Rate and Discuss: Asylum of the Daleks

[SiHart]

More Daleks then ever before of every shape and size...

What do you think of the first episode of the new series?

[Jason Thompson]

I must confess the trailer and the 'in a nutshell' summary in DWM left me feeling like there were some elements of this story that did not seem to fit with the Daleks as we know them, so I'll be interested to see how the episode plays out. And everyone on this board already knows how I feel about scenes with the Doctor standing unarmed in front of a bunch of Daleks and not one of them even trying to kill him...

[J.R. Southall]

I can't wait to see if Steven Moffat makes the Daleks as wise-cracking as he seems to make everyone else... (and as flirty, too!)

[Dirk Gently]

And everyone on this board already knows how I feel about scenes with the Doctor standing unarmed in front of a bunch of Daleks and not one of them even trying to kill him...

Ah, but do they want him dead?

[Jason Thompson]

Very likely not, but given their past history of failure whenever they've tried things that require him to be alive for even part of the plan, you'd think they'd have learned....

[duncan]

Really looking forward to this. I have seen the trailer but have deliberately stayed away from synopsis etc so i don't know much about this one.

[Larry]

well if the trailer is anything to go by this could potentialy be the best Dalek episode since Genesis.

[Dino]

No trailers. Only the odd picture. Couldn't even get Pond Life to load up for me. So... yeah! Into the unknown we go! Trying to remain at point 0, so it'll either go up-tiddly-up-up or go down-tiddly-down-down.

Wow, did I really write that on a public forum?

[Rob McCow]

Um diddly dum dum dum.

My word, this episode looks like it's going to be amazing.
1) It's got all the old Daleks.
2) It's not written by bloody Chris Chibnall.
That makes a winner for me.

[Nyder]

I'm very excited now! Suddenly I'm 10 again, I'm sat with my cousin with our burger & chips, waiting for the good Doctor!

[Jason Thompson]

I have to admit I haven't looked forward to an episode of Doctor Who this much since Rose, so i hope it delivers...

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I think I'll just be happy to see the old props again, no matter what else happens. I'm easily pleased like that. Throw in an old console room and they could just spend 50 minutes sitting in there having a picnic and I'd love it.

[Alex]

I loved that, a genuinely suspenseful but very creepy episode, with an extremely touching emotional side to it as well. I guessed 'the twist', but I imagine most people did too (bar the younger viewers perhaps*) but it didn't stop the revelation being very affecting.

It was Who at it's best imho, with the script, direction and performances all gelling together to make a brilliant episode.

9/10 - An episode I'm already looking forward to rewatching.


*I mean 7 or 8 year olds, not Ant

[Dino]

Wow! That was full marks! Did not see that coming.
Will explain more when everyone's seen it. But yeah. Doctor Who's back! Yay!

[Nyder]

Well I didn't see the revelation (of the daleks!) coming so that makes me officially thick :-)

First impressions - liked a lot! But will have a further mull before commenting further & scoring (ie watch it again!) Didn't get to see much of the old Daleks though did we?

[Si Hunt]

Jenna Louise was amazing, she looked great & had a real freshness to her, even though her dialogue sounded overly soundbite-esque occasionally (and tiresome lesbian nods. Yawn).

Great overall plot & it looked fantastic. Good twist, although I didn't entirely get it. If she was "dreaming" how did she communicate with him directly? Tweaked titles are nice.

Big boo for lack of old series Daleks. Almost every shot was a 2005 Dalek. Paradigm Daleks also suspiciously fazed out.

All in all an exciting season opener, although perhaps not enough plot for me - a lot of it was just "getting there".

Si.

[duncan]

Getting the negatives out of the way (and this is in no way anything to actually do with the story), I didn't like the revamped opening titles. It looked amaturish and the font and the way it appears looks like it's been knocked up quickly on Windows Movie Maker.

But, the episode was awesome and for me, the very best series opener since the show returned in 2005. It was a bit difficult to spot the older version of the Daleks ( I was looking out for special weapons and I think i saw it briefly at the back).

Also, I'm glad that I avoided the spoilers as the appearance Jenna Louise Coleman took me by surprise. I'm really intrigued as to how she will be introduced as the companion now. I only worked out the twist just seconds before it was revealed and this is probably the first time that Karen convinced me in the role.

9/10 from me.

[Larry]

Well I didn't see the revelation (of the daleks!) coming so that makes me officially thick :-)

First impressions - liked a lot! But will have a further mull before commenting further & scoring (ie watch it again!) Didn't get to see much of the old Daleks though did we?

considering all the talk about every Dalek from the classic series being in it I felt a little cheated as apart from the Special Weapons Dalek you'ed of been hard pressed to even notice the classic series lot. Other than that very minor complaint loved the episode the Human Daleks were a surpise and the ending with it being a Dalek creature dreaming her human existance was very unexpected . And Jenna-Louise Coleman , wasn't expecting her to be in episode 1 but have instantly fallen in love withher and reckon she's going to be a wonderful companion.

[Larry]

Jenna Louise was amazing, she looked great & had a real freshness to her, even though her dialogue sounded overly soundbite-esque occasionally (and tiresome lesbian nods. Yawn).

Great overall plot & it looked fantastic. Good twist, although I didn't entirely get it. If she was "dreaming" how did she communicate with him directly? Tweaked titles are nice.

Big boo for lack of old series Daleks. Almost every shot was a 2005 Dalek. Paradigm Daleks also suspiciously fazed out.

All in all an exciting season opener, although perhaps not enough plot for me - a lot of it was just "getting there".

Si.

I think it was more of a case that she had convinced herself she was still human rather than her dreaming.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Very very odd decision to sell the "every Dalek ever" angle so strongly when you really will have to go through the thing frame by frame to even see them. The "Intensive Care" area would have been the perfect area to show them all, but even there it was all New Series versions. Really I don't even know why they bothered (if they even did - I spotted the Special Weapons Dalek and a dome with some small orange lights near the end, but that was about it).

I really enjoyed the episode itself though so I can't really fault that, but really why set up such a fan-pleasing scenario in the publicity if it just wasn't there on the screen.

[Alex]

I really enjoyed the episode itself though so I can't really fault that, but really why set up such a fan-pleasing scenario in the publicity if it just wasn't there on the screen.

That's why I'm so glad that for the last season and this one I've avoided all the trailers / promo stuff / news and spoilers, so that things like that don't affect my enjoyment of the show at all.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Oh... I also don't like how the TARDIS suddenly appears and disappears in the way it always did if they ever tried to do it on a regional news programme or a live Children in Need segment, rapidly fading in and out in a rather cheap-looking way.

Still liked the episode though

[Si Hunt]

Me too! The pulsing! THE PULSING! It should fade, not pulse!

Si.

[Andrew Curnow]

Fun episode, took a little while to get going but we both enjoyed it - I'll echo the comments above that the fanboy in me was hoping to see more olde Daleks (I think I spotted a Genesis-type one in the first long shot of Rory in the Asylum, and the Special Weapons one as well); also not expecting to see the new girl - in fact I wasn't really sure it was her until the credits; we both laughed at the 'Ponds kissing' scene with the Doctor; and I liked the scene with the guy taking the Doctor & Amy back to his ship, and being surprised to find everyone was dead. It reminded me of Kryten aboard the Nova 5 ("They're dead? Are you quite sure?")

A thumbs up!!

[Si Hunt]

I liked the fresh whiteness of the location scenes, made a nice contrast with the darkness of the Asylum. I was sorry to see next weeks episode is all darkness & gloom as well.

Si.