Doctor Who: Golgafrincham Invasion of Earth?

Yesterday I noticed that the Peter Cushing Doctor Who film Dr. Who: Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. was on one of the cable channels so we started to watch it. This film is in the so bad it is good category, but the missus made a comment about the plot, such as it is that I have the urge to share.

If you think it would matter to know the plot of the film you'd better stop reading now.

The central idea is that the Dalek's have invaded earth and are building a mine in Bedfordshire. The location of this mine will allow them to place an explosive device that will turn Earth into a space ship and they can then fly it back to their home sun and park it next to Skaro, their home world.

No really.

Anyway, the Doctor stops this by rerouting the bomb to a convergence of the Earth's magnetic North and South poles, and this sucks the daleks to their doom.

The Dalek's under the influence of magnetism is hilarious, and comes complete with comedy sound track. (Why is the noise of a piano falling from a height being played when a Dalek falls down a mine shaft precisely?).

Anyway the key point my wife made was that these were possibly the worst Dalek invasion fleet ever, and she thought they were the Dalek equivalent of the Golgafrincham B Ark. The Daleks identify the useless members of their planet and tell them that Skaro is doomed ("a mutant star goat I heard") and send them off to Earth with a hare brained plan. The real intention is to annoy the Doctor and remove the useless Daleks when the bomb goes off.

Suddenly the plot holes are filled and all is well.

(One question: the Dalek ship has spinning sections, and I noticed that the recent Dalek ships do the same. Is this the current series recognising this unbelievable legacy, or is their a common ancestor?)

Good to see Bernard Cribbins enjoying himself though.

The Big Bang (Series Finale)

Well it was good, but it could have been better. I really enjoyed that, but the wife was less convinced and a lot of what she said rang true (and is below). OK, we haven't been told what was going on, but the Doctor and his pals have saved the universe for another day (or should that be another infinite continuum).

I should warn that spoilers follow.

I didn't see the link between what the Doctor said about the tardis and the famous rhyme that allowed Amy to remember it. Very nicely done.

The fossil Daleks were nice, and having a Dalek plead for its life was unexpected.

The sequence before the the credits was brilliant.

I like the 2000 year old centurion too.

But...

The jumping about in time worked and was good fun, but... usually the Doctor can't do this (Earthshock), the universe may be small but where was the penalty for him? This is too easy. Similarly just using the sonic screwdriver to let Rory open the Pandorica felt like a cop out. The wife thought that maybe his jumping about could have been the cause of the cracks: the baddies were right he was the cause. (Of course they may still be right.)

How they get Amy back was also a cop out. To give it the benefit of the doubt we still don't know why the cracks followed Amy. That the cracks were the Doctor unravelling doesn't explain why they only appeared in this season. I do hope we revisit that. We still need to know why Amy is so important: why did the crack appear in her room.

Come to that we have absolutely no idea why the Tardis behaved as it did. None at all. Unless I missed something.

I enjoyed the further references to other British SciFi. I wonder what I missed but I spotted Red Dwarf (jump starting the second big bang with starbugthe Tardis), and H2G2/Douglas Adams (but can't remember what it was...).

I also felt it was all getting a bit messianic with all three of Amy, Rory and the Doctor sacrificing themselves to save each other and the universe. Oh and then rising from death (x2) or the void (x1).

I'm keen to read the views of other bloggers...

Why are all LibDem bloggers also SciFi fans

There does seem to be a Dr Who theme amongst LibDems of a certain age. How many of the LibDem bloggers write about Dr Who? I know of many non-blogging activists who are similarly afflicted.


Anyway me too. Although I am an amateur next to my wife, and she confesses to the same amateur status when compared to Millenium Elephant's daddy who knows everything. I'm, sadly, very impressed by his analyses.

I really enjoyed Saturday's episode and can't wait for the next one. Spoilers now follow.

The wife and I discussed possible ways out of the hole that we've been written into and they all seem to point to Amy.


I reckon she's a timelord. My wife reckon she's the Doctor's Daughter from The Doctor's Daughter. This will allow her to regenerate.

Unfortunately I think my wife might be right: Moffat asked that the DD not be killed, and it'd explain the strength of the Doctor's reaction to Amy's pass at him. I'd rather it was the Rani. I'm not keen on the DD to be honest.


The other possibility is that Amy's house could be a Tardis. The Lodger hinted at a building that was wrong being a Tardis, and the Doctor challenged Amy on this point last night ("too many rooms", "nothing in your life makes sense"). This also allows a Tardis to explode without removing Tardis access from the Doctor. How many times can I write Tardis in such a short paragraph? It would also explain the door: "perception filters" were mentioned in the Eleventh Hour about one door in her house, and were also in The Lodger. I'll admit I checked the former.


The house being Amy's Tardis would also explain why the cracks follow Amy.


I did for a while think we were just in Amy's head but that leads to a disappointing "it was all a dream" ending. Caron's Musing suggest another way we can get a cop out ending linking back. I think we can rule both out.


Or is Amy part of the trap? Is that why nothing makes sense? If so why do the Autons kill her?


Now I'm looking forward to being proved totally and utterly wrong. I'm wishing my life away again. In the meantime here is some football.