Really want to give it 10, but I felt there was a bit of unfulfilled potential with the Aslyum. I wasn't actively looking for the Classics, but I only ever saw Paradigms, New Series Daleks, and the Special Weapons one.

So on that basis I'd have to give it 9.5, but as .5's aren't allowed, it'll have to be 9/10.

Still absolutely amazing in every other conceivable way.

Really enjoyable, a few plot holes, the new companion was good but at times was edging the line of annoying smugness.

So it'll have to be a 9/10.


Not the best New series opener or Dalek story but a lot better than most.

Asylum of the Daleks - 9/10.

Not perfect as some of the Dalek stuff seemed rehashed and not achieving its full potential, but there were some very strong acting performances and some very intriguing questions posed/scenarios set up. Good opener.



It wasn't a plot hole, it was only ever intended as a plot device of the Doctor saving Amy and Rory's relationship - Amy lost her wristband and the Doctor eventually gave her his, only without telling her so that she and Rory would have that conversation about their love and ultimately save their marriage. She stopped transforming as soon as she had the wristband back on, and the physical transformation would have been last so really she's only lost some short-term memories. The whole point was to show how much the Doctor cares for Amy and Rory and it did that perfectly - he meddled to save their marriage despite the imminent danger from Daleks!

Assylum: 10/10

Yes.
I enjoyed the programme very much and am looking forward to the rest of the series. The Doctor, Rory and Amy make a wonderful team.

10/10.

I'm going to be a tough marker. 8/10

For me, I was rooting on for it to be something bigger, and I was intrested and confused by the Carme/Oswin character and where that would go to. But in all, a nice strong opener which doesn't deliver everything I expected it to.
8/10
P.S If anyone on this forum is secretly Steven Moffat, please take the libert and tell me what happens to Oswin, or what ever strange name she has.

6/10. It was watchable, not fantastic however.

So many threads on little bits of the episode I can't actually find one in general for the ep! So this'll have to be where I post my own personal review/thoughts XD

Was a brave episode in my opinion, really tried to do something a bit new; and for a season opener featuring the most iconic Doctor Who villian that's impresive.

I'd become bored of the Daleks. They always follow the same formula. Doctor's going along, stumbles upon Daleks. Realise they threaten the world/universe with either their regular weapons or some new device/plan and that there's no way they can be stopped ever. The Doctor gets captured. The Doctor realises he's beat. The Doctor talks alot. A button gets pressed and all the Daleks are dead.... bar one which manages to escape to return another day. Whilst it could be argued this kind of followed that there were some brave exceptions.

The Doctor doesn't stumble upon Daleks, they capture him... to ask for his help.

New Dalek/human/pupets, which at first I disliked (the concept was very un-Dalek to me) but rapidly grew on me as I realised how they were a tool to the Daleks, much like a remote control is to me. They added another dimension to the Daleks as they could have proper conversations with the Doctor or whoever and can get away with having emotions.

On that note, I felt the Daleks almost went out of Dalek mode at times and seemed to have emotions (other than hate) in the epsiode but nothing too bad so felt that wasn't a bad thing.

Another brave deviation was the Doctor just leaving the Daleks. Nothing really to stop him going after them but nope, just got in the Tardis and went. I liked that twist.

The ending... somewhat predictable, but not fully. Thoughout I felt she was a Dalek given the hacking into Dalek technology. But as they episode went on I started thinking maybe she was only a human/Dalek/puppet instead of a full Dalek. Was nice to see them going the full hog with it (although part of me questions the Daleks 'converting' a human into a Dalek... but then again this was the house of insane Daleks).

The episode as a whole got the blend between scary (well I assume kids would find the dead human/Dalek/puppets scarey, might be wrong mind!), funny and serious spot on and it really benifited from it. The Amy/Rory split seemed a bit tacked on and I don't really get what was gained from that plot point; perhaps it'll come into play in another episode? Would have been nice had it been Rory who faced the 'conversion' seeing as how Amy has already had this type of thing with the Angels and it always seems to be Rory proving his love for her. But that's a minor thing.

All in all a cracking epsiode in it's own right and to me the best season opener so far by some distance.

9/10 (would be 9.5 but I see the OP doesn't want half marks and it's not quite perfect!)

That would be the one pinned at the top of the forum, entitled 'Poll: Doctor Who: Series 7 Ep. 1: Asylum of the Daleks - 1/09/2012, 7:20pm'

Well there's my problem! I always ignore sticky topics as force of habbit from various forums as they're normally the rules I've already read XD

Ta muchly

8/10.

