Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Doctor Who-Asylum Of The Daleks

                     After being summoned to Skaro by someone who presents themselves as someone whose daughter is being held captive by the Daleks,the doctor finds himself whisked away by this apparent Dalek/human hybrid to an unknown holding cell. Meanwhile Amy Pond,apparently having marital troubles,finds herself and Rory both facing the same situation-finding themselves before the Dalek parliament who,for once require their help. A unknown spaceship has crashed on a planetary asylum for damaged Daleks and the parliament wish the doctor,Amy and Rory to help track it down. Meanwhile the parliament receive a signal before the doctor confirming this by an unusual humanoid girl who along with her ship have somehow managed to evade the Daleks. However the planet contains a protective nano cloud that transforms any living creature,living or dead,into an adjunct Dalek hybrid. So before teleporting down the trio must use a specialized device that allows them to travel there safely. 

                        Once arriving Amy encounters an individual from the Spaceship Alaska,ostensibly the ship the crashed there. The doctor has encountered a Dalek eye piece through which he is communicating with the unusual spaceship passenger,who addresses herself as Oswin Oswald,a crew member on board the Alaska. Rory for his part was deposited deep within the center of the Dalek asylum-facing a group of semi conscious Daleks. As the doctor and Amy investigate the remains of the spaceship,the find the man Amy first met is actually dead,as is his crew having been effecting by the Dalek nano cloud. Fending off what essentially amounts to Dalek zombies,the doctor discovers Amy's nano proof bracelet has been removed. As her neurology is being altered,the doctor and her teleport below to discover Rory while the doctor,after fending off and overloading a group of the prisoner Daleks, goes searching for the elusive Oswald.

                          Recognition of Amy's symptoms helps Rory to resolve their personal differences. Realizing his love for Amy is stronger,he offers her his anti nano bracelet while the doctor completes his own mission. He finds to his disappointment that Oswald was apparently so clever a human on the Alaska that the Daleks' made her completely into one of them-without her being aware of it. At first almost overcome away from her humanity by the revelation,the doctor convinces her to stay human long enough to go through with her plan to knock down the shield preventing them from leaving the telepad. And upon doing this the signal feeds back and the asylum planet is destroyed just after the transport is completed. Thankfully upon arriving back at the Parliament ship,the hive mind located on that world linking them all together is severed. And the Daleks no longer remember the doctor as their enemy. Liberated from the effects of the nano cloud,Amy and Rory are returned to a hopefully happy future as the doctor departs yet again.

                       The conclusion to this story offers up a concept that,if followed through in the future,could represent the end of the Daleks confrontation with the doctor. There are a couple perhaps unintended Star Trek references in this story. In her first appearance in Doctor Who,Jenna Louise Coleman's "Oswin" Oswald makes mention of a planet Vulcan,where the doctor has been before. Also the idea of the Daleks being interlinked by a hive mind controlling them to a degree is closer to Star Trek's Borg than Doctor Who's cybermen,who assimilate but are individuals. This is also an important story,not only with its epic production scale but for the Amy/Rory relationship-with Amy revealing in a rare moment of vulnerability to Rory that the events of Series 6 involving her daughter motivated her to attempt to end their nuptials-due to being rendered sterile apparently. It is a fitting way to begin series 7 of Doctor Who and opens the door for a number of possible new directions as well.

       

                        
              

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