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DevilsAdvocate92 — The Daleks are Never Defeated!
Published: 2013-12-21 16:47:01 +0000 UTC; Views: 2845; Favourites: 89; Downloads: 0
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So, you thought the anniversary celebrations were over? Oh no. There's one, vitally important, element of Doctor Who lore that also turns 50 this year... On this very day, in fact. An element without which we would not have Doctor Who today...
The most evil, ruthless creatures in all of creation. The Doctor's arch-enemies, and the show's absolute best monsters (no contest). Yes, today we celebrate a half century of the Daleks.
Weirdly, I have a feeling the Daleks are somewhat under-appreciated these days. Possibly this is due to overuse in less-than-stellar stories. Possibly it's due to the current vogue of monsters whose popularity and menace hinge on one, gimmicky party trick (naming no names). However, for my money, the Daleks are, have always been, and will always be the absolute crowning glory in the Doctor's rogues gallery. Their importance to the show is impossible to overstate, their impact culturally is phenomenal, and on a thematic level there is SO much more to say about them than just the erroneous yet oft-voiced opinion that they're simply "kind of semi-robotic monsters with no legs".
So here's my celebration of 50 years of the Daleks exterminating, annihilating, conquering and destroying! I tried to include as many variations on the Dalek design as I could in the piece. All Dalek images are official publicity stills from various stories (or films), and the backgrounds are a largely NASA photographs of nebulae and other celestial goings on.
Feedback comments welcome and encouraged! (Also, try playing this www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC3pkx… in the background, just for the complete effect).
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Comments: 26
Do you think the episode "Into the Dalek did the Daeks any justice?
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By and large, yes.
I thought it was the first decent depiction of the Daleks we've had in altogether too long.
As a whole I thought it was ok. Not tantalisingly original, but decent enough.
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"We are en-tombed, but we live one! This is on-ly the be-gin-ning! We will pre-pare! We will grow stron-ger! When the time is right, we will E-MERGE, and take our RIGHT-FUL PLACE, as the SU-PREME POWER OF THE U-NI-VEEERRRRSE!!!"
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I have not watched many of the Classic Who so maybe this is a thing new who has done but the Daleks are honestly not that frightening. They look like metal trash cans with cool voices in contrast to the Angels. Whenever I hear Daleks are frightening I chuckle because they look like the cutest things. Love them and they are the greatest enemies but to an audience perspective not completely threatening. Long Live the Daleks!!! Exterminate
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To be honest, I'd find a mini-Panzer Tank rolling towards me pretty frightening, although they are perhaps (superficially speaking) more "cool" than they are "scary". Lots of people think military hardware is cool until it starts doing the thing it was designed for.
However, the Daleks (and the Cybermen and the Silurians, to be fair) are built on a *concept*...In their case, a reminder of something very, very horrible and all too real from our history, and - by extension - a rather ugly aspect of human nature, (xenophobia, race hatred, ethnic cleansing) that refuses to go away, even if the various regimes that extol it rise and fall.
Conversely, the Angels and the Silence are not based on a concept. They're based on a gimmick. They can't move if you look at them! You'll forget them if you look away!
And whilst that's creepy (more so the Angels), it doesn't really say anything about anything, and because they're both rather inflexible gimmicks, Steven Moffat has had to change the rules for each of them every single time they're used.
PS: I have never, ever seen a dustbin that looks like a Dalek. Ever.
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They are the best. No question. I think they are being severely misused these days (Christmas episode being the PERFECT example!) I remember when NuWho first introduced the Dalek. Doctor #9 was completely horrified that the guy was keeping one. That was the best episode of them. I think the other "monster" being misused are the Cybermen. Again, when they were first introduced during Dr. #10, they were scary! Back to the drawing board writers!
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I agree. They were superbly used in Dalek, and fairly well served in both Parting of the Ways and Doomsday (although the latter became something of a let down as far as Daleks vs Cybermen was concerned... Monster fights are no fun if one side is winning outright all the way through!)
