What is the Dalek Asylum? 

One thing that bugged me was 90% of the dalek in the asylum were RTD era ones and the classic era daleks were just lingering in the background most of the time, and how the intensive care dalek were in modern casing. You'd think they'd have used the classic era dalek props for that scene.

This story NEEDED more classic Daleks to be seen

There is very little that I enjoy about this episode, but I admit that Asylum does a great job giving off this queasy feeling of understated dread from beginning to end, even when nothing's happening. And creepy Dalek stories are something I really wish we got more often, so I'm grateful for that much even if I can't stand the actual content of the episode.

I felt like it would've made more sense to swap the Daleks for the Cybermen. A Cyberman Asylum sounds horrifying and a perfect episode to show off the body horror of the Cybermen

I like the idea of the Paradigm Daleks retroactively making the Asylum, but it would've been nice for either the Daleks or the Doctor to bring such a plot point up and discuss it, even if only briefly. That's something that Moffet's era didn't do well in my opinion, conveying to us the timeline of events with various plot elements. There were quite a number of episodes that left me confused in their beginnings because no one in the show would specify where/when they were. Davies' era always did this with just a quick line from the Doctor, immediately giving us the needed context for the setting. Moffet's era didn't do this nearly as often or needed I felt, so for a lot of one-off stories it would leave me in that little bit of doubt that prevented me from really getting into the story. As for grander story plots, the confusion would pile on from there. Not every Moffet era episode failed to do this and it has been a while since I've re-watched the era, but that's what I remember quite vividly.

Have you considered doing a video on the Skaro Degradations? I think they’re a fascinating aspect of the Time War.

Whenever the Dalek Asylum is mentioned you can hear Mr Tardis being angry in the background. It's like Cypher whenever Woodrow Wilson is brought up

As far as I remember from classic Who, the other Daleks only killed a Dalek that failed as in cowards or failures. The Dalek Asylum, Daleks are also probably too dangerous to go near for most other Daleks, to go near, hence the destruction of the planet at the end of the story.

Well technically we do see the special weapons dalek in the asylum which I believe counts as an Imperial Dalek.

Would you consider making a full Dalek episode ranking video like Mr TARDIS'? I think you would have some different and interesting opinions to contrast his.

Perhaps another visit to the Asylum is in order. As stated it has many different levels and there could be other severely traumatised or insane Daleks hidden away. There may also be other Daleks hiding away in the Asylum: humanised Daleks for example or Daleks with an agenda of their own similar to the Traitor Dalek from "The Power of The Doctor"? Why did the Daleks destroy the Asylum? Well having kidnapped the Doctor and "persuaded" him to find the origin of Oswin's broadcasts, they could also destroy the Asylum with the Doctor in it - killing two birds with one stone!

I remember the magazine front of that episode. The doctor carrying Amy while Daleks try to exterminate the doctor

Here are the Positive Aspects of Asylum of the Daleks which in my opinion make sense. 1) I believe that the Cult of Skaro didnt use the emergency temporal shifts to go to the asylum cause as we see in the episode, Every single sane Dalek is afraid of going into the Asylum so I could only imagine that the cult would have some fear about the thought of traveling to the Asylum. 2) It was honestly a decent way to introduce series 7 considering Amy and Rory actually helped each other despite Amy getting caught by the nano cloud. 3) The Paradigm Daleks were amazing in that episode, The 2012 Paradigm remake basically fixes every single flaw that the fan base had with the 2010 paradigm daleks which I honestly love the concept of the Paradigm Daleks being higher ranks than the Time War Daleks instead of eradicating the Time War Daleks and it makes me wish that we had the 2012 Paradigms still in the show. And finally 4) The ending is how the Doctor completed his quest and kept his companions safe without destroying the active daleks but Oswin kinda made it happen when they wiped the Dalek memory of the Doctor.

Would Dalek X be in the Asylum? Also, the episode would have been better if they converted the old time war Daleks to look like smaller, less bulky Paradigm Dalek Drones.

