Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks Review

DW "Revolution of the Daleks"

Fascism is in the Daleks' DNA, in-universe and out. While originally more of a Godzilla-esque warning of atomic mutation, occupation imagery in "The Dalek Invasion of Earth" and explicit Nazi callbacks in "Genesis of the Daleks" cemented an allegorical connection to the Third Reich. But in a show as long-running as Doctor Who, the villains change with the times. In "Revolution of the Daleks", the title pepper pots are recast as tools of a militarized police. It's an ingenious update of the concept for modern concerns, albeit one the episode introduces like a stick of dynamite then discards for a generic theme of "security". But sometimes one idea is all you need to make an impression, especially when the episode around it is mostly concerned with delivering a solid romp. Nothing "revolutionary", but the episode succeeds as ideal New Year's Day viewing.

The Doctor is still in a Shadow Proclamation prison for crimes committed by her past incarnations, that list of past lives having grown significantly by the revelations in "The Timeless Children". The Doctor must reconcile her sense of self, with help from a jailbreak staged by Captain Jack Harkness, and a pep talk from Ryan. Of course, the conclusion is inevitable. Just as the Twelfth Doctor wondered for a whole season if he was a good man and ended up reaffirming his Doctorishness with humility, the Thirteenth finds her definition of simply being the Doctor who saves the day, by opposition to her oldest enemy.

That enemy have a bit of a twist for most of the episode. The Daleks' sleek, black/silver/red design is human-made, empty of all but vestiges of mutant DNA. Chris Noth's Jack Robertson (returning from "Arachnids in the UK") and Harriet Walter's Prime Minister Jo Patterson chortle evil to each other in a conspiracy to use Dalek casings for crowd control. It's another "Power of the Daleks"/"Victory of the Daleks" situation, hapless humans thinking they can control something beyond their understanding. Eventually, secretly made Dalek mutants take over the casings and all hell breaks loose. The episode is a sequel to "Resolution", and continues the concept of the mutants controlling humans like puppets; one mutant goes all face-hugger on Captain Jack, also recalling the dream crabs from "Last Christmas".

Captain Jack is firmly in his "cheesy" Doctor Who characterization, late of the torture he underwent in Torchwood. He's essentially a fourth companion in the episode, joining Yaz, who maybe craves and needs TARDIS companionship a little too much, and the departing Ryan and Graham. Ryan says he needs to look out for his planet, conjuring memories of "Can You Hear Me?", when his insecurity at abandoning his human friends was also tied to the threat of climate change. But it turns out Ryan means it in more of a fantastical Doctor Who way, so he and Graham are bestowed psychic paper by the Doctor to help with adventuring. That's a first. But do they have the money to jet around the globe, righting wrongs?

The episode provides composer Segun Akinola plenty of time to trot out his Dalek motif from "Resolution". Unlike Murray Gold's choral apocalypse, it's a slightly more traditional action movie villain theme. Breaking out of prison fairly early, the Doctor thankfully has plenty of time to bop around and be the hero. Jack Robertson is a bit of a pleasant surprise; because he's such a caricature, it's easy for the calibration of his role to go awry. Granted, he has his cartoony moments, but at least there are no explicit Trump jokes this time around. "Revolution of the Daleks" is a straight-ahead Doctor Who adventure, an effective fastball that finds its target. 7/10.

Stray observations:

- Captain Jack (off-screen) checks in Gwen Cooper and her kid. Nice to see some Torchwood continuity still in the picture.

- The Shadow Proclamation prison is a bit of an alien menagerie. There's a Pting ("The Tsuranga Conundrum"). And aliens appearing for the first time in the Thirteenth Doctor era (Ood, Sycorax, Weeping Angel, Silent). The Silence haven't appeared since "The Time of the Doctor", seven years ago. But then again, you wouldn't remember them even if they did.

Doctor Who Randomized Rewatch: The End of Time Part 1

DW "The End of Time Part 1"

This episode is insane. And not just insane in that "it sounds funny to casually describe Doctor Who plots out loud" kind of way, but really off its rocker.

