Doctor Who
Asylum of the Daleks
By Steven Moffat
"You think hatred is beautiful."
Finally after months of
waiting, 8 and some change but who’s counting, Doctor Who is back on our television
screens with the opener to series 7 Asylum of the Daleks. This story was heavily teased and has been
heavily promoted for quite some time now.
Asylum of the Daleks was written by Steven Moffat and he has been hyping
it up. So did the series opener deliver? Did it live up to all the hype or does Asylum
of the Daleks deserve to be locked up in an asylum itself.
Well for a story to start
series 7 it did accomplish what it intended.
It got everyone excited and talking about Doctor Who. Not a bad thing really. By the end of the story it sure got people
talking. I’m talking about the surprise
appearance of Jenna Louis- Coleman. Yep that’s right the same actress that will
be The Doctor’s new companion. She is
playing a character named Oswin. Now
whether or not this character is the new companion or opens up a big can of
worms I was sure surprised that this did not leak out considering all the
screenings this story has had.
But the overall story is
pretty interesting to say the least. The
Daleks want The Doctor to go on the Asylum planet to shut off the force field
so they can blow it up because there is something down there that needs to be
destroyed and causing the Daleks discomfort.
They want The Doctor to do it cause the Daleks are afraid of the crazy
Daleks that are down there.
Well for the most part I
enjoyed this story. I’ve been waiting
for a Dalek story that hinted at something from the classic series. While Christopher Eccelston’s “Dalek” was
close this one had a feel of a story that could be in the classic series. If anything it makes up for that poor story “Victory
of the Daleks” which just didn’t cut it.
But this story had a
different dimension to it. First it was
about Amy and Rory and saving their marriage or more to the fact getting them
to admit their love for one another which they were tricked into doing by The
Doctor. The divorce scenario was kind of
a throw away for me. Was it really
necessary to have this going on? Well I
guess when the Daleks were taking away love to make Amy turn into the new version
of the Robomen. But a divorce couldn’t
they have just had a lover’s quarrel and gone from there. It’s just another way for Steven Moffat to
get the fans into frenzy by throwing something like that into a story when he
really didn't need to. In fact it is something he is guilty of all the time and
he’s too talented to resort to devices like that.
I liked the feel to this
story. While not the strongest story it
was a story that wasn’t complicated and got the viewer bogged down with lots of
complicated plot devices. I liked how it
opened up on Skaro. Skaro is the Daleks
home planet. We haven’t seen Skaro in
the new series yet and it was good to finally see what it looked like after the
Time War. I also liked the new slaves
of the Daleks or the new Robomen I guess.
That was pretty cool to see and something I’m glad to see brought
back. I also liked the asylum but it is too
bad that it was hard to recognize the classic Daleks. I did recognize a few of them and yes the
Special Weapons Dalek was there for all to see.
Plus it was great to hear the classic Dalek control room noise
again. That noise is classic and glad
they brought it back.
The human Dalek was a
pretty good idea and the clues were all there from the beginning. It was a pretty good concept and something
different which I thought was executed pretty well. It is good to see them try something
different as with the Daleks there isn’t much left to do with them. Not so sure I like the idea of the Daleks not
knowing who The Doctor is anymore.
Having their memory wiped, I don’t know, is something that will take
some getting used to.
Was Asylum of the Daleks
the best story ever? No, not by long shot but it was pretty enjoyable and did
try to do different things and it sure set things up possible for later on. The acting was pretty good and it was nice to
see Matt Smith bring a darker edge to his Doctor. While a good story with lots of positives things
going it’s way Asylum of the Daleks did start the series off on a good note and
sure added to a lot speculations by the fans going forth.
Grade B
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