Tropes
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Alek Zemos stating that the intruders inside his building must be captured and exterminated.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: The Daleks manage to turn anyone within several miles of their base into rabid pro-Dalek fanatics, including Mel and a pair of Thals who were actively opposing the Daleks. They promptly attack the Doctor, who was unaffected.
- Call-Back: The Doctor recalls defeating the Daleks with The Human Factor.
- Call-Forward:
- The classic Daleks also know how to serve humans food.
- They've were introduced to the humans as aliens with an interest in human history, especially history concerning Shakespeare.
- One Dalek states defiantly that its weapon is unimpaired.
- Teleported buildings cause rain on Earth in the spot the building used to be.
- One that triples as a call back, forward and Running Gag, when he enters the Dalek ship, the Seventh Doctor once again states that "I see you've redecorated! I don't like it."
- The Daleks will continue experimenting with using children as battle computers.
- Celia becomes The Prime Minister of the Daleks.
- The Doctor is called "The Oncoming Storm".
- Captain Obvious: The Doctor makes fun of a particularly blatant example.Serena (while escaping the Daleks): Those things are trying to kill us!The Doctor: Well done for spotting that! No wonder you're a journalist!
- Gratuitous Latin: "Tempus Fugit".
- Hidden Villain: The Daleks, now posing as innocent aliens hoping to make the United Kingdom the Earth's most economically prosperous nation.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard:
- The Daleks are defeated using their own Allimbic field, which dials up their inherent xenophobia up a few more notches so they hate everyone, including other Daleks. As the Doctor puts it, once they're all only looking out for themselves "there's no such thing as Dalek society" anymore.
- It Will Never Catch On: Mel says this about an "International Network"
- Jerkass Has a Point: The Doctor tried convincing Celia that the Daleks are not the good aliens she thinks they are by pointing out that most of their products are as a result of slave labour on other planets. Celia retorts that the same thing happens on Earth.
- Kangaroo Court: The court of the Daleks that were going to convict the Doctor.
- Kerb-Stomp Battle: The Dalek drone ships make short work of the Daleks.
- No Party Given: Celia Dunthorpe and Niles Bunbury's party alignment is not given (and Dunthorpe is implied to be an independent) but it's clear from context they're both Conservative-leaning, with Dunthorpe a Thatcherite and Bunbury a more amiable, old-fashioned High Tory or One-nation type. Dunthorpe repeats a lot of Thatcher's sentiments verbatim, only in relation to supporting the Daleks.
- Not Brainwashed: Celia.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The Doctor is unnerved when the Daleks begin chanting about "the power of the free market!"
- The Quisling: Celia, who thinks the Daleks will stick to their word of making the UK the most important nation on Earth.
- Title Drop: When Celia begins turning ordinary humans into Absolute Xenophobes by unlocking their base instincts for violence, she says that "We Are the Daleks"
- Recognition Failure: Since this is his first chronological story with them, the Daleks fail to recognise the newly-regenerated Seventh Doctor for all of 10 seconds.
- Shout-Out: During the episode 2 cliffhanger:The Doctor: "That's Mel for you! She never gives up, never surrenders!"
- When Mel teleports the Zemos Tower to Skaro:
The Doctor: "I get by, with a little help from my friends." - Stuff Blowing Up: Zemos Tower.
- Subverted Catchphrase: " Daleks invest and return!"
