I think it was just a throwaway comment really, akin to that episode of the Simpsons. "Oh let's just call the big Dalek meeting a parliament." And in the 70's it was established that Timelords have a President, and Briton's understanding of that would probably be along the American model, yet I don't recall any 'Doctor/Borussa 4 More Years!' bumper stickers! Like I said, Sci-fi is full to the brim with human words being used/misused to represent alien concepts. The Daleks had an Emperor, there was an Emperor in Star Wars, as well as a Princess and a Queen (and one not recognisable to us as a Queen as it appears she was elected) The Centari have a Prime Minister and an Emperor, the Klingons have a chancellor, the Romulans have a Praetor... Now personally I kinda like it when writers come up with something that at least sounds original, like the Kha'Ri in Babylon 5, or the Grey Council (although a council obviously isn't that original) but I fully understand that you can't always do this, that using nothing but made up words can put off an audience, and that writers of all eras have used recognisable words as shorthand, it's what they do. As for the Dalek parliament, two points. First, maybe it's meant as, you know, irony, that a race so much the antithesis of democracy would call their leadership by a name so closely associated with democracy, or maybe, as I've said, as crazy as it seems maybe the Daleks do have an oddly democratic system, one Dalek one vote and all that? Clearly following a dictator hasn't worked out so well over the years, and remember, the Cult of Skaro were tasked with 'thinking the unthinkable'. Also, didn't the Daleks exterminate a couple of British soldiers in Victory of the Daleks?
Victory was written by Mark Gatiss... but yeah, the Dalek's killed a few, and created a human bomb lol M
It isn't like Moffat hasn't killed characters off though, although we have yet to see a properly Fang Rock/Everybody dies type story in New Who (that I can recall) I kinda like that we had a Dalek story where no one was exterminated, although I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me might point out that it isn't the first time.
Except everyone didn't die. The tour guide bloke survived, as did the rich industrialist. Fang Rock, well the entire guest cast all bit the bullet. Can't think of a new series episode where there wasn't at least one survivor.
Yea, as far as Least Survivors, The God Complex beats it, since only the guy who's people seem to like to be invaded/enslaved survived (Gibbis?)
Well it's plenty of people dying, isn't that good enough? If you has one with a limited cast and everyone dies, people would be going "It's fucking Fang Rock again".
People like...say...The Honorable Ghostly Bones? Thought we'd already established that, sorry, I'll try to keep up next time
Crikey yes a lot of people died in that, not quite everyone (because in one case that would've seriously screwed the space time continum) but an awful lot of people. Then again it was wartime
I think a lot of you missed what this episode revealed. Especially considering how Moffat likes to put the brunt of the series finale into the first episode. The key was the revelation that the Daleks are only really super EVIL! (complete with italics and exclamation point) because of their paranoia and fear of the Doctor. So what happens when they oh-so-conveniently forget about the Doctor, especially when they've already begun to evolve into what is clearly implied to be some sort of democratic society before this memory erasure occurs? Last series we learned that "Doctor who?" is the question that must never be answered. And this episode we learned at least one race that's asking the question. So, since the Daleks [strike]are[/strike]were only EVIL! because of the Doctor, but now have no memory thereof, perhaps they no longer have a reason to be EVIL!, and the threat that exists by their renewed size and strength pales compared to what it would be if they continued to be EVIL! rather than just evil. Thus the reason that "Doctor who?" must never be answered is because it would threaten the entire universe due to the new and improved Dalek Empire. At least that's what I gathered. But like I said in the beginning of the post, most of you seem to have missed the key point of the episode.
The Daleks are not Evil because of the Doctor. They were bred as a race with one goal, to eliminate all other inferior lifeforms, they're inherrently evil. The Doctor battling them probably caused them to become more powerful, to up their game somewhat, which is what the episode was implying,but if he hadn't the Daleks would have rolled quite easily over dozens of planets, killing millions.
Well if it's in terms of number of people killed rather than percentage of the characters, then I think Resurrection of the Daleks has the record. I recall hearing. Though that could just be on-screen death, if that makes a difference.
That's how I read "Asylum" in the context of Dalek history. The Daleks have always been an evil, destructive force, and the Doctor's many battles against them helped hone their evilosity by eliminating the less-capable, less-evil Daleks. The Doctor helped them to evolve into pure, irredeemable evil.
Sorry, 27 pages is alot to trawl through, forgive me if this has been asked/answered before... So the Daleks now Assimilate rather than Exterminate? They've ripped off the Borg?