The Doctor Has No Fear
Fun if slightly absurd.
As an admirer of Winston Churchill and a World War II era enthusiast, I was very excited at the prospect of Victory of the Daleks.
The Doctor (Matt Smith) and Amy Pond show up a month after Winston had called them in the last episode – the Doctor explains that he’s still getting used to the new Tardis and keeps showing up late.
The main plot point of the episode is that somehow, one ship of Daleks survived their last encounter with the Doctor. Obviously, they’d like to rebuild and get back and being evil and hate filled. I’m not giving too much away by saying that the Daleks showing up in World War II was really actually a clever ruse by the Daleks to lure the Doctor – since as we all know, their fates are always intertwined.
I’d really hoped that Moffatt would have waited a little while longer before bringing back the Daleks. They are pretty overused in the new series overall, but yet they’re back already and I don’t think we’ve seen the last of them, unfortunately. I just hope he waits to bring the Cybermen back as well. Come one, come up with a new great villain!
The fellow who portrayed Churchill was all right – but he was really just playing a caricature of Churchill and it’s very difficult to think of the man as Churchill. There was a very funny bit where the Doctor claimed to have a Tardis self destruct device – but it was actually a tea cake.
There are also some really absurd elements that stretched even the imaginative bounds of my mind. You’ll see what I’m talking about when they magically manage to send spitfires into space to fight the Dalek spaceship.
Amy, played by the beautiful Karen Gillan, managed to get out of the bathrobe and into a very sexy skirt/cowboy boot outfit and it’s a pleasure watching her glide across the screen, playing key roles in resolving the plot of the episode – thus becoming even more valuable to the Doctor. One mystery that was revealed was that Amy has no memory of the Earth’s last encounter with the Daleks and she should. That definitely worries the Doctor and I have a feeling we’re not going to know why for several episodes.
Matt Smith is still doing wonderfully – his own Doctor mannerisms are starting to show and I really like them. He’s really a powerful successor to David Tennant and I can see why they chose him. I hope he keeps it up!
Overall, I greatly enjoyed the episode even with it’s absurdities. Very much looking forward to next week since both River Song and the Weeping Angels will be back. Should be fun!
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Wow, Ms. Pond doesn’t remember?
H’mmm. I wonder if the crack in time appears here as well? The crack could open the floodgates for the time lords, the master and, could it be?, Rose?
Thought I should mention that it’s a Jammy Dodger, rather than a teacake, that he wields as a self-destruct device.
What’s a Jammy Dodger? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jammy_Dodgers
There you go Delaney!
I thought the episode was daft, utterly daft. First and foremost, the Daleks would not tamper with the space/time continuum in such a careless manner – even the Doctor pointed that out years ago – so as to destroy the planet. And since their plan was to lure the Doctor into their trap, they had zero interest in Earth as soon as the trap was sprung. Secondly, defusing a robot bomb by convincing it that it was really human? The list goes on, but this episode would have done nicely in Russell T. Davies’ MASSIVE SETUPS followed by A SWITCH OF A BUTTON AND EVERYTHING’S FINE technique. Dreadful.
I have to agree wholeheartedly with Madelyn above. This was a totally DREDFUL episode following a childishly silly one last week (The Beast Below). Matt Smith’s talents are being wasted on this drivel and am I the only one that thinks this was disrespectful of Winston Churchhill?. I’d say comic book tv BUT it didn’t even measure up to that. The BBC said they wanted to appeal to a younger group but let me remind them THAT group doesn’t vote OR pay television taxes. AND there’s already TWO other Dr. Who spinoffs that fill that bill “Sarah Jane” and now “K9″.
If the programme’s quality continues down this sloppy path, I see “Doctor Who” not being renewed after this season. HELL, I’ll call for it’s cancellation myself!..
The Doctor is BACK for me with this episode! I had been a bit iffy and not totally in love… then THIS episode completely sold me. The Doctor is back for me, I can cheer, swoon and cry along with it.
I got excited where the last 2 episodes I’ve just been crying about the 10th Doctor, David Tennant’s, being gone.
I’m falling in love with the Doctor all over again in Matt Smith.
^_^
KYAHHHHHHH! SO HAPPY!
I also really loved that he used a cookie for a self destruct button.
Also that Dalek’s now come in a variety of new flavors. (colors… but with colors I start thinking power rangers a bit much…)
This story did not make any sense at all. I have the feeling that Mark Gattis’s script was probably intended for a two parter, but has been sho-horned into 45 minutes with dreadful consequences. Amy’s character is starting to get annoying with her ‘I have a plan to save the day’. That’s two in a row now. She does seem to be very ‘all knowing’.
