn't that insane, as the Daleks have made use of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E1DayOfTheDaleks human collaborators during previous conquests]].

** UK Technology Secretary Jo Patterson feeds Robertson the route of the truck carrying the wrecked Dalek casing (causing the death of the lorry driver), has him build an army of "security drones" in her constituency so she can earn enough political capital to become Prime Minister, forces him to rush production so she can set up what is basically a robotic PoliceState, and then blackmails him into handing them over for free in return for turning a blind eye to his various companies' tax evasion. For [[AssholeVictim her]], the [[LaserGuidedKarma Dalek beam karma]] was inevitable.
** Averted with Robertson, whose political ambitions died the last time he met Doctor and fam. By the end of the episode, they've rekindled.
* CrazyPrepared: Granted that it apparently took Jack at least nineteen years to set up (and if anyone can play a long game it's Jack Harkness) but he manages to smuggle a device that stops time and lets him walk through walls ''and'' a vortex manipulator into the Doctor's prison, as well as arrange to be placed in the cell next to the Doctor's, so that they can make their escape together in a matter of seconds.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The "defence drones" being designed for situations of civil unrest, armed with water cannons and tear gas, and eventually becoming hostile and using excessive force (more than what was intended, however).

* EliteMooks: While they don't appear any different from the regular bronze Daleks beyond the claw-like manipulator arms, the group that comes to Earth here are identified as being the Dalek equivalent of the SAS (as in Special Air Service, but ''[[ThoseWackyNazis SS]]'' works too), and they are even more fanatically dedicated to Dalek purity than normal. They easily trounce the Earth-made Robertson Daleks.
* EnemyCivilWar: The Doctor deliberately sets one up by summoning the Death Squad Daleks to Earth, knowing that they will identify the Robertson Daleks as "impure" and exterminate them.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Robertson may have all the morals of a weasel (and the approximate courage of one, to boot), but he made sure to equip the security drones with ''non-lethal'' weaponry, he's sickened by the sight of a Dalek mutant, and he's horrified by both the Dalek farm (albeit for [[SlaveToPR the wrong reasons]]) and Leo's death.
* EvilCounterpart: Jo Patterson is a loose parallel to Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister[[note]]yes, we know who she is (thirteen years and we're ''still'' keeping that gag going, folks!)[[/note]], by way of being an initially relatively anonymous, seemingly decent, middle-aged female MP in a position of minimal power who makes a swift rise to become Prime Minister. In both cases, their reign comes to the end at the doors of 10 Downing Street and their lives end by Dalek extermination, though while Jones went out with RedemptionEqualsDeath, Patterson is on the receiving end of almost literal LaserGuidedKarma.

* FatalFamilyPhoto: The Recon Dalek forces Leo to call and talk to his wife before it makes him go to Osaka, telling her he's got to go on a business trip so his disappearance won't attract too much attention. During the conversation, he tells her to kiss their kids goodnight for him.
* TheFellowshipHasEnded: The Fam. After the entire Dalek invasion has been dealt with, Ryan decides that he's content to remain on Earth. Graham, after some thought, decides that Ryan needs someone to look after him, leaving only Yaz to continue traveling. The Doctor and Yaz share one last group hug with their Fam before going their separate ways.

** Early in the episode, Graham comments it would probably help the Fam's investigation if they had Psychic Paper, like the Doctor. When Ryan & Graham choose to stay to look after Earth, the Doctor gives both of them Psychic Paper.
** Leo says tells Robertson he connected the cloned Dalek to the neural network and it seemed to understand it instantly. Turns out the Recon Dalek used this opportunity to order the construction of the cloning facility in Osaka.
* ForgotAboutHisPowers: A Pting cameos on the prison asteroid. Their first appearance in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E5TheTsurangaConundrum The Tauranga Conundrum]]" says they're impossible to imprison because they can eat their way out of any prison.
* ForTheEvulz: The Recon Dalek gleefully agrees that it doesn't have to kill Leo the scientist when it's done using him as a puppet… but it's going to anyway.
* FriendlyEnemy: The Doctor has a surprisingly good relationship with her fellow inmates, even bantering with a Weeping Angel and advising a P'ting not to eat its cage.
* FromASingleCell: The Recon Dalek's consciousness remains intact in the tiniest cell fragments left behind in its scrapped casing. Once Leo cultivates the cells and grows it a new body, it's as good as new. Except a few human cells got mixed in, so in the eyestalks of the Death Squad Daleks, they need to be exterminated.
* GetIntoJailFree: Jack commits a few crimes (maybe more than a few) to get thrown into prison with the Doctor and rescue her. It takes him ''nineteen years'' before [[ConvenientlyCellmates he can get close enough]] to put his plan into action.

