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REVIEW: Day of the Daleks by Louis Marks

SERIAL: KKK, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


After nearly five years off the screens, the Daleks made their comeback in the opening story of the ninth season of the series, Day of the Daleks. A story about time paradoxes, desperate resistance fighters, and a dark future ruled by ruthless mechanical creatures, it could even be said to be The Terminator before that movie was ever conceived. But is it good by Who standards?

Sir Reginald Styles, a diplomat and politician who is vital to a peace conference that might stave off a third World War, is nearly assassinated by a man who vanishes before his eyes. Although Styles does later deny that anything happened, the same man, a guerilla soldier, is later found wounded, only to vanish from his ambulance when the Doctor examines a strange machine found in his possession. While Styles heads to China to persuade their officials to attend the conference, the Doctor and Jo spend the night at Styles' residence, only to be accosted by a trio of guerillas from the future, who intend to kill Styles and change history. But while changing history through an act of terrorism is an atrocious act, the alternative may be far worse. Because two centuries in the future, the Daleks rule the Earth, burning out the human race in slavery. And the resistance is losing. Transported by accident into this deadly future, the Doctor and Jo must find out whether there is another way to avert this future, and ensure that the day of the Daleks doesn't come...

Day of the Daleks was one of the first Doctor Who stories of which I read the novelisation, long before I watched the actual serial. And the story, everything else aside, is actually quite a clever one, with a time paradox at the fore, and the dilemma of whether murdering a single man is justified by its results. It plays around with time, and has some decent moments here and there. It feels rather like an action movie at times, with a trike chase put in, along with a climactic battle. What a shame that the realisation wasn't up to scratch.

Jon Pertwee as ever is a good Doctor, but while Katy Manning still is fine as Jo, I feel that Jo wasn't written very competently for this story. The guerillas have a small amount of personality, but, while acted well (Anna Barry as Anat deserves particular praise), they're not quite distinguished enough, and show less of the pain that they should have gone through as part of a Dalek-conquered Earth. Aubrey Woods' Controller is fine at times, but his style of acting leads to some rather off moments, with his last words not being delivered to my satisfaction. And the Dalek voices are, at best, average, and at worst, anaemic.

Anaemic is in fact the tone of the production of this story. Not so much that it is bad or anything, but you get the distinct feeling that it could have been substantially better. The director, Paul Bernard, does a much better job on the next season's Frontier in Space. Here, the design seems rather cheap, and the action sequences not done well enough. The Ogrons are fine, at least until they open their mouths and speak like a Gumby from Monty Python. One realises, in theory, that he would have been trying his best with a low budget and three Daleks, but in practise, it feels like a lack of effort has been made. Not enough to make it abysmal, given the good story and some good acting, but really, a little more effort, and it could have been great. As it is, you go through part of it thinking that bits have been cut out, like the resolution to the Doctor and Jo doppelganger scene at the start.

Day of the Daleks is a below par story for the standards of Doctor Who, but it's still got enough to warrant a look. A decent story that was let down by the production.


SCORE: 7.5/10

BTW, I'm divided as to what to watch next: Invasion of the Dinosaurs, or the Special Edition of Day of the Daleks. I'm probably going to go with the latter. That won't be scored, nor will it be counted as one of the stories, save for resetting the whole 'week to watch a serial' counter.

REVIEW: Day of the Daleks: Special Edition by Louis Marks

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No.


This review won't have a score. Instead, it will be some thoughts and feelings about whether the story was improved or not.

I've noticed that the vast majority of stories with a special edition treatment are those that are excellent stories anyway. The recent special edition version of Day of the Daleks is an exception. The story, as noted earlier, was let down by the production values, as well as some characterisation and direction.

However, the new effects, as well as some new footage (specially shot for the special edition), actually do make a substantial improvement. The new disintegrator and time machine effects are excellent, and tweaks to other footage for the Dalek monitors also help enhance some elements of the story, helping to paper over some of the joins. And thanks to some new enhancements of the footage, the key action sequences also look much better and have an urgency sorely lacking in the original (with the trike chase feeling far more perilous in particular, not to mention the final battle sequence).

Another welcome addition is Nicholas Briggs voicing the Daleks. Although the lines haven't been changed, Briggs' distinctive delivery helps sell them better than the somewhat anaemic voices in the original version of Day of the Daleks. He gives the Daleks venom and anger that is sorely needed, and his performance brings the special edition up to another level.

