The Blitz is bad enough — now add “pepper pots with plungers” and see how morale holds up.
Short Synopsis
The Doctor and Amy visit WWII London to find Winston Churchill happily parading Daleks around as Britain’s ultimate new weapon. Spoiler: they are not Britain’s ultimate new weapon. They’re just biding time until they can reboot their brand and roll out a new line of pastel-colored Daleks.
Extended Storyline
We open in 1941, London. Air raid sirens, planes overhead, people huddled in bunkers — the usual. But Churchill’s got a secret weapon to fight back against the Luftwaffe: Daleks. Yes, Daleks, introduced to Parliament like they’re the newest members of Cabinet. Imagine Churchill saying, “We shall fight them on the beaches, we shall fight them with murder-toasters!”
Naturally, the Doctor shows up seconds later, because if there’s one thing he knows, it’s that Daleks are never the good guys. He bursts into Churchill’s war rooms, flailing his arms and shouting, “Stop this madness, they’re evil!” while everyone else looks at him like he’s just gate-crashed the wrong meeting with too much coffee in his system.
The twist? These Daleks are introducing themselves as “Ironsides” — helpful, subservient, and cheerfully chirping, “I am your soldier!” while cheerfully trundling around with tiny Union Jack flags painted on their sides. It’s like Stepford Daleks. You’d half expect them to offer tea and biscuits.
Amy, crucially, points out she’s never seen a Dalek before (which is odd, given her entire planet nearly got invaded by them last season). But more on that little continuity wrinkle later.
The Doctor, unconvinced by the “friendly Dalek” routine, tries to expose them. His brilliant plan? Whack one repeatedly with a massive spanner, screaming “I know what you are!” Which, to be fair, is exactly the kind of science experiment the Eleventh Doctor would perform.
Finally, he shouts the words “I am the Doctor, and you are the Daleks!” — basically yelling their safe word. That’s all it takes for them to drop the act. They broadcast his rant to space, activating a Progenitor Device — a fancy Dalek egg that hatches… new Daleks. Bigger, shinier, chunkier ones. In bright primary colors.
Enter: the New Paradigm Daleks. They look like Dalek action figures designed by Fisher-Price. Red, yellow, white, blue — it’s the Teletubbies of extermination. Fan reaction was… mixed. Some said “fresh new design.” Others said “Who ordered the Skittles?”
Back on Earth, the original “Ironsides” Daleks taunt the Doctor into a moral dilemma. The Progenitor Device won’t activate unless they can prove they are “true Daleks.” How do they do that? By baiting the Doctor into confirming their Dalek-ness. Which he, of course, does. Whoops.
Meanwhile, to raise the stakes, the Daleks start powering up their laser to obliterate London. Humanity is defenseless, except for Professor Bracewell, Churchill’s resident Scottish genius scientist. Tiny snag: he’s secretly an android. The Daleks built him as part of their scheme, complete with a bomb in his chest. Subtle.
Amy manages to talk him out of detonating by reminding him of his “humanity” — which is apparently triggered by memories of his love life. Nothing like weaponized romance to save the day.
In orbit, the Doctor faces off against the new Daleks, but — plot twist — he doesn’t destroy them. Because, of course, if he does, London gets fried. So the candy-colored Daleks escape, promising to rebuild their empire. And so begins the Dalek reset for the Matt Smith era.
Churchill, meanwhile, tries to steal the TARDIS key on his way out, because apparently Winston has sticky fingers.