Slashdot Mirror
Daleks Return to Dr Who
Jim Hall writes "An article on the BBC says that a Dalek will return to Dr Who, in an episode titled simply 'Dalek'. The Doctor discovers that a Dalek has been collected by an unsuspecting billionaire. Many of the perceived weaknesses of the Daleks have been addressed: Stairs have not been a problem for Daleks since 1988, when they first levitated towards Sylvester McCoy in Remembrance of the Daleks. The new Dalek can also spin its torso independently of his head, so creeping up from behind is no longer an option. Its trademark 'sink plunger' attachment also reveals a terrifying new function. 'Dalek' is on BBC-1 on Saturday, 30 April."
It's been known for a fair while about the return of the Daleks - Eccleston has said in radio interviews that they will appear in this next (the 6th) episode, and that they will also have a part to play elsewhere in the current series (although he has been somewhat vague on the details).
Yeah, not the most convincing bad guys. But remember that before it became late-night PBS fare, Dr. Who was a kiddie show, and thus couldn't make its horrors too conspicuously horrible. The main selling point of the Daleks was not that they were scary, but that it was a lot of fun to march down the streek, one arm pointing directly in front of you, and screaming in a high-pitched voice, "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"
Sorry to break it to you, but the stairs thing doesn't work anymore. They can (apparently) climb stairs in this series as well.
So, to be safe, I'm sleeping on the roof.
Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
The trailer for Doctor Who Episode: Dalek
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/video/index.shtml
It is in Real Video format.
Maybe a good slashdottting will encourage the BBC to put up bitorrent links for its trailers?
Except that the episode was written and filmed last year, back when the series was shot. This is not a case of "Oh, the ratings are slipping a bit. Let's put in a Dalek episode." This is a case of the fans saying, "It's not proper _Who_ unless we have classic _Who_ villians, like the Daleks, the Autons, the Cybermen..."
The BBC is heavily banking on the new Doctor Who, and it's no wonder, considering that the first episode was the highest rated show in its timeslot, and third highest rated in the week. They've already gone and commissioned a second series, a Christmas special, a line of toys, novels, and heaven knows what else. They advertise the show non-stop, set up tie-in websites here and here, and even show a documentary series which ties in to the most recent episode of the show.
Point is, they've spent a whole heck of a lot of money on the show, and they plan on spending a lot more. If this is a vote of no-confidence, I wish more sci-fi series would get such treatment.
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
that would be the green death. go find the dvd and come to terms with your fears.
"Life is great; without it, you'd be dead." -Harmony Korine
- They're symbolic of the results of nuclear war (particularly terrifying in 1963 when they were introduced, just after the Cuban Missile Crisis proved how close nuclear war could have been).
- General fear of the unknown; what mutant lurks inside the Dalek travel machine. It took a few stories before they were shown. Even then, they're generally only seen briefly.
- Fears of biological and genetic engineering, classic Frankenstein losing control of a creation story.
- Stories involving Davros also add the fear of fascism, the seductiveness of evil and warns of the dangers of logic and self-preservation over ethics and humanity.
- The 'next generation' seen in Revelation of the Daleks added the question: what if you went to sleep and woke up with only your head and turning into a Dalek hybrid?
Unfortunately, not a lot of that was seen in the Tom Baker era, apart from Genesis... just a lot of Tom causing them to get confused and explode by dropping a hat on their eye-stalk, or yell "Exterminate!" a lot, which really cheapened them as villains.http://homepage.mac.com/stuart621/dalek.mov Looks cool.