Doctor Who

[Matt Defis]

I really quite enjoyed it, it was fun.

[Lorfarius]

Not bad for a second episode.

[Fury4k]

I thought it was pretty good and I'm glad to see the show taking a somewhat slower, more thoughtful pace than it generally has had since the reboot. A bit more depth to the Doctor is welcome as well.

[Jack Walsh's coffee shop]

All this talk and no mention of Michael Smiley (AKA: Tires from SPACED) being part of last night's episode?!?

[Glasgowchivas]

Ben Wheatley directed it, of course Smiley was going to be in it.

[Mr Cochese]

He did the first one too. I guess he finally took a paying job so he can keep making films about Brummie serial killers on the side.

[Guest]

Tyres

[JohnC]

He's dead tyred.

[Hello Goaty ♥]

I'm late with episode two, just watched it.

Better!

In fact, it really should have been the first episode, with some post regeneration gubbins tacked onto the beginning. ( which would have tied in nicely with the Dalek not knowing who he was. )

500 million per cent better than the opener.

[Flub]

I was watching Uncle Blue thinking "I know this guy from somewhere" TYRES!

[Nick R]

And also the White Bear episode of Black Mirror.

[The Liberal Elite]

Actually, despite liking it, if I never see another dalek episode again, I'd be a happy man-child. They're played out. If i'd been playing a drinking game with a shot downed every time the word 'exterminate' was uttered, i'd be in hospital with liver failure.

[Sarlaccfood]

Yes but toys.

[AK Bell]

Why didn't they use the new style Daleks they made a big song and dance about a couple of series ago?

[HarMGM]

Because nobody liked them and there was a pretty massive backlash against them. Hence them being hidden in Asylum of The Daleks and pretty much written out of the show by now.

[Garwoofoo]

Just caught up with the second episode and I thought it was excellent, totally unexpectedly so in fact. I'd heard about the basic premise going in and thought it sounded naff, so wasn't expecting anything at all, but what I actually got was the best Dalek episode since the Eccleston era and a superb performance from Capaldi. I don't know whether it was the slower pacing that made the difference here but for the first time in forever it actually felt like the stuff in the episode mattered - like the characters were actually in jeopardy - it's something that I found totally missing from the ludicrously over-plotted Smith era where the resolution was always just a wisecrack and a reset button away. This was just great.

[c-cat114]

Because nobody liked them and there was a pretty massive backlash against them. Hence them being hidden in Asylum of The Daleks and pretty much written out of the show by now.

I liked them. I thought the redesign of the Daleks was the best thing about that episode. The only thing I didn't like was the look of them from the back which was shockingly crap.

From the front I thought they took on a beautiful solidity, like an Apple designed tank. The colours hinted at what could have been a new direction for them as well. Having different classes of Dalek - different roles and presumably castes - would have given us a new direction to see them take. Instead we're back to where we were with Ecclescake - a damaged introspective Dalek.

I liked bits of the episode but yes the musical rubbish and, often, I find I can't make out what Capaldi is saying. It's ok, and Clara is good, and the Missy mystery I hope has a satisfying resolution but two eps in I'm not sold still and next weeks looks awful from the trailer.

[Space Gibbon]

Dolorous Edd died pretty fast.

[womblingfree]

What a hotch-potch.

I love Capaldi and his well meaning put downs of his hamster cheeked companion. So much potential for this Dr.

I found it hard to believe that after millennia of war what was really needed to fix the daleks pure evil after all this time was a bit of Psycho-analysis.

I'm bemused by the dead people ending up in a garden in Wimbledon. If that's heaven I drive through it most Thursdays.

Le Chuck's pretty spot on about every episode seeming like a StAr Trek holo deck venture at the moment. With no overarching plot it's all very bitty right now. I'm still enjoying it though despite the hokum and absurd green-screen. The complete moral ambiguity, take it in your stride attitude towards death is refreshing, if a little bemusing.

Still sticking with it, but fuck me, next week looks like a Comic Relief one shot episode of Maid Marian and her Merry Men with Tony Robinson. Patience may be tested.

I don't mind the new titles too much, but the CGI Tardis looks like it was copied and pasted from a 90's cover of Amiga Power. A Blue Peter cardboard model would be an improvement.

