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Asylum of the Daleks (TV story): Difference between revisions
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== Story notes == | == Story notes == | ||
* The presence of Jenna-Louise Coleman in this episode was successfully kept secret, despite the episode having several preview showings prior to broadcast. After broadcast, Coleman and Moffat both issued statements thanking fans and the media for keeping Coleman's debut — months before her official first episode, the 2012 Christmas special — a secret. | * The presence of [[Jenna Coleman|Jenna-Louise Coleman]] in this episode was successfully kept secret, despite the episode having several preview showings prior to broadcast. After broadcast, Coleman and [[Steven Moffat]] both issued statements thanking fans and the media for keeping Coleman's debut — months before her official first episode, the 2012 Christmas special — a secret. | ||
* This story premiered in Australia on the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]'s on-demand and catch-up service [[ABC iView|iView]] at 5.10am AEST; immediately following the UK broadcast. This was the first time ''Doctor Who'' had debuted on Australian TV in this way. A traditional free-to-air screening on [[ABC1]] was followed on the [[8 September (releases)|8 September]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.abc.net.au/abc tv/2012/08/the-doctor-to-premiere-on-iview.html|title=The Doctor To Premiere On iview|date of source=28 August 2012|website name=ABC TV Blog|accessdate= 2 September 2012}}</ref> | * This story premiered in Australia on the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]'s on-demand and catch-up service [[ABC iView|iView]] at 5.10am AEST; immediately following the UK broadcast. This was the first time ''Doctor Who'' had debuted on Australian TV in this way. A traditional free-to-air screening on [[ABC1]] was followed on the [[8 September (releases)|8 September]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.abc.net.au/abc tv/2012/08/the-doctor-to-premiere-on-iview.html|title=The Doctor To Premiere On iview|date of source=28 August 2012|website name=ABC TV Blog|accessdate= 2 September 2012}}</ref> | ||
[[File:Asylum of the Daleks logo.jpg|thumb|The unique logo for ''Asylum of the Daleks''.]] | [[File:Asylum of the Daleks logo.jpg|thumb|The unique logo for ''Asylum of the Daleks''.]] | ||
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* This is the first season opener not set primarily on Earth since ''[[Smith and Jones (TV story)|Smith and Jones]]''. | * This is the first season opener not set primarily on Earth since ''[[Smith and Jones (TV story)|Smith and Jones]]''. | ||
* Oswin's theme, composed by [[Murray Gold]], resembles - but is different to - Clara Oswald's theme, later introduced in [[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]''. A brief snippet of Clara's theme is heard when she first says "Run you clever boy." | * Oswin's theme, composed by [[Murray Gold]], resembles - but is different to - Clara Oswald's theme, later introduced in [[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]''. A brief snippet of Clara's theme is heard when she first says "Run you clever boy." | ||
* In a 2017 interview, Coleman revealed that she burned her right hand during filming when it came in contact with a light; as a result, she says, she can be seen favouring the injured hand in some scenes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEh9GMudTYo|title=BAFTA: Jenna Coleman's Painful Introduction to Doctor Who|date of source=11 October 2017|website name=YouTube.com|accessdate= 14 October 2017}}</ref> | * In a 2017 interview, [[Jenna Coleman]] revealed that she burned her right hand during filming when it came in contact with a light; as a result, she says, she can be seen favouring the injured hand in some scenes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEh9GMudTYo|title=BAFTA: Jenna Coleman's Painful Introduction to Doctor Who|date of source=11 October 2017|website name=YouTube.com|accessdate= 14 October 2017}}</ref> | ||
* Mindful of the mixed reaction which had greeted the redesigned [[New Dalek Paradigm|Paradigm Daleks]], [[Steven Moffat]] wanted to draw upon the long history of variant Dalek designs which dated back to [[1963]]. Moffat now intended to portray the Paradigm Daleks as a sort of Dalek upper echelon, while the bronze design which had been used since ''[[Dalek (TV story)|Dalek]]'' would be brought back into service as the rank and file. | |||
* The episode formed Block Two of season seven alongise ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]].'' | |||
* The Ponds are on the verge of divorce because [[Steven Moffat]] wanted to emphasise that the normal problems and challenges of marriage were now as pertinent to them as their adventures with the Doctor. | |||
