I thought I would wait until the show had sunk in and I'd watched it a couple of times before I made any comment - not that there's an awful lot to comment on really. For the first time in a good few years, I've taken my Saturday night obsession offline and previewed nothing at all. No previews, no trailers (well, maybe just 'who killed all the Daleks'), no gossip or speculation.
It got to the point last season that I was getting really pissed at how much the geek brigade could spoil things. Not simply by ranting about how they would do it better and what they'd like to see, but even more at how much they think they have the rights to anything to do with the show because they've been into it for "a long time".
I feel really old - and I'm sure some of you out there will be able to put your x-box controller down for long enough to tell me simply not to look, but once you know the Christmas presents are hidden under the bed, it's very hard not to take a tiny peak...
Anyway, my own thoughts on it are pretty much the same as Mr Moffat. There's a couple of classic enemies that could be resurrected for the good of the show but not many. For the record, some Ice Warriors would be cool and I could also live with a few Sea Devils, but all the time the creative vision is there to come up with far more sophisticated beasts like the Silents, the Angels, that damn fine minotaur and the sweeping melodrama that was Family of Blood or The Doctor Dances, is there really any point to driving in reverse? Seems to me that we've all started taking the Doctor very seriously these days. Can you imagine an episode in which a wheelie bin sucking in one of the main characters is still acceptable?
All of this aside, the premise for Asylum of the Daleks is, quite frankly, genius. The Daleks aren't scary any more - I'm not sure they ever where - but they are a superb part of the pantheon and it's good to see them in action when the plot is woven like this. I've watched 'Asylum' three times now and I'm not getting tired of it and that's the sign of a good 'n' tight script to me. We've come full circle. Just like watching old clips of Nazis on TV is fascinating without the terror, so it is with their fictional counterparts.
As for the prospect of 'that' new assistant - there's a little part of me that hopes she will stay inside the tin can for the remainder of the season. That would crank the dynamic beyond anything I had even thought possible, but I won't be disappointed if that's not the case. This year, like I used to do in seasons past, I'm rolling with the punches to see where we're headed. For me, Asylum of the Daleks is almost up there with Blink, Family of Blood and my other iconic favourite, The Girl in the Fireplace. That's no bad place to be.
And you know what? The new season will be fine because it always is. The internet is good at a lot of things but one thing it's completely useless at is enhancing my enjoyment of the best TV programme ever created.
Besides, not being online and turning your phone off for 50 minutes a week is probably good for your health.
To wrap up, I don't think there are any spoilers to be had here. I believe these posters are an official free for all - and man, they are beautiful - although I have purposely missed one out because I wasn't too keen on it and I like to give y'all something to do in the evenings. Somebody should go back in time and work like a dog on doing one of these for every single episode ever and then release them on a drip feed through er... some place official where they won't get in trouble. Feast thine eyes:
Finally on my Who travels this week, I'm not sure if these come under the heading of cooler or just different, but I love these two graphics. They need crediting - so if you know who they're by, let me know. That doesn't mean I'm not going to try and find out myself...