The special edition of Day of the Daleks is almost the story it should have been. While the performances and characters haven't been improved (save for the Dalek voices), this edition is certainly a better one than that that went out in 1972.

REVIEW: Invasion of the Dinosaurs by Malcolm Hulke

SERIAL: WWW, 6X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No


Many Doctor Who stories are known as "the one with...". Infamously, The Green Death is often known as "the one with the giant maggots". But it is another story from the Jon Pertwee era that holds an even more infamous title: "the one with the fake-looking dinosaurs". But does Invasion of the Dinosaurs, to give it its proper title, deserve such a cognomen of infamy? Or do the crappy dinosaurs bring down an even greater story?

The Doctor and Sarah arrive in a deserted London, where looters abound and martial law has been imposed. At first mistaken for looters, the Doctor and Sarah soon find out that London has been evacuated because of dinosaurs that suddenly appear, and then vanish just as mysteriously. The Doctor soon suspects that someone is tinkering with time travel, forcing London to be evacuated so that a scheme can be enacted. But behind that scheme is a conspiracy, one that people the Doctor admires, and even one of his oldest friends, are involved in. With Sarah abducted and waking up in a spaceship three months out from Earth, ready to colonise a new world, and the Doctor finding people sabotaging his means of tracking down those responsible, it seems that the invasion of the dinosaurs is merely the prelude to a major atrocity...

Of all the Doctor Who writers, one of my favourites has to be Malcolm Hulke. His stories generally are ambitious and filled with complex characterisation. He also tends to be fairly left-wing in his views, so it is a suprise that he actually makes environmentalists adversaries in Invasion of the Dinosaurs. Indeed, he gives the villains sympathetic motives, without glorifying what they did, and even the Doctor, while he disagrees with the means, does want the same ends. While the story technically is rather far-fetched, it is to Hulke's credit, as well as that of the production team, to have it done with complete and utter conviction. Even the padding filling out much of the fifth episode, where the Doctor is forced to go on the run from the army, feels of a piece.

Jon Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladen are, as usual, wonderful as the Doctor and Sarah, and the loss of both of them is a profound one. The UNIT regulars are given good roles, and while it is a little surprising for Mike Yates to turn traitor, the events of The Green Death last year would explain it, and his treachery is foreshadowed long before it is overtly revealed, even to the audience. Of the guest stars, I have to wonder at General Finch and how he got involved in Operation Golden Age, but Jonathan Bennett plays him well. Noel Johnson's Grover is an interesting villain that could have easily been ineffectual or insane, but nonetheless comes off as a merely misguided affable extremist. Martin Jarvis' Butler is a bit of a nonentity, though played well, and there isn't much to Whitaker, though again, he is played well by Peter Miles. The spaceship crew are a more varied bunch, though it surprises me that Carmen Silvera's Ruth would go so far as to murder Sarah to prevent her influencing the others, especially if she is ignorant of Grover's plan.

And now, on to the production. Paddy Russell's direction is pretty good, with the exteriors of an abandoned London in the first episode being particularly atmospheric. The design is pretty good, although there is a noticeably wobbly set that does spoil things somewhat. But, inevitably, we come to the dinosaurs. Watching the story, I actually have no objection to most of the herbivore puppets. Most of the time, the stegosaurus and apatosaurus models work well enough. And in some shots, the pterosaur can be convincing. But unfortunately, the T rex and triceratops models, as well as the rather silly-looking fight between the T rex and the apatosaurus at the beginning of episode six, let the whole thing down. Add to that some dodgy CSO shots, and it really is worse than it should have been. It's a pity that the Restoration Team didn't have the money to replace those effects, because otherwise, the story would be almost perfect.

Invasion of the Dinosaurs, then, is a great story, let down by some small bits of characterisation, and some rather dodgy special effects, which is a real shame, considering how well it was written overall. Although often derided because of the effects, one should try watching it anyway.


SCORE: 9.5/10

REVIEW: The Android Invasion by Terry Nation

SERIAL: 4J, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


While Terry Nation is famous for writing many of the Dalek stories for Doctor Who, he also wrote two other stories that didn't feature his famous creations. The first was in William Hartnell's season, and was an adventure romp called The Keys of Marinus. A rather mediocre story, unfortunately, and not his finest work. But Tom Baker's second season as the Doctor had another non-Dalek story: The Android Invasion. Would it be as good as the previous Nation story Genesis of the Daleks, or plummet to the depths plumbed by The Keys of Marinus?

