The Evil of the Daleks episode 5 discussion:
E: So, that cliffhanger.
R: Anti-cliffhanger.
H: About the cliffhanger… because they showed so much of their re-filming, we actually missed a bunch in the telesnaps.
Sp: Such as?
H: What it looked like, at least from the telesnaps and descriptions I read, was that the Doctor is sort of being pushed around in front and they’re in a little line. They’re sort of playing trains with the Doctor at the front.
R: See, I got all that. I just was really surprised because it was a neat, I almost want to say “anti-climax.” Instead of the Doctor being in trouble the Doctor is actually ahead of the game at the end of the episode.
P: A reversal of fortune?
R: Yeah.
Sp: So, for the record, the components that went into the Dalek brains were: compassion, courage…
K: Friendship…
H: There were two more. I think.
Sp: So the net result is… children.
H: Maybe. We’ll have to see.
Sp: I don’t understand why the other humans, and especially the Daleks, don’t get what the Doctor is doing.
K: Especially Waterfield.
Sp: Especially Waterfield. “Oh no. The Doctor is going to make them kinder and more compassionate. We’re doomed!”
H: The Daleks specifically said that they wanted the human factor in order to conquer more successfully because only the humans has succeeded in defeating them. So Waterfield is afraid that giving them the human factor will make them this all conquering race.
A: So I think we are sort of meant to hope that the Doctor is right but fear that Waterfield is right.
R: “They’re playing a game. It’s call Global Thermonuclear War!”
Sp: So, this recon was really well done. The choices for the hypnotism sequence were just perfect.
R & P: Hypnotic.
H: If I had one criticism for the recon, I would have liked a few more captions during the sword fight.
K: I totally agree.
Sp: So, what would you put? “Ho, haha! Dodge turn parry dodge thrust!”? There’s only so much you can do with a sword.
K: Just “they jumped on the table” maybe.
H: Actually, I would have kind of liked “Ruth and Molly enter”
Sp: We got that though.
H: We did get it, but we don’t know when they entered. They just sort of showed up on the sound track in a still.
Sp: The Dalek railing death was confusing.
K & H: Yes.
Sp: It wasn’t until they explained to Victoria later.
H: Actually, that was explaining how they killed the Dalek from last week.
Sp: Damn. It wasn’t last week to them. Anyway.
H: Again, I think that might be more clear in the telesnaps, but they had the cool CGI. And the CGI was pretty cool.
Sp: Soundtrack was good. There was no attack of the soundtrack this week.
E: Is it just me… I think it was the screen cap at the end of the sword fight or a bit later. I don’t remember what moment it was but… it was just total nightmare fuel.
Sp: Because somebody was in mid-pose?
E: It wasn’t just the pose but it was also how his <Tyrell’s> face looked. It was just the black abyss where his eyes should have been.
K: I don’t remember that bit.
H: He’s lying on the ground when he collapses right at the end of the sword fight.
K: Yet another sword fight we don’t get to see in Doctor Who.
H: Now you guys know what I want to see this story so bad.
R: It would have been cool too, because Jamie knows which half the sword you hold and which half you swing wildly.
H: So, I love the bit where Victoria says to Jamie “Why did you come to rescue me?” and she thinks for a second and says “never mind” when she sees Jamie’s nobility. She knows Kemmel is her friend, but she doesn’t know Jamie yet. So why would a stranger come to rescue her, but she instinctively understands…
Sp: …that Jamie is a pawn in a plan to fend off an alien race as perpetrated by another alien?
H: No. That Jamie has a noble spirit who will do the right thing without question.
K: He’s Rory before Rory. He was the first Rory. Or Rory was the new Jamie.
R: Spoilers!
H: Jamie is a hero. It’s very simple. Down to where he says he’s done with the Doctor because he thinks he’s too callous.
Sp: Oh, I loved that!
R: There were a number of great discussions in this one. I loved the line about “a professor of a far wider academy.”
A: I could not help but think “burn!”
R: “Snap!”
H: It’s one of the more famous lines in Doctor Who. It’s up there with Tom Baker’s “I’m not human, I’m a Timelord, I walk in eternity.”
Sp: And his dressing down of Waterfield. “Far too late to have a conscience now.”
R: Yeah. There’s another great line from that that I really enjoyed. I may be reading too much into it. Waterfield says “They’re going to destroy an entire civilization.” and the Doctor says “You may be surprised to discover that you’re right.” or words to that effect. And I thought “He’s going to screw over the Daleks.”
K: Of course.
R: Which wraps back our conversation about the odd selection of human qualities that the Doctor has isolated for the Daleks.
Sp: It’s not that it’s an odd selection.
K: It’s what you would get if you used Jamie.
H: It’s exactly what the Daleks asked for.
R: And somewhere Davros is shrieking “No, no, no! I spent years breeding this stuff out of you people!”
Sp: It’s just that… it… hasn’t been made clear enough that, giving these qualities to the Daleks helps them study how to counter them. It just seems like “we’re going to make the Daleks more compassionate, friendly, cheerful, brave, blah blah, and that will help make them more ruthless efficient overlord killers.”
