Doctor Who and the NEW Daleks!

[drakula63]

My God. Have you seen the new redesigned Daleks?

When the series came back, I thought they looked good - chunky and mean, like they could do some real damage. Sadly, by the 1980s, the 'original' Daleks were looking a bit lame. But have you seen the new ones? Blimey; they actually do look futuristic, like they've gone back to the 1960s movie Daleks and brought them up to date. Of course, the story itself may turn out to be a dud (although it sounds intriguing), but I'll be watching this Saturday, just to see the latest incarnation of the evil pepperpots!

Yes, I am a bit of a sad Who-fan (and have been since the late 60s). I guess Troughton was my first, but I really became a 'fan' during Pertwee's era. Not too sure yet about Matt Smith (too young in my opinion), but I'd happily travel through time and space with Karen Gillan! Only three years to go until its 50th - so maybe the Shads could record a special anniversary version of the theme tune?

Right and on that note, I shall dematerialise. My apologies to all those who haven't a clue what I'm rattling on about...!!!

[George Geddes]

I love the wee Union flags on the ones in this week's story!

As for the Radio Times cover - Vote Dalek!

George

[cockroach]

Blimey, I feel old- I remember watching the first episodes with the late William Hartnell on TV in about 1962...

[drakula63]

Blimey, I feel old- I remember watching the first episodes with the late William Hartnell on TV in about 1962...

Doctor Who started on November 23rd 1963...two days before I was born!!! As a young lad, I remember watching it on a small black and white telly, having tea in front of an open fire. Ahh, those were the days...

[stratmantd]

Unfortunately the story DID turn out to be a dud Chris.

The khaki painted daleks looked great but the new fibre-glass, 80s car coloured, hunch-backed new daleks are awful. Compact, metallic looking daleks look menacing, over-sized, multicoloured ones look like a joke. The story didn't even make sense. If the daleks were not recognised by their own technology then, if they were made from Davros's DNA, Davros was not a Kaled. But he was!

Then, the cloning machine accepted the Doctor's word (this is the word of their arch-enemy) that they were daleks so it created something "more advanced" which destroyed the originals.

If anyone can explain how it all works then please let me know.

Maybe it will all turn out to be a dream caused by the crack in the universe and the new daleks will disappear up their own eye-stalks and we will be left with genuinely scary ones rather than the plastic newbies.

Come back Russell T Davies, all is forgiven.

[drakula63]

Stratmantd,

I agree with much of what you say.

Even after the Doctor had helpfully explained their own plan back to the Daleks (which presumably they didn't find necessary!) I still couldn't follow it. It seemed over complicated and nonsensical. Mark Gatiss has written a couple of fairly good stories (actually, The Unquiet Dead is probably the only good one), but this was not one of his finest moments. A far more straightforward plot-device would have been better. Just off the top of my head - the Daleks find themselves stranded in 1940s Earth. There is a huge war going on, so they decide (craftily) to help one side win (knowing that they cannot take on either side, let alone both, with their diminished resources/numbers). They would then turn on the victors, who would be unsuspecting and similarly depleted by the war. My money would have been on the Daleks siding with the allies as they would have recognised the nazis as more of a threat, seeing as they have obvious similarities. But, agreed, the story as it was was not very good at all.

With regards the new Daleks; I was having this conversation with a friend of mine yesterday, strangely enough. He said much the same as you, that he felt the old 'compact' Daleks were more menacing, because they were small. We both agree, however, that the new ones look great from the front, but bad in profile. Personally, I like the idea that they update them every few years and these seem to be more akin to the film Daleks and the ones they used in the Doctor Who stage play in the late 80s.

As for Russell T. Davies... I am sorry to say that I thought he was a consistently bad writer and that the very worst Doctor Who stories of recent years were all his. David Tennant's grand finale was appalling - long and drawn out and, again, total nonsense. I had hoped that the Steven Moffatt era would bring a return to the the darker more sensible writing of old, but so far I am not convinced that this will be the case. I gather that there is some suggestion that (I hope you understand this next bit, I think you will) they will be bringing back the 'proper' Mondasian/Telosian Cybermen and in some way integrating them with the Earth originated Cybermen of recent years. I gather a lone, badly damaged Cyberman might be putting in an appearance in this week's story.

