Dr. Who 3/29.05 Evolution of the Daleks
Apr. 29th, 2007 02:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakThree for three: while in each of the early two-parters (Aliens of London/WW III and Age of Steel/Rise of the Cybermen being the other ones) of New Who there were elements and scenes I loved, the overall sum is merely okay-ish. Meanwhile, the first three episodes of s3/29 rocked so much that I'm sure the next one will again, too. Back to Manhattan first.
The Daleks turning on Dalek Sec, of course. Other things, too, but that one was obvious if you ever saw a single Dalek storyline of Old or New Who. This being said, Dalek Sec in hybrid form actually was more interesting than I had assumed from the first look at him at the end of Daleks in Manhattan, to wit: he was Davros in reverse. Davros was not a Dalek, and the fourth Doctor thought he could get through to him if he told him what his creations would become; but Davros thought it sounded just great. (And yes, back then it was predictable, too, that his creations would eventually turn on him.) Sec, on the other hand, is a Dalek but capable of adapting, changing, as opposed to Davros, and sincerely willing to undo what Davros did to the Khaleds - and of course the Daleks turn on him as well. Though Genesis of the Daleks was the far superior overall story, it suffers from one flaw, which was that the Doctor was pretty much incidental there, and his one major dilemma - to wipe out the proto-Daleks or not - was introduced and ended in five minutes fashion. You could have told Genesis of the Daleks without the Doctor, and it wouldn't have suffered for it. Here, the Doctor really has a point in the story, and what happens couldn't have happened at an earlier point, and certainly not before Gridlock, before Martha made him talk about Gallifrey. Both the "why don't you just do it, kill me!" - and at that moment, you think that maybe some part of him has wanted that ever since the Time War, for the Daleks to kill him -, the leap of faith with Dalek Sec and in the end the last-of-their-kinds standoff with Dalek Caan. In Runaway Bride, he did offer the Empress of the Racknoss to take her and her children away to an uninhabited planet, and of course she declined, but he made the offer, and the question is, would he have been willing to go through with it if she had accepted? Here, Sec makes the request - the offer probably never would have been made - and the Doctor allows himself to believe.
While this all works for me as metaphors of war survival and healing are concerned, and even as optimism that yes, people (of all kinds) can change, the problem is that the story connects it solely to the human DNA inside Sec now that he's absorbed Diagoras. (BTW, appreciate hat it was Diagoras, and we didn't get another touch-of-Companion thing.) Granted, given that the Daleks were created by Davros from the Khaled by removing all ability for empathy, compassion etc and giving them their supremacy as their first mandate that they are genetically engineered, not naturally developed, it sort of makes sense within the Whoeverse that if you could engineer these traits back into them by crossing them with another species, but the storytelling here specifically codes all the positive traits as human, not just "any other sentient species", which, well. Not so much. Sec's earlier listing of human abilities for war and destruction wasn't wrong, either, you know.
What did work for me again, and what I loved, was Martha continuing to be a doctor-in-training (patching up the wounded) and a Doctor-in-Training: Ten treats her like fellow fighter, trusting her to figure out what to do with the psychic paper and to make a stand with the pig slaves, and Tallulah becomes her sidekick for the episode. Both Martha coming up with the idea to use lightning conductors and her later reaction when she sees the dead pig men was great and rang true; it was self defense, but she killed, for the first time, and she has sworn an oath to save life. I *heart* Martha quite a lot.
What I could have done without: this episode's Rose mention, though thankfully not by the Doctor and not in his presence. I was really glad the last episode didn't have one, and I do hope the next one won't, either. I liked Rose, but enough is enough. (Admittedly I might feel different if I hadn't liked but loved Rose; I certainly would be thrilled if Ace got mentioned now and then, but I like to think that several episodes in a row would be too much for me then as well.)
Wiped out DalekHumanTimelordhybrids: now I think I'm on to something (see last week's theory of how the "you're not alone" could pan out if it's not refering to you-know-who.
