Joe and Chris are back to discuss Victory of the Daleks, an episode which has received an almost unanimous kicking from the Doctor Who fanbase but find that in the end they have to concede that their expectations were higher than the episode could deliver.
But, you'll be amazed how little we mention the Dalek redesign, which is a refreshing change, right?
Last week, our sexy deep breathing caused listener Rose to suggest she had to "cover [her] ovaries' ears", so we're doing it again this week, with extra sniffing.
Also, contains gratuitous reference to Halloween III: Season of the Witch.
PLAYLIST (on Spotify)
Andrew W.K.: Victory Strikes Again
Jeff Wayne: The Fighting Machine
Malcolm Clarke: Resurrection of the Daleks (Stereo Suite)
Joan Armatrading: Drop the Pilot
The Human League: Human
Daft Punk: Human After All
Fluke: Atom Bomb
John Barry: Space Lazer Battle
Pulp: Space
Mourning Widows: Space
War: Low Rider
John Williams: Star Wars Main Title
Styx: Mr. Roboto
Muse: Blackout
Tom Jones: Sex Bomb
Bernard Herrann: Rebirth
Buzzcocks: Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)
The Fucking Champs: Flawless Victory
Urban Cookie Collective: The Key The Secret
Paddy Kingsland: A Whisper from Space
Queen: Action This Day
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band: I'm the Urban Spaceman
Babylon Zoo: Spaceman
Hot Chocolate: So You Win Again
Edwin Starr: War
Faith No More: A Small Victory
LISTEN TO "VICTORY OF THE DALEKS"
Image from Sonic Biro
15 comments:
Neglected to mention, of course, the first tune heard in the episode...
Vera Lynn: (There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover
I didn't get the feeling Amy fancied the Doctor. Maybe the handsome, neighbor guy? Maybe just to give you the idea that she's not quite sure about getting married.
Ah, Jeff. There's clearly some history with Rory and Jeff considering Rory's reaction to Jeff's name in The Eleventh Hour (and with Jeff being referred to as "the good-looking one").
I'm not sure this will be explored any more than it already was in that section - that's the stuff Moffat does best in his comedy writing, I hope he keeps it up.
Overall, I truly loved "Victory of the Daleks", depite the negative reviews and some of the flaws in the story. I also liked the new colorful design for the Paradigm Daleks. It's makes them capture your attention more, in my opinion.
Although, I'm surprised no one in the reviews commented on how dangerously genre savvy these new Paradigm Daleks are about the Doctor. I really liked that. In fact, I think that makes them seem much scarier and deadlier. These people who are complaining about the Paradigm Daleks are giving me the impression that all they're saying is "They changed it, so now it sucks!".
Also, I like the Dalek voice modulation in this episode a lot more than in the last ones. It makes me laugh harder cos it actually sounded like Nick Briggs doing it. By the way, I had no idea what Jammy Dodgers were, being an American. But I've since looked them up on Wikipedia, and they sound really good. I really wanna try them now! This is the third time that "Doctor Who" has inspired me to buy a product. The first time was buying my toy sonic screwdriver. The second was when I began wearing Converse Chucks as my shoe of choice.
I also loved the Spitfires in space stuff, too. In fact, according to Confidential, it was Steven Moffat's idea for that. I'll bet you anything that the people complaining about that were the same people who were bitching about RTD's completely off-the-wall ideas.
I don't think it's fair to complain about something that kinda stuff, because it's "Doctor Who"! It's the only show I know of that can do mad stuff like that, and you accept it because it's too awesome not too. If you're complaining about it, you're taking it too seriously. Sometimes, you just gotta check your brain out at the door and just enjoy the ride.
I'm really looking forward to "The Time of Angels"/"Flesh and Stone". My friend Thomas is, too. He's new to Doctor Who, and had never seen them before, so I had to educate him on them, as well as why they're so effing scary. I think I've rambled for long enough. Keep up the awesome work, guys! :D
I meant this episode of the podcast, btw. Just wanted to make that clear.
Thanks, Kevin, I got what you meant.