* GoMadFromTheIsolation: A subdued variation, as she's not AxCrazy, but it's clear that spending a long time in prison has done the Doctor not much good mentally. She's started greeting individual light fittings by the time we see her, as well as giving her non-communicative fellow prisoners names. And back in her sleeping room, she talks to herself of reading classic bedtime stories, like the entire Franchise/HarryPotter series.
* GroupHug: The Fam share a group HeadbuttOfLove before going their separate ways.
* HeroInsurance: Averted; the Doctor isn't just in prison for pissing off the Judoon, but for 7000 other offenses he/she committed whilst saving the day. Jack is amused they stopped at 7000.
* HumanResources: The Recon Dalek has the humans who built its cloning farm converted into liquid feed for the clones once their labor is no longer useful.
* IChooseToStay: Both Ryan & Graham decide to stay on Earth, with Ryan stating that someone needs to look after the Earth while the Doctor is absent.
* IntimidatingRevenueService: The PM threatens Robertson with a tax investigation to make him agree to produce security drones faster and provide them to the UK at no cost.
* ItsTheJourneyThatCounts: Yaz expresses anger over how the Doctor introduced her to the wonders of the universe, then suddenly disappeared from her life without any indication if she was alive or dead. Jack Harkness, who has been through this himself--but for centuries instead of the ten months that the Doctor was apart from Yaz--urges her to just enjoy her time with the Doctor while it lasts. In the end Yaz is the only member of the fam to choose to stay with her.
* KarmaHoudini: Double subverted. The start of the episode confirms that Robertson's previous status as this at the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E4ArachnidsInTheUK Arachnids In The UK]]" was revoked, as the toxic waste dump beneath his hotel caused a scandal that ruined his bid for the US presidency. However, despite being indirectly responsible for the crisis in the first place and [[TheQuisling being willing to sell out humanity to the Death Squad Daleks for his own safety]], the end of the episode has him being hailed as the saviour of humanity for standing up to the Dalek menace, and implies he's going to use the good PR to restart his political career with another bid for president.
* KerbStompBattle: There are potentially thousands of Robertson's Daleks on Earth, if all the shells he reported making were filled. The Death Squad Daleks kill them off in minutes.

* LampshadeHanging: The episode starts with "A LONG TIME AGO (2019)". Seems Chibnall has noticed how long the year 2020 has felt for the audience ...
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: The Security Daleks generally being able to shoot water and gas is reminiscent of the real-life operational Dalek replicas, which typically harmlessly fire vapour as a substitute for "extermination".
* LetsMockTheMonsters: The initial response of the 'rioters' to the Dalek drone being rolled out is laughter. Until it turns on the water cannon, CS gas and sonic screamer.

* MurderByCremation: After a horrified Jack Robertson tells him to destroy the cloned Dalek, Leo attempts to dump the creature into the furnace. Unfortunately for him, he chooses to remove it from its case before doing so.

** The Dalek prototype shoots fire extinguisher gas at the protesters. This was likely a tribute to the Creator/PeterCushing movies, where the Daleks were supposed to shoot fire out of their sink plungers, but this was nixed due to health and safety concerns, so they were equipped with fire extinguishers.

* NeverTrustATrailer: The trailer and most of the promotional materials emphasized the Fam and Captain Jack having to fight the Daleks on their own while the Doctor is incarcerated in the space prison, with the tagline "How do you fight a Dalek without the Doctor?" being prominently featured. In fact, Jack busts the Doctor out of prison early in the episode, and she reunites with the Fam pretty soon after they've just found out Robertson is building a Dalek army.