Throughout, Timothy Dalton as Rassilon gives the episode portentous narration that at times feels excessive and at times really hits. "It is said that in the final days of planet Earth, everyone had bad dreams" is a hell of an opening line. And when some of Dalton's booming pronouncements are underscored by Murray Gold's gorgeous Gallifrey theme, that certainly helps it go down easy.

The episode makes some choices when it comes to the Master, which are all ludicrous but somehow not always out of left field. He's got a cult dedicated to his resurrection, and it must be said that his cod-Voldemort rebirth sequence is one of the biggest loads of bollocks the new series has put on screen. But at the same time, the basic idea of a cult devoted to the Master could fit into something like "The Daemons" back in the day. Then his body is overcharged, so you can see his luminescent skeleton. Again, wild, but not far off from the skeletal Master from the Fourth Doctor era. But the headline here would be his super-jumping and electricity powers - the Master as supervillain, out of a mid-2000s Fantastic Four movie.

All this is tempered by the unique honor "The End of Time" has of placing Wilfred in the role of companion. It's almost like since writer Russell T. Davies knows he's got Wilfred in reserve for moments of charm, thus giving him license to play Picasso with the episode's plot.

And Wilfred is, of course, wonderful, and he and the Doctor have a poignant scene in a cafe where the Doctor confesses his fear of death. It's earned emotion, not something to take for granted in an episode often in danger of buckling under the weight of its own pretentiousness. The Ood and the Time Lords keep warning of THE END OF TIME ITSELF, which just comes off as silly.

"The End of Time Part 1" has its share of effective moments, balanced out by stretches of rubbish. An episode of extremes, it'll likely leave you exhausted if not always entertained. 6/10.

Doctor Who Randomized Rewatch: Dalek

DW "Dalek"

When you're bringing a classic monster back, it's often a good idea to compress the scale and focus on an individual case study. "Dalek" pioneers that move that the new series will use several times: "Cold War" with a lone Ice Warrior. "The Haunting of Villa Diodati" with a lone Cyberman. And, again, a lone Dalek in "Resolution". "Dalek" honors the deviousness, lethality, and psychology of the Dalek, and consistently makes smart choices to complicate the hero/monster dynamic.

The Doctorly compassion for a being in pain comes from companion Rose Tyler, while the Doctor literally slobbers over his hate for the Dalek, for the race that his people fought in the Time War. Christopher Eccleston's Doctor gets a wonderful showcase here, with my favorite moment in the episode coming after the Doctor believes Rose dead. Righteously lashing out at American billionaire villain Henry Van Statten, the Doctor rebukes Van Statten and mourns his companion. "You're about as far from the stars as you can get!" It's a scene that gives me chills.

Van Statten himself is one of the weaker elements of the episode, a broad caricature of an ultimate asshole businessman. Still, he becomes a more tolerable character as panic sets in. One small standout moment is the tragic and noble fate of security guard De Maggio, who tries to hold off the Dalek to cover Rose and Adam's escape, even knowing it's hopeless.

And tragedy suffuses the episode as a whole. Rose's artron energy reconstructs the Dalek's cells, but also corrupts the Dalek with the impure stain of humanity. So precisely because the Dalek can imagine more than killing, it has to die. It just goes to show that you can have your "badass" monster on a rampage massacre scenes, which "Dalek" certainly features, but when you go deeper, you can make something special. 9/10.

Continuity notes:
- This is the second straight episode in this rewatch, after "The Time of Angels", that features a museum of alien artifacts.
- Van Statten's museum features a classic Cyberman head from the 1970s. "The stuff of nightmares, reduced to an exhibit." The Doctor's poignant reaction to seeing it is not exactly brief, showing that real fans are at the reins here.
- "Dalek" takes a few elements from the Big Finish audio story "Jubilee", also written by Robert Shearman. But the details are so different that each story stands on its own.
- Of course, a Dalek went up stairs in "Remembrance of the Daleks", but the showy sequence here was a necessary wake-up call for casual viewers in 2005.

