Cheers for me is really the premier American sitcom. Nearly every major sitcom since has taken from it in some way or another and it continues to win new fans through reruns and DVD releases.

It has left an incredible legacy through its massive influence on popular culture and also its spin off Frasier which lasted 11 years as well.

I myself did not grow up with Cheers. In fact I was born many years after it had finished its original run. I grew up with Frasier and obviously it was through Frasier that I discovered Cheers.

Cheers may seem somewhat dated for today’s audiences, but by and large I think it can still have a broad appeal, as overall the bar the main characters frequent is almost like a bubble outside of the real world.

I think that’s the key to creating a truly timeless sitcom is to create a whole unique little world for its characters to inhabit. Examples of this course include Craggy Island in Father Ted, the bookshop in Black Books, and the main characters apartments in Friends.

Cheers I think absolutely succeeded in creating its own world and that among other reasons is why it has lasted.

In this article I will be giving my opinions on Cheers, reviewing all of its characters, the 10 best episodes (in my opinion) and ultimately what its legacy is.

Overview

Cheers ran for 11 seasons from 1982-93. It was created by James Burrows, Glen  and Les Charles. Originally the creators had considered remaking Fawlty Towers, but decided to make their remake its own series about a bar when they realized all of the scenes in their remake took place in the Hotels bar. Among the other influences on Cheers were The Mary Taylor Moore Show and the radio show Duffy’s Tavern.

The show revolved around the bar Cheers which was run by retired baseball player Sam Malone played by Ted Danson. Though Sam had once been a very successful and talented player his career came to an end due to his alcoholism.

He bought the bar Cheers when he was an alcoholic and still holds on to it after he becomes sober for sentimental reasons. His former Coach and close friend, the slow witted but sweet natured Ernie Pantuso played by the late Nicholas Colassanto is a bartender there, whilst Cheers two waitresses are the volatile Carla Tortelli played by Rhea Pearlman and the kind hearted, but pretentious and snobbish Diane Chambers who ends up working at the bar when her fiance jilts her in the pilot episode.

The bar is frequented by lazy slob Norm Peterson played by George Wendt and know nothing know it all Cliff Clavin played by John Ratzenberger. Cliff and Norm are best friends whilst Carla though scornful of everyone, dislikes both Diane and Cliff in particular, with both of them being the recipients of her extreme verbal and at times physical cruelty.

Whilst Sam is portrayed as being a washed up ball player, he is still a hero to the patrons and staff at Cheers (except for Diane) not only for his sports career, but also due to his many sexual conquests which he is fond of boasting about.

The shows first season revolves around the underlying sexual tension between Sam and Diane whilst the second season sees Sam and Diane enter into an awkward romantic relationship with one another. At the end of the second season the two have a bad break up and Diane leaves Cheers and suffers a complete mental breakdown afterwards.

She later falls for her psychiatrist Dr Frasier Crane played by Kelsey Grammer and returns to the bar at the start of season 3 along with Frasier in order to help Sam recover from his relapse into alcoholism after his painful break up with Diane. Diane eventually comes back to working at Cheers and Frasier also begins to frequent the bar too due to his relationship with Diane.

Series 3 revolves mostly around the love triangle between Sam, Diane and Frasier. Despite their different personalities and their feud over Diane, Frasier and Sam end up becoming friends, and eventually best friends in later seasons.

Series 3 ends with Diane and Frasier about to get married whilst Sam tries to break it up having realized he is still in love with her.

In season 4 we discover that Sam never managed to make it to their wedding, whilst Diane jilted Frasier at the altar. Frasier later shows up at the bar angry at Sam whom he blames for all his woes. Despite this however he and Sam still remain friends and Frasier continues to frequent the bar eventually becoming one of the gang developing friendships with Norm and Cliff and Carla over their shared hatred of Diane. Diane once again returns to work at Cheers and though she and Sam maintain that they are over one another, the end of series 4 sees Sam propose to Diane. Series 4 also sees Woody Boyd played by Woody Harrelson replace Coach as Cheers bartender. Nicholas Collasanto sadly passed away just before the end of series 3 and thus the character of Coach passes away in between series 3 and 4.

Woody is similarly portrayed as a slow witted, but sweet natured character, though he is much younger than Coach, and where as Coach served as a mentor figure to Sam, Woody is more like a surrogate little brother to Sam and greatly looks up to him.

Season 5 sees Diane at first reject Sam’s proposal only to realize that she was wrong. She then spends the next half a season trying to win him back until he eventually relents (after a court case!) and the two decide to get married.

Series 5 also sees the introduction of Fraiser Crane’s love interest the cold natured, logical psychiatrist Dr Lilith Sternin played by Bebe Neuwirth.

The end of series 5 sees Diane not marry Sam after she gets a deal to publish a book she has writte. Though at first she states she would rather marry Sam, Sam eventually tells her that she should pursue her dream and she leaves the bar for good.

After his finale break up from Diane, Sam sells Cheers and buys a boat that he goes sailing around the world with. His boat sinks and he returns to Cheers where he is eventually able to convince its new manager Rebecca Howe played by Kirsty Alley whom Sam is enamoured with to give him a job as a bartender.

Initially Rebecca is portrayed as a cold, ice woman much like Lilith Sternin, but as time goes on she is shown to be more emotionally unstable and a total screw up. Over the course of her time there she loses the bar’s liquor license gets fired twice, and eventually burns the entire bar to the ground by accident.

Over the course of the next several series all of the characters undergo major changes in their lives. Frasier and Lilith get married and have a son called Frederick, whilst Woody also gets married to an equally slow, but kind hearted millionaire Kelly Gaines whilst Carla also gets married to a former Hockey player Eddie LeBec who is eventually killed in a tragic accident. Sam meanwhile also not only has a rather nasty feud with neighbouring bar Gary’s old Town Tavern, but also with his upstairs neighbour John Hill who takes great delight in tormenting Sam, but also ends up having a relationship of sorts with the widowed Carla.

In the shows final series Rebecca finally manages to find love with a plumber whilst Lilith cheats on Frasier and leaves him. However Lilith eventually returns to him by the end of the shows run though the man who she left Frasier for Dr Pascal goes insane and even threatens Frasier and the gang at Cheers with a gun when she tries to return to Frasier before being arrested.

The final episode sees Diane now a successful award winning writer return to Cheers where she attempts to reconcile her relationship with Sam only for the two of them to realize that they will never be able to make it work.

Initially Cheers was something of a ratings disaster finishing 74th out of 77 places. However its strong critical acclaim as well as its Summer reruns helped the shows ratings improve to the point where it eventually became one of the most popular television series of all time by the end of its run. The final ever episode of Cheers was watched by over 90 million people in the US alone.

Following the end of Cheers a spin off devoted to the character of Frasier Crane began airing in 1993. Frasier as it was known saw the good Doctor divorce from Lilith and move to his home town of Seattle where he becomes a successful Radio Psychiatrist. Frasier would ultimately run for 11 seasons until 2004. Though Frasier was mostly divorced from Cheers many characters from Cheers did still make guest appearances in Frasier.

Lilith Sternin not surprisingly appeared the most, appearing in 12 episodes in total of Frasier and almost an episode per season. Diane Chambers appeared in 4 episodes, whilst Sam Malone and Woody Boyd appeared in an episode each.

Finally Cliff Claven, Carla Tortelli, Norm Peterson and Paul Krapance, a barfly played by Paul Wilson who became a major recurring character in Cheers later years, all appeared in a season 10 episode “Cheerful Goodbyes” set in Boston 10 years after Cheers had finished its run.

In addition to Frasier there was also another short lived spin off centering around Carla’s sleazy ex husband Nick Tortelli title “The Tortelli’s”. Cheers also had a number of crossovers with an another American sitcom called Wings with the characters of Frasier Crane, Lilith Sternin, Cliff Clavin, Norm Peterson and Rebecca Howe all appearing in different episodes of Wings. Finally there was also a Spanish remake of Cheers which was released in 2011 whilst another Irish language remake is currently in the works.

Best Seasons

Now obviously this is purely subjective, but still I feel that Cheers in contrast to its spin off Frasier whose quality declined somewhat in its final seasons, actually got better in its later years. Whenever I pop on a Cheers DVD its always the later seasons I go to first and whenever I want to introduce one of my friends to the show then it is the later years I show them.

I suppose Cheers can really be divided into two eras. The Diane Chambers years season 1-5 and the Rebecca Howe years seasons 6-11.

Whilst I am clearly a bigger fan of the Rebecca years, I will admit that I think that the Diane years are probably the ones people remember more. Sam and Diane were really the first Ross and Rachel, Leonard and Penny the big comedic romance, so I think that’s probably why they tended to stick in peoples memory more.

However still when you actually watch the Sam and Diane years back I just don’t think they hold up as well as Rebecca’s time on the show.

To start with I never really bought them as a couple. I know the whole point was meant to be despite their incompatibility they were still in love, but still I think the writers made them seem too incompatible. In this respect I think they were like Niles and Daphne from Frasier another couple I could just never buy, which is similarly why the later years of Frasier were not quite as good as the earlier seasons for me.

Another reason I didn’t like Sam and Diane was because I felt they overshadowed the other characters a bit too much. The Sam and Diane story was so overwhelming that other characters I don’t think really got a chance to breathe as much until after it had ended.

Also I found the Sam and Diane storyline to be quite tedious at times too. It did have its moments, but overall it got very repetitive. They liked each other but didn’t admit it, then they were together, then they were apart and liked each other but didn’t admit it, then they were together and then apart and liked each other but didn’t admit it. That was basically the show for 5 seasons.

I also didn’t enjoy the lady and the tramp dynamic Sam and Diane had either.