** The Doctor chastises [[ExtremeOmnivore Tiny the P'ting]] for trying to eat the security fences in the prison, claiming she's already tried that once.

* NotMeThisTime: After their previous encounter with Jack Robertson in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E4ArachnidsInTheUK Arachnids In The UK]]", the Fam are instantly suspicious of him being in cahoots with the Daleks when they find footage of him attending a Dalek "security drone" demonstration. It turns out he's (initially) ignorant of the threat the Daleks pose to the universe and intends the drones to be controlled by A.I.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: While the impure Daleks invaded the UK, Gwen runs one over with her moped and uses her son's boxing gloves, with said exploit being relayed to Jack via intercom to Thirteen after the day is saved.

* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Leo is both a GadgeteerGenius whose in-depth study of Dalek casing components lets him set up a 3D printer to manufacture Dalek-inspired security drones, and he knows enough about genetics to clone the Recon Scout Dalek from samples of its DNA he scraped off the casing.

* PutOnABus: This was Bradley Walsh and Creator/TosinCole's final episode, with Creator/MandipGill staying on for Series 13.
* TheQuisling: Jack Robertson decides that he wants to work with the Death Squad Daleks to save himself, and he's prepared to sell out the Doctor and the rest of humanity to get them on his side.
* RealTime: Graham, Ryan, and Yaz haven't seen the Doctor in 10 months. This aired exactly 10 months after [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren the last episode]].
* ReassignedToAntarctica: Robertson notes early on in the episode that Patterson has been assigned to a low-level cabinet position with both minimal power and a pitiful budget. Together, they scheme to advance her power and rehabilitate his.

** The episode recycles many elements of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E3ThePowerOfTheDaleks The Power of the Daleks]]" (the first episode of the Second Doctor), including human characters trying to use the Daleks for their own purposes, believing they are harmless, and the obsessed scientist who ends up being manipulated by the Daleks.
** Also, one probably should've looked at the history books, because in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill also came up with a [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks Dalek-based defence system]]. It didn't end well.
** Just like in "The Evil of the Daleks" and the Daleks trilogy arc in the Creator/JohnNathanTurner era ("[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E4ResurrectionOfTheDaleks Resurrection]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E6RevelationOfTheDaleks Revelation]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks Remembrance of the Daleks]])", a civil war occurs between the pure Daleks and the impure Daleks. "Remembrance of the Daleks" also had the two Dalek factions shooting it out on the streets of London.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: The Robertson Daleks glow a friendly blue color when being run by a central AI. Once the Recon Dalek's clones take them over, they turn red and start killing.
** The Doctor's Ood cellmates, whom she calls Film/BonnieAndClyde, have the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E9TheSatanPit signature red eyes of rage]] and are accordingly screaming and banging on their fence.
* RedShirt:
** The first three victims when the Daleks begin their rampage, two of Robertson's employees and a tourist, are notably wearing red clothing.
** The Robertson Daleks, who glow red when hostile, die out in minutes.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: An odd example, in Jack Robertson possibly being awarded an honorary Knighthood for apparently stopping the Dalek attack. Though this episode was filmed more then a year in advance, the New Years Honours List is frequently very controversial in the UK for people getting knighthoods in a manner perceived as undeserving. Especially as a lot of the people who get honours are businessmen who make donations to the Party in power.

* SecretGovernmentWarehouse: At the start of the episode, the ruined recon-Dalek is being trucked off to "Depository 23" which apparently hasn't been used for a while.
* ScaryBlackMan: Leo is as loveable as they come, but once under the control of the Dalek clone, sports a permanent SlasherSmile and speaks with a CreepyMonotone.
* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: The prison the Doctor is transported to is '''79 billion''' light-years away, yet the Judoon transmat her there instantly. Also, why did the distance to the prison have to be so great? The diameter of the entire observable universe is only about 93 billion light-years.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: In a vast departure from the way Whovians have come to expect companion departures (at least in New Who), both Ryan and Graham decide to remain on Earth, the first time since Martha Jones that a companion decided they simply had enough.

* ShesBack: After spending half the episode having an identity crisis, she declares herself "The Doctor, the one who stops the Daleks!"

