Live-Blogging Doctor Who: The Stolen Earth
Posted 21 September 2008 in Doctor Who by Catriona
I was a little uncertain about the practicalities of live-blogging this episode, since there seemed to be an enormous storm heading straight towards us and, Brisbane’s power-grid being what it is, I was rather alarmed about the possibility of the power going out.
But, as with last night, the storm seems to have boiled away to the north, so we should be all right.
There’s more rain coming, but not sufficient to warrant a severe storm warning. It has, at least, cooled everything down, which is an advantage. I’ve never acclimatised to Brisbane’s weather—at least, not the warm weather.
So here we are, for the second-last episode of season four.
(And I tell a lie, apparently—there is still a severe storm warning for Brisbane City. But if the power goes out in the middle of the episode, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.)
(I’m giving a lecture on—partly, anyway—cliches tomorrow morning, and that always seems to have a detrimental effect on my writing. So keep an eye out for further cliches in this posting. I’m sure there’ll be plenty. Does that qualify as a cliche? It’s certainly not inspired writing.)
But all that’s beside the point—this is the first of the two-part story line that ends season four. I wonder what can possibly happen in this episode?
And here we are on earth—the Doctor panicking about what “Bad Wolf” can mean, but finding that nothing is wrong at all. Apparently.
Donna’s a bit stunned that she’s just met Rose, but the Doctor’s more worried about what Rose’s ability to travel between universes means for the health of the universes themselves.
Of course, he leaves too early: things start going haywire as soon as he gets back in the TARDIS—and the Earth is gone. The TARDIS is fixed, but the Earth has vanished.
Oh, bless, Donna—she’s so free from jealousy, insisting to the Doctor that isn’t it a good thing that Rose is back? I’m not sure about that, myself—but we’ll see.
Martha! She’s in the U.S.
And Torchwood—still in Cardiff. Captain Jack dashing out to see what’s happened, while Ianto and Gwen boggle.
And Sarah Jane, with her adopted son and “Mr Smith,” the computer with the melodramatic fanfare.
And Donna’s family—and Martha, and Captain Jack, and Sarah Jane, all staring up at the sky.
And there’s Rose—and we pan up, following her eye line, to see a sky full of planets, hanging so close to the earth that you’d think we’d be pulled into one of them.
And, the world’s longest credit sequence!
Donna, practical as always, is worried that with the absence of the sun, everyone on earth will freeze to death. And the Doctor’s astonished by the power of the technology that could move the planet.
That’s a nice encapsulation of their differences.
Richard Dawkins! Say hello to Romana for me!
And the Doctor’s going to the Shadow Proclamation—that’s something we’ve been hearing about for several seasons, now. I’m looking forward to seeing how that pays off.
Damn—I can’t keep up with what’s happening. Now there’re two hundred spaceships heading straight for earth. Not that anyone would notice, because they’re all too busy looting the shops, getting drunk in the streets, and beating each other up.
Rose isn’t fussed, though—she’s carrying an enormous gun, so she’s perfectly secure.
Martha’s phoning Captain Jack, to see whether he’s heard from the Doctor. Martha’s on Project Indigo. It’s top secret, but Jack’s heard about it, because he met a soldier in a bar—strictly professional, he tells Ianto.
And now the Daleks are broadcasting “Exterminate!”—and Sarah’s crying, and Jack’s terrified, and Rose looks like she’s barely holding it together. They all know what two hundred Dalek spaceships mean.
And, of course, last time Jack met the Daleks, they killed him. It was a heroic last stand, but he still died.
Supreme Dalek! All red and shiny. He’s pretty funky. But I’m with Jack and Sarah; I don’t like where this is going.
The Doctor, meanwhile, tells us that the Shadow Proclamation are intergalactic policemen—I suppose rather like Interpol. Turns out the Jadoon (don’t correct my spelling!) work for the Shadow Proclamation.
The Shadow Proclamation tell the Doctor that twenty-four planets have been ripped from the skies. Oh, yes, Donna—you’re every bit as important as the Doctor; she’s the one who notices that Pyrovillia is part of this pattern, and the Adipose breeding planet. She doesn’t mention the Lost Moon of Poush, of course, because she wasn’t there for that conversation, but she’s still the catalyst for the Doctor realising what’s happening.
(And he does mention that they’re in a perfect pattern, which is why they’re not falling into each other.)
