A great episode? Not for me I'm afraid guys. I've been a fan of Who ever since I hid behind the sofa when Tom Baker met the nightmare who is Davros back in the 70's, and whilst I was delighted when the series returned under the leadership of Russell T Davis, I feel gradually it has deteriorated into a show which has lost its identity and has become far too bogged down in "soap opera" elements which seem to revolve around the companions either being obsessed or fancying The Doctor. Not only that, but the producers seem far to worried about making the companion the centre of attention.
Now, I for one rejoiced when I heard Steven Moffat was taking over as producer, particularly as he was involved in some of my favourite stories of the new series. However, after the debacle which was the story arc last season, revolving around some nonsense about Amy's baby being River Song etc, I think Moffat is too much of a fanboy and believes himself to be a far cleverer writer and producer than he actually is. To me, last season included some of the very worst Doctor Who stories - period. "A Good Man Goes to War", "Let's Kill Hitler" and "The Wedding of River Song" were the main culprits, all being written by Moffat and all being so full of cringe inducing comedy one-liners and a story arc so laughably inept in terms of its logic or believability that it almost, almost had me quitting the series I have loved since I was a child. I could just see Moffat sitting there writing these stories out with a smug "Aren't I so so clever" look on his face, believing that all his nudge-nudge, wink-wink in-jokes which he forces The Doctor, his companions and River Song to spout, would hide the fact that his great ambitious story arc actually did not hold up at all. It was pure garbage - sorry.
Unfortunately, Aslyum of The Daleks, whilst including some good ideas, particularly in the attempt to make the Daleks scary again (the scene where Rory is seen skulking around the asylum where all the old daleks are seemingly dead is priceless creepy Doctor Who), still falls apart due to some awful character interplay, or should I say, awful dialogue which has Amy being more annoying than ever to both The Doctor and Rory, and then more worryingly making Jenna-Louise Coleman also join in on the act by making immature quips at every given opportunity. I'm all for good interplay between characters, but sorry, Moffat still thinks he's writing Press Gang at times.
I will keep watching, as it's a show that is very dear to my heart and I live in hope that the next producer might actually have the balls to try and make Doctor Who the intelligent and truly unique show which it once was. We don't have to have all the companions fancying The Doctor; we don't have to have poorly structured story arcs; we don't have to pretend that immature quips and one liners qualifies as good writing; and we don't need the show wallowing in its own belief that we have to be reminded every five minutes about how "amazing" The Doctor really is.
I know, I know. It's very rare that I rant like this. And I've been wanting to write this down for quite some time, as I find it difficult to see one of the best Science Fiction television series in history being slowly stripped bare of all its "unique" qualities. Also, I realise that I appear to be in the minority, so hey, what do I know?
I truly feel however, that Moffat needs to step down at the end of the season. We need a sense of class and maturity brought to the producers chair. Boy, do we need it.