While I am hoping that there is still going to be some mystery/suspense at the end of the series with the cliffhanger, as you want that hook for people to watch the next series, I would prefer to see the Bad Wolf scenario tied up by ep 13. Given the rumours about the end of the series being connected to the Time War, perhaps a number of questions will be answered, though I suspect a lot won't be addressed, leaving more to chew over in the coming months.

For me it all hinges on the issue of time..not just the war, but what time means for the indivdual, how it shapes and influences people and their motives and how time is very much of that particular moment.

I've frame advanced through the entire title sequence, & I don't think it's a planet, it seems to be the ring around the entrance to the red tunnel.

However, I'm fairly sure the graphic artists have hidden some ghostly faces in the sides of the tunnels.

DONT FORGET!!!

Blue peter on friday

behind the scenes at the dalek episode

And if you can still get hold of a copy, this week's Radio Times is a Dalek special, packed with behind the scenes stuff about the making of 'Dalek' and the occaisional spoiler.

Will miss it! At work!

Oh go on then....

Someone's bound to advise you to get a recording device

Will sed the vid if I remember before I leave for work

I'm thinking this week's episode should give us chance to see some old foes in the form of the collector's exhibits. (not forgetting the ultimate one, of course).

Check out the second cabinet on the right in the trailer. Is that a Slitheen arm I can see in there? It looks very much like it. Perhaps he managed to salvage it from the rubble of Downing Street

This golden Dalek, not sure if this has been mentioned yet so apologies if it has, wouldn't be the Emperor Dalek, would it?

AND ALSO ...Billie Piper is on the richard and judy show
this evening as well

Steve Wright has just played the trailer for Dalek on his radio show.

I don't know whether it is supposed to sound that way, but the sound of shear terror in the Daleks voice when it says "The Doctor" is awesome. How they have managed to convey that much emotion in a electronicified (new word) voice is beyond me.

Regards

MF

After watching it a few times and reading the reviews both here and elsewhere, I though perhaps it was time to attempt a balanced view of AOL/WW3, element by element.

HUMOUR:

The contextual humour - i.e. the things we were meant to find funny worked OK for me. The things that were supposed to be "internally" funny (like the Slitheen's toilet humour) didn't work too well for me - but I still feel it wasn't supposed to work for the adults anyway.

PLOT:

With holes big enough to drive a Death Star through (which everyone and there auntie have mentioned, so I won't take up space), it could be said that this was classic Who . Luckily my suspension of disbelief just about made it to the end credits. This was mainly due to the fine writing of the little scenes and the detail given to the Mickey sub plot.

ACTION:

I felt that the action was a little too sporadic, and was mainly used to turn a 60 minute story into a 90 minute one. The "Benny Hill" type chases through a box set were not all they could have been. After repeated watching it started to feel like a studio bound story, which is a great shame given the breadth of the alien "crash landing" in AOL

DRAMA/CHARACTERISATION:

Although it was there, the tension never really built up as it did in the last two episodes. This can only be laid at the door of the director. The script had a lot to offer in terms of character exploration and exposition. We learned quite a lot about Jackie and her relationship with Rose, and the same cam be said for Mickey/Rose. Jackie is coming across as the kind of woman who needs a man to validate herself. Rose is no such person - she has a deep affection (perhaps even love) for Mickey, but she does not need him to make her whole. Mickey is growing on me - I actually want to see him again, if only to find out if he does have any ulterior motives.

Harriet was a gem of a character - I'm just a little confused as to how the Doctor knew who she was yet seemed to know nothing about the Slitheen gambit. Still having post-regeneration memory problems? Her journey from "only a back bencher" to leader of the nation was a joy to watch

SFX:

Great for the crash landing - loved the pig - not bad for the missile - a bit lacking for the Slitheen. As nearly everyone has pointed out, the CGI/costume mix left a lot to be desired. Having said that, does anyone remember Mestor from The Twin Dilemma? [shudders]. That was utter crap by 1964 standards, let alone 1984 when it was first shown

ARC RELEVANCE:

Apart from the Bad Wolf tag, this story has apparently added nothing to the overall arc of the season. I say apparently because a few of the throwaway lines (Mickey/Ricky) may well come back to bite us in the bum later. As the Doctor says "Everything's important"

OVERALL:

Not as great as we would have like it, but not as terrible as some have made out. My faith in the series has not abated - in fact there is a certain comfort that things will get better.
After the feast that was episodes 2 & 3 we should have expected a sorbet course before tucking into the chef's special.

Barry Letts (one time writer, director and producer for DW (among other things)) said that writing good drama was a bit like the letter W: you start with a high point, work your way down to a trough and climb to another high. The Dalek episode will be that high. Working on this logic, I think we can expect a slight downturn at about episode 9/10, ready for the big finale.

