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

[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.