This would have been a fantastic story if it wasn't a single episode and focusing so much on Amy and Rory's relationship

The asylum is one of the many strange writing anomalies that's common in new who. Witches Familiar is super guilty of this. Davros having eyes all of a sudden, daleks still living after turning to goo, Dalek casings doing all the talking and not the mutants etc it's just awful.

I always said that the dalek asylum shouldve been about the cybermen, to me it just makes more sense, the cybermen seek to preserve human life, in their twisted way, so it makes sense the cybermen wouldnt excute their own because it would violate their directive to preserve life, and i think Osgood being converted into a cybermen makes more sense than being converted to a dalek

Great review

"We see no imperial daleks" special weapons dalek?

With the Dalek time traveling more, I'd love to see an episode where the Doctor goes to stop some Dalek plot, only for Dalek from the future to come and interfere to save the Dalek in their subjective past to alter the timeline

I've always disliked that 90% of the Daleks in the Asylum are the Bronze/Time War ones. Especially in the "intensive care" section where they're supposed to be the same Daleks from classic stories. All you get is a static Special Weapons Dalek and a couple silver ones in the deep background. No grey ones, no Imperials, no Exxilion ones... nothing, nadda. I get sourcing props is difficult, but when it's such an important aspect of the location, it's kinda unforgivable. P.S. Love the headcanon of the Paradigm being the Dalek faction that created it... it makes sooo much more sense (and is now my headcanon too.)

Asylum of the Daleks should have been an all time masterpiece but it just wanted to be a soap opera instead.

0:45 we see the special weapons dalek, which in lore mutates a lot

The hatred is beautiful thing I always hated, never bought it for one, Daleks just aren't like that. All they had to do was say that the Asylum was set up during the Time War to house these old, insane Daleks in case they could be reprogrammed or brought back into the front as aditional reinforcments. Then after the Time War it could've simply been abandoned until the breach in the force field.

I honestly quite enjoyed this episode, but to be fair I'm not huge in Doctor Who canon, just basically the Daleks and a few other areas. I always took that while the cult of Skaro were more... open-minded(?) they would never resort to using the asylum. As they are loyal to Davros and would see those in the asylum as not only impure but as the weakest stock the traitors had to offer. So much so that the concept of Dalek humans were more acceptable to them. Also, seeing what warrents solidarity confinement in a Dalek asylum is quite amusing imo. Also on the cases being more of the modern era, Daleks do update their cases which come with better life support systems. So if any of the Daleks are to receive "proper" treatment it will be those veterans getting transferred into better if disused cases. Edit: oh god I forgot about the divorce plot line.

Steven Moffat wasn't exactly known for being canon friendly and more for being confusing. His Paradigm daleks ultimately failed and were written off by the end of the 11th Doctor while regenerating.

will you ever do audio clips again? hearing snipets really got me wanting to buy the audio books!

It would have been simple, even blindingly obvious, to just say that the Daleks store these insane members of their race for study, to prepare them against whatever made them go insane in the first place. The reason why they wont go down there themselves is because Daleks exposed to the insanity of the inmates will eventually devolve into insanity themselves, possibly a reason why it was abandoned in the first place. I like the explanation this video gives to make the story canon friendly, but there's no denying it, this story is a mess.

If i was showrunner id have to make a series about the rise of the asylum and the fall of the paradigms

Rhe Special Weapons Dalek is imperial, and impure. It had the nickname of the Abomination, and was considered nothing more then an insane tool.