* Originally, the Ponds' divorce was to be signposted by Rory's choice to grow a [[beard]], despite Amy's loathing of facial hair, which he would shave off at the story's conclusion. Between seasons, [[Arthur Darvill]] was appearing on stage as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mephistopheles Mephistopheles] in ''[[Doctor Faustus]]'', and [[Steven Moffat]] planned to have him keep the beard he had grown for that role. However, this plan had to be abandoned when it was decided to make the episode alongside ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]].'' | |||
* At the start of the story, Darla originally claimed that she wanted the Doctor to take her back in time to see her late daughter, and gave herself away by referring to the age she had been when she herself had died. | |||
* Cassandra was initially a replacement for Amy's regular make-up artist, while Rory was able to flee the bus only to be surrounded by a mob of Dalek agents. | |||
* The Dalek Prime Minister was originally the [[Dalek Prime]]. | |||
* The Dalek Parliament was first located on a planet dubbed “Skaro 2” rather than a spaceship. | |||
* The business of the Doctor and Amy making their way from the ''Alaska''<nowiki/>'s escape pod through the Asylum, and Amy perceiving the Daleks as people, replaced Oswin teleporting them directly to Rory. | |||
* Oswin was originally conceived as a fan of [[Elvis Presley]], whose music would play throughout the episode and inspire the Doctor to give her the nickname “[[Blue Suede Shoes]]”. However, when the rights to use these songs proved problematic to obtain, [[Nick Hurran]] suggested the soundtrack to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Bizet Georges Bizet]'s [[1875]] [[opera]] ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen Carmen].'' | |||
* [[Steven Moffat]] realised that the Doctor would never actually see Oswin in her human form. This meant that the actress portraying Oswin and the actress cast as the new companion could be one and the same. As such, Moffat did away with a suggestion that Oswin might be a Dalek whose insanity had caused it to believe itself to be human. | |||
* A substantial phalanx of Daleks was assembled for the production, including no fewer than thirteen new constructions. Five were revised versions of the [[New Dalek Paradigm|Paradigm Daleks]]. In part, the changes were intended to address concerns expressed by the operators, who found the Paradigm Daleks far more difficult to control than their predecessors. Most notably, the rear “hump” was removed to restore a more symmetrical appearance, and they were given a metallic sheen in contrast to the bright, plasticky look they had previously sported. Three were painted in red Drone livery, alongside a blue Strategist and a white Supreme. Eight new bronze Daleks were also built; two were given severely distressed characteristics to represent some of the more badly-damaged inmates of the Asylum. Furthermore, three bronze casings were still available from amongst those made and retained by the BBC during the previous decade. Likewise, the original white Paradigm Dalek, last seen in ''[[The Wedding of River Song (TV story)|The Wedding of River Song]]'', was also to appear, retaining the heavily dilapidated state it had been given for that story. | |||
* A number of additional Daleks were sourced from [[BBC Worldwide]]. They included two additional bronze Daleks, plus the [[Special Weapons Dalek]] from ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]].'' This Planet Earth, a manufacturer of high-end screen-accurate Dalek props, provided a Dalek from ''[[Death to the Daleks (TV story)|Death to the Daleks]]'' in silver and black livery. A charity organiser which supplied Daleks for fundraising opportunities loaned a bronze Dalek, a black Dalek in the style of [[Dalek Sec]], an [[Ironside Project|Ironsides Dalek]] from ''[[Victory of the Daleks (TV story)|Victory of the Daleks]]'', and a [[Renegade Dalek]] from ''Remembrance of the Daleks''. Two longtime fans also assisted the production team: an original casing from ''[[The Daleks (TV story)|The Daleks]]'' and a Throne Room Dalek from [[The Evil of the Daleks (TV story)|''The Evil of the Daleks'']] came from [[Andrew Beech]], while [[Mark Barton Hill]] contributed a grey-and-black Dalek from ''[[Resurrection of the Daleks (TV story)|Resurrection of the Daleks]]''. Finally, [[Russell T Davies]] offered the use of his own prop, which resembled those from ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis of the Daleks]]''. [[Caroline Skinner]] knew Davies well and asked to borrow his replica. She stated that he was "thrilled" that it was canonised. | |||
* When Amy hallucinates the Daleks of humans, some of them were played by the corresponding Dalek operator. | |||
