Victory Of The Daleks

  • warning: array_fill() [function.array-fill]: Number of elements must be positive in /home/shawware/drupal-6.24/includes/database.inc on line 253.
  • warning: implode() [function.implode]: Invalid arguments passed in /home/shawware/drupal-6.24/includes/database.inc on line 253.
  • warning: array_keys() expects parameter 1 to be array, null given in /home/shawware/drupal-6.24/modules/user/user.module on line 528.
  • user warning: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ')' at line 1 query: SELECT p.perm FROM uhm_role r INNER JOIN uhm_permission p ON p.rid = r.rid WHERE r.rid IN () in /home/shawware/drupal-6.24/modules/user/user.module on line 528.
Show Doctor Who / Series V / Episode 3
First Broadcast 2010/05/02 - 19:30 (Link: ABC Details)
Related Links Doctor Who WikiWikipedia
Previous EpisodeThe Beast Below
Next EpisodeThe Time of Angels

The daleks are back, but what on Earth are they up to? Perhaps more significantly, why can't Amy remember who they are? A mysterious and occasionally hilarious episode that sees the daleks regenerate yet again into something more dangerous.

It's hardly surprising the daleks are back. Even though they appeared to be wiped out they always seem to find a way to carry on. This time though there's just three of them and they're in trouble. They have to resort to a ruse to lure the Doctor to Earth. They have a "progenator device" - a fallback designed to help resurrect their race should they be wiped out - but it refuses to recognise them as pure daleks. This suggests they're daleks produced from Davros.

We're back in wartime England. Winston Churhill has called the Doctor back to help. The Doctor arrives late (again) and in the meantime Churchill has accepted the help of Professor Edwin Bracewell (the android) who has created the Ironsides (daleks) who he believes can help win the war. The Doctor simply can't take it in. There's a dalek offering him tea. It's borderline hilarious to see the daleks being so subservient. Eventually they get what they want - the Doctor confirming their identity. They revert to type, relay this testimony to their ship and the progenator device activates.

The Doctor leaves Amy behind and heads off to the dalek ship. He figures out what they're up to. But the daleks cause a stalemate by lighting up London. Amy inspires Churchill and with Bracewell's help they launch spitfires into space to destroy the dalek ship. It reminded me of Luke Skywalker up against the Death Star from Star Wars (especially with Bracewell losing his hand, or is that meant to remind us of the Doctor?). Eventually the signal is destroyed and London is saved.

But the progenator device has completed its work. Five new paradigm daleks appear. They look more impressive and are presumably more dangerous for it. Intriguingly they each have their own colour (blue, red, yellow, orange and white) and their own title (Scientist, Strategist, Drone, Eternal and Supreme). The white dalek is supreme, the match of title to colour for the rest is unclear. It would appear big things are planned for these new daleks.

In the end they escape by using the Doctor's compassion against him. Bracewell is a bomb capable of destroying the Earth. The Doctor chooses to save the Earth rather than destroy the daleks.

As the episode ends the Doctor is concerned why Amy couldn't remember the daleks and the now familiar crack as the TARDIS fades from view (as a series motif it's not exactly subtle). I suspect the cracks have something to do with why Amy couldn't remember the daleks, rather than the daleks causing the effect themselves. As usual, we will have to wait and see what it's all about.

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Internal paths in double quotes, written as "internal:node/99", for example, are replaced with the appropriate absolute URL or relative path.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <sup> <sub> <h1> <h2> <h3> <img> <acronym> <strike>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Images can be added to this post.
  • Filtered words will be replaced with the filtered version of the word.

More information about formatting options