Series 1 in a lot of ways hasn't aged well, particularly it's first few episodes, but Dalek was when the show started to hit it's stride and The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances is really where the show begins to demonstrate it can stand shoulder to shoulder with the best of Classic Who. Carrying on from the cliffhanger ending to The Empty Child we get one of the cleverest and funniest cliffhanger resolutions and it just never loses its momentum. The second half of the overall story is just clever twist after clever twist with some of Moffat's wittiest dialogue and some great back and forth between the two leads and their new ally Captain Jack. This character was a very welcome, albeit short-lived, addition to the team. I've mentioned before that the Child itself is a fantastic villain but I also couldn't help noticing how eerily similar it is to the villain from The Holy Terror, similar idea, similar motive and even the ending itself is a less tragic version of the ending of The Holy Terror. Doesn't take away from my enjoyment, far from it, before the phrase "everybody lives!" would be abused to the point where death means nothing in the show anymore, Moffat gives us one of the show's most feel good climaxes with Eccleston putting in one of his best performances as the Doctor and marks a significant leap in his recovery from the Time War. People debate whether Dalek or this two parter is Series 1's best, while Dalek is utterly brilliant I have to give the edge to this story, it's a complete package of everything I love about Doctor Who and Moffat's earliest writing