** The Doctor starts reciting the first chapter of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' to herself as a bedtime story at one point.
* SlippingAMickey: The tea lady at the start of the episode drugs the lorry driver's tea, in order to steal the damaged Dalek casing he's transporting.
* TheSlowPath: Due to the Doctor not programming the correct coordinates into the TARDIS when leaving the prison, she ends up re-uniting with the Fam 10 months later than expected. Not to mention she spent at least twenty years in the prison until Jack broke her out.
* SkewedPriorities: A RunningGag in the episode is Robertson taking offense to the wrong things in the situation; Robertson's first response to discovering a Dalek used his company to finance building a [[CloneArmy Dalek cloning facility]] is to ask how it got the purchase order codes. Then when the Daleks he's built start to wipe out the human race, his response is that it's a PR disaster for him.
* SoProudOfYou: Grace's ghost, possibly, appears to Ryan and Graham at the end of the episode to give them a proud and loving smile before fading away.
* SpannerInTheWorks: With the Doctor's plan to have the Death Squad Daleks eliminate the Earth-derived types succeeding, Robertson takes it upon himself to sell out humanity, informing the bronze Daleks of the Doctor's role in summoning them and ensuring she has to deal with them too before they wipe out Earth.
* StepfordSmiler: While the Doctor does try to keep a brave face in light of Ryan & Graham choosing to stay on Earth, as soon as the two are outside, the Doctor shows she is utterly devastated and even considers changing the timeline if it means the Fam staying together.
* TheStinger: After the credits, there is a brief scene that introduces the new companion Dan (Creator/JohnBishop), who is told a horoscope that informs him that there will be surprises, the colour blue and the letter 'D' will be important to his future, the lucky number is 13, to be prepared for action, and whatever hurdles come it's not the end of the world.
* SummonBiggerFish: The Doctor sends a distress signal that gets picked up by the Death Squad Daleks, with the intention that they'll deal with the mutant Daleks that are trying to seize control of Earth.

** Graham, Ryan and Yaz confront Robertson, tell him they're going to bring him down no matter what -- and, without the Doctor to help them, are immediately held at gunpoint by his security detail. The only reason they're not arrested or worse is due to Robertson deciding he's had enough of them.
** The Doctor gets thrown into prison for a lengthy sentence because of all the crimes s/he's committed.
* TakeMeToYourLeader: Robertson uses the line straight (along with IComeInPeace) while negotiating with the Daleks for his life. It actually works for a while, though after seeing the Daleks kill one of their own he realises they can't be negotiated with and tries to slip out on them.

** A subtle one is delivered to the infamous scene from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks Victory of the Daleks]]", where the New Dalek Paradigm describe the Time War Daleks as "inferior" and exterminate them, which ended up backfiring horribly after the Paradigm got an ''incredibly'' negative reception. Here, it's the Time War Daleks who end up describing the mass-produced Recon Daleks as "inferior" and exterminating them all.
** Jack Robertson being granted an honorary Knighthood for apparently saving the world and talk of renewed Presidental ambitions could be a dig at New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani, who was granted one for his leadership during 9:11 and tried using it to spur a Presidental run, subsequently people have questioned how helpful he was and whether his questionable management of safety standards might have contributed to the level of deaths.

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: The lorry driver transporting the Recon Dalek's shell stops at a roadside stand for tea, which turns out to be poisoned while the stand itself was just a decoy.
* TeleFrag: The Doctor programs the spare TARDIS to fold into itself once the Daleks have flown into it. This will teleport it into the Void, where it will be torn apart and the Daleks along with it. Visually, this is shown as the TARDIS collapsing into itself until it vanishes entirely.
* TooDumbToLive: Scientist Leo Rugazzi deciding to use the cellular traces he found in the Dalek shell to ''grow his own Dalek.'' Even not knowing what he was dealing with, why would you create a whole living creature without further studying the cells to figure out their origin? When even Trump expy Jack Robertson has a problem with it, you ''know'' it's a bad idea. Not to mention that when he's instructed to put the thing into the incinerator and forget it ever existed, he ''opens the case it's in'' and just stands there dumbly for a few seconds, allowing the creature time to grab onto him.
* {{Touche}}: The Prime Minister and Robertson meet up in a forest for a private conversation about the security drones the former has ordered. While Robertson is vehemently against making so many drones in such short order, and at no cost to the taxpayer, the thing that changes his mind is the PM suggesting that the government should [[IntimidatingRevenueService look into how much tax his company has paid]] to them. Robertson admits defeat, with a "Well played" remark, and agrees.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The fact is that, had things gone as Robertson planned, the Security Drones would have worked exactly as advertised. It's Leo who throws a wrench into the whole thing: upon discovering the DNA traces of the Recon Dalek, he cloned the creature, allowing it to then clone other Dalek mutants, who then take over the security drones.

