Daleks can regenerate, teleport and snatch bodies now. We discuss the 2019 New Year's Special and take a look back at The Thirteenth Doctor's first season of Doctor Who.
Dalek Rec doesn’t stand a chance against Chekhov’s combination oven
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NB: This is the second time we’ve discussed this Doctor Who episode on the podcast. For our tipsy instant-reaction-review, check out B052 Resolution!
It’s New Year’s Day and office romance is algal-blooming in the sewers beneath Sheffield Town Hall, where an archaeological dig that couldn’t possibly be undertaken any other time is underway. A warrior and, we later learn, member of the Order of the Whatsitcalled was killed a long time ago whilst carrying a third of a seemingly dead Dalek and our two love birds, currently knee-deep in local government feces, are about to inadvertently reawaken it.
That’s right. You thought you knew the Daleks. Well, guess again, because this one’s a reconnaissance scout, capable of teleportation, regeneration and ID4 and/or Venomesque mind control. Yep, this is a reboot Dalek in a Dalek reboot, and things are about to get gritty. Marvel as Doc, Graham, Ryan, Ryan’s Dad, Mitch, Lin, and Screensaver travel to the furthest reaches of space to promote Ryan’s Dad’s burgeoning combi-oven pitch. New Year’s celebrations ensue.
PS: Here’s that fan-made TARDIS dematerialisation clip mentioned in this episode:
I believe this to the best of Jodies “stand alone” special episodes, even if we do get the Daleks…..again.
It’s a different sort of Dalek though; “Junkyard Chic” you could say!
But this was a great production and the story quite interesting.
I enjoyed the present day setting, the background archaeological dig was great, and I thought the cast was fabulous.
It was also quite nicely paced, and above all, interesting! It brought back a Kaled/ Dalek Mutant for the first time in……well…. quite awhile.
Even my wife, who is not normally a huge fan, watched most of the episode, remarking that it was “ quite good”. High praise indeed! 😃
The writing was much better, with all the companions finally doing something as well! I must say the action scenes with the tank were totally original, and those special effects were brilliant!
The bad points? Why the sudden open-door policy with the Tardis? Jodie sure seems to love showing her Tardis off to basically whoever wanders in. Dang, it should be a bit more special!! But despite a somewhat silly ending, it didn’t really spoil this one.
Finally, we get a decent, special episode…What a pity they become somewhat shite over the next few years!
Rating 4.1 Slimy squid like Kaled mutants strangling slowly.
After taking a break from series 11 I came back to watch Resolution. I’m not gonna lie, I had to skip ahead in the episode to check if it was actually doctor who. Also this new years nonsense makes me realise that maybe twice upon a time wasn’t that bad of an episode and then realising that the next episode won’t come out for another full year. Now I don’t remember this episode (foreshadowing myself) but I said out loud “What in the UV light is this shit”. When Yas was talking about her favourite new year was that her flirting, cause that’s what it looked like.
Skip the family stuff blah blah blah. And then we get a scene which is practically the same as the adipose bathroom scene. I believe the black archive is shown on the computer for a split second. Then a Dalek driving a car and I thought I had seen everything. More family shit, SKIP. The music for the heist scene is awesome. Cool hologram scene. That whole thing about UNIT and its funding, I’m glad it got thrown in the bin after this, this is why I like series 13. Cool reveal for a weird as Dalek. 42 minutes in at this point I realised I haven’t seen this episode before. Love that random family that they used for the wifi gone down. Dalek death. Last thing I hate is the fact the episode was released on the day the story happened. Series 13 watch out. I give this episode a 2.2/5 Chris Chibnall scripts that is actually good except they still suck no matter how much work he puts into them. Bring it on series 12… oh wait is that, oh i’m sure it will be fine.
Right, time for the first Chibnall Christmas New Year’s special. Well that was a choice wasn’t it? Not really worked out has it? Fundamentally, people are more likely to be out on New Year’s Day rather than in the house watching Doctor Who, especially if it’s on relatively early in the evening.
