Asylum of the Daleks wasted a perfectly good story idea

Moffat's era is riddled with good ideas for Dalek stories that are let down by their execution, and Asylum of the Daleks is chief among them. In this video, we will explore some of the reasons why this episode wasted a great concept for a Dalek story, and also discuss some peripheral ideas such as Asylum of the Cybermen and the misuse of the Paradigm Daleks

All footage is the property of the BBC. Music by Garry Schyman

[luckystars]

I wonder if an "Asylum of the Cybermen" story could make more sense if the asylum didn't belong to the Cybermen. It could have been a planet where humans kept captured Cybermen from the war they hoped could one day be unconverted, but over the centuries the Cybermen have just gone insane as their emotional inhibitors have decayed

[TheNickofTime]

Is Asylum of the Daleks the worst Doctor Who episode? Probably not. But it is without question my least favorite. No other episode has left me feeling genuinely insulted the way this one did. The misleading marketing, the wasted potential, the clumsy character writing for Amy and Rory, and the frequent plotholes, I have all calmed down about over time. What still gets me fuming is the very end, where Moffat tries to erase all of the built up history between the Daleks and the Doctor for the sake of a literal joke; a 'doctor who' joke too, which I had already stopped finding funny long before this episode.

[mediakira]

My main issue was that they didn’t really act..insane.

That and the divorce sub plot

[matthewcollins]

What coulda been a creepy Dalek story was…well, crap.

The damaged Daleks just don’t act that insane. Why not show examples of them being insane, like have Rory find a file on one that says a Dalek wiped out an entire planet’s species and then turned on its own forces, or a commander unit was so desperate to be pure that it murdered its own subordinates in a deranged fit thinking they were unclean. The examples you suggest are downright terrific.

The use of classic props was so pitiful. If they’d kept them until the Intensive care scene then I’d be happy with that. Don’t just reuse the bronze bois!

I love all the Oswin stuff but I hate the plot holes - like why can Rory and everyone else hear her as herself but 11 only realises she’s a Dalek when they meet.

[HudsonMedia]

Man Asylum of the Daleks is SUCH a wasted story. I just dislike purely on what a waste it is.

[TheDarkWhovian]

You've summarized pretty much everything I felt about this story. That intensive care scene was the biggest cock tease the fandom had during the Moffat era. It's a shame because there were some good ideas packed in there. At-least we got an apology via Series 9's Witches Familiar.

[joelmole]

I don't like The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar but I will say, it at least delivered on giving us some Classic Daleks. This is just a waste.

Also fun fact, this was the first Doctor Who story that I recognised straightaway that I didn't like and it led me to develop my critical thinking.

[АртемПістунов]

A.O.T.D. could have been an intriguing tale of what makes a dalek itself. We could've seen weird units that:
-do tantrums like children;
-think they're just maids (Victory of the daleks style);
-think that they know the future;
-basically be a show host just for the sake of some comedy (let's not forget it's kinda a children's show, so a bit of comedy required).
Or even we could've seen new weird designs that are here due to some unseen catastrophe with the Doctor (like they were some special unit that got WRECKED by the Doc).
They could do so much more.

[jackeldridge]

I among a few friends at this point in Who had thought Moffat had just tapped his tank of ideas. And I still say the Coleman Dalek was a squandered idea because a Dalek as a Companion WOULD HAVE BEEN

[nejdalej]

I would have loved to see more of the Dalek psyche in that episode. What you suggested about potential inmates would have added so much nuance to Daleks that we just dont get in the show.

[MrHighlifewest]

Omg I never thought of the idea of cybermen in a asylum great concept. The daleks swapping episodes is a great concept too. I feel like asylum and nightmare should have both been 2 parters too.

[theevildalek]

I said it perfectly before on a Community Post, so I’ll just quote myself.