[El Pibe]

I found the Dr's repeated insults about Clara's looks a bit odd.

[Zio]

The Daleks are classic though. Why would you want to change them too much, particularly in light of the target audience of the show where they want it all to be fairly light?. I mean, I watch Doctor Who with my 5-year old daughter and she loves the Daleks, just like I did when I was a kid.

More interesting things need to be done with them in terms of plotting, but I don't think their actual design needs much changing. It would be better to just introduce a whole new enemy to the mix.

[Camel]

It's only a matter of time until the daleks have been given massive hipster beards.

[kensei]

That was fun and well plotted - at least as good as Asylum, which I enjoyed. I'm still not entirely sold on Capaldi. He's really good in some scenes but there's something it's hard to put my finger on. He's a bit understated in his acting, while everyone else is still a bit melodramatic, maybe? It'll probably take a bit for the show to catch up.

The Daleks are in it much less than you think; they are usually used as background threat but there is one Dalek centred story a series, if that. The problem is that if you are a younger fan of the show, a year is a long time to wait to see them. I'm not adverse to experimenting with the design a bit, the special weapons Dalek for example, but they'll want to minimise it with a new Doctor.

Also good to see we've got holodeck of the week complaints two episodes in. When there is an inevitable swing back to an arc at some point, I expect it'll be the first title sequence before there's a call for self contained storiede.

[Flub]

From the trailer next week looks a hoot. You don't want grim and thoughtful every week. Sometimes you just need to put on a pair of green tights and fight robots in Sherwood forest.

[womblingfree]

That was fun and well plotted - at least as good as Asylum, which I enjoyed. I'm still not entirely sold on Capaldi. He's really good in some scenes but there's something it's hard to put my finger on. He's a bit understated in his acting, while everyone else is still a bit melodramatic

Because he's usually the only one who can actually act.

God save us from another David Tenant switching from madcap loony to vomit inducing sincerity.

[davidcotton]

For those wanting a different take on the Daleks, go listen to Big Finish's Dalek Empire (particularly the first series). It's a what if the daleks invaded and the Doctor wasn't around to help. Available dirt cheap atm it's worth a punt.

[NEG]

This episode could have been a lot more interesting if the concept of a "good" Dalek hadn't been explored before and done so much better. Hell in the 6th episode of the Eccleston run we had a Dalek that killed itself because it just could not understand it's own thoughts. It would rather die than be anything but a Dalek. Then we had Dalek Sec who became a "new" type of Dalek who was killed because he was no longer a pure Dalek. In both of those episodes and others we've explored the Doctors own feelings of Daleks. He hates them with every fibre of his being, but he is always, ALWAYS willing to give them a chance to prove themselves but they always fuck it up.

The difference and most interesting part of this episode was that the chance was ruined by the Dcotor himself. His own own hatred of them, and in the hands of a better writer, could have been a lot more thought provoking and interesting. Here, the entire episode was predictable, certainly not the worst, but they really need to up their game when they do the Daleks because I think they're running out of ideas of what to do with them. Maybe they should "retire" the Daleks for a few seasons and bring them back when they can think of something.

Capaldi and Coleman were good as always but that was it really.

Similar thoughts to this. While I don't think Daleks should be retired, recent stories with them just haven't matched what we got with RTD. A shame.

Am I a good man nonsense didn't live up to the hype. At no point, considering the episodes subject matter, did the question feel deep/worth considering.

It's far better when pointed out more subtly like in Family of blood (everywhere you land causes death of some kind, or whatever the quote was) and then of course what he does at the end of that. Put bluntly and it comes off 'well duh'.

[Exidor]

Similar thoughts to this. While I don't think Daleks should be retired, recent stories with them just haven't matched what we got with RTD. A shame.

Yes. Bring back cockbeard and the pig men.

[Protocol Penguin]

Because he's usually the only one who can actually act.

God save us from another David Tenant switching from madcap loony to vomit inducing sincerity.

It's a positive step that with Capaldi they've cast an actor in the main role who can actually act, unlike the previous two amateurs. However, there's only so much he can do amongst terrible semi-rehashed story lines, poor dialogue, terribly acted characters of the week, and CBBC level special effects. Shame really.

[Mr Cochese]

They'd have to politely ask the guest stars to not read blankly from the autocue.