Possibly one of the worst episodes I have ever seen. It was like going back in time to the pantomime era of Sylvester McCoy
I’m with Daniel. It was all too fast and quick-fixy. How in the world did they make spitfires to the moon in 30 seconds in the 1940s? Dalek technology that could act against them? With emotions? They would not be so careless! I was really only scared/tense/glued to the screen for about 10 seconds when the “testimony” was transmitting, but how would that… just nutty.
Terrible- One of the worst scripts / episodes since the shows rebirth and as for he new daleks just awefull totally awefull, they now look like a cheap plastic / rubber imitation of the real thing.
If this is a result of budget cuts thing please stop broadcasting before the the show is completely ruined again.
In saying this I do think Matt is one of the best doctors he up up there with David and Tom
Hi, to start with in answer to Delaney’s what is a jammy dodger, its i popular (with kids mostly) plain sweet biscuit with a layer of jam and another plain sweet biscuit on top with a hole in it so you can see the shiny red jam.
More importantly I really didn’t believe that Matt Smith carried off that bluff with the biscuit/cookie, whereas I would have totally believed any of the other doctors could have un-nerved the daleks with a biscuit. I like Smith and Gillan but don’t think they have the gravitas to be able to play the more intense moments Dr. Who covers. Smith and Gillan are good with the comic, zany, and geeky side or the characters, but in this episode particularly completely failed to convince me of any connection with Dr Who. Sadly for me the series is starting to feel like Dr Who lite.
I just hope things improve, it’s only been three episodes so I’m hoping this is a settling down process. However I loved Eccleston, Piper, Tennant and Tate the minute that they walked onto the screen, they needed no warm up, nor did Russel T Davies.
Am I the only one who is missing David Tennant/Billie Piper/Cathrine Tate and the writing of Russel T Davies?
I know it’s only been three episodes and I know Matt Smith deserves a chance but I still miss Tennant especially in the darker, emotional profound moments.
Therefore I totally agree with Dryad when he says:
I just hope things improve, it’s only been three episodes so I’m hoping this is a settling down process. However I loved Eccleston, Piper, Tennant and Tate the minute that they walked onto the screen, they needed no warm up, nor did Russel T Davies
No Gunter, you aren’t. I was hopeful with the first two episodes but this last one was – to me – utter rubbish. I won’t go into all the issues that I had with it, but yes, I loved Eccleston and Tennant from their first word – hello. I was so excited when the named Stephen Moffat was named show runner. Well, if he has been preparing for this since he was 7 he better pick it up a bit. I sincerely hope that the River Song episodes coming up next gets back on track. I too agree with Dryad, both Eccleston and Tennant had me from their first line, which I do believe for both was “Hello”.
darn it – need an edit button
Though it was the first time Moffat actually shined. This should have been the premier not that stupid Prisoner Zero crap. I loved the re-inventing of the Daleks. It was time. The fact that they’re bigger and more intimidating just seems like “Why didn’t Davies think of that” kind of moment? Thought the ending sequence was a bit stolen from “Independence Day” and it was a bit over the top for my own suspension of disbelief that the planes were “flying” in outer space. A little more “Sciency” dialogue could have solved that. Overall, I’ll give it a A-. Which by far is the best yet. Can’t wait for the angels.
Prop planes! PROP PLANES IN SPACE!
OMG, what a horrible, horrible episode! I have been depressed for days, as I have really enjoyed the prior seasons… but with writing like this, I see more of the same unbelievable vapid silliness until this amazing show just withers and dies. Sad.
Sadly I found this totally boring. I put the blame at the feet of the writers – Matt Smith and Karen Gillan have both shown they can act in the past but many times in this episode Karen was just ‘there’ – walking and listening. In fact much of the episode was people just walking, or pacing, it felt dragged out. A weak idea in the first place that I’m not sure any previous doctors or assistants could have saved.
As for the new daleks – anyone else thinking iPod range? The fact it was also followed by a pretty dreadful looking console game, aimed at kids, shows exactly where this show is heading. The gritty series of the past are no more and we are firmly entrenched in kidsville.
I am soooo glad that many others are seeing what I am, that this season of Dr. Who looks like a kiddie show. I just watched the Venice episode and had to keep myself busy the whole time doing something else because it just didn’t hold my attention. I feel as this new interpretation of the Dr. is aimed at the pre-teen Twilight crowd, immature and full of fairy tale characters. The colorful Daleks are just awful and an insult. Considering they already have a low center of gravity, the width makes them look even more bulky and silly, not menacing. They are out of proportion and look slow and ponderous. I’m sad that one of my favorite shows is refocusing for a different audience.
