Kathryn A. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kerravonsen) wrote2014-09-19 11:58 pm
kerravonsen) wrote2014-09-19 11:58 pm
Entry tags:
Doctor Who 8x02 Into The Dalek
Yes I am very behind, and falling further so. Ah well, I shall trundle on slowly.
This episode was a mix of stupidity and stuff that gets me thinking.
Fantastic Voyage this is NOT.
* Did nobody brief the soldiers? "Your mission is to wander around inside the Dalek until you get killed by it. Any questions?" "No Sir!"
* Um, this is a cyborg, not a robot. Or were they just wandering around in the robot parts?
* Um, if they're microscopic, you aren't going to pick them up with tweezers. Well, maybe they weren't microscopic.
* They have scanners good enough to track Our Heroes, but not good enough to figure out what is wrong with the Dalek?
* Sounds like a case of "We've got this cool miniaturization ray, let's use it for everything!"
* Um, if you're being improbably miniaturized, I doubt that your lungs are the only things to worry about. This isn't deep sea diving. Though if they treated it fully like deep sea diving, it probably would have felt more authentic.
* So they take precautions against the Doctor being a spy by having him be followed by soldiers, but they don't take ANY precautions against the Dalek reverting to type, even though that is a possible outcome of their actions? It seems as if their idea of "soldiering" is "Don't plan, just shoot things". No wonder they were losing.
Interesting that they were called "rebels"; implies that they already lost, and were rebelling against Dalek rule. Which could possibly explain why they were crap at soldiering (though doesn't necessarily explain why they appeared to be so well-equipped).
I admit the robot antibodies looked cool.
Stuff that gets me thinking
The nature of hatred and goodness.
I was thinking at the start "Hey, just because the Dalek hates Daleks doesn't mean that it's good!" So I kind of already knew the "lesson" that this was supposed to teach - that making a Dalek hate Daleks doesn't make it good. Or maybe that wasn't the lesson. Maybe they're all confused about the relationship between hatred and goodness. It is far far too simple to say that "goodness" comprises not hating anything; for goodness needs to hate evil - hatred of lies, injustice, malice etc. It is also far too simple to say that "goodness" comprises hating the "correct" things - such as hating Daleks. Which is, indeed, part of why the Doctor himself is uncertain whether he is a good man. (Stay uncertain, Doctor - it keeps you sharp. The Tenth Doctor was far too certain of his own goodness and infallibility, which led him to The Waters of Mars.)
Clara had a point, though - that the Doctor was far too ready to have his prejudices confirmed, rather than taking the lesson that it was possible for a Dalek to break out of its programming and become "good".
There's a bit of circular reasoning going on about the evilness of Daleks, though. I mean not just here, but over many episodes about Daleks. That is, because of their obsession with "purity of Dalekness", by definition, any Dalek who displays aberrant behaviour (including doubt, goodness, appreciation of beauty) is no longer a Dalek.
It's interesting to compare and contrast the two major cyborg races in Doctor Who: the Daleks and the Cybermen.
* The Daleks are driven by emotions, by one emotion: hatred. The Cybermen have eliminated all emotions and indeed get overwhelmed by them if they're turned on. (Though I wonder what motivates Cybermen to do anything, if they don't have emotions.)
* The Daleks are obsessed with purity, and exterminating everything that is not "pure" (that is, everything that is not Dalek). The Cybermen solve this problem not by exterminating, but by assimilation: "You will become like us".
* Both of them think that they are superior to all other lifeforms.
* Both of them have infiltrated human spaces by taking humans and turning them into their own race while keeping them looking like humans, or by creating exact duplicates or other similar methods. And strangely enough, their spies never turn on them.
I kind of loved the epiphany that the Dalek originally had, when it saw the birth of a star - that it was beautiful, and that life kept on going, despite everything that the Daleks did. It was an original epiphany, and touching. The second time around, with the Doctor messing with its mind.... it kind of imprinted on him. Possibly even worships him in a way. Not sure about that. It's kind of sad that the Doctor was appalled when the Dalek latched onto the Doctor's hatred of Daleks - I mean, the Doctor knew it was there, why would he assume that the Dalek wouldn't notice? Well... I suppose it's because the Doctor is kind of appalled that he has that kind of hatred in himself, and would rather forget it existed.
Nice progression about the Doctor and "being a good Dalek":
1. In "Dalek", it is shocking and cuts the Doctor to the quick, when the Dalek says "You would make a good Dalek".
2. In "Asylum of the Daleks", the shocking and shivery revelation that the Daleks may restrain themselves from destroying the Doctor because they admire him as a work of art: the purity of his hatred of the Daleks. (Said hatred, I think developed because of the Time War; certainly the 4th Doctor didn't have such hatred, or he would never have hesitated in destroying the Daleks at their beginnings)
3. In this episode, the Dalek says "You are a good Dalek"... in a sincere and admiring way, I think. The usage being "good Dalek" as in a Dalek who is good, not as a human who embraces Dalekness.
My intuition is telling me that the Doctor is asking the wrong question when he asks "Am I a good man?" I don't know what the right question is, but I just feel that that one isn't it. Though I think Clara gave a right answer to it: that she still didn't know, but it it was good that he was trying to be.
Journey Blue wanting to join Team TARDIS
Okay, collective hive-mind, I have some questions:
1. Has the Doctor ever before refused someone who asked to come with him?
Adric stowed away, Adam didn't ask (Rose asked) and then Adam was dumped after one adventure.
2. Has the Doctor ever had a companion who was a soldier?
UNIT probably doesn't count.
Missy And the Soldier
So, Missy is collecting people who have died because of the Doctor.