Imagine, you’re a 9 year old Dalek fan. You’ve found out there’s going to be an episode of the new series which will have Classic & Modern Daleks (with the marketing saying Every Dalek Ever). You get the Radio Times & see this epic poster showing the Dalek’s timeline & showing off photos from the episode with cool looking rusty Classic Daleks taking up the majority of the image. You see other posters too, with 11 walking away from an explosion engulfing Classic & Modern Daleks or the TARDIS Team in the broken eye of a Paradigm Dalek. You are so excited & can’t wait to see it! And than you finally watch it…
You watch an episode which hardly focuses on the Daleks, instead focusing on Amy & Rory’s divorce (WHICH COMES OUT OF NOWHERE), introduces un-Dalek things like the Dalek Prime Minister & the Dalek Parliament, the Daleks (despite in their last proper story having only 5 units) suddenly have a massive empire again (which The Doctor doesn’t seem that phased by) which consists mainly of the old Bronze designs instead of the new Paradigm Daleks. And the thing that has been advertised so heavily & that you were so excited for, seeing Classic Daleks - ‘Every Dalek Ever’? On your first viewing, you can see a total of 3 Classic Daleks (the Special Weapons Dalek, an Emperor’s Guard & a 70s Dalek in the infirmary at the very end)…Yeah, this episode tore that 9 year old boys heart to bits & I have NEVER forgiven it! And it has only gotten worse as the years have gone by! Amy’s treatment of Rory, physically hitting him, is not cool! The fact that this was the story that brushed the Paradigm under the rug, sealing their legacy as a failure in Doctor Who! The wasted potential of a Dalek Asylum, which I have seen many fans tell amazing & creative stories with! The Daleks having an asylum because they can’t kill other Daleks because their evil is too beautiful to kill?! The introduction of The Dalek Puppets (which I have never liked, they fit the Daleks I feel). The fact that there were more Classic Daleks in the background which could’ve gotten the screen time we were promised, but were just hidden away in the corners (looking just like dark silhouettes rather than Daleks from the past)! The lack of actual Daleks for the majority of the story, it’s named after them! And The Daleks forgetting The Doctor at the end that goes nowhere! That one especially irks me especially as even tho I thought it was a silly idea, I thought it could have created possibly some interesting storylines, only for them to immediately solve it in the Daleks next appearance where they suddenly remember the Doctor again because they scanned Tasha Lem’s brain??? I hated that so much that I created my own story (which I still have the notes for somewhere) which would’ve focused on the Daleks not knowing The Doctor, giving us at least 1 story where they didn’t know who he was & than giving them a much better way for them to remember him (it was called Memory of the Daleks I believe)!
I cannot stand this story! I hated it as a child & I hate it even more as an adult. The worst Dalek story (followed closely by Magician’s Apprentice/Witch’s Familiar). I’ve seen so many other reinterpretation & alternate versions of Asylum of the Daleks which sound much better, like what if the Asylum was actually a human experiment facility that was trying to reverse engineer & discover weaknesses of the Daleks that backfired or if instead of having Amy & Rory as the companions, replace them entirely with a Dalek that 11 is forced to be with by the Daleks to assist him in the asylum, forcing The Doctor to have a Dalek as a companion! There were so many possible ideas to base a Dalek Asylum on that would have been amazing, but instead we got what we got & a 9 year old’s excitement was squashed instead…

[tidmouthmilk]

I completely agree with your ideas for the daleks actually being more insane, that would've made the episode so much more unique and interesting. I also think it would've been good if Moffat had doubled down on the Paradigm Daleks and made the parliament solely run by them and kept the bronze and classic Daleks to the Asylum. The fact that one of the 60s Daleks was in the intensive care set but was never actually shown on screen was such a wasted opportunity. Considering that scene was an homage to the Daleks that survived the Doctor, even name dropping several locations from classic episodes, it really should've been classic Daleks. I hate the Dalek puppet thing as well. Like, Daleks have used humans and other creatures as slave labour in several episodes, and I can kinda forgive them being used as the way to lure in the Doctor and the Ponds, but having nanobots turn any alien intruders into "on-site security" seems off. Surely the Daleks would want it to just exterminate anything that isn't Dalek and wasn't the Asylum supposed to be impenetrable anyway so why would they need that level of protection from intruders? Also the eyestalk coming out of the head, whilst a chilling visual, seems a bit on the nose that someone is under Dalek control. They could've brought a version of the Robomen back! (Although maybe kids would've gotten them confused for Cybermen 🤷‍♂️)

[Wanten-the-stormtrooper]

I absolutely agree with you on all these points! Amy and Rory's divorce was _absolutely_ not a plotline that should've been included in an important Dalek story, and ESPECIALLY not one of the main subplots. We could've had more time exploring how the Paradigm Daleks have made their empire different from the old Dalek empires from before, and especially the various insane inmates.

