Doctor Who 5x03 "Victory of the Daleks" full reaction

That's always so fascinating with TV shows in general, trying to make a cohesive story from so many different moving parts. I like the trend of writers functioning as producers and directors...they really know their own show the best, unless the director is a repeat hire who really knows the show. But there are so many places where an episode of any show can glitch - in the writing, or directing, editing, etc. I'd love to read that original version of the script! :-)

Fourth Wall Reactions

I've tried posting this comment under The Beast Below, but for some unknown reason it keeps on deleting it. Anyway, I hope t works this time. I know this is a bit of a late comment, but sorry. I only just got a chance to watch the FL today. And I've noticed more things wrong with this episode. What's the deal with the girl reading the creepy poem at the start? It's a frustratingly random thing thrown it at the start of the episode that's never explained. They say that if just 1% of the population votes to protest the star whale would be freed and the ship would disintegrate. Um, what? What kind of a democracy is that? Surely 1% of the vote is the minority, right?! Also, the whole tone of the story feels wrong. The government is torturing a creature and force feeding it people, but the episode wants us to feel sorry for them by the end of the episode! No! I mean, couldn't they have been feeding it anything else? Did they have to resort to murdering innocent people? To add to that. They know the creature refuses to eat children, right? So, why do they continue to kidnap children and take them away from their families, who must wonder where there children have gone because they never bother to return them! What was the point of the smilers? Why were they so blatantly creepy? You can't say they were to keep the citizens afraid and compliant because what would be the point? Everyone chooses to forget! Also, Liz10 had been investigating what had been going on for 10 years before she chose to wipe her memory for the first time. I'm sorry, but it took her ten years to get to the bottom of this mystery? Minor thing, but LIz10 was big on being undercover for much of the episode, but then just casually takes off her mask in front of the girl. I also think the parallels between the star whale and the Doctor are incredible soppy and cheesy. It's forced emotion. I mean, pain and misery only made it kind? It's so ott. Moffat tried way too hard to make this episode mysterious, but he forget he had to tell a compelling, emotionally engaging story at the same time. There's a reason why so many consider this episode Moffat's first (but certainly not his last.....) dud. There shouldn't be so many problems and glaring inconsistencies in a single episode.

Azmat Mahmood

That’s interesting, Janine. I didn’t know that. I know, for some episodes, if one key person ignores the constraints of time or budget, it can create a problem. I thought maybe the editing was a little wonky, but direction makes more sense. My husband loves this episode. His philosophy is that even when it’s not stellar, it’s Doctor Who, and is still better than any other program. Bless him.

Vanessa J McNamara

I enjoy this episode and still give it an 8, but it could have been more. Sometimes there are too many voices in a room and sometimes not enough.

o

I have a friend who was at the readthrough of the original version of the script, and apparently it was one of the finest Dr Who episodes ever written -- something was lost in translation because of a really incompetent director who demanded extensive rewrites.