The series I liked the best out of the Sam and the Diane years was actually the finale one series 5. I felt that this was actually the only time Sam and Diane seemed to work. It might have been because the writers knew that they were coming to an end of the story due to Shelly Long’s leaving the series so rather than simply try and prolong it like they had done for series 1-4 here they actually rounded it off. I also think in series 5 they make Diane more fun too, by making her go more crazy. In the first 4 series Diane is portrayed as the voice of reason and the sophisticated one with her mental health problems being taken seriously. However in series 5 Diane’s neurosis get out of control as seen in the episode “Simon Says” where she drives John Cleese’s character to a mental breakdown and thus she actually becomes more hilarious.

In all fairness to Diane however its not just because of the whole Sam and Diane story that series 1-5 are weaker, but also because I feel that these years overall are more overtly sentimental and somewhat dated.

The reason the earlier Cheers are more dated is because I feel they tended to touch on more topical issues than the later years did. For instance the episode “Boys in the Bar” though groundbreaking at the time might seem somewhat dated by todays standards. Its not that its homophobic its the very opposite, but its just the idea of the main characters being portrayed as homophobic to get the point it makes across about how homophobia can sadly spring up in many situations even among normally decent people might seem a little bit odd in say a modern sitcom like “The Big Bang Theory”. Imagine watching Leonard and Howard not want a gay man to work with them to show how homophobia can exist in a workplace. Like I said it would seem a little bit off, it was actually a very risky episode to do way back in 1982, but nowadays I don’t think anyone would really have the guts to do a story like that that casts their main characters who are normally decent people in such a negative light.

There is also more focus on Sam’s career as a baseball player too, which again helps to date it, and also make it I feel somewhat more inaccessible overseas too.

Finally these earlier years are far too mushy in a lot of places for my liking. I must admit I do not like it when sitcoms get too mushy. It may be because I am British and our sitcoms tend to be the very opposite of sentimental. The likes of Bottom, Black Books and Fawlty Towers could not be more cold and unfeeling. That’s really the difference between British and American sitcoms is that British sitcoms do tend to feature more horrible characters, whilst the characters in American sitcoms tend to be more likable. Normally I don’t mind it except when it gets a bit too mushy which I feel the first few seasons of Cheers did too often.

Of course again don’t think this means I dislike the earlier years, but I do think Cheers vastly improves from season 6 on in quite a number of big ways.

To start with Rebecca is a much better character than Diane and a much better foil for Sam Malone. The thing about Sam is I think he needs someone to really put him in his place. He is the big cocky womanizer who never stops going on about how irresistable he is so its always fun watching someone, particularly a woman take him down a peg or two. Diane never really did that. She insulted him frequently yes, but ultimately she always gave into his macho charm and often the point was her hostility towards him was simply masking her attraction and even love for him.

Rebecca however never fell for his charm at all. Instead she always put him in his place and often humiliated him in front of the rest of the gang. Among the most hilarious examples of this include the season 6 episode “Kiss Off” where Rebecca tricks Sam and Woody into kissing one another and “Sisterly Love” where she makes Sam believe she has killed her sister. I think Rebecca really caused Ted Danson to up his performance. He had always of course been excellent in the role of Sam, but opposite Rebecca I think he was able to bring a more physical aspect to his performance and show us a more humorously pathetic side to Sam Malone. During the Diane years Sam was a more romantic character. As I said he and Diane had a real Lady and the Tramp thing going on. During the Rebecca years however his obsession with her was not romantic, it was just shallow and we saw him resort to cheap tricks to try and win Rebecca over, which almost always blew up in his face and left him at various points kissing Woody, crying at the thought of Rebeca murdering her sister or chained up in a lift with his trousers pulled down in front of people.

Also Rebecca’s story arc was more interesting to me. It was quite fun watching this powerful ice woman degenerate into a complete train wreck by the end of the shows run. Rebecca changed a lot more over the course of her time on the show than Diane did. Its hard to imagine the Rebecca we see at the start whom everyone, even Carla is intimidated by as being the same person as the desperate mess who screams like a petulant child at her father in series 11. With Diane however in her first appearance she is a pretentious snob who clearly has a thing for Sam and in her finale appearance she is a pretentious snob who clearly has a thing for Sam.

During the Rebecca years the other characters at the bar I think were also given more to do as well. Rebecca’s storyline didn’t smother the rest of the cast like the Sam and Diane story line did. For instance in Rebecca’s time we saw Frasier get married, have a son, saw his marriage with Lilith break down and him ultimately have to face Lilith’s ex who pulled a gun on him. Woody meanwhile we saw get married, become an actor and eventually enter into politics. Carla we saw get married and then have to deal with her husbands death and enter into a twisted relationship with John Hill. Even with Cliff we saw more of his mother Ma Clavin, who proved to be a wonderful character and his home life too. There were also more minor characters introduced during these years too.  Paul a barfly became a major supporting character in the later seasons and proved to be a brilliant foil for Norm and Cliff. Woody’s love interest Kelly Gaines and her family as well as Henri, the rude French man who regularly tries to steal Kelly away from Woody, also became regular supporting characters too and were responsible for some of the most hilarious moments in the shows history, such as Henri’s attempts to marry Kelly. Just listening to Henri say “I am going to steal your girlfriend” in his Inspector Clueso voice is enough to make me chuckle in itself. Rebecca’s love interest Robin Colcort also became a prominent supporting character and had many great moments too such as his chess match with Sam or his tricking the bar into turning on each other in his finale appearance. Then there was John Hill who is one of my all time favorite characters and was just the perfect nemesis for Sam. Watching him drive Sam insane is absolute comedy gold and is another example of Ted Danson’s performance really benefiting from being able to interact with other characters besides Diane. Much like with Henri all John Hill has to do is say Sam in such an obnoxious fashion to make me laugh every single time. Gary Sam’s other nemesis though introduced during the Diane years was given more to do in the last 6 years. Similarly Lilith and Eddie Carla’s husband and Ma Clavin though all introduced during Diane’s time also became more prominent in the Rebecca years too.

The reason they were able to introduce these supporting characters or give previous supporting characters more screen time during the Rebecca years was simply because they didn’t have to make everything focus around this big love story. Thus the stories and the characters were considerably more varied in season 6-11.

The Rebecca years I feel were also far less mushy. The storylines were generally wilder and more surreal during Rebecca’s time and finally they also didn’t try and touch on topical issues as much. The Rebecca years took place in their own crazy world where anything could happen and as a result they are the years of the show that I don’t think have really dated at all and are certainly more accessible to modern audiences.

Thus if I were to rate my favorite seasons I would say it would probably go like this.

Season 11 is probably my favorite as I think it contains the greatest episodes, as well as one of my all time favorite story arcs with the Lilith and Frasier breaking up storyline.

Season 10 would be my second favorite season as again I think it simply has a very strong number of episodes and an excellent mix of supporting characters too. There are plenty of good Lilith and Frasier episodes this year too, who were always my favorite Cheers couple.

Season 6 would be next up as I really feel this is when the show came into its own. That’s not to say the first 5 years were bad, but this is really when I think the show finally found its identity, not as a show simply about an incompatible couple, but a whole bar full of very different people.

Season 7 is next up as I think this is when the Rebecca character really becomes the insane klutz we all know and love. The final episode which sees her go insane and have to be carried out whilst screaming at a lecherous colleague of Frasiers is one of my all time favorite Cheers moments.

Season 8 I think is a great series as its really when we see a lot of interesting changes in a lot of the main characters lives such as Frasier’s son being born.

Season 9 meanwhile was again a good solid season with plenty of stand out episodes and again much like 10 and 11 it benefits from a good mix of characters.

Season 5 is the best of the Diane years in my opinion. There are still a few tedious Sam and Diane episodes, but it feels almost like a prototype of the Rebecca years as more characters are beginning to get more air time. There are some absolute classics this year such as “Simon Says” and “Dinner at Eightish”, and Diane is a much more humorous character this year, with her negative qualities really being played up like never before.

Season 1, though this is the series that is most of its time. It still nevertheless is probably the season of the Sam and the Diane years that gives everyone a lot to do. Even though it is still very Sam and Diane heavy it does give other characters  chance to shine too and Coach is a very likable character and a great foil to Sam. Less intelligent than him, but also somewhat older and wiser too.

Season 4 though not the strongest series does still have a few notable high points such as the introduction of Lilith and also seeing Frasier go from the unlikable, pompous snob from season 3 to the likable pompous snob in season 4 and all seasons of Cheers and Frasier from that point on is quite interesting.

Season 2 a fairly mediocre season. This is when the balled of Sam and Diane really started to become tedious and even at places quite creepy. There are some good episodes here and there, but this is not that great a season for me overall.

Season 3 the worst season of Cheers in my opinion, this season has the highest number of poor episodes for me. Also the main characters seem a bit too unlikable this year. Sam seems like a bit of a creep, Diane seems selfish, Frasier seems condescending and arrogant, but not in a funny way like he later would. Also the atmosphere at the bar seems a lot less friendly too. Perhaps this is because of the behind the scenes tragedy of Nicholas Collasanto’s illness and eventual death. Finally this series is when the show I think was at its most soap operaish Whatever the case this is the only season of Cheers 11 year run that I actually largely dislike, though even it has its moments.

Top 10 Episodes

10/ Abnormal Psychology

This was not Lilith’s first appearance in the show, but it was the beginning of her relationship with Frasier. I found Lilith and Frasier to be not only the best couple in Cheers, but among the best couple’s in sitcom history. The two characters are just perfect for each other and both Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth have excellent chemistry. The highlight is definitely the final moment where Frasier find himself captivated by Liliths beauty so much he goes into a huge speech about how he is going to kiss her for 10 minutes only for Lilith to kiss him first.