I think the reason the cult didn't try to get to the asylum using the Gamma strike is because SEK literally stated that if they are to be superior why are they always almost getting wiped out while humans live on. Therefore he must have deduced that instead of getting more pure daleks he thought evolving into a dalek-human hybrid was what was needed. Wouldn't make much sense for the "think outside the box" daleks to literally think inside the box as all regular daleks do. Alternatively it could have been a lack of precision in emergency temporal shift. I mean the two times we witness it they end up in the 1900s on Earth and then back in the timewar with your mind corrupted. That's what I always thought. If emergency temporal shift was capable of literally putting you in a specific time at a specific place even with a gamma strike couldn't they just go back to the doctors "birth" (in quotes because timeless child) and kill them the moment they are born. I wouldn't put it above daleks to kill a newborn even if it costs them one of their own. Better yet in this modern era kill tectaun (however her name is spelt) or rascelon (however his name is spelt) to prevent the rather rapid evolution of the timelords.

have you thought of opening up a Discord server? I'd love to get together with other people and talk about everything Dalek related!

I came to a similar conclusion as you.

I mean, your theory is sound, but I myself still have a major gripe with the Asylum as a concept that's been there ever since MrTardisReviews first brought it up: why do they even need an asylum when they can use the Pathweb as the perfect mental cure?

It’s so unfortunate that we didn’t get more classic Daleks in the episode.

To be honest who else think this would of been better off as a cybermen asylum since it might make sense there because of how traumatizing being a cybermen could be and 2 daleks would kill defective daleks

Absolute belter of a premise! This should’ve been treated as a two parter given the frankly amazing story. Sadly the format these days doesn’t allow for actual story as the classic era did. These days everything is wrapped up in a single episode which means as soon as anything interesting is touched upon then it’s straight on to the next act of the story. In a perfect world, this should’ve been given to McCoy and been done as a four part story.

One little correction about this video you say there is no imperial or necros daleks however there is a special weapons dalek in the asylum

Saying the imperial daleks didn’t make it into the asylum makes no sense because an imperial special weapons Dalek was in it. Even the imperial daleks considered it an abomination of dalek life

I'm not sure that Moffat could have done it any better, but I do think Davies or Nation could have, if either had wanted to do it at all.

BBC &DWM could ask fans in the UK who had a classic Dalek or current versions of the Daleks that could have appeared in the episodes that Helven sent to add more depth to the stories.

“No imperial or Necrosis Daleks are seen” Um, what about that big ole Special Weapons Dalek? Surely he was of Imperial stock?

Dalek Sec in the Dalek Asylum? (Yea same id-tag if you notice a Black Dalek in the episode)

No imperial? Except the special weapons dalek you mean.

I like your reasoning for the Asylum not being visited before. However, the reason the Daleks give for its existence still contradicts nearly every other Dalek story. The Daleks that supposedly survived the Doctor don't look like Vulcan or Exxilon Daleks.

Ah yes, the daleks who don’t want to kill the daleks in the asylum, end up destroying the asylum.

Dalek Bumps, would it be possible to make a video theorising about why Daleks from so many different time periods are present and co-existing in the series 9 opening two-parter? Apologies if you’ve already made it and I just missed it!

You said there weren’t any imperial Daleks in the asylum but there was a special weapons Dalek

Disappointing is what it was :V (Another fab video!)

Sometimes i feel like the only person who likes this episode

I like to think the first member of the new asylum was the Dalek Prime Minister xD

The effect of the planet blowing up is very poor. It just fades out, and even before the missiles hit and any explosions happen.

I have so many ideas for stories during in the time of the human dalek war id love to either write a book or a comic wosh some one who works for the company who write dr who stories would contact me

Asylum of the Daleks: I don't super hate the episode HOWEVER there are several components wrong with the episode and here are the Negatives: 1) Why are most of the Broken down Daleks inside Time War Machines instead of the Gray Warriors, Renegades and Imperial Daleks!? 2) Why are the Daleks in the Intensive care ALL Time War Daleks, There should have been one Dalek design from each battle inside and at least 1 Dalek to be a Time War as it survived the time war XD 3) When Amy said "Im scared" looking at the Doctor, The doctor thought that scared isnt Dalek little did he know that the Daleks fear him and Amy being scared when she looks at the Doctor.. The rest is self explanatory. 4) Why destroy the Asylum when the force field could still prevent any daleks from exiting the asylum as it still looked perfectly secure to me even after the crash

