#dalek sass

[ayosdesignz-blog]

I don't think I'll ever get over the absolute sass and snark 2 primarily robotic alien species had against each other in Doctor Who.

You know the scene...season 2 episode 13...

Honestly they should have given us more of that.

Why didn't they give us more of that???

[forgottenbones]

You make your incompetence sound like an achievement.

[baltharino]

DOCTOR WHO | 2x13 ↳ Doomsday

[thebraxiatelcollection]

Nick Briggs has the dream job. Who wouldn't want to be the one to voice the Daleks and the Cybermen on a daily basis, and get them to say the craziest shit?

[kyriefae]

"The Fam" from 13's run may not have been what fans thought they wanted from the show but as someone who knows the personal pain of a unit that would otherwise call themselves this word but fails to hold even an ounce of the empathy and dignity these three fictional characters offer to a fictional being known as a Lord of Time...I can confirm they hold significance.

They matter in the long run. They mattered more than a lot of people were willing to admit when they were around.

This is to you, "fam".

A TARDIS Team that brings me warmth and courage and sass. I'll get space coupon deals, I'll be discouraged from popping the bubble wrap, and I'll know what to do with a microwave that is also an oven if a Dalek has snuck on board.

Just in case people are still too caught up on "the writing" being the reason they didn't like Jodie's era... I'm here to reinforce what made her time unique and powerful.

Also classically hilarious. Seriously, the plot of Orphan-55 moved forward because of Graham assembling space coupons for a discounted vacation. That's so stupid it's fun. That IS DOCTOR WHO! ✨🥰🤓 Get WITH IT, GURRL!

[patrice-bergerons]

Call me a basic bitch but to this day I love the cybermen v. dalek face off of Doomsday to bits.

"You would destroy the cybermen with 4 daleks?" "We would destroy the cyberman with one dalek."

The burn. The sass. The fascist tin machine on tin machine violence.

"You are only superior in one respect." "What is that?" "You are better at dying."

[notthewriteryourelookingfor]

The fact that 9 didn't have a companion like Ace is so rude to me.

Mr leather jacket anarchist and Miss "I make my own explosives that I carry in my backpack" would be the BEST duo ever.

And Im so mad it wasn't a thing.

I love Rose but I want more 9.

Also mad 9 never met Martha or Donna, he'd love Martha he'd think she was Fantastic.

And he and Donna would be able to sass a dalek into killing itself.

Also I think Martha would have been great with 3 & 4, she's so smart & 3 did really well with that professor chick, she was amazing.

Also just thinking about Martha sharing 4's scarf with 4 and Sarah Jane. They're using it like one of those leash backpacks to keep 4 near them.

[denimbex1986]

'The moment Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor regenerated will go down history as one of the great rug-pulls of modern Who.

There she was, standing on a rocky outcrop, ready to hand over the mantle to the next in line. But this time there was an extra twist for those watching. Instead of regenerating into Ncuti Gatwa, who was announced as the next Doctor in 2022 after rising to fame in Netflix's Sex Education, people instead saw David Tennant standing in his place, ready to reprise the role he’d last held thirteen years ago.

To quote the Doctor, as he reacted to this change of plans: what?!

With that catchphrase (can a word be a catchphrase? With Tennant, anything is possible), he was back in the TARDIS, and I was immediately reinvested – catapulted back in time to a version of my teenage self where long scarves were sacred and Converse magically looked good when paired with pinstripe suits.

I wasn’t around for original Who, but watched from behind the sofa as my father (a lifelong fan) turned on the telly for the reboot in 2005. Terrifying as the Daleks may be, this show is catnip for kids: the monsters; the prospect of entering a magic box and going for adventures in time and space; and above everything else, the knowledge the Doctor will ultimately save the day.

Heading up the first rebooted series, Christopher Eccleston came and went, with a brooding kind of mystique to him – a bit too dour for my nine-year-old self, but the baddies kept me hooked: the gas-mask zombies, the Slitheen, even (shudder) the return of the Daleks. And just as I was getting properly into the show, along came David Tennant.

