7X01 Asylum Of The Daleks (Grading/Discussion) (SPOILERS!)

[Candlelight]

Do Daleks have gender? How do they reproduce? Cloning?

No, many stories, like The Power of the Daleks or Daleks in Manhatten indicate the Kaled mutant can be grown in a lab like environment, given the right materials. Add to that a specifically created Scientist Dalek and it shouldn't be too hard. The Progenitor from Victory of the Daleks clearly was designed like a 'seed ship' of sorts that creates Daleks specific for the needs of making a new colony.

This Parliament recovered the massive Dalek Army the Doctor buried under all that molten ice on Spidiron? So that's the idea behind this massive Dalek civilization, find the fallen, nurse them back to health until they can sic balls? I mean with time travel, even time scoops at work, they can totally freejack all the lost causes they left for dead the first time around.

Interesting notion, they could've salvaged what they could from past adventures and kept the sane ones and put the rest in the Asylum in a bid to nurse them back to health. Clearly the size of the population grew too much to handle/stability of the population was deemed to irrelevant to fix and was thus sealed off.

It's possible they raided past Dalek losses in a bid to gain raw materials for creating their new army and the Asylum became a bi-product. OR during the Time War the Daleks were scooped up from all time zones and those that couldn't fight were dumped in there.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Something called "Digital spy" made a faux confidential that's about as indepth as a real doctor who confidential, you know, except that it looks like it was recorded on some ones phone, but they had the same behind the scenes access and interviews.

Caroline Skinner committed the same developmental suicide John Lennon once ran afoul of... She said "I think the Daleks are more popular than Carey Bradshaw."

 

[Green Lantern]

Did the Daleks manage to exterminate anyone during this episode? I'm trying to think of an example, but I can't-- everyone dead was dead before it began!

No one has been exterminated since Moffat came in. NOW DO YOU ALL SEE THE PROBLEM WITH MOFFAT?

 

[Ghost Bones]

Well the Parliament bit might be nitpicking (though when every Parliament in the world means a democratically elected body, you'd think a more appropriate word would have been come up with),

according to Wikipedia:

"The Great Hall of the People ... It functions as the meeting place of the National People's Congress, the Chinese parliament."

So how you define a parliament is different to how individual nation define their own parliament.

But then, Doctor Who is a British show for primarily British people, whose understanding of a parliament will be a democratically elected body. And the Chinese wouldn't be calling it a parliament either, because they are chinese.

 

[Holdfast]

BTW, not being immersed in Who fandom, this has probably been discussed ad infinitum already, but I did chuckle at the name of the pretty new companion: IIRC from history class, Oswin translates to "friend/ally of god" and Oswald to "having the power of god". Calling a Doctor's companion "God's friend" is quite a cheeky little wink.

Oh, that's a cool insight. Thanks for sharing that.

No problem.

If you think about it, it's even cutsier than that since in this episode she's effectively called "Friend of God, and Has the Power of God". The latter pretty much gives her etymological license to be a Deus Ex Machina at the end.

Then when you realise that she's quite literally a machine at the end as well, you can't help but laugh.

I refuse to believe all the above is pure coincidence; it works too well in a cryptic crossword-esque manner for that. Combined with the obvious care taken in choosing Habanera (whose lyrics echo parts of the plot/character as well) to introduce her, it really is all quite funny in a cheesy sort of way.

 

[chardman]

Did the Daleks manage to exterminate anyone during this episode? I'm trying to think of an example, but I can't-- everyone dead was dead before it began!

No one has been exterminated since Moffat came in. NOW DO YOU ALL SEE THE PROBLEM WITH MOFFAT?

NO! I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH IT, AND GIVEN THE STORIES THE DALEKS HAVE APPEARED IN, THE LACK OF EXTERMINATIONS IS TOTALLY APPROPRIATE.

(So one of the things that you dislike about Moffat-Who is that there aren't enough people being brutally killed? Seriously? Wow...Classy.)

 

[Rosalind]

Well the Parliament bit might be nitpicking (though when every Parliament in the world means a democratically elected body, you'd think a more appropriate word would have been come up with),

according to Wikipedia:

"The Great Hall of the People ... It functions as the meeting place of the National People's Congress, the Chinese parliament."

So how you define a parliament is different to how individual nation define their own parliament.

But then, Doctor Who is a British show for primarily British people, whose understanding of a parliament will be a democratically elected body. And the Chinese wouldn't be calling it a parliament either, because they are chinese.

it's called something in Chinese, but it's translated in English to the chinese parliament. for all we know, the Daleks could call it goobeeegoch, it's just the TARDIS translate it into English to the Dalek parliament. Doesn't have to be a body of democratically elected representatives, just a place for some Daleks to meet and decide things or get their orders.