But yeah, since then I can't think of a single Dalek story since 2006 that has been... Actually, I can't think of one that has even been good, let alone excellent! They really need to figure out what to do with them.
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Right! In the early eps, the Doctor was running from them. Now he's whipping them around like nothing. If you're not going to have the Doctor be afraid of his worst enemy, where exactly is the suspense? Bring back the dangerous Daleks! "EXTERMINATE!"
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I really couldn't stand him using regeneration energy to destroy their entire ship... That was just insultingly ridiculous.
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Exactly. Though I thought the whole episode was lousy. Feel bad that Matt had such a crappy send off.
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TBF, I liked the handling of the regeneration itself (i.e: the actual changeover scene in the TARDIS)... But yeah, he deserved better. It needed much streamlining, and at least two more drafts!
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Indeed! I am excited about #12 though! I was really done with Matt. I found his doctor very annoying. #9 is my favorite, 10 was good as well. I felt 11 was just nuts for nuts' sake. There wasn't any personality to it. His portrayal was just - what is the nuttiest thing I can do in these situations. He never felt genuinely concerned about anything. Where David overdid concern, this guy under-did. I have no idea if that was Matt or the writers but I felt #10 was very distant emotion wise (I give an exception when Amy chose to be touched by the Weeping Angel to follow Rory. That was the ONLY time I actually felt bad for the Doctor.) Do you like Clara? If you do, I'll reserve my rant
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I liked Matt on a lot of occasions, and can see that he had the potential to make a good Doctor. I think he gave a fine performance in many episodes (even the ones that were a bit rubbish). HOWEVER, I do completely agree... When he went nuts, it was overbearingly OTT (The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe leaps to mind). I do think it was more due to how the character was written than anything.
I have to say, I found Tennant just as annoying in other ways, but again, I completely attribute it to the writing, and think Tennant himself put in many a fine performance in the role on the days when the script was on his side.
My favourite "New Doctor" is Eccleston too, so far... Well, Eccleston and Hurt (if that's not cheating 
I'm looking forward to Capaldi too, but I read in DWM that Moffat's going to make him "older and madder", and the "madder" bit got me a little worried. Hopefully he means "more eccentric and irascible" as opposed to "more batsh*t crazy"!
I do like Clara a lot. Probably my favourite of the new companions, or joint favourite with Martha perhaps...
... But by all means rant away!
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I think you're right about the writing. I thought whoever wrote the first season had a good grasp on the goofy but kind of closed off Doctor. I thought Dr 9 was empathetic when he needed to be but not like 10's crying and sobbing bits. I thought that he showed a tough exterior too (like don't even think about trying to beat me, you'll lose.) 10 & 11 never seemed to have that, "Yes he's a bit eccentric but... he'll defend himself." I also liked Dr 9's "nonchalant-ness" to danger, I thought that was really fun. 10 had some of that before breaking down into a worried mess lol.
I loved Hurt! I thought his poking fun at 10 & 11 was GREAT! "You're holding screwdrivers not guns!" Oh no... wasn't Matt "mad" enough for the every Doctor from here on in? Ugh. I need to watch Old Who so I can learn about the previous doctors because all I know is those three.
I don't like Clara because she doesn't seem to have any personality and her life revolves around the doctor. "I was born to save the doctor" It just seems like her life is nothing without the doctor which I find really sad. Another part of what I loved about Dr 9 was that he loved ALL life and it pained him when someone, even a stranger died. I haven't gotten that from 10 or 11. Maybe I'm just biased?
My favorite companion thus far is Donna. I know there are so many that hate her but I liked that she joked around with the Doctor and wasn't enamored with him like all the rest seem to be. My favorite part: They'll be NO mating going on here sunshine! Doctor: No I want A MATE! Rofl!
Martha I hated but I think because I liked Rose so much lol, I also didn't like that she just fell in love with the doctor at the drop of a hat. Part of what made the doctorxRose so nice was the slow progression of feelings.
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Y'see, I completely disagree as far as companions are concerned... Not about Donna, mind. I like Donna.
I think Clara has enough of a personality, but perhaps not an in-depth back-story like Rose or Donna had or Amy had. But there is a difference between the two.