The Doctor and Sarah believe that they have landed on Earth, near the sleepy village of Devesham, which has a nearby Space Defence Centre. But things aren't adding up. A group of men in protective suits shoot at them with guns concealed in their fingers. A UNIT soldier apparently commits suicide by throwing himself off a cliff. His pockets are filled with unused coinage. And Devesham is virtually empty, at least until the same UNIT soldier, along with a group of villagers, come into it and make it lively again. Investigating the Space Defence Centre, the Doctor finds Guy Crayford, an astronaut who was considered missing, assumed dead, after an expedition into deep space. But Crayford isn't behind all this: an alien race called the Kraals are responsible. And they intend to use android replicas of the personnel and inhabitants in and around Devesham to begin an invasion of the Earth...

Although The Android Invasion is something of an adventure romp, it is also an entertaining one. It's not particularly outstanding, and to be frank, you see elements that Nation has used before (robot replicas, bombs used for peril, viruses). There's also some moments where you spot plot holes, like how could Crayford miss having his eye intact if he had bathed normally (I believe that that can be explained by him being brainwashed), or how the Doctor managed to get his android double functioning again. But while faulty, it's nonetheless not abysmal. It just feels rushed.

Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen are good as the regulars, and it is interesting to see them play their android duplicates. It's also interesting to see Ian Marter and John Levene as Harry Sullivan and RSM Benton respectively play their android doubles, though they feel distinctly wasted here. Milton Johns seems a little miscast as Guy Crayford, whom I thought would be a more bitter individual, given his perception of his so-called abandonment by Earth. And Martin Friend is a decent Styggron, hamming it up, but lacking just that bit of extra menace that would have made him more credible.

The story is fine enough, but lacks a certain atmosphere and energy necessary for the piece. I have to confess that while Barry Letts is a good producer for the series, I am not always fond of his efforts as a director, because competent as he is, he is also fairly staid. He has directed some very good stories, but The Android Invasion isn't one of them. The Kraals are an impressively grotesque Doctor Who monster, however, and while the costumes force their actors to be hammy, they are nonetheless a striking visual image, as are those of the androids that have their faces removed. The set design for the Kraals is both striking and, at times (especially the doors) impractical. The special effects are variable, with some not so great, and others impressive (the scanning effect is quite a good one).

The Android Invasion is a rather average story. Not average by Doctor Who standards, but average entertainment by my own. Which is a pity. Some more effort to paper over the cracks and it might have lasted better.


SCORE: 7.5/10

PROGRESS REPORT TEN AND A BIT: A CATCH-UP

STORIES: Total for this catch-up: 5

Cumulative total: 143. 16 William Hartnell, 6 Patrick Troughton. 20 Jon Pertwee. 38 Tom Baker. 20 Peter Davison. 11 Colin Baker. 9 Sylvester McCoy. 1 Paul McGann. 1 Spin-Off. 10 Christopher Eccleston. 11 David Tennant


TIME: Total for this catch-up: 10 days

Cumulative total: 152 days

PERCENTAGE NEVER WATCHED BEFORE: 3/5, or 60%

Cumulative total: 45/143, or 31%


BEST STORIES: Colony in Space, Invasion of the Dinosaurs

WORST STORIES: Day of the Daleks, The Android Invasion

There probably won't be any further reviews for the time being. There are no new DVD releases for a time, and I don't feel like going through the new series again for the moment. Once my motivation comes back again, I'll watch more of the new series, and once I accumulate a few more classic series stories, I'll do more reviews of those.

I discovered recently what the next classic series release will be: The Face of Evil, The Daemons, Nightmare of Eden, Dragonfire, and The Happiness Patrol. I probably won't be reviewing those until later in the year. In fact, the only one that I'm not sure that I have watched before is Nightmare of Eden.

Depending on motivation, I might watch more of the new series...

I have started the third series. Expect a review of The Runaway Bride very soon...

REVIEW: The Runaway Bride by Russell T Davies

SERIAL: PB1, 3.X, 60 minute special

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


The Tenth Doctor's first season ended with popular companion Rose Tyler leaving, but also ending on an unexpected note, leading into the next Christmas special. The success of the new Doctor was assured, but would the Christmas special continue that trend in the gap between the second series and the third? Or would it drown in mediocrity?

