Doctor Who: Victory of the Daleks

[eve11]

I think there was a good story hiding in there, somewhere. But like last week's episode (in fact even more so than last week's), this should have been a four-parter that could take its time. The creepiness of subservient Daleks should have played out in more than the one or two scenes we got. It needed to build an air of tension and mystery. As it was, from the opening scenes to the Dalek reveal, when it stands back and says "Cor-rect", takes twelve minutes and 20 seconds (and that includes the opening credits too). Talk about jamming on the fast forward switch. It was like watching the Cliff's notes of an episode.

I think that in the old style, the Daleks shooting off Bracewell's hand would have been a part 2 cliffhanger out of four. The "We made you" line was great, but you needed more time to get to know Bracewell for it to have the right impact. And I want to know why Bracewell's human emotions counteract the bomb initiation... what? It was a cool scene actually, if you take that as a handwave (and I thought Matt Smith did quite well in it), but the whole premise was an Amy-doubletake-at-barking-multiform "What? I'm sorry, what?"

I did like the Doctor holding off the Daleks with a jammy dodger though, and aside from the whole "ten minutes to mock up a prototype" thing, the spitfires in space were pretty cool. I also liked his "occupational hazard" line. But on the whole this episode was a mess, in both the script and the pacing. Too many ideas without enough gelling them together. They should have spent more time developing half the ideas they had. And the dialogue was just weird in places; I'm thinking of the end and Amy's "not too shabby" line, don't know if it was writing or delivery or probably a bit of both, but it really didn't ring right with me at all.

I find it telling that the best of the three episodes so far has been the one that had 18 extra minutes to tell its story.

Also, intriguingly, Amy doesn't know the Daleks. I was curious about that ever since I saw a preview scene where she knocks on the Dalek casing and asks it if it's alien. I thought, "she should know; she has to have seen them before." But they explain that, as part of a bigger mystery about Amy. I had a thought last week that Rory might be somehow displaced in time; his badge that said it was issued 1990 was a clue, as well as the way he describes his phone to the ward doctor in TEH: "It's also a camera." As if neither he nor she is used to this. Really, these days, whose phone *isn't* a camera? (And come to think of it, in TEH when they are doing Doctor-vision, why is there a girl in a phone booth, on the phone, taking pictures of the sun with her cellular? Hmm?) But then I remembered that Rory had grown up with Amy, so he couldn't be the sole anomaly. Now I'm wondering if Amy's whole town of Leadworth didn't get rocketed forward in time between when the Doctor left her the first time and when he showed up 12 years later. He says it, "This is important; why did you say six months?" Why indeed? If the town itself got thrust forward in time from the 70's or 80's, and only partially integrated into 2010, it would explain why the residents seem at odds with the new technology, the old-fashioned kitchen and suitcase that Amy has as a kid, and why Amy doesn't remember the Daleks.

So, some perspective: First eps in the new run:

Rose, The End of the World, The Unquiet Dead
New Earth, Tooth and Claw, School Reunion
Smith and Jones, The Shakespeare Code, Gridlock
Partners in Crime, Fires of Pompeii, Planet of the Ood
The Eleventh Hour, The Beast Below, Victory of the Daleks

Hmm. I think that the newest run probably has the most in common with the start of series 2. New Earth was quite unbalanced, especially with the ridiculous "cure" at the end of it. Even though it's a future piece, I think The Beast Below has more in common with Tooth and Claw than The End of the World, what with the royal family and the mystery, etc. I'd say Victory of the Daleks is probably the weakest episode up there. But hopefully we can gain ground in the next two-parter (will it be a two-parter?), seeing as it's going up against both the Slitheen and the Daleks in Manhattan (although also the Girl in the Fireplace, so, hm). It has River Song and Weeping Angels and spaceships and statue cities. And hopefully it has time to explore all of these. I think it will also have the "trap" line that came up in the previews, though not sure about that. Also I was a little wary of River's line in the preview at the end of this week's episode, "the Time of Angels", sounded rather rubbish but perhaps will be better in context?

Here's hoping that the new directors find their footing soon.

Comments

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

I came at the Amy mystery from a different angle. I was wondering about the crack in the everything and thinking that perhaps events in the pre-established history are somehow falling through and getting taken out of Amy's (and everyone else's) reality. In essence, as if the crack has opened up an alternate reality where things aren't quite what the Doctor is expecting them to be. And I wonder what else we'll find out is different in Amy's experience.

I like the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond, but I'm not so keen on the writing so far this season. Rushed and not too well thought out, at times. It's a bit disappointing.

[evergleam83.livejournal.com]

You definitely have a good point - the pacing on this was so off. I'm not sure what I'd do to fix it though, because I almost feel like dragging out the reveal too long could have gotten annoying, too. You know? Like, I was really glad they didn't wait too long to show the Doctor the new secret weapon, because why wait to show him what we all already know? I feel almost the same way about the reveal that the Daleks are up to something - the audience knows that there's no way they're fighting for humans, so why drag that out too long?

I mean, there's definitely something to be said for the creepy images of the Daleks trundling along the corridors or the war rooms. You're right that that needed more room to expand, and that we needed more time to get to know and care about Bracewell. The Doctor got up to the spaceship, and the new technicolor Daleks were revealed, and the Bracewell-as-bomb-as-human thing all happened way too fast. Plus, I feel like they paid Karen Gillan to stand around in the background of shots a lot in the first half of the episode - Amy really didn't have much to do. Honestly? I think probably they should have left the Daleks to next season, and made this a two-parter. It's way too soon for a Dalek two-parter now, but this episode had too much story to sift through for one ep. But I guess maybe the whole Amy-doesn't-remember-the-Daleks thing was too good for Moffat and crew to pass up? I don't know. There were bits to love in this, but overall I'm way more excited for River and the Angels next week.

[eve11]

Yeah, not too long, but longer than a rush-job 10-minute setup, I think. And I agree that Amy didn't have much to do; she was pretty generic in this episode. And I think that the plot elements afterward seemed to happen too fast because it was very "talk-y", ie, lots of standing around and discussing things, without much of a plot to *show* through visuals. Actually now that I think of it, this would have made a good audio adventure with a bit of re-pacing. The audios do have some very well-done Dalek stories.

I am also intrigued by Amy not knowing the Daleks, and excited by the prospect of weeping Angels and a sophisticated-looking River Song coming up. Here's hoping the episodes don't disappoint.