History Recap / DoctorWhoS31E03VictoryOfTheDaleks

[[quoteright:325:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Victor_of_the_Daleks_5995.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:325:[-The Eleventh Doctor plays with an obviously [[OffTheShelfFX toy Dalek from the show's merchandise wares just painted battleship grey to be used as a prop.]]-] ]]

->''"BEHOLD, THE RESTORATION OF THE DALEKS! THE RESURRECTION OF THE MASTER RACE!"''
-->-- '''The last three Time War Daleks'''

->'''The Doctor:''' Call 'em what you like -- the Daleks are death.\\
'''Churchill:''' Yes, Doctor! Death to our enemies! Death to the forces of darkness, and death to the Third Reich!\\
'''The Doctor:''' Yes, Winston, and death to everyone else too.

The Doctor and Amy arrive at TheWarRoom under [[TheHomeFront a Blitz-torn London]] at the behest of Prime Minister UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill (albeit one month after Churchill had called the Doctor). As a Luftwaffe squadron approaches London, Churchill takes the Doctor and Amy to the roof to meet Dr Bracewell, a Scottish scientist who has invented a secret weapon called an "Ironside". These Ironsides obliterate the Nazi fighters and the Doctor recognises the weaponry used. He demands to be shown the Ironsides, which are revealed to be Daleks, dressed in tank-green paint and claiming to serve the British war effort. Bracewell claims to have invented them, along with many other technologies far beyond the capabilities of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII[=-era=] Britain (or any country for that matter). The Doctor becomes more and more agitated by the Daleks' claims of servitude and lashes out at them, calling them by name. [[UnwittingPawn Which is exactly what they wanted.]]

High above, hidden behind the Moon, a battered Dalek saucer which somehow managed to escape [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E13JourneysEnd the Tenth Doctor clone's genocide]] and fall back in time records the Doctor's recognisance of the Daleks, activating something called the Progenitor Device. The Daleks on Earth transmat back to their ship, but not before [[RoboticReveal revealing Bracewell as an android created by them.]] The Doctor gives chase, leaving Amy on Earth. He catches up with the last three surviving Daleks and threatens to blow up their ship with a TARDIS self-destruct remote. The Daleks respond by turning on all the lights in London, making the city a nice, bright target for the German air force. The Daleks reveal that the Progenitor Device contains original Dalek DNA to recreate the Dalek race but due to [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E12TheStolenEarth the remaining Daleks being born out of Davros' cells]], their DNA was not recognised by the machine. [[BatmanGambit Thus they needed the Doctor's testimony that they were Daleks in order for the machine to work.]] On Earth, Churchill and Amy stop [[DrivenToSuicide a grieving Bracewell from committing suicide]] and get to work on shutting down the Daleks' radio-control dish in order to darken London.

The Progenitor Device opens and churns out [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience five new, brightly-coloured Daleks]], who promptly decide to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness exterminate their inferior predecessors.]][[note]]Thus symbolically scrapping the Creator/RussellTDavies Dalek props as new Creator/StevenMoffat props roll in... [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E01AsylumOfTheDaleks or so the Doctor and the audience thought at the time.]][[/note]] Said inferior predecessors' response to this? "We're ready."

The new Daleks attempt to exterminate the Doctor (discovering the self-destruct button to be only a biscuit), but are stopped as three space-worthy, laser-spitting Spitfires attack and destroy the radio dish, turning off the London lights. The Doctor manages to escape to the TARDIS and orders the last remaining upgraded Spitfire to take out the Dalek ship, but is stopped by the Daleks, who reveal that Bracewell is a bomb powered by a contained wormhole. [[SadisticChoice The Daleks threaten to destroy the Earth unless they go free]]. The Doctor has no choice but to order the Spitfire to call off the attack, and speeds back to Earth anticipating that [[BatmanGambit the Daleks are going to activate the bomb the moment they are out of danger anyway]]. There, the Doctor and Amy get Bracewell to [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots recognise his own humanity]], cutting off the Daleks' control over him and deactivating the bomb. [[JokerImmunity The Daleks time-travel back to the future]] as the Doctor angsts over losing to his greatest enemy again, a funk shortly ended by Amy's good cheer. The Doctor destroys all alien tech (much to Churchill's displeasure) and leaves, but not before allowing Bracewell to live out a full human life. Before departing, the Doctor and Amy have a chat about how Amy [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E12TheStolenEarth should remember the Daleks]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E13JourneysEnd from their invasion on Earth]], but she doesn't. This disturbs the Doctor greatly, meaning something is wrong with the flow of time. The travellers depart, [[ArcSymbol with another Crack revealing itself in the wall behind the TARDIS...]]

