Rusty the Good Dalek
OK, we are in the distant future. Distant is so relative. There is a Dalek floating around in space. A resistance ship that used to be a hospital has rescued the Dalek. A soldier named Journey Blue has just lost her brother in combat. Right before being annihilated herself, she is rescued by the Doctor. After asking nicely to be taken back to the Aristotle, her home base, if you will, the Doctor is shown a Dalek that has malfunctioned. "A Dalek so damaged it has turned good. Morality as malfunction. How do I resist?" stated the Doctor. Good line. The look on Capaldi's face expresses how much the Doctor loves and needs this. Sure, he would like to just have coffee with Clara, but how can he pass up a good Dalek? This is why he keeps going and not take out a mortgage. There are too many first out in the universe...even for a 2,000 year old Time Lord.
Peter Capaldi, our Doctor, and Steven Moffat, the head writer/showrunner, are both from Scotland. Many people think the put down comments by the Doctor towards Clara were rather mean-spirited. I believe this is being totally misinterpreted. I imagine Capaldi and Moffat creating this new Doctor, sharing ideas about the older guys in the neighborhoods they grew up in as kids, throwing insults at the younger lads that tried to keep up. If you wanted to continue hanging out with these older guys, there could be no crying and no thin skin. I grew up in Houston, Texas during the 80's in a bad neighborhood. To be more specific, I grew up in a bad neighborhood during the crack epidemic. There were a lot of criminals in the neighborhood with great a sense of humor, but at the same time were quite dangerous. Sensitivity had no place. Nicknames and put downs were passed out like candy, yet at the same time, the metaphorical candy were a term of endearment as well. When the Doctor is telling Clara that her hips are built like a man, or that she is too old to date, I don't think he is being alien. I believe he knows exactly what he is doing. Remember, he is a rebel Time Lord that is...Scottish? Throwing insults at Clara is a way of communicating. Keep in mind, the Doctor easily forgets or is very short with the people he does not care for at all.
In addition, Clara is no push over. She checks him and volleys the quips smothered in acerbic sauce right back at the Doctor. Miss Oswald slaps the Doctor, has Capaldi say Yes Ma'am in Deep Breath, and even has the Doctor running back to get her when he thinks he has a case worthy of her time. That's right. When the Doctor returns in Deep Breath with a new costume and TARDIS console design, one can bet that he had some mini adventures along the way. The banter between Clara and the Doctor is the Peri Brown/Doctor situation done correctly.
Back to Rusty. He was exposed to radiation, causing his mind to expand like a hallucinogen passed around at a Jim Morrison after party. While floating through space under the influence of radiation poisoning, Rusty witnessed the birth of a star, causing him to appreciate beauty, belying his original nature and instinct that blind prejudice and genocide are acts of beauty.
During the moment when the Doctor enters Rusty's consciousness, he instructs the aberration of a Dalek to look into him. Rusty states that he sees the Doctor's soul, his beauty, his divinity. Like I mentioned earlier, a total Oliver Stone Door's trip. The Doctor's attempt at lobotomy falls short when Rusty looks deeper, discovering a bastion of hatred and loathing towards Rusty's race, the Daleks. Death and Destruction to the Daleks, which is not the title to a Pertwee era episode, but what the Doctor truly harbors underneath it all.
Disappointed, the Doctor feels as if this was a missed opportunity. He had the chance to play psychiatrist with Rusty; however, malpractice is actually sending Rusty on a covert mission to return back to the Daleks, where he will clandestinely take them out one by one. And with the sideways look he gave the Doctor, he might even return. Rusty in series 9! Yes, please.
Peter Capaldi, our Doctor, and Steven Moffat, the head writer/showrunner, are both from Scotland. Many people think the put down comments by the Doctor towards Clara were rather mean-spirited. I believe this is being totally misinterpreted. I imagine Capaldi and Moffat creating this new Doctor, sharing ideas about the older guys in the neighborhoods they grew up in as kids, throwing insults at the younger lads that tried to keep up. If you wanted to continue hanging out with these older guys, there could be no crying and no thin skin. I grew up in Houston, Texas during the 80's in a bad neighborhood. To be more specific, I grew up in a bad neighborhood during the crack epidemic. There were a lot of criminals in the neighborhood with great a sense of humor, but at the same time were quite dangerous. Sensitivity had no place. Nicknames and put downs were passed out like candy, yet at the same time, the metaphorical candy were a term of endearment as well. When the Doctor is telling Clara that her hips are built like a man, or that she is too old to date, I don't think he is being alien. I believe he knows exactly what he is doing. Remember, he is a rebel Time Lord that is...Scottish? Throwing insults at Clara is a way of communicating. Keep in mind, the Doctor easily forgets or is very short with the people he does not care for at all.
In addition, Clara is no push over. She checks him and volleys the quips smothered in acerbic sauce right back at the Doctor. Miss Oswald slaps the Doctor, has Capaldi say Yes Ma'am in Deep Breath, and even has the Doctor running back to get her when he thinks he has a case worthy of her time. That's right. When the Doctor returns in Deep Breath with a new costume and TARDIS console design, one can bet that he had some mini adventures along the way. The banter between Clara and the Doctor is the Peri Brown/Doctor situation done correctly.
Back to Rusty. He was exposed to radiation, causing his mind to expand like a hallucinogen passed around at a Jim Morrison after party. While floating through space under the influence of radiation poisoning, Rusty witnessed the birth of a star, causing him to appreciate beauty, belying his original nature and instinct that blind prejudice and genocide are acts of beauty.
Into the Doctor
Broaching the topic of a good Dalek to Clara, the Doctor scoffs, stating there is no such thing. Clara, quite taken aback by the blanket generalization, tells the Doctor that he sounds prejudice. Now Clara is not a new companion that has not had an experience or two with the Daleks. In fact, Clara was literally into the Dalek back in series 7A. She also faced off with their genocidal nature in the 50th Anniversary, Day of the Doctor. Even though she is a teacher, a profession where one must at times dig deep to squeeze some ounce of good out of a not so desirable apple, her "Just Give a Dalek a Chance" approach is just a little too free-spirited. Moments after the remark, the Doctor asks Clara if he is a good man, which is one of the many overarching themes of series 8. I thought it was weird that she said she didn't know. You have seen him do amazing things. Yes, I think you are quite awful, Doctor, but I will go on a life-threatening adventure with you any way. Perhaps if he asked her the question during Deep Breath, when she was still having her doubts about the regeneration, her indecisive verdict would have made more sense.During the moment when the Doctor enters Rusty's consciousness, he instructs the aberration of a Dalek to look into him. Rusty states that he sees the Doctor's soul, his beauty, his divinity. Like I mentioned earlier, a total Oliver Stone Door's trip. The Doctor's attempt at lobotomy falls short when Rusty looks deeper, discovering a bastion of hatred and loathing towards Rusty's race, the Daleks. Death and Destruction to the Daleks, which is not the title to a Pertwee era episode, but what the Doctor truly harbors underneath it all.
Disappointed, the Doctor feels as if this was a missed opportunity. He had the chance to play psychiatrist with Rusty; however, malpractice is actually sending Rusty on a covert mission to return back to the Daleks, where he will clandestinely take them out one by one. And with the sideways look he gave the Doctor, he might even return. Rusty in series 9! Yes, please.
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