9/ How to Win Friends and Electrocute People

My fave Cliff centric episode. This episode is great as to start with you think it is going to be quite a sad episode when Cliff learns from Frasier how disliked he is by the rest of the Cheers gang. However they turn it on its head wonderfully by giving us a gut burstingly funny scene of Cliff trying to improve his personality through electroshock treatment. Every time he says something obnoxious his therapist shocks him, which as you can imagine is quite often. The other thing I like about this episode is that it addresses how badly the other main characters treat Cliff. I often felt that the Cheers gang were a little too hard on Cliff. All except for Diane and Frasier and Sam. Okay he is annoying but he is never nasty so whilst it was funny at times it could feel a little bit much the way they all came down on him, so it was good that they addressed that here and had the gang actually feel bad for treating him so poorly.

8/ Daddy’s Little Middle Aged Girl

One of my favorite Rebecca going crazy episodes. I love the moment when we see her scream at her father and run into his office. Rebecca’s father is also one of my favorite guest stars. At first he seems like a totally unsympathetic character. A bullying, controlling father who wants to control his daughters life and still treats her like a 5 year old. However by the end of the episode when we find out his real motives and see how Rebecca is leeching off of him and bleeding him dry, the dynamic completely changes and we end up feeling sorry for him instead. Kirstie Alley is absolutely brilliant throughout this episode and gives one of the best performances of her career.

7/ Pick A Con Any Con

Now one of the reasons I love this episode is because its very Harry the Hat centric. I love Harry the Hat and I think its a real shame that he wasn’t featured in more episodes. Though I am glad that the episodes he was featured in where always great. The great thing about Harry was you were never sure whose side he was on. He was a lying, cheating, self serving, two faced con man, but ultimately in spite of that he would always come through for the Cheers gang and its surprisingly heartwarming watching him help Coach. It might not be the funniest episode of Cheers, but it has a great story nonetheless.

6/ Thanksgiving Orphans

 One of the most celebrated episodes of Cheers, its really not hard to see why. This episode is quite unique among the earlier seasons in that it features the whole gang outside of Cheers for the most of it. Its great watching them all hang out together like a large dysfunctional family. There are plenty of great little moments like Frasier getting angry at people moving the tv away from him, Carla sealing Diane out of her house, but the real highlight is the big food fight at the end. The best moment is when Diane tries to be the voice of reason and stop everyone from fighting only for Sam to pelt her with food in the middle of her speech. This episode is also notable for being the only time we come close to seeing Vera whose face is concealed with a pie thrown by Diane that was meant for Sam.

5/ Bad Neighbor Sam

John Hill’s first ever appearance. Now I am a big fan of John Hill. I always loved the way he was just a complete dick. There was no reason for him to be, he just was it was as simple as that. Watching him mess with Sam in this episode is just an absolute riot, but the best moment is at the end when Sam goes completely insane and rather pathetically tries to destroy Hills mat only to fail miserably. Ted Danson has always been great at doing anger and that’s why this episode and all of the Hill vs Sam episodes are such a joy for me as few people can get under Sam’s skin the way Hill does.

4/ Bar Wars 5 The Final Judgement

Obviously I wanted to have a Bar Wars episode in this list. I thought about including the final Bar Wars story which sees Harry the Hat finally get Gary. However I think this is the best episode by far simply because the prank Gary pulls on Sam is legendary. Its such a brilliant twist the way that Gary is able to get the Cheers gang themselves to turn on Sam. Even though you know its a set up throughout all of it when Gary appears at the end you still can’t help but burst out laughing.

3/ A Fine French Whine

I always loved Henri. Him the sleazy, lying, two faced conman opposite the sweet, unsuspecting, slow witted Kelly was just a match made in comedic heaven.

I love the way this episode doesn’t even attempt to make Henri even remotely sympathetic or likable such as his going on about how he has no desire to ever get a job or admitting to Kelly that his plan was to trick her into marrying him, have his way with her, and then divorce her so that he could steal her money.

Whats even more hilarious is the way Kelly instantly forgives him for all of this at the same time. She is so sweet she just can’t find it in herself to hate anyone.

2/ The Bar Manager, The Shrink, His Wife and Her Lover

Lilith and Frasier episodes are always a delight, but this one is my definite favorite. Its got a brilliant story and so many laugh out loud moments. I love watching Liliths crazed ex Dr Pascal hold the whole Cheers gang up with a gun and their various ways of trying to get out of it. Its one of these things I just never get tired of watching. Cliff’s suggestion of soiling his pants and crying, or Rebecca’s of seducing Pascal and John Hills unbelievable disdain for Rebecca’s idea are all just priceless.

I think my favorite moment might be when John Hill just completely blunders into the hostage situation without knowing it.

The final scene where Lilith and Frasier reconcile is both humorous and strangely touching as well. Of course we all know due to the spin off Frasier that the two’s reconciliation ultimately did not last long, but still when watching Cheers on its own its a fitting ending to their turbulent romance.

1/ Simon Says

Yes I know its ironic considering my preference for the Rebecca years that I would rate a Diane episode as my favorite. And even more ironic that its actually the Sam and Diane aspect of it that makes it a favorite of mine.

John Cleese guest stars in this episode and its really his show stealing performance that makes this such a classic. Cleese plays brilliantly off of everyone. He and Frasier’s friendship is brilliant the way it seems so genuine at first, but then we see how they really hate each other and Simon actually enjoys cheating him out of money and boasts about it to his wife. However credit where credit is due, its Shelly Long that plays the best off of him as Diane drives him insane culminating in his classic Basil Fawltyesque outburst at the end.

I would have loved to have seen John Cleese’s character show up in Frasier. As he was Frasiers friend there would have been a reason for him to show up. Maybe he could have helped Maris and Niles. We could have also had them both finally learn how much they truly hate each other.

Characters

Sam Malone

The shows main character, Sam is also I would say the best character in the series. Ted Danson carried the series. He was able to make Sam seem like an intensely likable character, yet at the same time he was also able to make him seem like someone who you don’t mind seeing humiliated by Gary, Rebecca or Diane.

Sam is cocky, but not in a nasty, horrible way. You can’t help but be won over by his cockiness, but because he is so full of himself its always so funny to watch him get taken down a peg or two.

Sam is really the linchpin that holds the whole show together because he is so likable he can get on with anyone. He can be friendly with the pompous intellectual Frasier Crane, the simpleton Cliff Clavin, the nasty piece of work Carla, the lazy lay about Norm Peterson and the emotional train wreck Rebecca Howe. If it weren’t for Sammy I don’t think you’d believe as a viewer that all of these vastly different characters could hang out with each other.

He’s the person that can bring all of them together as a tight little group. The show just simply could not work without Sam.

Though Danson has gone on to enjoy a very successful career since I think Sam Malone will always be the role that Danson will be remembered for.

Frasier Crane

Kelsey Grammer really made the character of Frasier into what he was. Originally Frasier was supposed to be that guy who nobody liked, whose soul purpose was to get in the way of Sam and Diane’s love story and then be dumped after a few episodes.

However Grammer made him into so much more. He always managed to get a laugh even when given the flattest lines and proved to have excellent chemistry with the rest of the cast, Ted Danson in particular.

Thus Frasier not only went on to become a regular on Cheers, but consequently the star of his own spin off series that lasted as long as Cheers.

In hindsight its easy to say how special the character of Frasier is, but at the time I am not sure that many people would have named him as the one to star in his own series.

However when you watch Cheers its obvious that Frasier even in Cheers is capable of carrying a series on his own. His episodes with Lilith often feel like a different show to the rest of Cheers already. There are whole episodes where Frasier can go without the rest of the gang and just hang around with Lilith and when those two are together you don’t even notice that none of the others are around.

Diane Chambers

Now I have mixed feelings towards the character of Diane. Shelly Longs performance was always excellent. She could cope with the both the serious (which she was often called on to do more than any other cast member even Danson) and the comedic moments too.

However I do think that Diane’s relationship with Sam did overshadow the earlier years a bit too much.

However there is no denying that the Sam and Diane relationship was incredibly influential not just on other series, but in the overall direction of Cheers and Frasier too.

The makers of Cheers and Frasier loved the dynamic they had with Sam and Diane of uptight, more refined, snobby character with a taste for the finer things playing opposite a more uncouth, regular Joe and they would try and replicate it many times. Frasier and Lilith with the rest of the gang are this and yes even Martin and Frasier are this. Obviously there is no romantic angle in the Martin and Frasier relationship, but the same idea of the pompous intellectual and the person with the more simple tastes being forced to be together (in this case live together) and finding it difficult because of their different personalities has shades of Sam and Diane.

I think Diane’s biggest strength as an individual character is the fact that she is so kind and loyal. A lot of the time she serves not only as the voice of reason, but the moral compass of the gang such as in “The Boys in the Bar” or “Cliffies Rockie Moment” where Diane is the only one who stands up for Cliff when a bully is trying to intimidate him.

However having said that I feel Diane was at her best in series 5 when they actually made the character more unlikable. This series contains some of her funniest moments such as her driving Cleese’s character mad or her disasterous attempts at being a dancer or her butchering the movie they made to convince Woody’s parents to let him stay in Boston.

Overall whilst Diane is not my favorite character in the series I don’t deny that the show probably wouldn’t have been the success with viewers it was in the earlier years without her and her relationship with Sam or begrudge her her incredibly important place in television history.

