Doctor Who Season 7: Episode 1 - Asylum of the Daleks (SPOILERS)

[Aeon_COR]

For a moment i thought:

DALEK COMPANION

then was immediately disappointed, same thing happened with Amelia
"yay a little girl companion", "NO you get another hopelessly infatuated girl" (they did manage to pull out of that nose dive with Rory coming back, married couple companions was nice but they could have done more with that especially the whole Rory has now lived longer than the doctor bit)
Also the doctors daughter, I'd have loved to see him it that role, but no, kill her off then bring her back too late just to taunt us.

The old show had other time lords, robot dogs, aliens, android assassins, men.
I just want some more variety in the companions rather than girl infatuated with mysterious doctor, even Rory and Amy, while a nice change, out side of their own story arcs act exactly the same as the other 2005+ companions.

 

[SayHelloToMrBullet]

-Why did they pluck the Doctor and the Ponds out of time when it was obviously set at a point when humans were in Space. I'm sure the Doctor would have been roaming around at that time somewhere.

Plot convenience. Honestly I don't think there's a proper answer to this.

-How did the Daleks get Dalkified humans on present day earth to capture the Ponds.

I'm curious about this too. Have the daleks always had time machines? I'm not a massive Doctor Who fan so I don't know.

-Why were the normal Daleks afraid to go down to the asylum with a bunch of rusty old unarmed Daleks.

I doubt that the proper daleks had any idea what state the asylum was in. Afterall they said it was fully automated, yet we clearly see everything falling apart, and they also didn't know the exact number of daleks that were in the asylum. Clearly they had no idea what to expect and I think that's probably what scared them.

Also I'm pretty sure the daleks said that it was offensive to kill their own kind, but then again they blew up all the daleks in the asylum anyway, so this is definitely a contradiction.

-Why did they think the needed THE PREDATORS help because someone was playing music.

I agree that this is all very strange. At the start the daleks tell the doctor to save them, then they play him the broadcast, and only then after he tells them that the insane daleks could get out do they decide to destroy the asylum. From this I guess that the daleks always wanted to destroy the asylum, and then a strange transmission started playing from somewhere it shouldn't have been. So I guess they decided enough was enough. But yeah it's still strange.

-Why was that guy actively rummaging around on the surface of the planet one year after being dalekified.

Scavenging parts maybe? I get that it was supposed to be a red herring for the viewer, but you're right, it is a bit silly.

-The cold may preserver bodies but it does this by freezing them.

Kinda not sure what you mean here. Could you clarify please?

-Aren't Daleks obsessed with homoginy to the point that they eradicate slight mutations even if they're beneficial. So why would they go to the effort of converting humans and leaving them both looking and acting human.

They don't seem like true daleks so they're probably no danger to the dalek way of life. I'd imagine that their only use would be to act as spies for the daleks. Meanwhile in they asylum they act as cheaply made security.

-Why did they fully convert that woman, he said it's because she was smart and daleks needs smart. But the Daleks down there weren't firing on all cylinders to begin with and they don't want smart, they want conformity to an ideal.

Clearly there was a lot more going on in that asylum than what we saw. We kinda have to make up our own answer here. Steven Moffat probably didn't explain it cause he didn't think it was important.

-How did she not realise she had been converted.

She knew, but she couldn't handle the truth so she made up her own reality. People in real life have issues similar to this - for example a person might imagine that a dead loved one is still living, because they can't stand the truth.

-Why wasn't her mind fully converted yet still had access to the pathway.

The daleks for whatever reason needed her mind left alone. I imagine that they just hooked it up to their mainframe thing.

-Why was she in the centre of a very posh (by their standards) room and not just thrown away with the others.

She was special: she was a human fully converted into a dalek. I'm fairly certain that this sort of thing is incredibly rare.

-Why did the Doctor have a veritable break down because a few angry geriatric Daleks with no weapons decided to edge towards him at tortoise speed.

I'm not sure if you know this but those plunger things on the daleks can kill people. And even if the doctor could out-maneuver one dalek, you have to remember that the entire room was filled with them.

-When she realised she wasn't human why did she down the shields right away instead of letting the doctor get back the port pad without having to do a dramatic run.

Good question. Maybe she was still upset with the doctor for telling her the truth.

-How does one Dalek with with a malfunctioning brain delete something as important as the Doctors existence from the minds of all Daleks. Surely such capabilities should be reserved for the higherups.

