science

Into the Dalek

Into the Dalek is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Into the Dalek rather than just read about it. In short: "Into the Dalek" is the second episode of the eighth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. It was written by Phil Ford and Steven Moffat, and directed by Ben Wheatley, and first broadcast on BBC One on 30 August 2014.

Key takeaways

Into the Dalek belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Into the Dalek to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Into the Dalek from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

"Into the Dalek" is the second episode of the eighth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. It was written by Phil Ford and Steven Moffat, and directed by Ben Wheatley, and first broadcast on BBC One on 30 August 2014. In the episode, the alien time traveller the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and his companion Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) enter the body of a damaged Dalek captured by rebels to determine what is making the usually-hate-filled creature "good". It was watched by 5.2 million viewers in the UK on its initial transmission, according to unofficial overnight figures, taking a 24.7 per cent share of the entire TV audience and making it the second-highest rated programme of the evening, with the final numbers giving a total of 7.29 million viewers, and received positive reviews, with the characterisation of the Dalek being acclaimed.

Plot Danny Pink, a former soldier emotionally scarred from his experiences, begins teaching Mathematics at Coal Hill School in the present. Clara, an English teacher at the school, invites him out for a drink. He agrees. Back at her office, Clara is briefed by the Twelfth Doctor about a damaged Dalek taken aboard the human rebel ship Aristotle in the future that declares his own race must be destroyed. Clara agrees to assist his efforts to help the "good" Dalek, despite the Doctor's contention that Daleks cannot be turned good.

The Doctor, Clara, and three rebel soldiers are miniaturised so they can enter the Dalek—nicknamed "Rusty" by the Doctor—to determine what is making him good. Entering Rusty, they come upon his "cortex vault", which the Doctor describes as Dalek technology designed to suppress any developing compassion within the living mutant inside the shell, as well as store all of his memories. Rusty, speaking to the Doctor, relates the beauty he had witnessed in the galaxy, including the creation of a star. Rusty drew from this that Daleks must be destroyed for wanting to destroy that beauty. The Doctor repairs Rusty's power cell. This unintentionally erases Rusty's memories and reverts him to his normal thinking pattern. Rusty contacts the Dalek mothership, which sends other Daleks to destroy the rebel ship. Inside Rusty, Clara convinces the Doctor to reconsider his conviction that Daleks are irreversibly "evil". Inside the cortex vault, Clara awakens Rusty's memory of seeing a star's creation. The Doctor then links his mind to Rusty's consciousness, showing him the beauty of the universe. However, Rusty also assimilates the Doctor's own deep-rooted hatred towards the Daleks. Rusty exterminates his fellow Daleks to stop them from destroying the rebel ship, then sends a retreat signal to the Dalek mothership, causing it to believe the Aristotle has self-destructed. The Doctor, disturbed that Rusty saw only hatred within him, becomes distraught that he had failed to create a "good" Dalek. Though Rusty acknowledges that he himself is not a good Dalek, he reassures the Doctor that he is a good Dalek. Rusty then departs to continue his crusade against other Daleks. The Doctor turns down the surviving soldier Journey's offer to travel with him, telling her that he wishes that she was not a soldier, hence re-iterating his non-violent stance. The Doctor returns Clara to her office moments after she left. On leaving, she bumps into Danny, who is glad his being an ex-soldier does not put her off dating him.

Continuity Scenes from "Dalek" (2005) and "Journey's End" (2008) can be seen in the background as the Doctor 'merges' with Rusty's mind. The Doctor refers to his first encounter with the Daleks on Skaro in The Daleks (1963–64).

Production Co-writer and executive producer Steven Moffat conceived the idea while discussing possible concepts for a Doctor Who computer game. The read-through for the episode took place on 17 December 2013, the same day as "Deep Breath". Filming began on 25 January 2014, and took place at the Uskmouth power station, which had previously served as a location for the 2011 Christmas special, "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe". Filming also took place in St Athan, Newport, and a hangar outside Cardiff. Regular filming concluded on 18 February 2014. The last scene to be filmed was the one featuring Gretchen (Laura dos Santos) and Missy (Michelle Gomez), which was filmed concurrently with the similar scene with Half-Face Man from "Deep Breath" on 23 May 2014. Since Wheatley was unavailable on the date, an uncredited Rachel Talalay directed both scenes; she consulted Wheatley and attempted to incorporate his ideas.

Broadcast and reception

Pre-broadcast leak As part of the series 8 leaks, both the script and a rough cut of the episode were leaked online from a server in Miami. Despite the fact that the initial online copy of the episode contained a glitch that prevented downloading, a workable version found its way online by the second week of August 2014.

Promotion Two clips from the episode were featured alongside an interview with Peter Capaldi on BBC News on 7 August 2014. On 25 August, a ten-second clip was released showing the Doctor's reunion with a lone Dalek. The same clips were re-released on 27 August in slightly extended form.

Ratings "Into the Dalek" was watched by 5.2 million viewers in the UK upon its initial transmission, according to unofficial overnight figures, taking a 24.7 per cent share of the entire TV audience and making it the second-highest rated programme of the evening. The episode was watched by 7.29 million people according to the final viewing figures, making it the 2nd most watched programme over the entire week on BBC1 and the 9th most watched over all channels. In the United States, the première airing on BBC America had an audience of 1.22 million viewers, well below the 2.19 million viewers earned on "Deep Breath". The episode received an Audience Appreciation Index score of 84, considered Excellent.

Critical reception

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Into the Dalek

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Into the Dalek claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Into the Dalek before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Into the Dalek ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Into the Dalek

In research: Into the Dalek appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Into the Dalek in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Into the Dalek is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2014 British television episodes, Dalek television stories, Fiction about size change, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Into the Dalek outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Into the Dalek” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Into the Dalek in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Into the Dalek means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Into the Dalek out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Into the Dalek in simple terms?

Why does Into the Dalek matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Into the Dalek?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Into the Dalek.