For millions of fans like me, Tennant wasn’t just a version of the Doctor: he was the definitive Doctor. Taking the reins from Eccleston after the show’s excellent but troubled first season (Eccleston has talked about how leaving the show put him on a BBC blacklist and almost destroyed his career), he immediately breathed fresh life into the character.

Alongside the showrunner Russell T Davies (who himself has an impressive list of credits to his name, including It's A Sin and Queer as Folk) Tennant helped launch Who into the stratosphere: suddenly, watching the show was (wait for it) cool, something that both kids and adults would tune in for. In its prime, Doctor Who under Tennant pulled in as many as 13m viewers - a world away from Jodie Whittaker's swansong, which only pulled in four.

Davies’ combination of grounded characters – he always took the time to flesh out the companion’s families and make their lives feel meaningful – and tightly plotted episodes was a winning combination. Think The Parting of the Ways, where the Doctor and Rose tearfully bid farewell on a bleak beach in Norway; or the haunting Midnight, which must be among his bleakest.

Of course, a great script is one thing, but selling it is another. As the face of the show, Tennant could switch from cheeky chappie to ultra-serious blaster of baddies in a nanosecond; yes, Eccleston had the gravitas, but Tennant had that, plus sass. And clearly, he loved playing the Doctor: a lifelong fan himself, he once told GWR FM, "Who wouldn't want to be the Doctor? I've even got my own TARDIS!" It’s a fair point.

Needless to say, I lapped it up; even more so when Catherine Tate came on board as the permanently furious Donna. It was a golden era, but alas, all good things must come to an end. When both Davies and Tennant left in 2010, the show struggled. Matt Smith was charismatic and chirpy, yes, but the writing, under Steven Moffat’s tenure, was blander, the plots more slapdash. Where were the classics: the Blinks, the Empty Children?

As the years progressed, I stopped watching entirely – as did many others. Doctor Who was no longer cool; it was once again the domain of nerds and dedicated fans who were invested enough in the show's lore that the fiendishly complicated scripts made sense (or indeed the show's revolving catalogue of rebooted monsters from the original series). For some, the bad patches were worth toughing out. Which is fine, of course; I’m a nerd myself.

Something was missing; a spark, perhaps. Both Jodie Whittaker and Peter Capaldi’s tenures suffered as a result of poor scriptwriting; the plots were shoddy. The Doctor suddenly started sprouting mysterious incarnations. Why were the Weeping Angels suddenly everywhere? I would read the series reviews and roll my eyes at the screen, longing for the good old days.

I was just about ready to hang up my sonic screwdriver for good - at least until I heard that Russell T Davies was coming back as the series’ showrunner once more, along with Tennant and Catherine Tate as his companion Donna. The classic gang, back together again, and returning for one more bite at the apple before passing on the mantle to Gatwa.

Bringing Tennant back was a masterstroke from Davies. If my ears pricked up, so too did the ears of thousands of ex-Whovians, hungry for some sweet nostalgia. And we’ve been amply rewarded: that first sight of Tennant strolling around London in his revamped Tardis made me squeal like a child. As did the first mention of “Allons-y!”, his old catchphrase.

Watching him bounce around the universe with old companion Donna has been a joy; even better, this is a Doctor brought firmly into the modern-day universe. He’s still recognisably himself, but this time around he has crushes on Nathaniel Curtis’ Isaac Newton (“He was so hot... oh! Is that who I am now?”) and lets Donna and her daughter Rose (Yasmin Finney) school him on pronoun usage. You can sense the mischief in Davies’ pen, as well as the clear love he still has for the series, peppering his scripts with Easter eggs galore.

So as the third and final special approaches, I’m not ready to let Tennant go yet. How could I be? We've only just gotten him back, but wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey rolls on, and it's been a joy to see the show looking more invigorated than it has in years.