See also "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E3ThePowerOfTheDaleks The Power of the Daleks]]", which has a similar plot.
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!! Tropes

* AcePilot: Danny Boy. [[AC:[[RecycledInSpace In space!]]]].
* AffectionatePickpocket: Attempted by ''Churchill'' on ''the Doctor'' (in order to get the TARDIS key). Amy pulls him up on it.
* AmnesiaDanger: Amy, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E05FleshAndStone owing to]] [[ArcWords the cracks in the wall]]...
* ArcSymbol: The cracks show up once more.
* BadassBoast: Subverted with "I defeated you time and time again, I defeated you. [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E13Doomsday I sent you back to the Void]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E13JourneysEnd I saved the whole of reality from you]]. I am the Doctor and you are the Daleks!" The speech itself would be pretty awesome, but [[NiceJobBreakingItHero the effects of the last line end up being anything but badass for the Doctor.]]
* TheBadGuyWins: The Daleks are almost completely triumphant. Amy does manage to get London's lights turned off, and does manage to disarm Bracewell, but the Daleks [[BatmanGambit only enacted those scenarios in the first place to get him off their ship.]] Which worked perfectly. And he was only there in the first place because they wanted him to be.
* BatmanGambit: Why are the Daleks posing as robots created by a human in World War II? Why, for no other reason than to create a situation where the Doctor will come to investigate and end up saying "You are the Daleks!" in a loud, clear voice.
** It gets deeper. In preparation for their probable defeat, they have equipped Dr Bracewell with an Oblivion Continuum; he's essentially a walking bomb! They then threatened to set off the Continuum unless the Doctor withdrew back to Earth, essentially making him '''''CHOOOOOOOSE!!''''' [[SadisticChoice between destroying the Daleks once and for all, and saving the Earth]]. The Doctor retreats, but the Daleks [[ILied activate the Continuum anyway]], potentially both exterminating the human race ''and'' killing the Doctor with one stone. The day is saved, of course, [[XanatosGambit but disarming Bracewell provided the necessary distraction for the Daleks to escape]].
* BittersweetEnding: The Doctor fails to prevent the five new Daleks from escaping to rebuild the Dalek race, but [[strike:he]] Amy manages to save Earth and allow Bracewell the chance to have a normal life free from Dalek control.
* BorrowedCatchphrase: "Exterminate them." (The Daleks)
* BrandishmentBluff: The Doctor convinces the Daleks that a Jammie Dodger (a type of biscuit) is a super weapon.
** He gets it wrong; he says it's a Jammie Dodger, but it's actually a Jam Cream.
* CallBack / ContinuityNod:
** The concept of Daleks pretending to be servants goes all the way to the Second Doctor's seasons in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E3ThePowerOfTheDaleks The Power of the Daleks]]".
*** Specifically the line "I AM YOUR SOL-DIER" is a direct ShoutOut to the Dalek's sycophantic "I AM YOUR SER-VANT" in that episode.
** The Progenitor Device itself was first introduced in The Power of The Daleks, as another one had crashed on Vulcan. This episode clarifies its intended purpose.
** The Doctor declares that this encounter will be [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E9TheEvilOfTheDaleks "the final end" for the Daleks]].
** ''"The progenitor has fulfilled our new [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E1DestinyOfTheDaleks destiny]]. Behold, the restoration of the Daleks. The [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E4ResurrectionOfTheDaleks resurrection]] of the master race."''
** Hmmm, the Doctor conversing with a Dalek in black and white? That seems... familiar, somehow.
** The Doctor beats a Dalek with a long wrench, comparable in length [[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks to a baseball bat]].
** A Dalek using its toilet plunger to carry a tray full of nibbles for people? Surely this has never happened befo- oh wait, they did it in their [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks very first episode]].
* ChangedMyJumper: Amy wears a miniskirt in 1941 without comment. Though between the ongoing bombing of London and the Daleks threatening the planet, some woman's bare legs were probably the least of people's concerns.