Rebecca Howe

One of my favorite characters Rebecca probably makes me laugh more than anyone else in the series. There are just so many moments where her character has a complete break down that should actually be upsetting as often you are watching a persons entire life just collapse, but instead makes you laugh. Among my favorite moments are when she breaks down at her father,  gets drunk at her engagement party and pronounces it champlaigne, gets hysterical at being the only one not winning at a machine, or when she bemoans about how she is too stupid to live.

One moment that I think sums her up well is when the bar is cheering and she comes in and doesn’t know what is going on and she tells them that if they don’t tell her what is going on she is going to cry. That to me just sums up how fragile and damaged she becomes.

I think Rebecca was arguably the most well developed character across the 11 series as she was the only one who really changed. When we first see her she is like Lilith a cold, powerful strong woman. However where as Lilith keeps her cooly, intellectual persona not only throughout Cheers but all of Frasier too, Rebecca by the end of series 6 just becomes a mere shell of her former self and Alley is able to make the tragic story of this woman having a complete mental breakdown seem hilarious to the viewers, largely through her natural talent as a physical comedienne.

Cliff Clavin

Cliffie is one of my favorite characters. I often felt you are not sure of what to make of his character. At times he seems like a complete moron such as during his attempts to become a stand up comedian which ends in unmitigated disaster. At other times he seems like a total lunatic such as when he believes that Adolf Hitler is living in his building. And there are even times it feels like (to me at least) that he is actually aware that all of his ridiculous little known facts are nonsense such as when Frasier corrects him about knuckle cracking and he demonstrates complete awareness that his theory about it was nonsense. This suggest he is just making all of his insane theories up for a laugh and winding the rest of the bar up, making him the ultimate troll. All of this of course helps to make him one of the best characters in the show.

The only thing I don’t like about Cliff is how horrible the other characters are to him. At times it can actually feel a little bit sad seeing Cliff constantly be made to feel left out and made fun of by everyone. Cliff often does not deserve the vile treatment he gets, in fact Cliff is often actually quite nice such as when Paul feels left out and Cliff buys him both a cake and a pizza to make him feel welcome in Cheers. Thus it can feel a little bit sad to see such a nice man be mistreated so horribly.

Norm Peterson

Cheers most loyal customer (despite never paying for his drinks). Norm is probably the character of Cheers that has entered into popular culture the most even more so than Frasier. Everyone knows Norm and the way everyone shouts NORM every time he enters the bar.

Norm always came across as a very likable character because he was definitely the most down to earth and easy going member of the gang. He didn’t have Sam’s extreme vanity, Carla’s bitterness, Frasier, Diane or Lilith’s pomposity, Woody and Coach’s simple nature or Cliff’s insanity!

Often he would be the straight man to many of the other characters OTT nature.

One of the most famous aspects of Norm’s personality was his relationship with his never seen wife Vera. Though Norm often made many remarks at poor Vera’s expense when it truly mattered he came through for her such as the wonderful moment where he threatened to make John Hill a pretzel unless he apologized for being mean to her.

Coach Ernie Pantuso

Coach who sadly only appeared in three seasons due to Nicholas Collasanto’s passing was one of the shows most likable characters. Much like Sam he was friends with everyone in the bar due to his sweet, kind and caring nature.

The episode that I think really demonstrates what a wonderful character he is is the second episode of the entire series “Coach’s Daughter” where we see him persuade his daughter not to marry her awful fiance just to settle.

His relationship with Sam was very well balanced as though Sam was obviously more intelligent, Coach was still older and in some ways still wiser than Sam. Also the fact that they had a history with one another during Sam’s baseball days further helped to add to their closeness.

Woody Boyd

Coach’s replacement Woody was initially just a young Coach. In one episode the man who had owned Cheers before Sam believes when he first meets Woody that Woody is Coach’s son. However as time went on I felt that they made Woody into so much more.

The fact that he was younger allowed them to take his relationship with Sam in a totally different direction. Where as Sam had looked on Coach as being a mentor in some ways, with Woody it was the reverse and Woody was more like a younger brother to Sam. Some episodes even saw Sam become jealous of the much younger Woody.

Woody I think really came into his own when the character of Kelly was introduced. Woody and Kelly centric episodes are always really good because they are such a sweet couple who often wander completely unaware into absolute disaster or fall victim to a cruel manipulative third party such as Kelly’s own father or Henri.

Dr Lilith Sternin

Frasiers one true love (in Cheers at least). Lilith much like Frasier himself was a character who was completely made by the actor who played her. Originally just intended to be a one time bad date of Frasiers, Newirth made such an impression and had such a great rapport with Grammer that they would have been mad not to bring her back.

Lilith is actually my favorite female character in the series. Its brilliant the way she is just so cold, logical and emotionless and the few times we see her emotions emerge its always so awkward and just plain weird. Such as her sobbing when Frasier leaves her or her laughing at Cliff’s bad jokes.

I think her friendship with Cliff is often not mentioned enough in reviews and retrospectives of Cheers. I loved the way that she and Cliff ended up getting along because she was the only person in the bar, nay the entire planet earth who found his awful jokes amusing.

Lilith despite her robotic personality had an incredible sex appeal. This was one of the great ironies of her character despite her completely repressed and emotionless nature she had an incredible libido and sex life.

The character of Lilith would go on to appear as a major recurring character on Frasier which would see her and Frasiers relationship develop further.

Carla Tortelli

Oh dear here we come to my least favorite character in Cheers. In fact Carla is the only character I dislike from Cheers. Now in all fairness I think that Rhea Pearlman was excellent in the role, but the problem was how Carla was written.

She was portrayed as a totally unsympathetic, nasty piece of work with virtually no redeeming features. She would be better in a British sitcom with other unsympathetic characters, but in an American sitcom alongside characters like Frasier and Coach she seems horribly out of place.

Her treatment of Cliff just made her seem like a nasty school bully that you hoped someone would put in their place. The moment where Lilith humiliates her in season 11 and threatens to smash her teeth in if she ever makes fun of her again is one of my all time favorite moments in anything. I do like the way like all bullies Carla doesn’t say anything back to Lilith the first person who finally stands up to her.

I think Carla can be okay when she plays off of the right characters. Her and Frasier actually were often quite a good pair together. Often with Frasier she seemed like less of a bully as he could hold his own more than Cliff. Also Frasier being the man of science was quite a good match for the highly superstitious Carla. One of my favorite episodes is “Airport 5” where Frasier helps Carla overcome her fear of flying. I always loved the moment where as the plane is taking off Frasier tells Carla if she wants she can hold on to him and Carla grabs onto his face.

Carla should have been in more episodes with Frasier.

Cheers Influence

Cheers is possibly the most influential American sitcom of all time. Its influence can be seen in a number of both American and British sitcoms.

I think in many ways Cheers was the template for the many successful American sitcoms that followed it. The Sam and Diane romance, the two characters who switch between being friends and lovers constantly often to the annoyance and amusement of their friends has been replicated many times to the point where it has almost become a staple of American sitcoms.

Ross and Rachel, JD and Elliot and most recently Penny and Leonard. It should be noted that the creators of many successful series such as Scrubs and The Big Bang Theory have cited Cheers as a huge influence as have many prominent British writers such as Graham Linehan the creator of Father Ted and The IT Crowd.

There are other aspects of Cheers that have popped up in other sitcoms throughout the years however.

For instance Gary, the rival to the main character who is always engaged in petty feuds with the main character has become a staple of sitcoms both British and American since, such as Father Dick Byrne from Father Ted, Will Wheaton from “The Big Bang Theory” and even Kam Winston from Cheers own spin off “Frasier”.

However where I think Cheers biggest influence can be found is the fact that it really laid down what American sitcoms where meant to be. More sentimental and emotional at times even bordering on soap opera style comedies. As I said before that is often the big difference between American and British sitcoms. British sitcoms are often darker and revolves around more unsympathetic characters where as American sticoms such as Friends and Scrubs and The Big Bang Theory revolve around more sympathetic characters and are generally more feelgood. I think it was Cheers that was the one that established that about American sitcoms.

There were a number of other big American sitcoms such as Seinfeld and Married With Children which actually tended to follow the British template more of revolving around more unsympathetic characters like the Bundy’s and George Costanze, but ultimately as good as those two series were it was Cheers that the likes of Friends, Scrubs, and The Big Bang Theory would follow on from, as they kept that same sentimental aspect with more likable characters.

Now before I start I want to make one thing clear. I do not hate either the 9th or the 10th Doctors. Indeed I love the entire Russell T Davies era, and David Tennant and Christopher Eccelston where every bit as good in the role of the Doctor as any of their predecessors or successors.

However I feel that overall the 11th and 12th incarnations of the Doctor have been better realized than either the 9th or the 10th Doctors because of how they were written and more importantly because the actors playing them were given considerably more freedom in the role.

I’d say that the first four Doctors and 11 and 12 are the best realized Doctors. 5, 6, 7 and 9 and 10 meanwhile all suffer from similar problems which I will explore in this article.

Of course I don’t expect everyone to agree with me on this as 9 and 10 are both deservedly very popular. However this is what I feel was wrong with these two incarnations of the Doctor despite their many great qualities which obviously overshadow the negative ones.

1/ The 9th and 10th Doctors were too much like other heroes

Now when Russell T Davies brought Doctor Who back to our screens in 2005 American sci fi and fantasy had pretty much cornered the market. Russell even says so in the leaflet for the 2005 series box set.

Thus Russell decided to make the new Doctor Who more like these American series in order for it catch on.

You can see a lot of series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xena the Warrior Princess and even Smallville in Russell’s era of Doctor Who. It should be noted that Russell T Davies was also a huge fan of these series anyway.

“Joss Whedon raised the bar for every writer not just genre/niche writers, but every one of us.”