And the Doctor mentions the Daleks in “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” trying to move the Earth—he doesn’t mention the Time Lords moving the planet in the distant future, in “Trial of a Time Lord.” Self-editing again, Doctor?
Jack’s freaking out almost as much at the idea of Project Indigo as he is at the two hundred Dalek ships. But Martha knows that she takes her orders from UNIT, and she activates it.
Jack tells us that it’s experimental teleport scavenged from the Sontarans—but that without stablisation, Martha’s dead, scattered into atoms.
I know that voice! Oh, damn—Davros! That’s Davros! Brilliant!
And Dalek Kaan—driven insane, somehow, burbling of the arrival of the Doctor. Oh, wow, that CGI for the Shadow Proclamation headquarters is beautiful. Prettiest thing this season, I think.
One of the workers approaches Donna, telling her that there was something on her back, and that she’s so sorry for the loss that is to come.
Oh, I do hate these hints about what’s to come. They keep me worked up for the coming week.
Doctor, don’t dismiss Donna’s advice, even when it’s the bees disappearing. Bees are aliens? I’ve never trusted bees. But they leave a trail that the Doctor can follow. The head woman for the Shadow Proclamation wants to co-opt the TARDIS, to have the Doctor lead them into battle. But she’s also terribly naive, so he just takes off.
The Daleks are rounding people up in the streets, but not every street. Nevertheless, Bernard Cribbens wants to attack them with a paint-gun—he thinks if he blinds them, they’ll be helpless. While he’s explaining this to Sylvia, Donna’s mother, the Daleks blow up a house when a family defies them and runs back inside.
Bernard Cribbens is a good shot, but the Dalek burns off the paint—and then explodes, as Rose appears behind him.
Bernard Cribbens wants to know if she wants to swap guns with him.
Sylvia is learning the truth about where Donna is, as her father tells her that they’re travelling the stars. The Doctor, meanwhile, is following the bees’ trail, but it stops in the middle of the Medusa Cascade—the centre of a rift in time and space, which the Doctor hasn’t visited since he was a boy of ninety. The Doctor’s defeated here—which the very Ennio Morriconian music (as Nick points out) reinforces. This is the point of ultimate defeat: the Doctor has no idea where to go, Sarah is devastated, Torchwood is stalled, Martha seems to be dead . . .
But then a voice comes out of nowhere on the subwave network.
Everyone thinks it’s just a desperate cry for help, until the voice says, “Captain Jack, shame on you!”
It’s Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister. And she’s calling for Jack, Sarah Jane, and Martha, who’s not dead, but in her mother’s home.
(Rose, meanwhile, wants to talk to Harriet, but the Nobles don’t have a webcam—Sylvia thinks they’re naughty. Rose started annoying me, here—she’s a little whingy.)
Jack, of course, is hitting on Sarah Jane. I don’t blame him—and it is Captain Jack.
(And Rose whinges, again.)
The subwave network was invented by the Mr Copper Foundation—and Mr Copper was the man who survived the wreck of the Titanic and left to start a new life on earth with a million pounds. He seems to have brought his alien technology to bear.
Harriet shuts down all possibility of using the mysterious Osterhagen Key. (Don’t correct my spelling.)
(And Rose whinges, again. You were there first, Rose—but there were many companions after you.)
Torchwood, Mr Smith, and Martha are combining their knowledge and technology to send a message to the Doctor, boosting the signal through the subwave network. It will be traced back to Harriet Jones, but she’s not worried about that.
And the Daleks have detected the transmission and are tracing the signal back to its origin: Harriet.
(Rose, the Doctor is in space: is holding your phone up to the ceiling going to make a difference? Oh, never mind.)
The Daleks have found Harriet Jones, who’s masking the location of Sarah, Torchwood, and Martha.
Now she’s transferring control to Torchwood. She knows what’s coming through her door.
And she stands up:
HARRIET: Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister.
DALEKS: Yes, we know who you are.
ME: (Chuckle)
HARRIET: Oh, you know nothing of any human. And that will be your downfall.
DALEKS: Exterminate.
ME: (Sniffle)
It’s a good death, for a character whose every appearance has been fascinating.
And now the Doctor’s skipped forward to the Medusa Cascade, which has been pulled a second out of time from the rest of the universe. And he can see Torchwood, Sarah Jane, and Martha—but not Rose. He hopes Rose is there, but she doesn’t have a webcam.
