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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."
Yeah doctor who was fairly crap, the acting bad, the scripts dire, the special effects a joke... But in terms of concepts it was actually pretty good.
I remember the first time I read the story of genesis of the daleks, in some book, before there were repeats or DVDs of the episodes. Maybe I was young, maybe I was drunk, but its actually a pretty grim, depressing and scary story. The whole idea of the war on skaro being so endless, so destructive, and some maniac scientist deciding that instead of fighting the mutations, he just had to 'roll with it' and see what they would turn into... Its all pretty heavy stuff, carried on into dr who and the daleks, where they are convinced they will never ever be able to leave the dalek machines because they basically fucked up their own planet. The potential for the daleks to be scary is certainly still there, if you can suspend disbelief on the stairs thing.
My fingers are crossed that this will be a really good episode, handeled well.
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They should make an entire series, DR who vs daleks
With a Land of the Lost movie in the works, this new Dr Who, and the success of "Battlestar Galactica", it seems that these are good times for the return of classic scifi. Except for "Star Trek", which hardly went away, and managed to wear itself out.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
This was news MONTHS ago, when the issue of 'rights' to the daleks first cropped up, and when it was resolved, also several months ago. And even before the first episode aired (and even before it leaked) we knew that the daleks would first appear in episode 6. How is this news then, if it's not new?
I mean, I just feel involved, you know?
Anyway, the new Doctor Who series is absolutely gripping, laugh-out-loud funny, and subtly frightening all at the same time. In short, all the things Doctor Who has always been, and should always be.
My only disappointment is that the new series seems to be heavily reusing plot elements from the Big Finish audio dramas. Episode two, The Unquiet Dead, basically took the setting and overall structure (Victorian ghost story, ghosts are caused by alien influence, seance held to communicate with spirits, heavily rational character who has trouble coping with the new facts before him) from the second Big Finish audio play, Phantasmagoria. Granted, they were both written by the same person, but he even goes so far as to mention it in the TV Episode (Charles Dickens [Upon seeing an alien/ghost]: What phantasmagoria is this?)
Next week's episode (simply titled "Dalek") seems to be a retooling of the Big Finish play, Jubilee. They're both written by the same gentleman, and both deal with a lone Dalek captured and tortured for the betterment of mankind. The trailer at the end of last week's episode implies that they share other plot elements as well.
Then again, I'm still puzzling over what all the "Bad Wolf" clues mean. I somewhat suspect that this Doctor's relationship with Rose extends prior to the first episode. Who (and where) is Rose's father? Why is the Doctor so staunchly opposed to Jackie travelling with them, when he was willing to bring Mickey? I also suspect that this Doctor may not be the Doctor. This will probably become more clear when the new novel, Gallifrey Chronicles is released, although the TV Show will probably reveal more plot details before then.
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
Apparently, when I was about 5 or 6 I was so scared of Daleks I didn't just hide behind the sofa, I actually used to run to the end of out back garden when they appeared and hide out for the rest of the episode.
And I do still remember those green glowing maggoty things as really yuck. I've had a real parania about maggots ever since.
You're thinking about Doctor Who and the green death. A very scary story, which if I remember correctly involved a computer running a company that pumped out toxic waste that caused these nasty mutant maggots. One bite and you died as the green glowing stuff slowly grew up you arm.
Let's see... a yes here we are.
Scared the willies out of me, as did the daleks. Oddly though, it was The Master that always scared me most.
[i]Which clues would these be? Some kid wrote his nickname in graffiti on the side of the Tardis... later the doctor caught him and made him paint it blue again. This is a clue to something? Somehow I doubt it.[/i]
Episode 1 (hearsay) - The Nestine Conciousness mouths the words "bad wolf" when speaking with the Doctor.
Episode 2 - The Moxx of Balhoon mentions a "Big bad wolf scenario" to the Face of Boe.
Episode 3 - Quinneth mentions the "Big bad wolf" and pulls away from Rose, terrified.
Episode 4 - "Bad Wolf" spray painted on the TARDIS.
Episode 5 - Indirect reference. Who Is Doctor Who?, the tie-in website, mentions "big bad wolf" when referencing the closing minutes of the episode.
There is also an upcoming episode titled "Bad Wolf."
Where is the ambiguity?
The writers have already implictly and explicitly stated that there is a dark mystery regarding Rose and the Doctor, and their relationship.
What? You are crazy... he is the best Doctor since Tom Baker.
He's the first Doctor to brutally kill a villian. His behavior is sometimes darker than Colin Baker's darkest moments. We still don't know all the events surrounding the Time War, and we have no regeneration sequence to show that this Doctor came from McGann's incarnation. It has even been explicitly stated that there will be no such sequence.
Plus, from a practical standpoint, he's eating up incarnations like candy. Going on to the 10th out of 13 after just one series seems a bit quick, but allowing the current Doctor to be a phoney gives the writers an extra incarnation to play with.
