Which of the classic series Doctors do you think got the closest to having the upper hand over the Daleks, either intellectually or strategically, or even just by luck?

I think McCoy in Remembrance was the closest the Doctor ever got to 'PWNING' the Daleks - although even that was after a bit of a scare. #7 just seemed to have an authority and a 'know-how' and not being taken by surprise.

I guess Baker in Destiny was also like this, but his weaknesses in Genesis negate it to an extent, whereas McCoy was much stronger consistently.

For me, it's a choice of two. William Hartnell and Christopher Eccleston.

Christopher Ecclestons reaction to the daleks always gets me..total fear in his eyes, you can see it..10 and 11 didn't really take them that seriously.

All very true, but since when has CE been a 'classic doctor'?

Got to be McCoy really, considering he deliberately set a trap and blew up Skaro! (Last seen not blown up in 'Asylum...' but it's too late on a Sunday to go into that sort of thing!)

Troughton was pretty devious too under his 'clownish' façade when dealing with them, mind.

It was the sun that he blew up (I would guess cause it to go supernova or some such idea). It wasn't the planet that he was attacking. Davros was looking to use the sun for a power source using the Hand of Omega.

But you are right, McCoy was devious in that he used Davros to destroy Skaro for him. He even warned Davros not to do it which just egged Davros on to pull the trigger.

I think Abslom Daak was better at dealing with the Daleks

I don't think you can answer this question fairly as every Doctor approaches things in a different way.

Take Davros. When he first met him The Doctor, things were quite serious between them, albeit with moments of humour as befitting the show at the time. in Destiny, he is cracking jokes at him as befitting the 17th Season. It's different again in the next story as the Fifth Doctor's more serious interpretation came into play and the battle between them was completely different and more sinister.

Things lightened up when Davros met the Sixth Doctor whom though mainly serious was still cracking jokes at him when the need arose.(Such as offering to shake hands when his had been blown off)

And again the 7th Doctor dealt with him differently by tricking him into blowing up Skaro in keeping with the more manipulative side of his Doctor. And the Tenth was all gobby until faced with who he was then the more serious nature of his Doctor came out.

As for the Daleks themselves, we've seen in the New series how the 9th and 11th Doctors seem to positively loathe them while the Tenth was a bit more light-hearted towards them.

So for me no Doctor was cleverer than another because in certain situations they react to different things in different ways.

It was reflected in dialogue in Remembrance that The Hand Of Omega turned Skaro's sun supernova.

It was also reflected in dialogue that Skaro was vaporised by that supernova.

According to Dalek Caan the planet is "gone... destroyed in a great war". Implying that Skaro was destroyed in the Time War

But then Skaro returned in Asylum of the Daleks as just their abandoned original planet.It could be pre-time war, but it was clearly post-war Daleks and as far as i'm aware the only new era Daleks with time travel are The Cult of Skaro

So Skaro has been destroyed twice? or was it just abandoned?

Didn't 10 hint that he was there when Skaro fell, probably meaning the Time War, but he was at both of its destructions?

I'd imagine Skaro's destruction as home planet of the Daleks would be a big part of Canon but it's apparent destruction seems to be forgotten about or remembered as and when appropriate, especially after we've seen it's destruction in the 7th Doctor serial people have talked about (I'm not that far in the Classic series yet, about to hit 5)

There will be a bit of reconning going on - The BBC novels have there own explanation to what happened to Skaro in Remembrance.

'Dalek Invasion of Earth' and 'Genesis' do the do for me. I can take or leave other classic Dalek stories if I'm honest.

Tom Baker's mis-delivered line "Spack Off" takes some beating...

Perhaps it's part of the nature of the Time War that the Daleks keep changing history to prevent or at least mitigate the destruction of Skaro. (Don't know why the cat but none of the other smilies seemed to fit here either.)

The Daleks use Time Travel in loads of stories.




Davros and his new Daleks stole planets from different points in time so could obviously time travel.



The Daleks at the end of Victory time travelled to build their new Empire.


The Daleks travelled back in time to Stonehenge in The Pandorica Opens.


Amy and Rory (possibly the Doctor as well) were transported through time by the Daleks at the start of Asylum of the Daleks.

Not to mention The Chase.

Interesting one this! The (originally intended) end of the Daleks was "EVIL" with Pat Troughton. Apparently, Jon Pertwee 'hated' daleks - so they were "written off" for the 70's. But due to popular demand (WITHOUT the internet !) - they were brought back for the rest of the duration of the rest of its years. I suppose McCoys "REMEMBRANCE" comes the closest to it by destroying Skaro. But we all saw Davros's 'escape-pod' scooting off! Even then - we all thought..."Ha ha - they'll be back!" There's always a loose-end with those buggers!!
As long as DW lives - THEY will!