The End of the World and All That

[meddow]

I’m loving all this stuff about the Large Hadron Collider and how its going to be the end of the world and all that. It seems to very Doctor Who. In fact Torchwood's coming to the rescue (screw the testimony of scientists and court cases - it's that which conclusively tells me we're doomed). Although, I thought the black hole Sarah Jane's got locked up in her attic was the Whoniverse's sneaky reference to CERN and the LHC.

I finally finished The Power of the Daleks. It took me a month to listen to the episode reconstruction. I don't quite know why, but I struggled with it where I didn't with the First Doctor episode reconstructions I've listened to. Possibly because I wasn't familiar with Ben and Polly before I started it, and this is the third Second Doctor serial I've gone near.

Anyway, I quite like Polly. Ben I initially didn't like very much. Again couldn't quite put my finger on why. He did seem to be always shouting and without the performance to match it can grate. But I've warmed to an indifferent by the end of the serial.

"We are your servants" has to be the creepiest phrase a Dalek can utter. When (because with the Daleks it is always a 'when' and not an 'if') the Daleks show up again on the New Series, I'd love them to do something similar, with the Daleks pretending to be good and nobody believing the Doctor.

I do wonder whether it was a conscious decision of the writer and producer to have in the serial after the first ever regeneration the Doctor referred to as 'the examiner' throughout. I also though the denials from the Doctor that he was the Doctor in the first episode was also quite nifty. Sort of using reverse-psychology to point out that the new bloke is in fact the Doctor.

Comments

[biichan.livejournal.com]

Oh GOD. The Power Daleks truly are the creepiest Daleks ever, yes. And I hope they do try to remake it for Nu Who (though I sadly suspect it won't be nearly as good, much like Evolution wasn't nearly as good as Evil.)

[airie-fairy.livejournal.com]

XD I adored Ben in Power of the Daleks. I adore him in general -- and yes, he can get a bit tetchy and frustrated, but he's got an underlying sense of chivalry and it's all very cute -- but him being freaked out by Two and blowing into the recorder instead of cursing and calling the actual governor "guvnor" as slang and being amused to himself about it and calling Polly "love" and...uh, yes. I adored Ben. XD

The Daleks were creepy in this. *shudders* So was the Doctor. That's the about the most and certainly the most consistently creepy I've found Two to be, in this story. All in all, I burned through this story. I listened to it in audio form, though. And Wheel in Space, too. They were great listens.

Recons can be weird. I can usually get through them fine, and there are some recons I'm actually really enthusiastic about. Then there's the Highlanders. OH DEAR GOD. I might as well have stuck my head in water and tested my hearing that way.