Ahem. It’s probably worth restating for those unfamiliar with the THT Brain Trust that we are not, nor have we ever been, ga-ga about our favorite little pepperpots from Skaro. Nevertheless, it must be daunting for any production team to do something inventive with the Daleks, and given their recent history on the program, and perhaps their overexposure, this hesitation to use them would be all the more daunting. Still, especially after watching Confidential, it felt a little bit like it was filling in the checkboxes of a tight brief given by Moffat et.al. Now sometimes this works, our favorite example of this being Planet of Fire, but this was also the second straight story which felt like it under-ran to a degree (was the coda for Bracewell really necessary?).
Still despite it all, a re-watch went down better than the primary viewing, and once again the Doctor-Companion interaction shone throughout. It’s no longer a trend but a fact that this Doctor, despite his wisdom, makes mistakes, has time slippages, etc. Why Amy couldn’t remember the Daleks was superbly handled as a parallel mystery to run through the season.
Images and caps for Victory of the Daleks are now online.