Day 100: Escape Switch

100 days of this. We've come a far way, haven't we? The Doctor's less grumpy, the companions are far more trusting and elements like a Police Telephone Box are now more recognisable as time-space machines than objects to be used by policemen wanting somewhere to hide from the cold. Of course, we've encountered different writers and their differing writing styles, and here we've got a conclusion of sorts to a plot point, the Daleks' quest for the Taranium core. But the important thing about this is that these past couple of episodes is that they've been written by Dennis Spooner, beloved writer of this blog, and he writes them incredibly cleverly. What he does with the Daleks is have them intrude on another adventure, reminding the viewer how important they are. There would appear to be a separate story running featuring the Meddling Monk, who decides to re-enact The Chase, by pursuing the Doctor as a revenge plot. But the Daleks interfere and as such, we are left with an open end to this story, because the Daleks have demanded that it has to be about them, much like how they are being treated at the moment on the series, as characters who need to be on the show all the time because it reminds them how much they are loved and admired, and so they have to take over the Doctor's show in order to remain popular. But the Doctor and co. still remain the protagonists, and we are still more interested in what they are up to than what the Daleks want, and in a way, you feel cheated out of a fun Meddling Monk story because of the Daleks. That's one of the awesome things about Dennis Spooner, he's able to turn the premise of some things on their head. We began with a Dalek story featuring the Doctor. Now, the tables have turned and now it's a Doctor Who story featuring the Daleks. Because this is Doctor Who, and it always has been, over the past 100 days and for the next 700 or so days.