1)I've never seen most of these shows they're parodying, except for the one episode of The Weakest Link which had a bunch of pro wrestlers, and Booker T. was asked to name a single word of French and couldn't do it, and William Regal and the Anne Droid got all cutesy with one another, so I can't say as I have a great handle on how well they're being parodied. I did enjoy the bit where the Daleks and the Anne Droid are blasting away at one another. Hard to say which is more lethal. Also, I would watch a show where three celebrities were forced to live with a bear.
2)And we finally learn the secret of the "Bad Wolf" gimmick, as Rose becomes a sort of living paradox . "I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself." From time to time, we see hints that our Russell has read a Marvel comic or two in his lifetime. Piper did a good job here, both as the Bad Wolf, and in the scenes back in the present day, despairing over how to get back and help the Doctor.
3)Of course we knew that it was extremely unlikely that we'd seen the last of the Daleks. I thought the Emperor was well-realized, and - while I have no objection to Davros as a character - I was glad the Emperor was not Davros. Davros is fine in his place, he just doesn't work as the Emperor for me. I liked the way the Emperor taunted the Doctor. "If I am God, the Creator of All Life, then what does that make you, Doctor?" There were some nice small touches, too, like the way the Emperor closed its eye right before Rose dispersed it. It was fun to see the hordes of Daleks in space, the sort of thing that the old show just never could do. And it was good to hear the old Dalek "heartbeat" sound, the first time the new show had used it. The Dalek saucers were cool, as well.
4)Coduri and Clarke were also quite good in this - this was the episode where I really started to like both Jackie and Mickey as characters, as we saw that they both love Rose enough that they're willing to help her even when they don't really believe in what she's doing. You could see Mickey's heart break when Rose says to him "There's nothing left for me here", but he still helps her. And, in the end, the Daleks are defeated and the universe is saved because Jackie has guys who owe her favors!
5)A good last story for Eccleston, as well. I think my favorite is right after they've rescued Rose, and the Doctor leans his head against the inside of the TARDIS door while the Daleks outside howl for his blood, and you can see the weariness of a man who has seen - and done - terrible things to defeat the Daleks, and feels that it's all been for nothing. I also like the bit where he relaizes that he screwed up the last time he was there. "I made this world." And later when he tricks Rose into going home - you get a rela sense that he doesn't see a way out of the situation. I also like dthe wya the Daleks backed away from him - the one person they fear.
6) I even thought that Captain Jack had some good moments in this as well, another character that was developing better than I would've thought.
7)Some good guest characters in this as well - I thought the Controller managed to be both creepy and pathetic at the same time. And poor Lynda with a "y", you knew she was doomed from the start, but she did get a good death scene. Also I recall that the actor who played Roderick (the guy who kept demanding his money) - Paterson Joseph - was bandied about as a potential Eleventh Doctor before Matt Smith was picked.
8)A number of callbacks here :
- The Isop Galaxy - "The Web Planet"
- The Lunar Penal Colony - "Frontier in Space"
- Bastic bullets - "Revelation of the Daleks"
- "My vision is impaired! I cannot see!" - "Destiny of the Daleks"
9)Cliffhangers:
"Bad Wolf": The Doctor tells the Daleks what he's going to do in the next episode!
"The Parting of the Ways": The Doctor turns into David Tennant!
10)Some Fun Quotes:
- "You have got to be kidding."
- "What's a de-fabricator?"
- "She's been evicted...from life."
- "Where were you hiding that?" "You really don't want to know."
- "Do you know what they call me in the ancient legends of the Dalek Homeworld? 'The Oncoming Storm'."
- "So you created an army of Daleks out of the dead?" More specifically - out of people that lost at game shows?
- "Since when did the Daleks have a concept of blasphemy?"
- "I am the God of All Daleks."
- "You hate your existence - and that makes them more deadly than ever." Ever notice how whatever's going on with the Daleks, the Doctor always says something only the lines of "Now they're even more dangerous!"?
- "What are you - coward or killer?" "Coward, anyday."
- "I sang a song, and the Daleks ran away."
Overall: By and large I enjoyed this. They did a pretty good job of inculcating a sense of impending doom, particularly in the second part. I remember at the time really not knowing what to make of the new guy - at the time, I'd never heard of this David Tennant. anad had no idea what he was capable of.
Cliffhanger: Up next, I watch a different Doctor!
Replies
I'm sure I could look this up, but... could you refresh my memory? Explain "Bad Wolf". (Not the story.. the concept.)
I think part of me keeps hoping they'll actually do a "final" Dalek story and that'll be IT, forever. Enough, already. Oh well, at least they've been getting better writing that Terry Nation EVER gave them.
Sure - all through the Eccleston stories, they keep running across the phrase "Bad Wolf". Gwyneth the psychic maid calls Rose "the Bad Wolf", Henry Van Statten's helicopter is called "Bad Wolf One", a kid grafffitis the TARDIS with "Bad Wolf", Margaret/Blon's power plant is called the "Bad Wolf Project" and a few others. Finally when they get to the Game Station, it's run by the Bad Wolf Corporation. The Doctor confronts the Emperor, but he denies all knowledge of it. Finally, when Rose goes all "Dark Phoenix" at the end, she sees the words "Bad Wolf" on a corporate sign, she scatters the words back through time, effectively creating the clues that led her to look into the TARDIS console and become the "Bad Wolf" in the first place.
I remember Terrance Dicks and Barry Letts saying that Terry Nation's real gift was for selling them the same Dalek story over and over again.
I saw that when it happened, and I'm STILL not sure it made a damn bit of sense.
You know, I kept having the feeling it would somehow tie in with Fenric... (nope)
"PLANET OF THE DALEKS" would have been a much better story, I'm sure, if the guy who wrote "FRONTIER IN SPACE",. had written it instead of Terry Nation.