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avevale_intelligencerOkay, the first thing to say about this episode is that, like most of the others, it works while you're watching it. RTD and his crew have clearly decided that they're making the show for kids, not creating television for the ages, and as long as it's bright and flashy enough to carry you along for the forty-five minutes it doesn't matter if it makes sense afterwards. Which I think is a mistake, but then I'm not a famous telly writer, so what do I know.
Also, the Dalek itself is most impressive, even in the reveal at the end. They've done some things with it that no-one else has thought of, and the stairs scene works very nicely. Nick Briggs is good with the voice, having probably been practising since he was in short trousers, and effects-wise there are no complaints.
And now let us turn our attention to the plot.
On the face of it, it's fine. Young human discovers moribund alien, takes pity on it and touches it, whereupon it absorbs some of her genetic material and reconstructs itself, thereby creating its own downfall as it starts to become human. That works. It would work with any Doctor Who monster...
...except one.
The Daleks are the ultimate fascists. That's not implied, that's stated. Racial purity above all. They kill anything that is different, because anything different is wrong. That's why the Dalek dies at the end, because it feels itself changing, becoming human, and finds the idea of change impossible to live with.
(It's no good, I have to go into Toby Ziegler mode on this...)
Zander: So how in the world--
You: Zander--
Zander: How in the world--
You: Zander--
Zander: How in the world could there ever be, in a Dalek, a mechanism for absorbing alien genetic material and adding it to itself in the first place??? (beat)It doesn't make sense.
This plot not only contradicts itself, it eyeballs itself, makes a rude remark about its own mother and bashes itself over the head with a chair. This is not some nitpicky little piece of what they love to call "fanwank." This is not Brandon wotsisface asking Captain Taggart about the technical details of the auxiliary drive in Galaxy Quest. This is a plot hole that is bigger than the actual plot. And if they were serious about re-creating Doctor Who, if they weren't just writing bright and flashy stuff to carry you along for the forty-five minutes, they would have noticed that, and written something different.
In other news, as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
soren_nyrond predicted, the Doctor once again gets to stand there like a gormless barmpot while a strong woman, or in this case two, save the day. The only thing he does turns out to have been a mistake which has to be undone. Now I love strong women. They have been woefully under-represented in Doctor Who, as in most telly drama of the time, and I think there's a lot of scope for a series about strong women and useless men (hang on, I've just described just about every sitcom since 1953). But the way I remember this series that I love, the Doctor used to save the day. That was what he did. He hasn't done it once yet, and the series is nearly half over. Okay, survivor trauma, the Time Lords are all dead (and the implication is that this universe is pretty much over and done with anyway, bar the mopping up) but enough is enough. If he's ever going to be the hero we watched for twenty years and wanted back, it's got to happen soon.
Also, the Dalek itself is most impressive, even in the reveal at the end. They've done some things with it that no-one else has thought of, and the stairs scene works very nicely. Nick Briggs is good with the voice, having probably been practising since he was in short trousers, and effects-wise there are no complaints.
And now let us turn our attention to the plot.
On the face of it, it's fine. Young human discovers moribund alien, takes pity on it and touches it, whereupon it absorbs some of her genetic material and reconstructs itself, thereby creating its own downfall as it starts to become human. That works. It would work with any Doctor Who monster...
...except one.
The Daleks are the ultimate fascists. That's not implied, that's stated. Racial purity above all. They kill anything that is different, because anything different is wrong. That's why the Dalek dies at the end, because it feels itself changing, becoming human, and finds the idea of change impossible to live with.
(It's no good, I have to go into Toby Ziegler mode on this...)
Zander: So how in the world--
You: Zander--
Zander: How in the world--
You: Zander--
Zander: How in the world could there ever be, in a Dalek, a mechanism for absorbing alien genetic material and adding it to itself in the first place??? (beat)It doesn't make sense.
This plot not only contradicts itself, it eyeballs itself, makes a rude remark about its own mother and bashes itself over the head with a chair. This is not some nitpicky little piece of what they love to call "fanwank." This is not Brandon wotsisface asking Captain Taggart about the technical details of the auxiliary drive in Galaxy Quest. This is a plot hole that is bigger than the actual plot. And if they were serious about re-creating Doctor Who, if they weren't just writing bright and flashy stuff to carry you along for the forty-five minutes, they would have noticed that, and written something different.
In other news, as
soren_nyrond predicted, the Doctor once again gets to stand there like a gormless barmpot while a strong woman, or in this case two, save the day. The only thing he does turns out to have been a mistake which has to be undone. Now I love strong women. They have been woefully under-represented in Doctor Who, as in most telly drama of the time, and I think there's a lot of scope for a series about strong women and useless men (hang on, I've just described just about every sitcom since 1953). But the way I remember this series that I love, the Doctor used to save the day. That was what he did. He hasn't done it once yet, and the series is nearly half over. Okay, survivor trauma, the Time Lords are all dead (and the implication is that this universe is pretty much over and done with anyway, bar the mopping up) but enough is enough. If he's ever going to be the hero we watched for twenty years and wanted back, it's got to happen soon.