PREVIOUS
NEXT
21ST APRIL 2007
(45-MINUTE EPISODE, PART 1 OF
2)
Amidst all the
pre-season hype, It was this Dalek two-parter that interested me
the most. Like most Doctor Who fans, I’m “Dalek mad”, and so when I
saw Dalek Sec hone into view in the trailer at the end of The Runaway
Bride I allowed myself a sigh of relief – the Daleks would indeed be
back in Series 3. As if there was any chance that they wouldn’t have been…
However,
Daleks in Manhattan is light years away from the Daleks’ previous
appearances in the revived series. The most palpable differences are in
the story’s historical setting and tone – whilst this two-parter is
clearly a dark tale, it doesn’t feel climactic in the ways that the two
season finales or even the stand-alone episode Dalek did. It is much
more akin to the pre-Davros Dalek stories on television (and, indeed, many
of the Big Finish Dalek audios) as here the Daleks are evil. They’re
cunning. They’re lethal. And they’re up to something.
But they‘re not
trying to invade the Earth or take over the universe.
“They always survive when I lose everything!”
This story’s
scenic setting is inspired, not just in terms of the scope for
storytelling, but also commercially. What better to help get Doctor Who
over with the American audience than to have your principal villains run
amok in one of their biggest cities? What’s more, the setting also allows
director James Strong to deliver some beautiful shots of 1930s New York -
we see the Statue of Liberty; Central Park; and, of course, the Empire
State Building. There’s one of history’s best-kept secrets for you –
Daleks built the Empire State Building! Those bumps around the mast? Dalek Thay’s bumps!
What does the
production team the most credit though is that they were able to produce
a programme that looks like it was actually shot in New York city. The scenes in
Central Park particularly impressed me as the blending is seamless; I’d
even hazard a guess that most viewers would’ve thought that David Tennant
and Freema Agyeman were in fact flown over to New York to shoot this one.
The shanty town
of Hooverville is set flawlessly against the backdrop of skyscrapers; just
a
few establishing shots summing up one of this story’s
key messages: people are starving, yet skyscrapers are being
built. Something is very wrong here.
Similarly, the
scene that introduces the audience to Solomon (Hugh Quarshie) encapsulates
his character equally well. One man has stolen bread from another to feed
his starving family, and the second man attacks him in retaliation.
Solomon steps in, breaks up in the fight, and breaks the bread. Half each.
Quarshie
puts in a superb performance. His scenes with Tennant resonate
marvellously; the two actors share a wonderful chemistry on screen.
Solomon knows that there is far more to the Doctor than meets the eye, but
he still trusts him. He knows that the Doctor is the man to help them.
In contrast,
Helen Raynor uses the Daleks’ lackey Mr Diagoras (Eric Loren) to show us
the flip side of the coin. Whilst those living in Hooverville have fallen
into poverty, he has thrived. And he hasn’t done so though having a clear
conscience. We see him offering those living
in Hooverville “a dollar a
day” to do some work down the sewers – a slave wage even by the standards
of the day –
and then a little later on, we see him order the construction workers on
the Empire State Building to risk their lives working through the night.
When they protest, Diagoras simply retorts “I can replace you like that!”
And he could.
“Behold your Masters!”
Diagoras also
put me in mind of a quisling character simply called ‘the Controller’ from
a 1972 Dalek story, Day of the Daleks. This image was only
strengthened in my mind when the first Dalek emerged from the lift,
flanked by two Pig-slaves. Particularly during Jon Pertwee’s reign as the
Doctor, whenever the Daleks appeared on screen they often had brutish,
mute henchmen to do their dirty work. In the 1970s it was usually just
superfluous Ogrons, but here Raynor cleverly links her Pig-slaves in with
the plot: they’re not just some transposable alien mercenaries; they are
humans that have been experimented on and genetically corrupted by the
Daleks.
And central to
the Raynor’s plot is the tragic love story of Laszlo and Tellulah (which I
could not spell wrong if I tried). The haunting pre-title sequence showed
us the Pig-slaves taking Laszlo away to become one of them, and so when we
first meet Tellulah in the main body of the episode she is tormented by
his disappearance. If he was going to leave her, then why would he tell
her than he wanted her to meet his parents? If he is dead, then who is
leaving the flower on her dressing room table each night?