* VillainsWantMercy: The Recon Scout Dalek requests not to be exterminated by the Death Squad, insisting it can re-write its own DNA to purify itself and become a loyal servant of the Dalek cause again. The Death Squad, however, only recognizes one way to purify an impure Dalek. More specifically, one ''word'' ...
--> [[AC:EXTERMINATE!]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Both Robertson and Patterson want to use the Daleks to create law and order, although they have self-serving intentions as well. Robertson wants to make more money to recover from his power plant scandal and Patterson aims to be Prime-Minister. Nevertheless, Robertson designs the Daleks so that they have water cannons and soundwave weapons designed to induce pain, instead of laser guns, meaning that they are not designed to kill but rather to serve as a repellent to break up protests. Unfortunately, those non-lethal weapons become much more lethal once the Recon Scout hijacks the project.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** While we see the House TARDIS from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren The Timeless Children]]", the Cyber Wars trio who were brought to the present are nowhere to be seen.
** The young girl who was hiding behind a car as the Daleks begin exterminating Londoners.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The Doctor effectively orders the "house" TARDIS to commit suicide in order to dispose of the bronze Daleks, with no moral weight placed on it despite the show's frequent depiction of the Doctor's TARDIS as sentient.

** Captain Jack rightfully calls the Doctor out for summoning a fleet of Daleks to save them from Robertson's Dalek clones.
** Earlier, Yaz '''''does not''''' take the Doctor's sudden reappearance and flippancy about her jail time well.
* YouCantThwartStageOne: From the moment the new Dalek units are rolled out, you likely know from experience that they will go evil.

** Robertson is not happy to see the Fam again.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness:
** The Dalek recon scout tells the Fam that once it no longer needed human workers to staff its cloning facility, it "recycled" them into a nutrient gel to feed the clones.
** It then kills Leo before teleporting into a new casing, acknowledging that while it doesn't have to, it ''wants to''.

* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence: The sheer brutality of the Dalek kills in this episode caused ExecutiveMeddling to delay the airdate by a week, felling it was too brutal for Christmas Day.

* GodzillaThreshold: The Doctor specifically refers to summoning the Death Squad Daleks as the "nuclear option", since there's a good chance of it backfiring.

* ForgotAboutHisPowers: A Pting cameos on the prison asteroid. Their first appearance in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E5TheTsurangaConundrum The Tauranga Conundrum]]" says they're impossible to imprison because they can eat their way out of ay prison.

The one with the [[Series/TheChaseGameShow final chase]] for two companions.

If the title hasn't tipped you off, take a wild guess what this "defence system" actually is -- it rhymes with Garlic. [[note]]If you're a confused Yank, [[AccentDepundent try saying "garlic" in a British accent.]][[/note]]

* EliteMooks: While they don't appear any different from the regular bronze Daleks, the group that comes to Earth here are identified as being the Dalek equivalent of the SAS (as in Special Air Service, but ''[[ThoseWackyNazis SS]]'' works too), and they are even more fanatically dedicated to Dalek purity than normal. They easily trounce the Earth-made Robertson Daleks.

* ForTheEvulz: The Recon Dalek gleefully agrees that it doesn't have to kill Leo the scientist when it's done using him as a puppet ... but it's going to anyway.

** One of the suspicious events that Ryan and Graham are going to investigate [[BBCQuarry is taking place in a quarry]].

* NotMeThisTime: After their previous encounter with Jack Robertson in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E4ArachnidsInTheUK Arachnids In The UK]]", the Fam are instantly suspicious of him being in cahoots with the Daleks when they find footage of him attending a Dalek "security drone" demonstration. It turns out he's (initially) ignorant of the threat Daleks pose to the universe and intends the drones to be controlled by A.I.