On a side note, Russel T Davies had his gay characters and now Moffat has his Scott characters. The in jokes got tiring with Davies and are already tiring with the Scott references.
I am so happy to have found a site where everyone isn’t talking about how wonderful Series 5 is. It’s actually taken me an entire year to recover from Tennant leaving (it doesn’t hurt that Fright Night is only a few weeks from premiering in the States), and I had hoped enough time had passed that I would be able to get back in the series now that series 5 is on Netflix.
I had also hoped that all my misgivings of the youth of the new Doctor and companion would prove baseless, and that it wouldn’t mean they were targeting the series so specifically towards children that it was no longer interesting to adults, and thus far, sadly, it appears my fears were completely correct. The first episode was just…kind of there. The second episode tried awfully hard to be interesting, and thankfully had a nearly extinct star whale at the climax of it, which gave the story an actual heart (even if it wasn’t until the last 10 minutes). But this episode was just so completely dreadful I’m not sure I’ll be able to find the words to adequately describe just how dreadful it was.
That new rainbow plastic Daleks – ridiculous.
The fighter planes flying into space – laughable.
The storyline – abyssmal
The dialogue – embarrassing.
The acting – I’m sorry, there was acting?
Matt Smith is trying awfully hard to fill the Doctor’s shoes, and that’s the problem. I can see him trying every time he’s in screen, and what’s worse, there are too many Tennant-isms in his performance for me to even begin to connect to the Eleventh Doctor, which by now really needs to have happened for the audience. As many posters have mentioned, by this point all the other Doctors and companions (except Martha – lord how I hated her) had won us over within the first few minutes. I was horribly upset when Eccleston left, but by the time Tennant got to figuring out his features, including “big hair” and “really bad skin” in the Children in Need special I was absolutely in love with him. That special was just about five minutes long. Five minutes and Tennant had me! I have given Matt Smith three episodes now, and I’m not sure how many more I can stomach. His youth and lack of life experience shows in his desperate attempts to create his own Doctor, and it all comes off feeling a bit like a teenager who is playing at “Man of the House” while Dad’s away.
As for Karen Gillan, please, could someone tell her, or tell the director to tell her, that staring with wide eyes and moving her mouth like a fish does NOT equal acting? You should especially not employ the wide-eyed acting technique when there is nothing going on *behind* your eyes. Standing around looking pretty and employing certain jaunty stances or ticks to show that your character is cheeky do not, in fact, equal actually having a CHARACTER. Oh, perhaps, they could actually write her a character! What a thought! She has obviously spent no time creating a backstory for herself outside of what we saw in episode one, which was incredibly thin. She could be doing so very, very much with what little (very little) they have given her to work with – just the fact that she saw multiple therapists alone is a gold mine for any actor worth their salt (and I know, I have a B.F.A,. in ACTING and have been doing stage work for 10 years now), not to mention the fact that hello, she ran off with the Doctor the night before she was to get married! Doesn’t that make her anxious? Don’t any of her experiences haunt her? Shouldn’t something be going on behind those eyes of her besides just thoughts of what her next piece of blocking is??? The Daleks kill someone right in front of her, and her reaction is a gasp and a mild flinch. Really? These are the characters you want me to invest in emotionally after Tennant’s exit episodes left me a blubbering mess on my couch? And the supporting actors weren’t any better. No one seemed to have any concept of what a character actually is! They all seemed to be reading lines from a script, like a cab driver you’ve drug in off the street and paid to read the phone book aloud.
Ultimately, I don’t fault either Smith or Gillan completely for have such two-dimensional, uninteresting, disappointing characters. They can only work with what they’re given (though that’s not really an excuse, given how fully committed Tenant, Piper and Tate always were to some of the utter schlock RTD wrote for them), and they aren’t really old enough or experienced enough to know how to make something out of nothing. And, it is clear that they aren’t being given any direction other than, “Stand there and look pretty” and “Could you make it a bit more reminiscent of David’s Doctor?” It also must be very tough when your guest actors are clearly just there for the paycheck.
As for the episode itself, it was laughably bad. So bad I can’t even justify spending any more time describing just how bad I thought it was, or picking apart the oh-so-may-very-bad-things about it. Even when some of the Russell T. Davies scripts made me roll my eyes, none of them left me actively searching the Internet for reviews while the episode was still playing, just to reassure myself that it wasn’t just me, this episode really was rubbish.
A horrible, stinky pile of rubbish, unworthy of the Doctor Who title.
It makes me sad to admit it, but if this episode is any indication of where Moffat is going to lead the series, I hope, for it’s own sake, Doctor Who doesn’t make it past series 6.