Thoughts on Dalek

[kaliha]

It's a bit rambly, and I had been drinking when we were watching it so rambings within may be somewhat confused to sober viewers...



What a very, very good episode. Even non-Sci-fi liking friend sat and watched it with us while we waited for our taxi last night.

It must've fallen through time, the only survivor.
Another bit of drip-feeding to the audience regarding the Time Wars. No wonder Nine's developed that 1000-yard intense stare. The Docotrs bit about a 'hundred thousand ships burning' reminded me of bit at the end of Blade Runner. It was the feeling of someone who has seen too much, and is weary. it had shivers running up and down my spine. It was great.

I like mean and broody Doctor. I liked bad-guy torturing Doctor too. it's not something you see very often in Doctr Who. A lot of people think he's this benevolent chap with a magic blue box. But no, he's angry too. Then again I tink you'd shove any benevolent feelings aside when facing the last of the race that destroyed your people.

Exterminate!
Okay, I see now why Daleks are scary. When it was chasing after Rose and it wasn't ranting or raving, just trundling along totally focused on catching Rose. Totally, single-minded, very chilling. As was the bit where it used the facility against the guards, setting off the sprinklers then electrifying the water. (Wouldn't they have been all-right though? They were all wearing rubber soled boots).

This should have been a two-parter with the break being where Rose was trapped withthe Dalek. ("EX-TERM-IN-ATE!" *bang* *cue credits* *Noooooooooooooooooooo*)

Didn't like the floating. Hated the "EL-E-VATE!" bit. This isn't Catchphrase, there's no need to say what you see. Stupid, evil robot alien.

That Billie's got a good pair of lungs on her. Very good little screamer. Thee was a bit of chin rubbing and mutters of "Nice" during that bit. (*rolls eyes* men).

Adam: Are you and the Doctor ...?
Rose: No. We're just friends.
Adam: Good.
Rose: Why is that good?
Adam: (Smiles) It just is.
The twisted little 'shipper deep inside gave a cheer where the Dalek was taunting Nine about losing 'the woman you love' and Nine looking all mean and broody. It couldn't help itself. Although all the comments each week about their relationship feel very cynical. It's like RTD wants us to write badfic or something.

On the 'shippy subject, I don't particularly like Adam. I put it mainly down to his delivery of "and they can't go up stairs" line. It made me cringe it was so school-play sounding. I did like the Doctor's reaction to him though, and his delicate sounding out of whether or not Rose fancied him.

Maybe the Doctor can 'lose' him down a wing of the TARDIS? His Lordship reckons he's only there to act as a 'red-shirt' next week.

"I already killed her once."
Hang on? Have I missed something there? Or did I just not hear it right.

I am alone in the Universe?
I didn't realise that the Daleks were quite so Borg-y (what with sharing a hive mind and all). I actually felt a bit sorry for it when it as whineing that it had no orders. Mainly because it reminded me of a half-remmbered sci-fi short story where the hero was in the same position.

I even felt a little tear in my eye when it offed itself. Poor Dalek. Not the reaction Nine wants us to have obviously.

But is this the end of the Daleks? If it is, it's been finished off nicely. The self-extermination scene was very nicely CGI-ed and if Terry Nation's estate doesn't let them use the Daleks anymore there' been a satisfactory tie-off of their story thread.

Although I'm left wondering if the Doctor won't just go back in time to the Dalek/Time Lord war and try and put right what once went wrong. Y'know, actually stand up and make a decision. Or are there rules stating that he's not allowed to do that?

--
Next Week on Doctor Who:
When Fandoms collide. And our first chance to see Simon Pegg playing ev0l. Very excited. Should be good. Fingers crossed for some testosterone-filled exchanges between Pegg & Eccleston.

--
Lastly,
Who would win in a fight? A Dalek or one of the house robots from Robot Wars?