Glad you enjoyed both the podcast and DW episodes. I'm still resolutely a fan of 'Victory', and it think it would have been one of the better episodes in some series. Still, I'm feeling a more positive reaction to it, certainly since we recorded the podcast. I guess people have just shifted their expectations with the Moff-era.
I'm really hoping now that the Angels 2-parter can live up to my expectations. I was gonna say 'everyone's expectations' but, as we know, that's just impossible.
Yeah, tell me about it. I'm hoping this 2-parter lives up to mine as well.
Although, I've come to realize that "Doctor Who" has the most unpleasable fanbase ever. I came to this conclusion after visiting this site called "TV Tropes". there are 2 conflicting tropes on there, the "Crowning Moment of Awesome" and the "Wallbanger".
I'll explain both, for the benefit of those listeners who don't go to TV Tropes. A "Crowning Moment of Awesome" is when something happens that is so awesome, you can't stop talking about it. The "Wallbanger" is something that you find so incredibly stupid, that you feel like you want to bang your head repeatedly against the wall because you couldn't believe you watched something that stupid.
I mention these two tropes because I checked out the Doctor Who pages for both of them, and different fans listed the exact same moment in both pages for their points of contention. In other words, one person's Crowning Moment of Awesome is another person's Wallbanger.
For instance, there are some people who thought it was cool and dramatic that the Doctor wiped Donna's mind of everything they did together in order to save her life and commended RTD for that dramatic punch. Another person thought it was stupid that Donna was saved like that and trashed RTD, calling him a coward for not having the balls to kill off Donna. If that's not a sign of an unpleasable fanbase, I don't know what is.
I'm just glad to be a fan who tries to have reasonable expectations for upcoming Doctor Who stuff. Sometimes the hype gets the better of me, but I don't go trashing the episode because it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. I'm just like "Eh. it was good, but not as good as I hoped. But that's fine.".
Chris, I want a Sonic Screwdriver. Do you think you can locate one for me on Amazon?
Like this one? Or have I misunderstood?
Thanks again for the comments, Kevin. sorry I didn't get back to you about guest appearance. I can't rule it out but after a few years of recording podcasts with people in the US, I'm enjoying sticking resolutely with the one timezone at the moment. Joe-ratio and I have no specific recording time, we just get in touch and ask if we have a couple of hours spare. That's why we haven't had anyone else on, even from the UK so far, and not the regular commenters on this blog MB, Palmer and Steph who are all Americans of my long aquaintance.
Actually, I did once (ahem, twice) record a Doctor Who episode for a different podcast a couple of years ago, but since he's from Portland, OR there's eight hours between us and arranging it was quite the challenge.
And, due to various problems, the episode does not, in fact, exist.
Fun times!
"Actually, I did once (ahem, twice) record a Doctor Who episode for a different podcast a couple of years ago"
Ahem... there's a "with MB" missing from there somewhere.
No problem, Chris. I understand your misgivings. Although, I live in the state of Michigan, so it's only a 5 hour time difference. Except for on Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 pm (my time) and anytime on May 8th -cos that's the day my older brother is getting married- I'm pretty much free to record for you guys should you reconsider.
congrats to your brother, kevin!
enjoyed both the episode of Who and of EH. of course, the next episode was F'n fantastic. kind of want to watch it over again immediately.
back to that there Dalek episode. i'm cool with the redesign. the doctor dude was kind of hokey and so was the defusinating of his chest-bomb ("a bomb in his ribcage!"). but not awful. the spitfires kind of hokey but fit within the established parameters of the episode.
matt smith continued to be excellent as did karen gillan.
We nearly recorded the podcast right after the episode, but we think that in the end it was wise not to as it would have just been a series of noises.
Thanks, Palmer. Even though you're a complete stranger to me, that means a helluva lot. I also enjoyed "The Time of Angels". I especially love how Steven Moffat has subverted his usual "Everybody Lives" motif for this 2-parter. I also can 't help but feel there's gonna be more casualties on the way. And God, just hearing what that Weeping Angel did to those clerics in such grotesque detail made my stomach churn... :P
Yes, Chris. Like that one. However, 50 bucks is too steep a price for me. Maybe they'll be cheaper at Comic Con. Or maybe while in the spirit of Comic Con, I won't mind paying the price for one.
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