The Daleks turning on Dalek Sec, of course. Other things, too, but that one was obvious if you ever saw a single Dalek storyline of Old or New Who. This being said, Dalek Sec in hybrid form actually was more interesting than I had assumed from the first look at him at the end of Daleks in Manhattan, to wit: he was Davros in reverse. Davros was not a Dalek, and the fourth Doctor thought he could get through to him if he told him what his creations would become; but Davros thought it sounded just great. (And yes, back then it was predictable, too, that his creations would eventually turn on him.) Sec, on the other hand, is a Dalek but capable of adapting, changing, as opposed to Davros, and sincerely willing to undo what Davros did to the Khaleds - and of course the Daleks turn on him as well. Though Genesis of the Daleks was the far superior overall story, it suffers from one flaw, which was that the Doctor was pretty much incidental there, and his one major dilemma - to wipe out the proto-Daleks or not - was introduced and ended in five minutes fashion. You could have told Genesis of the Daleks without the Doctor, and it wouldn't have suffered for it. Here, the Doctor really has a point in the story, and what happens couldn't have happened at an earlier point, and certainly not before Gridlock, before Martha made him talk about Gallifrey. Both the "why don't you just do it, kill me!" - and at that moment, you think that maybe some part of him has wanted that ever since the Time War, for the Daleks to kill him -, the leap of faith with Dalek Sec and in the end the last-of-their-kinds standoff with Dalek Caan. In Runaway Bride, he did offer the Empress of the Racknoss to take her and her children away to an uninhabited planet, and of course she declined, but he made the offer, and the question is, would he have been willing to go through with it if she had accepted? Here, Sec makes the request - the offer probably never would have been made - and the Doctor allows himself to believe.
While this all works for me as metaphors of war survival and healing are concerned, and even as optimism that yes, people (of all kinds) can change, the problem is that the story connects it solely to the human DNA inside Sec now that he's absorbed Diagoras. (BTW, appreciate hat it was Diagoras, and we didn't get another touch-of-Companion thing.) Granted, given that the Daleks were created by Davros from the Khaled by removing all ability for empathy, compassion etc and giving them their supremacy as their first mandate that they are genetically engineered, not naturally developed, it sort of makes sense within the Whoeverse that if you could engineer these traits back into them by crossing them with another species, but the storytelling here specifically codes all the positive traits as human, not just "any other sentient species", which, well. Not so much. Sec's earlier listing of human abilities for war and destruction wasn't wrong, either, you know.
What did work for me again, and what I loved, was Martha continuing to be a doctor-in-training (patching up the wounded) and a Doctor-in-Training: Ten treats her like fellow fighter, trusting her to figure out what to do with the psychic paper and to make a stand with the pig slaves, and Tallulah becomes her sidekick for the episode. Both Martha coming up with the idea to use lightning conductors and her later reaction when she sees the dead pig men was great and rang true; it was self defense, but she killed, for the first time, and she has sworn an oath to save life. I *heart* Martha quite a lot.
What I could have done without: this episode's Rose mention, though thankfully not by the Doctor and not in his presence. I was really glad the last episode didn't have one, and I do hope the next one won't, either. I liked Rose, but enough is enough. (Admittedly I might feel different if I hadn't liked but loved Rose; I certainly would be thrilled if Ace got mentioned now and then, but I like to think that several episodes in a row would be too much for me then as well.)
Wiped out DalekHumanTimelordhybrids: now I think I'm on to something (see last week's theory of how the "you're not alone" could pan out if it's not refering to you-know-who.
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no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 02:31 pm (UTC)Didn't the Doctor attribute the hybrids' 'little bit of freedom' to his Time Lord DNA, not human? I could have sworn... I'll go check.
Dalek-Human-TimeLord: "We are not Daleks."
The Doctor: "And you never will be. Sorry, I got in the way of the lightning strike. Time Lord DNA got all mixed up. Just that little bit of freedom."
I figured he did all that earlier chatter about humanity because a) he does like humans a lot (the fourth Doctor said somethind like, "I know it's irrational, but humans are quite my favorite species.") and b) humans were the ones being used by the Daleks. It would have been irrelevent to bring up another species (espcially in a human world that, in general, didn't believe in aliens).
no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 05:34 pm (UTC)Yes, I did feel that he at least partly meant it here, but it felt wrong to me because if that had happened he'd have left Martha stuck in the wrong time and I don't think the Doctor would ever have wanted that to happen. If it wa a bluff though, it was an incredibly risky one!
it was self defense, but she killed, for the first time, and she has sworn an oath to save life.
Yes, that was excellently done and rang very true. I really like the way they are showing Martha to be an intelligent person. Not that Rose wasn't, but Martha has knowledge that Rose wouldn't have had and that's coming through well.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 07:06 pm (UTC)Me too. It's always annoying if you have people on tv who are supposed to be cops/doctors/whatevers and it doesn't influence their characterisation at all. Whereas with Martha, it's always there, and not in a on the nose way, it's just an important part of her character, as it should be. I love that.