One day, when the world is set to rights...

[alexsarll]

Well, that was mildly better than I expected; the end, and the final revelation, might even have impressed me if it hadn't been so thoroughly spoilered in ever newsagent in the land. They even addressed the way it conflicted with Dalek morality pretty well. But that aside...pig-slaves? What was wrong with Robomen? Who engineers pig traits in to enhance loyalty as opposed to, say, dog traits? Was it just that we'd already seen the Slitheen make a pig creature so the effects team found that easier? And while I didn't mind the Brits doing American accents (even though Who has already done thirties Manhattan better, with the cast of Spaced no less), the Dalek voices seemed all wrong, and not in a 'weakened' or 'more individual' way, just a 'not really working' way.
I'm not looking forward to the sequel, except vaguely to hope that it will finally kill off the ruddy Daleks, because like the Doctor I am beginning to get annoyed by the cheapening of his sacrifices.

Memo to the Lowlander; while there's at least a certain honesty in the way your logo makes clear that your staff are rubbish, it's not very good advertising. And if you don't do cider, don't tell me that you could do shandy, as though that had any resemblance to what I requested. As it turns out, though, I do like strawberry beer, although I doubt I'd ever want more than one. Thank heavens for Sam Smith's.

Comments

[pippaalice.livejournal.com]

The running man with the spilt pint scared me...

Also YOU DRANK BEER! Hah!

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

So did you!

Also, if they thought they knew how to make Low Countries chips, they were very wrong. The arses.

[p-dan-tic.livejournal.com]

jessica stevenson doing a doctor who story hmmmmm

any chance you'd have a copy?

[perfectlyvague.livejournal.com]

Oh dear god she was terrible (Alex will say I am wrong again) - third worst American accent EVER. They'll probably repeat it on Radio 7 at some point in the next 6 months - I'll warn you when it comes round again.

DAN - THIS CONTAINS A SPOILER

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

If nothing else, it was better than her Russian accent.

Re: DAN - THIS CONTAINS A SPOILER

[perfectlyvague.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha! I must have fallen asleep! Why did I think it was American?
I am not qualified to make any further comments on Doctor Who EVER.

Re: DAN - THIS CONTAINS A SPOILER

[perfectlyvague.livejournal.com]

Oh - no wait - I see what I did there. I did in no way hear the entire thing, did I?

Re: DAN - THIS CONTAINS A SPOILER

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Apparently not. This development could have excused her American accent, if only the Russian one hadn't been worse.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

As Vague says, it's been on Radio 7 a couple of times now and may well come round again next year; they seem to repeat the same set of stories each time. I only have a couple of the audios myself and I'm afraid this isn't one of them.

[tiny-tear.livejournal.com]

and the lowlander was also crap in the way they didn't let you be served at the bar, put everything together in one bill, and then charged 12.5% service charge because it was "over £50" in the bill...

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I thought at one point people weren't going to pay the 'optional service charge'?

[tiny-tear.livejournal.com]

I don't think we did in the end, i left some extra money but definitely not 12.5%

[kiss-me-quick.livejournal.com]

I got served at the bar.

[tiny-tear.livejournal.com]

I did for the first drink, then the second Michael tried to go there and they sent him to the table, same with Bec and a few other people

[davegodfrey.livejournal.com]

I don't mind that they'll somehow keep the daleks going, and I expect to see them in future series. However when the Doctor has to fight them every damn series it cheapens them as his "ultimate enemy".

[davegodfrey.livejournal.com]

Were it not for the price I could drink Fruili all night. (If Bon Secours Framboise is the same one as the raspberry beer I had at London Drinker then that too is fabulous- if rather alcoholic).

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I think what annoyed me most after last series was that they were recurring as the Big Bad, and it seemed a shame that every series had to end as Doctor Vs Daleks. So long as, after Saturday, we hear no more of them this series, then that will do me.

I don't like raspberry-flavoured things, so a raspberry/beer hybrid is to me far more nightmarish than any human/Dalek could be.

[jimyojimbo.livejournal.com]

Current spoilerish gossip would suggest otherwise re: series end, wouldn't it?

Anyway, I didn't get it the way the hybridization worked out. OK, the idea seemed pretty neat - that pure strain species can end up weaker through lack of adaptability - but why sacrifice the battle armour? Why not absorb the human element within the shell? What you have is a bloke with a squid head who can get shot. Well done there.

OK, here's another thing. You could take this "genetic purity" thing that they were trying to overcome as a comment on the notion of ethnic purity, eg far right politics etc. Maybe, I have no idea if this was the writer's (writers') intention. It's kind of neat (even in the context of the baddies). But this is one thing that kind of grates for me in mainstream SF - when things get bumped up to the scale of other species (aliens) there seems to be little thought as to ethnic variation within that species (as would surely occur). So fair enough, the Daleks are supposed to be a genetic pure enemy - that's their shtick, but it gets a little brow-raising when every baddie species is "The So-and-So, they're all bad in x y and z criteria". Oh, rambling. I'll stop now.