And then another voice comes in—and Sarah Jane knows that voice. She remembers the genesis of the Daleks.
Davros—Davros resurrected, though Sarah thinks he’s dead and the Doctor knows he’s dead, that his command ship flew straight into the jaws of the Nightmare Child at the gates of Elysium (don’t correct my spelling).
Dalek Kaan gave his mind, flying again and again into the time-locked Time War to rescue Davros. And Davros stripped the flesh from his own bones, literally—NICK: That’s grotesque and implausible—to create a new race of Daleks.
And Dalek Kaan can forsee death for the most faithful companion of all—everlasting death. I really hate these future warnings.
The Daleks have located Torchwood—and Jack is out of there, having used Project Indigo to get his teleport working again. And he also has an enormous gun.
But the Daleks are coming, and there’s only Ianto and Gwen left.
Sarah is leaving, as well—like Jack, she wants to find the Doctor, although she’s leaving her son behind in the car of Mr Smith. And where’s K9? I want K9, dammit!
Rose is off, too—another one seeking the Doctor. She, too, has some kind of teleport technology. But hers can take her straight to the Doctor, who’s landed on an empty street outside a church.
So there’s Rose and the Doctor, staring at each other—and Donna grinning to see it.
And they start running—but the Doctor’s not looking where he’s going. And there’s a Dalek: Rose sees it, the Doctor does not. And it catches him a glancing blow, before Captain Jack arrives and blows it up.
Donna and Rose drag him into the TARDIS while Jack covers them.
And back at Torchwood, Gwen and Ianto are insisting they’re going out kicking and screaming, like Tosh and Owen.
The Doctor is looking pretty bad.
And Sarah Jane is pulled over by a Dalek patrol—who is shot by mysterious benefactors.
The Daleks break into Torchwood, and Gwen and Ianto are shooting them.
The Doctor’s starting his regeneration cycle . . . and the episode is “To Be Continued.”
You bastard, Russell T. Davies! You magnificent bastard!
Share your thoughts [21]
1
Tim wrote at Sep 21, 11:08 am
> And the Doctor’s going to the Shadow Proclamation—that’s something we’ve been hearing about for several seasons, now. I’m looking forward to seeing how that pays off.
So was I, and I felt a bit let down, to be honest.
> Damn—I can’t keep up with what’s happening. Now there’re two hundred spaceships heading straight for earth. Not that anyone would notice, because they’re all too busy looting the shops, getting drunk in the streets, and beating each other up.
I know there’s a lot going on in this episode, but I wish they could have shown a bit of reaction from the other stolen planets.
I think “Ultimate Code Red” wins the prize for stupidest phrase in the episode.
> Jack tells us that it’s experimental teleport scavenged from the Sontarans—but that without stablisation, Martha’s dead, scattered into atoms.
I forget — do we learn why the teleport device didn’t scatter her?
> Torchwood, Mr Smith, and Martha are combining their knowledge and technology to send a message to the Doctor, boosting the signal through the subwave network. It will be traced back to Harriet Jones, but she’s not worried about that.
It seemed to me unecessary to have everyone’s phones calling (though I can see why it’s there thematically). If they’re using the same frequency and drawing on the power of the rift, only one phone would be needed.
But what irked me more was that Harriet Jones’s speech doesn’t actually make a lot of sense. Her initial point (and the reason the Doctor toppled her) was that Earth has to be able to defend itself when the Doctor isn’t there, but now she wants to call the Doctor. She’s flip-flopping on her Doctor policy!
> NICK: That’s grotesque and implausible—to create a new race of Daleks.
The new series has made a bit more of a deal about the Daleks’ biological material, though, including two different kinds of Dalek-human hybridisation. I think it makes a kind of sense for Davros — who is, presumably, the last remaining Kaled — to grow his creations anew from his own tissue.
2
Nick Caldwell wrote at Sep 21, 11:26 am
My first thought was actually why would Davros need to take so very much of his own tissue to clone a new Dalek race? A single cell, endlessly duplicated should provide enough DNA for millions of Daleks. Perhaps it’s instead meant to depict the extent of Davros’s terrible war injuries.
But really, why would new tissue samples need to come into play at all? Davros is a brilliant scientist in many fields – surely he has his genome mapped and recorded in a computer system. New Daleks should be able to be created from a digital template and basic biological raw materials, not differentiated cell samples.