Enjoyable but missed that 'je ne sais quoi'.

Asylum of the Daleks - 8/10

I feel guilty for giving this just eight, and want to give it nine... but then I've never given out a ten, and the episode wasn't perfect, so I settled with the eight. I have to say...probably one of the hardest episodes to decide how much I liked exactly. Ultimately it blew my mind away as a series opener... only Partners in Crime has impressed me anywhere near as much, though this had cinematic scale on its side.

Firstly, the Daleks themselves. I think an interesting approach was taken with them... fleshing them out (literally, in fact) and giving them a bit more of a developed role was certainly a wise move. It was great to see a Dalek story that wasn't all about saving a bunch of scatty humans in whatever nearby city the show runner took his fancy to. I genuinely hope we see this set up of Daleks again, hopefully to show us more intriguing surprises along the way. It'd be great to see the New Paradigm Daleks play into things a little bit more next time, and the Dalek Prime Minister or "Dalek Prime" was a brilliant intellect. All was good where the Parliament was concerned, but I think there could have been a little more from the asylum - Moffat bigged up the whole "every Dalek ever" thing a little too much given that no Classic series Dalek was ever the centre-stage focus, even for a second. It's a minor issue as the episode was so strong, but I wish it hadn't been played up quite so much when so little was made of the Daleks we'd been seeing in promotional shots.

Secondly, the characters. It's more than fair to start with Oswin. The huge shock was that she was so integral to the episode - I was impressed by seeing Rose in all of ten seconds of Partners in Crime, so seeing Oswin in a secret key role across the whole episode was a wonderful treat. The character had some witty one-liners, and showed a lot of heart as well - I have a good feeling about her, and she may give Donna a run for her money as my favourite companion if she's handled well and this episode is anything to go by. I found Matt Smith to be enjoyable, but he didn't do anything amazing here - it's been a little while since he did anything amazing for me and as much as I love his Doctor, he's not impressed me with a performance since Lets Kill Hitler now. Amy and Rory...well they're Amy and Rory. I think both have improved greatly since they joined, particularly the former. I'll be sad to see them go, but I think the situation since The God Complex has somewhat lessened the blow to be honest.

Other things...the effects were mostly spectacular. The opening shots were very iconic...a brilliant first image for what shall hopefully be a mind-blowing series. The shots of the Asylum, particularly near the end, looked a little cheaper but not massively so. The Skeletal Daleks were very creepy looking, though criminally underused. The Asylum Daleks were creepy enough, though maybe lacking the depth needed to make them especially stand out. The plot twist with Oswin being a Dalek was genius and a highlight of the episode. Here and there were the odd Moffatisms - a little too much was crammed in and no one idea was given any room to breathe comfortably. But this was far more balanced than episodes in Series 6 guilty of the same Moffatisms, and I greatly enjoyed this. A shame the Daleks have again been confined to just 45 minutes, I hope to see them again soon in a slightly longer story that can show them being even more menacing.

All in all, a fantastic start to a series I hope will be the best from Moffat so far. I certainly think it's the most promising.


ASYLUM OF THE DALEKS
compared to other series openers

ROSE - 7/10
NEW EARTH - 7/10
SMITH AND JONES - 6/10
PARTNERS IN CRIME - 8/10
THE ELEVENTH HOUR - 8/10
THE IMPOSSIBLE ASTRONAUT - 7/10

_______


ASYLUM OF THE DALEKS
compared to other Dalek stories

DALEK - 9/10
THE PARTING OF THE WAYS - 9/10
DOOMSDAY - 7/10
DALEKS IN MANHATTAN - 6/10
EVOLUTION OF THE DALEKS - 7/10
THE STOLEN EARTH - 9/10
JOURNEYS END - 6/10
VICTORY OF THE DALEKS - 6/10

Don't say you will be posting future reviews in the appropriate thread, I really enjoyed reading yours!

Asylum Of The Daleks 10/10

10/10, The episode had me hooked all the way through, although I was watching on BBC America so it had adverts a few times while it was on, although as soon as I got home (I need to get around to changing my location) I watched it again without adverts

Asylum of the Daleks - 8

Very enjoyable!

Asylum of the Daleks: 9/10
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship: 9/10

An absolutely fantastic romp! So much better than I was expecting. It was funny, it was action packed and it had some serious moments too such as Amy's ominous "or vice versa" line and the Doctor's callous lack of mercy when he killed Solomon. I believe mercy will be a main theme in next week's episode. Looking forward to it even more!