The daleks are a hive mind. They would all have access to the data stuff. No ordinary dalek however would remove anything.

-Why was her voice normal over the intercoms.

Maybe because it was the way she remembered her voice, and therefore that was they way it sounded? I dunno, another good question.

Overall there are a few plot holes, inconsistencies and other stuff with the episode. But you know what? I still liked it. I've found that when you start questioning everything in Doctor Who your head starts to hurt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8w95xIdH4o

^When it comes to Doctor Who, I try to live by this philosophy (skip to 0:40).

(also if anyone can tell me how to embed the video in this post, that would be awesome )

 

[Dryk]

I'll admit, I fell for it. I didn't see the twist coming because she was played by Jenna-Louise Coleman.

Also the Dalek that thinks its a five-year old girl in a tutu was brilliant.

The Ponds didn't have much to do though, even the Daleks didn't know why they were there other than "The Doctor has friends, so we brought your friends". It will be interesting to see if this keeps up.

In that instance the humans used for conversion were actually dead before conversion. The Dalek Emperor at the time killed the humans, completely rewrote the genetic code in the corpses then stuck them in a test tube then applied lightning until he got more Daleks.

At least thats my interpretation of how he did the full thing. The actual process is probably more complex and involves necromancy.

They were thrown in a blender and regrown from single cells essentially... well the Dalek Emperor specifically used the terms "pulped" and "sifted" but same point.

-Why did they pluck the Doctor and the Ponds out of time when it was obviously set at a point when humans were in Space. I'm sure the Doctor would have been roaming around at that time somewhere.

They might've been near-human aliens

-Aren't Daleks obsessed with homoginy to the point that they eradicate slight mutations even if they're beneficial. So why would they go to the effort of converting humans and leaving them both looking and acting human.

They've used mind-controlled human slaves before

But why didn't they do that in The Parting of The Ways?
From what I remember of that episode the Emperor didn't care about the Earth anymore after he'd gained a large of Daleks from it's populace so why take slow effort in destroying the place continent at a time when it could have been blown up quicker in its entirety from orbit?

From memory he said something about settling the planet and using it as his throne from which to spread a new empire after they were done glassing it. He was an egotistical jerk like that.

 

[Agent Larkin]

I reiterate my firmly held belief of "Bugger the Ponds".

I don't like them as characters and felt their inclusion in this episode was pretty firmly forced in where as it could have been left to just the Doctor.

The twist was telegraphed but still good. Will be waiting on next weeks episode before I come to my conclusion of whether or not I'll be giving up DW.

Last season was pretty lacklustre IMO even though Matt Smith does a fantastic job as the Doctor.

 

[saintdane05]

THat was perhaps the greatest thing I have ever seen in my life.

 

[Catfood220]

Prediction: He meets Oswin before she joins the Alaska, has some adventures, rights some wrongs, all the usual stuff. Then she leaves and mentions that she's joining a ship called the Alaska, que the Doctor's stoic expression in an empty Tardis as he knows what's in store for her. Camera pans back, fade to black, big 'ol dramatic moment.

Not entirely sure that would work, if Oswin travelled with the Doctor before she joined the crew of the ship, the first thing she would of said would have been something along the lines of "Doctor, I should have known you'd be here to save me" when she first saw him. Of course it could be said that something happened to her memory when she was converted to a Dalek, but the rest of her memory seems to be intact, I doubt the Daleks would just erase that part of her mind.

Plus, if the Doctor knows that she is doomed, he would have done something in his power to save her from her fate, like he did with River and the Sonic Screwdriver.

I reckon that it is more likely that he'll save her/the ship from crashing into the Dalek asylum, thus changing the timeline and letting us erase the Daleks shouting "Doctor Who?" from our own memories.

 

[Robot Number V]

OK, first off, I want to say that I really did enjoy the episode. I'm just having a hard time nailing down why. Right now the flaws are way more prominent in my memory, so I'll just list those:

-Osmin. It's like someone took River Song and turned her Quirkiness Levels up to 11 while removing any character flaws she might have had. She's...cartoonishly good at things. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's what happened. Moffat realized that everyone was sick of River, so he just renamed her and hoped we wouldn't notice. See, the thing Moffat doesn't seem to understand is that the Doctor only WORKS when he has normal to work of off. Two Doctors bouncing of each other is just...irritating. If the second part of the season is like that...Ugh. I might honestly just stop watching.

