DW 31x03: Victory of the Daleks

[Griffin]

Starts soon...

poll borrowed stolen from seafort

[colmquinn]

Rubbish.

[Sionnach Glic]

2/5

The World War 2 setting, despite plenty of possible story-telling oppertunities, was for the most part ignored.

Churchill was....poor. Not exactly the most stellar representation of him I've ever seen of him, and the whole character seemed a bit off.

The mystery of the Tommy Daleks was seriously wasted. The episode set up the mystery, and then solved it in about ten minutes. They could have built a whole episode around the Doctor trying to find out what the Daleks were up to, with them subtly trying to throw him off without alerting their human "masters". It just seems like they had a load of potential which they never bothered to capitalise on.

The Daleks' big weapon is.....turning on all the lights in London. Sorry, lame. Yeah, I get that the Nazis were bombing the place and that turning all the lights on makes it easier for them, but I'm pretty certain London got hammered with direct strikes rather frequently, so I'm not too sure how this is all that different from any other raid.

The Space Spitfires were....meh. Seriously, the Daleks couldn't shoot down three frickin' Spitfires?

The new Daleks were nice. Shades of Ye Olde Series, anyone? I also liked how the inferior Daleks allowed themselves to be killed by the "master race" Daleks. Say what you will about them, but the Daleks stick to their principles.

Profesor Android is a giant planet-destroying bomb, but he doesn't explode because of the Power Of Love, or something. Blech. Robotics does not work this way!

Amy doesn't remember anything that happened in the last series. I'd say this is evidence of some strange, malevolant being, but given how completely oblivious humans in the Whoverse seem to be to aliens rampaging around the place, it's possible that this is just completely normal behaviour.

What was up with the big "we're going to go away to do something very important for fifteen minutes and when we come back we'll deactivate you. No, make that 20 minutes." thing? Just tell him that he's got twenty minutes to get the hell out of London before anyone comes looking for him.

Also, did anyone else notice that the Union flag in the War Room was upside-down?

Weeping Angles are back next week. Let's hope Moffat can pull off an episode as good as Blink with them.

Also, has DW gotten a budget increase for this series? It seems like they're using new sets and CGI a lot more than in previous series. Though it may just be my imagination.

[Graham Kennedy]

I thought this suffered from a lot of what has characterised modern Who. What it really needed was some suspense... it needed people creeping around the darkened corridors of Downing Street in the dead of night, trying to find out what the Daleks were up to... backing up and bumping into one, only to have it politely ask "May I help you?". It needed time to develop the situation, instead of just giving us wham-bam-bang-boom-crash-and-we're-done. In short, it needed to be a two or three parter.

Instead the Doctor's clever solution to the mystery is basically to shout and scream "You are Daleks!" at them for five minutes until they admit it.

(Have to say, I absolutely LOVED having a Dalek say "Would you like a cup of tea?" to somebody.)

Turning on the lights... well nobody ever said it would be the end of the Human race or anything. What it would basically do is allow accurate bombing, which they said would "kill thousands!". Though in all honesty with a raid underway there would really be no time for the Germans to take advantage of the lights in any meaningful way. It's not like the pilots are going to go "Ahhh, ze whole city is lit up! Now vee can bomb ze Column of Nelson unt Big Ben!" The pilots don't know London's layout, don't know where the nice juicy targets are. For that one night all it would mean was that they would have a good chance of finding their targets and bombing accurately... and IIRC the Luftwaffe of the time were not equipped for or concerned with accurate bombing anyway, they were going for area targets. If the lights had stayed on for a week it would be more of an issue, but that's pretty silly; people would just take the bulbs out.

The new Daleks are... hmmm. In Who Confidential they were described as badder, scarier Daleks. I actually thought they were really no scarier than the originals. I kinda like the colours, but the styling... there was something about those Art Deco bronze Daleks that had a timeless feel to them. I have a feeling these will look dated in 20 years or so. And are they really any more dangerous than the older ones? The older Daleks were already so powerful as to be the "undefeatable foe" to basically anybody but the Doctor, so how much worse can these be, really?

One thing, though. Amy doesn't remember the Dalek attacks on Earth at all... and it's NOT because she's from too early a time, as some have speculated, because the Doctor thought it was impossible that she would not remember it. Interesting... Amy is from some sort of parallel / alternate / changed future?

Another crack in spacetime at the end. Are these THAT common? Or is the Tardis drawn to them? Or is the Tardis CAUSING them, wherever it appears?

[Reliant121]

It just seemed ridiculously squashed to me. Some Dalek subterfuge, the doctor and companion snooping, even just some Dalek lasering some Germans to mush would have been nice. There was a good premise and such a great opportunity and it just suddenly went HERESTHEBEGINNINGOMGHERESTHEMIDDLEANDENDALLIN15MINUTES. you could have made an entire episode from the discovery.

I thought Churchill wasn't too bad. perhaps a bit too irate for my liking, and a little too Jolly as well.

The Spitfires...What the actual hell. How can you fly in space if you only have a propeller engine? Additionally, how can a Dalek ship not eliminate three wooden fighters? Seriously, That has to be the most ridiculous thing I've seen in a long time.

