except that I'm not so sure how many of them would have stood up to a Doctor who was pointing a gun in their direction
Sarah Jane would have.

Not that he hasn't been averse to actually killing monsters in the past...
You mean like last episode? Oh you mean like the earlier doctors. I remember the Doc used to off one a serial minimum. But bad ones like Sontarans.

Go Rose!
Heh. Wait till next episode.

Didn't she play Osirus in Stargate?
Yep. Well spotted.

Heh. Wait till next episode.
Hmmm, that either means that she really messes something up, or that she does something outstanding...

Ooops! Mean the ep after next.

This is like Christmas when i was a kid. I'd take my sister's present, put t in a large box with a brick, toss in three marbles and gift wrap it all up so it would be heavy and rattle.

That's evil, man.

Even worse than wrapping up layer upon layer of boxes and wrapping, only to have nothing inside, because the actual present was a rare stamp taped inside one of the outer layers of wrapping paper. One of my brothers did that to one of my other brothers once...

Can't talk about Doctor Who - am avoiding spoilers, boo hoo - but glad to see your virtual presence. :)

(waves)

Hmmm, that assistant of the billionare. Didn't she play Osirus in Stargate?

Dunno, but she was very good in Dalek. Almost every episode seems to have had a strong female character in it, even if you discount Rose.

I loved that ep too (and all of them so far) and I definitely like the darkness they show behind this Doctor's amiable likable appearance.

This Doctor is darker than any other, in that respect. Doc #6 may be disagreeable, selfish and unlikeable, Doc #7 may be Machiavellian, but confront Doc #9 with a Dalek and he loses it...

If the other Doctors had been through what he had, then maybe they would have been the same. (Being deliberately vague to avoid any spoilers for those yet to see the new series.)

I know!

Dalek woobie!

Wargh!

Although at times I found it really hard to work out what the Dalek was saying... possibly cause the poor thing was so traumatised that the voice distortion got even more... deformed... disfigured.. Something beginning with 'D' =P

Or maybe because this one was saying more than just "Exterminate!" and "I obey!"...?

"You would make a very good Dalek." Ouch!

Heh. Would you believe I made the identical comment ("Ouch!" and all) in my own LJ?

I found myself siding with the Dalek in this episode. *raises eyebrows* I propose we form a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Daleks. *g*

I also found the Doctor's confession that he had killed the Daleks (and the Time Lords!) fascinating. He must be carrying a load of guilt around, along with everything else - poor Doctor! And bearing this in mind his "darkness" in this episode follows naturally - he has to believe in his mission to destroy absolute evil in order to preserve his own sanity. Double ouch!

I've reminisced about Dalek's past in my LJ...

I also found the Doctor's confession that he had killed the Daleks (and the Time Lords!) fascinating. He must be carrying a load of guilt around, along with everything else - poor Doctor!

And the remark that he was the sole survivor "not by choice" makes one wonder if he had expected to die in that final conflagration himself, sacrificing himself to save the universe just like Omega was thought to have sacrificed himself to set up the Eye of Harmony.
Maybe, it could be that it was that last battle that caused the Doctor's regeneration from 8th to 9th, but we'll probably never know.

he has to believe in his mission to destroy absolute evil in order to preserve his own sanity.

But in one sense, he's not wrong about the Daleks -- because that Last Dalek had to become something other than a Dalek in order to become something better than itself. And yet the total irony that this was the worst fate that a Dalek could concieve -- to become not-Dalek. No wonder it wanted to kill itself; it would be like, to a human being, suddenly becoming half-Dalek, or like becoming a werewolf; to have one's selfness invaded by something alien.

Which just shows that this episode is creepy yet again, for making me actually try to put myself in a Dalek's tentacles!

But, getting back to the Doctor's belief in the evil of the Daleks, well, they are evil. They have all the worst characteristics of robots and organic beings -- as logical as robots, and as fanatical and hating as any racial supremist that ever lived, yet the roboticism prevents their fanaticism leading them into tactical error.

They're also very good at lying, since, if you look at earlier adventures with Daleks in them, you do keep on coming across dupes who betray their fellows because they believe the promises the Daleks give them, even though the Daleks have absolutely no intention of keeping said promises. Probably helps that they speak in a monotone, I suppose (and have no body language).

Well that's the problem with putting an individual "face" on a Dalek. :-) You start "putting yourself in their tentacles" rather than seeing them as faceless destroyers.

The difference, I think, between the Doctor's reaction to the Dalek in this episode to the Doctor's reaction in previous incarnations, is that it has become personal. He has become motivated by hate, and a fanatical zeal to ... I have to say it - "exterminate". In short, I think what is motivating him is no longer an impartial desire to save the universe from evil, but a desire for revenge. And buried underneath that, I suspect is a bit of survivor guilt, which he is shifting onto the Daleks - this Dalek in particular.

The difference, I think, between the Doctor's reaction to the Dalek in this episode to the Doctor's reaction in previous incarnations, is that it has become personal.

Oh yes, I wouldn't disagree with that at all. You could tell that from the start, when we had that total 180 degree reversal in his attitude from "I'm here to help" (when he thought it was just a random alien) to how he reacted when he realized it was a Dalek.