Spoilers Resolution grade and discussion thread

[The Wormhole]

What bugs me though is the over-reliance on the sonic screwdriver as a very lazy plot advancement/getoutofjailfreecliche device, something the classic series didn't have for almost half its 26 year existence whatsoever and it's the current incarnation who's whipping it out more often and faster than an orchestra conductor that OD'd on crystal meth. And I thought Tennant-Capaldi eras overused it. Give her a tricorder instead, it won't look as laughably bad. Have episodes where characters do atmosphere readings BEFORE leaving their ship and it'll look far less laughably bad. "The Ghost Monument" still cracks me up but I keep forgetting the last decade or more isn't often much more than a self-aware parody of its former self.

We went a whole year without a sonic screwdriver, and people complained about Peter Capaldi's sunglasses being cringeworthy and demanded the screwdriver return.

Regardless, even if there was no screwdriver, the Doctor would conveniently have a device that goes ding that is instrumental to the plot, so they might as well have a catch-all screwdriver.

 

[StarMan]

I was very lukewarm on Jodie's first season, but this worked for me. Great Dalek episode.

So far as next season, one thing I hope for is exploring The Timelords. Don't be afraid of mentioning them. Reimagine them a bit (?). I get why they did what they did this season but this episode confirms for me that I want more than just random Aliens Of The Week. This series has a half century of lore that I love, even when half the time they dip into it they don't pull it off.

And Jodie, just like Peter, has so much potential. Just nail down some good stories.

Oh, Bradley Walsh really knocks it out of the ballpark.

Anyway, my 2c....

 

[Awesome Possum]

I don't know about bringing back the Time Lords as a group the Doctor has to deal with. But I'd be interested in seeing her interact with one of them. Not necessarily a villain like the Master, but maybe one she was friends with. Sort of like the one that 11 mentioned in The Doctor's Wife.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Yeah, the Time Lords have always been more interesting on an individual level than as a group. The Meddling Monk, The Master, Rodan, Romana, Drax, etc. I've been wanting Romana to return since 2005. I'm much more interested in seeing her again than Rassilon.

 

[BritishSeaPower]

I could see Chibnall finally bringing us the Rani.

 

[David cgc]

Regardless, even if there was no screwdriver, the Doctor would conveniently have a device that goes ding that is instrumental to the plot, so they might as well have a catch-all screwdriver.

Or they could make gathering information and solving logical roadblocks like locked doors into a big production, but that takes away from time for doing other stuff in the episode. Reminds me of the joke RTD made that inventing the Psychic Paper was instrumental in making Doctor Who into a one-hour series by eliminating an entire 20-minute episode's worth of infiltrating, jailing, and trust-building you'd do back in the serial days.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

What happened to the 20 million Zygons that UnIT was monitoring?

The UK built an extra-terrestial wall to prevent Zygons from coming in. And the Zygons paid for it.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I could see Chibnall finally bringing us the Rani.

But she will be a man.

 

[Gavin70]

My question was more that I didn't think the Dalek mutant could survive outside its shell.

I have a suspicion that was just the specific Daleks in the city on Skaro in the very first story. If I recall correctly, they hadn't adapted to the radiation on Skaro in the same way the Thals had and therefore couldn't survive outside their shells. I don't recall any story since then that implied they couldn't survive outside the shell, just that they were fairly weak without it. This one clearly was anything but weak. Whether that turns out to be an exceptional case or is the new normal remains to be seen.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Cool line from the Dalek Invasion of the Earth....

IAN: Doctor, I don't understand this at all. We saw the Daleks destroyed on Skaro. We were there.
DOCTOR: My dear boy, what we saw in Skaro was a million years ahead of us in the future. What we're seeing now is about the middle history of the Daleks.
IAN: I see. They certainly look different, don't they.

I've taken this to mean that the Daleks from the first story are an exhibit, or livestock in a reservation/zoo preserving an endangered species in it's natural (original) environment.

Of course this means that the Thals turn out to be complete pricks too.

 

[BritishSeaPower]

Or they could make gathering information and solving logical roadblocks like locked doors into a big production, but that takes away from time for doing other stuff in the episode. Reminds me of the joke RTD made that inventing the Psychic Paper was instrumental in making Doctor Who into a one-hour series by eliminating an entire 20-minute episode's worth of infiltrating, jailing, and trust-building you'd do back in the serial days.

Yeah, and it's very true. There's no way the series could deal with it in it's current form. And it's clear they knew this was an issue in the classic series, they just so often needed the misunderstanding/jailing for filler. Recall Power of the Daleks where the Doctor just happens upon a body with a giant badge saying inspector. It's a really dumb thing, but it actually gets into the plot far earlier than another episode of the era would have.

But she will be a man.

2014 called and it wants this joke back.

Cool line from the Dalek Invasion of the Earth....

I've taken this to mean that the Daleks from the first story are an exhibit, or livestock in a reservation/zoo preserving an endangered species in it's natural (original) environment.

Of course this means that the Thals turn out to be complete pricks too.

It's always been weird that The Daleks is technically the "last" Dalek story. Because of course they're dispatched pretty easily and are much cooler earlier in their history. Though I've always chosen to believe the Doctor intervening in Genesis of the Daleks actually changes the trajectory of that history.