Comments

[indigo-blind.livejournal.com]

I know i'm looking forward to next week with Simon Pegg, i kinda squealed and went 'oh it's Simon Pegg'.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

I think I embarrased His Lordship because I proclaimed the Squee often during the trail for next week. I can't help myself :D

[grapefruitzzz.livejournal.com]

Simon Pegg was pretty evOl in his "Black Books" episode when he played the horrid mega-bookstore manager. *shudder*

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

But he was still a bit sweet with the ev0l. That was one fo the funniest black books I have ever seen.

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

Hang on? Have I missed something there? Or did I just not hear it right.

He sealed the vault. He pressed "enter". He thought he'd killed her. And I think he actually says "I kileld her" when he hears the dalek's gun.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

Oh, okay, that actually makes sense. I was on my second glass of white wine by then ;)

[trav28.livejournal.com]

it was the feeling of someone who has seen too much, and is weary.

Ye, I found that such a touching (and familiar) moment.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Well, it wasn't just the floor that was wet, the soldiers and their shoes were pretty wet too. It's conceivable that they wouldn't have gotten the lion's share of the current, but I wouldn't want to be standing there.

(Besides, the means of electrifying the floor involved Movie Electricity, so anything could happen.)

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

Movie Electricity

Is that a bit like Brass Eye's Heavy Electricity?

[snellios.livejournal.com]

they should so do a prequel series. Did we get any info about the Time War in previous Who series?

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

I don't think so, but he does have a magnificent time machine so who's to say that he's not going to trundle back into the midst of the Time Wars in a future episode.

[snellios.livejournal.com]

I think we're definitely gonna find out what happened. Because he said that he was the one who ended the war; who killed them all. (right,?) So i guess that's the reason he uses for not going back and changing what happened.

[triestine.livejournal.com]

Didn't he say something along the lines of "I wasn't there" to the Nestene Consciousness?

[snellios.livejournal.com]

i thought he said ti was "is fault". unno, Ill check later.

I am meaning to birfday!txt you when my phone is charged yeyeyeyeye

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

But didn't Nine say to the Dalek that he watched the Dalek's burn?

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

...It's also interesting that the levitation managed to be shocking even to seasoned Who fans, even though almost the same scene had appeared in Remembrance of the Daleks (one difference was that I don't think anybody was there watching the Dalek).

[rhipowered.livejournal.com]

Having watched Remembrance the week before this (I'm a new fan and my SOtypeperson got it on DVD for his birthday)...the only person who saw the Dalek go upstairs was the Doctor. Ace and the Fascist Principal got out of the basement in time, I think.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

Only this time the Dalek wasn't precariously perched on a couple of poles.

[taperoo2k.livejournal.com]

The episode was fantastic. The "ELEVATE" bit was for the small kids who have never seen nor heard of the Daleks. That part had my 2 year old nephew scared hehe.

The question is, will the Doctor stick to his peoples rules about time travel (he's bent them in the past) or he will just think "Sod that, i'm going to try and change things". Though i think Rose messes with time in episode 8. So i guess we'll get a lecture from the Doctor on the dangers of messing with Time.

Overall that was the best episode of the series so far. Finally the sink plunger has a terrifying use, instead of making me laugh.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

In "The Unquiet Dead", he seemed cavalier about changing history. I think something's happened to him to remove any remaining inhibitions he may have had about the Laws of Time.

[taperoo2k.livejournal.com]

Well he seemed to know what was going to happen, more or less in that episode. The surprise was the gelth or however you spell them.
The Time War has seriously damaged the Doctor. From what i'm gathering the Doctor may have destroyed his home planet. Hence the crazy Doctor.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

He pretty much did in the BBC Books continuity, but that incident didn't really involve the Daleks, so they're apparently not following the book continuity.