Devastated after Rose is stranded in a parallel universe, the Doctor discovers, to his utter astonishment, a woman in a bridal dress standing in the TARDIS. Donna Noble had been walking down the aisle for her wedding with Lance Bennet when somehow, she was transported aboard the TARDIS. And when the Doctor gets her home, Donna, escaping the Doctor, has to escape robot Santas with his help. The Doctor knew them as scavengers that preceded the previous year's Sycorax invasion, but it seems that they are interested in Donna, and it seems that the reason why is that she is overflowing with the dangerous Huon particles. But how did she get that way? What links her workplace to Torchwood, a secret drilling project, and the last of a dead race? And why does the Empress of the Racnoss need Huon particles? The Doctor and Donna must find out...

At first, it seems like a silly, bog-standard story. But The Runaway Bride actually improves on further viewing, especially with knowledge that Donna will become a companion later in the series. And even with the spurious Christmas trappings, much of the humour works, especially as it also is counterpointed with a dark story that explores the Doctor's darkening nature, especially in this incarnation. Perhaps the biggest issue I have with the story itself is a disregard for earlier Doctor Who continuity (in particular, Inferno, where it was stated that drilling into the Earth's core would destroy the world), as well as the rather anticlimactic destruction of the Webstar. But it is an improvement over The Christmas Invasion, in all likelihood due to the fact that the Doctor is present and conscious for all of this story.

Of the characters, David Tennant is on fine form as the Doctor, increasing his dark side, and hurting from his separation from Rose. Catherine Tate is, at first, rather shrill and annoying as Donna, but there is also a realism to the character (not to mention a feistiness that is an acquired taste) that helps bring her out of two-dimensionality. The other characters aren't particularly noteworthy in terms of writing, although the villains are pretty well acted, like Sarah Parish as the Empress of the Racnoss, and Don Gilet as Lance.

This is a story where the production seems to hold up well. There's some excellent action sequences (especially with the TARDIS chasing a taxi) and special effects. Particular praise has to go to the realisation of the Racnoss. It's almost impossible to tell what is prosthetic, and what is CGI. Some effects are a bit on the bogus side, particularly the TARDIS takeoff at the end (though the TARDIS' flight in the chase sequence is extremely well-realised) and the Racnoss Webstar's weapons.

(EDIT: Oops, forgot to add a summary)

In short, The Runaway Bride, while at first seeming too jokey and with a potentially too-obnoxious companion in Donna, turns out to be much better thought out and written than the previous year's Christmas special. It works better this time, and it's all the better for it.


SCORE: 9/10


And now, the next time trailer for the first half of series three...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw9bNPmze-A[/youtube]

REVIEW: Smith and Jones by Russell T Davies

SERIAL: PB2, 3.1, 1X45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


After Rose, the next companion would have some pretty big shoes to fill. To provide a contrast with working class Rose, the new companion would be middle class, a medical student, and the first full-time ethnic companion, Mickey Smith aside. Freema Agyeman has the daunting task of replacing Billie Piper. But will she succeed?

Medical student Martha Jones believes that the worst thing that is going to happen on the day of her brother's birthday party is trying to avoid fighting between her separated parents, and being confronted with a madman who takes his tie off in front of her as if it means something. But during her work at a hospital, she meets said madman again, who claims no knowledge of the incident. A freak thunderstorm ends with the hospital being transported to the Moon, and the madman reveals himself to be the Doctor, investigating strange goings-on at the hospital. While a squad of brutal mercenaries called the Judoon invade the hospital, the Doctor and Martha try to determine why. But the Judoon and the Doctor are not the only aliens in the hospital...

The weakest part of Smith and Jones is the writing. It is clearly mostly a vehicle to introduce Martha, and while that part of the story is done fine, the alien subplot is rather weak, involving the monolithic and quite frankly boring Judoon. Visually, they are striking, but with the exception of an incident where they give Martha a compensation ticket, very one-dimensional and dull. The other elements don't quite gel, and the story is rather staid.

Even so, the performances are somewhat better. David Tennant is good as the Doctor, and Freema Agyeman is a good Martha. Anne Reid as the malevolent Florence Finnegan is quite excellent, giving a slightly more subdued performance (at first) than one would expect from a villain in the series, even if she is rather camp. Kimmi Richards and Ben Righton are fine as Martha's fellow students, and the actors who portray Martha's family show promise for the episodes to come.

Production wise, the story is fine enough. Whatever deficiencies the Judoon have in writing are made up for to a degree in their impressive visual appearance, although the animatronics of the mouth are rather dodgy, and the Slabs, while basically a black-clothed version of the Stig, are a surprisingly effective visual image. The direction could have made the story just that little bit better, but instead, it just didn't work.