3
Catriona wrote at Sep 21, 11:27 am
In reverse order:
I think what Nick felt was implausible about Davros’s farming of his own flesh for the new Dalek race wasn’t a matter of improbable hybridisation, but the fact that his internal organs were visible and essentially only covered by his leather jacket.
But Nick may be able to clarify that himself.
I can’t always follow ideas about whether it’s ineffectual to have more than one phone calling—science and I are no longer on speaking terms, after a nasty fall-out in high school—but I did find the image of Donna’s mother and grandfather and Rose all calling over and over again a little silly, especially when Rose held her phone up to the ceiling—I couldn’t see what difference that would make, three extra mobile phones. And wouldn’t Mr Smith have been using their phones, anyway? I thought he was using all the phones on the planet. (Not Rose’s, of course, since she presumably bought it in another universe.) And were they even linked into the subwave network?
I don’t think we ever do find out why Project Indigo doesn’t scatter Martha—she herself gives a slightly wishy-washy explanation about it maybe tapping into her subconscious mind, but I don’t think we get a formal explanation.
Now, the idea of seeing what’s going on on the other planets is an interesting one—the Daleks insist that they are now master of Earth, and they round up people. but we have no idea whether they’re also doing that on other planets, or whether the other planets are needed for some other purpose and their people are being left alone. After all, as far as Daleks are concerned, their attacks on humanity might be punitive—there’s a long, nasty history, there.
Plus, what about Pyrovillia and the Lost Moon of Poosh? (Don’t correct my spelling!) Were they pulled out of time at the same time as the other planets? Or eons ago? And if they were pulled out at the same time, why? Why weren’t they just pulled out of space?
As far as the Shadow Proclamation is concerned, I have a sneaking suspicion that the fact that they tried to enlist the Doctor in a war and he legged it instead might come into play in future episodes/seasons . . .
That said, I loved this episode.
4
Tim wrote at Sep 21, 11:36 am
> But really, why would new tissue samples need to come into play at all? Davros is a brilliant scientist in many fields – surely he has his genome mapped and recorded in a computer system. New Daleks should be able to be created from a digital template and basic biological raw materials, not differentiated cell samples.
Perhaps the process by which Davros survived the Time War left him without such records. I also conjecture that the reason he had to use so much tissue was because his initial experiments (possibly working with limited resources after his escape from the war) weren’t 100% successful. He’d probably be running lots of batches, trying to get the right mutant traits into a viable strain.
> I think what Nick felt was implausible about Davros’s farming of his own flesh for the new Dalek race wasn’t a matter of improbable hybridisation, but the fact that his internal organs were visible and essentially only covered by his leather jacket.
I did find the exposed internal organs a bit excessive, myself.
5
Tim wrote at Sep 21, 11:39 am
> but I did find the image of Donna’s mother and grandfather and Rose all calling over and over again a little silly, especially when Rose held her phone up to the ceiling—I couldn’t see what difference that would make, three extra mobile phones.
Yes, that’s another of my unfavourite scenes.
> And wouldn’t Mr Smith have been using their phones, anyway? I thought he was using all the phones on the planet. (Not Rose’s, of course, since she presumably bought it in another universe.) And were they even linked into the subwave network?
Apparently, yes — Mr Smith was supposedly using the phones, and for no particularly clear reason, the phones are calling via the subwave network (and somehow the undetectable subwave thus becomes detectable).
6
Catriona wrote at Sep 21, 11:51 am
But—and I may be getting this entirely wrong—the phones linked into the subwave network were the ones that Mr Smith was calling through, yes? The phones aren’t normally linked into the subwave network?
So, then, either Donna’s mother’s and grandfather’s phones are already being co-opted by Mr Smith, in which case their using them to phone over and over is redundant—and, in fact, probably impossible, since calls are already being made from them—or, if Mr Smith for some reason isn’t using those phones, then they aren’t linked to the subwave network, and their action are, again, redundant, because the calls aren’t getting through, any more than they were when Donna’s grandfather (and Martha) tried to ring earlier.
7
Catriona wrote at Sep 21, 11:55 am
Oh, and I should add, my first thought was also that Davros would have lost everything in the Time Wars, all his research. The impression I got was that Dalek Kaan only managed to pull Davros out, not his entire command carrier. So it would have been almost starting from scratch for him: not from a position of complete ignorance—he could have engineered the Daleks much faster this time around—but still from a position of having to do all the basic work all over again.