* CivilianVillain: The Daleks as part of their master plan.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The new Daleks - White Daleks are Supremes, Reds are Soldiers, Blues are Strategists, Oranges are Scientists and Yellows are Eternals. [[ShrugOfGod Probably.]]
* CliffhangerCopout: Sort of; the end of "The Beast Below" has Churchill urgently calling the Doctor while a Dalek looms ominously in front of him, with the suggestion that he's in fairly immediate danger. The resolution? Apparently that call was weeks ago, and Churchill's got used to having the 'Ironsides' around.
* CoolPlane: Spitfires with lasers.
* CoolVsAwesome: Space spitfires shooting a Dalek saucer with lasers.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: A more heartwarming example than usual; when the Doctor and Amy go to say goodbye to Bracewell, they find him in his lab, preparing to FaceDeathWithDignity as he assumes that the Doctor and Amy are planning to deactivate him as a potential threat to the timeline. The Doctor, rather surprised (since they were actually just popping along to say goodbye before leaving), agrees but says that he has to go and do some stuff first, and it'll probably take him a while, hint hint. It takes Bracewell rather longer than it probably should to realise that the Doctor ''isn't going to be coming back''.
* CreatorCameo: Episode writer Creator/MarkGatiss as [[http://www.sfx.co.uk/2010/04/11/mark-gatiss-on-victory-of-the-daleks/ the Spitfire pilot, uncredited.]]
* DeathSeeker: Of a sort. The last three Creator/RussellTDavies-era Daleks aren't looking to die per se, but they clearly realise that the resurrection of the pure Daleks would end in their extermination.
* DiabolusExMachina: And lots of it.
* EvilSoundsDeep: The Supreme Dalek has a much deeper voice than the others.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The Daleks have an important victory here.
* FantasticRacism: The Daleks' commitment to their own racial purity was demonstrated here. The older, less "pure" Daleks willingly allow themselves to be disintegrated by the newly created Daleks made from the pure DNA in the Progenitor device.
* HeroicSacrifice: From a certain point of view, the ''Daleks''. What else would you call taking a course of action to save your entire race knowing full well it will end in your demise?
* HistoricalDomainCharacter : UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill.
** Which became elevated to HilariousInHindsight with the [[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2283542/Double-O-Who-Jon-Pertwees-secret-life-wartime-agent--years-did-battle-Daleks.html revelation that Jon Pertwee (the Third Doctor) was an intelligence officer during UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo and personally reported to Churchill...]]
* HiveMind: Although not this, the Daleks show some characteristics of this, caring nothing for their own individual demise as long as the species survives & improves.
** [[HiveQueen Hive King]]: Supreme Dalek
* [[IDidWhatIHadToDo I'll Do What I Have to Do]]: Churchill repeatedly brushes off the Doctor's warnings with this.
* IHaveToGoIronMyDog: That super important ''thing'' that the Doctor has to go do, but he'll definitely come back and deactivate Bracewell after he does the ''thing''. Gonna take a least half an hour, then Bracewell will be so very deactivated.
* JustPlaneWrong: The Spitfires used in the episode were Mk [=IXs=], which were introduced in 1942. They should have been Mk Is or [=IIs=], which flew in the Battle of Britain. Then again, they were [-IN SPACE!-]
* KickTheDog: Forcing all the lights in London to turn on at the height of the Blitz? That's an impressively dickish move, even for the Daleks.
* KillEmAll: Subverted; surprisingly for a Dalek episode, this has a relatively low explicit body-count (two soldiers, about 12 planes shot down and 3 Daleks). Compared to the decimation of Torchwood One, this is very low.
* LargeHam : UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill again.
** The Doctor had his moment during the Climax of the episode
--> '''The Doctor:''' I AM THE DOCTOR, AND YOU ARE THE DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALEKS!
* LightIsNotGood - Don't be fooled by the bright, shiny new paint jobs. The Daleks are still total bastards.
* LoveImbuesLife: Bracewell.
* {{Metaphorgotten}}: "There isn't a sincere bone in your body. ...[[StarfishAliens There isn't a]] ''[[StarfishAliens bone]]'' [[StarfishAliens in your body.]]"