<boyscout jokes ensue for a bit>
R: I was a bit surprised that none of the really smart people in the various rooms figured out what the Doctor was up to. But then again, it’s a kid’s show.
K: It’s not just a kid’s show, it’s a FAMILY show.
H: The Doctor was doing exactly what the Daleks asked. Just because it had a different outcome that the Doctor thought would happen but didn’t know would happen, doesn’t mean that anyone should foresee that “hey, the Doctor is screwing with us.” You see?
R: Yes, I do. Allow me to retort. The Daleks have an excuse. They’re cold, efficient killing machines. They don’t get emotions. The humans in the room…
Sp: Are Victorian and don’t get emotions either.
R: A fair cop. Waterfield at least is a decent guy. And I would have thought he’d think “Yeah, that’s not a good recipe for efficient killers.”
P: It’s not as thought Waterfield understands the Daleks like the Doctor does.
K: Ah, good point!
R: You can hand wave it. But that’s the one kind of rough edge there. I love the Doctor’s plan, however.
K: First of many times I think he does this to the Daleks, actually.
H: I think you can hand wave that Waterfield would know what was going on. I think looking at his character in the script, and the guilt he’s been feeling, I think a clear read is that he’s afraid of what’s going to happen regardless. And you have to remember that the Doctor told the Daleks what types of emotions he’d be planting. And the Daleks said good, that would help them. So there’s no reason why Waterfield would believe that it wouldn’t.
R: Except again, he’s human, and he’s knows that brave, empathetic, noble, decent people don’t make good psychotic killing machines. Allowing of course for the fact that he’s Victorian.
R: Also, I want a ring tone where my phone goes “obey… obey”
P: Mine does that after I answer it.
A: Hahaha.
H: I’m wondering, actually, about a possible anachronism in this episode. Just because I can’t remember. Tyrell says to the Doctor “Oh, you must be a devote of Edgar Allan Poe” and I wasn’t sure if he was well known in England at that time.
Sc: He wrote in the 1830-40’s, so he would have been known at the time.
K: Final thoughts?
E: Other than the interesting cliffhanger, I thought this was quite a good episode. I have nothing more to say.
K: Are we going to start with that gag again?
<laughter>
Sc: I have nothing more to say.
K: <sigh>
A: So, about that cliffhanger. There was an element of creepy to it. Cats playing with the mouse before they eat it.
R: “They’re friendly, I think?”
E: Catch and release.
A: They still have guns on. So I’m really enjoying it, and I’m looking forward to see what happens next.
P: I’ll tell you what happened directly next. If Davros knew he would have rolled in his future grave.
H: Anything else?
P: During this episode there was a lot more snickering from us while we watched.
A: In a good way.
P: And I think it was because the way this story was portrayed by the recon… I think the recon was portrayed that way to help it out.
H: Intentionally humorous?
P: Yes. Like during one of the CGIs the Dalek goes through the doors of the cabinet and they close in a hilariously fast way.
K: I complained about that weeks ago. The recon has been doing that with the cabinet doors the whole time. I think that’s just bad CG, personally.
P: The ending was kind of a surprise to me because I was expecting the chivalrous side of Jamie to basically cause these Daleks to turn on the rest of the crowd because their motivations when recording them was to save Victoria.
Sp: But there wasn’t a girl in the room.
P: But they’re installed with the virtues of the hero I would expect them to act that out instead of playing ChooChoo.
H: Well, maybe we’ll get some of that next week.
A: What does the fact that they’re playing trains tell us about Jamie.
H & Sp: Who doesn’t know what a train is.
H: To be fair, they’re implanted with his virtues, not necessarily with his thoughts.
M: Daleks traveling around the galaxy righting wrongs and freeing planets from oppression! EMANCIPATE! EMANCIPATE!
R: DALEK GROUP HUG!
Sp: Actually, I don’t know how they’re going to get two more episodes out of this. Unfairly knowing there are two more episodes of the story. But they’re in end game now. Or “falling action” in classic story structure. Most of the innocents have been moved out of harms way. Most of the unwitting pawns, or very very witting pawns are about to get theirs. And the Doctor is going to deploy the milk of human kindness all over these unsuspecting Daleks. I don’t know how they’ll get two episodes out of it, but I suppose we’ll find out.
K: By introducing yet one more last concept. No spoiler.
Sp: <Dalek voice> WHAT IS THIS HUMAN THING CALLED KISSING?
H: Also, Victoria is still kidnapped.
K: I am having fun with this one. As much as I tend to get frustrated by the recons, this one is really good. Despite the occasional silly CG and bad body doubles. Solid plot. It feels derivative, but this is actually the FIRST time they’ve done this plot, so everything else is actually derivative of it. Very cool.
H: Following on to your last comment, this is my favorite Dalek story hands down. And I am loving the recon! I’m just really enjoying this, and I’m really enjoying watching with all of you guys, as usual.
Everyone: Awww!
P: Here’s that twenty dollars I owe you.
M: Can I say frown-y face? 🙁
Sp: Someone put the compassion in all of our positronic brains tonight. Come on Historian, play choo-choo with me!
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