Russell T Davies on Joss Whedon and Buffy’s influence on his career.

I don’t mind Russell taking inspiration from these series. Its no worse than Hinchcliff taking inspiration from old Hammer movies.

However I think Russell went a bit too far in taking inspiration from these series in that he actually made the Doctor a bit too similar to heroes like Angel and Xena.

Barry Letts for instance made the third Doctor a bit of a pastiche of heroes like James Bond and Jason King. However he didn’t go too far. The third Doctor still seemed like the Doctor. He didn’t go around seducing all of his female companions like Bond or shooting people all the time (the Ogron in Day of the Daleks whom he gunned down aside of course).

Sadly however like I said Russell I feel just simply went too far in making the Doctor like heroes such as Xena and Angel.

Xena, Angel and The Ninth Doctor are all characters who have done horrible things in the past and are now in some ways trying to make up for them. All are conflicted, dark, moody, angsty heroes who end up falling in love with a little blonde, inappropriately young teenager, Buffy, Gabrielle and Rose who holds back their dark side and makes them into better people.

This story arc of course continues on into the Tenth Doctors era.

The ending of Journeys End where we see the Doctor tell Rose that she made him a better man is total Xena/Gabrielle Buffy/Angel crap.

As is the ending of Doomsday where we see Rose and the Doctor trapped in different universe. Its not to dissimilar to Buffy and Angel being trapped in different universes at the end of Buffy’s second season finale.

The 11th and the 12th Doctors meanwhile I felt where closer to the Doctors from the classic era. Whilst there were moments where 11 was written out of character such as his constant flirting, by and large he seemed more alien and unconventional than either 9 and 10. You certainly couldn’t say he was an angsty 90’s anti hero like Angel or Xena.

Even the romance they gave him with River was more unconventional. 10 and Rose’s romance is very Buffy and Angel or even god forbid Bella and Edward. Obviously its better written and acted than Bella and Edward, but it is along the same lines. An ancient immortal with a dark nature falls in love with a teenage girl and their relationship has bad consequences for both, whilst at the same time she helps to temper his bad side. That description fits more or less Buffy and Angel, Bella and Edward, Xena and Gabrielle and The Doctor and Rose.

Thus 11 and 12 I felt were superior as unlike 9 and 10 they were the Doctor. They didn’t feel like the Doctor doing an impression of other characters. Now you might think that all of the other Doctors are different so what does it matter. However whilst all of the Doctors are different I think there are certain qualities that help link them all together. Sadly 9 and 10 I feel are just too different because they are actually modelled on other characters.

2/ The 11th and 12th Doctors costumes and look were more in tune with the older Doctors

Again you might say all of the Doctors costumes and appearances were different anyway. However again I would say that whilst they are all unique all of the Doctors costumes and appearances all have similar qualities to them that help link them all together.

All of their costumes have a certain Victorian and Edwardian feel to them, or are at the very least old fashioned. They are all somewhat over the top and completely unconventional too.

Also the Doctor I feel should have somewhat longer or at the very least bigger hair. That’s one of the more unusual things about his look. He takes so much care about his clothes but he often just lets his hair grow out. The 1st Doctor, 5th Doctor, 6th Doctor, 7th Doctor and 8th Doctors all had long flowing hair, whilst the 4th and 3 Doctors had a big mop of curly hair. Even the second Doctor had big unmanagable hair.

Now as you can see the 9th and the 10th Doctors don’t look like the Doctor at all. I mean they really don’t.

The 9th Doctor has an ordinary leather jacket, the Tenth Doctor wears sand shoes. And look at their hair! The 9th Doctors is shaved whilst Ten’s is gelled up like Jedward.

They just don’t look like the Doctors. They stand out like sore thumbs when you put all of the Doctors together.

The ninth Doctors costume I think is very like Angel or Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which again fits in with the Buffy influence.

The Tenth Doctors costume meanwhile I think looks more like one of the guys from the dickhead song video on youtube here.

I think both cases represent Russell T Davies trying to make the Doctor modern and trendy. Hence why he makes the ninth Doctor look like Spike and the Tenth Doctor look like in Colin Bakers own words “someone Kate Moss would date”.

The 11th and the 12th Doctors meanwhile are dressed much more like the older Doctors.

11’s costume is much more old fashioned, unconventional and is a bit Holmesian. I think I preferred his second costume the most.

12’s costume meanwhile also is I feel more old fashioned and though it is toned down, its still a bit Byronesque.

Also even their hair is more Doctorish. 11 has the quiff and whilst 12’s is short its not shaved or gelled up like one of the dickheads.

11 and 12 despite 11’s youthful appearance both just look like the Doctor. They don’t stand out from the others the way 9 and 10 do.

3/ The 10th and 9th Doctors were too inept

Now this is a bit of a problem I have with the Russell T Davies era is that the Doctor is too weak in it. I am not saying that the companion should be a damsel in distress. Far from it, but the Doctor is the central character and therefore should not be a passenger in his own series.

The ninth Doctor saves the day twice in his only series. The tenth Doctor meanwhile starts out with a much better record, but as time goes on he does become a bit more ineffective. The worst is in Journey’s End where Donna gets his powers and uses them much better than he does and even tells him he is useless compared to her!

In contrast the 11th Doctor is a much more useful Doctor all around. He only fails to save the day in two stories of his first season and his second season. However in his third year he does get pushed to the side I will admit a bit too much in favor of Clara such as in The Name of the Doctor. I also feel the 12th Doctor has been pushed to the side a bit too much such as in Death in Heaven where he does literally nothing!

Still I think sadly 9 has to take the prize for the most inept Doctor of them all. In fact not only does he fail to save people a lot of the time, but he actually makes things worse. Like look at The Unquiet Dead 9 does nothing but get a young woman killed!

4/ The 9th and 10th Doctors were too human

Now this is a problem I have with these two Doctors is that they didn’t seem alien enough. The Doctor is supposed to be an alien remember. In the classic era as different as the many Doctors were they all seemed alien. You’d never see the Doctor express overt human emotion. He never broke down in tears, screamed hysterically or blew up. The only time you saw him react that way was in The Twin Dilemma when he was insane. Other than that the Doctor was never someone who you would expect to react like a human being. That’s not to say he showed no emotion whatsoever, but it was often understated.

The 9th and the 10th Doctors meanwhile I feel always reacted like a human being would. We always saw 10 break down in tears, lose his temper, scream all over the place. 9 whilst not quite as human as 10 was still a bit too much of a conventional hero.

Now 11 could be quite emotional too, such as his speech in The Rings of Akhatan or his break down over losing Amy and Rory. Again compare 11’s reaction to losing Amy and Rory and 10’s to losing Rose to 5’s reaction Adric’s death.

However I still found 11 to be more convincing as an alien than either 9 and 10. Other than the odd emotional outburst 11 generally tended to react to things much like the 4th Doctor, in that he would often have an over the top reaction to something completely mundane, yet be quite cold to something important to us.

In Lets Kill Hitler he gets excited when he is dying at the thought of Fish Fingers and Custard, whilst in The Girl Who Waited he ruthlessly left the older version of Amy to die. Thus 11 was a much more unpredictable character.

12 meanwhile is definitely the most alien and cold too. Like 11 he is also a very unpredictable character. Whilst I do not like Kill the Moon I do feel it offers quite an interesting insight into the Doctors character by showing him react to a situation in a completely different way to his human companion. In 12’s mind he does nothing wrong by leaving Clara to make her own decision. Ironically he thinks he wasn’t pandering to her, whilst Clara saw it the exact opposite way and felt he was treating her like a child.

11 and 12 are overall much more alien characters.

5/ The actors who play the 11th and 12th Doctors are given more freedom

Now this I think could be the most important factor in why I prefer these two Doctors. I think the Doctor is a role where the actor should be given more freedom.

Thats why the first 4 Doctors are better realized than the last 3 for this very reason. I feel that the actors were allowed to really become the Doctors.

The first Doctor is essentially William Hartnell. Director Waris Hussein even said this remarking that Hartnell often wasn’t acting when playing the first Doctor. Similarly the 4th Doctor is just Tom Baker. Hell if anything he is a restrained Tom Baker.

Now obviously I am not saying that the actor should be allowed to take over the show. I think that happened a bit too much towards the end of Tom’s time.

However the actor should have a lot of say so in how his character is portrayed.

This was a problem with all 3 80’s Doctors. I don’t think any of them were given as much say in how their Doctors were portrayed. Colin for instance famously wasn’t allowed to pick his costume. Neither in fact were Sylvester McCoy or Peter Davison all of whom wished to have those annoying question marks removed.

Now Eccelston and Tennant I feel were similarly not given as much freedom. Russell T Davies picked out both of their costumes and according to Eccelston virtually everything about the 9th Doctor was decided by Russell. Even 9’s use of the word Fantastic was apparently something Russell used to say all the time.

Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi however were both given considerably more freedom. When you look at an interview of Matt Smith, whilst he’s not entirely like his Doctor obviously, you can tell there is more of him in the role. Also Matt and Peter were allowed to pick their own costumes too. The famous Bowtie came from Matt not Moffat.

Thus whilst I think every actor in the role has been great 1, 2, 3, 4, 11 and 12 I think are the better realized on screen, In the Big Finish Audios I think Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann are given the freedom that the first four actors were given and I hope one day Tennant and Eccelston will be too if Big Finish ever gets the rights to produce Big Finish audios based on the new series, though its doubtful Eccelston will ever return to the role.

Conclusion

Hopefully you can see that 11 and 12 were closer to the original Doctors than 9 and 10 were. I think the person to thank for this is really Steven Moffat.

