The Inmates are running the Asylum -- [Doctor Who s7e01 - The Asylum of the Daleks]
The seventh series of Doctor Who arrives with the return of the Ponds, a Parliament of Daleks, and a quick demonstration that Moffatt has no intention to change the style or tone he has brought to the show for his two years in charge.
Luckily, that kept my expectations low.
Asylum of the Daleks is a mess of an episode that tried very hard to have an epic feel to launch of series 7 and fell quite far of that goal.
The Daleks, who don't believe the Doctor is dead, find him and bring him, along with the now-split up Rory and Amy, to the Parliament of the Daleks, which makes for a good visual but very little sense. It appears to be an excuse to include every Dalek design they could get their hands on and I will wave it away as a name that doesn't quite mean what we would think "Parliament" means.
They have an Asylum planet where they keep the Daleks who are so crazy that they scare even the other Daleks. This is a neat concept but really doesn't fit in with anything established about Daleks and their sense of purity. Especially given that the rise of the iDaleks hinged on that point and was the last time we saw them.
An Earth cruiser from some unidentified time point has crashlanded on the planet, despite the impenetrable forcefield. A survivor (who has lived for a year hiding in a sealed off area and baking soufflees) is broadcasting signals out. The Daleks are afraid the crazy Daleks will find a way to escape, since the force field has been breached in some way. They need the Doctor to go down and stop the threat by bringing down the force field so the Daleks can bombard the planet.
No, don't think to hard about the logic of the plot, that will only get in the way.
The Doctor has four tasks:
Yes, we are supposed to care about the last one. Yes, it's an excuse to have another argument over which one has done more sacrifices for the other because they have bad communication skills. Yes, they manage to overcome some Dalek technology with the power of their love because Dalek tech seems to be belief-powered ever since Moffatt took over.
Oswin was kind of fun, although clearly meant to be "the hot nerd girl all the nerds will be hot for" with a touch of Manic Pixie thrown in. The plot involving her seemed incredibly obvious, but I gather that's because I *don't* read spoilers. Had I known more of what had been leaked, it is possible I would have been fooled. Pro tip, plots that depend on the audience knowing spoilers to be effective are not effective. (Although I do kind of appreciate trolling your fans sometimes.)
I was recently told that the estate of Terry Nation and the BBC reached a deal in which the Daleks must appear once a season in Doctor Who. "Contractually Obligated Dalek Episode" may just suffice to sum up the Dalek presence here. There was one nice addition to the Dalek repertoire here, and some of the broken Asylum Daleks were interestingly done. I can imagine someone writing a decent Dalek episode again some time in the future, but it would really help if they could break that contract and drop them for more than a couple of years minimum.
Smith stays camera-muggingly charming and that does help the show stay watchable, while the sooner the Ponds get off our screen the better. Endless re-hashes of their pointless relationship angst is just grating. Clearly you have nothing further interesting to do with them, so get them away.
All in all a weak start that doesn't bode well for the rest of the series and implies the slap-dash storytelling Moffat's run has become known for will continue. The "Everyone thinks the Doctor is Dead" bit looks like it will be remembered when convenient, if at all, although I can see some arguing that the closing scene with the Daleks is actually a hint that the whole "First Question" thing will be a story arc this season despite our fervent hopes.
Still, the next episode has dinosaurs on a spaceship, so that might be fun.
This entry was originally posted at http://lightcastle.dreamwidth.org/286875.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Luckily, that kept my expectations low.
Asylum of the Daleks is a mess of an episode that tried very hard to have an epic feel to launch of series 7 and fell quite far of that goal.
The Daleks, who don't believe the Doctor is dead, find him and bring him, along with the now-split up Rory and Amy, to the Parliament of the Daleks, which makes for a good visual but very little sense. It appears to be an excuse to include every Dalek design they could get their hands on and I will wave it away as a name that doesn't quite mean what we would think "Parliament" means.
They have an Asylum planet where they keep the Daleks who are so crazy that they scare even the other Daleks. This is a neat concept but really doesn't fit in with anything established about Daleks and their sense of purity. Especially given that the rise of the iDaleks hinged on that point and was the last time we saw them.
An Earth cruiser from some unidentified time point has crashlanded on the planet, despite the impenetrable forcefield. A survivor (who has lived for a year hiding in a sealed off area and baking soufflees) is broadcasting signals out. The Daleks are afraid the crazy Daleks will find a way to escape, since the force field has been breached in some way. They need the Doctor to go down and stop the threat by bringing down the force field so the Daleks can bombard the planet.
No, don't think to hard about the logic of the plot, that will only get in the way.
The Doctor has four tasks:
- Find and save the crashed survivor, Oswin.
- Eliminate the threat of the Asylum inmates escaping and running rampant across the universe.
- Escape/Defeat the Daleks who captured him and are ready to bomb the planet.
- Fix Rory and Amy's marriage.
Yes, we are supposed to care about the last one. Yes, it's an excuse to have another argument over which one has done more sacrifices for the other because they have bad communication skills. Yes, they manage to overcome some Dalek technology with the power of their love because Dalek tech seems to be belief-powered ever since Moffatt took over.
Oswin was kind of fun, although clearly meant to be "the hot nerd girl all the nerds will be hot for" with a touch of Manic Pixie thrown in. The plot involving her seemed incredibly obvious, but I gather that's because I *don't* read spoilers. Had I known more of what had been leaked, it is possible I would have been fooled. Pro tip, plots that depend on the audience knowing spoilers to be effective are not effective. (Although I do kind of appreciate trolling your fans sometimes.)
I was recently told that the estate of Terry Nation and the BBC reached a deal in which the Daleks must appear once a season in Doctor Who. "Contractually Obligated Dalek Episode" may just suffice to sum up the Dalek presence here. There was one nice addition to the Dalek repertoire here, and some of the broken Asylum Daleks were interestingly done. I can imagine someone writing a decent Dalek episode again some time in the future, but it would really help if they could break that contract and drop them for more than a couple of years minimum.
Smith stays camera-muggingly charming and that does help the show stay watchable, while the sooner the Ponds get off our screen the better. Endless re-hashes of their pointless relationship angst is just grating. Clearly you have nothing further interesting to do with them, so get them away.
All in all a weak start that doesn't bode well for the rest of the series and implies the slap-dash storytelling Moffat's run has become known for will continue. The "Everyone thinks the Doctor is Dead" bit looks like it will be remembered when convenient, if at all, although I can see some arguing that the closing scene with the Daleks is actually a hint that the whole "First Question" thing will be a story arc this season despite our fervent hopes.
Still, the next episode has dinosaurs on a spaceship, so that might be fun.
This entry was originally posted at http://lightcastle.dreamwidth.org/286875.html. Please comment there using OpenID.