Doctor Who 3.4: Daleks in Manhatten
This will probably be a shortish review, due to the two-part nature of the episode, but I'll be able to think more clearly about it after next week's :-)
You've got Daleks and New York, what could be better? Well, Daleks and New York in a well-written episode, which is what we got. The episode had a lot of elements that reminded me strongly of original episodes - Daleks changing humans to use as slaves, genetic engineering as a plot-line, 'borrowing' historical events and having them influenced by alien involvement - but given a new series twist. I always enjoyed the kind of episodes where aliens were neatly slotted into Earth history and turn out to be using it for their own purposes. The new series has managed to get the balance right between these episodes, the futuristic episodes and the current day episodes, but I still treasure these historical ones.
Using the Empire State building? Wonderful idea :-) Having the mast as some important part of the Dalek plan fits with the Daleks and the ideas behind this show.
I also loved the Hooverville stuff. Back at the start, Doctor Who was intended as an educational program (an intentioned hi-jacked the moment the Daleks appeared...) but it never quite lost that element of showing some of Earth's history. Usually it concentrates very heavily on British history and pretty much never uses American history. I suspect that that element of the Depression isn't something that's taught hugely in schools here, so I appreciated the reference and the very quick, lightly-done exposition to explain it all.
The contrast of Hooverville with the theatre was a great idea and tied into the contrast between the plight of the people in Hooverville and the construction of the Empire State building.
The one distracting thing about the episode was waiting for the English actors to drop their accents. Not because I thought they'd be that unprofessional, but because I knew most of those actors when they're playing English people and couldn't quite believe that they'd manage to maintain the accent. Call me cynical. It was the only thing that kept me from being completely absorbed in the episode and I'll probably get over it for the next one :-)
The Dalek plan? Very cool. If it hadn't been the Cult of Skaro Daleks, though, I might have had more trouble with the idea. However, I do remember from the eighties that some Daleks tried tinkering with their genetic structure to add some emotions (I think), splitting off from the main Dalek group and ending up at war with them. The actions of the Daleks in this episode reminded me of that. I do wonder whether they're really the last Daleks.
The story about Lazlo and Talullah gave the episode a bit of an emotional heart without being irritating, so that was well done. I actually liked that plot-line.
Overall, I though that this was a great, fun episode with some good writing, benefiting from the extra time that a two-parter gives. I'm hoping that Martha will be figuring out what the Daleks are soon (did the Doctor mention who was involved in the Time War last week?), but otherwise I'm prepared to be surprised about next week's episode. I haven't even watched the trailers. If next week's episode can surpass this one then it really will have been a good Dalek story :-)
You've got Daleks and New York, what could be better? Well, Daleks and New York in a well-written episode, which is what we got. The episode had a lot of elements that reminded me strongly of original episodes - Daleks changing humans to use as slaves, genetic engineering as a plot-line, 'borrowing' historical events and having them influenced by alien involvement - but given a new series twist. I always enjoyed the kind of episodes where aliens were neatly slotted into Earth history and turn out to be using it for their own purposes. The new series has managed to get the balance right between these episodes, the futuristic episodes and the current day episodes, but I still treasure these historical ones.
Using the Empire State building? Wonderful idea :-) Having the mast as some important part of the Dalek plan fits with the Daleks and the ideas behind this show.
I also loved the Hooverville stuff. Back at the start, Doctor Who was intended as an educational program (an intentioned hi-jacked the moment the Daleks appeared...) but it never quite lost that element of showing some of Earth's history. Usually it concentrates very heavily on British history and pretty much never uses American history. I suspect that that element of the Depression isn't something that's taught hugely in schools here, so I appreciated the reference and the very quick, lightly-done exposition to explain it all.
The contrast of Hooverville with the theatre was a great idea and tied into the contrast between the plight of the people in Hooverville and the construction of the Empire State building.
The one distracting thing about the episode was waiting for the English actors to drop their accents. Not because I thought they'd be that unprofessional, but because I knew most of those actors when they're playing English people and couldn't quite believe that they'd manage to maintain the accent. Call me cynical. It was the only thing that kept me from being completely absorbed in the episode and I'll probably get over it for the next one :-)
The Dalek plan? Very cool. If it hadn't been the Cult of Skaro Daleks, though, I might have had more trouble with the idea. However, I do remember from the eighties that some Daleks tried tinkering with their genetic structure to add some emotions (I think), splitting off from the main Dalek group and ending up at war with them. The actions of the Daleks in this episode reminded me of that. I do wonder whether they're really the last Daleks.
The story about Lazlo and Talullah gave the episode a bit of an emotional heart without being irritating, so that was well done. I actually liked that plot-line.
Overall, I though that this was a great, fun episode with some good writing, benefiting from the extra time that a two-parter gives. I'm hoping that Martha will be figuring out what the Daleks are soon (did the Doctor mention who was involved in the Time War last week?), but otherwise I'm prepared to be surprised about next week's episode. I haven't even watched the trailers. If next week's episode can surpass this one then it really will have been a good Dalek story :-)