I think Moffat understands the character of the Doctor better than Russell T Davies. This is not to say that Russell is a bad Doctor Who writer, but I think that Moffat ultimately just gets what it is that makes the Doctor unique.

He understands that the Doctor is alien, old fashioned, unpredictable, and best of all that the actor playing the role should really be allowed to throw himself into the part and thus he stood back when he had to.

I was lucky to discover Paloma Faith right at the very beginning of her career. Normally I am the last person to discover anybody, but Paloma was the exception. I remember when I was practically the only person I knew who owned her album, of course nowadays that certainly is not the case.

Its been quite nice over the last 5 years seeing recognition for Paloma become greater with each one of her 3 albums, “Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful”, “Fall To Grace” and “A Perfect Contradiction” having been more successful than the last.

Paloma seems all set to become a national institution any time soon and its not hard to see why. She is a unique, imaginative and very special talent with a huge, captivating personality.

Now obviously this article will be looking at what I believe are her 10 best songs, and is not meant to represent anyone’s opinions but my own. As always let me know what you think in the comments below.

10/ Upside Down

A very fun song from her first album. Its not as deep and poetic as many of her later efforts, but its still a great track none the less. It has a very 40’s feel to it. You could almost imagine someone like the Andrew Sisters singing it. That’s one of the best things about Paloma’s music is the real sense of good old fashioned fun to it, which I think is reflected in Upside Down better than any other song.

9/ Stargazer

Another song from her first album. Stargazer I think it demonstrates what makes Paloma’s music stand out from her contemporaries. Stargazer conjures up absolutely beautiful, vivid and even surrealist imagery. “He circles Haley’s comet lights up the sky like a flame”. The song overall can be seen as example of Paloma’s over the top and eccentric imagination. Paloma has often been compared to the likes of Amy Winehouse and Adele. Its not hard to see why as obviously all three are very talented, soul singers who sing very real and relatable songs.

However where Paloma is different and stands out from them is that I feel her work is more imaginative. Where as Amy’s are more gritty and dark, Adele’s are more sombre, Paloma’s are definitely the most whimsical and offbeat and I really don’t think any song demonstrates that better than Stargazer, which contains some of Paloma’s most creative lyrics.

8/ Picking Up The Pieces

The first song on her second album. Picking up the Pieces is a bit more of a straight forward break up song, about being in a relationship with someone who still can’t get over their ex. Its not quite as offbeat as some of the stuff on her first album. Though the video where we see Paloma as a melting mannequin certainly is! Still I would rank this as one of my favorites anyway as Paloma’s vocals on it are particularly strong.

7/ Only Love Can Hurt Like This

Paloma’s highest charting single to date. Only Love Can Hurt Like This is a very strong power balled. Much like Picking up the Pieces this song is really made by Paloma’s vocals. She captures the nuance and pain of the powerful lyrics beautifully.

6/ Trouble With My Baby

This quick paced song from Paloma’s latest album is the perfect contrast to many of her slower, more thoughtful pieces. This song takes us into it right away and is fast and fun. The video as well also features a running gag in Paloma’s videos where she murders someone. This can also be seen in the video for Smoke and Mirrors where she chops a man in half.

5/ Black and Blue

A very thoughtful and incredibly deep song about the differences between people as well as the similarities that bind us all together. The song makes a point about how no one person can have it all, “I know a rich man who has everything you could ask for. Except children.” The song points out that no matter where you get to in life you will still go through periods where you feel sad, lonely, desperate and miserable, but that you will not be alone as everyone at some point also endures it. Regardless of your beliefs or status. Its part of what makes us human.

4/ Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful

The title track of her first album is a very powerful and moving song about how sometimes it can be better to live a lie than face the truth, which is sadly something that I think we can all relate to at some point in our lives. The song benefits from both its beautiful and poetic lyrics and Paloma’s vocal performance which is somewhat more understated, but still effective. I think the video for this song also demonstrates Paloma’s talents as an actress too as we see her switch between the happy lying persona and the miserable true one.

3/ Never Tear Us Apart

This cover of the song by Australian rock group INIX I feel is Paloma’s strongest cover song. Her powerful, emotive and soulful voice is perfectly suited to the song. I think this cover was a bit overlooked, though it was used in a John Lewis advert. Its no doubt due to how beloved the original is that this cover isn’t given the due I feel it deserves. Still I think at the very least this cover matches the original if not surpasses it.

2/ Stone Cold Sober

Paloma’s debut single. This song has I think feels almost like a Bond theme at times. It has a real sexy 60’s feel to it yet at the same time also a somewhat modern sound too. Paloma is a master at being able to blend different genres as well as sounds from different era’s together wonderfully and you can see see that here in her first ever single perfectly. The song also demonstrates Paloma’s more theatrical nature both in its vocals and composition.

1/ New York

An oldie but a goodie. To me this is Paloma’s masterpiece. It has all the hallmarks of a truly excellent Paloma track. It has wonderful, poetic, imaginative lyrics “the wolves they howl for my lost soul”, strong vocals, a wonderful sweeping composition that benefits Paloma’s more theatrical nature and performance. Finally it also manages to really evoke an old fashioned sound too. This feels like the type of song that’s always been here. When you listen to it you think “I am sure I have heard someone else do that”, but then you read the booklet of the CD and you see it was actually Paloma who wrote it.

Finally this song also has a special significance for me as it was the first Paloma song I ever heard. I remember seeing it on a music channel. It was only the tail end of it, but it looked promising and so I looked it up on youtube and have been a devoted fan of Paloma ever since.

The Daleks were originally intended to be faceless drones by their creator Terry Nation. However over the years as many other writers have added their own unique take on the Daleks, we have been introduced to a number of very different individual Dalek characters, across many different mediums.

In this article I will be taking a look at all of them. The Daleks who saw the light, the mutated or rather even more mutated Daleks and the homicidal or again even more homicidal Daleks, as well as some of the most unique Dalek Variants the show has produced over the years.

Hopefully this may show some of you who feel that the Daleks are boring and one dimensional that you can actually make a Dalek into a more 3 dimensional character. You don’t always need to bring in Davros to stand in for them.

There are a number of very different and interesting characters in this list as you will hopefully soon see, all of whom have helped add a fresh dynamic to the monsters over the years.

Zolfian and Yarvelling

Now I wasn’t sure whether or not include these two characters as I suppose they are not technically Daleks. They are members of the humanoid race whom the Daleks evolved from in the comic book series “The Dalek Chronicles”.

However I have decided to include them here anyway as the race they belong too is still called Dalek. I wont be including Davros and Nyder as though they are also members of the humanoid race that predated the Daleks, there is I feel more of a clear distinction between their race and the Daleks as their race is referred to as Kaled (an anagram of Dalek).

Thus these two though they are humanoid are still technically Daleks, so therefore I will be including them.

Zolfian and Yarvelling appear in the first “Dalek Chronicles” strip Daleks: Genesis of Evil. This story which was printed in the 1960’s marked the first time anyone had ever tried to tell the origin of the Daleks in any medium.

The “Dalek Chronicles” were written by David Whitaker, though this issue in particular was written by both Whitaker and Alan Fennell. It would later be hugely contradicted by Genesis of the Daleks.

The issue depicts the Daleks as originally blue skinned, bald, squat, humanoid creatures simply called Daleks.

They were locked in a war with the Thals who lived on a different continent to them. Zolfian was the Daleks leader who sought to use a radiation bomb to destroy the Thals, whilst Yarvelling who was their leading scientist was planning to create a new war machine to eradicate them.

Ultimately however a metiorite storm strikes the city and sets off Zolfian’s bomb causing the Dalek city to be engulfed in radiation and the Dalek race to be seemingly wiped from existence. Only Zolfian and Yarvelling are able to survive in the War council chamber where they remain for two whole years. Eventually however they decided to leave, to search for more Daleks and to see if any Thals have survived so that they can finish them off.

When they emerge from the chamber they discover a few Daleks did survive the blast, but have been horribly mutated and are now housing themselves in Yarvelling’s war machines.

What Yarvelling created to destroy the Thals, has now become the Dalek race’s only hope. The first of these mutated Daleks asks Zolfian and Yarvelling to construct more war machines to house the other mutated survivors. They agree and are able to build a Dalek war machine production line as well as a special casing for the first Dalek who confronted them who declares himself the emperor. Zolfian and Yarvelling however soon die of radiation sickness. The Daleks meanwhile still need more casing built and being unable to build it themselves soon seek out other life forms to build them for them. According to the story this is where the Daleks desire to dominate other life forms begins. As they need them to build their war machines for them.

Obviously this origin story is no longer considered canon after the events of Genesis. There are still a number of fans however who have tried to work it into canon.

Zolfian and Yarvelling’s design was inspired by the Meekon, Dan Dare’s archenemy.

The Mekon also inspired the design of Davros the other creator of the Daleks too, according to Philip Hinchcliff in an interview which you can watch on the Genesis of the Daleks DVD.

Dalek Zeg

Zeg has the honor of being the first proper Dalek to be given a name. He appeared in the “Dalek Chronicles” strip “Duel of the Daleks”. He was originally a Dalek inventor but after an accident in his lab he was mutated into becoming virtually indestructable. His mind was also affected too, to the point where he could experience emotions such as joy that were alien to the Daleks. His casing was also turned bright red as a result of his mutation.

Zeg soon tried to take control of the Daleks from the Emperor himself.

The Brain Machine a computer that the Daleks look to for advice suggests that Zeg and the Emperor duel to determine who is the master.

The Emperor tries to destroy him with acid and mercury, but eventually manages to eliminate Zeg with liquid nitrogen.

