Asylum of the Daleks
Sep. 1st, 2012 08:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daibhidcOh. My. Freaking. God.
That was epic. In fact, I'm not sure I have much to write here except "Oh, my freaking God, that was epic". Every time I try to come up with a more coherent thought on the subject, my brain turns back to "Oh, my freaking God, that was epic".
So I'll try and sneak up on coherent thought by starting with the one aspect I wasn't keen on: Rory and Amy. They broke up in a one-minute webisode, they're getting divorced when the episode starts, and then all it takes is nearly becoming Daleks and they realise the whole thing was a misunderstanding and they still love each other, hurrah.
Now I'm not saying I want them to actually get divorced. I'm not even saying I want a long arc about rebuilding their relationship. What I'm saying is that if you're going to both split them up and get them back together in passing, why do it at all? It's like Moff thinks he's expected to do a subplot about Amy and Rory's relationship, and he couldn't think of an interesting one, so he went for splitting them up. Doesn't work.
But the Daleks were excellent. Not sure about the clear plastic tube for the Dalek Leader, and I'm a little confused as to why most of them are still RTD-era Daleks, but the insane ones were absolutely chilling. (I never saw the Special Weapons Dalek, though; did anyone else? It makes total sense any surviving SWD would be in there.)
I'm not good at recognising faces, especially faces I've only seen in photos and amn't expecting to see. So when Souffle Girl appeared I thought "I've seen her in something else", and didn't think any more about it. It wasn't until the credits came up that I thought "Wait a minute ... did that say ... ?"
I had vague ideas about "What's the deal with Souffle Girl?" from the beginning; it was pretty clear there was something weird going on; I dismissed the idea that she was a Robotman (as I couldn't help thinking of the Dalekised humans) because it was too obvious, and didn't explain where the milk came from. (Since she mentioned her Mum in her first appearance, I initially wondered if she was Hannah, before it became apparent the stories didn't match at all.) I'd kind of sort of worked it out just as the Doctor arrived, but I was picturing something like the Dalek Chair in "Remembrance" rather than her actually being a Dalek.
It'll be interesting to see how, if at all, this character connects to the very-similar-appearing one introduced in the Christmas special. Certainly the easy banter she had with the Doctor and Rory had me thinking she'd be good companion material - again, without actually recognising her.
And if anyone had any doubt about how seriously the Moff is taking the idea that the Doctor can no longer swan onto planets announcing that he's the Doctor, the fact the Daleks - not just the first monsters, but in "The Chase" the first monsters to have a working knowledge that the Doctor is trouble - have now completely forgotten he exists is a good sign. (Although I'm not clear why failure to recognise him prevented them from exterminating; he's not a Dalek, surely that's all they need to know?)
That was epic. In fact, I'm not sure I have much to write here except "Oh, my freaking God, that was epic". Every time I try to come up with a more coherent thought on the subject, my brain turns back to "Oh, my freaking God, that was epic".
So I'll try and sneak up on coherent thought by starting with the one aspect I wasn't keen on: Rory and Amy. They broke up in a one-minute webisode, they're getting divorced when the episode starts, and then all it takes is nearly becoming Daleks and they realise the whole thing was a misunderstanding and they still love each other, hurrah.
Now I'm not saying I want them to actually get divorced. I'm not even saying I want a long arc about rebuilding their relationship. What I'm saying is that if you're going to both split them up and get them back together in passing, why do it at all? It's like Moff thinks he's expected to do a subplot about Amy and Rory's relationship, and he couldn't think of an interesting one, so he went for splitting them up. Doesn't work.
But the Daleks were excellent. Not sure about the clear plastic tube for the Dalek Leader, and I'm a little confused as to why most of them are still RTD-era Daleks, but the insane ones were absolutely chilling. (I never saw the Special Weapons Dalek, though; did anyone else? It makes total sense any surviving SWD would be in there.)
I'm not good at recognising faces, especially faces I've only seen in photos and amn't expecting to see. So when Souffle Girl appeared I thought "I've seen her in something else", and didn't think any more about it. It wasn't until the credits came up that I thought "Wait a minute ... did that say ... ?"
I had vague ideas about "What's the deal with Souffle Girl?" from the beginning; it was pretty clear there was something weird going on; I dismissed the idea that she was a Robotman (as I couldn't help thinking of the Dalekised humans) because it was too obvious, and didn't explain where the milk came from. (Since she mentioned her Mum in her first appearance, I initially wondered if she was Hannah, before it became apparent the stories didn't match at all.) I'd kind of sort of worked it out just as the Doctor arrived, but I was picturing something like the Dalek Chair in "Remembrance" rather than her actually being a Dalek.
It'll be interesting to see how, if at all, this character connects to the very-similar-appearing one introduced in the Christmas special. Certainly the easy banter she had with the Doctor and Rory had me thinking she'd be good companion material - again, without actually recognising her.
And if anyone had any doubt about how seriously the Moff is taking the idea that the Doctor can no longer swan onto planets announcing that he's the Doctor, the fact the Daleks - not just the first monsters, but in "The Chase" the first monsters to have a working knowledge that the Doctor is trouble - have now completely forgotten he exists is a good sign. (Although I'm not clear why failure to recognise him prevented them from exterminating; he's not a Dalek, surely that's all they need to know?)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-09-01 07:53 pm (UTC)Moff needs to get his ego back down to earth and start writing decent scripts.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-01 08:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-01 08:55 pm (UTC)I definitely thought of them as the evolution of Robomen rather than as stealth Daleks.
The nanomachines and what they do raise a chilling possibility — the Daleks could weaponize them and infect biospheres with them, turning entire planets into Dalek slave worlds and the inhabitants wouldn't even know it. (If this were a development in the New Adventures, Doctor Who could go there. But for the television series? Not going there.)
Since she mentioned her Mum in her first appearance, I initially wondered if she was Hannah, before it became apparent the stories didn't match at all.
I had the same thought. I felt the whole trap for the Doctor was a dangling plot point.
It'll be interesting to see how, if at all, this character connects to the very-similar-appearing one introduced in the Christmas special.
Suppose Oswin's Dalek casing has the same teleport abilities as the Cult of Skaro. Oswin, because she's wired into the Dalek computer net, knows where the Doctor is teleporting to. She knows when the shields are going down because she has to shut them off. She's powered up, so she could have enough energy to make a teleport of her own to the TARDIS. Then it's a question of what the TARDIS would do with a Dalek. Drop her in a Zero Room, maybe? Would the Zero Room be able to restore her human form? Or would she really be a human-in-a-Dalek-casing, and would the same TARDIS ability that translates cause people to see Oswin as a human being?
This would be interesting. She would basically be Doctor Who's Seven of Nine.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-02 12:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-02 12:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-02 12:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-02 03:14 pm (UTC)