I think it has something to do with the Doctor being a time sensitive being. While the Slitheen were still a threat the future was uncertain so there was no fact to remember, hence his fuzzy memory. It wasn't until the Slitheen were defeated that the Harriet's future as assured and suddenly the Doctor has complete recall of Harriet's future.

Anyway, that's my theory and I'm sticking with it.

Thanks aka_lucifer - I think that's a very balanced and fair review of the two episodes. We've all put in our tuppence worth as to the various aspects of the two episodes that either worked or didn't work for us, and I think you've managed to encapsulate pretty much all of our views in a very eloquent post.

I think it's no surprise that this week's episode thread is perhaps going to be the shortest of the lot so far - as many have commented, this is probably due to the lack of hints regarding bad wolf and the timewar, and the general disappointment with the episodes in question.

The lower post-count is not such a bad thing in itself, but I always think it's a very good rule of thuimb for any of the tv threads - the more an episode provokes a reaction (positive or negative), the more posts there will be.

I agree that following the thorough spoiling we got from the previous episodes, perhaps our expectations had been raised a little too high - but following Alrightmate's advice regarding the Director prior to the story being screened, I approached with an open mind. I was one of the ones left wanting.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's episode and the remainder of the series - particularly the bad wolf revelations towards the end of the series. I think RTD may well keep the resolution of the timewar/destruction of Gallifrey plot for another series, but as usual, time will tell.

One thing's for sure - he's bound to have a couple of surprises up his sleeve. And at least we can take comfort that (hopefully) the weakest episodes are behind us. Personally, I'd like to think it will be full steam ahead from now on.

i stand corrected

thanks

Any chance someone can get me up to speed with what was presumed to have happened involving the Doctor/Daleks at Gallifrey?

From my limited knowledge, I believe the Daleks are to blame for the planet's destruction.

Any transfer of knowledge appreciated.

The hatred the Dalek manages to express by making the differentiation by saying "THE Doctor?" is brilliant.

Just watched Paul McGann's movie, and he comments that he is half human on his mother's side - what if Rose is actually his mother? Might also explain why her DNA would activate the Daleks?

As much as I've read the Daleks were not involved in the destruction of Gallifrey. That may well change in the Galiffrey Chronicles.

It was actually The Doctor who destroyed Galiffrey in order to stop the Time War ever starting and save Galiffrey from being taken over by Faction Paradox.

It was the actions of the TARDIS that lead to the threat of war in the first place.

Basically Faction Paradox infected The Doctor with a Paradox virus, which the TARDIS took on itself to try and protect The Doctor - this led to the TARDIS seemingly destroying itself, leaving The Doctor TARDISless. (Luckily enough one of his companions, Compassion ended up becoming the first even humaniod TARDIS. My money says Rose=Compassion), anyway - the TARDIS didn't actually destroy itself, it turns out that a massive bone structure that had appeared over Galiffrey is actually the TARDIS and its basically doing "bad stuff"(tm), which is attracting the attention of an enemy (Ancestor cells - the basis of all living things in the universe apparently) - Faction Paradox plan to use the attack as a chance to take over Galiffrey. To stop this happening The Doctor destroys Galiffrey.

Anyway - read the books, they are cool. Its covered in the 8th Doctor New Adventure books from Interference through to Ancestor Cell.

As an aside, my theory is thus..

The TARDIS is the Bad Wolf due to its involvment in the above.
The Doctor will have a choice to make, remove his TARDIS from history and stop the actions above ever happening, or live with what has happened.
He'll chose to remove the TARDIS from history, which will leave him stranded in time. Luckily enough Rose will turn out to be Compassion so he can carry on his merry adventures.

Actually its not really a theory, its just what I want to happen!

As much as I like this idea, I don't think the BBC would allow the TARDIS to disappear, it has the copyright on the design, and can create alot of merchandising revenue based on the TARDIS

Hmm, a fair point...

Then again, i'm sure Compassion/Rose TARDIS would have a chameleon device - so she could just transform herself into a Police Box for Materialising/Dematerialising/Travelling through time etc.... then one cool shape changing effect later and we have Rose...and a cool transforming Rose/TARDIS toy to invent and sell!!

Lets face it, you'd have to ask the question how in the hell would you enter a humanoid TARDIS in the first place??

it WAS the Daleks who destroyed Gallifrey, RTD says so in the extra material on the Project Who? CD

I knew I'd be opening a can of worms by asking the questions. Thanks anyway though!

Often, in BPs case.

K

Anyone have the feeling we've been spoiled by having three great episodes before this last story? Had this been the first episode of the series, I would have raved about it but now, what in effect were still a very good episodes is now considered average.