In fact I'd say this should be a 2-parter in order to give the concept of the Asylum time to breathe and even make some characters among the inmates.

[warning: rant] As well as the examples within the video, which I think are perfectly chilling examples, you could really experiment with some Daleks by, for example, having a "1 in a million" Dalek like in the TV21 comics who wants to defend the beauty of nature and will kill anyone who harms its homegrown garden, or a Dalek who thinks it's an officer in the Kaled-Thal war, or any other interesting delusions. And you could even have Dalek officers or supremes becoming petty warlords as they try to carve out territory within this prison.

In fact, you could even explore the whole Oswin plotline more by giving it a bit more setup and even possibly explain why the Parliament are only going to destroy it NOW. If I were to write it, I'd have the Dalek Time Controller there (if this story isn't set after Patient Zero), or at least have him be mentioned, to reveal that the Asylum was the site of a secret temporal experiment which could backfire now that the shield's faulty. Then, as the team goes through the Asylum, meeting a lot more deranged Daleks (most of them being in classic casings), they'd run into Daleks with a degree of fanatcism unseen even in most other Daleks, as if they're part of a cult, who try to take them for "purification". And, after meeting Oswin, who'll have been turned into a Dalek by this particular group of cultists, it's revealed that their leader is none other than the Dalek god-emperor, who was saved from atomisation by the Time Controller's experiment and had to be imprisoned in the Asylum not only because of his insanity and turning humans into Daleks but also because his power and influence were a threat to the Parliament and the Paradigm's own emperor. And now, thanks to Oswin, who he's converted to be a "prophet", he's about to lead a legion of insane Daleks out of there back into the universe....

But of course those are just my ideas and I understand if others would want to do it differently.

Edit: And I also absolutely love the idea of Nightmare in Silver being replaced by a story giving the Paradigm Daleks a second chance. Those Daleks absolutely deserved better from Moffat.

[xXSwaghetti.YoloneseXx-ufbb]

I would love a scene with cybermen. Like the failed Ripley clone scene from Aliens. Extreme gore and body horror.

[britanimations]

My mate came up with a series called The Asylum which was more a jokey parody inspired by the office of all things, but even then they were Daleks acting very undalek and nuts so still felt more genuine than what we got. I animated two of them as well and had a lot of fun coming up with fun ways to display their madness

[zombiedalekweck]

Yeah... For a story about the all the Daleks history... It barely features them.

What annoys me is that the BBC didn't just plan ahead, if I remember correctly they tried to keep it quiet which wasn't that smart. Just ask for fans if they've got anymore Daleks at an earlier date, I'm sure they'd be able to boast alot more classic Daleks if they did that...

[TimeForTeletubbiesFAN]

Wow. I didn’t realise that the Daleks are just normal Daleks and not ones that have appeared gone mad! Seeing one act like a child would have been soooo creepy!!!!

[swiftbird]

Fascinating proposals. I think the idea of an Asylum works great visually for both villains, and I love your ideas for insane Daleks.

[nickthepick]

Imagine a Doctor Who Novel titled: "Tales of the Asylum", a compilation of short-stories of each Dalek in the Asylum and why they act and behave the way they do. Maybe a version of the Time Controller gets desperate and seeks reinforcements or genetic material to build his new army, but something stops it. Or, some remaining Humanized Daleks survived the events of Evil of the Daleks and are still child-like, yet they're deranged and wonder why the Doctor "abandoned" them, crying out for his name to "save" them from the dungeon. Or a lone medical operative Dalek is doing its best to "treat" the patients & giving up to the madness itself after taking on too much to handle, cackling madly as it tortures/punishes patients for being "fussy'. Hence why any attempt the Parliament makes to maintain the Asylum's upkeep would result in failure, so why bother? Honestly, the stories that could be told here are infinite.