I absolutely loved it. Probably already in my top ten favourite New Who episodes. Murray's on fire already as well
That was pretty damn good. As I believe MacLeod said, it feels like it's back on track. Amy looked hot ion the photoshoot, Rory seems to have deepened, the Doctor seems... older, I think. Oswin was a revelation, and when I saw the credits, I was like, "Wait... WHAT?" because I had no idea that was her. And will the Doctor recognise her anyway because he never saw Oswin beforehand? My assumption was that when the Doctor remembered everything back into existence he remembered everything, he couldn't pick and choose. Beside, as someone said somewhere else, evil has a way of hanging on. And yes, Gold was really very good as well. BTW, in Australia, I didn't have to obtain it by other means. While it's not actually on 'til next week, it was available on iView (online viewer) at 5:10AM Sunday our time. Sweet!
^ Also, the Daleks in Parting Of The Ways were created from corrupted human DNA, not proper Kaled material, so Rose might well not have thought to look for the other kind... Now, better questions would be how come nobody previously remembered (during the "all the Daleks are gone" days) that there's fucking millions of them over there, and how come the ones that supposedly were on Kembel, Spiridon, Vulcan, etc were RTD era Daleks and not the appropriate 60s and 70s versions which happened to be on set anyway...?
As usual, one of those stories that made me weep and laugh at the same time. One of the reasons I love this show. From the request/order the Daleks chanted to the Doctor in the teaser, to the twist at the end, which prompts them to ask "Doctor Who?", this episode really delivered.
"Asylum" raises the question of what, exactly, the Doctor did during the Time War. Right now, it really looks like all he managed to do was to frag his own homeworld and a Dalek battlefleet nearby.
Kiddy book level storytelling to take the concept of Assimilation and loosing ones identity (almost exactly like Picard in BOBW) and explain it in broad strokes repeatedly. Except, where BOBW told all of that with a single tear, here we get the convoluted, plain as day "twist" at the end which makes no sense, the Daleks act in a manner which is completely unbecoming of them (Seriously? The cold calculating killers would now build monuments to themselves and "Love hate"? Oh come on) to force drama ("we're scared so we'll get the doctor easy as"). Again, the whole "human dalek" thing was a stupid way of representing the fact they are bad guys and Daleks to the lowest common denominator of viewer - why couldnt they just be brainwashed humans like in the Peter Cushing movies? Maybe not bother with the helmets, but they looked far less silly than growing eyestalks out of their foreheads and guns out of their hands. At least removing any kind of Dalek reference in the beginning would have made the reveal of the parliament of the daleks more impressive - as it stands opening with a shot of a 500ft high ("500 ft high!") Dalek statue kind of robs any subsequent Dalek reveal of any weight. At least it looked good. Although I do NOT like the fact they've instagrammed the opening credits, I mean seriously, the fuck?! This show isn't science fiction, its a soap opera with Daleks. I miss Star Trek.
I'm a fan of the 1963-1989 run so I don't have a problem with multi-parters. In fact I kind of wish the current version were all two-paters with a three parter thrown in. I'm referring to the fact that "Victory of the Daleks" felt like it was the first part of a two-parter rather than a standalone story.
I was thinking during the episode "how is Oswin not the new companion?" then I thought she was JLC, but I was not sure until the end credits.
That was a lot of fun. I loved Ms Coleman and look forward to seeing her in the show full time. It will be interesting to see if she really is Clara here, or some relative in some way. I suppose if she is companion Clara, she could be ending up like River Song here but that strikes me too similar. The Doctor first meeting her at the end of her travels. Looking at the start just once through, she might be physically saved and a duplicate set of memories uploaded to the Dalek casing?
Pretty good stuff. Better than a lot of what Moffat has written since he took over the show. Yeah. Skaaro still being around was a bit of a head-scratcher. Of course, as has been pointed out, the universe has been rebooted/reset/wibbly-wobbleied a couple of times by now, so we can handwaive away any inconstancies that way if we want. I agree with the other comments that the Rory/Amy stuff was weaksauce, though. I thought there was something vaguely sexist about Moffat writing Amy as pushing Rory away because she – GASP – couldn't give him children! Not like a woman would ever openly discuss such an issue with her husband, right? Nope, she'd just be riddled with guilt and act self-destructive. I sort of recognized the new companion but wasn't sure, especially when she turned out to be a Dalek and died. Good to get confirmation that that was her. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out (and if it manages to make any sense once it does.)