Job done? With Davies in charge, I'm optimistic that the soft reboot he and Tennant have kick-started will continue in style. Gatwa has big shoes to fill, but one thing's for certain about Doctor Who: it's all about change. Roll on the future... but if Tennant ever decides to make another guest appearance, I'll be there in the blink of a Weeping Angel's eye.'

[ivandra-winters]

I will say this: if Missy and Fifteen somehow end up encountering each other in the next series, there would be some much flirting between them and the sass would be astronomical. A Dalek would show up, and get promptly eviscerated by their combined strength-

[not-mary-sue]

Do you ever think about how much weight Nicholas Briggs had to pull in Doomsday. Delivering iconic lines as both the Cyberman AND the Daleks. The entire sass off between them, all Nicholas Briggs. That man deserves way more credit.

[rapha-reads]

"What's worse, the alligators down here or the Daleks up there?"

Pffft, Susan's getting sassier and sass! She's awesome.

Okay, this Dalek invasion of Earth in the 22nd century serial is really good, and also really weird. Pure Doctor Who stuff! And once again, the ones who are truly shining are Barbara and Susan (the Doctor barely gets 15 seconds of screentime and Ian, uuuuuh, Ian is here I guess).

And Susan's got herself a boyfriend too, apparently.

[davros42]

Rewatching Classic Doctor Who, some episodes I haven't seen in years, some of the animated reconstructions I haven't seen at all.

The Dalek Invasion of Earth AKA Daleks Threaten Earth AKA The Invaders AKA The Daleks (II) AKA The Return of the Daleks AKA The Daleks in Europe AKA Serial K

In February, 1964 Dalekmania hit Britain. The Daleks was immediately popular, spiking ratings and drawing big attention to this new show, Doctor Who. The donation of two of the original Dalek props to a children's charity drew attention and interest in the Daleks remained high. In March a sequel story was commissioned from Terry Nation for the second season, based on the strength of both The Daleks and The Keys of Marinus.

And what a sequel it was! It made use of extensive location shoots, the sight of Daleks chasing the TARDIS crew around London were instantly iconic. It also features the first quarry shoot for the show and probably one of the few times a quarry appears as an actual Earth quarry in Doctor Who history. The original 4 Dalek models were joined by 2 new ones, to flesh out the ranks of the invading army, which led to some impressively complex shoots in and around the Dalek saucer. During one of these complex shoots, William Hartnell was injured and had to sit out for an episode. The less said about the slyther, however, the better. And despite the best efforts of the crew to step up their games, some of the sets feature some obvious backdrops.

The story opens with an fantastic hook, a man with some kind of strange apparatus on his head, lurches about, tearing the mechanical apparatus off his head, and throws himself into the river. The TARDIS arrives and everyone is excited to have apparently returned to Earth. They very quickly realize, however, something is amiss. Susan injures herself and the TARDIS is blocked by rubble, the party separates once again displaying absolutely no degree of genre savvy. Barbara and Susan are discovered and "rescued" by some human resistance fighters. The Doctor and Ian come face-to-face with the unexpected... a Dalek, rising from the Thames. It's quite a cliffhanger!

It turns out that the Daleks have bombarded Earth with meteorites, infected them with a plague, and then invaded. Some of the survivors were enslaved, others were turned into Robomen: cyborg servants of the Daleks who eventually go mad and kill themselves. The Doctor immediately starts sassing the Daleks, who do not realize they have made a grave mistake in invading the Doctor's favorite planet. The Daleks don't recognize the Doctor (or Ian). The Doctor assumes that their previous adventure with the Daleks is "millions" of years in the future, which seems like the Doctor making stuff up again. The Daleks are running a mining operation for reasons unknown and the Doctor and Ian are taken aboard a Dalek saucer and come face to face with the Black Dalek, first seen in the Dalek comics. Of course, he's not entirely black yet, he needs another episode or two to finish his paint job.