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
Its political satire.
:)
Last night's episode had aliens disguised as politicians trying to start a phoney war by claiming alien forces had "massive weapons of destruction" that could be unleashed in "45 seconds".
And the reason for the war? They wanted the earth for fuel. Mmm. Sounds familiar...
Now that the BBC cant be overtly political, what with the coming election, its sneaking its politics covertly into "kids" programmes
Baz
With the possible exception of Sliders (which was still low rent compared to any season of Doctor Who), the Doctor Who series is one of the greatest science fiction series ever produced. They got it right from day one: the story comes first. Screw the special effects, the "ass kicking" or the quality of the acting and focus on what matters, a good story line. As a hero, the Doctor definitely has always been brains first and physical action as a last resort. It's not a wonder that this series is really good for children as well as adults. It's got a decent message.
/. in the USA been doing the P2P thing to get hold of those shows? One more thing to mention... Apparently, the BBC is going to be releasing a DVD box set of this season in the fall. It will only be for Europe and the UK, so get out those region free DVD players or try out Xine if you're lucky enough to have a DVD drive that is reagion free. They will also be releasing the individual programs starting after the airing of this season's last episode.
:)
I've been keeping up with Doctor Who 2005 via P2P since it probably will never air in the states. I have to say that Eccleston plays a really good turn at the Doctor. He definitely doesnt' try to imitate anyone else that came before him. Billie Piper isn't as annoying as I had feared either. I was worried that she'd just be cheesecake like Nicola Bryant. But she seems to play a decent companion that thinks for herself. They also did a really good job of making the new theme song. They still have a lot of the original Delia Derbyshire rendition (1st-4th Doctor) mixed in with the new stuff. Prodution values are much higher, probably owing to better technology than what was available even in the late 80s with Sylvester McCoy.
What I am surprised about is that I really haven't heard other people's opinions about the new series. I expected to hear lots of people either raving about it or potting it. But I've heard nothing. Hasn't anyone else on
If you can find it... enjoy.
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
...well I reckon from the trailer and the fact that the last two episodes were thinly veiled 9/11/Bush allegory (destruction of national landmark by flying craft, blamed on pigs(?), weapons of mass destruction, the UN, fat-people-as-villains (ahem) and something about fuel).
We'll know for sure when they start threatening it with dogs and taking polaroids I guess.
Plays violent online games as: Nerfherder76
It was probably the fear of evolution into unemotional machines, world war, mutation from radiation, and the ability to replace parts of the human body with machines. The latter concept was greatly extended upon by the "Cybermen", who fought off disease and old age by replacing the failing parts of their bodies with robotics, until everything from their hearts to minds was machine.
From HypnosInMedia
The Doctor's first and most persistent enemy. Created by the mad scientist Davros, they were the descendants of the Kaleds from the planet Skaros. When centuries of nuclear war caused mutations in the race, Davros encouraged the mutations and designed the travel shells they use. He also gave them their unstoppable thirst for conquest. Their chilling cry of "Exterminate!" was feared throughout the galaxy.
The Daleks would eventually come to realize that they were imperfect, mainly because of their many failures at conquering the galaxy, and they would seek out and eventually be led by their creator, Davros.
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oh, don't get me wrong, i'm definitely a leftist. just not a knee-jerk one. that is to say, i have liberal values, but i don't let others manipulate me into things like censorship with them. i remember in the 80's when self-purported "liberals" thought it'd be great to have copies of huck finn purged from all public schools because they used the word "nigger". never mind that the novel was set in the mid 1800's and had a very anti-racism message. they burned the books anyway - nobody who burns books is a liberal. period.
i'd be completely against the photo if it was taken against the woman's will, or was of a minor, etc etc. but i've seen a lot of women do a lot more offensive things than pose for a photo of them with a plunger that may or may not be photoshopped in on their face. this was clearly consensual, and as a leftist i don't believe anything that goes on between consenting adults should be illegal.
BTW, has anybodye else figured out that now that daleks are made of gold, a dalek-cyberman war would be MUCH more interesting?
They will never stop until somebody makes the
One of the few recurring nightmares that I had as a child was of those friggin' Daleks.
They were scary as hell just being a trashcan that awkwardly bumped around and screamed "EXTERMINATE" at everything... BUT NOW, with their "upgrades" they are scary as hell x 100 which = nightmares x 100 for me.
Thanks BBC for bring back my nightmares!
"It's related to the thing in the American psyche that makes space aliens be humans with wrinkly foreheads."
That's not American psyche, that's budget control. When Gene Rodenberry, for example, pitched Star Trek, one of the selling points was that the budget wouldn't grow out of control because the aliens would simply be makeup tricks on humans.
Star Trek, in particular, is lengendary in it's effeciency with money. The 'bumpy headed alien' is one of the reasons why.
"Derp de derp."