** The Robertson Daleks die out in minutes.

* TooDumbToLive: Scientist Leo Rugazzi deciding to use the cellular traces he found in the Dalek shell to ''create his own Dalek.'' Even not knowing what he was dealing with, why would you create a whole living creature without further studying the cells to figure out their origin? When even Trump expy Jack Robertson has a problem with it, you ''know'' it's a bad idea. Not to mention that when he's instructed to put the thing into the incinerator and forget it ever existed, he ''opens the case it's in'' and just stands there dumbly for a few seconds, allowing the creature time to grab onto him.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Both Robertson and Patterson want to use the Daleks to create law and order, although they have self-serving intentions as well. Robertson wants to make more money to recover from his power plant scandal and Patterson aims to be Prime-Minister. Nevertheless, Robertson designs the Daleks so that they have water cannons and soundwave weapons designed to induce pain, instead of laser guns, meaning that they are not designed to kill but rather to serve as a repellent. Unfortunately, those non-lethal weapons become much more lethal once the Recon Scout hijacks the project.

** While we see the House TARDIS from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren The Timeless Children]]", the Cyber-wars trio is nowhere to be seen.
** And the young girl who was hiding behind a car as the Daleks begin exterminating Londoners.

** Jack rightfully calls the Doctor out for summoning a fleet of Daleks to save them from Robertson's Dalek clones.

** Jack's reaction to Robertson selling out the Doctor.

* ContinuityCavalcade: The monsters in Judoon Jail are past enemies of the Doctor, including a Silence, a berserk Ood, a Sycorax, a [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E10Blink Weeping Angel]] named Angela, and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E5TheTsurangaConundrum the P'ting]].

"Revolution of the Daleks" is the 2021 ''Doctor Who'' holiday special, written and filmed before the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic hit the world, with post-production done remotely from home during the first UK lockdown of 2020. It was released on New Year's Day, 2021.

* PutOnABus: This was Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole's final episode, with Mandip Gill staying on for Series 13.

* TheStinger: After the credits, there is a brief scene that introduces the new companion Dan (John Bishop), who is told a horoscope that informs him that there will be surprises, the colour blue and the letter 'D' will be important to his future, the lucky number is 13, to be prepared for action, and whatever hurdles come it's not the end of the world.

* HeroWithBadPublicity: The Doctor isn't just in prison for pissing off the Judoon, but for 7000 other offenses he/she committed whilst saving the day. Jack is amused they only stopped at 7000.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Early in the episode, Graham comments it would probably help the Fam's investigation if they had Psychic Paper, like the Doctor. When Ryan & Graham choose to stay to look after Earth, the Doctor gives both of them Psychic Paper.

* ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike: Robertson unsurprisingly, even though everyone would feel well justified if they left him at the (lack of) mercy of the Daleks. Averted with the Doctor who gives Jack a gold star for her rescue.

* ComplainingAboutRescuesYouDontLike: Robertson unsurprisingly, even though everyone would feel well justified if they left him at the (lack of) mercy of the Daleks. Averted with the Doctor who gives Jack a gold star for her rescue.

** Rose and her tragic fate is mentioned by Jack. He also tells Yaz he's from the Boeshane Peninsula.

* ItsTheJourneyThatCounts: Yaz expresses anger over how the Doctor introduced her to the wonders of the universe, then suddenly disappeared from her life without any indication if she was alive or dead. Jack Harkness, who has been through this himself--but for centuries instead of the ten months that the Doctor was apart from Yaz--urges her to just enjoy her time with the Doctor while it lasts.

* ComplaingAboutRescuesYouDontLike: Robertson unsurprisingly, even though everyone would feel well justified if they left him at the (lack of) mercy of the Daleks. Averted with the Doctor who gives Jack a gold star for her rescue.

* AesopAmnesia: Robertson has increased his security after what happened in "Arachnids in the UK", but still fails to keep a close eye on what his people are up to. This enables Leo Rugazzi to clone a Dalek, which then uses Roberson's corporation to construct an entire Dalek army under his nose.