 

[Turbo]

Did the Daleks manage to exterminate anyone during this episode? I'm trying to think of an example, but I can't-- everyone dead was dead before it began!

No one has been exterminated since Moffat came in. NOW DO YOU ALL SEE THE PROBLEM WITH MOFFAT?

Yes, we've established in another thread that you seem to be all about the blood and guts. Personally, I much prefer the psychological approach to horror which Moffat used here. Much scarier than some nut jumping out at you with an ax. (And we always have the Cybermen for that anyways. )

EDIT: Unless of course you're joking. I still can't tell.

Well the Parliament bit might be nitpicking (though when every Parliament in the world means a democratically elected body, you'd think a more appropriate word would have been come up with),

according to Wikipedia:

"The Great Hall of the People ... It functions as the meeting place of the National People's Congress, the Chinese parliament."

So how you define a parliament is different to how individual nation define their own parliament.

But then, Doctor Who is a British show for primarily British people, whose understanding of a parliament will be a democratically elected body. And the Chinese wouldn't be calling it a parliament either, because they are chinese.

That's incredibly ethnocentric for a discussion of a show about exploring the universe hosted on a forum created thanks to a show featuring infinite diversity in infinite combinations.

One side thought: I loved the reference to Barbara when we see The Doctor through the Dalek's eyestalk and he throws his arms all around the door frame.

I completely missed that reference! Awesome.

 

[DarKush]

I'm pretty new to Who, but I enjoyed the episode. I did feel that the girl trapped in the asylum was a little bit grating, and the rationale for making the Doctor go into the asylum instead of just killing him outright a stretch, but despite that I still liked the premise. Though from what I thought I understood about the Daleks it also seemed a stretch that they would allow any inferior Daleks to survive, despite the appreciation of the inmates' beautiful hatred. That felt tacked on to me.

But I thought the Doctor and his companions were all right and they helped sell the tension of the episode.

 

[Turbo]

I'm pretty new to Who, but I enjoyed the episode. I did feel that the girl trapped in the asylum was a little bit grating, and the rationale for making the Doctor go into the asylum instead of just killing him outright a stretch, but despite that I still liked the premise. Though from what I thought I understood about the Daleks it also seemed a stretch that they would allow any inferior Daleks to survive, despite the appreciation of the inmates' beautiful hatred. That felt tacked on to me.

But I thought the Doctor and his companions were all right and they helped sell the tension of the episode.

Excellent! Glad to have another fan in the mix.

I agree that the Asylum was a bit of a stretch as Dalek Caa---er, prime minister, explained it. I have to wonder if they simply weren't tweaking the Doctor, and were in fact keeping these Daleks for study, to find out if they could avoid the mental breakdowns caused in the Daleks.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Did the Daleks manage to exterminate anyone during this episode? I'm trying to think of an example, but I can't-- everyone dead was dead before it began!

No one has been exterminated since Moffat came in. NOW DO YOU ALL SEE THE PROBLEM WITH MOFFAT?

If this is a problem, then I don't want to be well. The show is great.

 

[Stevil2001]

^ In a general, I don't have a problem with a lack of deaths, but it does make it hard to take them seriously as a threat when they can't hit Rory from three feet away. If they'd exterminated some mooks, that scene could be a little more tense.

 

[Rosalind]

^ In a general, I don't have a problem with a lack of deaths, but it does make it hard to take them seriously as a threat when they can't hit Rory from three feet away. If they'd exterminated some mooks, that scene could be a little more tense.

I actually don't have a problem with these Daleks not hitting Rory in that scene. They just 'woke' up, all the calibrations were probably out of date.

 

[Ghost Bones]

according to Wikipedia:

"The Great Hall of the People ... It functions as the meeting place of the National People's Congress, the Chinese parliament."

So how you define a parliament is different to how individual nation define their own parliament.

But then, Doctor Who is a British show for primarily British people, whose understanding of a parliament will be a democratically elected body. And the Chinese wouldn't be calling it a parliament either, because they are chinese.

it's called something in Chinese, but it's translated in English to the chinese parliament. for all we know, the Daleks could call it goobeeegoch, it's just the TARDIS translate it into English to the Dalek parliament. Doesn't have to be a body of democratically elected representatives, just a place for some Daleks to meet and decide things or get their orders.

