Evolution of the Daleks

"I am Dalek in human form."

Writer: Helen Raynor

Format: TV

Broadcast: 28 April 2007

Series: 3.05

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Martha 

Synopsis

As a new Dalek Empire rises in the New York of 1930s, the Tenth Doctor must enter into an unholy alliance with the Cult of Skaro and their newly humanised leader. The army of Human Daleks is to be awaken...

Verdict

Evolution of the Daleks was an excellent episode to conclude the story already started in Daleks in Manhattan. Despite the date of these blog entries, it had actually been around a week between watching episodes for Gemma and I and whilst that was purely by accident, I thought it was actually beneficial in being able to judge this episode in its own right and not as part of a pair for the first time. I enjoyed taking that approach and this was actually a lot different to the first episode, which perhaps might not be a huge surprise given the almighty cliffhanger seeing Dalek Sec emerge from his Dalek casing as a human Dalek. The whole concept of a Dalek making itself human was excellent and I think the design of Dalek Sec Hybrid has become quite iconic. I really like how much of a mess it is and it somehow just works. One thing I kept thinking throughout the episode was just how good David Tennant was as the Tenth Doctor. It was an outstanding performance from him alongside the old enemy of the Daleks and you could tell he knew how important they were to the show. This isn't a finale, but it feels big and with the ending it's clear that there's still a lot set up here. The Daleks literally evolving before our very eyes was brilliant and I liked how quickly Sec was becoming more and more human. His admiration of Solomon was really fascinating and I loved the Doctor recognising his humanity and taking advantage of it. Of course, the remaining Daleks within the Cult of Skaro had their doubts about Sec which does bring into question the whole plan in the first place, but their comment about imagination and imaging Sec's irrelevance was outstanding. I loved that. Seeing the Daleks quiver and essentially gossip in the sewers was fantastic and so unlike them, and Sec's line about no longer being the supreme beings was very good. Look where it had got them! Their subtle way of turning against Sec by interfering in the gene sequence of their sleeping army was very good and their efforts to use the gamma ray of the lightning strike and the Dalekanium was great. The Doctor got in the way though which was fun and his sacrifice atop the Empire State Building was really impressive. I enjoyed the battle between the Human Daleks and Daleks Jast and Thay resulting in their mutual destruction, and the reaction of the Doctor when Laszlo states that there was still one left was magnificent. One Time Lord and one Dalek. The last of their kind. The tension and anticipation of those final sequences where they face was brilliant, and the tease there was so good that it made it quite annoying that Caan subjected himself to another emergency temporal shift! It was a good escape though to go and rebuild leading to what we know is coming. Laszlo getting to see out his days in Hooverville after the Doctor declared no more deaths was really nice and the Doctor pondering on encountering Caan once again was good. We did think the green screen by the TARDIS at the Statue of Liberty was hilariously bad though! It really hasn't aged well. Thankfully it didn't take anything away from what was an excellent episode! 

Rating: 9/10