Victory of the Daleks

Winston's new weapon will shorten the war, though he's wise enough to know that he can't be too sure, so he's called an old friend to ask his advice, who has said he'll be there in less than a trice (he's a month late).

When the Doctor appears with Amelia Pond, he's welcomed by a weapon made of Dalekanium bond, but the Ironsides are friendly, courteous and polite, avoiding the Time Lord's aggression and spite.

Like a leopard however they can't change their dots, they're conniving to realise a cunning Dalek plot, in the blink of one eye they've teleported away, Victory for the Daleks, not the Doctor's day today.

I can't.

This was honestly one of the more contrived episodes since the series' reprisal five years ago.

Moffat has brought back the Daleks, the villains that have been run into the ground over and over again!

The previous week's episode had the same type of fear with the smiling faces in the carnival booths that one would typical expect of Moffat's writing; however, the only "victory" in this week's episode is surprisingly with Amy and The Doctor as these two actors start sliding into their respective roles.

Not the actors' fault here, just a thin plot.

Don't get me wrong, i'm a huge Dr Who fan, have been for more than 30 years but I have to admit to having problems with the current Dr and his stories. It's not Matt Smith as such, he is a fine Dr and in another time and place he would be brilliant. The trouble is that he is exactly the same as David Tennant, same look, same hair, same mannerisms, same kind of companion, same stories......same everything.

When Tennant left they had the chance to take the show in a totally new direction, they have done exactly the opposite and made the show exactly the same as it was before. The Dr is the same, the companion is the same, the stories are exactly the same. The stories feel totally rushed with the Dr speaking so fast at times you can barley understand what he is saying. I know it will never happen but i'm a fan of the 4-6 part stories that made up the old Dr Who, in that format you had time to develop the story, the characters, today's stories are so rushed, and you can't build a classic story when rushed. Victory of the Daleks is no different, given time it could have been great story, but because everything needs to be crammed into 40 minutes it isn't, and never will be.

I've waited nearly 11 years to say this because no-one I know would know what I was talking about but the New Paradigm Daleks look like they were designed by BMW. Really. Seriously. Look at the VW beetles or minis built since the 1990s and tell me they're not New Paradigm Daleks on wheels.

Just to make this a review, Ian McNeice and Bill Paterson both put in superb performances (even though McNeice carries more weight and has more hair than Churchill, he's believable and brings out Churchill's mischievous side). The story starts with a good premise - Daleks apparently being utilised in Britain's WW2 war effort. That's something ripe for development in all kinds of directions. Unfortunately, the story becomes just an excuse to introduce the BMW Daleks before descending into the ridiculous with 'Spitfires in Space'. (I guess the BBC decided against that particular spin-off. It's not as good an idea as 'Piiiigs in Spaaace' (Sarcasm)). Mark Gatiss is intelligent, so he must know the relationship between props, wings, and, erm...air. He probably wrote that intending it to be tongue-in-cheek. Unfortunately it just comes across as silly.

Despite the negatives, if you haven't seen it, give it a go. It is Dr Who after all.

Gets a lot of hate, some of which is deserved. But it was defintely pretty great for the first half. Seeing Daleks in WW2 was a lot of fun but the second half moves too fast. This is my third time watching I think and I still enjoyed it!