You have to say original dalek props

In the Big Dalek History Book I have(The official title is too long for my patience), it officially stated that Rusty himself was sent to the Asylum after "Into the Dalek", because his hatred was so bright the Prime Minister viewed it as divine. Luckily, he got off the installation before it was destroyed. The parliament was also said to be the Dalek's attempt at mocking how they view the inefficiency other species' systems of governance, but I have to reread it to confirm that. But you really shouldn't rely on outside sources to confirm dumb shit in a weird story. I like to think that the Doctor not knowing about the Asylum could be chalked up to him trying to stay out of Dalek affairs, hence the line "I tried to stop." Because It could be him confessing to Oswin or himself that he knows it's his last life, and the universe can't rely on him forever, which explains why he's fine with settling down on Trenzalore down the road. Pure acceptance. The problem is, the Daleks get stronger out of fear of him at the expense of innocent lives, and although him staying out of it might be good for the resiliency of the forces of good in the long run for the universe, he also can't sit by and let people suffer. The Cyberplanner even stated he's removing himself from history, which could add credence as to why he doesn't know the proof of the asylum's existence because it sounds too far-fetched to him, and that he might've distanced himself too much. I rewatched Asylum of the Daleks recently(And Nightmare in Silver), and I appreciate it more since the last time I did. Still, it deserves the criticism it gets because it leads to discussions like this. I never thought of the Cult of Skaro in regards to the Asylum like you did, but I always chalked it up to my interpretation that the Asylum was something created post-time war after time was rewritten in Matt Smith's era. Plus the time war was Time-Locked, so there were probably gaps in the Cult's knowledgebase. The Battle of Canary Warf, their emergency temporal shift, being stuck in 1930, all of it happened so fast that they didn't get a chance to know it exists or if it existed at this point at all, and I think they were limited with what they could do in 1930's New York, technologically and circumstantially. That, and I'd be damn impressed if someone took the time to sort out the mess that is the official Doctor Who timeline, because it's that confusing. For God's sakes, a war fought with Time travel sounds like a Warhammer 40k thing, where scale is out the window at that point. No sarcasm here, that would be a feat and a half on the individual. On that note, I never agreed with the theory that the original Dalek story in '63(IRL Time) is the Dalek's future, because many sources say that that event takes place after 'Genesis of the Daleks', and the 4th Doctor's intervention in that story rewrote their history out of their reliance on static electricity and self-isolation prior. It also accelerated their knowledge of the existence of other species across the stars, where in the original Hartnell story, the Doctor's time travel meddling was like opening Pandora's Box. None of them knew what they unleashed on all of creation all because of his Hubris, which serves as his personal fuel to being the Hero he pretends that he isn't. I don't care what anyone says. The Doctor is a Hero at the end of the day, because of how much love he has for life even its mundanity, and it boggles his mind of how the Daleks, even his own species, can't see the beauty in it because they're too accustomed to their grandiose perspectives they are all obsessed with. Daleks don't understand life in general, regular beings are outlived by the things they create and add to life itself, and the Time Lords live too long to notice.

Cool first btw

🐙

I can watch it and not get board but I do feel like there are a lot things that are off like why do the daleks have an asylum? My theory is that they keep these dalek iver for experimentation or in case they might have strategic information the other things that is a bit off is why is there a dalek prime minister and a parlement but big finish explained that

THEY SHOULD OF SHIPPED THESE OUT TO EARTH OR ANY OTHER PLANET FIRST AS SHOCK TROOPS IT BE JOB DONE NEXT

Asylum? Isn't that where the Daleks produce cheap knockoffs of Hollywood blockbusters? :P

We actually see an imperial special weapons so there is an imperial somehow

Good episode but Moffat created to many loose ends and stuff that didn't make sence

Planet load ...pant load hahaha🤭

God I hate the idea that the Daleks have a concept of beauty. Its horribly out of character for them. Should of been a Cyberman story. Would have been a far more interesting concept