I really liked this episode! This would have got a 100% like from me, if it hadn't been all recons. I also never thought I would like another Dalek story so much.
This one was different and clever. I love how they have set up the second Doctor's character. He is so completely different from William Hartnell. I like that, though. I don't feel as though I am betraying William Hartnell, as I fall in love with Patrick Troughton. Okay, maybe 'love' is a bit excessive here, but you see what I mean. In fact, the second Doctor doesn't call himself a Doctor. He hems and hahs his way through the episode. You aren't quite sure if he is a good doctor or a bad one or if he is the Doctor at all.
I don't know if you have ever watched Columbo, but it is a mystery series featuring Peter Falk, a rumpled self-deprecating detective who acts a bit on the slow side, but really isn't. Everything he says or does is calculated, and he really isn't a bit nice. But he uses charm to catch the killers. Patrick Troughton reminds me a bit like Columbo. He looks like he just stepped out of a brawl and he acts like he doesn't know anything but he does. This makes his character intriguing.
Polly and Ben aren't sure about the Doctor. They've never heard of regeneration. They don't accept him at first. There is word that they did not like William Hartnell much, and the feeling was mutual. But that is all hearsay. They and Patrick Troughton got along very well, apparently.
The planet on which they have landed is Vulcan. It's merely a coincidence that the name of their planet is the same as the planet Vulcan in Star Trek. Although I would have burst into song if they had the Vulcans and the Doctor together in an episode. Who doesn't like Spock? That's never going to happen, but apparently there is a comic book that combines Doctor Who with Star Trek: The Next Generation. Go read it and tell me how it is.
What is up with the Doctor's sorting hat from Harry Potter? It is impossible to look good in that.
The Daleks are more complex creatures in this episode. They are pretending to be the humans' slaves, but they have ulterior motives. Very dark, ulterior motives. Of course they are trying to take over mankind, but they have to hide this intention while they gain energy power, and create more Daleks. Just having four Daleks makes it impossible to take over the world, you know. There's a funny scene when the Daleks are discussing that they need to deceive the humans by only appearing three at a time. It doesn't take long before the Doctor realizes, 'Oh wait, there are four of you now?' The Daleks can't even spit out, "I am your servant" without sounding like they are passing a stone. Daleks just don't bow down to anyone.
This leads me to wonder how they are making more Daleks. There is a little creature inside operating the machine, and how do they reproduce those creatures? Daleks must grow very fast once they are spawned. My expert viewer suggested that they probably clone them. And here I thought Daleks had to woo and conquer to have their babies.
I'm also worried about the size of the Dalek capsule. I got the impression that it was rather small. It also takes everyone a bit of time before they realize that the Daleks are building more machines with the materials they are demanding. The humans are a bit on the slow side in this episode. Grocery list: Plungers, metal, bleach, anthrax, arsenic, four chainsaws, two z-bombs and four bags of gummy worms.
So if the space capsule is small, how the heck do they fitting so many Daleks in there, and have room for a conveyor belt? Such mysteries.
The Doctor is impersonating a dead guy, the examiner. He is a crafty one. But he uses his identity to get past security and figure out what is going on in the Dalek capsule that has landed on the planet. The head of the colony on this planet is a bit unhinged, and power hungry. Rarely are humans portrayed as rather evil and violent compared to the aliens. When Bragen kills Governor Hensell, he uses the Dalek to do so. The Dalek asks Bragen why humans are okay with killing other humans. It occurred to me in a flash that the Daleks don't kill their own kind. At least not at this time.
I wondered why the humans didn't recognize the Daleks, after the invasion of Earth, but my expert viewer said that this occurs before that episode took place. Stupid timeline stuff. It's difficult to keep this all straight in my head, really. Why can't they just go methodically through history instead of jumping around like that? I like order and structure.
It really is a shame that the Doctor can't play his pocket flute a little better. I want to yank it from him and throw it into the ocean. Although the flute becomes Troughton's thing, just like Hartnell had his ring and cane.
Not too long after the episode begins, the Doctor is thrown into jail. I hope this doesn't become a pattern. But while the 2nd Doctor is finding a clever way to get out, the 1st Doctor probably would have gone to sleep. No offense, Hartnell. The Doctor opens the jail door by using a specific wine glass pitch. I've heard that you can turn locks using the right frequency but that seems like a myth to me. I shall have to try it next time I'm stuck in Vulcan behind bars.
Of course the power hungry Bragen is killed, the Daleks are defeated [or are they?] and the Doctor and his companions take off in their TARDIS. Again, there's a lot of violence in this episode, with dead bodies lying around. Rated R.
Next up: The Highlanders. Oh no.
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