Posted: Apr 19, 2010 10:24 pm
Read elsewhere that "The Victory of the Daleks" was the first ep of the production block filmed. If so, it explains Smith and Gillan's off performances. Both were vastly better in the premier and "The Beast Below".
So was the writing, tho' to be fair to Gatiss, he might have been constrained by the decision to wheel out the new Daleks. Which felt pointless, the "old" (2005) design was fine, and these Daleks look like bloaters, with their bulging midsections. That's where the ep went wrong. Plot shouldn't serve product placement. There were great elements, like the opening 10 mins when you wondered what the Daleks' game was, but it all fell apart when the Technicolor(TM) Wonder Daleks rolled out. The episode felt like a vehicle for a new toy line, although some elements, like the absurd "talk the robot out of going boom" scene, are just bad writing, hangovers from the sloppier moments of the Russell T Davies era.
Still not worried for the new series. If Moffat pulls off the weeping angels/River Song two-parter, all shall be well on track.
So was the writing, tho' to be fair to Gatiss, he might have been constrained by the decision to wheel out the new Daleks. Which felt pointless, the "old" (2005) design was fine, and these Daleks look like bloaters, with their bulging midsections. That's where the ep went wrong. Plot shouldn't serve product placement. There were great elements, like the opening 10 mins when you wondered what the Daleks' game was, but it all fell apart when the Technicolor(TM) Wonder Daleks rolled out. The episode felt like a vehicle for a new toy line, although some elements, like the absurd "talk the robot out of going boom" scene, are just bad writing, hangovers from the sloppier moments of the Russell T Davies era.
Still not worried for the new series. If Moffat pulls off the weeping angels/River Song two-parter, all shall be well on track.