Saturday, September 01, 2012
Um… Of the Daleks
Doctor Who’s back on TV in half an hour, and to celebrate, Richard and I have put up our questions and answers about the first of one of Doctor Who’s greatest eras – the New Adventures. So, click here to find out more about Timewyrm: Genesys, and reviews are likely to follow within the next week.
We’re also celebrating the 33rd anniversary this evening of the first broadcast of Destiny of the Daleks, the last story written for the show by Terry Nation and the first script-edited by Douglas Adams. Of course, back in 1979 Doctor Who was very different.
At the end of the previous season-long story arc that threatened time itself with disintegration, the Doctor had randomised the TARDIS’ journeys so that his enemies could never, ever find him in all the infinite Universe – then, starting in Destiny of the Daleks, turned up straight away on the two planets he visits most often. Tonight, in a completely fresh twist, you will remember that at the end of the previous season-long story arc that threatened time itself with disintegration, the Doctor had faked his own death so that his enemies could never, ever find him in all the infinite Universe – and now, starting in Asylum of the Daleks, gets picked up straight away by the enemies he’s run into most often.
Still, at least the plot seems completely different: in 1979, the series was back with a bang in an attempt at a Dalek epic in which they face their greatest threat and have to seek out the one individual in the Universe who can help them, someone who’d tried to destroy the Daleks before and who they, in turn, had tried to exterminate, whereas tonight, er, er…
Later: Of course, where Destiny of the Daleks is different is that the writer, who should have known better, visually established the organic Dalek mutant and then u-turned the Daleks into dumb robots that are easily programmed (and so beaten) en bloc. Thank goodness we didn’t have anything so stupid today.
Newer› ‹Older
We’re also celebrating the 33rd anniversary this evening of the first broadcast of Destiny of the Daleks, the last story written for the show by Terry Nation and the first script-edited by Douglas Adams. Of course, back in 1979 Doctor Who was very different.
At the end of the previous season-long story arc that threatened time itself with disintegration, the Doctor had randomised the TARDIS’ journeys so that his enemies could never, ever find him in all the infinite Universe – then, starting in Destiny of the Daleks, turned up straight away on the two planets he visits most often. Tonight, in a completely fresh twist, you will remember that at the end of the previous season-long story arc that threatened time itself with disintegration, the Doctor had faked his own death so that his enemies could never, ever find him in all the infinite Universe – and now, starting in Asylum of the Daleks, gets picked up straight away by the enemies he’s run into most often.
Still, at least the plot seems completely different: in 1979, the series was back with a bang in an attempt at a Dalek epic in which they face their greatest threat and have to seek out the one individual in the Universe who can help them, someone who’d tried to destroy the Daleks before and who they, in turn, had tried to exterminate, whereas tonight, er, er…
Later: Of course, where Destiny of the Daleks is different is that the writer, who should have known better, visually established the organic Dalek mutant and then u-turned the Daleks into dumb robots that are easily programmed (and so beaten) en bloc. Thank goodness we didn’t have anything so stupid today.
Labels: Daleks, Doctor Who, Matt Smith, New Adventures, Obscure Doctor Who Jokes, Tom Baker
