Time and Relative Dimensions in Spoilers

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1:50 AM

Q: How many times has the Doctor been to "the end of the universe"?

In the Doctor Who series, going to the very end of the universe is one of those things that was breathtakingly awesome the first time it was done but has finally become almost boring in its tropiness. The Doctor has been to the end of the universe in Listen (series 8 episode 4), Hell Bent (serie...

9 hours later…

Ixrec

11:11 AM

the Doctor is surprisingly unlikeable in An Unearthly Child

2 hours later…

Ixrec

12:54 PM

ha, the old TARDIS has a food replicator

is it just me, or did the Doctor deliberately make the TARDIS break so he'd have an excuse to go explore that city? (The Daleks, part 1)

Ixrec

1:10 PM

never mind, he admitted it in part 2

Ixrec

1:22 PM

well there's an interesting factoid about the lock on the TARDIS

> SUSAN: No, you'd jam the lock. Look, it's a defence mechanism. There are twenty one different holes inside the lock. There's one right place and twenty wrong ones. If you make a mistake, you'll. Well, the whole inside of the lock will melt.

I'm guessing this is no longer the case

rand al'thor

1:40 PM

Did the lock on the TARDIS always look like just an ordinary front door lock?

That only really hit me when I saw the Master locking the Doctor out in Utopia by pushing the little round knob up. It somehow spoils the magic of the TARDIS when you see it has a very human lock just like we've all seen and used a thousand times.

Ixrec

honestly, the resolution is so low in these early episodes I can't say I've ever seen the lock on the TARDIS myself

that slightly shiny thing in the bottom right is the best look at the lock we get I think

rand al'thor

Do we ever see it from the inside?

Ixrec

don't think so

rand al'thor

Ah, then it's not so bad.

From the outside, a lock is a lock: basically an oddly-shaped whole. It's when you see the inside bit looking too human and mundane that the magic is spoiled.

Ixrec

from the inside of the TARDIS, either you see the dark interior of the police box prop, or you see the doors from the TARDIS interior set which are obviously very alien

in fact there was one shot in The Three Doctors where you can actually see the back of the police box prop, as you may have seen me mention in the transcript

rand al'thor

1:48 PM

@Ixrec Those are the outer doors?

Wow.

Ixrec

yup

rand al'thor

I would've thought the TARDIS would look less fancy in Old Who than New.

Ixrec

one second later they use this angle:

so pretty sure they're meant to be the same doors, modulo TARDIS chameleon circuitry

ironic that only nowadays do they have the tech to actually show the same doors from both sides

or let you see the fancy TARDIS interior in a shot where the camera is outside the TARDIS

rand al'thor

@Ixrec But one door is closed in that shot, and they were both open in the earlier one!

Ixrec

/shrug

the doors are bigger on the inside!

rand al'thor

1:51 PM

Dammit, Mr. Old-version-of-Moffat

(who was in charge of it back then?)

Ixrec

we probably need @BESW to clarify that, I think there was no official "showrunner" prior to the reboot

BESW

"Showrunner" is a modern position combining most of the roles traditionally held by head writer, executive producer, and script editor.

For that particular glitch, you're probably looking to blame the continuity supervisor, who knew that their time and money was so pressed that they wouldn't delay shooting for a continuity error unless it'd really ruin the scene.

Ixrec

forcing someone at gunpoint to sign paperwork makes them look almost like gangsters

rand al'thor

Since when did Daleks care about paperwork?

Ixrec

this is a letter to the Thals explaining their proposed allegiance

and yes it's a trick

I like how they're just carrying the letter around on their suction cups

rand al'thor

2:08 PM

@Ixrec Yeah, I was going to say. They didn't seem very keen on an alliance with the Cybermen in series 2.

Is that Susan Foreman in those pics of yours?