Or perhaps martyred themselves for the Doctor.
What is that place? How is Missy collecting these people?
(Yes, I am ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that it isn't Heaven.)
This episode was a mix of stupidity and stuff that gets me thinking.
Fantastic Voyage this is NOT.
* Did nobody brief the soldiers? "Your mission is to wander around inside the Dalek until you get killed by it. Any questions?" "No Sir!"
* Um, this is a cyborg, not a robot. Or were they just wandering around in the robot parts?
* Um, if they're microscopic, you aren't going to pick them up with tweezers. Well, maybe they weren't microscopic.
* They have scanners good enough to track Our Heroes, but not good enough to figure out what is wrong with the Dalek?
* Sounds like a case of "We've got this cool miniaturization ray, let's use it for everything!"
* Um, if you're being improbably miniaturized, I doubt that your lungs are the only things to worry about. This isn't deep sea diving. Though if they treated it fully like deep sea diving, it probably would have felt more authentic.
* So they take precautions against the Doctor being a spy by having him be followed by soldiers, but they don't take ANY precautions against the Dalek reverting to type, even though that is a possible outcome of their actions? It seems as if their idea of "soldiering" is "Don't plan, just shoot things". No wonder they were losing.
Interesting that they were called "rebels"; implies that they already lost, and were rebelling against Dalek rule. Which could possibly explain why they were crap at soldiering (though doesn't necessarily explain why they appeared to be so well-equipped).
I admit the robot antibodies looked cool.
Stuff that gets me thinking
The nature of hatred and goodness.
I was thinking at the start "Hey, just because the Dalek hates Daleks doesn't mean that it's good!" So I kind of already knew the "lesson" that this was supposed to teach - that making a Dalek hate Daleks doesn't make it good. Or maybe that wasn't the lesson. Maybe they're all confused about the relationship between hatred and goodness. It is far far too simple to say that "goodness" comprises not hating anything; for goodness needs to hate evil - hatred of lies, injustice, malice etc. It is also far too simple to say that "goodness" comprises hating the "correct" things - such as hating Daleks. Which is, indeed, part of why the Doctor himself is uncertain whether he is a good man. (Stay uncertain, Doctor - it keeps you sharp. The Tenth Doctor was far too certain of his own goodness and infallibility, which led him to The Waters of Mars.)
Clara had a point, though - that the Doctor was far too ready to have his prejudices confirmed, rather than taking the lesson that it was possible for a Dalek to break out of its programming and become "good".
There's a bit of circular reasoning going on about the evilness of Daleks, though. I mean not just here, but over many episodes about Daleks. That is, because of their obsession with "purity of Dalekness", by definition, any Dalek who displays aberrant behaviour (including doubt, goodness, appreciation of beauty) is no longer a Dalek.
It's interesting to compare and contrast the two major cyborg races in Doctor Who: the Daleks and the Cybermen.
* The Daleks are driven by emotions, by one emotion: hatred. The Cybermen have eliminated all emotions and indeed get overwhelmed by them if they're turned on. (Though I wonder what motivates Cybermen to do anything, if they don't have emotions.)
* The Daleks are obsessed with purity, and exterminating everything that is not "pure" (that is, everything that is not Dalek). The Cybermen solve this problem not by exterminating, but by assimilation: "You will become like us".
* Both of them think that they are superior to all other lifeforms.
* Both of them have infiltrated human spaces by taking humans and turning them into their own race while keeping them looking like humans, or by creating exact duplicates or other similar methods. And strangely enough, their spies never turn on them.
I kind of loved the epiphany that the Dalek originally had, when it saw the birth of a star - that it was beautiful, and that life kept on going, despite everything that the Daleks did. It was an original epiphany, and touching. The second time around, with the Doctor messing with its mind.... it kind of imprinted on him. Possibly even worships him in a way. Not sure about that. It's kind of sad that the Doctor was appalled when the Dalek latched onto the Doctor's hatred of Daleks - I mean, the Doctor knew it was there, why would he assume that the Dalek wouldn't notice? Well... I suppose it's because the Doctor is kind of appalled that he has that kind of hatred in himself, and would rather forget it existed.
Nice progression about the Doctor and "being a good Dalek":
1. In "Dalek", it is shocking and cuts the Doctor to the quick, when the Dalek says "You would make a good Dalek".
2. In "Asylum of the Daleks", the shocking and shivery revelation that the Daleks may restrain themselves from destroying the Doctor because they admire him as a work of art: the purity of his hatred of the Daleks. (Said hatred, I think developed because of the Time War; certainly the 4th Doctor didn't have such hatred, or he would never have hesitated in destroying the Daleks at their beginnings)
3. In this episode, the Dalek says "You are a good Dalek"... in a sincere and admiring way, I think. The usage being "good Dalek" as in a Dalek who is good, not as a human who embraces Dalekness.
My intuition is telling me that the Doctor is asking the wrong question when he asks "Am I a good man?" I don't know what the right question is, but I just feel that that one isn't it. Though I think Clara gave a right answer to it: that she still didn't know, but it it was good that he was trying to be.
Journey Blue wanting to join Team TARDIS
Okay, collective hive-mind, I have some questions:
1. Has the Doctor ever before refused someone who asked to come with him?
Adric stowed away, Adam didn't ask (Rose asked) and then Adam was dumped after one adventure.
2. Has the Doctor ever had a companion who was a soldier?
UNIT probably doesn't count.
Missy And the Soldier
So, Missy is collecting people who have died because of the Doctor.
Or perhaps martyred themselves for the Doctor.
What is that place? How is Missy collecting these people?
(Yes, I am ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that it isn't Heaven.)