Doctor Who: Asylum Of The Daleks

So, after a bloody long wait (seven months I may add), Doctor Who FINALLY came back onto our screens last Saturday night with 'Asylum Of The Daleks', the first of five episodes dedicated to seeing out the Ponds. I must admit, I had rather mixed reactions on first viewing, partly due to the explosion of sudden twists and turns that I don't think any of us saw coming. Heck in the first 20 minutes of the episode alone I was still scratching my head thinking 'Is that really the new companion?' and everything else going on was blurred out by it. I was even more baffled by the ending, which see's the Dalek's entire history of the Doctor wiped from their data-banks. I mean, did Steven Moffat really just do that? Having watched it a second time however, I looked past a few continuity errors and the OUT-OF-NOWHERE twists and saw the rather entertaining and fun episode beneath. 

So the episode opens on the Dalek's home planet Skaro...wait, didn't that get blown to bits in 'Remembrance Of The Daleks' (an old Sylvester McCoy ep)? And didn't the new series reference this a few years ago? Then why is it still standing in this episode? Surely a devote Doctor Who geek like Moffat would have at least put a line in there about it's resurrection? Anyway after a stunning CGI shot it's quickly revealed to the Doctor that the Dalek's are now converting humans into their creepy zombie puppets and what he thought was a plea for help was actually one big massive trap for the Dalek's to capture the Doctor. Pretty neat new tactic by the Dalek's I must say, and that eye-stalk emerging from their forehead was just plain unsettling. Cue two similar scenes with both Amy and Rory being abducted (apparently they've all fallen out and got divorced between Xmas and whenever this episode is set) and a rather epic intro into the Dalek Parliament (social commentary anyone?) with all the Dalek's pleading with the Doctor to save them from something and it looked like the makings of a great episode. And, in one of the best T.V twists since, well the Doctor suddenly being killed off in the last series, we're introduced to the new companion played by Jenna-Louise-Coleman....four months and five episodes earlier than expected. To the casual viewer of course, she would have just been another character introduced for the episode. To the seasoned Doctor Who fan like myself who recognised who she was, I was completely floored. I mean, how the heck did they keep that a secret for so long? It's rather genius actually, come to think of it. By having her entire part filmed inside one cramped interior, with no scenes with the main cast (other than the voice-over they obviously added in afterwards) I wouldn't be surprised if the main cast FILMING the episode had no idea who would be the actress playing the part! In fact, seen as she's been filming her episodes for quite a while now, they probably just took her into the studio for the day to record the scenes. And come Christmas, when we'll still probably be reeling from the Pond's exit, we won't be piling all of our expectations on her first episode because she'd have already been introduced a while ago and we'll have at least got a bit accustomed to her character.  

So what follows this earth-shattering twist? Well once they get transported (in rather spectacular fashion may I add) to the Asylum: a planet full of Dalek's that even the Dalek's thought were insane, we get a solid half hour of the leads wondering about, with malfunctioning Dalek's, zombie Dalek's (another great idea) and even a...erm...Dalek that think's he's a ballerina? Or was that just Amy hallucinating? All the while companion-to-be Oswin is leading the Doctor through a maze of twist and turns so he can finally reach her. And then, in the second twist that I didn't really see coming (and I'll explain why in a minute) it turn's out Oswin has been a Dalek all along! DUN-DUN-DUUUUUN!!!!!! Not a normal Dalek though, a human Dalek that has somehow created this fantasy world of living in a space-pod making soufflees all year-round. EGGS-TERMINATE! Gettit? Oh, and the Dalek's just so happen to have a gun that looks like a whisk! Oh, did I groan. Anyway the Doctor says his goodbye, runs down some corridors while everything explodes around him, beams back up onto the Dalek ship and straight into the TARDIS. Job done. Oh wait! The Dalek's have somehow fogotten who the Doctor is for some extremely contrived reason....hmmm...oh well at least it should be interesting to see how that pans out again. I get the feeling Steven Moffat is trying to undo everything about the RTD era, I mean with the cracks in time in Series Five he erased several of the large scale invasion events happening all over planet earth, in Series Six he faked his own death so he could 'fade back into the limelight' and lose his god status (which was getting rather over-used) and now in Series Seven he's erased pretty much the entire history the Doctor has had with the Dalek's! Which when you think about it doesn't make a lick of sense (i.e say, did those millions and millions of Daleks just explode by themselves in the last few appearances? Surely the Dalek's would notice a MASSIVE chunk of their history being erased all of a sudden? What about all of those defeats? ARRGHHH!!! MY WHOVIAN BRAIN IS IMPLODING!). 

