11.30: Asylum of the Daleks

In which divorce turns out to be unrealistically easy in the Doctor Who universe. Also, Daleks.

Broadcast: September 2012

Watched: January 2022

“Don’t be fair to the Daleks when they’re firing me at a planet.”

I watched the half-season trailer before this, and was just thinking how they’ve really got the hang of trailers now because I don’t remember this next crop as especially great episodes but blimey they look exciting, then I watched this and... no, it’s just a really good episode. Really good. And I’d basically entirely forgotten it. 

Which is, at least, thematically appropriate.

Anyway, this marks a big shift in approach. The big idea of this season was that every episode was sort of movie sized, with posters to match, which was clearly a way of selling “oh crap, the arc ruined everything, this year is all standalones”. But there’s another big change, too, which will have more long term effects:

This is the point where, with the 50th looming, Moffat starts using half a century of continuity as the engine of his stories – and it turns out that now works.

So, this time, we get all sorts of Dalek weirdness. The giant Dalek-shaped skyscraper on Skaro! (Also, we go to Skaro!) People who are actually Daleks (including, randomly, a make-up artist? Weird)! The Daleks other Daleks are scared of! Daleks basically re-tooled as a symbol of dehumanisation:

“You had a daughter.” “I know. I’ve read my file.” 

It’s sort of interesting that the Borg-esque nano-cloud is given to Daleks, not Cybermen, but it’s a properly sinister idea. Harvey’s “I forgot about dying” is kind of funny; the Dalek-ised rotting corpses are genuinely terrifying. As is the bit where Amy is losing her mind:

“It’s started already.” “How do you know?” “Because we’ve had this conversation four times.”

The bit where she starts seeing Daleks as they see themselves is genuinely mind-blowing, in the same way hand mines or shouting-is-reloading will be in a couple of years time. (Mind you, the bit where Rory is suddenly surrounded by Daleks and they’re waking up is not as scary as it should be because it happens about three scenes after we’ve been to the Dalek Parliament and seen thousands of the bloody things and they didn’t kill anyone.)

Related to this, the Oswin plot is a proper head-f*ck: the way her environment changes around her as she realises what she actually is is so well done. (There’s a big thing in this episode of blurring the line between human and Dalek that feels really interesting, even if it’s ultimately meaningless.) Oswin is the best version of Clara, I think. what, in a bit part, reads as clever and flirty and fun will become winsome and annoying when she’s in it every week. So will her theme music. I do like the Lovejoy-esque look to camera, even if this entire guest appearance is there largely to suggest an arc in a season that deliberately doesn't have one. 

As to the old companions... Amy’s modelling career continues to ick. Rory’s life is going so well he’s taking the bus. The divorce bit comes out of nowhere and doesn’t really make any sense – is this more Moffat guilt about having messed up the baby plot? – but it’s clearly there entirely to justify the “It’s just maths”, “I didn’t leave you, I gave you up” scene which is so well played that I can almost forgive everything that leads to it.

Anyway. This was an utter delight, a brilliant episode I’d all but erased from my mind. My only real complaint is that they should have called this one “Save the Daleks” because that’s what the parliament chants.

Other things:

• A six minute pre-credits sequence, featuring a sinister woman in spiked heels. The continuity stuff isn’t the only way in which I Feel we’re getting into The Type Of Who Moffat Really Wants To Make here.

• Then a new, sadly short-lived, credit sequence, in which the colours of the logo change to reflect each individual story. Shame they didn’t keep this up, I like it.

• Some bad bits: the forcefield that can only be turned off from inside the asylum is bullshit. The CGI of the Dalek parliament is not brilliant, in some shots you can sort of see the compositing. A massive room of Daleks chanting “Doctor who?” is fun, but will be entirely forgotten the next time we meet any Daleks. Also it feels like overkill when the Doctor is already meant to be in hiding. 

• Mind you: special weapons Dalek. Cool. Also, funny that the Daleks in the asylum explicitly include guest stars last seen in The Chase, Master Plan, Power and Death:

Survivors of particular wars. Spiridon, Kembel, Aridius, Vulcan, Exxilon. Ringing any bells?

• Another Scotland joke. These are becoming tedious. 

• Talking of Moffat recycling, he reuses the “the rest of our lives” bit from Press Gang.

• Amy and Rory going for a quick shag at the end is quite funny.

• 7a and 7b are definitely two different seasons, sorry.