Liking this better on second viewing, I think it still has some logic/characterization issues but I'm liking the good stuff better on second viewing. Odd observation: cool high heels in the beginning Odd question, she has provisions, can a souffle only be made with fresh milk and eggs?
No, but the eggs and failed souffle may be her subconscious subverting the Dalek reprogramming. The failed soufle is the failure of the programming. The eg... slowly becomes the start of exterminate. The same happened to Rory. Oswin soon reasserts her control over the Dalek reprogramming and saves the Doctor. I suppose it is her monkeying around that the Daleks are looking to stop. They can't get in because she has totally hacked their controls so they send the Doctor.
So I'm guessing Oswin is a great great grandchild of the new companion? Or am I to take her as the new companion? I would assume the former. Didn't realize it was her until I came here, likely because I've been avoiding spoilers and only vaguely knew what she looked like. She was adorable! So was Rory and his new look, mind you. I loved it. The line from the Dalek Supreme that maybe they can't kill the Doctor because they hate him too much was great. I wish we got more of the Daleks but I was cool with it because, emotionally, this episode was on target. Unlike many, though, I loved last season so for me this is more of Moffat on target. I'm glad, now that I finally have BBC America, that I can see it on airing day. Oh, and I loved the original series references. Can we get one to the books? Pretty please?
I've got a feeling that she'll appear as a variety of different characters, before formally becoming a companion in the Xmas Special. The mystery of why he's encountered multiple versions of her is likely to be one of the big reasons that The Doctor takes her as a companion in the first place. She will be the mystery for him to solve in the next series or two.
Key point, I reckon. Lots of Daleks turn up and attack [wherever] is fun - but gets boring the next year. Weak Daleks are still dangerous is worrying. Most of the best Dalek stories have them off-stage or disabled (but threatening to do things) much of the time. Like Genesis, Power...
I figured that was Jenna Louise Coleman as Oswin, especially considered how much screen time they were giving her. But then they pulled that twist and I wasn't so sure, so it was a nice surprise that I was right with my initial thoughts. Let me just say I look forward to Coleman becoming the companion. First of all she is extremely cute, she seems like a decent actress, and I enjoyed her fast talking character. I eagerly await the revelation of how she will become unDalekized. So they finally make a Who story for me. I've been complaining for years about the majority of the new Doctor Who taking place on Earth (of the past present or future), so it's nice to see an episode that takes place completely on an alien world. Like others I was weary of the Daleks returning, but I thought they did handled it well, and they were simply an evil force. Unlike in the past where we've been subjected to Dalek civil wars, or rogue factions of Daleks, whatever convoluted mess they became under RTD (not his fault completely, they are a popular villain; they were getting overused).
Haven't read the thread, if you've answered my questions 100 times and are both with them, ignore them, I'll be rading the thread after my post. So, Oswyn, was Jenna Louise Coleman, right? Shades of Roman/Astra and The "Richard Grant Eighth Doctor with the Master". I thought she got into character awesomely, and if that's her later character's personality, she nailed it out of the gate Many of us opined about wanting someone other than Current Earth Girl. If The Doctor takes on the Dalek/Consciousness of Oswyn as a Companion, that'll be way cool. Otherwise, how do we explain the Nest Companion? I thought the Episode was awesome, it hit a lot of the perfect beats, I'm not bothered if there are story details that are cliched or Don't make sense Dang, 7 pages to catch up on? Well, hopefully I'll be able to catch up and reply again by tomorrow
Yeah, I tend to agree. Fun episode. The Daleks were scary. The twist at the end was a surprise (I wondered if she was a robot, I did not expect a Dalek). Good use of something from the past (Nanogenes). The memory erasing caught me by surprise. I expected the Daleks to continue to know who he was. That was a good cleanup. People think the Rory-Amy subplot had problems. It was the weakest part, but I found it a bit touching. Especially when Rory wants to give Amy his wristband.
Excellent episode. No complaints. Felt more like an RTD era episode, like "The Doctor's Wife". Really good use of the Daleks. I like it when the Doctor doesn't actually defeat them, he merely escapes them. I spent half the episode thinking to myself, gee, this hot girl looks kinda like the new Companion who starts at Christmas... finally I had to go check, and it was her!!! Did people know this? I was shocked!
As I said above, I spent the first half of the episode believing it to be her. Then when the twist happened, I second guessed myself, lol. I really like her, she's going to be a great addition to the show.