* The bronze Dalek which represented Oswin was the casing originally constructed to represent [[Dalek Caan]] in ''[[Doomsday (TV story)|Doomsday]].'' | |||
* No fewer than twenty six Dalek casings were used for the Dalek Parliament. [[Caroline Skinner]] said that "there was just a real magic and sense of history about having them". | |||
* The Dalek Parliament set was the largest ever built for the series, surpassing the [[Silurian Ark]] from ''[[Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (TV story)|Dinosaurs on a Spaceship]].'' | |||
* [[Steven Moffat]] recalled that the Daleks were remembered for being scary, but due to their legacy as British icons they had become "cuddly" over the years and their true menace forgotten. He intended to make them scary again, reminding the audience of their intentions. He thought the best way to do this would be to show Daleks that were considered even madder than usual. [[Karen Gillan]] admitted that she had not been scared of the Daleks before working on the episode. | |||
* [[Jenna Coleman]]'s scenes were filmed over six days on a closed set with a [[green screen]] which she acted to. | |||
* [[Steven Moffat]] was concerned about how all the different Daleks would look together, but was pleased once he saw them; he commented that the diversity made them look like a species, rather than identical robots. | |||
* [[Steven Moffat]] had previously been divorced and tackled the subject in his series ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Gang Press Gang]'' and ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joking_Apart Joking Apart].'' Many viewers took issue with the Ponds' divorce being resolved by the end of the episode and never mentioned again. | |||
* The black chair in Oswin's pod previously appeared in the pod [[Jenny (The Doctor's Daughter)|Jenny]] used at the end of ''[[The Doctor's Daughter (TV story)|The Doctor's Daughter]].'' The lever was the same one the Master pulls to shut down the bunker's defences in ''[[Utopia (TV story)|Utopia]].'' | |||
* Unusually, the first filming was not the result of careful planning, but of last-minute happenstance. While filming ''[[A Town Called Mercy (TV story)|A Town Called Mercy]]'' in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almer%C3%ADa Almería], [[Spain]], [[Marcus Wilson]] realised that the nearby [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Nevada Sierra Nevada] mountain range was ideal to represent the surface of the Asylum planet. [[Nick Hurran]] quickly devised plans to film the relevant footage, and a minimal crew travelled to Almería's [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Nevada_National_Park_(Spain) Sierra Nevada National Park]. | |||
* This is the first Dalek story where the Daleks don't actually kill anyone. | |||
=== Ratings === | === Ratings === | ||
The episode was preview screened at BFI Southbank on 14 August 2012, and at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival during 23–25 August. On 25 August it was also screened in New York City and Toronto. The episode was broadcast to the public on 1 September on BBC One in the United Kingdom, BBC America in the United States, and on Space in Canada, and on 2 September on the ABC iView service. It premiered on 8 September 2012 on ABC1 in Australia, and on 13 September on Prime TV in New Zealand. | |||
Overnight viewing figures for the UK showed that the episode was watched by 6.4 million viewers, the lowest overnight figure for a premiere episode of the revived series; however, viewing patterns indicate that fewer people watch Doctor Who live and it won its timeslot. The final consolidated rating was 8.33 million viewers, ranking third for the week on BBC One.<ref>[http://guide.doctorwhonews.net/info.php?detail=ratings&type=date Doctor Who Ratings - UK final]</ref> It was also the most-viewed episode on [[BBC iPlayer]] the day that it aired, and ended September in the number one spot, with 2.2 million requests. "Asylum of the Daleks" achieved an Appreciation Index of 89, the highest for a series opener of Doctor Who. | Overnight viewing figures for the UK showed that the episode was watched by 6.4 million viewers, the lowest overnight figure for a premiere episode of the revived series; however, viewing patterns indicate that fewer people watch Doctor Who live and it won its timeslot. The final consolidated rating was 8.33 million viewers, ranking third for the week on BBC One.<ref>[http://guide.doctorwhonews.net/info.php?detail=ratings&type=date Doctor Who Ratings - UK final]</ref> It was also the most-viewed episode on [[BBC iPlayer]] the day that it aired, and ended September in the number one spot, with 2.2 million requests. "Asylum of the Daleks" achieved an Appreciation Index of 89, the highest for a series opener of Doctor Who. | ||