* MyGreatestFailure: The Doctor considers his inability to stop the Daleks to be his, lampshading the ridiculous number of ways in which they always come back, but in a cruel way. Doesn't help that he just let five escape with a Dalek-creating machine.
* MythologyGag: The new Dalek designs were inspired by those of the Peter Cushing movies (the techni-colouring in particular).
** One of the Spitfire pilots has the call sign "Jubilee". Part of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E6Dalek Dalek]]", the first Dalek story of the new series, was inspired by the Creator/BigFinish story ''Jubilee''.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
-->'''The Doctor:''' "I am the Doctor and you are the Daleks!"
-->'''Dalek:''' "CORRECT."
** Doubles as an OhCrap.
* OldSchoolDogfight: Did we mention Spitfires [-IN SPACE!-]?
* ThePowerOfLove: It's Bracewell's memory of the woman he loved that enables him to break free of Dalek control and assert his humanity.
* PrecisionFStrike: Winston Churchill in the French dub.
-->'''Amy:''' What do we do now, Winston?
-->'''Churchill:''' We don't change old habits.
-->'''Amy:''' Which means?
-->'''Churchill:''' We screw with the Fritz. ("On emmerde les Fritz", lit. "We shit on the Fritz".)
* PunctuatedPounding: While the Doctor beats on one of the Daleks with a giant wrench.
-->'''The Doctor:''' [[PunctuatedForEmphasis "YOU! ARE! MY! ENEMY!"]]
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: One reason for the Dalek redesign was that the RTD Dalek props were built with Creator/BilliePiper's height in mind, so the new Daleks were built to match Creator/MattSmith's height. Creator/KarenGillan even says in the Confidential episode that they're taller than her.
* RealitySubtext: The new Daleks exterminating the last three RTD Daleks in existence. Old props out, new props in.
* RefugeInAudacity: Holding a bunch of Daleks hostage with a biscuit and a line of bull.
* RoboticReveal: Bracewell getting his hand shot off.
* RuleOfCool: '''''Spitfires in space.'''''
** The names of the new Daleks. Originally, Moffat and Gatiss didn't know which Dalek had what name, but dammit they sounded awesome.
* SadisticChoice: [[Series/{{Heroes}} Save the Daleks, save the world.]] [[BatmanGambit Naturally, after being saved]], the Daleks try to detonate their [[EarthShatteringKaboom bomb]] anyway.
* SchizoTech: Remote surveillance of the Dalek ship displayed on a black-and-white monitor, and obviously, 1941 Spitfires that fly [[AC:in SPACE!]]
** The Daleks themselves pretend to be this in order to lure in the Doctor.
* ShoutOut: "Broadsword Calling Danny Boy", a reference to ''WhereEaglesDare''.
** The Doc says Bracewell's memories and personality was uploaded to a [[Creator/IsaacAsimov positronic]] [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration brain]].
*** Bracewell's bomb could be a callback to "Impostor", a Creator/PhilipKDick story adapted for ''Series/DoctorWho'' creator Creator/SydneyNewman's sci-fi anthology ''Out of This World'' by Dalek creator Creator/TerryNation in 1962.
** Bracewell's black glove? [[DrStrangelove Definitely a shout out to another Dr.]]
** That whole Spitfires-in-space scene came across more than a little ''StarWars'' to some reviewers...
*** In particular, a scene that was in turn inspired by the movie TheDambusters.
** Also on ''StarWars'', RoboticReveal by loss of a hand, later replaced with a [[Film/{{Metropolis}} classic]] RedRightHand. Which makes approximately [[RunningGag seven references]] in the first three episodes of the series.
** Not to mention the climactic scene of ''Film/IndependenceDay'', in which a lone human aircraft takes on a large alien saucer-like spaceship.
** "If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil."
*** Amy, near the end of the episode, says to the Doctor: "So you have enemies?" This is part of a famous Churchill quote: "So, you have enemies? Good. That means you stood up for something once in your life."
** The new Dalek design is one big shout out to the old Doctor Who movies starring Peter Cushing, according to WordOfGod.
* SmokingIsCool: Played with. Despite there being plenty of smokers in Britain at this time period, the only person we see smoking is Winston Churchill, the penultimate BigGood of the British in WWII. However, this is more to stay true to the character, as Winston was well known for enjoying quite a few cigars (and quite a few glasses of brandy, something not even shown here most likely for the sake of the kids, and it's considered one of the icons of his (especially wartime) visage. A bit of FridgeBrilliance takes place when the Doctor declines a cigar from Churchill after saving the earth. At first it seems like an aversion of the SmokingIsCool Trope, and while that is obviously the case, it also doubles as something else entirely. Cigars being shared is usually a sign of celebration, and while the Doctor DID save the earth, he personally doesn't have much to celebrate, considering the Daleks beat him with a BatmanGambit, only doubling the reasons why he'd not accept a cigar in these circumstances. I doubt even modern day generals would want to hand out cigars to each other upon suffering such a PyrrhicVictory.
