- The “A long time ago…Far, Far away...” gag is mildly amusing, but it’s kind of jarring when it’s followed up by a re-cap of a massacre.
- “367 minutes later”. Couldn’t just say “15 hours and 7 minutes”, could they? Nice to see some consequences of alien tech being left around.
- What were the hells going to do if that driver hadn’t stopped for a “cuppa”?
- Barrowman got into the opening credits, I see. I’ll say up front that while I’ve got nothing against Barrowman personally, I’ve never been a huge fan of Captain Jack as a character.
- Ah, the heel from the spider episode is back.
- Must be some amazing prison if they can keep the Doctor locked up.
- “You can’t eat the cage. Believe me, I’ve tried.” I thought the P’Ting were animals, not sentients.
- The Doctor quotes Rowling to herself. Interesting choice, with the controversy around Rowling these days.
- Yaz has been living in the house TARDIS for ten months? So, no one in this neighborhood got nosy about the house that just appeared one day? What does her family think about all this? Is she still even on the cops? What happened to the people they brought back from the future?
- People should recognize the Daleks. Like the Cybermen, they’ve invaded the planet publicly within the last fifteen years, and many other times, as well. I’ve never bought into the “everyone forgot because reasons” crap that the new series has pulled over the years. To my mind, it’s a cheat so that they can still have people not be aware of the existence of aliens. At the very least, every other government on Earth should be alarmed that the U.K. has access to alien technology. It’s the same problem I have with super-hero universes – by now, Earth-Who should be radically different from our Earth.
- Patterson and Robertson are examples of that old Doctor Who character type, the “arrogant human who thinks they can use the evil space menace for their own purposes”.
- Barrowman’s showing his age a bit for an immortal.
- Even Robertson seems to understand that growing an alien creature was a bad idea.
- Probably should’ve seen that coming, Leo.
- “Hey, Silver Fox.” Graham’s not overwhelmed by Jack.
- I like Yaz’s reaction to seeing the Doctor again. Gill did well, there. You can see that Yaz loves the Doctor, though I don’t think it’s in a Sapphic way. (Although in the spider story, Mama Khan did ask if Yaz and the Doctor were seeing each other, which to my mind would be an odd thing to ask if she assumed her daughter was straight.) It’ll be hard for Yaz when her leaving time comes, or if she’s still there when the Doctor regenerates. It might be interesting to see someone face the same problem as Clara did when Smith became Capaldi, but decide No, I can’t accept you as the same person.” Be interesting to see if Yaz shows jealous hostility if/when a new companion comes along.
- Jack sounds like he just couldn’t wait to let his backstory come spilling out of his mouth.
- “I’m pretty special.” Now I remember why I don’t like Jack.
- Not to harp on it, but people all over the Earth should be freaking out at the sight of the British P.M. with Daleks.
- You can see how Chibnall’s setting up Ryan to leave in the conversation between him and the Doctor.
- “Daleks do not joke.” Not entirely true, as I recall, although Dalek “humor” tends to be of the “Let’s pretend that we like these people right up until we murder them” variety.
- “Oh, Leo.” I noticed both here and in the spider story that the closest thing that Robertson shows to human feeling is his horror at the death of his underlings.
- “I’m the Doctor. I’m the one who stops the Daleks.”
- “Death squad Daleks”? Aren’t they all death squad Daleks, really? I guess it’s not enough to enjoy killing all other life forms, to be a death squad Dalek, you have to double enjoy killing all other life forms.
- “I’m backing them.” Shame the Doctor and her three pals couldn’t have dragged Robertson back into the TARDIS. Also, it’s real Plot Convenience Playhouse stuff that the Daleks didn’t just shoot Robertson out of hand.
- “You would betray your own race? You would betray humanity?” “Sure.” OK, Robertson’s a jerk, and not all that bright, but it’s hard to see what he thinks he’s going to get out of selling out to the Daleks.
- “You never forget your first death.” I suppose not.
- “Stop talking weird, Graham.” I liked that bit.
- “I won’t disappear again.” “Yeah, you will. One day, you will.”
- “Daleks are not pets of the Doctor!” Cats don’t think they’re pets, either.
- The trick with the spare TARDIS was a good idea, but the Daleks sure were dumb to fall for it. “Hey, our deadliest enemy is standing right out in the open yelling for us to come and get her. Let’s all charge in heedlessly, since it couldn’t possibly be the latest in the long line of traps that they’ve set for us over the years.”
- And Robertson somehow survives. I hope that we’ll get to see his comeuppance eventually.
- “We do get aliens in Sheffield”. A nice callback. I liked Ryan and Graham’s leaving scene. I’d heard that Cole and Walsh were leaving, so it wasn’t a surprise.
- “It’s OK to be sad.” The Doctor seems to be almost desperately upset, here.
- I’m not sure how a retired bus driver and a former factory worker are going to afford to fly around the world investigating weird stuff They may need to settle for protecting South Yorkshire, instead. I did like that even at the end, Ryan still couldn’t ride the bicycle, but still kept trying.
- “THE DOCTOR WILL RETURN” – Notice they didn’t say when?
Overall
Despite the points I made above, I enjoyed this episode. I look forward to seeing the direction the program takes next.
Replies
"A long time ago, in a movie theater far, far away, I saw "Dr. WHO
and the DAAAAH-Leks" starring Peter Cushing of Dr. Frankenstein and Van Helsing fame.
And people question my fanboy love of Blackhawk?
Before "Revolution of the Daleks" first aired, I re-watched "The Timeless Children" just to get into it. I really needn't've bothered; the story really starts with the Doctor's capture by the Judoon. Me, I'm much more interested in the story behind that "other" Doctor revealed last series. I guess we'll have to wait for that. I'm going to wait until I find out whether or not this episode is going to be part of a series set before I buy it on disc.
"So, no one in this neighborhood got nosy about the house that just appeared one day?"
My take is that the neighbors assume it is a pre-fabricated house, which can be moved in and assembled literally overnight.
"People should recognize the Daleks. "
No argument there.
"Barrowman’s showing her age a bit for an immortal."
No, when he gained his immortality it was stated that he would continue to age (and, apparently, eventually begin to metamorphosise). The one I'm curious about is Ashildr, should she ever make a return appearance.
"Jack sounds like he just couldn’t wait to let his backstory come spilling out of his mouth."
I guess we'll never learn the secret of his missing years.
“ 'THE DOCTOR WILL RETURN' – Notice they didn’t say when?"
I did notice that. If you say why, you owe ClarkKent_DC a nickel.
Interesting typo there, Baron.
Jeff of Earth-J said:
I thought you were using a politically correct pronoun so I didn't change it.
No, it was just me being a crappy typist.
Jeff of Earth-J said:
"People should recognize the Daleks... by now, Earth-Who should be radically different from our Earth."
I figure something radical must be happening "behind-the-scenes" (which hasn't been explained yet) that keeps "resetting" the timeline. Maybe it's the Time Lords, maybe it's the doctor himself. The Doctor's always on about "fixed points in time"; I figure, in his early incarnations (before he really knew what he was doing) he must have screwed up at least a couple of times. For example, there seems to be a notable difference, roughly, between the color Daleks in comparison to the b&w Daleks. When the the "Thals and the Dals" become the "Thals and the Kaleds"? Me, I blame that particular shift on the Time Lords, the Fourth Doctor and "Genesis of the Daleks."