A well-crafted machine
- Publication: Radio Times
- Date: 2005-05-14
- Author:
- Page: 9
- Language: English
LETTER OF THE WEEK
A well-crafted machine
Doctor Who (30 April BBC1) saw the return of our most infamous alien creation. Was there disappointment that it was a single Dalek, and not a mass invasion, as the cover of RT suggested? After 45 minutes of great drama, with emotions of fear and disgust and also some genuine lump-in-the-throat moments, definitely not. How many of us in the classic days could say we were moved by a Dalek's demise? But was there a dry eye in the country after this episode?
Robert Shearman's script brought this creature to life as much as Rose's DNA, and the new Dalek concept was breathtaking. It realised the fearsome metal killing machine that it was always meant to be. Sink plungers and whisks were confined to history, and the whole programme was saturated with impending menace.
Simply marvellous. Celebrity wrestlers pitted against a Dalek? They didn't stand a chance.
Soren Moore, Darlington, Durham
We tried to make it clear that our cover was a re-creation of a previous episode to celebrate the Dalek's return, rather than an indication of what was in that week's episode. But to anyone disappointed not to have seen more Daleks, we'll just say: watch this space!
Mr Moore wins a portable digital radio: Pure's Evoke-1XT has great sound, a cool blue display and easy tuning. It's available to buy for only £99.99 plus £3.49 p&p. Call 0870 062 6263, quoting reference LP2005-16. Check digital radio availability in your area at www.ukdigitalradio.com/ coverage or call 0870 010 0123.
Tough on time
Christopher Eccleston is the hardest Doctor yet. He's turning into a real "Wholigan".
Keith Bruce
North Shields, Tyne and Wear
Ever since I found out there was to be a new series of Doctor Who, I've had mixed emotions about his inevitable encounter with the Daleks. Being a child of the 1960s, I was regularly to be found behind the sofa during the Saturday teatime slot. Even in recent years the sound of their voice has still raised the hairs on the back of my neck.
As 7.00pm on 30 April approached I braced myself, with a cushion as my only protection. I was suitably impressed with the updated Dalek design, and found the voice to have the same chilling effect.
By the end of the episode, I was indeed traumatised. Not, however, due to fear of the Dalek, but because of the overwhelming sympathy I had been manipulated into feeling for it.
I appreciate that Robert Shearman spent more than a year writing and rewriting the episode, and on many levels it was remarkably successful. But what he did was wrong, wrong, wrong! Daleks are and always have been single-minded, brutal killers. We don't want to empathise with them — we want to hate and fear them as we always have!
Deborah Nichol!
Chorley, Lancashire
Caption: Re-no-vate! The new, scary Dalek
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- APA 6th ed.: (2005-05-14). A well-crafted machine. Radio Times p. 9.
- MLA 7th ed.: "A well-crafted machine." Radio Times [add city] 2005-05-14, 9. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: "A well-crafted machine." Radio Times, edition, sec., 2005-05-14
- Turabian: "A well-crafted machine." Radio Times, 2005-05-14, section, 9 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=A well-crafted machine | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/A_well-crafted_machine | work=Radio Times | pages=9 | date=2005-05-14 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=24 April 2024 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=A well-crafted machine | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/A_well-crafted_machine | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=24 April 2024}}</ref>
