The sight of Daleks climbing up the stairs

[khaosworks]

It's no spoiler to say that the Daleks will now feature in the new Doctor Who series in 2005. Two stories have been announced with them in it, one written by the playwright Rob Shearman (who has written some of the best of the Big Finish audio plays, including the superbly creepy Dalek story "Jubilee"). But will there be a redesign of the killer pepperpots?

Here's a leaked photograph.



My thoughts: I love it. For the first time, a Dalek looks like it's not made from an Airfix kit. The patina'd look really works, and it looks solid and heavy, and actually quite intimidating. A very nice touch is also the fact that it looks as if it's hovering half an inch off the ground. With the right direction, this will be sending the kiddies scurrying behind the sofa as it should be. This Dalek is most likely from the Shearman story, which is Episode 6 - what details we know of it suggest that there will only be a lone "classic" Dalek, somehow left behind somewhere. The title has not been announced, although some fans have taken to calling it, "Last of the Daleks". Rumors indicate that the last two episodes of the first series will feature a Dalek army, so this will be only a teasing taste.

Another leaked "official BBC" sketch shows a soldier looking at a Dalek hovering several feet off the ground, so the little buggers will actually be properly seen flying this time. For those keeping score, a Dalek used an antigravity disk in "Planet of the Daleks" and floated up the stairs in "Remembrance of the Daleks". They were seen in flying discs in the TV Comic strip and also in the 1993 "Thirty Years in the TARDIS" documentary, so this isn't the first time, but it'll be the first time we see it done with a proper budget.

Can't wait to be exterminated.

Comments

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

Hmm... Never did like those movie-style ovesized "ear-bulbs" myself. Definitely a "mini indicator" fan, here.

Apart from that... Cool!!! =:o>

Your info about which eps they're in doesn't quite tally with mine, btw. Sources? I'm going mostly from what's said in DWM and on the BBC web pages, on the grounds that they're least likely to be awash with fannish rumour and unsubstantiated BS. =:o}

Rob Shearman said in his DWM interview (published this month) that he envied Paul Cornell for a particular episode he was writing (I forget the number, but it was one of the later ones). Both episodes referred to (Rob's and Paul's) are confirmed elsewhere as being Dalek eps.

Rob has proven he can write very well for an isolated Dalek with a few humans around. As for Paul... His last Dalek writing was "Death and the Daleks", a Benny Summerfeld story for Big Finish, in which the Dalek dialogue wasn't taken entirely seriously: Weird gramatical slips & coloquialisms that a Dalek should never be heard to utter, and Benny scoring cheap points against them - Great for Benny; detrimental to the image of the Daleks. It was "Destiny"'s stairs-jibe all over again... =:o{ (I'm surpised Hancocks haven't cried foul on BF!) To be in character, they should have zapped her after the second quip. Or she should have been either too petrified/too seething with hatred to achieve her usual stream of one-liners (given the part they played in shaping her childhood). Her first ever face-to-face meeting with the manic metal mother-murderers should *not* have been a moment for levity. =:o{

That said, the later rampaging army scenes were handled straight. Just have to wait and see how well Paul tackles them in a more "serious" context... I'm sure Mr Rusty'll keep him in line. =:o}

But the vital question is... Who'll be doing the voices? I'd love to hear the superlative master Roy Skelton working alongside his eager & versatile student, Nick Briggs. =:o> Lets face it, Roy's shouting days won't last forever: His recent turns have had a definite "wise old Dalek on 60 a day" edge to them. A chance for him to kick off the new series by voicing the last of the old-style Daleks, before he has to bow out and pass the mantle to Nick, would be only proper in my view.

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

The schedule I've seen so far, culled from Outpost Gallifrey:

1: Rose, by Russell T Davies
2: The End of the World, by Russell T Davies
3: Untitled, by Mark Gatiss
4-5: Aliens of London, Parts 1 & 2, by Russell T Davies (title has likely been changed)
6: Untitled, by Rob Shearman
7: The Long Game, by Russell T Davies
8: Untitled, by Paul Cornell
9-10: Untitled, by Steven Moffat
11: Untitled, by Russell T Davies
12-13: The Parting of the Ways, Parts 1 & 2, by Russell T Davies

So Rob's is Episode 6, although Story 5.

Rumor mill - SFX magazine claimed that "Rob Sherman's episode 6 is expected to feature the Daleks as we know them, in their original form, before returning in episodes 12-13 with a complete re-design in a 'Daleks Invade Earth' type plot."

Of course, SFX also claimed that the TARDIS will spin when materializing throughout the series (hopefully just rotate slightly and not like a top). So it could be Cornell's story.

I've always liked Briggs's Dalek voice, although there is split opinion on it. I've gotten more appreciative of the art of the Dalek voice after I watched the special feature on the DVD of "The Dalek Invasion of Earth".

[querldox.livejournal.com]

I still maintain the Americans With Disabilities Act was a Dalek plot to get curb cuts and ramps installed everywhere.