-The fact that the Daleks no longer recognize the Doctor. What was the point of that? I'm assuming he's going somewhere with this, so I guess I'll wait to pass judgement, but...Well, it's just odd.

-The Power of Motherfucking Love. This is the OTHER biggest problem I have with the Moffat seasons. Seems like "love" is saving the day every other goddamn episode. And it is ALWAYS cringe-inducing levels of bad. I mean, there's cheesy and then there's....sappy.

-It was kind of a wasted opportunity. When they said "Planet of Insane Daleks", I thought we were get some really cool, twisted characters. I thought it was gonna be like the Splicers in Rapture, but with Daleks. But these Daleks aren't insane. They're just normal Daleks with less power.

Spoiler: And now, some plot holes.

Yeah, I know. "It's Doctor Who, there's always plot holes." Yes, but I think this was worse then usual. I mean, I'm just thinking of these off-hand.

1. Why would the "Doctor-Survivor" Daleks just leave him alone just because they forgot who he was? Since when do the Daleks need a REASON to kill something?

2.So the Daleks need the Doctor to turn off the Shield because they're too scared, right? Well then:
--a) Why would the Boss Daleks be taking volunteers? Why wouldn't they just send down some Daleks anyway? Fuck, even HUMAN soldiers don't get to just opt out of assignments just because they're scared.
--b)The Doctor actually tells Amy in THE SAME EPISODE that being scared "isn't Dalek".
This one is especially confusing because it's such an easy fix: The Daleks keep sending Daleks down the planet, and they keep dying. So, they figure they need to change their strategy and kidnap the Doctor, because he's really good at killing Daleks. FIXED.

-Not exactly a plot hole, but when Rory tried to give Amy his bracelet because the conversion would take longer, he didn't need to use his cheesy Love-Logic. He could have just said "It'll take longer because you've already been converting for like, 20 minutes, and with me, the Nano-clould will be starting from scratch. This should buy us some time, because you'll be safe, and we know I'll have at least 20 minutes before any real damage is done." But no, Moffat just LOVES the power of LOVE.

 

[Sir Shockwave]

Honestly? I kinda liked it.

Okay, it did have it's disappointing moments - the promo material suggested we might get to see the Special Weapons Dalek, but only one appears as a background prop in the whole episode. Oh, and that "Dalek Parliament" thing. As someone above mentioned, couldn't the latter have bought Davros or (more suited to the story) the Emperor Dalek from Season 1 back. Dalek Parliament...does not sit so well. Do the Daleks now have terrible politicans, elections every five years and a house that's unable to form a consensus on anything ever?

What's even scarier is that the Dalek equivalent of David Cameron may very well exist. Be afraid people!

On the other hand though, some people are going to lament it, but the rusty looking Daleks making up the vast body of the Parliment suit it, with the Mighty Morphin' Power Daleks taking up Command Positions (a Dalek Supreme at least was present, and there were quite a few of the red ones running around) kinda suits. The set design was also pretty good, the story was well paced and I didn't really see the end twist coming (well, I did, but it wasn't what I was expecting).

All in all, not the best episode, but not a bad start. Season 7 may get me back to liking New Who again.

However, they're probably going to jinx all that next episode -_-

 

[Diablo2000]

Honestly? I kinda liked it.

Okay, it did have it's disappointing moments - the promo material suggested we might get to see the Special Weapons Dalek, but only one appears as a background prop in the whole episode. Oh, and that "Dalek Parliament" thing. As someone above mentioned, couldn't the latter have bought Davros or (more suited to the story) the Emperor Dalek from Season 1 back. Dalek Parliament...does not sit so well. Do the Daleks now have terrible politicans, elections every five years and a house that's unable to form a consensus on anything ever?

What's even scarier is that the Dalek equivalent of David Cameron may very well exist. Be afraid people!

On the other hand though, some people are going to lament it, but the rusty looking Daleks making up the vast body of the Parliment suit it, with the Mighty Morphin' Power Daleks taking up Command Positions (a Dalek Supreme at least was present, and there were quite a few of the red ones running around) kinda suits. The set design was also pretty good, the story was well paced and I didn't really see the end twist coming (well, I did, but it wasn't what I was expecting).

All in all, not the best episode, but not a bad start. Season 7 may get me back to liking New Who again.

However, they're probably going to jinx all that next episode -_-

Come on, it's Dinosaurs on a Spaceship! When did such concept ever go wrong?
http://dinocrisis.wikia.com/wiki/Dino_Crisis_3
Except for that, where?

