As promised I’m dedicating today’s blog to series opener of Dr Who and what a way that was to kick it off. They promised us five 45 minute films and if AofD is anything to go by they are going to deliver that and more. The hardest thing about writing this is knowing where to begin. From the very first scene you knew that they had kicked up a gear or two from the last series. Starting on Skaro meant I was on board straight away as the Doctor meets with a mysterious woman inside a giant dalek statue. I love the dalek puppets, for me it was the first time the daleks have been scary in the whole of new who. The fact they could hide amongst people in plain sight gives them a great extra dimension.
Speaking of the dalek puppets, the ginger lady in the opening scene, is she significant? It might just be me over thinking it (likely) but I just have a sneaking suspicion that Moffat never puts people in without some purpose. It’s probably just me but I wouldn’t be surprised if she turned up again this series.
After the fantastic opening we are brought back to earth with the Ponds. Karen Gillen appears frolicking to some sort of modern pop tune acting as a model not exactly pushing her range given her previous career. When Rory arrives we can see a frosty relationship between the two carrying on from the last episode of Pond Life. She signs the divorce papers before both are abducted by the dalek puppets. The flashing bulbs around the mirror were a particularly nice touch.
Soon after; we are brought in to the parliament of the daleks. A little strange to think the daleks sit around in a big room talking about dalek law, bit of a stretch but as its Moffat I’ll go with it. As I suspected the huge amount of daleks were kind of thrown away but I think it’s the sort of thing they can release images of to get the press talking while they get on with making the show. Only real disappointment is that the special weapons dalek wasn’t used at all but there was the startling image of 1000s of lights flashing as they asked for the Doctors help.
The asylum itself is a great idea; the only thing a dalek would fear (aside from River Song) is an unpredictable dalek. The nanogenes were also an excellent touch adding another element of danger. Then there was the big shock that was promised beforehand; the reveal of the new companion 5 episodes before any of us were expecting it. Have to say if this is what she will be like when she joins the show; however that happens (more of which later) she is shaping up to be tremendous. In her own words she’s a genius who’s a tiny bit sexy but no good at making soufflés. Also, praise the Moff she’s not from contemporary earth but some time in the future. Hurrah.
Down on the planet/asylum we saw a character I was sure was actually from a different episode purely based on the early trailer. He actually turns out to be a dalek puppet zombie which again was very spooky and scary. They reminded me of the vashta nerada or more what they did to people in Silence in the library. The night vision was especially creepy. Amy loses the little bracelet thing protecting her from becoming a dalek puppet.
Back to Rory and he’s in what could be described as a dalek graveyard, or what appears to be. Of course we all sat there knowing that they were going to come to life it was just a question of when. There were some brilliant scenes of Rory shushing the daleks and asking them about eggs. This was quotable and also funny. Nice bit of flirting between Oswin and Rory too showing that he was trying to move on from Amy perhaps.
Back with the Doctor and Amy and they are under attack from a number of daleks being helped out again by the voice of Oswin. One of my favourite scenes in the whole episode is where the Doctor manages to get a self destructing dalek to reverse into the rest with a big boom to destroy them all.
Finally we get Amy and Rory back together and talking to each other. Trying to resurrect there marriage. There was a lot of exposition about why they broke up in the first place. It’s something to do with how Amy can’t have children anymore since the events of demons run. Rory confirms what I’ve long suspected, that he loves Amy more than she loves him. Although she denies it I think it was clearly shown especially in the earlier parts of series 5 that she would have happily cheated on Rory. We also discover that the Doctor has rather cunningly slipped his protector bracelety thing on to Amy’s wrist. All part of the Doctors plan to get the Ponds back together I suspect.
The Doctor goes looking for Oswin as they’ve only heard her voice so far. To get there he must pass through intensive care. A room full of broken and battered daleks that all have one thing in common. They all survived battles with the doctor. They sprang to life and come to attack the Doctor and we see him looking truly scared and begging for help from Oswin the girl who somehow is able to outsmart and hack the daleks. She ends up saving him by wiping the Doctor from the daleks memories.
When the Doctor finally does see Oswin well he’s in for a big surprise as are we the audience. She’s a dalek! She’s a human that has been given a full conversion. She is suppressing this horror into a dream or fantasy that she is still human just waiting to be saved. But where would she get the milk and the eggs for the soufflés? That’s what the Doctor has been thinking about ever since she first mentioned it.
This reveal throws up a huge number of questions. Who is Oswin? How the hell does she become the new companion now? Will she carry on as a dalek or as a human? Does he go back and get her earlier in her time stream? Or is it like River Song again and she’s meeting him out of sequence? Rather superfluous to the big reveal the Doctor, Amy and Rory escape leaving dalek Oswin to “die” and teleporting back to the TARDIS. The final scenes reveal that the daleks have now forgotten who the Doctor is thanks to Oswin’s computer wizardry and the ponds are back together.
To sum up this rather rambling synopsis come review come speculation come thing. I really loved this episode. Every series opener in the Moffat era has been brilliant. I’m not sure it’s as good as the eleventh hour but it is damned close. The whole episode felt epic in scale and ripped along at phenomenal pace. The best test of any good television or film is that you never once check your watch and before you know it, it’s over. It was so so good and I cannot wait for the next episode even though I have worries that Dinosaurs on a Spaceship could go either way. Overall I think it was egg-cellent and definitely deserves 11 out of 10.
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