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."

Comments

Sink plunger?

[Anonymous Coward]

> Its trademark 'sink plunger' attachment also reveals a
> terrifying new function.

Is it just me or does that sound terrifyingly sexual?

Re:Sink plunger?

[LewsTherinKinslayer]

Damnit, I screwed up the URL. lol.

I meant this!

WARNING: still not safe for work. ;)

Re:Sink plunger?

[Anonymous Coward]

From TFA:

"You would be amazed at the number of people who wanted to get inside the Dalek," says Edwards

For Christ's sake, this is supposed to be a family show, not alt.sex.daleks

Re:Sink plunger?

[bechthros]

a) the fact that the picture has been published without the publisher being sued into oblivion shows clearly that the woman in the picture was perfectly content to pose for, and profit from, it's publication

b) most male geeks don't get laid because we're not good looking. never forget SNL's three rules for getting dates: be handsome. be attractive. don't be unattractive. BTW a lot of female geeks don't get laid either.

c) women are superior to men in some ways, men are superior to women in others, and neither could survive without the other. anybody who tells you all of one group is always superior to all of another group, especially when dealing with groups as large as all men and all women, is either very very dangerous or selling something.

d) you have a massive male-guilt complex and I don't envy you it, assuming you're even a man, which i somehow doubt from your SCUM manifesto-ish tone

e) the people who would really disempower women (in other words, dangerous fascists like you) are the ones who would deny them the right to pose for pictures like this if they wanted to. this is america, asshole, you have no right to deny others' humor or entertainment no matter how much you disagree with it, as long as nobody's being hurt. you either have free speech or you don't. where would you draw the line? do women have no right to participate in, and profit from, the production of pornography? do they have the right to "degrade themselves" by telling off-color jokes? by wearing pants? have fun sliding down that slippery slope.

f) it's probably just photoshop anyway

g) let the PC modbombing begin, i'm not posting this anon because i'd like there to be some record that i'm not a knee-jerk leftist, karma be damned.

h) i'm thrilled to see the return of the daleks. or at least a dalek. i've always harbored a sneaking suspicion bill gates has one hidden away somewhere. now all that needs to happen is for some villain to somehow "borrow" a tardis, go back and grab davros, bring him to this one renegade dalek and have him close it, etc etc...

i) daleks still aren't as cool as cybermen, even if (and perhaps because) they did kill adric.

Re:Sink plunger?

[zakezuke]

For Christ's sake, this is supposed to be a family show, not alt.sex.daleks

Experiment
Experiment
EXPERIMENT!

Re:Sink plunger?

[bechthros]

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?

Re:Sink plunger?

[bechthros]

let me clarify - where I'm posting from, this is America. if you're unlucky enough to live in a part of the world where people can't at least pay lip service to freedom of expression, my sympathies. regardless of location, consent is consent is consent. the minute you say a woman has no right to pose for this picture if she chooses too, you disempower her more than the picture ever would.

I can exclusively reveal

[Timesprout]

The terrifying new feature is a dupe checker for /.

Scary things, these daleks.

[Amiga Lover]

"But there were a lot of shots which had to be re-done because the Dalek got stuck in a doorway."

Well there's an enemy that has me scared.

Re:Scary things, these daleks.

[fm6]

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!"

Re:Scary things, these daleks.

[spockette]

I may be alone in this, but I'm scared of the Daleks. I saw an episode of DW when I was about five, and I had nightmares about Daleks for YEARS afterward. I'm pathetic, I know.

Re:Scary things, these daleks.

[joFFeman]

that would be the green death. go find the dvd and come to terms with your fears.

Re:Scary things, these daleks.

[Angostura]

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.

Radio interviews

[RonnyJ]

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).

The more things change...

[The Amazing Fish Boy]

"We have taken all the perceived weaknesses of the Dalek and made them deadly" - Mike Tucker, miniature effects supervisor

Well, they used to be deadly, too. It's just they were deadly for the Dalek, not for it's opponent.

What I wonder is...

[halivar]

What is it about the typical English psyche that finds the image of giant saltshakers so horrifying?

Re:What I wonder is...

[The Amazing Fish Boy]

What is it about the typical English psyche that finds the image of giant saltshakers so horrifying?

Dude, didn't you see it? Not only is it a giant salt shaker, it's made of gold. GOLD! Nothing can stop gold! And what are those little bulbs on the outside? Those could be anything! They might be filled with death itself, for all we know. That giant lever? I'm going to assume that plays a random clip from Walker, Texas Ranger.

But even Cordell Walker himself couldn't stop these things from shaking the salt of death on it's enemy. Oh, no. Maybe Walker could take a Dalek, but only if he enlisted the help of that black Texas Ranger and possibly the younger man & woman Texas Rangers, too. But that's only if the Dalek hasn't taken Walker's wife hostage.

I predict: many drop kicks in the next Dr. Who episode.

Re:What I wonder is...

[Anonymous Coward]

What is it about the typical English psyche that finds the image of giant saltshakers so horrifying?

It's related to the thing in the American psyche that makes space aliens be humans with wrinkly foreheads.

Re:What I wonder is...

[Mancat]

This thing looks like R2D2's gay cousin from the Big City.

Re:What I wonder is...

[myowntrueself]

"...the fact they will kill anyone who got in their way without question was pretty frightening"

Like US military patrols on the streets of Iraq.

