Doctor Who: How this post-credits cliffhanger brilliantly sets up a major Dalek story

Post-credits scenes are rare in Doctor Who. But there’s one particularly brilliant example that sets up an iconic Dalek story…

Let’s be honest, we love a good post-credits moment. I’m sure many of you reading this enjoy a good superhero movie almost as much as a good Doctor Who story.

With the former, it’s hard not to think of the genre without thinking of “post-credits scene” afterwards, mostly thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ever since Nick Fury told Tony Stark that he wanted to talk to him about “the Avengers Initiative”, fans have almost been as eager to watch how a scene sets up a future movie as they have been to watch the film itself.

With something like Doctor Who, however – or TV series in general – post-credits cliffhangers are extremely rare, if in fact non-existent. And honestly, I can’t think of a single one on for any Doctor Who stories on television.

However, there is a story that does use the post-credits ending perfectly. It’s a key moment that works on several levels, and is a brilliant way to end a really fantastic story.

The story is Across the Darkened City by David Bartlett. Released in 2017 as part of The Companion Chronicles: The First Doctor Volume Two box set, the story is an excellent and rather different kind of Dalek story.

The story explores what happens when a companion – in this case, Steven Taylor – has been separated from the Doctor and stranded on a distant world. To get back to his friends, he has to work with someone. Or rather, something. The last thing he should ever trust in the universe: a Dalek…

(Spoilers follow.)

On a distant world, Steven is forced to work with a single Dalek to survive. But can he really trust it?

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

Across the Darkened City

The story begins literally in the middle of things: Steven has been captured by the Daleks and forced to work as a slave on board one of their ships. Eventually, he decides the only hope of escape is by crashing the ship on the planet Shade.

He survives the crash, but comes close to being exterminated by a Dalek for his sabotage…but instead, he’s saved by another Dalek, one that still sees a use for him. This one is also more genetically advanced, and refers to itself as “Genetic Variant Two-One-Zero”.

Despite saving his life and even destroying the other Dalek, Steven is initially completely against trusting it. However, the only way off the planet is by transmat, and the nearest one they can find is across a huge city covered in darkness. Worse, there’s a highly dangerous race on this world, the Chaons, ready to attack both human and Dalek.

Two-One-Zero is badly damaged and unable to move or even fire its weapon. But it is able to see in the darkness, and knows how to use the transmat. Reluctantly, Steven decides to help it. But can he truly trust a Dalek?

Trust

Initially, it looks like the two are able to work together. Because Two-One-Zero is genetically superior and more intelligent, it has more independent thought than your usual Dalek. It understands the nature and importance of trust, and even when it gets the full use of its weapon back, it’s not in a hurry to kill Steven.

Across the course of the story, Steven helps to save its life a couple of times. Initially, this is mainly to ensure that he’s at least able to reach the transmat safely.

But towards the end of the story, when he’s forced to move Two-One-Zero out of its casing, by the time they reach the transmat, he realizes that it’s dying. Instead of leaving it behind, he finds an empty Dalek casing and transfers the mutant to it.

Betrayal

Unfortunately, that’s when Two-One-Zero reveals its true colors. Now that they’ve reached the transmat, Steven’s usefulness has ended. It attacks Steven, but he manages to send it to Skaro, just before he teleports himself to Entropica where the Doctor and Vicki are. He’s disappointed that the Dalek didn’t seem to learn anything, and proved to be just as untrustworthy as the rest of them. But he’s glad to be reunited with his true friends.

As for Two-One-Zero? It lands on Skaro safely, but due to the fact that it’s in the wrong casing, the other Daleks don’t recognize it. It appears that, after all it had done to get back, Two-One-Zero was going to be exterminated as a result of the Daleks failing to recognize it…

So that’s the end of the story. Steven makes it home safely, the Dalek turns out to be evil all along, and it looks like it suffered a perfect karmic death. A neat and tidy resolution, right?

But then the post-credits scene comes along. And it’s a single moment that changes everything.

(Again, spoilers follow, so if you really don’t want to know this story’s shocking twist, stop reading now.)

Across the Darkened City ends with a major revelation concerning one of its characters…

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

The twist

There’s a rather popular trope in fiction called, “The end changes everything”. I think we all love this kind of ending – the kind where you think you know what the story is, until you reach the ending, and the story changes completely.

That’s what the post-credits scene does for Across the Darkened City. Up until that moment, the story seems to be just about Steven learning to trust a Dalek, before that Dalek inevitably betrays him. And it is. But it’s also about far more than that.

In the additional scene, it’s revealed that Genetic Variant Two-One-Zero has survived. In fact, it was the only one of the genetic variants to survive. When the Daleks on Skaro finally recognize it, they transfer it to a new enhanced container…and what that container is becomes instantly clear when it speaks these words:

"I am the superior Dalek…I am your Emperor!"

That’s right. Steven hadn’t just worked with any Dalek, but the Dalek that was destined to be the Emperor of the Daleks. He had worked hard to save the life of a Dalek that would expand their empire further than ever before, and he’d never even know it.

The road to Evil…

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Even better is how, as with any good post-credits moment, it actually sets up a “sequel”. In this case, a story that many fans will be familiar with already: The Evil of the Daleks. The Emperor’s experiences with Steven taught it a great deal about “the Human Factor”, something it wanted to study much, much further. This becomes a key plot point in the chronologically later story.

Moments like this are incredibly rare in Doctor Who. But it has to be said, Across the Darkened City‘s post-credits moment is definitely effective. Both changing the ending and leading into an absolutely iconic Dalek story, it’s a key moment that really shows exactly what the audios can do.

It’s not the only reason why Across the Darkened City is an essential listen – like I said, it’s a very strong story in its own right. But the story’s epilogue is a perfectly handled moment, one that I hope is done again in later Doctor Who releases.

Do you think Doctor Who stories should feature post-credits scenes, if it feels right for the story? Could it work at all on television? Do you think any past stories would’ve benefited from such a scene? Let us know in the comments below.