The bombing aspect was...meh. It's not like the Germans were particularly picky with their targets, seeming to just carpet bomb London into the middle of next week. not really thought out that well.

What I did like all over was the performance of the Britleks. As Graham noted, the "Would you like some tea" line was classic. Plus when the doctor attacks the Britlek, the way the Britlek managed to pull off being innocently unawares...It's funny, for an emotionless species who can't convey anything because they are just small tank, somehow it managed to SEEM innocent and hard-done by. The voice acting, however much synthesis was involved, was impressive. And the Britlek willingness to be terminated by the new Daleks.

The new Daleks.....ech. The new colours just make me think of Dalek power rangers really. They have a slightly adjusted eyestalk and the armour section with the stalk and the laser seem to have been made a little more bulky. Not really getting this increased sense of danger here. I'm seeing another cult of skaro thing, what might we have this time; Knights of the Round Apocalyptic Battleship? Part of the Dalek's menace is their countless number, their unrivaled, stark, impersonal strength. It seems at every turn the new series Daleks seek to make certain Dalek's individual, even if its individuality by being part of a superior group. It...I dunno, it just doesn't feel right.

I'd give it a 5/10. Mediocre. For something as dramatic and as sincere as the Daleks, a supposed uber-race to rival the timelords...There should have been FAR more majesty in their re-introduction. While the Timelords's are benevolent gods (virtually speaking) the Daleks are equally as powerful and technologically advanced....There should be some grandeur, some drama and above all else, some Genuine terror at their reintroduction.

[Tsukiyumi]

...The Spitfires...What the actual hell. How can you fly in space if you only have a propeller engine? Additionally, how can a Dalek ship not eliminate three wooden fighters?

Spitfires were metal.

[Reliant121]

....My bad.

Principle remains though, s'not like you can send an Aluminium Fiat Panda into space without it burning up is it

[Tsukiyumi]

[Sionnach Glic]

I thought this suffered from a lot of what has characterised modern Who. What it really needed was some suspense... it needed people creeping around the darkened corridors of Downing Street in the dead of night, trying to find out what the Daleks were up to... backing up and bumping into one, only to have it politely ask "May I help you?". It needed time to develop the situation, instead of just giving us wham-bam-bang-boom-crash-and-we're-done. In short, it needed to be a two or three parter.

You just nailed the whole thing right there. This entire premise was begging to be a two-parter, with far more mystery and suspense than we got.

The new Daleks are... hmmm. In Who Confidential they were described as badder, scarier Daleks. I actually thought they were really no scarier than the originals. I kinda like the colours, but the styling... there was something about those Art Deco bronze Daleks that had a timeless feel to them. I have a feeling these will look dated in 20 years or so.

The design of the new Daleks remind me a bit of the Daleks of the older series. I think the designers were intentionaly trying to give them a retro feel. Though I agree that the Art-Deco Daleks looked much nicer.

WRT the cracks in space/time, I'm hoping that at the end of the series it turns out to be the Doctor's fault. All of his jumping around in time, getting involved, changing things, etc, has started to seriously fuck up the universe, and now the whole thing's falling apart because of him. It'd certainly make for a far more interesting series finale than the typical "Oh look! It's the Daleks/Cybermen/Master back to destroy the world!" thing we've gotten every single series now.

The new colours just make me think of Dalek power rangers really.

Oh, man. If Russel T. Davies came back for just one episode where the Daleks all combined together into a giant mecha form to defeat the Doctor, I would forgive him for all of his past transgressions.

[Graham Kennedy]

I have a thought about the Spitfires in space. They talked about a "gravity bubble" or something... I'm thinking, if you contained a Spit within a bubble of air, say fifty feet across, then the propellor could still pull it forward. And since the bubble generator is in the fighter it would move along with it. Now in normal physics that wouldn't work... but if the bubble generator operated on some futuristic black magic principle it kinda works.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Meh, it's Doctor Who. they've done weirder.

[kostmayer]

The Spitfires got into space due to some "gravity bubble", I'm guessing there was some other Dalek technology at play with regards to the propulsion as well.

I'm gonna repeat previous criticisms - manly that the episode was way too short. I really don't like how the Dalek's have been overused, however the WWII Daleks was a great setup. With a bit more suspense it could have been one of the better episodes.

The scientist being a creation of the Daleks and not the other way round should have been a great plot twist as well, but the oppurtunity was thrown away. And the way he was defused was a bit ridiculous. A better ending would have been him sacrificing himself by getting himself aboard the Dalek ship using his gravity bubble thingies and taking the Daleks with him when he went kaboom.

[Graham Kennedy]

Another thing I've noticed is that they are working REALLY hard to make Amy Pond a big factor in every episode. This week it was her who "defused" the bomb/scientist, and her who came up with the idea of attacking the Daleks. Last week it was her who realised they didn't need to torture the whale. And so on.

They're really pushing to not have her just be "along for the ride".

[Reliant121]

With regard to Amy actually being useful I quite like it personally

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Having the companions be useful is always preferable to them simply be screaming twits. I look to Ace, Leela, Romana... let's see if Amy can pass the 'Dalek test'.