Though Doctor Who season 11 was a smashing success, it did have a few criticisms lobbed against it from the fanbase, and one of the biggest was the lack of classic monsters.
Yes, due to showrunner Chris Chibnall’s desire to usher in a new era of the sci-fi series, he decided to do away with the Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels and all the other foes that we’ve come to love over the years. This means that Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor got to tackle a fresh set of enemies and challenges, and even though some of them were pretty entertaining to watch, fans still longed for their favorite monsters from past seasons.
Well, as expected, the Daleks finally made their return in today’s New Year special, “Resolution.” We won’t dive too much into their role in the episode as we don’t want to spoil things for those who haven’t seen it, but following its premiere, the BBC released the first photo of Doctor Who‘s new take on the classic enemy, and you can see it for yourself down below.
Though the Daleks still sport the same classic design first conceived by Terry Nation and Raymind Cusick, there are certainly a number of small atheistic changes that’ve been made here. And that’s only appropriate given that, as we said above, this is a new era of Doctor Who.
Radio Times has a great article that dives into all the many modifications that’ve been applied, but given that their overall design is still one that we’re mostly familiar with, we can’t see too many people taking issue with the changes that Chibnall and his team have made. Not to mention that the story of “Resolution” does a good job in explaining the new look.
And besides, most fans are probably just happy to see the Daleks again regardless of how they appear, given the lack of them in season 11. With any luck, then, Chibnall will make good on his tease from the other day and bring back even more classic monsters when Doctor Who returns in 2020.
