Day 6: The Survivors

It's in this episode that we finally see the Daleks properly. And they, of course, look terrifying and unlike anything else that's on screen. We can look past the sink plunger and the egg whisk, because beneath these simple household objects is a machine that only wants to exterminate you. Or in this case, stun you. It's odd to see a Dalek stun someone, as an audience we're used to these creatures killing all in their sights, but these aren't quite the Daleks that we recognise yet. They don't even say "Exterminate", opting instead for the rather dull "fire!". There are other things that differentiate these Daleks from today's Daleks, for instance these are Skaro-bound, with no real intention of conquering the galaxy. The Cold War element is played up as well, and it is indeed worth thinking about how they are reflections of the time. Throughout almost half of the 20th century there was an ever-present threat of nuclear bombs destroying the entire planet, and this shows the aftermath. A world with no life, save for mutations in the forest and beings hidden away in metal casings in cities. There's a short story by Terry Nation called "We Are The Daleks!" where the central twist is that the Daleks are in fact humans, further along the evolutionary journey. The idea that these creatures could indeed be what we become, that's the terrifying thing about the Daleks.