 

[Butters]

The Dalek history is a bit of a mess for me. When we first see them, they’re unknown to the Doctor and exist in this tiny pocket on a dead world a million years in the future, but go on to become the most fearsome foe in the universe.

The seventh Doctor destroyed Skaro in 1963, presumably sacrificing the Thals too.

I always supposed that the first time we saw the Daleks was a million years in the past, the Doctor always mixes up the directions in space and time. After destroying the Dalek’s city, something survived, something that would otherwise have existed harmlessly isolated on Skaro while the Thals recovered and went to the stars. The Doctor changed all of that, and the Daleks emerged stronger, and aware of the worlds beyond.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Kate Mara was only on 4 episodes of The Two Ronnies.

I assumed that she was closer with Ronnie Corbert, professionally at least, which is why he did The Two Ranis skit on Sara Jane...

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[danellis]

Sonic lipstick?!?

dJE

 

[Guy Gardener]

Lipstick is a soft Wax crayon... So she has a sonic probe, with a soft wax crayon wedged into one end, supposedly so that she can get past security checks, or avoid embarrassing questions about the vibrating cylinder in her purse.

Simpler times.

 

[Leo Star Dragon 1]

Was it a political reason why they didn't say the word Brexit?

Hi! I might as well reply to something here and now, rather than wait until I've read everyone's posts first.

Well, before viewing the special, I tried to binge view her whole first season, as they replayed them for New Year's, leading up to the special. I had to stop in the fifth episode though, for sleeping. My first binge effort was the first season of the new Sabrina Spellman series, and despite some dozing here and there, it was my first successful effort. Including that Christmas special and the previews they still call, "trailers".

But I couldn't stay awake to finish Jodie's "Doctor Who" in one sitting. Sigh. But anyway, once I resumed, I finished. I took a break, by viewing other shows, before the special. I enjoyed the episodes more so, the second time.

But with each viewing, "Brexit", never occurred to me. So when the "UNIT" bit came up, I thought it had more to do with the fiasco concerning how the actual UN, revoked permission to use their name as part of a fictional organization. Once they did that, the acronym did not make any sense.

"United Nations Intelligence Taskforce".
"UNified Intelligence Taskforce".

But every logo still shows us, "U.N.I.T.", rather than, "UNIT", as befitting the new version, where one word replaced two words. So I thought that behind the scenes, they were still busy replacing the now obsolete logos with new ones. While story continuity wise, they needed to have more time to forget the original version in favor of the new version.

Similiar to how daytime dramas now have lag time when cast members are replaced. No more, "Due to illness, the role of 'Jane Doe' is temporarily being played by 'Jane Q. Public'", et al. Or plastic surgery plots. Or abrupt changes with no explanation.

So, the notion that it is related to, "Brexit", is news to me!

 

[Photoman15]

OMG, I SO don't care about Ryan's daddy issues!! I hope that's finally over with. Those scenes almost put me to sleep.

But hey, you know Chibnall only had an hour and he had two meaningful conversations with Ryan's dad to fit in...

During the Ryan/Dad scene, I told my wife to wake me up when Doctor Who comes on. Waste of time best used elsewhere. The only thing that MAY have made it worthwhile is if the dad sacrificed himself and let go of the TARDIS with the Dalek squid attached.

 

[The Wormhole]

So when the "UNIT" bit came up, I thought it had more to do with the fiasco concerning how the actual UN, revoked permission to use their name as part of a fictional organization.

That story's been conflated. What the UN actually objected to was the fact that RTD arranged an actual website created based on the missile control site Mickey hacked into in the Slitheen story. The UN did not like there being a website existing claiming to be "UN Missile Control" and sent a letter of complaint to RTD over it. Because of this, RTD went ahead and changed UNIT so that it no longer meant United Nations Intelligence Task Force supposedly to sever ties with the UN, though UNIT continuously mentions answering to the UN anyway.

But every logo still shows us, "U.N.I.T.", rather than, "UNIT", as befitting the new version, where one word replaced two words. So I thought that behind the scenes, they were still busy replacing the now obsolete logos with new ones. While story continuity wise, they needed to have more time to forget the original version in favor of the new version.

If they were going to change the logo, I'd think they'd see to it a lot sooner than fourteen years after the name change. It was clearly a Brexit joke. Everyone else got that.

 

[MarsWeeps]

I was half asleep when I watched this so I may have missed some important points but I have 3 questions:
1) How was the Dalek killed all those years ago?
2) When they chopped up the body into 3 pieces, why didn't they just burn it instead? Are Daleks flameproof?
3) When the guy on the horse (carrying a piece of the Dalek) was hit with an arrow, why did the "robbers" not check what he was carrying? It looks like they just frisked him but didn't even check the bag with the piece of the Dalek.

I think it was a good enough episode to re-watch so I'll give it another try. For now, 7/10.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Fairly sure the Dalek creatures aren't flameproof. They rather thought it would be a risk to burn it, although I wouldn't imagine why.

Honestly, I'm still not sure if this was meant to be a pre-Time War Dalek or not. It was too ambiguous on that.