After our routine dose of Davies' writing, it was time to get back to some relatively straightforward Doctor Who.
Helen Raynor becomes the first female to contribute a story to the revived series, as well as the first female to write a Dalek story in the entire history
of Doctor Who.
Naturally, we all know that no one can top the masterpieces of Terry Nation, but I have to say that "Daleks In Manhattan" was the best Doctor Who-flavored Dalek episode we had got since its revival. Rob Shearman did a decent job with "Dalek" during Eccleston's year, all other Dalek stories up to this point had been penned by Davies, and usually consisted of the same plotline - an army of Daleks hell-bent on Earth's conquest.
Raynor deviates drastically from the Davies formula in this episode and follows the format that usually works best for Dalek or Cybermen stories, which places them in a peaceful day in, day out setting in the shadows, as underdogs. In those shadows, the Daleks are up to yet another one of their schemes, but this time it isn't to conquer Earth. This time, the Daleks are more concerned with perpetuating their own species, and dodging absolute extinction.
The story develops well, with The Doctor and Martha intending to visit 1930s New York merely for an observatory excursion, but minutes after they arrive the TARDIS duo discover that a mystery is afoot in Manhattan, setting the stage for The Doctor's usual "investigation to see what's REALLY going on."
Raynor cleverly writes a plotline that reflects the nature of the Daleks flawlessly; the remaining Daleks are all that remains of the Cult of Skaro (wait, didn't they get sucked into the void in last season's finale? Nice one, Davies. Stop killing off ALL of the Daleks when you write a story - leave some room for someone else to maybe write a GOOD Dalek story.) In Davies' defense though, Dalek Sekh was seen emergency temporal shifting near the end of "Doomsday," but how Caan and Thay survived the galactic vacuum in "Doomsday" is beyond me. I'm getting sidetracked - Raynor completely dismisses the notion of world domination, apart from Mr. Diagoras' ambitions of being ruler of New York. The Daleks - having been reduced to now only four, and fearing extinction, launch an experiment to merge a human being with a Dalek, thus creating a "human Dalek." This would then restore their bi-ped mobility as they once were on Skaro - when they were "Kaleds." The plot makes perfect sense, and to me was just the kind of scheme the Daleks would be up to. When I say "up to something," I'm referring to stories such as "Destiny of the Daleks," where the Daleks were mysteriously drilling into the abandoned Kaled bunker. We later discover in that story that the Daleks had reached an empass in their war against the android Movellans, and so they set out to dig up their creator - Davros - so that he could develop a solution to sway the war in favor of the Daleks.
In retrospect, the Daleks usually have a logical motive for their schemes, and although it may be loosely related to their conquest of the universe, I never understood why Davies insisted on always having the Daleks hell bent on conquering EARTH. There are dozens of other planets out there, but from Davies desk, the Daleks were only interested in Earth. That's why I favored this episode so much, because Raynor took the time to develop a logical, plausible explanation for the Daleks being in Manhattan. Even their location underneath the Empire State Building is explained - the Daleks have forseen a lightening strike to the building's steeple, and so they direct humans to modify the steeple with Dalek components so that when the lightening strikes, the power will be transmitted underground where they are preparing to convert captured humans into human Daleks, thus reviving their race.
There is one scene that I feel like is worth mentioning. In the sewers, where The Doctor snatches Tallulah out of the corridor and into an alcove, while covering her mouth, and a Dalek creeps by is almost identical to a scene in "Genesis of the Daleks," where the 4th Doctor grabs Bettan and they watch a Dalek creep by from an alcove.
The Doctor also logically identifies what he's up against - after finding a mutant in the sewers, he uses 1930s technology to build a make-shift DNA scanner, and after discovering the mutant's planet of origin code, utters "Skaro!"
What made this episode even more of a Doctor Who treat was that it was the first of a two-parter, and the episode ends in the traditional cliffhanger, accompanied by the theme music's "sting."
The only complaint I had with this episode was the background music, which seem to flow continuously throughout the length of the episode, making it seem more like a motion picture than an episode of Doctor Who. The 1930s era incidentals was fine, since naturally the Doctor and Martha were visiting that time period.