Nick’s point about not needing that may cells is a valid one, though. And what’s wrong with scraping the inside of his mouth like everyone else?
8
Tim wrote at Sep 21, 12:12 pm
> So, then, either Donna’s mother’s and grandfather’s phones are already being co-opted by Mr Smith, in which case their using them to phone over and over is redundant—and, in fact, probably impossible, since calls are already being made from them—or, if Mr Smith for some reason isn’t using those phones, then they aren’t linked to the subwave network, and their action are, again, redundant, because the calls aren’t getting through, any more than they were when Donna’s grandfather (and Martha) tried to ring earlier.
The former rather than the latter applies. In principle, the phone signal can be separable from the subwave network (which is how I would have written it, but seems not to be how it’s done in the show), but it’s clear that Mr Smith is co-opting all the phones. (Rose’s and Martha’s might not be co-optable, though, due to the Doctor’s tampering.)
> Nick’s point about not needing that may cells is a valid one, though. And what’s wrong with scraping the inside of his mouth like everyone else?
My conjecture is that whatever method he is using needs relatively large amounts of his flesh in a short space of time: e.g. he’s not just cloning himself, he’s running large numbers of batches at once with slightly different tinkering on each; whatever setup he started out with might have needed more than a few cells per batch; and the compromised nature of his own physiology may have rendered a lot of his material inadequate.
9
Catriona wrote at Sep 21, 12:50 pm
I’m assuming that Rose’s phone isn’t co-optable since it’s highly likely that she bought it in another universe. And the technology in that universe wasn’t exactly comparable with the technology in ours—but, then again, she was apparently able to get a signal and make calls in our universe, so who knows?
Either way, that scene still didn’t make a great deal of sense to me.
10
John wrote at Sep 22, 02:59 am
“And Rose whinges, again. You were there first, Rose—but there were many companions after you.”
Not even. Susan, Barbara, Ian, Vicki, etc, etc, etc…
11
Catriona wrote at Sep 22, 06:05 am
True—I must get over this habit I’ve developed of treating the new Doctor Who as though it’s distinct from the original series.
I was also trying not to be too hard on Rose (she was the first companion of this regeneration) but she really started to annoy me in this episode.
12
Drew wrote at Sep 23, 10:16 am
Technically speakling, holding your phone up to the ceiling might in fact be moving it even further away from the Doctor and his Tardis, not closer. It’s the Star Trek: Generations problem all over, the Doctor may not be “above” Rose, he could just as likely be “underneath” her. That said, it’s a very human thing to do, people raise their voices when speaking long distance over phones and we do actually try to move closer to someone on our mobiles when the connection is bad.
13
Catriona wrote at Sep 23, 10:23 am
True—we always assume that space is above us. The vehicles in science fiction programmes never move in three dimensions—well, in the TARDIS’s case, it would move in four dimensions, really.
That scene just annoyed me. I thoroughly enjoyed the episode as a whole, but that one scene struck me as daft. I suppose I should accept that people under pressure do daft things, but it still annoyed me.
(That, and Rose. I know I’ve never been the biggest Rose fan—and I’m talking about the character here, because Billie Piper herself I like very much—but she really started to irritate me in this episode. And I don’t think I was the only one, either. But I’m saving my Rose rant for the next episode.)
14
Drew wrote at Sep 23, 10:36 am
“Nick’s point about not needing that many cells is a valid one, though. And what’s wrong with scraping the inside of his mouth like everyone else?”
I don’t know, it’s wrong to assume that scientific techniques will be universally the same, or for that matter that Kaled DNA can be obtained in the same manner as Human DNA. Besides, this strikes me as just the sort of thing Davros would do, he is indulging in some sort of self-mutilating creationist fantasy obsession (words are failing me here). Originally the Daleks were created from common Kaled DNA, but that hasn’t been enough to allow them to the conquer the universe so more drastic measures are required. There is a flesh of my flesh thing happening here, Adam-like Davos is creating the perfect (in his mind) offspring at last (Eve is as much Adam’s offspring as she is his mate) and that Davros has mutilated himself in the process is entirely in keeping with his physical appearance all along. After all we don’t know how he came to look the way he does; it might have been war injury, or mutation or he may have been doing this right from the beginning to create the Daleks.
