Since 1966s Power Of The Daleks, it has been commonplace to surround the new Doctor with established characters both to ease the transition between Doctors and to ensure early viewing figures while the new Doctor finds his feet. And Series 8 will be no exception to this with the Twelfth Doctor squeezing in an early encounter with the Daleks in Episode 2 and fending off a Cyberman invasion of Earth in Episodes 11 and 12. While it certainly feels like were suffering from Dalek and Cyberman fatigue (especially since we only last saw them both at Christmas), a point in their favour is that the basic storylines of these episodes haven't been done for a while. A clip of Episode 2 shown during a BBC One news item revealed that the focus is on a Dalek so damaged that it developed morality, and the last time we saw a Cyberman story featuring an Earth invasion was the 2008 Christmas Special. Another positive is that the writers of these episodes have never tackled these enemies in a full story before. The Sarah Jane Adventures Phil Ford will be taking on the Daleks, and Steven Moffat is taking his first proper stab at the Cybermen after writing brief scenes featuring them over the past three years. Which at the very least means we should be in for a different style of writing for these characters.
JG Moore is a writer and filmmaker from the south of England. He also works as an editor and VFX artist, and has a BA in Media Production from the University Of Winchester.
