Okay, I've just rewatched this, and yes, there is a lot about this episode that is complete and utter cack. The Power Ranger Daleks, the absurdly fast time in which the Spitfires' Gravity Bubbles were built and a horribly over the top Churchill. Which is a shame because I love Mark Gatiss and consider his Lucifer Box books to be things of joy and wonder.
Having said that, watching the Dalek offer the Doctor tea as he was beating it up with a giant spanner was a moment of pure comdey gold, and once again all the performances (except Churchill) were excellent.
I couldn't find as many strange things in this episode, but there were a few.
- Obviously, the one glaring one is that Amy hasn't heard of the Daleks. Which is, as the Doctor says, impossible, seeing as it was only last year that they staged a universal takeover. Has this to do with the space/time crack? Quite possibly, though we don't know yet if anyone else in Amy's time has forgotten this.
- How did the Daleks know that the Doctor would travel to that exact time? Could they have predicted Churchill ringing him to ask for help with them? I rather think not. Could something possibly happen in the future to make them realise this?
- What did Amy mean when she told the recently outed (as a robot!) Bracewell: "I understand. Really - I do"? How could she really understand what he was going through? She's hardly a Dalek plant herself, as we can see in The Eleventh Hour, people remember her growing up. So what the hell is she on about?
- This has nothing to do with possible series arcs and is just a little musing on my part, but I find it odd that the Daleks can create a better human than the Time Lords. Bracewell had a complete life history, down to descriptions of places and memories of crushes, whereas in Human Nature, the Doctor could only state map locations and didn't seem to have any specific memories at all.
- Again, I could see Star Wars references: The space dogfight reminded me of blowing up the Death Star at the end of A New Hope, to say nothing of the Dalek leap to hyperspace. But they probably are just nods to nerds like me :)
- And I'm sorry, but Bracewell's robot design was very Iron Man!
- This is also the second episode in a row in which Amy saves the day over the Doctor, a very unusual occurence. The Doctor again shows how little Time Lords really know about humans by trying to make Bracewell recall the awful things, while Amy knows exactly what to say to him. Usually the Doctor is all-powerful, and I believe the fact that Amy keeps saving the day is something to do with her out-of-place-ness; I don't think the Doctor is being shown up for no good reason.
- There's a recurring theme of Humans versus almost extinct Aliens - First the Space Whale, now the Daleks, next episode the Weeping Angels and then the Saturnynians. I wonder how long the Doctor is going to keep choosing the Humans?
- And then of course, Bracewell was left to go and live his life. Methinks it's not the last we've seen of him...
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