Victory of the Daleks reaction post

[dbskyler]

Just got back from a trip, and the first thing I did was watch "Victory of the Daleks" (which had recorded correctly, yay!). I haven't read anyone else's reaction to this yet, but I wanted to get my thoughts down right away.



I did not like Matt Smith's performance in this. I don't know if it's because I'm just not getting into Eleven (although I loved him in his first episode), or if it's because this episode in particular really made me miss David Tennant (which it did), but I just didn't buy Smith's portrayal of the Doctor here. There were lines about "my greatest enemy," etc., but I just didn't get the sense of it from him -- it all just kind of fell flat. I keep thinking how other Doctors would've played it, and I can't decide whose delivery I would've liked the most, but I think I'd take any of them over how Smith played it. (In terms of the hypothetical best portrayal in those scenes, I currently have a mental tie between David Tennant, Tom Baker and Colin Baker. You just know Colin would've gotten very self-righteous with it, and he plays that so well.)

I am still liking Amy, at least. It's also very interesting that the Doctor believes he picked her up after "Journey's End," but she doesn't remember the Daleks. There's obviously something going on, and I have to say I like the way this arc is developing (it's far more interesting than just randomly dropping in words like "Bad Wolf" or "Torchwood" for a few episodes). I'm really wondering if Amy's presence is causing the crack to develop wherever she's been.

The plot was so-so. What's up with the new Daleks in the Day-Glo colors? I didn't really see the point of them. I also don't quite get why they're pure when the other Daleks weren't. Were the other Daleks left over from "Journey's End"? In that case, weren't they made from Davros' DNA? If that supposedly made them "unpure," I don't get it, since Davros is a Kaled. Mostly I'm just confused. It seems there was a lot of explanation there that got quickly thrown at us and then glossed over. And speaking of glossed-over explanations, I also didn't get how the bomb would be stopped if the professor could remember feelings from his fake past. It seems that we as audience members were supposed to just accept a random premise here and another over there, and oh by the way don't think about whether this actually makes sense or not. I'm very disappointed, because I used to think that well-constructed plots were a hallmark of Moffat's writing and style. He didn't write this particular episode, but he approved it, and I'm starting to think that Moffat is only exceptional at plot when he's doing one Doctor Who story a year. Or maybe he's putting all of his plotting finesse into the overall arc? It better be one hell of a payoff then to make up for the sloppy writing we're getting along the way.

I did like the reference to the TARDIS being a Type 40 (of course it is! *g*) and the Daleks counting down in rels. But other than that, this was a pretty forgettable episode.

Okay, now off to see what everyone else thought . . .

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

A lot of people rate Gatiss far more highly than I do as a writer (I think he's a better actor, but not by masses!)

The stopping the bomb business was utter nonsense (it's not even bad pseudo science, it's just utter cobblers!), and the Day-Glo Daleks are so obviously there as a marketing ploy that I felt insulted. The script could've *tried* to convince me there was an in-story reason for them being multicoloured.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

the Day-Glo Daleks are so obviously there as a marketing ploy that I felt insulted

That scene did have a "collect them all!" feel to it, didn't it?

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Definitely!!

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Well, I can't believe I'm saying this, as I thought this episode was horrible, but the first 10 minutes weren't all bad.

WOULD YOU LIKE SOME TEA WITH THAT? - that is. :)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

No, you're right, the Daleks going around being subservient was a wonderful start.

Re-reading my post, I think I may have been a little harsh on Matt Smith. He didn't do a bad job, but I just didn't get the depth of emotion that I was hoping for.

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've been noticing it as well. In my case I have to say though I don't think it's completely his fault - I mean, specifically VotD was written in such a ridiculous way that it just doesn't really give him a proper set up to show the strength of emotion. It was very "and then this happens and then this happens"... at least to me.

[thisbluespirit]

...And now you've got me imagining it as a Six episode. You're right - it's exactly the sort of scene that Colin would sell utterly. And the Daleks would have matched his coat.

However, I very much liked Matt Smith in that scene. But maybe just because he ate the jammy dodgy. Any Doctor might have threatened the Daleks with a jammy dodger, but the eating-it-when-caught-out was lovely. :-)

It seems to have been the weakest ep so far (so general opinion goes). But there was a good story in there to begin with, until we swapped tea-making Daleks and morally ambiguous WWII tactics for a space ship and a positronic man.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

it's exactly the sort of scene that Colin would sell utterly. And the Daleks would have matched his coat.

LOL!

Any Doctor might have threatened the Daleks with a jammy dodger, but the eating-it-when-caught-out was lovely.

I did like that moment, and I thought Matt Smith did it well. Of course, it reminded me of the moment in "Face of Evil" where the Fourth Doctor threatens someone with a jelly baby, then eats it when his bluff is called, but it was a nice continuity reference -- and I bet a very intentional one, although I suspect it was in the script and put there by Gatiss. Still, I agree Matt did a good job with it. I didn't ever believe it was a TARDIS self-destruct device, but I had no idea it wasn't some technological gizmo until he took a bite out of it!