With the likelihood that the New Year's special "Resolution" will see the 13th Doctor encounter Daleks for the first time, I thought I'd look back at the Modern series up till now and rank the Dalek-centered episodes. To be considered "dalek-centered", an episode's main plot had to focus around the Daleks, hence cameo appearances in "Day of The Doctor" or "The Pilot" don't count, for example.
9) "Victory Of The Daleks" (S5 Ep. 3)
Matt Smith's 11th doctor didn't have a good run of dalek episodes, with "Victory of the Daleks" being the weakest effort. For one, it's a bit of a rehash of the classic "Power Of The Daleks". On top of that, the episode seemed to introduce a new design that was solely made for merchandising, with the colorful daleks. And not to delve too much into the plot, but it was pretty scattered and all over the place.
8) "Daleks In Manhattan"/ "Evolution Of The Daleks" (S3 Eps. 4 & 5)
This provided a rather interesting plot point (half human/half dalek, that isn't looking for pure destruction), but it failed in its execution. Set in 1930 New York, there were a lot of stereotypes thrown in, like Tallulah's accent for starters. And while the "half human/half dalek" element sounds interesting, its conclusion is predictable in that daleks would ultimately never allow for such a thing.
7) "Asylum Of The Daleks" (S7 Ep. 1)
From here on out, it got tougher to rank these, with the remaining being rather solid and re-watchable episodes. The only thing that brings down Asylum is the side-plot of Amy & Rory's separation. It seemed to just get thrown in there out of nowhere without making a whole lot of sense, even with the eventual explanation.
But in terms of the Dalek-centered storyline, it was rather interesting exploring this asylum of battle-scarred/mad daleks. Along with that, we got our first sort of intro to Clara in the form of Oswin Oswald, as despite being turned into a dalek, she fights to keep her humanity by living in a fantasy of sorts.
6) "Stolen Earth"/ "Journey's End" (S4. Eps 12 & 13)
This was a rather bombastic finale, with Earth itself being moved and reality itself being put in jeopardy. We also saw the return of Davros, and what gave this an extra oomph to the story was seeing the Doctor's and Sarah Jane's reaction to his return. You can rightfully criticize this finale for being a bit "fan-wankish", but as stated, its a bombastic, big finale that paces itself pretty well.
The one drawback I'll always have of this though was the conclusion of Rose ending up with the "Half-human" Doctor clone. That particularly felt like something you would have seen in fan-fiction.
5) "Into The Dalek" (S8 Ep. 2)
This was a really fascinating episode. We got a look inside an actual Dalek in a way never seen before. We also saw the mood of the 12th Doctor, and how it would play out throughout this season. With "Into The Dalek" and "Mummy On the Orient Express" the 12th Doctor shows a lack of compassion as he uses peoples' deaths to solve the problem at hand. "Into The Dalek" also brought forth an interesting philosophy, with Rusty saying that he isn't a good dalek, but the Doctor is in fact a "good dalek".
4) "Dalek" (S1, Ep. 6)
There was a lot on the line here, reintroducing the daleks to the modern series. Their return could have easily been some over-the-top affair, which is why it was pleasant to see how "Dalek" played out, with the interactions between the 9th Doctor, Rose and this one dalek, chained up. We got to see how the Doctor, not far removed from the time war interacted with it, and see Rose's compassion at first of this Dalek, believing to be the last one left.
3) "Doomsday" (S2, Ep. 13)
The first part of this finale was largely cybermen based, but "Doomsday" saw the interaction of daleks and the cybermen. There was a nice bit of back and forth when they first communicate, with some sassiness from the Daleks behalf.
"Doomsday" also had the tough task of saying farewell to Rose. Unlike in "Journey's End", Rose's farewell was well done, hitting all the right points.
2) "The Parting Of The Ways" (S1, Ep. 13)
This finale as well had a tough task of after just 1 season, saying goodbye to the 9th Doctor. It also marked the first big Dalek episode in Modern Who, in terms of the stakes at hand. The Doctor has to decide if its worth it to annihilate Earth in order to wipe out the Daleks once and for all (a similar obstacle the Doctor had to deal with during the Time War).
1) "The Magician's Apprentice"/ "The Witch's Familiar" (S9, Eps 1 &2)
This saw the return of Davros, and Skaro (the Daleks home world). There were a lot of interesting elements to this two-parter, from Clara and Missy's adventures, to the 12th Doctor's interactions with a young Davros who he ends up saving from battle (in the hopes of adding just a bit of compassion to the Daleks in the future).
What really puts this on top for me, is the dialogue between The Doctor and Davros during "The Witch's Familiar". The two are just one on one, gaming each other for the majority of the episode.
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