Well yes, but we're getting away from my point about this. It's to do with the audience seeing it. Anyone likely to see the show will understand a parliament to be a democratically elected body of representatives who legislate, and while technically a parliament does not have to be democratically elected, in almost all notable and civilised cases in the world today it is. This is further demonstrated by the UK parliament being known as the Mother of All Parliaments and a big influence on almost every other, including the fact of its democratic election.

Of course, this parliament business is possibly the most minor of my criticisms of the episode. It could still be in there and if the rest of the episode had been fine I'd gladly have awarded it full marks.

But then, Doctor Who is a British show for primarily British people, whose understanding of a parliament will be a democratically elected body. And the Chinese wouldn't be calling it a parliament either, because they are chinese.

That's incredibly ethnocentric for a discussion of a show about exploring the universe hosted on a forum created thanks to a show featuring infinite diversity in infinite combinations.

Well aside from Doctor Who not actually being about exploring the universe (because they rarely if ever do), I'd have thought it was an uncontroversial statement of fact that all those the show is made for and likely anyone else who'll see it will have a British understanding of what a parliament is and what it entails.

 

[Professor Zoom]

^ In a general, I don't have a problem with a lack of deaths, but it does make it hard to take them seriously as a threat when they can't hit Rory from three feet away. If they'd exterminated some mooks, that scene could be a little more tense.

I actually don't have a problem with these Daleks not hitting Rory in that scene. They just 'woke' up, all the calibrations were probably out of date.

That's what i was thinking. It is a sort of hospital.

 

[Methos]

or we can just accept, the Dalek's there were insane... hence being in an Asylum... and possibly saw Rory as either a vegetable or some sort or dancing tree...

M

 

[The Nth Doctor]

One side thought: I loved the reference to Barbara when we see The Doctor through the Dalek's eyestalk and he throws his arms all around the door frame.

I completely missed that reference! Awesome.

I'll be honest. I noticed because someone made a Facebook meme on the reference which I saw prior to viewing the episode. I like to think I would have noticed the reference on my own, especially considering how iconic it is.

 

[Rosalind]

One side thought: I loved the reference to Barbara when we see The Doctor through the Dalek's eyestalk and he throws his arms all around the door frame.

I completely missed that reference! Awesome.

I'll be honest. I noticed because someone made a Facebook meme on the reference which I saw prior to viewing the episode. I like to think I would have noticed the reference on my own, especially considering how iconic it is.

Indeed.

 

[Candlelight]

Did the Daleks manage to exterminate anyone during this episode? I'm trying to think of an example, but I can't-- everyone dead was dead before it began!

No one has been exterminated since Moffat came in. NOW DO YOU ALL SEE THE PROBLEM WITH MOFFAT?

I've always had a problem with Moffat. Can't wait till he bows out.

 

[Methos]

No one has been exterminated since Moffat came in. NOW DO YOU ALL SEE THE PROBLEM WITH MOFFAT?

To be fair though, this was the first episode by Moffat that has involved the Dalek's directly...

Episodes by Moffat and the enemies included...

"The Empty Child" / "The Doctor Dances" - Badguy = nanogenes / creepy children.

"The Girl in the Fireplace" - badguy = steampunk robots / time

"Blink" - badguy = Weeping angels

"Time Crash"- comic relief

"Silence in the Library" / "Forest of the Dead" - badguy = Vashta Narada

"The End of Time" - badguy = crashing TARDIS

"The Eleventh Hour" - badguy = Atraxi

"The Beast Below" - badguy = human stupidity / ignorance / arrogance

"The Time of Angels" / "Flesh and Stone" - badguy = Weeping Angels

"The Pandorica Opens" / "The Big Bang" - badguy = coalition of badguys / unknown enemy causing TARDIS explosion

"A Christmas Carol" - badguy = time

"Space" / "Time" - comic relief

"The Impossible Astronaut" / "Day of the Moon" - bad guy = The Silents

"A Good Man Goes to War" / "Let's Kill Hitler" - Badguy = River Song / The Silents

"The Wedding of River Song" - badguy = The Silents

"The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" - christmas special

"Asylum of the Daleks" - bad guy = The Daleks

So talking about him not using the Daleks to exterminate anyone seems a bit pointless... he's used the Dalek's twice in 23 episodes so far... and in one of them, "The Pandorica Opens", a Dalek 'exterminates' The Doctor, hitting him with a blast, that while it doesn't kill him, does some pretty serious damage...

So using the Dalek's less than 10% of the time, and not killing anyone with them on his first major outing... i'm fine with that, his badguy of choice is the Weeping Angels, which i love anyway... personally I'd much rather see episodes about the Vashta Narada than the Dalek's anyway lol

M