Time Lord Victorious: DALEKS! 03: Planet of the Mechanoids Review

At least the cinematography got a step up from the last two...

Yeah I could actually watch this episode.

Doesn’t mean it was great though.

The Mechanoids are back and to be honest they were exactly what this show needed. A bit of character besides from Brigg’s Dalek variants. Don’t get me wrong they were nice to begin with however the few character differences between the leading Daleks kind of falls flat when only two of them are slightly more entertaining.

The Mechanoids, on the other hand, feel like a much needed sense of humanity injected into this show. For once I’m curious as to what’s going to happen, but not to the point where I care if I get the answer.

With that being said the low quality models and effects still show off their grim side, even if the scenery and cinematography make them slightly more bearable. I think it was the Mechanoids’ flame throwers that made me go “oh right, almost forgot what I was watching”.

The plot seems like it’s going somewhere for a large duration of the episode, that is until the final two seconds that practically confirmed we’re in for another “effects display” in the next episode thanks to a pantomime style twist.

This episode has allowed me to work out a key flaw in this show that, once amended, can fix a shed load of problems, although it won’t mend the massive flaw in its production.

Put simplify this show needs to put a focus on the Daleks interactions with characters that have emotion. Seeing their actions questioned by morality is what this show should be thriving off of, however the show’s production is where that falls down. There’s no effort or given to actually make this decent at best. The show just feels like the team had a deadline and plonked it out as fast as they could, with only a few elements occasional raising to a level that seems, at the least, watchable.

This episode felt like it met that bar at the most.

5/10