The human resistance attacks. The Doctor escapes, Ian stays behind, Barbara is hurt and separated from Susan who escapes with David, a member of the resistance. Upon recovery Barbara goes off with Jenny, another member of the resistance, to find bomb making materials and killing a Dalek by running it over with a truck. Amongst Barbara's many talents, she apparently has her CDL (or whatever the UK equivalent is). One wheelchair bound member of the resistance shows some limited ability to move without his mobility device, which, to judge from recent critique, some people think is the most unbelievable thing to ever happen in Doctor Who. The Doctor meets up with Susan and David, third wheel on their extended date. Ian and another escapee make their way toward the Dalek's mining operation, meeting Mr. Rumbold from Are You Being Served? along the way (Nicholas Smith in his first speaking role).

Barbara and Jenny get sold out to the Daleks by two old women and are taken to the mine. After a series of adventures and romantic moments: The Doctor, Susan, and David also arrive at the mine. It turns out the Daleks are going to mine out the core of the Earth replace it with an engine so that they can pilot the planet as they choose, like some kind of Death Star. Which is either the dumbest thing I've ever heard or the most brilliant, I'm not sure. The Daleks are in the process of dropping a bomb down into the Earth's core when The Doctor and Barbara force the Robomen to turn on the Daleks through the power of impressions and everyone escapes, except the Daleks who are caught in the explosion. The Earth's core survives intact, but England gets a new active volcano.

The TARDIS is freed from debris and while Susan is busy debating leaving David, the Doctor makes her mind up for her, leaving her behind (with only one shoe?) to help rebuild the Earth, becoming the first companion to leave. Or be left anyway. Jenny was originally meant to become the new companion at this point but there were issues behind the scenes that prevented the character from being more than a one-shot. Personally I rather like Jenny, she would have made a much more interesting companion than Vicki.

It's a wonderful serial, using it's six episodes to the fullest and throwing almost everything into the mix to craft an impressive story, even alligators in the sewers. It feels more like Doctor Who than anything we've seen thus far. The Doctor taking a keen interest in upsetting the Daleks' plans and the crew firmly in the protagonist roles. William Hartnell gets at least three all-time classic lines including the famous speech at the end. It is a little convoluted, maybe, but almost everything is in service to the plot. There actually is a fair amount of effort put in to justifying David and Susan's relationship, more so than I remembered. They're actually kind of cute together? While it establishes the terrible "marrying off the companion to a guy she just met" standard exit, it is handled better here than in most other stories. Despite some cheap set backdrops (and the horrible slyther costume), there's some great camerawork and much more complex staging and scenes than we've seen previously. The Dalek Invasion of Earth spiked the Daleks' popularity even further leading to an avalanche of merchandising, comics, live appearances, and two feature films. And another sequel story, cementing the Daleks as the Doctor's only recurring nemesis in these early days. It also assured the popularity of the show, scoring high ratings.

Next up, The Rescue. The Doctor gets a new "granddaughter". For the first time, but not the last time.

[baltharino]

DOCTOR WHO | 2x13 ↳ Doomsday

[silvermarmoset]

if you had to pick one outfit from each nuwho doctor's era which ones would you pick? could be from anyone

terrific question!!

Nine

my first thought was the subtlety of any of Nine's jumpers and my second thought was Jabe and her beautiful dress, but I think I'm going to have to cop to my love of character-based costume design and say Rose's insane scarf outfit from Boom Town. if i really wanted to be normal I'd point to her white tank top outfit in Dalek—which does such a stunning job of setting Rose as the moral touchstone in a dark, angry episode—but I have a big weak spot for Rose going full silly and wearing a big loud scarf and a tiny skirt and her hair in those nonsense braids. it's the first time in series 1 we see Rose kind of lean into the I'm-a-glamorous-time-traveler-outside-the-laws-of-normie-fashion, so it's kind of a precursor to her choices in s2 but also such a fun break from her s1 hoodie-and-a-jean uniform. I love the hoodie-and-a-jean uniform, but if we're going to pick fave looks, this is it for me.

