YMMV / Doctor Who S8E5 "The Dæmons"

• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Winstanley tells Jo, "While there's life there's hope, right?", when the faintly alive Doctor is being thawed out in Episode Two. These would turn out to be the Third Doctor's last words to Sarah Jane Smith before his regeneration: "A tear, Sarah Jane? No, don't cry. While there's life, there's... (hope)"
  • At a meeting with the locals, the Master asks one of them if he's worried about whether he'll be able to balance the Post Office books in time. Between 1999 and 2015, and became widespread knowledge in 2024 after the mini-series Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, almost a thousand sub postmasters and mistresses were unable to balance their books due to faulty software, some of whom were imprisoned as a result.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • BBC3 wasn't a real channel when the serial was broadcast. It was established in 2003.
  • This story has the Doctor state that the Dæmons influenced the popular conception of the Devil. "The Satan Pit" has the Doctor state that the Beast influenced the Dæmons, meaning that the Devil influenced the Dæmons to influence the popular conception of the Devil...
• Ho Yay: Everyone merrily joins in the Dance Party Ending and the local witch makes sure to point out that it's a fertility dance. Hearing that, Captain Yates asks the Brigadier: "Fancy a dance, sir?" ("Kind of you Captain... I think I'd rather have a pint.") The "Making of" segment of the DVD has Nicholas Courtney pretty much confirm (as quoted by Katy Manning) what we were already thinking — "The Brig's an alcoholic and Mike Yates is gay!". According to the Doctor Who New Adventures, Mike eventually ends up with a guy.
• Hype Backlash: The story's standing in fandom has varied over time. In The '70s and The '80s, it was often held up as an all-time classic. But during The '90s, there was brief phase when the Jon Pertwee era underwent a hatedom and this was a particular target. There are reports of games played where tapes of it were thrown as far as possible while competitors shouted favourite phrases abound. Current fan consensus places it somewhere in between.
• Memetic Mutation: "Jenkins. Chap with wings there. Five rounds rapid".
• Retroactive Recognition: One of the Master's followers in this story, Jones, is played by Matthew Corbett, who would later become famous as the presenter of The Sooty Show from 1976 to 1998.
  • An in-universe example: Word of God is that the Doctor's Ascended Fangirl Osgood is the daughter (or possible niece) of this one.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Though it was filmed in the days when both technology and budget were pathetic, the producers worked wonders with just a few clever camera tricks (filters, angles and some judicious shaking). The gargoyle costume was astonishingly realistic, and for once the revealed monster (Azal) exceeded expectations. The model church which was blown up at the end was so realistic a number of people complained to The BBC, thinking they had blown up an actual building.

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