Don’t worry, Kate Stewart will sort it…oh hold on
The actress playing Lin was very impressive. For a brief moment I thought she and her archaeological paramour were being primed as new companions
Sure, but cut out the angsting between Ryan and his Dad - and props to Tosin Cole, that was a tasty bit of acting; it just slowed the narrative right down - and play up the Saxon/Dane alliance more explicitly: that way you can have Squelchy bisected rather than trisected, bury his halves in Denmark and Yorkshire, and cut out that silly Pacific island/Siberia and Custodians stuff, which just got in the way.
Agree with this - that was poor writing all round really. Let’s introduce a new character (and his Chekhov’s Microwave), hope that anyone gives a shit, and then Ryan mentions his dyspraxia again!
I’m a simple man, I have simple tastes, and apparently among those is a desire to see a horde of axe-wielding men in wolfskins schooling a Dalek on a 9th Century battlefield. Any bit of narrative which stands in the way of this is extraneous and should be cut.
I…I…share your tastes. I’ve said it, it’s out in the open now.
Wouldn’t be wolfskins though - the ninth century had actual clothes (and bloody great axes, tbf)
Did anyone else start humming the theme music from the *A-Team *when the Dalek burst in in its new armored vehicle?
…no? Just me?
Doesn’t mean they can’t accessorize!
I recognized her as Barbara from Call the Midwife.
Thank you!
I knew I’d seen her somewhere before, but I couldn’t place her.
Interesting midwifery facts:
In the episode The Tsuranga Conundrum, Graham meets a pregnant male and refers to watching Call The Midwife. The actor who played that pregnant man, Jack Shalloo, was in last week’s episode of Call The Midwife. And, as mentioned, this week’s Doctor Who starred Charlotte Ritchie who was a regular on Call The Midwife.
Fully agreed.
This is the best episode of the Thirteenth Doctor’s run, with the possible exception of Rosa. Sadly, so many of the other episodes were lackluster.
I have a dream, a fond hope, an idle vellity, that some gifted writer will come along and write an episode that does for the Daleks what “World Enough And Time/The Doctor Falls” did for the Cybermen - makes them a horrifying, tragic menace. Alas, this episode wasn’t it. They’re just boring villains - one-note baddies who simply want to EX-TER-MIN-ATE! As bad as “Daleks In Manhattan” was, the half-human Dalek Sek was more interesting than the normal run.
They’re also kinda stupid. I guessed that when they found Lin, the Dalek was simply pretending that she’d gotten rid of him, and was planning on using her to capture the TARDIS while the Doctor was running around outside, looking for him. But no, go back to the usual “blow shit up while chanting ‘EXTERMINATE!’ M.O.”
The Brexit joke completely flew over my American head, but it reminded me that there are two characters that I really, really want to see interact with this Doctor: River Song and Kate Stewart. Please, Chibs, make this happen!
Missy?
Not having read this speculation elsewhere, can someone clue me in on the possible legal requirements for having another Dalek episode?
God, no.
On cursory googling it appears that the assertion that there is a contractual agreement between Terry Nation and the BBC that the Daleks must make an appearance every so often or else the BBC would lose the right to use them falls into the category of “persistent but unconfirmed rumor”. Daleks have made at least an appearance (if not always a significant one) every season of the NuWho run but it is unclear whether this is due to requirement or just popular appeal.
Hell, yes!
Yeah, it’s the very long-running theory that Nation’s estate owns the rights to the Daleks, not the BBC, and there’s some sort of sanction that if the BBC don’t use the Daleks regularly, then the right to use them at all will be withdrawn. I have my doubts about this.
She was also Melissa “Oregon” Shawcraft in Fresh Meat, which is where I recognized her from.
It took me a few days to get to the New Year’s special, but I loved it! Easily the best Whittaker episode so far. That is to say, the one that felt the most like Doctor Who.
Whether it was written this way intentionally or not, it seemed to me that it took facing a Dalek for this particular regeneration to finally realize her identity and purpose, and for the first time I felt like she was THE DOCTOR. The scene featuring The Doctor and the Dalek, face to plunger - with no companions around – was perfect.
And it made me realize that it’s what the season needed more of. Yes, companions should be interesting, but this season has felt more about them and their journey than about the new Doctor herself. The balance has been off. This episode restored that balance, and I hope it can be maintained.