Right, I have to take a brief moment to talk about something. I have to point to why, but I am not blaming anyone or saying anything with malice. Instead, it is more of a critique of the generation before me, my generation, and the one after (along with future ones). Highlighted by the Black Lives Matter movement last year, some people that are looked upon as “great” have pasts that are as checkered as a 3D Chessboard. Shocker! That’s what being at the heart of any sort of progress is, what once was a normal opinion is now grossly out-of-touch. As will the current ones in the future.

Take Winston Churchill, for example. When the Edward Colston statue was pulled from its spot in Bristol and dropped in the river, the Union Flag-waving Fox News-lite side of Britain got a fire under itself. They demanded “all this BLM nonsense” be stopped before the same happened to Churchill’s statue (already graffitied by this point). The thing about both sides of this is: Neither wants a common-ground, they want to be right but never wrong whatsoever. Even for his time, Churchill was a little dated, and now that gap between being right-on and dated has widened. So yeah, you’re not going to agree with a man over 100-years older than you are.

The man grew up when the claim that Britain was great meant that it controlled more land than most. He was born at the height of imperialism. However, there is one thing I think everyone has to applaud the man for, even if you disagree with him. He kept the U.K and many of the allies fighting something much worse. You might have heard of that time, I think it was called World Kerfuffle 2 – Electric Boogaloo. It had stronger character development than the prior, a more developed villain, and a lot of defining moments in cinema. Yes, he did a great thing there, but elsewhere he was not as all saintly as some would like to believe.

I think I need to draw that line because I am about to heavily praise this very Churchill-based pseudo-historical episode, the first of Smith’s I liked properly. Unlike the former two episodes by Moffat, this only focuses and established things other than our T.A.R.D.I.S. duo. The episode, much like most of Doctor Who in the pseudo-historicals, tends to play Winston as a loveable easy-going normal character doing his job. All while ignoring the mental torment it would have played on anyone to face-off with the Nazi war-machine pounding at the door. In short: I don’t agree with him and I know he wasn’t this entirely.

It is also the first episode where Amy isn’t dressed either as a sexy ginger cop (“Kiss-a-gram”) or frolicking about a spaceship in her nightie. For once she’s dressed like a normal human… Ok, a normal woman for late-00s/early 2010s, not normal for the height of the London Blitz. Something tells me that an above-the-knee denim skirt, cowboy boots, and a cropped leather jacket wasn’t “lady-like” back then, as every other woman is more restrained. Most of the other episodes akin to this, including Gattis’ Victorian “The Crimson Horror,” feature period-appropriate clothing for companions. Ah well, c’est la vie, as the German’s say.

Shall we get on to the obvious bit? There is a reason it is called “Victory of the Daleks” after all, they get the only victory they will ever get: To live another day. Yes, even in 2010 we knew that using upside-down Nazi dustbins with their whisks of death and plungers of Swiss Army Knife-ness to get your way is the wrong thing to do. Hear that Chibnall, the Nazis, the ones that were so evil to humanity, the show you write for now had to create a parable for how evil they were to display that to children. Maybe don’t have your all-saintly space wizard using them as the get-out-of-jail free-card, twice.

Speaking of the Daleks, I need to talk about the good ol’ Paisley boy, Bracewell, and “his” Ironsides. I know a few people really don’t like the green Dalek with the kit belt, but I do love it. It is just that classic Land Rover Defender-style green, the kit belt with all the bits and bobs they can’t turn around to pick out, and all the little details. Even the moments where they are being subservient to everyone, carrying folders, “I am your soldier,” and “Would you care for some tea?” It is like every good moment, I want to see more, but I also know that the reason I love it is because of how sparse those moments are.

That brings me beautifully over to the pacing, which is brilliant until we have to look at those technicolored nightmares of 12-foot tall little Hitlers. You want to moan about some Daleks, those are the ugly-looking pieces of tripe right there. Before they emerge from the smoke like it is a crap concert filled with Scandanavian neo-Nazi metal, and once they disappear, there is a lot of fun moments or energetic moments. They just happen to suck all of the life out of the episode when I have to look at them. I’ll put my hands up and say they look stupid with a single solid body with a movable headpiece.

Really, there isn’t too much to write home about, it is just the episode that seems to settle the series best early-on. It is fun, it is energetic, it is emotional with the story of Bracewell (a bomb) talking about loving Dorabella, and it is great. It’s a bit too Scooby-doo for some, as the villain runs off at the end shaking their whisks of death saying “I’ll get you meddling kids, and your tin dog too!” While the last episode was establishing Smith’s darker side as he had to decide between saving humans and saving a Star Whale, but here, he’s justifiably angry at the tin-cans of hatred playing dumb.

Speaking of dumb, Gillian has nothing to do… just hang about with a bloke blowing smoke in her face. At the end with Bracewell, she does come into it with a proper bit of emotional anchoring. However, she’s mostly prancing about or standing in the background doing not very much. Though I could sit here all day moaning about some tiny bits of the episode, including Churchill’s portrayal, but I’ve watched the episode 4-5 times already this year. Nonetheless, I’ll not be doing that again for a couple of months. Anyway, next time we’ll running away from and towards some stone, and possibly be saying, “Hello sweetie!”

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Doctor Who "Victory Of The Daleks"

9.5

Score

9.5/10

Pros

• "Alright, it's a jammie Dodger. But I was promised Tea."
• I love the Ironside design.
• Gattis' cammo; "Danny-boy to the Doctor."
• Brilliant pacing.
• A fun pseudo-historical episode.

Cons

• I can't stand the tall colorful Daleks.
• A bit revisionist portrayal of Churchill.