Asylum of the Daleks (3301/701)

[P-90_177]

I must admit... the dalek's political structure is starting to confuse me. Generally speaking there's either been a Dalek Emperor or Davros at the top of the political structure. I can only presume that the parliament is not quite how we'd see a parliament, though the presence of a prime minister is confusing... I'd like to know more, but ultimately it doesn't strike me as very dalek...

There are a good deal of explanations as to how the Asylum survived, heck, why would anyone even touch it? What I find more confusing is how Skaro survived, I was pretty sure that Skaro had burned in the Time War... actually... wasn't it destroyed in Remembrance of the Daleks...?


Forgetting the Doctor though? Not impressed at that...

Nor do I appreciate Amy constantly down playing Rory's sacrifice of 2000 years....

The thing about the Daleks is that as the Prime Minister pointed out, there are things that the Doctor doesn't know about them. So they might be brutal killing machines but that doesn't necessarily mean that there aren't other things about them. I like this. For one it means that they aren't as easily understood as The Doctor makes out. It's nice to have a more complex villain.

As for Skaro now being intact, I don't see a problem with that given that there was a Time War.....the Daleks could have manipulated events so that Skaro survived that supernova any number of ways.

Finally the forgetting, this I love. The Doctor might be happy about it right now, but at least the Daleks feared him before. Now he doesn't have that leverage. This can only make them more inclined to continue their war with the Universe. From a story perspective also it means that it's easier to make the Daleks look scary again, if the next time they see him they'll just consider him another target and not stop to consider what he's telling them. That monumental fear of the Doctor is one of the things that has made the Daleks weaker from a show standpoint.

[BruTak]

The special weapons Dalek first seen in 'Remembrance of the Daleks' is supposedly a 'mutant' Dalek, different from the others. So where it suits there purpose they have kept impure Daleks in Classic Who.

According to the novelization by Ben Aaronovitch, the Special Weapons Dalek was known as "The Abomination" by the other Daleks, and had to have a pair of Dalek handlers to keep an eye-stalk on it in case it went rogue and started killing everything in sight.

[jameshawking]

The ratio of other speciesalek has never been one-to-one before, though :/


P-90, how would they choose representatives, even assuming that's the most efficient way to rule an empire? Note: it isn't.

[Coco Pops]

OMG that was so much fun.........

Love the glimpse we got of the new actress for companion playing another character. She looks awesome.

Human shape Daleks cool.......

Was the redhead Dalek a future Amy?

She said something about looking him up in their files.

Souffle Girl made all the Daleks forget who the Doctor is? Not sure I buy that but there you go it was there.

Cool episode...... Howcome the nanobots didn't convert the Doctor?

So many questions. Awesome episode.

[Sealurk]

Moffat said something to the effect that the new paradigm Daleks are essentially a ruling class - a retcon if ever I heard one based on the reaction to their new design, but one that mostly works.

The changes to the Daleks are understandable because I think they, like the Doctor, constantly need to evolve to be believable. If this means their once monolithic culture now has a reorganised government with class-based and democratic elements, so be it, but I still can't say I find Daleks terribly threatening or menacing, and certainly not as a major universal enemy.

However, I loved the idea that the reason the Daleks haven't simply exterminated the Doctor on the million and one occasions he's been standing right in front of them with no protection is because they actually admire him - he has such unbridled hatred for the Daleks that he is a living and unique work of art to them that they cannot bring themselves to outright destroy. Additionally, I think the Daleks, being a time sensitive species and allegedly a race of geniuses know that simply killing the Doctor could have terrible consequences for reality, and that on occasion he can be very useful to them.

[BruTak]

From a purely aesthetic point of view, I like the respray the New Paradigm drone Daleks have been given.

A metallic candy apple red, rather than just a flat fire engine red.

[Ian-S]

Why did the Doctor tell Amy to "make them remember you" so early in the episode? nobody had had their mind wiped at that point.

IIRC it was in the very first scene after they were abducted - it didn't seem to relate to the story at the time and was pretty similar to that forest scene in MS Season 1.

Dino's next week, cool, might finally give my otherwise uninterested 8 year old boy a reason to watch...