Yes, clearly it's not the programme it used to be, but even in the Golden Era, they didn't always get it right...

(Like the new logo, though - much better than the RTD era travesty!)

[stratmantd]

I wasn't really thinking about RTD's writing drak, more the production side of things. If he had handed over to Steven Moffat mid-series then the regeneration, new companion, new Tardis interior (which I rather like), new version of theme tune (oh dear, someone got a drum machine for Christmas) would probably have been handled more smoothly. There was too much change all at the same time. I'm still not sure about the new Doctor yet and I can't agree with you about David Tennant's finale; forget the story, that didn't matter, the acting was superb from David T & Bernard Cribbins. Even The Master got a reason to explain why he was so ineptly evil. The only thing that spoilt it was Timothy Dalton gobbing all the time and, who was that woman?

I agree that the new Daleks look good from the front although from the side they look like hunchbacks. Poor Terry Nation must be spinning in his grave. I am not keen on the film-dalek look at all. The bright colours were fine when seeing them in colour was a novelty but nowadays I think it rather sad to think that it's a cool look. malformed.

Mark Gatiss may be a big Whovian but not really the best writer of Who, I agree wholeheartedly with you there. A "real" Cyberman would be a great idea though. Remember there was a Cyberman head in Van Statten's vaults so there's no reason not to include them.

Can't say I'm really that interested in a return of the statues; hardly a great monster. In fact, they were crap the first time round so why bring them back? I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that Steven Moffat invented them? Cynical? Me?

[drakula63]

I wasn't blown away by this week's episode - but fortunately, as I watched it on Sunday on BBC3, I was spared the intrusion of Graham Norton who apparently spoiled the BBC1 transmission on Saturday night! Deja vu, me thinks, as he also spoiled the opening few minutes of 'Rose'. I also thought that the Crying Angels were perhaps the most ridiculous monsters yet; they make no sense at all. I am sorry to say that, as Showrunner (what a horrible American title!) Steven Moffat has yet to impress me.

Yes, some great acting in David Tennant's final story, but it was still rubbish. He deserved better, in my opinion. And why would he say "I don't want to go"? He knows he's going to regenerate (it's happened at least 9 times before), so why so upset? Ludicrous.

No Cyberman this week, I was sorry to see, but we know they're coming back soon, as there's one in the series trailer - badly damaged and being held at arm's length by Amy with a flaming torch. Speaking of Van Statten's museum, as you were, I believe there is a chance that they will be going back to the 'Invasion' type look when they redesign them. Personally I like this idea, as they have a bit too much detail on their faces at the moment and the Cybermen should be totally blank. My favourites, for what it's worth, were those from The Invasion, followed by those from Revenge of the Cybermen (yes, even though they had big wide belts and flares and Cybermen shouldn't be able to be driven by such things as 'revenge'!).

Anyway, I trust that the series will improve; although the 'crack in time' story arc idea already seems a bit tiresome.

[Martyn]

Is it only me who laughed out loud and wondered why the khaki-painted Daleks were wearing ammunition type pouches on belts?
Anyone spotted the deliberate error - how the heck would they open them?

[stratmantd]

Is it only me who laughed out loud and wondered why the khaki-painted Daleks were wearing ammunition type pouches on belts?
Anyone spotted the deliberate error - how the heck would they open them?

Presumably they were there to carry ammo to soldiers otherwise, yes, slightly silly but looked good.

This weekend sees the 1st of the 2 part finale and frankly I doubt that I will miss the series once it ends. I'm afraid that the new Doctor hasn't really hit the spot for me and I feel embarrassed with Amy's accent; it sounds as if she is putting it on even though it's her real accent which to me suggests not very good acting.

I hope that the series will end with the Doctor coming out of the shower and the whole year having been a dream, just like Dallas. That way we can get the real Daleks back and maybe do without stupid statues that could only have been given a re-appearance because the producer created them. Their original story, Blink, was very good but really showed them to their full ability. Their 2-parter this season was a waste of 90 minutes.

I want Tom Baker back!