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Have you ever considered that the Prime Directive is not only not ethical, but also illogical, and perhaps morally indefensible?

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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • I’ve been saying for a while now that they need to recapture the feeling of this episode for the Daleks, where they’re actually a significant threat.

    This is almost enough to be its own thread. I agree…but I’m also not sure it’s possible.

    There are certain villains in sci-fi that are set up for inevitable diminishing returns. Usually, it’s because they are (a) immensely powerful, and (b) single-minded. I think the Daleks and the Cybermen fall into this grouping, as do Star Trek’s Borg.

    When you set up an enemy like that…it seems like you can only really use them once or twice before you have to start making changes. Either they have to get less threatening, because otherwise it’s ridiculous that they keep getting beaten, or you have to start tweaking the “single-minded” aspect of them to find new storytelling angles.

    With the Daleks, they’ve done both since 2005, to varying degrees of success. Hell, this episode does it to an extent, giving the Dalek a mutation to allow it to be unwilling to kill Rose, and eventually declare itself to be…not a Dalek, really.

    But to keep them as a powerful, single-minded “kill everything” type of villain…it’s just not sustainable, even though they’re a powerful metaphor.

    As much as I miss the crazy pepper pots, it’s probably a good thing that the RTD2 era has given them a “rest” so far (though I quite liked Chibnall’s Dalek-centred New Year’s specials).











  • The first perfect, or nigh-perfect of the revived series.

    This episode does a couple of things exceptionally well. Firstly, it introduces the Daleks to a new audience. In doing so, they take something that’s unquestionably goofy-looking and goofy-sounding, and making it seem like a credible threat. The second the Doctor sees the Dalek, he absolutely panics, begging to be let out of the room. This leads to Eccleston spending the episode showing his true range, from that panic, to sorrow, to rage. It’s superb.

    Related to that, we get the more complete update on what, exactly, the Last Time War was, and how it has affected the Doctor. He’s burdened by what he’s done, and what he’s lost, but won’t hesitate to justify it, and even gloat about it if the situation calls for it.

    The supporting cast is quite good, too. Van Statten is the sort of character that often doesn’t land well on this series, but he works pretty well. Hiring an American actor to play the prominent American character helps a lot, and his dialogue seems more effective than “American” dialogue on Doctor Who often does. Anna Louise-Plowman is also pretty memorable in a role that would normally be a bit of a throwaway.

    The episode is adapted from the Sixth Doctor audio story “Jubilee” - I’ve never listened to it, but the wiki summary suggests quite a lot was changed.

    I guess the last thing I’ll note is that the gimmick of Rose’s DNA somehow repowering the Dalek is pretty silly, but its the sort of silly that makes a good story work.

    I’m sure there’s loads more to say - I’m looking forward to hearing what others think!