[Sealurk]

I interpreted it as more of a 'desperate last stand, go out with a bang, if we have to die make sure they know who we were' thing, but granted it was slightly vague. That said, Amy is the girl who can return things to existence by remembering them, so maybe there's something timey-wimey going on there...

[BruTak]

Because at that point he thought the Daleks were going to kill him.

[GodAtum]

So Jenna-Louise Coleman isnt the new companion because she got blown up?

Also did all the daleks die in one of the previous eps?? Really confused!

[Crazedwraith]

It might have be good. Aside from the contrivance at the beginning and end. And the fact they cannot let Rory and Amy go. I do not care about their sudden contrived relationship issues.

If they can get three people through this shield they can get three planet explodey-bombs through it. Like the Robot from Victory Of the Daleks.


Still Coleman works well. And the reveal of her as a Dalek was very well done.

[Rodney_Mckay]

My months of plugging Jenna paid off. Utterly brilliant.

[P-90_177]

The ratio of other speciesalek has never been one-to-one before, though :/


P-90, how would they choose representatives, even assuming that's the most efficient way to rule an empire? Note: it isn't.

Battalion leaders most likely. Somewhat more Dalek than elections.
The Daleks have always had a type of leadership structure. It's never been especially clear but it's always there. And as I said previously, the Daleks also have a sort of need for ceremony. So perhaps the Parliament is mainly used for those purposes. Nevertheless at the end of the day the Daleks control a massive empire and are a great civilization in their own right, it makes sense that they would have their own organisational structure for this and yes that may include a parliament.

[DigiFluid]

Some nice continuity references in this one...didn't pick up on a lot of them myself, but of course the people on TARDIS Wikia did! Refs:

• On the Dalek Asylum, Nanogenes turn people both living and dead into Daleks. Nanogenes were first mentioned and featured in The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances
• The Daleks in the intensive care section of the Asylum are survivors of encounters with the Doctor on planets such as Spiridon (from Planet of the Daleks), Kembel (from The Daleks' Master Plan), Aridius (from The Chase), Vulcan (from The Power of the Daleks), and Exxilon (from Death to the Daleks).
• Skaro was last seen on-screen in the Doctor Who movie (despite its destruction in Remembrance of the Daleks). It appeared more recently in the Adventure Game City of the Daleks, in which it looks the same as it does in this episode, complete with acid rain.

[stargatefan234]

i have a theory to the oswin thing:

Spoiler:

1. Osmin tells the doctor to remember her, but because she is a dalek.. he won't be able to remember her..which is why she needs to return.

Spoiler:

The Doctor still remembers the Daleks, doesn't he? Maybe the Oswin dalek forgot him when he left her, but he should remember he met a girl called Oswin who became a dalek, even recognizing her human voice.

I had this conversation with a friend of mine who was watching it with me and we pretty much agreed that while the Daleks are largely using the old style armor, chances are the being inside them are genetically pure. The new multi-coloured Daleks are the most powerful yet but I'm sure it's merely useful to use the older armor for grunts.

I assumed that

The Daleks in the intensive care section of the Asylum are survivors of encounters with the Doctor on planets such as Spiridon (from Planet of the Daleks), Kembel (from The Daleks' Master Plan), Aridius (from The Chase), Vulcan (from The Power of the Daleks), and Exxilon (from Death to the Daleks).

I liked that touch, but they all (at least) "appeared" to be time war dalek casings! or atleast with all that dust it was hard to tell imo which ones werent time war dalek casings

that would have been a great time to show off the different dalek models!

One thing I really didn't like that only hit me on a second watching.

<slight_rant>

The Parliment were scared that the insane daleks would escape the asylum and presumambly reak havoc on them. and yet most of the daleks were catatonic, those that moved tended to spin and do nothing, those that could master a straight line couldnt fire, and the few that could couldnt aim.

Insane Daleks are Scary, no doubt about it. Insane Daleks that can barely function not so much, how many daleks could feasibly acheive space flight and be a threat to the new empire? and even if they did, their weapon... a self destruct, which whilst may damge the empire (if the functional and insane ones decide to on mass attack), but its not gonna bring about the end of their race

</slight_rant>