A great episode, and still my favorite Dalek story of the Tennant years.
Helen Raynor becomes the first female to contribute a story to the revived series, as well as the first female to write a Dalek story in the entire history
of Doctor Who.Naturally, we all know that no one can top the masterpieces of Terry Nation, but I have to say that "Daleks In Manhattan" was the best Doctor Who-flavored Dalek episode we had got since its revival. Rob Shearman did a decent job with "Dalek" during Eccleston's year, all other Dalek stories up to this point had been penned by Davies, and usually consisted of the same plotline - an army of Daleks hell-bent on Earth's conquest.
Raynor deviates drastically from the Davies formula in this episode and follows the format that usually works best for Dalek or Cybermen stories, which places them in a peaceful day in, day out setting in the shadows, as underdogs. In those shadows, the Daleks are up to yet another one of their schemes, but this time it isn't to conquer Earth. This time, the Daleks are more concerned with perpetuating their own species, and dodging absolute extinction.
The story develops well, with The Doctor and Martha intending to visit 1930s New York merely for an observatory excursion, but minutes after they arrive the TARDIS duo discover that a mystery is afoot in Manhattan, setting the stage for The Doctor's usual "investigation to see what's REALLY going on."
Raynor cleverly writes a plotline that reflects the nature of the Daleks flawlessly; the remaining Daleks are all that remains of the Cult of Skaro (wait, didn't they get sucked into the void in last season's finale? Nice one, Davies. Stop killing off ALL of the Daleks when you write a story - leave some room for someone else to maybe write a GOOD Dalek story.) In Davies' defense though, Dalek Sekh was seen emergency temporal shifting near the end of "Doomsday," but how Caan and Thay survived the galactic vacuum in "Doomsday" is beyond me. I'm getting sidetracked - Raynor completely dismisses the notion of world domination, apart from Mr. Diagoras' ambitions of being ruler of New York. The Daleks - having been reduced to now only four, and fearing extinction, launch an experiment to merge a human being with a Dalek, thus creating a "human Dalek." This would then restore their bi-ped mobility as they once were on Skaro - when they were "Kaleds." The plot makes perfect sense, and to me was just the kind of scheme the Daleks would be up to. When I say "up to something," I'm referring to stories such as "Destiny of the Daleks," where the Daleks were mysteriously drilling into the abandoned Kaled bunker. We later discover in that story that the Daleks had reached an empass in their war against the android Movellans, and so they set out to dig up their creator - Davros - so that he could develop a solution to sway the war in favor of the Daleks.
In retrospect, the Daleks usually have a logical motive for their schemes, and although it may be loosely related to their conquest of the universe, I never understood why Davies insisted on always having the Daleks hell bent on conquering EARTH. There are dozens of other planets out there, but from Davies desk, the Daleks were only interested in Earth. That's why I favored this episode so much, because Raynor took the time to develop a logical, plausible explanation for the Daleks being in Manhattan. Even their location underneath the Empire State Building is explained - the Daleks have forseen a lightening strike to the building's steeple, and so they direct humans to modify the steeple with Dalek components so that when the lightening strikes, the power will be transmitted underground where they are preparing to convert captured humans into human Daleks, thus reviving their race.
There is one scene that I feel like is worth mentioning. In the sewers, where The Doctor snatches Tallulah out of the corridor and into an alcove, while covering her mouth, and a Dalek creeps by is almost identical to a scene in "Genesis of the Daleks," where the 4th Doctor grabs Bettan and they watch a Dalek creep by from an alcove.
The Doctor also logically identifies what he's up against - after finding a mutant in the sewers, he uses 1930s technology to build a make-shift DNA scanner, and after discovering the mutant's planet of origin code, utters "Skaro!"
What made this episode even more of a Doctor Who treat was that it was the first of a two-parter, and the episode ends in the traditional cliffhanger, accompanied by the theme music's "sting."
The only complaint I had with this episode was the background music, which seem to flow continuously throughout the length of the episode, making it seem more like a motion picture than an episode of Doctor Who. The 1930s era incidentals was fine, since naturally the Doctor and Martha were visiting that time period.
A great episode, and still my favorite Dalek story of the Tennant years.
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