 

[orangeban]

I thought it was quite clever actually (ignoring that they had Amy and Rory split up almost purely so they could have them join back together in a 3 minute scene, so stupid).

My friend and I have a theory that Oswin was a Time Lord (possibly the Doctor's daughter from that episode aaaages back? Remember, the plot thread they just dropped?), which is why the Daleks wanted to fully convert her, but also why her psyche survived the conversion.

 

[Wolf In A Bear Suit]

Well I don't think we'll be seeing those nasty Daleks again.........oh wait. Usually been totally eradicated keeps them at bay for a season. I expect they'll be back soon enough given they just have sudden amnesia somehow

 

[Atmos Duality]

For a moment i thought:

The old show had other time lords, robot dogs, aliens, android assassins, men.
I just want some more variety in the companions rather than girl infatuated with mysterious doctor, even Rory and Amy, while a nice change, out side of their own story arcs act exactly the same as the other 2005+ companions.

Apart from the occasional bad scripting, the companion remains on average, the worst part of New Who for me, mainly for the reasons you described.

-The Power of Motherfucking Love. This is the OTHER biggest problem I have with the Moffat seasons. Seems like "love" is saving the day every other goddamn episode. And it is ALWAYS cringe-inducing levels of bad. I mean, there's cheesy and then there's....sappy.

"Love Conquers All" is a telltale sign of hack writing, and a warning that this shit is going to go south, FAST.
IMO, Any writer that uses "love" as "magic plot resolution", needs to re-evaluate their script, or be replaced.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I am a long time Whovian, but I have given up on the nes series being as good as the old ones. You should all too!

The Power of Motherfucking Love. This is the OTHER biggest problem I have with the Moffat seasons. Seems like "love" is saving the day every other goddamn episode. And it is ALWAYS cringe-inducing levels of bad. I mean, there's cheesy and then there's....sappy.

<youtube=-NMph943tsw>
What about the power of love?

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Well I enjoyed it. The status of Amy and Rory's marriage at the start kind of came out of nowhere though. Although from glancing at a few of the other posts (as much as I could tolerate before becoming physically ill from all the negativity), it looks like there was indeed something I missed.

 

[runic knight]

Because you want to, you know you do. Sexy, sexy Dalek's with their plummer... things.

WHAT DO DALEKS FIND SEXY
HOW DO DALEKS DO FOREPLAY
DO DALEKS EVEN HAVE GENDERS

WE WILL PROCREATE!

 

[algalon]

So this puts the new companion in the position of being a younger, prettier River Song. She's brilliant and the first time the Doctor meets her is the day that she dies. This of course will be looming over the Doctor's head through the whole period that he's with her - will this adventure be the one where she crash lands onto a dalek prison planet? Also the whole "love conquers tech" bit was old when it was done with the cybermen. Lets not retread old plotlines please.
While these are gripes, this was still an ok episode. I liked the idea of old busted daleks that were survivors of past encounters with the Doctor - that they too can go crazy from PTSD.
Also... eggs..EGGGGSSSSS!

 

[ThePS1Fan]

I thought it was great.
Don't have anything else to say about it.

 

[Kurt Cristal]

Good GOD @ some of the posts on this thread and their complaints. And I thought Mass Effect fans were obnoxious when it came to gripes. But this. Geez! I mean, the episode was by all means mediocre, that's for certain. There were some things to like, and some things not to like. You know what? That's been pretty much EVERY episode of Doctor Who for me, ever. This part was good, but this part wasn't. Need I remind you all that that there's an episode called "Love & Monsters"? It was so bad you probably deleted it from your memories and will now be traumatized the moment you remember that abortion of an episode. This weeks episode in particular, was an okay episode, plain and simple.

But this whole picking it apart, and calling Moffat a hack, and "it's not as good as the old ones!" Criminy! Give it a rest! Is all of this stuff really THAT offensive to your sensibilities? Is the MST3k Mantra really that dead? What in the hell is so damn upsetting about an episode that is, above all else, just "kinda meh"?

 

[Maeta]

I don't think that Moffat writes Daleks well enough.

Well, he does hate them due to their overuse. RTD did what they did with Monkey Island continuation far too much and made it too much of a fan service. Moffat wants to evolve things. If everything is just Daleks again, what's the point? He's always tried to create new monsters, though I fear his Weeping Angels may be going down the overused road again.