Zeg marked a huge turning point in the development of the Daleks. It marked the first time we saw a Dalek develop its own personality and desires. Though Zeg was a far cry from the later more benevolent individual Daleks of the revival, he still can be seen as their forbear in some ways, as he is a Dalek who experiences human emotions and turns on other members of his kind.

The One In A Million Dalek

Now this Dalek who also appeared in the “Dalek Chronicles” is the real precursor to all of these benevolent Daleks that we see in the new series. Dalek Sec, Dalek Caan and Rusty.

The One in a Million Dalek like Zeg becomes mutated, but unlike Zeg he develops compassion and affection, to the point where he even appreciates the beauty of flowers.

He begins collecting them and actually decorates himself with them, much to the disgust of his fellow Daleks, particularly the Emperor.

This story allowed us to see a whole new side to the Daleks. Not only did we get to see a benevolent Dalek for the first time, but we also got to see just how twisted the regular Daleks were as well.

Its disturbing to see how the Emperor doesn’t just simply kill the one in a million Dalek. He could easily, but he wants him to see first that his new way of thinking is wrong. He wants him to see that the beauty of the flowers decays, that it is not as strong as the hatred of the Daleks.

It shows us how for the Daleks exterminating their enemies is not enough. They must prove to their enemies that their way of thinking is superior. They must destroy everything that their enemies have ever believed in. Only then will they feel that they have truly won.

This helps to explain the Dalek camps in many ways. A lot of the time we see the Daleks keep their humanoid victims alive for months, years, even decades in these death camps. Sometimes they do use them for slave labour, but on other occasions there is seemingly no point to keep their victims alive. Their main goal is to exterminate all other non Dalek life forms why would they bother keeping millions of them alive?

However we now know why. Its because they are trying to break them, trying to prove to them how inferior they truly are, for experiencing emotions like love, compassion and pity.

Thus the One in a Million Dalek helped to flesh the monsters out in more ways than one.

The Emperor

Now I wasn’t sure whether to include him as he isn’t really a character. There have technically been five different Dalek Emperors throughout the years. The first emperor in Evil, Davros the creator of the Daleks himself, Nick Briggs Big Finish Emperor, the time war Emperor and finally the Emperor in City of the Daleks. There is also a 6th Emperor in the Dalek Chronicles.

However even with that I feel that the Emperor over the years has been somewhat more fleshed out than other Dalek leaders such as the Dalek Supreme’s.

The Emperor in David Whitakers Dalek Chronicles was certainly an individual character more so than the other Dalek leaders we were used too.

In Nations early 60’s Dalek stories the Black Daleks were no different, except for their higher ranking than his followers. The Emperor in Whitakers comics however had his own desires, his own petty grievances and wishes which might not always gel with his followers ironically.

David Whitaker really helped flesh the Daleks out more than any other writer. In doing so however he did take away from their alien nature. Nation had deliberately made them all faceless drones to emphasize their inhumanity and it proved very effective on a number of occasions such as most notably in Genesis of the Daleks.

Thus though the Daleks lost a lot of what had made them so effective and even unique through Whitakers stories. He still nevertheless added so much to their characters overall and is probably the most influential Dalek writer of all time.

Sadly when the Emperor appeared on screen in the story The Evil of the Daleks he was nothing like the character from Whitakers comics. He was just simply another Dalek Supreme, only bigger. He of course looked fantastic and his voice sounded superb, but he wasn’t really much of a character.

Nicholas Briggs fortunately would draw on the Dalek Chronicles for influence when producing his excellent Dalek Chronicles series and gave us an Emperor who was more of a well fleshed out character than the one in Evil.

Briggs also gave him a more distinctive voice. I liked the voice for the Emperor in Evil, but it did just feel like a loud Dalek. Briggs was able to inject a certain pomposity and sense of arrogance and even real pride into his Emperor’s voice.

Briggs Emperor seems like a creature who considers himself above all other life forms, even fellow Daleks.

When the Emperor made a proper return to our screens in 2005 for the season 1 finale The Parting of the Ways, Russell T Davies really changed his character like never before.

This Emperor was completely insane. He saw himself as a god and declared the destruction of earth to be his heaven.

I always felt that Russell T Davies based this Emperor on John Hurt as Caligula from “I Claudius”.

“I Claudius” was one of Russell T Davies’s favorite series growing up, in fact he has said that it was the show that made him want to get into television the most after Doctor Who itself.

You can see “I Claudius’s” influence very clearly in Davies’s interpretation of the Master. Davies’s Master is driven insane by the constant drumming in his head, which is also how Hurt’s Caligula is driven mad too. Both also go on to be crazy despots as a result of this as well.

I feel that the Emperor of the Daleks is just as comparable to Hurt’s Caligula. They are both insane emperors who see themselves as gods. Hurts Caligula’s death is similar to the Emperor’s as both believe they’re attackers who can easily dispatch them cannot as they do genuinely see themselves as gods. They both see however how wrong they are in their final moments.

Briggs does as an excellent job as the insane Emperor. He keeps the same sneering, arrogance of his emperor from the Audios, yet adds a real hysterical, erratic quality to the character that really helps to make him seem like a complete and utter lunatic even by Dalek standards.

Davies’s Emperor also gets many memorable moments with the 9th Doctor such as the famous “Coward or Killer” scene which many feel helps to define the ninth Doctors character.

Whilst he may have been portrayed as just another generic Dalek leader at times, when done right the Emperor actually has potential to be one of the shows most interesting individual villains.

Alpha, Beta and Omega

Now these three Daleks Alpha, Beta and Omega appeared in the Second Doctor story The Evil of the Daleks.

They marked the first time in the series itself that we saw Daleks develop human emotions and turn against the other members of their kind.

Now all of these ideas had been done in the Dalek Chronicles before hand. What made these three Daleks original however was that this was the first time we got to see these types of Daleks interact with the Doctor himself. The Dalek Chronicles did not feature or even reference the Doctor at all. Thus none of its individual Dalek characters got a chance to meet their archenemy.

Here however we get to see these Daleks actually become friends with the Doctor, who is even the one to give them names. This of course offers up a wonderful new take on the monsters relationship with the Time Lord. Showing him actually attempt to help them for once, something which would later be picked up on in the Tenth Doctors era.

These three humanized Daleks would later go on to appear in an 8th Doctor comic strip The Children of the Revolution where we see that they have come to view the Doctor as their saviour. He freed them from being mindless, evil drones, unable to experience anything but hate. Thanks to the Doctor they could experience all of the beautiful and wonderful things in the universe that we often take for granted. They no longer feel driven to destroy, they can live their lives in peace and actually experience happiness.

In a way this makes you pity the Daleks. It shows you how each individual Dalek drone has no say in what it is. They are all just conditioned to be monsters, but they miss out on so much. Its not even like the Cybermen as the Daleks do still have emotions, but its only negative emotions, hate, anger.

Imagine being only able to feel these poisonous emotions and feeling them every second of every day. It would be a living nightmare. Thus it makes sense that these three Daleks see the Doctor as their saviour for he allowed them to escape from the horror that was their existence before hand.

Special Weapons Dalek

Now this Dalek isn’t really an individual character. Its more a variant, but since it is such an unusual variant I still feel I have to include it. This Dalek as you can see is like a cross between a tank and a Dalek. Its virtually indestructable and can blow up about 50 Daleks at once. According to spin off material its fire power it equivilent to 100 Daleks.

I think this type of Dalek has been criminally underused over the years. It has actually only made one appearance on television since its debut in Rememberance of the Daleks in 2012’s Asylum of the Daleks where it made only the tiniest cameo.

With all the many appearances of the Daleks in New Who I really don’t know why the haven’t brought this guy back more often. I would have loved to have seen him the Stolen Earth/Journey’s End during the Dalek invasion.

Test Subject Dalek

This Dalek only appears in the audio story The Genocide Machine opposite the 7th Doctor. This Dalek is downloaded with all the knowledge of the library of Kar-Charrat, the largest library in the universe.

Initially the Daleks hope to use this Dalek as a weapon, but it soon turns on them. Whilst this might seem like a retread of the one in a million Dalek idea, I feel that they are able to present this idea in quite an interesting fresh way.

This Dalek develops a conscience because due to its intelligence it comes to see things in a more logical way. Even though ironically the Daleks often look at solutions to problems in a logical way, they themselves  are anything but logical creatures.

They are driven purely by an irrational, emotional hatred and fear of other life forms. This new Dalek however abandons their way of life as it can see how foolish it is. How foolish it is to waste so many Daleks and resources on pointless wars with other life forms, many of whom would never have even come into contact with the Daleks anyway.

It can also see that it is logical to preserve life in the universe, that all life is unique. And that it is the worst thing imaginable to waste potential, which the Daleks do all the time, not only in the people they kill in their wars. But also in all the Daleks they get killed in their own wars. All of whom are geniuses and who could have given so much more to the universe than just designing more weapons. Think of all the potential that gets wasted every time a Dalek drone gets destroyed. As the Ninth Doctor said each Dalek is a genius it can calculate a billion combinations in less than a nano second.

If the Daleks were not consumed with their hatred they would probably be as great a civillisation as the Time Lords.

This is a key difference between the Daleks and the Cybermen. Though they are both conquerers the Cybermen who are purely logical beings want to preserve life. They want to upgrade all other life forms into Cybermen. They believe that logically they will be helping all other life forms as they will be ensuring that they never die, and never have to deal with the pain that emotions can bring. Thus even though they are villains in their own strange way they are not truly evil. They are merely trying to preserve all life in the universe in their own way by upgrading it to its next stage.

The Daleks however who are illogical and evil simply destroy. They don’t try and preserve.

Thus the test subject Dalek simply cannot ally itself with the other Daleks and ends up even saving Ace the Doctors companion from them in an effort to preserve life.

