The Radio Times magazine in the UK has a major spoiler about the upcoming two-parter, concerning what Sec and the Cult of Skaro have been up to since they escaped being sucked into the void in "Doomsday"... Click at your own risk!
The preview itself has some pretty hefty speculation going for it. Apparently, the Empire State Building iteself is figuring into the Daleks' plan, hich also involves humanoid pigs and a depression-era slum full of Americans with guns.
Mark
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
My continued love affair with Wikipedia continues - the final production related note for this eppisode currently reads :
The cover for the Radio Times for the week from 21-27 April shows a picture of the Dalek/Human hybrid. It is a dalek mutant for the head and the body is human, though there is a large laser cannon coming from the chest, which bears a strange resembalance to the head of [Mr. Poe], a character in the [Series of Unfortunate Events] books. However Muscle T Fatman, the famous Sumo Wrestler, says that these do not appear until Dalek Sec says the phrase 'I am the FATLEK, now attack my Dalek-Human creatures with a large laser cannon coming from your chest, which bears a strange resembalance to the head of Mr. Poe!' Posted by Johnny (Member # 878) on :
I'd say the Dalek Sec Hybrid looks like a man's private area after an accident with a blender, but either way, it's slightly annoying to have the picture plastered all over magazines on every news stand, when the thing's only supposed to be revealed at the very end of episode 1.
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Well, that's disturbing.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
The best idea since "Jason Takes Manhattan".
Posted by Mikey T (Member # 144) on :
Well, he can enter the industry in the San Fernando Valley I guess...
Posted by Fabrux (Member # 71) on :
So, the Cult of Skaro somehow managed to get out of the void and into 1930's Manhattan. Doing something with the Empire State Building that involves plates that look a lot like the lower armour of a Dalek.
They're also evolving into something new with humans...? I found it incredibly strange to hear someone with an American accent say Dalek... *snicker*
Also, the Doctor can somehow use 1930's technology to make a DNA scanner that gives a readout in some Time Lord data tag that identifies species and planet of origin. Pretty neat, that.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
It would seem the BBC has finally woken up to the realisation they're doing one of those silly space shows, and are doing everything they can to remove it from their schedules, going by their suddenly-erratic scheduling decisions.
One truth has become self-svident: British actors who can do American accents, are working in the American market. Any British actor doing an American accent for the British market is doing so because they can't actually do an American accent. Even Hugh Quarshie, one of the best actors of his generation, seemed to struggle a bit.
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
It'll be relegate to bbc 2 before you know it. How long before they cancel it in favour of some (total lack of) talent show?
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
So Doctor Who is facing cancellation hell? What about the whole spiel about Tennant getting to play the Doctor for three years? What about those other Who spin-off shows?
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
The ratings say otherwise. There were less people watching this week, but it was still by far the most watched show of the day, beating out its competition by two million viewers and earning an excellent appreciation index rating. Also, the next day repeat was a record number of people who missed it the first time. Doctor Who ain't going anywhere - it's just being bounced around because of football and other current event stuff.
As for the episode itself - but for the dodgy accents and the fact that most of it was setup looking for next week's payoff, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Production-wise, I think it even beat "Gridlock" in the sense that I found the re-creation of New York in 1930 to be pretty convincing for what we saw of it. The Who crew is starting to get a hang of larger scale green screen use, which they've avoided for much of the first two years.
Notes:
-Hugh Quarshie was most recently seen for me as Queen Amidala's head guard in "The Phantom Menace", but to me will always be Sunda Kastagir, the third-last Immortal from the original "Highlander" movie. I think he did a fine job here.
-Hey, weren't they supposed to head right home after New Earth? There's no explanation for his detour... I'm almost thinking that they moved this one up a slot to delay Martha's return home to her dysfunctional family.
-Pigs again? I guess since they have similar enough DNA, they would be easier to splice with humans. But why pigs? What's wrong with mind control a la Robomen which we've seen in several Dalek stories?
-I guess the answer is that the Cult of Skaro is stuck using local technology until they can build up to the new stuff. the DNA replication and manipulation is nothing new to these new series Daleks, and it seems that Sec (who looks different than the mutants we've seen so far) has been modifying himself and his casing into an incubator of sorts. I can't imagine what he'd need a big squidgy vagina / uterus for in the first place.
-Likewise, one of the CoS has sacrificed some of his Dalek bumps to be placed on the top of the tower. The bump panels have been replaced with steel which has been riveted in place, but it seems that it was just absorbed or cut from existing metal (there's a logo of some sort on one of the sections).