“If I don’t make this month’s rent I’m in Hooverville. It’s the
depression, sweetie.
Your heart might break but the show goes on, ‘cos if
it stops you starve.”
Her reunion with
Laszlo is touching, and also surprising in many ways. When she sees what
the Daleks have done to him she is obviously upset, but not revolted. If
anything, from that little smile she gives it’s evident that, more than
anything, she’s just glad that he’s alive.
Miranda Raison
imbues Tellulah with a lot of gumption, but also a lot of heart. We see
her threatening the Doctor with a fake gun in one scene, and then crying
on Martha’s shoulder
in the next. She
has a lot about her too – for example, she can instantly see that Martha
has feelings for the Doctor but that he doesn’t reciprocate, although she
does get the wrong end of the stick somewhat, thinking that the Doctor
isn’t interested because he’s gay, injecting just a little bit of humour
into an otherwise grim episode.
And, of course,
Tellulah also brings with her the music. It’s rare that we get chance to
have
a musical number in Doctor Who, but in this story it works
delightfully as it really helps the viewer get a feel for the period. The
fact that she is dressed very much ‘for the Dads’ helps too, obviously.
“Humankind is weak. You shelter from the dark and yet you have built all
this…
My planet is gone; destroyed in a great war. Yet versions of this city
stand throughout history.”
However it is
the Daleks that are the main draw here, and disappoint they do not. The
more relaxed pace of this episode allows Skaro’s finest to wallow in their
own malevolence a little bit more; even their grated, mechanical voices
feel that little bit more chilling in the absence of a domineering score.
Nicholas Briggs’ vocal talent is, of course, peerless, but so are the
mechanical sounds that accompany it. Here, each twitch of the eyestalk and
every flex of the sucker-arm is emphasised, and loudly. It makes the
Daleks come across as being just that little bit more inhuman.
And when
you hear a Dalek talk like a human, things go off the page in terms of
creepiness. One of my favourite scenes in the episode is where Diagoras
and Caan are looking out over all the splendour of New York, having an
almost casual conversation about war and attrition. Diagoras doesn’t seem
phased by Caan at all; it may be that he has worked with the Daleks for a
long time, but even so the way that he seems almost at ease with them is
fundamentally disturbing. It is this that unwittingly leads to his
downfall – Caan is impressed with his “rare ambition” and thus selects him
as the principal subject for the Daleks’ ominous “final experiment”…
“There are millions of humans and only four of us. If we are supreme, why
are we not victorious?
Although it is
only hinted at gently, I get the distinct impression that there is dissent
amongst the Cult of Skaro. Sec may be convinced that the Daleks have to
evolve to survive, but the other three don’t seem quite so sure. What
makes Sec so terrifying here is that he’s right, and he’s not letting his
genetic brainwashing cloud his judgement. The Cult of Skaro was created by
the Emperor for his very purpose – to imagine new ways of survival. In
Dalek terms, he’s a blasphemer, but because he’s free of his conditioning,
this time the Daleks really could win!
“Our purity has brought us to extinction! We must adapt to survive!”
The scene where
Sec assimilates Diagoras into his mutant form is a
wonderful bit of CGI for a television budget, not to mention a bona fide
behind the sofa moment
for the kids. And Sec’s
emergence is one of
the best cliffhangers that the new series has spawned.
The inescapable
Radio Times
cover completely ruined the surprise for everybody of
course, but even
so I don’t blame Russell T Davies for allowing it – he
has to guarantee
ratings at the end of the day to make sure that the
series’ success
endures.
“We must evolve! Evolve! EVOLVE!”
The hybrid is
absolutely horrific. Visually,
it’s somewhere between the Emperor
Dalek
that we saw in The Parting of the
Ways, Davros, and the Jagoroth
from
City of Death. Even Thay, Caan and Jast back away from it in
fear. Cue the howl-out…
“A life outside the shell. The children of Skaro must walk again.”
To sum up then,
as the first woman to write a Doctor Who television episode since
Scots playwright Rona Munro penned Survival, Helen Raynor has really
done herself proud with this spectacular script. And after a
Torchwood episode as good as her Ghost Machine
was, I
expected nothing else really. I sincerely hope that she’s given a chance
to write for
the series again
next year.
|