In the end, Smith and Jones isn't the best of introductions for the new companion. A better 'alien' story might have made it good, but it falls below the par of Doctor Who.


SCORE: 8/10


And now, the next time trailer for The Shakespeare Code...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDUkZSAKieE[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Shakespeare Code by Gareth Roberts

SERIAL: PB2, 3.2, 1X45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


I've enjoyed Gareth Roberts' work before in the New Adventures and Missing Adventures books, novels written to continue the story of Doctor Who after the TV show was originally cancelled. Writing such intriguing stories such as The Romance of Crime, and The English Way of Death, he manages to balance the humour and drama within a story, at his best. So how would he go for his first full-length episode of the series, The Shakespeare Code?

On Martha's first trip in the TARDIS, the Doctor takes her back in time to 1599, and London, to watch one of Shakespeare's plays at the Globe. Shakespeare announces the performance of the play Love's Labour Won, a play that, according to the Doctor, was somehow lost. But someone is influencing Shakespeare to write and perform the play at all costs, and anyone in their way is murdered by what seems to be witchcraft. Helped by the most famous wordsmith of all time, the Doctor and Martha track the cause to the witch-like Carrionites, who were imprisoned long ago. But their prison is breaking up, and they intend to use Shakespeare in order to re-establish an empire of darkness, blood, and magic...

This story is a lovely story, about the power of words and the people who use them. Shakespeare and JK Rowling are celebrated here as genius wordsmiths. And while some might protest that the Doctor's explanation about the Carrionites' magic being a meme-based science, I'd like to point out that Doctor Who is on the pretty fantastical end of the science-fiction scale a lot of the time. The only real bad note of the story is Martha's mooning over the Doctor, which seems a little more pronounced here than in many later stories. Oh, and the Doctor has seen a death like that of the Master of Revels (in The Mind of Evil, he found that a man affected by a deadly machine died by drowning on dry land, with water in his lungs).

The characters are fine and all, with David Tennant's Doctor and Freema Agyeman's Martha done well, save for the aforementioned Martha trying to interest the Doctor. Of the others, Dean Lennox Kelly's Shakespeare is a delight, and Christina Cole's Lilith is excellent, most of the time, exuding menace. However, her two mothers, played by Amanda Lawrence and Linda Clarke, ham it up too much as cackling witches, and the other characters aren't very noteworthy, though not actually bad.

Production-wise, one can see the money spent on screen, as this was, at the time, the most expensive Doctor Who story of all time. Period drama is a strong point of the BBC, and the filming inside the Globe Theatre itself helps matters. However, when it comes to the special effects, the money either seems to have run out, or else wasn't spent well, as the climactic scene of the Globe engulfed in smoke and flame, as well as the CGI Carrionites (which look too different from the humanoid ones to allow a connection between the creatures), look frankly amateurish. Other effects work better, but the important ones for the climax just don't work.

Even so, this is a story that celebrates words, and a marvellous historical story to boot. A wonderful romp with history's prime wordsmith, and an enjoyable one to boot.


SCORE: 9/10


And now, the next time trailer for Gridlock...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqT153DnCxM[/youtube]

REVIEW: Gridlock by Russell T Davies

SERIAL: PB3, 3.3, 1X45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


While New Earth was a sequel that wasn't required to The End of the World, it left one element up in the air: the Face of Boe and the message he is supposed to give the Doctor. In order to seed the elements of the return of a famous adversary later in the season, Russell T Davies needed to bring the Face of Boe back to deliver his final message, and that means coming back to New Earth...

The Doctor agrees to take Martha to another planet, but when she suggests his home planet, the Doctor takes her to New Earth instead. However, the streets of New New York are dirty, mood sellers infest the streets, and Martha gets kidnapped by a couple who are desperate to get on the fast lane. The flyways of New New York are in gridlock, filled with pollution...and something else lurks below, feeding off the pollution, and anyone who gets in the fast lane. Why is everyone in a gridlock that has lasted for over two decades, and nobody in authority had tried to help? What creatures lurk in the smog? And what does the Face of Boe have to do with it?

