In series 7 of the Doctor Who revival (Series 33), Steven Moffat goes full force into the idea that every episode of Doctor Who needs to be an epic mini-movie week in and week out, and “The Asylum of the Daleks” is a prime example of what we can expect for the rest of the series.
To not spoil anything (of which questions will be available in the section that follows this article), I’ll just keep my notes to how I feel about this episode.
Similar to last series’s Western opens with Smith in a Stetson, we find this series opening to a very stylized and cinema style story with sweeping opening looks at the Darlek home world and their parliament. There is no telling on how long it has been since the events at the “Wedding of River Song” and how the Doctor has fared on his quest to find out who is behind the Question. Of course, we do get a small tease to that towards the end of the episode.
“The Asylum of the Daleks” is an action packed episode with a lot of twists and turns that, even for along time viewer, gets confusing at some points. At just under 50 minutes, there is a huge amount of story to tell and a lot of story that is left out due to time constraints. Admittedly, I’m thankful that we didn’t start the series with a frustrating two part episode, but with only 5 total episodes before the Christmas break, I hope that Moffat can build a compelling story that isn’t completely rushed as it seems to be.
In case you missed it, here is the summer prequel that does explain a few of the things that happens during the break.
I also have a HUGE lament for the cancelation of Doctor Who Confidential which helps greatly in explaining these episodes post viewing. I think it was a huge mistake and huge loss to the viewing public to end such an insightful show.
Spoilers…..
- Is Moffat going to do the same origami run around with the timeline?
- Amy and Rory didn’t make sense. That’s just silly.
- Having a whole planet of “insane” Darleks that even they don’t want to eliminate due to their perfection of hatred shows a bit of the Darlek psyche.
- Who is Hannah? Is she real? How did her mother contact the Doctor?
- My gosh, I’m in love the new companion, and it’s amazing how the fans kept that quiet after their preview last week.