-And these Daleks' powers of observations are reduced somehow, since the Doctor is able not only to sneak into the group of prisoners without being noticed, but to stand just behind the first row of people in plain view and not be detected by sight or metabolism, which has happened before. Each of these Daleks has specifically seen him before, and they're keyed to know and fear him. So, I'm guessing that the "emergency temporal shift" is something that took an awful lot out of them, and they've been cannibalizing themselves since them to get what they need for their plan.
-Lazlo is turned into a pig, and I'm guessing the squelchy green thing was his or meant for him, but he removed it or escaped before it could be fully squelched into his brain. So, how's he been surviving in the sewers? How has he been eating? Where's he been getting those roses from?
-Couldn't Martha sneak BEHIND the stage to look at Lazlo instead of going through the musical number?
The Doc and Martha are there in November; the site started excavation that January and would be opened in May of '31, and the building itself was designed in two weeks. That's pretty fast by today's standards!
-The Beeb sent this story's writer and the "Confidential" crew out to New York to shoot plates and some footage for the episode. The exterior of the theatre is an actual theatre in New York - a daylight photo was shot of it, which was modified to look like it would in the '30s with added extras and vehicles. Well done.
Mark
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
"My bumps, my bumps, my lovely Dalek bumps. . ."
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
They're not boobs! They're Dalek bumps. They can locate eteheric beams and ... everything.
Posted by Dukhat (Member # 341) on :
quote:One truth has become self-svident: British actors who can do American accents, are working in the American market. Any British actor doing an American accent for the British market is doing so because they can't actually do an American accent. Even Hugh Quarshie, one of the best actors of his generation, seemed to struggle a bit.
I remember watching an episode of "Are You Being Served," where Mrs. Slocombe's rich American uncle was supposed to pay for her wedding. The guy's fake American accent was the most horrible thing I'd heard in a long time. Not to mention the fact that in the late '70's to early '80's, the prevailing stereotype in UK television production was that every American was rich and wore cowboy boots & a ten-gallon hat.
Of course, in Britain's defense, we Yanks had the prevailing stereotype that all Brits had crooked teeth and went around saying "Guv'nah" all the time. Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Well it's only because it's true. Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Not that I watch Power Rangers regularly or anything, but I do find it amusing in the episodes I've seen recently that they've apparently run out of teenaged actors who can do a convincing American accent... Pretty much everyone on the show has a trace of Kiwi in them somewhere. Pretty soon they'll have to dub them over with American actors in the States, like they do with the bad guys.
Mark
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
The worst culprit is universally acknowledged to be one Anthony LaPaglia, star of Murder Two and Without A Trace, for his portrayal of Daphne Moon's oafish brother Simon in Frasier. Made all the worse by the fact he is actually Australian and would therefore perhaps have encountered a real British citizen at least once in his life - something that would not be apparent from his attempt at a British accent.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
OMG isn't that a HIDEOUS attempt at an accent!?!
And why do Americans always use such a woeful stereotypical Australian accent??
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Got you beat - Dick Van Dyke's "Worst Cockney EVAR" award in "Mary Poppins". I understand there were small riots when the movie came out, over the bleeding ears.
Mark
Posted by Dukhat (Member # 341) on :
And since this is a Doctor Who topic, let's not forget Nicola Bryant. Stupid, stupid John Nathan Turner...didn't he realize that no American mother in her right mind would ever name her kid "Perpugilliam"???
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Is that even a name. I've only heard of it in Dr. Who.
Posted by HerbShrump (Member # 1230) on :
Well, I was disappointed by the ending, to say the least.
These Daleks build an elaborate device to transmit their DNA and all the Doctor has to do is get struck by lightning?
The Pig Slaves were designed to only live for a few weeks but the Doctor saves Lazlo in less than a minute?
Ugh...
Posted by Zipacna (Member # 1881) on :
quote:Originally posted by HerbShrump: The Pig Slaves were designed to only live for a few weeks but the Doctor saves Lazlo in less than a minute?
Um, we don't know how much time may have passed between the close of that scene and the start of the next. It's not like the episode was occurring in real time... You're surely not suggesting they should have extended the episode to show the Doctor play around with Lazlo's DNA?? Posted by HerbShrump (Member # 1230) on :
No. But it just felt tacked on.
I think I would have liked it better if Lazlo died. It would have made the ending a little more poignant.
Like this is the first episode of Dr. Who to ever end like this though... LOL
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
Leela getting her own Jacob's Thorn piercing comes to mind.....
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
![[Confused]](confused.gif)