The episode could only have ended with the Daleks coming back and as intrigued as I was by how, when the episode ended, all I could think was “Meh, the Daleks came back”.
This should not be, as a child and teenager, nothing thrilled me on TV than the thought of the Daleks returning. Cursed with fatal death it seems, I could easily have gone without them for this new series, or the rest of this Doctor’s tenure.
I also pretty sure that by three episodes in, I was pretty much sold on the previous two Doctors. This one, the man himself and the stories he appears in, not so much. I’ll watch the rest of the series, what else is there to do on a Saturday evening? But the quality of writing will have to go way up if I’m to enjoy it too.
I liked it too. What amazes me is that the people who don’t like this one, really liked last week’s with the star whale, and I thought that one was very poorly done. It seems I am inverse to the majority, once again.
I wouldn’t say it was a bad story overall, though it did come off as being a two-parter that got pushed back and forced into one installment. The color-coded Daleks come off pretty toyetic to me (look for the “Dalek Eternal” action figure on the shelves this summer).
Seems to me that they missed a big opportunity to feature Captain Jack in a cameo role.
The dialogue about setting a trap wasn’t from this episode it was from the Vampires in Venice story, don’t know where the gun seen appears, but I guess later in the series.
I enjoyed the episode on the whole, it was very reminiscent of Power of the Daleks. In fact it had a very similar plot, including a Dalek factory and subsevient Daleks.
I agree that there was no way they could get the Spitfires into space that quickly, but then when has Doctor Who bothered about common sense and the laws of physics?
I thought Matt Smith found his feet this episode and also saw a few flashes of previous Doctors in his mannerisms and words, particularly Troughton and Tennant.
Churchill certainly had too many chins, but was generally well played, IIRC the line about supporting the Devil if Hitler invaded hell may have been a real quote.
The Daleks in British Army Green were great, but I wasn’t keen on the redesigned primary colour Daleks. To make it worse they didn’t even clarify which colour was supposed to signify which role except for the Supreme Dalek. Also what is a Dalek eternal supposed to mean?
I am reminded of the Doctor’s comment in “The Next Doctor” about how funny it was that no one in later times remembered anything about a giant Cyberman (sorry, CyberKing) stomping around 19th-century London. It seemed to me at the time that it was a set-up to something that didn’t happen, but maybe it was foreshadowing something in this season?
My problem wasn’t with the lack of realism, it was with the lazy writing. All it would have taken was for the android guy to say something like, “Oh, yeah, I’ve had this idea about antigravity, and I’ve actually put together a few prototypes that are sitting in a hangar…” But it’s clear they just didn’t think about it at all. It went from “The Germans are 10 minutes away” to SPITFIRES IN SPAAAACE! without the tiniest bit of effort to make it logical, or at least explain it. Laziness.
Again, I think this episode was suffused with Stephen Moffat. Good ideas, very poorly executed. I really liked the episodes he wrote in previous seasons, despite their weaknesses. Now that he’s in charge, it seems like the weaknesses are getting more prominent, which is worrisome.
You do have a point, I hope this is not indicative of the way the rest of the series is headed. I would hate to see my favourite programme consigned to BBC limbo for another 20 years.
Viewing figures for this episode were a little over 6 million, which is respectable, but poor compared to soaps and the DT Christmas specials. Hopefully it will be enough to prevent cancellation.
The Guardian was fairly positive about the new Daleks, while the Sunwas not.
This blog on the Radio Times website is almost universally negative on the subject of the theme music, the new TARDIS (which I quite like) and the new Daleks.
I quite like brightly coloured Daleks. Am unsure about the redesigned bodywork, though - it makes them look like the unholy offspring of a Renault Megane and a wheelie bin.
Hated this week’s episode. The height of suckitude was the whole making him believe he’s human to disarm the bomb.
Anyone else think there was a subtext in that “Ever fancied someone you shouldn’t” line? Especially with the significant glance at the Doctor straight after.
Oh, yeah, I forgot about that part. That was stupid too.
Weird how divided opinion is on this one. Den of Geek liked it, but then they like pretty much everything, and when they dare to slightly dislike something, they apologize profusely and generally blame themselves for not getting it.
Didn’t detect any subtext myself, but I did find myself thinking that, had RTD written this episode, his crush would have been “Don” instead of “Donnabella”.