Day 165: The Evil of the Daleks Episode 3

And so the Daleks' quest in this episode is to find the 'human factor'. It's because they're fed up with being defeated by humans all of the time and they want to figure out what's different about humans so that they can become stronger through it. It's a wonderful idea, because it shows the Daleks as clever beings. Terry Nation, the Daleks' creator, claimed that he never thought that David Whitaker 'got' the Daleks. This is obviously not true, because Whitaker understands how to make the Daleks work. They exist in a world full of monsters, each one of them waiting to jump out in front of you and give you a scare. And this is how the Daleks have operated previously, relying on direction and design to give the thrills that audiences need. But Whitaker understands that these are cheap thrills, and in order to give a longer lasting impression, he is to give the Daleks menace, and make them cunning. He makes it so that they learn from their mistakes, and are intelligent monsters, not the average creature that you'd expect to see on Doctor Who.