Daleks in Manhattan

"The children of Skaro must walk again."

Writer: Helen Raynor

Format: TV 

Broadcast: 21st April 2007

Series: 3.04

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Martha

Synopsis 

During the building of the Empire State Building in 1930s New York, the Cult of Skaro continues their attempts to destroy humanity and reign supreme.

Verdict 

Daleks in Manhattan was a very good opening episode to this eventful two-part story! The story is essentially what the title suggests - the Daleks are in Manhattan! After their last gasp get away at the end of Doomsday, where the Doctor lost everything, the Daleks had arrived in 1930s Manhattan and were soon involved in the building of the Empire State Building. Still in the memory banks from the Daleks' previous brief visit during The Chase? I do like to think so. I love the unusual take on the Daleks in this episode that Helen Raynor has taken. And before I explain why I like I'd just like to express my happiness of having a female writer pen a story of such significance! Why don't we have more stories from the wonderful women of Who? Anyway, the unusual take I liked was that the Cult of Skaro weren't aggressive or conquering as seen in their previous appearance, instead they were cowering in the basement and sewers letting Pig Slaves do their dirty work. The Daleks genuinely seemed frightened and suddenly aware that they were the only four of their species left in existence. Just as in The Evil of the Daleks, it seemed the Daleks were utterly jealous of the human ability to survive. They mentioned how New York was echoed and replicated across history which I thought was nice and I was quite surprised to see the Daleks apparently complimenting the human race on the architecture of the city of NYC. It really is stunning, I know from experience when I visited in 2010, and I really was blown away by the scale. It most certainly is a concrete jungle! The scene with Diagoras and the Dalek overlooking the city really captured the beauty gracefully. The start of the episode was interesting with Tallulah and Laszlo in a loved up relationship but that would soon become mysterious when the latter would go missing but still leave a flower on her table before every show. The Doctor and Martha visiting Hooverville was very good and I liked the references to the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that sent the economy into ruins. Solomon was a brilliant character throughout this episode and his reporting back to Hooverville was very good. What the papers were saying was true - people were going missing. They were being taken by Pig Slaves for the Dalek cause and their great 'Final Experiment'. Diagoras was a fantastic character for the part he played but with him voicing his loyalty towards the Daleks, it seemed he'd become the pivotal part of this experiment. For he was literally engulfed into the Dalek casing by Sec. The Daleks were evolving. The human factor 2.0 it seemed! Martha explicitly stating that she felt strong about the Doctor wasn't a great surprise but you could see the anguish she had when she told Tallulah that he didn't feel the same way. That though wasn't matched by the anguish the Doctor showed when he found who he was once again up against. His most evil adversaries. The ones he thought were gone for good. The Daleks. The brain mutant glob (that's not the technical term!) that the Doctor examined was intriguing and I liked how the Daleks almost wanted it to be found. The Doctor seemed bitter, and rightfully so, that despite losing Rose the Cult of Skaro had survived. Now, they were after New York. And they were planning something with Dalekanium and the spire of the Empire State Building itself. A gamma ray strike was incoming and the Daleks would use it for something atrocious that's for sure! But we wouldn't find out yet, because the Dalek experiment was almost at a finish. The Doctor had comically rejoined Martha and Frank after uncomfortable intelligence tests and they bore witness to the new Dalek. The human Dalek Sec. DNA has merged and Sec and Diagoras had become one in terrifying circumstances! Overall, a freaky cliffhanger to a fantastic story with great references to the two preceding stories. Martha recognising the Daleks from the Doctor's telling of the Time War at the end of Gridlock was excellent but now this was something the Doctor had never come up against in all his meetings with the arch enemies. A walking human Dalek. Just what would it be capable of? I guess we'll find out in the second part, which is where my rating for the story overall will appear. But this was a very strong start!