runners-up:

the dalek tank top

rose's hot pink loudmouth shirt in 'wwiii'

jabe <3

Ten

Rose's Tooth and Claw look is my definition of perfection. I love all the story elements it covers: Rose's sass and youth and flirtiness, that little bit of messy that always shows up when she's at her best, how it's both jaunty and ready to adventure but also so (SO) much an outfit for a cute date. And then there's the visual pun of the crown right on her chest—my GOD that's a fun touch. RTD once said this is the episode he'll be playing on endless repeat at the old folks home and for the crown T-shirt alone I'd agree with him.

runners-up:

donna's beautiful red shirt we see for 14 seconds in 'turn left'

pretty much everything of martha's but i'd be lying if i said i don't think of her 'family of blood' military jacket nigh-constantly

all of ten's ties but mostly the fruity ones

Eleven

i was going to write a long screed about how unjust forcing me to pick one outfit from the era of amy pond is, and then I remembered River Song's gold dress exists and i have no other opinions. this. this this this. give it to me.

runners-up:

there aren't any

give me the dress

ugh fine amy's wedding dress and her big red sweater can be here too

Twelve

SO SO SO DIFFICULT. bill is here and bill is the icon. I'm going to go with her stripe-shirt-and-overalls gorgeousness from Knock Knock. It really doesn't have any character relevancy or bigger meaning, I just think it's cute as fuck and I want to shake Hayley Nebauer's hand.

runners-up:

clara's 'into the dalek' blue-eyed pun shirt

bill's french fry shirt

river song's gorgeous christmas dresses

Thirteen

i haven't watched thirteen's era entirely so I'm on the wrong foot here, but I'm going with Aisling Bea's wonderfully noxious outfit because she was a delight and I would have liked to see more of her barely contained rage buffeting Thirteen for about twenty more episodes.

(this woman would have been an iconic companion and nothing can convince me otherwise)

runners-up:

i like thirteen's color-reversed coat!

jo martin <3

[teetle-time]

donnie should get to dismantle a dalek. with explosives.

leo should get to sass a cyberman and be a menace also.

raph can accidentally become a mythological figure through the power of "ah crud that kid is in danger" and mikey can razz so much tazz you can see him from across the galaxy thank you and good night

[lukeskywalking]

My friend and I have been rewatching season one of doctor who for gits and shiggles and I have some thoughts as someone who has not consumed doctor who content since 2014

Dear god this show is campy as hell and it’s easier for me to enjoy if I’m not taking it TOO seriously

That being said. I cannot take the daleks seriously

If a time traveler invited me to go with him and then instantly took me to the heat death of the planet I would go home. Why can’t we just go see Live Aid at Wembley

I like Rose, she’s very sweet but goddamn she should’ve just told Mickey straight off that they were through. She was trifling for that

I really like the emotional beats

Having Jack be openly queer in 2005 is actually pretty cool

Goddamn some bitch we just met is always sacrificing themselves for the cause in this show

The dated special effects are SO funny like hell yeah brother don’t fully edit out the green screen halo around your characters, it’s so sexy

Are you my mummy episodes still slap

I get it’s a show about aliens but WHY does there ALWAYS have to be a (dumb looking) alien behind it all. Like the episode where they go back to see Rose’s dad. Why couldn’t it just be a time paradox. Why throw in the flying scorpion creatures

This show really was so much better when the companions were just randos and not some special messiah destined to cradle the universe or whatever

Of the ones I remember watching (9, 10, 11) the ninth doctor is defo the most grounded iteration of the character. Great balance of his emotional baggage, light hearted sass, and gentle compassion

We were robbed. Christopher Eccleston was robbed. I was robbed. One season of this doctor is not enough