[taperoo2k.livejournal.com]

I don't Russel is following the books. He may well have taken a few ideas. But he is doing his own continuity. Some of the books are quite poor.
Doctor Who needed to be shaken up a bit, following the books would have been a bad idea. It would limit as to what they can do with the show.
Russel T Davies has got the new series spot on, apart from a few silly fart jokes.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Also, the books' storyline just becomes too gigantically complex to be TV backstory. There's no way they could make all the business about Faction Paradox make any sense in retrospect. Better to have the enemy be the Daleks.

[shinji-star.livejournal.com]

They're not following the books. Acording to RTD's production notes in DWM following the book continuity directly would make the BBC's public charter go BOOM as people would be obliged to spend money on the books to understand the story. That's also why the last 8th doctor book is delayed, just in case.

[trinalin.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't they have been all-right though? They were all wearing rubber soled boots

Just about every insulator (air, rubber, paper, etc) has what's called a "dielectric breakdown" if the potential different on either side of it is great enough. That's how we get lightning. That's how those men would have been electrocuted through their rubber boots.

[aryas_zehral]

Although all the comments each week about their relationship feel very cynical. It's like RTD wants us to write badfic or something.

That's pretty much how I saw that line too. I mean I love all the stuff that you can take as shippy but that was too sledgehammer-like. Felt clunky and uninspired.

Oh, and I would route for the house robots anyday. But I like them more.

*grin*

S.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

The Daleks just have a sink plunger, Sir Killalot's got a sodding huge lance. The House robots would whoop them :D

[aryas_zehral]

*claps hands*

Very much so.

*Wishes Robot Wars was on, sigh*

S.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

There's old Robot Wars all over sky. I think it was on one of the kids channels on Friday.

[aryas_zehral]

It's on Jetix (Seventh Wars) about 7.30pm. And teh really old wars with Panic Attack and Hypnodisc are sometimes on The Sci-Fi channel about 7pm.

S.

[taperoo2k.livejournal.com]

Yeah but that Sink Plunger actually has a use now.

[tabimendou.livejournal.com]

Simon Pegg! That's who it was. I knew I recognized him but couldn't work out quite where from...

[jpprime.livejournal.com]

I don't know about anyone else, but I think that since we now have two un-RTD stories aired that I think I'm liking these over his stuff. Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the show, but I think that under RTD we're getting too much continuity with the stories, and that there's very little when it comes to the non-RTD stories. Also, notice that there is next to no use of the sonic screwdriver in these stories as well?

[taperoo2k.livejournal.com]

The shows got a perfect balance, RTD did change a few things in the Dalek episode, he has got something extremely exciting up his sleeve regarding the time war. Though the bloke who wrote the Dalek episode says he is in the dark about it. If not for RTD, there would be no new Dr Who series in it's current form. I doubt that Eccleston would have bothered going for the role of the Doctor if not for his old pal RTD.

[jpprime.livejournal.com]

That's true, about if it wasn't for RTD. But I think that Dalek and Unquiet Dead have been the better ones so far because of the lack of the use of the sonic screwdriver (which I feel is way OVERUSED in the RTD tales so far) and that that lack a continuity in terms of when they're happening in Rose's story (well, except that The Doctor tells Rose in Unquiet that he's taking her to see the past). But that's my thoughts.

[taperoo2k.livejournal.com]

The Somic screwdriver does come in handy. But i guess it's inclusion is for the young boys that watch the show. It'll be a must have toy for christmas etc. The BBC are going to make a shed load of new cash from Dr Who.

[ed-zeppelin.livejournal.com]

The only trouble now is that new viewers may find the original series Daleks slightly disappointing.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

I don't think they would. Old Daleks were loads more bloodthirsty and there were more explosions.

[ed-zeppelin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you can't beat those stories.

P.S. is your "vaguely imaginary" quote a Ross Noble reference?

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

It is indeed. I'm keeping it real with my homies in Narnia.

[ed-zeppelin.livejournal.com]

Awesome DVD. All together now: Hare, Hare Krishna, Hare hare, krishna krishna...

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

With a quick break into some boyband-style dancing.