[jimyojimbo.livejournal.com]

Except to say I realised that the above could be taken to mean "if only they'd identify an ethnicity within an alien species that could be the baddies, that would be OK", which I absolutely don't mean.

I'll shut up now.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

My fear is that last series, we knew the finale would involve Cybermen - but oh look, the Daleks are feeling left out so they crashed the party. Similarly, we're pretty sure we know where this is going - but if it ends up involving the Daleks too I would be more annoyed than surprised.

Your criticism of the logic of the hybridisation is fair - but since what we've seen thus far doesn't indicate any way in which it will actually increase their numbers, the stated Dalek goal, I'm hoping that we'll get an explanation next week, and ideally one which makes some degree of sense. Certainly we still seem to get some oldskool Dalek battle armour action, so they're not all switching to sharp tailoring as their outer casing.

The story which best addressed Dalek racism, and quite possibly the best Dalek story full stop, was Remembrance of the Daleks (http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_7h.htm), which juxtaposed them with human neo-Nazis.

I do know what you mean about aliens in general, but I think increasingly SF has come around to see the problems in that approach. Sure, a lot of the classic Who monsters are universally evil, but that's usually been explained in some manner - the Daleks are all genetically engineered, the Cybermen programmed, the Sontarans cloned. With races like the Ice Warriors, or the Earth Reptiles, we've seen differences in approach, different factions within the species, a more distinct characterisation as individuals rather than goons. Even with the Daleks, there were moments in 'Dalek' when the Doctor's hostility towards the last Dalek seemed (if only for a moment) uncomfortably close to racism.
Babylon 5 was also very good at setting up divisions within races, as well as between them - but I think even the accursed Star Trek eventually managed something with hardline vs moderate Klingons.

[shewho.livejournal.com]

good lord though, i thought that episode was a blinking endurance test! i didn't mind the concept hugely (althoughh have already been lectured in why it's all wrong, sssh) but it was just yawningly dull. didn't care. thought about sleep.

sam smiths don't sell you satan though eh!

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

The concept is wrong as in Daleks wouldn't hybridise with a lesser species? I expected to object to that ahead of time, but in practice they seemed to explain it pretty well within the episode. But I agree that the episode did drag rather.

[boxcat.livejournal.com]

Re: Daleks again: "The 'Planet X' story was partially intended as a comment on the exhausted, circular nature of the X-Men's ever-popular battle with Magneto and by extension, the equally cyclical nature of superhero franchise re-inventions. I ended the book exactly where I came on board, with Logan killing Magneto AGAIN, as he had done at the end of Scott Lobdell's run. Evil never dies in comic book universes. It just keeps coming back. Imagine Hitler back for the hundredth time to menace mankind. (2004)" - Grant Morrison

Also - grrrrrrr for the wholesale semi-fucking with historical figures. If we're going to have Tallulah Bankhead, lets fucking have her. I want cocaine, rapacious sexuality and hot girl-on-girl action[0].

And that writer seemed utterly unable to write decent dialogue for the Doctor.

[0]And these things forming part of Dr Who

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I don't think Tallulah was meant to be Bankhead; TB had already been famous for over a decade by that point, and the showgirl made perfect sense as someone idolising and trying to emulate her. And given it's only a fortnight since 'The Shakespeare Code', you can hardly complain about a lack of gay agenda as applied to historical figures!

I take your point as regards villains' return, but while there are obviously a wealth of similarities between Who and superheroes, I think the differences are important too. One of those being that while the big superheroes are owned by gangster publishers, Who belongs to the BBC. I may not always agree with the decisions Who's stewards make, but they have all seemed to be people who genuinely care about the programme, whereas at Marvel or DC business imperatives will usually take precedence over creators who are ultimately seen as replaceable. As such, there's a freedom to permanently change the status quo in Who which there isn't with superheroes; I know Captain America is coming back sooner or later, but I'd be very surprised if Gallifrey ever returns.

[alexdecampi.livejournal.com]

I didn't see this week's episode, but did (a rare thing for someone non-TV owning & too lazy to Torrent) catch last week's.

Do you reckon that when the Face of Bo* said "You are not alone" it meant they're going to bring back The Master? (And I'm guessing they'll make him a her, too.)


*What happened to Luke and Daisy? Did Boss Hogg get them? Wouldn't that episode have been improved if the General Lee showed up and caused vehicular mayhem**?

**This is why I will never be allowed to write Dr Who.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

It's Boe, alas.

You appear to be the last person in the country who hasn't had later developments of this series spoilered yet (even the eight year old girls on my Tube this morning were talking about it), so I'm hesitant to answer your question simply because I actually know the answer. Well, unless we've all been very well misdirected.