So doctor who returned this week, and in my opinion not in the best style possible, sure they went with daleks because they are the most commercial and well known of the foes, but it just felt a little silly, with rory and amy having split up seemingly over the most stupid reason… that she couldn’t have babies despite them having had the doctors wife as thier child. Also with the whole pregnant not pregnant timeline it hints at things which would mean any medical problem associated with this could be solved by being in the tardis, also I am more than sure there are a number of solutions the doctor would be able to provide which could fix this. Of course I can understand the whole trying to protect each other and letting each other go because they love each other so much plot.
Anyway ignoring all of that it comes down to the fact that mysteriousely the doctor has been outwitted by the daleks but for the first ever time they want his help rather than attempting to exterminate him, completely going against the daleks zenophobic nature and thier deep pride to actually ask the doctor of all people for help without attempting to solve matters themselves appearing scared of thier own kind and also having another nature that goes against previous episodes defined natures where they keep thier ill and insane daleks as opposed to exterminating any weakness in the bloodlines.
Further to changes to previous plots and the fact that the dalaks have been wiped out so many times and ressurected and changed it is hard to keep track of which daleks these actually decend from, rory jokes “which colour” which supports this but really, what ever happened to the dalek+ model that was invented when churchill had his little dalek weapon and they were in space and made the dalek equivalent of the cars you see in the fast and the furious (whatever thier actual name is, pimped up blingy fat mobiles… but in dalek form)
So throwing the plotline out of the window the writers decided then that daleks were perfectly happy not only converting living and dead matter to dalek form (not just an automiton as they have established in previous series prior to the new episodes IE cybermen and the likes) they actually had to be dalek in form, and ignoring the complete racism of daleks being the supreme race and no others being acceptible, they convert a human into a dalek allowing her to keep her entire intelligence and humanity, something no dalek would allow not even an insane one.
Inevitibly this was all just a ridiculous episode long setup for a cheesy one liner where the human dalek lady wiped the entire daleks database/hivemind of references of the doctor so they would all say “doctor who” and it just felt really cheap and not worthy of being a proper doctor who episode, had this been some stupid comic relief special it would have been accepted but this was supposed to be the big dramatic introduction to the new season, and this was the stupid plot twist they told everyone about… I felt robbed.
Hopefully future episodes will be better, I believe the steven moffat episodes are coming up which are usually the better written ones, and if there is actually a common linking theme this season I hope it is nothing to do with what happened in this episode or the fact that the humanised dalek/converted human however you want to put it… stated “remember me” as he clearly has a time machine and could easily jump to that point in time and save her and take her out somewhere and do something, but this would not be an exciting plot and would put me off the series. Of course this could have simply been a minor leadup to the fact that the daleks dont remember the doctor but it could be different.
The main idea that has to be explored though is that everyone in the previous series stated this was where the doctor turned dark and started being known for bad things accross the universe which is why people were turning against him so this has to be an idea to be explored, also there has to be a point where the doctor would die and pass on to the next life, this breaks the cycle with him and his wife travelling in opposite directions of the timeline and would result in him being able to free her from the library in his new form and the both of them being able to travel along the timeline together at the same time in mutual rebirth. (I hope that isnt a spoiler too much… just it makes sense that way)
In doing things the american way where theres 5 episodes a minor break then the rest of the season it could result in his death being episode 5 or at least there will be a major plot development at that point to entice people to watch the season when it returns (if its well written) but with 4 episodes to create such a leadup it could be difficult to pull off such a feat and allow for thier usual xmas special. Whatever happens I am hopeing that there is a dramatic improvement to the next episode as this felt like a very cheap quip with daleks thrown in for good measure as opposed to a high quality episode.