* SomebodySetUpUsTheBomb: Subverted. Bracewell turns out to be a bomb, but the Doctor and Amy encourage his burgeoning humanity to deactivate the bomb... somehow.
* SpaceIsNoisy: Laser fire from the Dalek ship and the British Spitfires can be heard.
* StupidJetpackHitler: Inverted. ''Winston Churchill'' gets to use advanced alien weaponry ''against'' the Nazis.
* TomatoInTheMirror: The scientist, Bracewell, who didn't make the Daleks... the Daleks made him, an android. Another revelation exposes Bracewell to also be a bomb, which the Daleks threaten to detonate (and try anyway) to make the Doctor return to Earth. Turns out they [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots made him too]] ''[[RidiculouslyHumanRobots well]]''; his self-awareness and genuine emotions turn out to be the key to stopping them from destroying the planet.
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil with a twist: RadioTimes [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E4DaleksInManhattan spoils new Daleks on a cover again.]] Unlike "Daleks in Manhattan" though, the new Daleks' cover appearance was explained away as the cover being themed around the 2010 British Elections[[note]]With the red, blue and yellow Daleks representing the three main parties; the orange and white ones understandably do not appear on it.[[/note]] rather than them being an important development in the episode.
** Played straighter in a BBC news report which featured behind the scenes footage of the filming of the scene where the new Daleks are revealed the day before the episode actually aired.
* VSign: It's a Winston Churchill episode... Although it's actually done by the Doctor, and he seems to use it to wave at people.
* UnwittingPawn: The Doctor falls for the Dalek plan twice throughout the entire episode.
* TheWarRoom: The Cabinet War Rooms really existed during the UsefulNotes/SecondWorldWar, although they weren't used for fighter control (an old emergency bunker in Swansea was used for filming). They're open to the public and are pretty awesome anyway.
* WearingAFlagOnYourHead: Two of the last three RTD Daleks have them in place of their usual identity tags.
* WeirdnessCensor: Subverted; the Doctor quickly asks Amy to fill Churchill in about the Daleks, only to find she has no memory of them or the whole "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E12TheStolenEarth planets in the sky]]" incident. He's very disturbed by this, and at the end of the episode declares that they need to find out what's wrong with her memory.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Subverted. Though the Doctor says he's going to deactivate Bracewell, it's clear that it's IHaveToGoIronMyDog and he doesn't have any intention of doing so.
* UsefulNotes/WorldWarII
* WrongGenreSavvy: Amy assumes that the bomb will contain a WireDilemma, but her panicked babble just confuses the Doctor.
** Bracewell assumes the Doctor is there to deactivate him at the end. It takes him a while to catch on to the Doctor's mercy.
* TheXOfY
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Played With. Once the new daleks are born, they first action is to exterminate the three old Daleks due to not being pure enough, the three daleks not only are aware this was gonna happen, but ''are perfectly ok with it''.

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[[caption-width-right:325: The Eleventh Doctor plays with an obviously [[OffTheShelfFX toy Dalek from the show's merchandise wares just painted battleship grey to be used as a prop.]]]]

->''BEHOLD, THE RESTORATION OF THE DALEKS! THE RESURRECTION OF THE MASTER RACE!''
--> -- '''The last three Time War Daleks'''

->'''Doctor''': Call 'em what you like - the Daleks are death.
->'''Churchill''': Yes, Doctor! Death to our enemies! Death to the forces of darkness, and death to the Third Reich!
->'''Doctor''': Yes, Winston, and death to everyone else too.

** HiveKing: Supreme Dalek