Re:What I wonder is...

[Anonymous Monkey]

I think it is the same thing that made the Borg scary, way back in the day. One face, one voice, no individuality. They can't be scard, they can't be talked out of what they do, therefore they are unstopable. Deeply scary is corect

Re:What I wonder is...

[Zey]

Lets see...

1. 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).
2. 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.
3. Fears of biological and genetic engineering, classic Frankenstein losing control of a creation story.
4. 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.
5. 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.

Re:What I wonder is...

[alib001]

Looks like Davros has been on Pimp My Ride.

Re:What I wonder is...

[mikael]

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.

Re:What I wonder is...

[nickco3]

The funniest thing about "horrible British food" jokes is it's always Americans, of all people, that make them.

Coming from French or the Italians it would just be standard "my country is better than yours". But from Americans? Americans! The country whose major contribution to world cuisine is the supersize portion?

Who says Americans don't appreciate irony?

This could be really good...

[cliffski]

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.

Re:This could be really good...

[Timesprout]

What would be really good is if the Daleks became sez crazed machines. Just to hear all the daleks chanting for-ni-kate in their little dalek voices would be priceless.

Torrent?

[stalefries]

Anyone got a torrent of it yet?

Yes, now that they've fixed all the limitations

[Colin Smith]

The Daleks can rule the world....

Hang on a minute... What if we made all the doors just that bit too narrow for them to get through!!!

Ha ha! Foiled again!

Re:Yes, now that they've fixed all the limitations

[AkaXakA]

What if we made all the doors just that bit too narrow for them to get through!!!

Shhh, that's China's plan to foil the American takeover of earth!*

*Come on, being able laugh at yourself is a sign of maturity :)

Re:Space has a terrible secret.

[tehshen]

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.

Return of classic scifi: Land of the Lost

[AtariAmarok]

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.

Re:Thanks for those massive spoilers, Slashdot.

[hal2814]

Reminds me all the times there's "Dalek" in the title but they still tried to build suspense by making the Daleks appearance a surprise at the end of Episode 1.

I feel I should say something here...

[Thedalek]

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.

Hands off!

[David Horn]

I'd just like to say to any non-British resident that I expressly forbid you to download the new series.

My license fee paid for the Dalek (or at least the sink plunger), and I don't see why anyone other than me should enjoy it. After all, I'm always being told that it's "my BBC."

Anyone interested in an exclusive DVD can get in touch using the usual methods, supplying delivery address and credit card number. Doesn't have to be your card, I'm not picky.

Obligatory

[JumperCable]

Well I don't know about you, but I for one welcome our new... aaah crap, that one actually makes sense.

Re:What I wonder is...the English Class System

[Quirk]

It's the horror of being below the salt. At dinner there were two sorts. Those above the salt were entitled to sprinkle salt on their fare, but the unlucky, below the salt, were denied salt and were deemed to be below the salt. Granted they probably didn't use salt shakers when this quaint custom was in play.

See the Trailer for yourself

[gnugnugnu]

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?

Re:See the Trailer for yourself

[onebuttonmouse]

You're going to slashdot this?

Re:sign of weakness

[Thedalek]

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.

Re:Thanks for those massive spoilers, Slashdot.

[Turn-X Alphonse]

The new series isn't like that saddly. It's damn obvious from the get go whats happening and just needs Rose to discover it basicly.

The last 2 weeks episodes were quite frankly dire and maybe thats why the Dalek one is next.Go from "look farting fat bastards" to "look shiny like a spoon!"

Bad Wolf...

[Thedalek]

[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.

Its not sci-fi..

[Bazman]

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

One of the greatest SciFi series

[eno2001]

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.

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 /. 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.

If you can find it... enjoy. :)

Stairs?

[Guppy06]

"Stairs have not been a problem for Daleks since 1988,"

I've heard it said that real Daleks don't climb stairs, they level the building.

Re:45 second alian WMD!!

[rewinn]

Well, to be fair, "Dr. Who" is a work of fiction. This is to be distinguished from .. oh, wait, I see your point ...

Gitmo'd dalek

[BlightThePower]

...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.

Clip of the Dalek in action

[WorselWorsel]

http://homepage.mac.com/stuart621/dalek.mov Looks cool.

Cool, just as long as....

[otis wildflower]

... The Daleks don't turn out to be hot chicks.. ;)

Re:The previews..

[Funksaw]

You're forgetting something important.

The Dalek is a f*cking tank.

Who cares if he can fire once every 10 seconds. I would imagine a Bradley tank can't fire more often than that.

Now, imagine this. An American tank, made with DU armor, up against a WWII era tank - the DU ammunition would tear through the WWII era tank like tinfoil, while the WWII era tank wouldn't be able to do more than scratch the surface of the modern tank.

Okay, now replace Depleted Uranium shells with a DEATH RAY, and replace DU armor with Dalekanium. Put it into a package that has hover capabilities, 360 degree view, 0" turning radius, and put a mad monster with a nazi-like fascination for genocide of the whole human race behind the wheel.

The only hope of defeating it is a device which requires you to get relatively close to it. It is paranoid and will destroy everything that gets in it's way. The only person that knows how to use the device is a person that the Dalek vows to kill on sight...

Salt shaker, my ass. Those things are scary as hell...