If I'm honest, I like Martha and Clara the best precisely because their lives DON'T revolve around the Doctor. Sure Clara ends up saving him all across time and space, and sure Martha is smitten with him (it can happen.... and it can happen that fast), but she gets over it, gets on with her life, and gets a job and a career and everything. Same goes for Clara... in fact her life revolves around the Doctor so little that she has him drop her home between adventures so she can get on with being a teacher.
Conversely, Rose - by her own admission - has "no future" until she meets the Doctor. And her life basically crashes to a halt without him, and Amy can't even get on with her own life when the Doctor gift-wraps it in Centurion armour for her.
That's another thing: I think Martha, Donna and Clara are just generally nice characters as well. I loved Rose in Series 1 with Eccleston, but over the course of Series 2 she just got more and more catty, which I didn't like. And the fact they dragged her back in Series 4 for no reason bugged me. Amy, on the other hand, is just mental. Like Matt's Doctor, in some stories she's fine, but in others she's an unbearable control freak and a cheat/adulterer. Her emotional development is all over the place. She's possibly the worst written character in the show (again, I don't blame the actors for any of this).
I do agree to a certain extent though in that I think the writers tried too hard to ship both the Doctors after Eccleston with their companions, which I think is a mistake and part of the on-going problem. Seriously, he's a 1000ish year old alien, and he's been there, done that, and got the grandchildren to prove it centuries ago... Why in space would he be interested in 20 - 40 year old Earth woman?
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Huh, never thought of it that way 
You are so right about Amy. I liked her because she was different but yes, she WAS all over the place! I actually liked Rory more than her, I was actually hoping he'd dump her by the way she treated him.
Ship, do you mean pair up romantically? Yes! That is true, why would the Doctor go after an Earth woman at all? lol. Hey speaking of which, did you like River Song's storyline? I thought it was great, but mostly because I loved River's character, not necessarily the pairing. I never got the tragic love vibe with them, it never really touched me. But River Song herself was absolutely kick butt!
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Yeah, I did mean "ship" in that sense. I understand it's how the kids speak these days haha
Yep, I definitely agree about Donna. I know she's divisive. To be honest, I didn't like her at first in The Runaway Bride, but that's probably because she was written as Catherine Tate from The Catherine Tate Show in that, as opposed to having a proper character. But she really was the making of Series 4
I liked Rory too. I thought he was a good character. I really wish they thought a bit more about what to do with Amy. By the end it just seemed like they were piling things on for he sake of it. The divorce/sterility subplot in Asylum, for example... Where did it come from? Where did it go? Just pointless.
As for River... errrrrmmmm... Sorry 
To me she's the archetypical "Moffat Woman". I.E.: "Sexual aggression = strength and independence". She probably hangs out with Irene Adler at weekends. I didn't mind her at first (in Silence in the Library or The Time of Angels), but the more he turned up, the more I started not to like her.
I think my main problem is that everything about her storyline seemed either forced, predictable, or both. For example, we have no reason to believe that she and the Doctor are in love. We know from the outset that they have a past/future with each other (which is intriguing), but then all of a sudden in Series 6 they're in love... Erm... OK.
Then we get the scenes where we're supposed to think she's a bad-ass. And instead of actually showing her do something bad-ass (which would take effort), we just see her do something to intimidate a character that someone else took the time and trouble to actually establish as a bad-ass: E.G: make a Dalek beg for mercy, of which we are supposed to think "OMG! She made a Dalek beg for mercy! She must be a bad-ass!"... But I don't. I just thought "Well... that was contrived".
Also, her whole story was irrevocably linked to the Silence story arc, which I thought was cobblers, but I suppose we can't really blame her character for that
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Exterminate! Annihalate! Destroy! Daleks Conquer and Destroy! Daleks Conquer and Destroy! Daleks Conquer and Destroy! Daleks Conquer and Destroy!
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There is only one form of life that matters. Dalek life!
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Obey your orders, Wat-er-field!
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They will keep exterminating throught time. With or without a Doctor.
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