The opening monologue is a bit cheesy, though maybe better than the title cards in the next NYD special. I like the Doctor leaving an alarm on for Earth just in case. That does feel like something they would do.
I remember liking this fairly well at the time and still thinking it’s fairly enjoyable. The Dalek is played for proper horror for what feels like quite a while. There’s similarities to Resurrection of the Daleks with the mutant proving it’s still very dangerous without the casing. Generally, there’s a sense of pulpy fun with this one so I think it’s fairly engaging even if I think it’s a little dumb. Well, maybe more than a little. The Dalek constructing a casing from scrap mirrors the Doctor making the sonic in TWWFTE but could do with more time on it. I think the finished product should have been a little more rough.
The stuff with Ryan and his dad is decent but doesn’t fit the tone of the story and does feel like it’s only really there to set up the emotional part of the ending set piece. And I think it goes on a little bit too long.
Enjoyable if a bit dumb 3.7/5 Creepy Dalek Squids
PS Just call it ‘Resolution of the Daleks’
It truly IS a doc-past, looking back so long ago into 2019. Wait – 2019? You guys aren’t even that far away from catching up! How exciting! Speaking of exciting – nineteen New Year’s Eve fireworks in a row? Woah sign me up ! Hang on – what? The wifi’s down and we’ll have to have a conversation with each other? – no thanks, someone call the dalek back so it can shoot me.
On the note of daleks, they’re finally scary again. Using Lin as a host, merciless killing, building it’s own casing. This dalek was so badass I’d think twice before drinking any tea it served.
It’s a shame there was no title sequence, I can’t applaud the episode writer. No isn’t it obvious, the Chibb Meister, dr Chibbs, chibby mcnalls – the exposition has daddy chibbers written all over it. You know, this episode is why doctor who is it’s own genre of television. In what other show would a fucking microwave save the day? Hm?
Said microwave presented by Ryan’s dad, who got called out by the fam for letting Ryan down – rightfully so. Speed round of character summaries: Ryan has dyspraxia again, Graham is funnyman123, Yaz is a police officer and should’ve arrested Lin for impersonating a police officer, and Lin should’ve shot Mitch for texting her “still thinking of you” 4 seconds after she left.
Probably the better of three New Year’s Day dalek specials.
I’d give this one a 3.8/5.0.
It’s a new-years special, should being positive be my resolution? Let’s see how this pans out with some thoughts…
FINALLY a proper baddy, only took eleven episodes! The rusty look is good as was the battle with the soldiers .
As Mitch enters the Tardis, the reveal of how the police box exterior fits with the inside, and seeing the time vortex through the outer windows is just sublime.
Good lines were the Doc asking, “how long is a rel?” and the family forced to have a conversation.
How does the Dalek hybrid – no, not you Sec – know how to infiltrate the internet, to hack into MDZ and then get into the secret UNIT Black Archive, all in under two seconds? And without having to identify a single traffic light, boat or crosswalk. Maybe the UNIT password is still ‘Buffalo’…
Similar to the rushed acceptance of Graham, Ryan’s reconciliation with his father happens far too quickly to be remotely believable.
The Dalek construction location and reveal scene was almost identical to the one where the doctor first created the sonic, even down to the plastic drapes. Like said screwdriver, the high-performance, technologically advanced, flying and fully armed Travel Machine was also created from bits of string, a rusty cement mixer and a crisp packet.
I’ve done ok so far but I don’t know where to start on the ‘UK Security Helpline’. It could be the stupidest thing in the history of the show . A security helpline with zero security. Giving away info about U.N.I.T. willy-nilly. It’s been disbanded. But its archive was shown as active, not thirty minutes ago. Ridiculous.
No moralising lectures this week: now there’s a resolution to stick to.
2.5/5
Hey Daniel,
Sorry, I’m afraid your review arrived only hours after our recording and I didn’t have the mic to hand to record a Future-Me for it. Excellent mini as usual!
L