It was quite a nice twist to see a purely logical being look on the Daleks as irrational, emotional creatures. Often people just tend to think of the Daleks as robots who rely on pure logic, but this story and character I think reminded people that they were actually flesh and blood creatures underneath with actual emotions.

Dalek X

This Dalek appears in the Tenth Doctor novel “Prisoner of the Daleks”. It is without doubt one of my favorite Dalek characters.

Dalek X is the Dalek Inquisitor General. He is feared by every Dalek bounty hunter across the universe. Apparently Dalek X is not his real name, but he merely adopted it to inspire fear in humanity.

Dalek X is different to other Daleks in that he actually enjoys causing pain. Daleks are ruthless, but they are not sadists. They don’t enjoy hurting their victims as joy is a completely alien concept to them. Dalek X however somehow is able to take pleasure in his victims suffering.

Its a brilliant twist that a Dalek can adopt human qualities, but rather than positive ones like love and compassion its negative aspects that we have such as actually taking a pleasure in someones suffering that ironically Daleks don’t have.

This is seen when brutally tortures the Tenth Doctor in many different ways seemingly just for the fun of it. At one point whilst torturing the Doctor he remarks that he just wants to see how much pain he can inflict on the time lord.

The end of Prisoner of the Daleks sets up a potential future appearance of Dalek X, which sadly hasn’t happened yet.

Personally I would love to see Prisoner of the Daleks adapted for tv. I think it would actually fit Peter Capaldi’s 12th Doctor better than David Tennant’s 10th Doctor to be honest. The 10th Doctor whilst a great Doctor obviously didn’t have that same burning hatred for the Daleks that 12 has. He was trying to control his darker impulses. That was the point of his character coming after 9.

However imagine seeing 12 face the most evil and sadistic Dalek in the cosmos. That would be an amazing confrontation. I would also like to see Rusty added to the story. Again imagine Rusty the Dalek who hates Daleks vs the most evil of all Daleks.

Sounds to good an idea to miss to be honest.

As much as I love David Tennant (who doesn’t?) the Doctor with those angry, angry, angry, angry eyes would definitely be a much better match for Dalek X.

Metaltron

The first Dalek of the new Who the Metaltron as he was dubbed believed himself to be the last Dalek in existence. The Metaltron allowed us to see the Daleks in a whole new light. Here we saw a Dalek that was insane as it couldn’t believe that it was the last of its kind.

The idea of being the last of your kind would be enough to drive any life form insane, but its even worse with a Dalek. It goes against everything they believe in. Their whole function is to be the master race, the rulers of the universe. Thus the idea of being the last of the Master race who have become extinct is of course contradictory and it drives the metaltron insane.

The Metaltron later becomes infected with humanity which again is an old idea, but here it is shown to be more tragic for the Dalek.

Alpha, Beta and Omega all embraced their humanity and saw the Doctor as their saviour for freeing them. However unfortunately the Metaltron is unable to do so. He considers his humanity a contamination and a sickness and eventually commits suicide rather than face it.

I love how in his final moments with Rose we can see the look on her face changing from initially sympathy to utter disgust when the Dalek states that it will not be inferior like her.

The Metaltron remains one of the most compelling characters in the whole history of the show. His interactions with the Doctor were truly fascinating to watch, and the fact that they were both (seemingly) the last of their kind allowed them play off of one another in a way no Dalek, or indeed enemy of the Doctor had been able to with the time lord before.

The Cult of Skaro

The Cult of Skaro appeared in 6 episodes of the revival. Of all the Daleks in this list they were by far and away the most well developed. We saw members of the cult go from typical ruthless Dalek leaders to desperate creatures struggling to survive to insane prophets to unexpected heroes.

The creatures were a fairly interesting idea. They were a group of Daleks who had been given individual names and personalities in order to think like the enemy thinks and devise new ways of killing.  They consisted of a Black Dalek Supreme named Dalek Sec and three other standard Daleks, Dalek Caan, Dalek Thay and Dalek Jaast.

In their first appearance it is obvious from the start that these Daleks have more personality even before we find out who they are, as demonstrated by Dalek Secs hilarious and cutting remarks towards the Cybermen.

Their personalities are looked into in more depth in their next appearance Daleks in Manhatten/Evolution of the Daleks. Here we see how Sec is able to recognize that in some ways other life forms are superior to the Daleks such as human beings.

Sec is in many ways a reverse Davros. Davros was the creature who dragged the Kaled race down and turned them into monsters. Sec is their one chance for redemption. He is a one off. A Dalek who can think like the enemy thinks, but is actually compassionate enough to want to help them. All other Daleks who have seen the light hate the Daleks. Alpha, Beta and Omega tried to exterminate them, as did the test subject Dalek, whilst the Metalron was so disgusted at having human feeling it killed itself.

Sec however is the only one who actually could have helped them. In the Tenth Doctors words he is the one creature who could have “lead them out of the darkness” and actually allowed them to feel and choose their own destiny’s rather than blindly follow some path Davros laid out for them.

The fact that the Daleks destroy him over some petty feud just goes to show how beyond hope and how ultimately tragic they are. It also serves as quite a nice parallel to Davros at the same time who was also killed in a similar fashion to Sec in Genesis, with both ironically trying to convince the Daleks to show mercy.

When Dalek Caan appears again in Journey’s End we see him finally think like the enemy thinks and see the Daleks for what they really are. However unlike Sec, Caan knows that they are beyond help and so he destroys them.

The Cult of Skaro story arc was one of my favourites in Doctor Who. I found them to be very interesting characters. Though of the two of them Sec and Caan were the only two who really had any development. They were still among the most interesting Dalek characters in the shows history.

Stone Dalek

Now again this isn’t really a character more of a variant. Its character is just the same as any Dalek drone it kills things. The only difference is that it looks way more cool. To be fair though it does look really, really cool and is certainly one of the most creative Dalek variants there has been over the years.

I think the stone Dalek could only have really worked in the Steven Moffat era. The Moffat era was obviously more whimsical and surrealist than other era’s of the shows history. The idea of being erased from time turning you into stone is really more of a fantastical idea than a science fiction one, but it works in the Moffat era as it is more of a fantastical take on Doctor than most other era’s and so therefore the Stone Dalek works too.

Oswin Dalek

Yet another good guy Dalek. Oswin was featured in Steven Moffat’s classic Asylum of the Daleks. Oswin is different to the other good guy Daleks in that she was once a human being who was captured by the Daleks and turned into one of them.

This was not the first time we saw a Dalek turn on the other members of its kind. Or indeed the first time we saw human beings be transformed into Daleks. However it was presented in quite a new and interesting way where we see Oswin throughout the story and believe that she is a human being only to discover at the end that she has been hallucinating this whole time that she is still a human being.

Its a truly horrifying moment when we discover the truth and just see a Dalek sitting there talking as though it were still a human being.

Its probably Moffat’s best twist as I really did not see this coming.

Rusty

The star of the latest Dalek story Into the Dalek, Rusty is yet another Dalek that has turned against the rest of its kind. However with Rusty its one again in a different way.

Other good guy Daleks are usually Daleks who have developed human feelings such as compassion and therefore hate the other ruthless Daleks.

With Rusty however he does not actually have any compassion or mercy or pity he just simply hates the Daleks the same way that they hate other life forms.

He is still every bit as evil and pitiless as regular Daleks its just that he now hates creatures of evil.

The best part however is that his hatred for the Daleks comes from the Doctor himself.

The 12th Doctor attempted to link his mind with Rusty, but unfortunately the Dalek was unable to comprehend any of the Doctor’s positive qualities. It could only see his hatred, his hatred for the Daleks and it loved it. It embraced it and turned on its own kind.

The scene where it obliterates the squad of Daleks who ironically had come to rescue it in cold blood whilst a horrified Doctor stares realizing that Rusty has done this in his name is one of my favourite moments in all of Who.

In many ways Rusty does what the Doctor would love do. Exterminate every single Dalek he see’s. He is the living embodiement of the Doctors dark side in this scene the Doctor can see what his own anger and hatred is capable of like never before.

I so hope to see Rusty again some time. I think they would be mad not to bring him back for future appearances, there is so much potential in his character.

Lumpy

This character appeared in the most recent online game The Doctor and the Dalek featuring the 12th Doctor. Lumpy it seems to me is nothing more than a stand in for Rusty. I don’t know why they wouldn’t use Rusty for this game. I am hoping that its because they are saving him up for something much bigger on tv in season 9.

Whatever the case Lumpy is really just Rusty lite. He is another Dalek who turns on the rest of his kind, is given a funny nickname by the 12th Doctor and helps him battle Daleks and Cybermen and Sontarans too.

Whilst there is nothing particularly original about Lumpy’s character, its still quite a neat idea for a story. A good guy Dalek and the Doctor fighting his worst enemies across time and space. Its almost like a surrealist buddy cop movie.

Steven Moffat said he apparently originally thought up the idea for Into the Dalek for a video game, but decided that it would be better for a tv episode. I kinda wish he had done the same for this game as well. I would love to have seen this as perhaps a Christmas special.

I suppose Lumpy, Rusty, Alpha, Beta and Omega all of whom are still alive could maybe form a super hero team. Using their Dalek powers to fight crime across the universe.

THAT would be a fun idea for a Doctor Who video game.

As you can see there have been a lot of weird and different Dalek characters throughout Doctor Who. There have been many interesting types of heroic Daleks and exciting variants over the years. Anyone who says that the Daleks are just simply one dimensional monsters should take this into consideration. Not only have there been a lot of interesting new takes on them throughout the years, but there have been a lot of interesting Dalek characters too.