Ixrec

I think the modern Daleks are a bit powered up compared to these Daleks

that's Susan yes

"Extermination, then?" <-- they finally said it!

these Daleks can't even leave the city because they're powered by static electricity from the metal floors and roads, their weapons only paralyze rather than kill, their suction cups don't appear to have skull-crushing strength, etc.

rand al'thor

I guess they have to get more powerful as time goes on, to keep them scary.

And in-universe, it makes sense for them to be improving their power all the time.

Ixrec

they certainly needed to learn how to deal with stairs at some point

also, most of this gets retconned in Genesis of the Daleks

which is what I'll be watching next

rand al'thor

"EL-EV-ATE"

[whoosh]

Ixrec

I believe Genesis is the one that introduces Davros, for instance

"perhaps we could throw a coat over the lens" heh

oooh, that's a clever way of subduing a Dalek (well, these bumper car Daleks anyway)

yep, the suction cups were much less dangerous back then

rand al'thor

2:26 PM

Maybe that's why people thought they weren't dangerous in Ecclestone's time.

"What are you going to do, sucker me to death? AAAARGH!"

Ixrec

they are shown operating buttons and knobs with them though

and this one dalek has swapped his out for a blowtorch

rand al'thor

Like when the Dalek in series 1 got through a combination lock with its sucker?

Ixrec

yeah, though here it's more like they reach out and gently poke buttons with the suction cup

"Make no attempt to capture them. They are to be exterminated."

that's more like it

rand al'thor

Those suction cups look like they might fit quite neatly over the bumps on a Dalek's lower body

Hmmm ... I wonder how Daleks reproduce? ;-)

Ixrec

I was going to say "that sounds oddly sexual" but decided against it

though obviously the metal casings have nothing to do with it

I assume it's cloning tech or something

rand al'thor

2:35 PM

"These aren't breasts - they're Dalek bumps!"

Ixrec

that was good

rand al'thor

I wouldn't put it past Moffat to reintroduce that idea ...

Ixrec

it's not much of an ambush if you leave your plunger sticking out around the corner...

wait, the Doctor hands Ian a picture of what the Daleks originally looked like, and the camera never gets a clear look at it?

booooo

rand al'thor

Let your imagination flow :-)

Ixrec

2:57 PM

wow, they needed to paint more Daleks on one of the walls because they don't have enough actual Dalek suits

StackExchange

Q: Was there a class system on Gallifrey including non-Time Lords?

Also was there a class system on Gallifrey with people on the outside of the citadel? Obviously where the Doctor came from, as per the shed he used to be in as a kid. So are you only a Time Lord if you live in the citadel and you're called something else if you're outside? I know it's 2 questi...

doctor-who timelord

Ixrec

lol, the Daleks are complaining about the image quality in their surveillance cameras

Ixrec

4:03 PM

TIL when a Dalek dies, its eye stalk points straight up

4 hours later…

StackExchange

7:51 PM

Q: What would happene the Doctor shows the psychic paper to someone who is top of commmand chain?

First of all i gotta make it clear, i began watching Doctor Who with the new (2005) series so if the answer is from old series you'll have to forgive me. So my question is this: we know that psychic paper appears to be some sort of clearance permit from someone with a higher clearity/authority/ra...

doctor-who

3 hours later…

Ixrec

10:46 PM

> DOCTOR: I won't do it. Whatever it is, I refuse.
> TIMELORD: Daleks.
> DOCTOR: Daleks? Tell me more.

lol

Ixrec

11:10 PM

@BESW did you say something about the Daleks being a Nazi metaphor? I can see why in Genesis, but not so much in The Daleks; was that always the intent?

BESW

11:56 PM

@Ixrec Yes, Terry Nation has said several times that the Daleks are "the unhearing, unthinking, blanked-out face of authority that will destroy you because it wants to destroy you," inspired by his nightmares growing up during the Blitz.

He generalised them from specifically Nazis to all of the hostile "Them" authorities in the world, but the Nazis were a major influence.

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