Around when BBC America started the new
Flux
storyline of
Doctor Who
(2005) they also showed the animated
The Evil of the Daleks
from
Doctor Who
(1963). For me, this contrast confirmed a strong suspicion. In recent times, the show has often not made much sense nor much explored science fiction in any interesting way. Spectacle and large consequences have overshadowed the natural, plausible progression of narrative. In the
Flux
story, a fair fraction of the top-five adversaries have been wheeled out and the fate of the whole of creation appears to be at stake. In modern times, even a single Dalek is a great threat.
In the older story, a Dalek seems to be destroyed by, broadly, a couple of guys pushing it into a fireplace. Not all the plot elements make sense and some even make fans laugh. The core premise of the experiment and its value seems a bit weak. Yet, honestly, I found the story far more engaging. It feels real because it appears to work within rules that make some kind of sense. Despite being less powerful, the Daleks still manage to be menacing, also interesting and cunning. We engage in actual science fiction rather than surprise technofixes. I put the difference squarely on the quality of the scripts. The first episode of the new story involved some unlikely luck and bravery. By the third episode, which was … well, let's not look for adjectives … I noticed that Jodie was doing the best acting possible with the material she'd been given, it all just seemed to have been pulled out of nothing more coherent than somebody's posterior.