If you watched SciFi's showing of "Dalek" the other night, there were a couple of key scenes to the story and the overall season arc that were cut so we could have more commercials. I know SciFi has had to edit the shows to fit in the time slot here, but the cuts made this week were ones that took away from the plot.
The first was they cut the scene of Van Statten's helicopter landing, thus establishing that he has a helicopter there should they choose to flea the Dalek as the story progresses (kind of important to know since they reference going to the heli-pad later in the story). This scene also included this week's reference to "Bad Wolf" which is important as the series goes along. It's also flashbacked to in a later episode so if you wonder--where the heck did the helicopter scene come from?!? as you watch, it was supposed to be here.
The second obvious cut was the Doctor's initial meeting with Van Statten. After the Doctor and Rose are captured in the musuem, they are taken to his office. In this scene (one of my favorites from the season), Adam has a large box full of alien treasures purchased for Van Statten's collection. The Doctor and Rose come in and the Doctor is able to use one of the devices to create some soothing sounds. It's a quiet scene and it establishes the Doctor as the alien expert that Van Statten refers to later in the scene. It also gives Van Statten the idea that the Doctor could communicate with the Dalek he has locked up since the Doctor knows how to connect to the alien devices.
Now as an obsessive
Who fan, I would prefer to see the episodes air uncut. But as a person who likes it when things make sense overall, the two cuts made here make the episode more jumbled and more confusing. I think there are times when the series could pull a
Lost and run two to three minutes over. Hell, cutting five minutes of
Stargate: Atlantis could only help that show...
Of course, on a good note for WB DVD, it makes owning the DVDs of the stories that will be uncut that much more essential...
posted by Michael Hickerson at 4/17/2006 07:48:00 AM |
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