Doctor Who Randomized Rewatch: The Time of Angels

DW "The Time of Angels"

Classic Doctor Who is built on cliffhangers. And to agree with Misery's Annie Wilkes on one point, there is an art to good cliffhangers in serial storytelling. "The Time of Angels" ends with one of my favorites in the series, to the point where in college I would watch the last couple minutes of this episode on a loop. Backed into a corner, the Doctor gives one of his best grandstanding monologues, ending with the punctuation of a bang.

The rest of the episode leading up to that end is excellent as well, filled with efficient setpieces (the spectacular rescue of River in the TARDIS, Amy and the screen-based Weeping Angel) and effective ensemble dynamics (Alex Kingston lights up the screen as River and Iain Glen gives gravitas to the paradoxical character of Father Octavian). "The Time of Angels" was the first episode recorded for Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, so the ease of their performances is remarkable.

Of course Steven Moffat wanted to bring back his Weeping Angels, the monsters that made such a big splash in "Blink". He also trots out a previous trick he came up with, having Bob's re-animated consciousness hauntingly linger on, just as victims' dying thoughts were looped in the "Silence in the Library" story. But Moffat one-ups that here, keeping Bob conversational with the Doctor, relaying the taunts of the Angels with a deliberately flat intonation. "I died in fear", he bluntly and casually informs the Doctor, enraging the trapped Time Lord.

Something I'm of two minds about is the sound editing and music that gives a sting to virtually every Angel or Angel statue appearance in the episode. It heightens the horror stakes, but it also feels obvious, like it's the consequence of aiming your horror at a family audience. I can forgive it, but it is the one criticism I have here.

"The Time of Angels" is a fresh, exciting Doctor Who nightmare that rollicks along like a ghost train with a full head of steam. However off-the-rails parts of the Eleventh Doctor's era would eventually jump, in this episode at least everything is cooking with gas. 10/10.

Doctor Who Randomized Rewatch: Aliens of London

DW "Aliens of London"

Joining Star Trek in this blog's stable of Randomized Rewatches is Doctor Who. The classic and new series, as well as The Sarah Jane Adventures, are all fair game here. First up is an early outing for the modern series, as Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor accidentally takes Billie Piper's Rose back home not 12 hours after her departure, but rather 12 months. Unbeknownst to the Doctor, he brings her back to Earth directly before the apparent "first contact" with an alien race.

The Ninth Doctor as presented in this episode is a giggling genius, amused by most everything around him and filled with a sense of glee, excitement, and wonder at history unfolding on Earth. Still, he warns Rose in the TARDIS, "Don't you dare make this place domestic", as Jackie and Mickey learn the truth of Rose's adventure in space and time. The show in general has benefitted from a more domestic approach, giving unprecedented realism to the life of a contemporary Earth companion. And for all the Doctor's broad grins, he has made rather a hash of things by bringing Rose back so late.

In an amusing early moment, Rose grapples with the unique privilege she has as one of the few humans to know of the existence of aliens... right before an alien spaceship flies over London for all to see. London gets a mini-Independence Day, as the ship crashes into Big Ben and creates a worldwide crisis. Writer Russell T. Davies deploys reams of cod-authentic news footage to cover events, with the clear intent of portraying a grounded take on an alien invasion. But brilliantly, just as the Slitheen have staged a phony invasion as a diversion, so the show Doctor Who has staged a phony sense of grittiness as a diversion from what the show truly embraces: bonkers, over-the-top farting aliens!

The Slitheen have engineered events to take control of the British government, walking around in constrictive human politician skinsuits they can unzip to reveal their true form. It's a whole-heartedly silly concept, and indeed, the climax of the episode is just people standing and staring as the Slitheen shed their disguises. Indeed, one wonders why one of the Slitheen in particular bothers to unmask at all if the plan was just to electrocute everybody! But the reveal is an end unto itself. And that's the choice "Aliens of London" ultimately makes: shedding its pretensions of realism, to glory in the wonderful absurdity of Doctor Who. 7/10.

Continuity notes:
- That's future Torchwood operative Toshiko Sato examining the fake alien, and of course Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North, is introduced here as well.
- The Doctor infiltrates a UNIT facility, gets an entire security team's worth of guns pointed at his face, and then effortlessly transitions to giving them orders. He used to work for UNIT, after all. (But then why, later in the episode, does he react like he just figured out UNIT is involved?)