So you're probably thinking, based on my summary of the episode above, that I quite liked the episode? Well I did, it had great direction, acting (especially that scene with Amy and Rory), did some cool stuff with the insane Dalek's, fantastic atmosphere and stunning production values for T.V, but come on, IT WAS CHOCK FULL OF PLOT HOLES AND INCONSISTENCIES! Like this: 

And this: 

To put it simply, what Steven Moffat tells us about the Dalek's in this episode contradict's a TON of stuff we know about the Dalek's, with NO explanation given. Being a Doctor Who boffin, I practically winced at a few of the things in this episode. Like for example, Dalek's have had all of their emotions taken away from them except for hate, so why for the love of god do they suddenly have a concept of beauty? I didn't see the twist about Oswin being a Dalek coming because in 'Victory Of The Daleks' (the last episode dedicated to them) the new paradigm Dalek's destroyed the old bronze Dalek's because they weren't considered 'pure' Dalek. In other word, if your DNA was made from human cells then Dalek or not, you're bloody inferior mate! In this episode it showed the Dalek's turning Oswin into a Dalek, as in like converting her (very Cybermen-like) and it doesn't make a lick of sense because she's a HUMAN. I mean a human puppet is one thing, but an actual Dalek made out of 100% human is blasphemy when it comes to those picky tanks. The old Dalek's got exterminated for less! Speaking of which, HOW COME ALL THE OLD DALEK'S ARE SUDDENLY BACK?!!! And what happened to the redesigned versions? They're just in the background now, and it's all unexplained. Oh yes, and the last time we saw the Dalek's there was only four of them left, so how come in this episode there is (quite literally) MILLIONS of them! They're like cockroaches, they just keep coming back. WHERE ARE ALL THESE DALEK'S COMING FROM? In order for there to be a Dalek you first need a mutant, and mutants in the past have been made from A) the remains of the Kaled race, the original Dalek's B) Human cells, except this was supposed to be considered inferior, REMEMBER? It's even implied that they 'hate their own existence' because of it and C) Cells donated from Davros (who is supposedly dead but you know he'll come back). So with neither of these options viable, then how in the hell are these mutants being made? They don't just come out of thin air! Come on Moffat, all it takes is 'ONE F*CKING LINE OF DIALOGUE' to explain this! 

So taking the Dalek's out of this, what else didn't I like? Well so far I think the new companion is WAY too much like River Song, in fact she even quotes the character at one point! Unless she's secretly River Song in disguise or something (which would be stupid) I don't see myself warming to this new girl. There's nothing wrong with her acting or anything, but her constant flirts and feisty attitude are more grating than chalk being screeched on a whiteboard! Please come up with something original for her, soon. I didn't really feel emotionally attached to her as character either, so when it was revealed that she has been a Dalek all along, I  was shocked but not really feeling anything like I should have been. Shame, because with a few more scenes of character development and less of that constant flirty/feisty attitude that could have been a great moment. 

But what did I dislike the most in this episode? Amy & Rory's divorce sub-plot. It was, to put it simply, the most ham-fisted plot development I have EVER SEEN since, well the last Xmas episode. The last time we saw Amy and Rory, they were both living quite happily together and seemed to be getting along fine. This episode? They've fallen out to the point where they're signing the divorce papers! WAIT, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED BETWEEN NOW AND THEN?! It's barely touched upon before they both get thrown into the Asylum, and there's so much stuff going on that there's not enough time in the episode to allow for this plot development to have breathing space. This should be a HUGE thing, but it's introduced and wrapped up in the course of five minutes...all within the same episode! And Amy's excuse for dumping Rory was pathetic, I mean sure couples have been broken up because of this issue but I don't buy for ONE SECOND that it would happen to this couple, especially after all they've been through and experienced! And they get completely overshadowed by the appearance of Oswin, which is odd considering these last five episodes are supposed to be dedicated to sending-off these character's and giving them one last-hurrah. To put it simply, it was a waste of space and they shouldn't have done this. Shame, because I was really looking forward to seeing how this thread would have been handled, what a downer.

Hmmm....so how will the new companion get out of this one? Maybe she's just an ancestor or relative of the new companion? Perhaps this entire stint was done to get us used to seeing this actress's face in Doctor Who? Or perhaps her death (as a Dalek!) will factor in heavily come Christmas? Who know's, but I suppose there's something to look forward too. Just please, please don't be another River Song! But in the meantime we've got four episodes of what should be classic Doctor Who, role on 'Dinosaurs On A Spaceship'!

Despite it's numerous flaws, 'Asylum of the Daleks' was a fun episode...for the most part: 7/10. Let's just hope the next episode will be a bit better.