Dinosaurs on a space Ship 8/10

Asylum of The Daleks 8/10
Dinosaurs on A Spaceship 7/10
A nice episode with interesting characters and a big guest cast, more of the typical legend story with the Doctor rescuing Nerfertiti, but still enjoyable with the relationship between Rory and Brian.

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship 8/10

Fun and enjoyable episode, ended on a dark tone, loving the Ponds and the Doctor in this, all round great story but not in the same league as last weeks opener. If this is the series "duff" episode then I can't wait for the others

Asylum of the Daleks: 10/10
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship: 6/10

Asylum of the Daleks: 9/10
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship: 6/10

Asylum of the Daleks: 9/10
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship: 6/10

Not that it was a bad episode, I actually liked, but most of it felt quite pointless, the real interesting parts were The Doctor with Soloman.

Asylum of the Daleks - 8/10
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship - 6/10

I was never expecting very much from 'Dinosaurs on a Spaceship', but I was expecting to actually get a little bit more than "Dinosaurs, on a Spaceship". I think I've found a new no.1 culprit for my theory towards a lot of Moffat-era episodes - they just lack the substance that they need to be absolutely amazing. It's as if the writer has this amazing idea of an image they want to see happen on screen, and then they formulate a plot around it. This episode did exactly that, to the extent that they decided to give it an obvious title as well - the problem is, I didn't find it to be a particularly good parody in the first place.

The budget seemed a lot more limited in this episode. Aside from the odd CGI shot of spaceships, and the admittedly wonderful shot of Bryan overlooking the Earth whilst eating sandwiches, a lot seemed very played down. Dinosaur shadows because they can't afford the extra shots, dark backdrops to disguise the often weak imagery. Heck, the episode teased us with a T-Rex, and had it lay on the floor and do nothing else. When the CGI is the very subject of the title, it's disappointing to see such prospects go to waste. Particularly as I feel the plot and characters were also strangely off...

The supporting cast were portrayed by some fine actors, and they seemed to be totally into the spirit of their roles. The problem is the characters just felt very simple, and out of place. Nefertiti could almost have been any authoritive-woman, whilst the African Game hunter wasn't developed at all to the point where a lot of people struggle to even remember his name! When I can remember Mr.Sneed from Series 1, or Luke Rattigan from Series 4, or Liz Ten from Series 5...it's a simple shame that the characters aren't quite the same here. I couldn't invest in them, because they weren't given enough time to grow, and that's because too much is crammed into 45 minutes, again. The same was true for 'Asylum', and also painfully true for 'Wedding' last year. I know it's meant to be a hoot, and a romp... but a good one would have engaging characters, and this one simply didn't. David Bradley was brilliant as a villain, and was merciless, but anyone who sided with those frankly annoying robots was never going to win. Throw in a Triceratops-ride that lasted a little too long, and I'm admittedly a bit disengaged by this point. And come the end, I've essentially lost all sense of threat - these were dinosaurs, on a crashing spaceship with missiles heading into space. Not a single person was even injured to my recollection.

There were good points though. Whilst Bryan wasn't as developed as I'd hoped he might have been, he was still great and a definite highlight of the episode. It was also great to get some Doctor/Rory time for once... especially seeing as Amy worked so great with Nefertiti. The dialogue between The Doctor and the Ponds was always on top form, as was The Doctor's dialogue with Solomon, as was 'that' kiss It's a good sign that the main three are so compatible, as it'll bode well for the episodes ahead presumably.

So, all in all...I think this episode was trying to be more style than substance. The problem was, it didn't have much of either really. There was the odd shimmering moment of greatness, but then other scenes crossed the 'ridiculous' line that I consider to be in favour of the argument people make when they explain why they don't watch the show. The plot was a bit thin, despite the amount of yapping involved and the amount of ideas thrown at the screen, and it didn't really master any one of the things it was trying to do - the effects weren't the best and I don't think the show was able to realise the grandness of dinosaurs on a spaceship, the comedy was far from funny (although Bryan made me laugh once or twice), and outside of our main three it lacked the substance required to actually make me care about anyone. It's not in league with the worst episodes out there, and as a "romp" it almost did what it says on the tin, but I failed to be pulled in as I was last week, or as I was with a lot of the better episodes of last year.

DINOSAURS ON A SPACESHIP
compared to other second episodes...

THE END OF THE WORLD - 8/10
TOOTH AND CLAW - 8/10
THE SHAKESPEARE CODE - 7/10
THE FIRES OF POMPEII - 7/10
THE BEAST BELOW - 7/10
DAY OF THE MOON - 7/10
DINOSAURS ON A SPACESHIP - 6/10