DOCTOR WHO - RESOLUTION

 DOCTOR WHO  - RESOLUTION

 

It was with great trepidation that I came to this story. You have to understand that I have loathed almost all the Christmas stories after CHRISTMAS INVASION. The only two worth anything are THE CHRISTMAS INVASION and A CHRISTMAS CAROL. The rest were tedious, boring, and huge wastes of time…during my holidays!

 

RESOLUTION pits the 13^th Doctor against an already known enemy for the first time. It was with trepidation I came to that, too. The Moffat Horrible Era was a mixed bag on that front. For every great COLD WAR, there was a horrible story like NIGHTMARE IN SILVER or that horrible one with Davros where the 12^th Doctor plays bumper cars with the Daleks while in a casing. I shudder.

 

In any case, while this had flaws, it was enjoyable and ultimately, despite the GRIM and NASTY, it was uplifting in the end. First of all, other posters have countered about how the ancient peoples of Earth could battle a Dalek. I guess if it were wounded…we really don’t see that it was or that it wasn’t. In fact, they somehow cut up the metallic casing (?). That’s one huge flaw. And probably impossible. Unless it was weakened by some alien virus or something on its metal shell.

 

Second, another flaw is that…well, the Dalek thing inside…surely that…would be vulnerable to swords and spears cutting into it. Why wasn’t it destroyed?

 

Third, I’m not sure who Mitch and Lin work for. In any event, I don’t mind not knowing because they’re both really well developed characters and likable…and Chibnall does that in a matter of minutes, which is something Moffat couldn’t do in eight years  or even eight hours. And I mean it. Both of them would be great companions. And I cared about them. That said, when an alien squid appears on a wall in a sewer, normal people don’t touch it AND when the Doctor and TARDIS arrive, Lin and Mitch acclimated to them rather too quick. This and a few other awkward moments in the dialog left wondering if this would be like the lame POWER OF THREE. With UNIT out of it, I guessed not. And SO glad UNIT is suspended. In spite of that, we still got a very well-crafted army vs Dalek scene. Stunning.

 

In fact, the show’s never looked better, continuing the great look of season 11. It really looks epic, important, and relevant and in keeping up with EVERY other sci fi, modern day, other genre shows. The music fits and while not particularly memorable as some of the music from seasons 1 through 7, it doesn’t detract from the story either.

 

Story: I am sure I loved I AM A DALEK when I read it in 2006 and this is really quite a bit like that only with a faster pace and less characters and was a character piece. Its strength was where the weakness of this was: in the girl taken over.

 

Once Lin becomes a full Dalek possessed girl, some of the scenes were awkward. When a girl says, “YOU ARE AN ENEMY OF THE DALEKS!”  a policeman most likely would not ask how you spell that. And the other police would not just stand and scream but probably open fire…if she had a gun which he may not have. She seemed to be reaching for something (a stun gun?). Also: why did the Dalek leave a healed up neck once it left Lin AND Aaron.

 

The Aaron/Ryan/Graham stuff works well, despite fans who complained about it. It grounds the series in real life and realistic things, especially when they are on modern day Earth (a time and place I wonder if they should stay away from for a few years straight?). Ryan’s forgiveness of his dad is a welcome thing in these days of un-forgiveness, grudges, and revenge seeking heroes.

 

Jodie’s Doctor standing up to a Dalek is impressive and in her own manner. It made me wonder how she’s do facing up to an Ice Warrior, a Cyberman, a Silurians, a Krynoid, and others. I hope we don’t see all of those but maybe an Ice Warrior and Cyberman. Her stunt work was impressive, whether she did it or not and her Doctor goes up even more notches for me.

 

In short, I liked that the Dalek was not all powerful and couldn’t electrify itself. I’m not sure how it really rebuilt itself so fast and how it found all its parts and why those parts worked so easily or at all after all those years. But almost EVERY good DW story has lapses like this including the sacred GENESIS OF THE DALEKS ( oh come on, ABOUT TIME goes on and on about the Things That Make No Sense in that story and almost every story…in fact, ANDROID INVASION makes almost no sense).

 

The running around, the action, the fight between the Doctor and the Dalek, the ultimate Doctor trick to get rid of the Dalek (okay, we’ve seen this since the 1950s with IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE and into the late 70s with ALIEN but it works and here, it looks great), the military vs the Dalek, the ruthlessness of the killer Dalek itself, and the touching truth of Aaron make this one stand out and a winner. It meant something even with the Dalek plot attached to it!

 

BTW, maybe the family, instead of just thinking they have to have a conversation when all the power goes out, can play a board game?

 

Like almost all of season 11 (I tend to think the spiders one was bad…I mean really bad), this was well done.