15
Catriona wrote at Sep 23, 11:00 am
But Davros isn’t suicidal—and, really, stripping sufficient flesh from your bones that your heart and other vital organs are exposed is tantamount to suicide.
I’m not really questioning the idea of Davros using his own DNA to create the Daleks; that is entirely in keeping with what we know of Davros (and, really, that’s quite a lot, considering he’s a relatively minor character in terms of visual appearances). He’s a raving egotist, no question.
But I don’t buy him as a self-mutilator. At least, not in anything other than the pursuit of Daleks. And, even then, I don’t think he’s do it to potentially fatal levels. He wants to live—he wants to see the Daleks established as the supreme creatures in the galaxy.
I suspect that that was for shock value, and it didn’t really work for me—it went past shocking and into slightly absurd.
On the other hand, if I were still a child, that would have freaked me out. And it is a kid’s show.
16
Catriona wrote at Sep 23, 11:01 am
Oh, I should have added: I know Eve is as much Adam’s off-spring as his mate, in the account from the Old Testament.
Why do you think I’m such a strident feminist?
17
Nick Caldwell wrote at Sep 23, 11:05 am
I think it’s fairly clearly pointed out in “Genesis” that Davros’s injuries were the result of a Thal bombing raid.
I do agree the DNA stuff is largely working on a symbolic level, though – and honestly, when a show reveals that DNA can be transmitted through lightning (for god’s sake) then it’s clearly meant to be made of pixie dust and therefore operates according entirely arbitrary rules.
18
Catriona wrote at Sep 23, 11:08 am
Pixie dust doesn’t operate according to arbitrary rules.
But, I agree: science is magic, in Doctor Who. And that suits me just fine, because I’m as likely to become a magician as a scientist; I have about the same level of understanding for both sets of practices.
19
Matthew Smith wrote at Sep 24, 12:05 am
Highlights of this episode: Rose walking down the street carrying a truly enormous yet apparently weightless gun. The bit with the paintball gun was awesome. “My vision is not impeded – exterminate!”. The red daleks. Davros. Insane Dalek Kahn. The Doctor regenerating – how did they keep it a secret that David Tenant was leaving the show!
What I didn’t like: The planets being moved? Just seemed really stupid. The subwave conference call? It was good at first but then the whole “phones saving the day” thing got out of hand (haha get it: phones out of hand). Rose in general being a big sook. She seemed to lack energy, as if having become a heroic defender of the earth means you have to just stare at everyone without responding to them and look kind of wise but sad.
20
Drew wrote at Sep 24, 04:38 am
“Why do you think I’m such a strident feminist?”
:) I don’t I was just trying to clarify my own stance.
“But Davros isn’t suicidal—and, really, stripping sufficient flesh from your bones that your heart and other vital organs are exposed is tantamount to suicide.”
No, he’s the exact opposite of suicidal, he wants to live forever, in more ways then just the obvious. But it’s a human assumption that what he’s done is damaging his continued existance since clearly it isn’t, he obviously has the technology to do what he has done and still survive.
21
Catriona wrote at Sep 24, 05:26 am
Oh, I realise that the Eve reference was to clarify your metaphorical reading of Davros through biblical imagery (and I do agree with that reading, in part)—my response was intended as slightly tongue-in-cheek but also a means of signalling my agreement with that part of the reading.
(Although, honestly, the only thing that frustrates me more than the idea that woman is “born of man” is the attitude towards women shown in Timothy—the biblical book, that is, not some random chap. I mean, really: “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence” (1 Timothy 2.12)? Or “Let the woman learn in silence, with all subjection” (1 Timothy 2.11)? I know I’ve taken those out of context, but I don’t think I’m capable of listening in silence with all subjection, frankly. I could give it a go, but I don’t fancy the idea.)
I agree that Davros is the exact opposite of suicidal—though it’s questionable whether he himself intends to literally live forever or whether he will live as long as he can and then achieve immortality through seeing the Daleks as the supreme beings in the galaxy.
I still think the exposed organ scene was going a little too far. Stripped flesh down to the ribs? Could have coped with that. But exposed internal organs? It may be a human assumption, but it does seem to me that if the organs are internal, that implies a certain vulnerability to them or, alternatively, that they require a particular (warm, humid, contained) environment in which to function. Either way, making them external organs seems foolhardy.