Gridlock isn't too bad a story, in theory. It's got some nice ideas in it, but it fails in the execution, being remarkably singular without enough style. I'm surprised more wasn't made of the mood sellers, and the insular character of the drivers in the gridlock seems to be rather silly. More would have tried to get off the flyways more than coming on, even with the nature of New New York's Undercity. And while bringing back the Macra (last seen in the sadly missing 1967 story The Macra Terror) was a nice touch, they were used as a rather generic monster rather than the cunning controllers they were in their debut story. We also see more into the Doctor's reluctance to let go of Gallifrey as it used to be. The Face of Boe's message is suitably enigmatic, however, and plays into the later episodes.

The regulars, as usual, are done fairly well. But I have to confess that the characters in this story are one of the weaker areas. As mentioned above, the flyway drivers are altogether too insular and stupid, at least collectively, to be believable, although the efforts of the actors (with particular praise to Ardal O'Hanlon as Brannigan) at least make them watchable. However, it's nice to see Anna Hope's Novice Hame on the road to redemption.

If I could name a major problem with Gridlock, other than the story deficiencies, it is too much conspicuous CGI. While the flying cars aren't too bad, the Macra, key monsters to the story, look very unconvincing, and it says a lot that the original prop seen in The Macra Terror is more convincing than the CGI monstrosities. CGI has become the new CSO, and when used badly, like bad CSO, it is extremely conspicuous.

Gridlock isn't bad, it just falls below the norm I expect for the series. Here, Davies has mistaken sentiment and spectacle for decent characterisation and entertainment. Not too bad, but in the end, it's just a vehicle to foreshadow what's to come...


SCORE: 7.5/10


And now, the next time trailers for Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIOXGZ6BoQU[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7mReIZZj3E[/youtube]

Oh, and by the way, here's a Macra as it appeared in the original serial The Macra Terror...




And how they look in the new series...

Last edited by Quatermass on 03 Apr 2012, 4:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

I think you've just missed the genius of such an episode myself. That very dull plot is kinda the point. It's a police investigation, a very metaphors of the dull middle class penpushing lifestyle Martha may very well find herself in, only with alien constables. The Doctor is the comparison, the escape route. The entrepreneur to Martha's Doctor

Then you see three characters trying to avoid the Judoon. Characters being something RTD writes very well & does better than events. The Judoon may be the aliens, the toy selling but the fact is episode wise they're no more important than the hospital staff were earlier. I don't think any plot changes could change that fact.

In an introductory episode, the plot should never overshadow the character. So I don't think I'd want the Judoon to have a bigger role.

I do however find it a pity the judoon had no introduction before (or plot of their own since)


You mention an over use of CGI in the series. I'd agree. I recall saying at the time of broadcast that this was the case. They seem to be avoiding model effects like the plague, probably due to cost. I reckon 42 missed them the most - with the sun facing ship side shots.

You'd be surprised where they do use model shots. Both the spaceship crashing through Big Ben in Aliens of London and some of the barrage balloons in The Empty Child were models. In fact, if you look closely at the Big Ben crash sequence, the clock face on Big Ben is the wrong way around. That's because the model filming crashed the spaceship in at the wrong angle, and so they flipped the film.

And by the way, you are reading far too much into Smith and Jones. My reviews are based primarily on entertainment value, not on the deeper themes. They merely add to the entertainment, if they work well enough.

I'm postponing reviewing more of the classic series until perhaps June or July. Hopefully, I can wait until Death to the Daleks comes out. The next ones coming out on DVD are as follows:

The Face of Evil

The Daemons (really looking forward to this one It's my favourite Pertwee story)

Nightmare of Eden

Dragonfire/The Happiness Patrol

Death to the Daleks

Once I finish the third series, maybe I might continue with the fourth series, all the way up to series 6. Depends on my motivation.

Anyway, I'll watch Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks before long.

REVIEW: Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks by Helen Raynor

SERIAL: PB4, 3.4/3.5, 2X45 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


During the events of The Chase, both the Doctor and the Daleks briefly landed in the Empire State Building, much to the bemused delight of Southerner Morton Dill. It was perhaps inevitable, then, that the series would go back to New York, and to the Empire State Building. This two-part story promises much, but will it deliver?

New York, 1930. The Doctor and Martha arrive during the Great Depression, and the near-completion of the Empire State Building. In the Central Park shantytown of Hooverville, people are going missing. So too are people working in the sewers, and in the Empire State Building. A foreman-turned-businessman, Mr Diagoras, is involved, but he too has his masters. The Cult of Skaro now resides beneath the Empire State Building. The last Daleks in existence, they have an audacious plan to survive. Their leader, Dalek Sec, is about to do the unthinkable: hybridise humans with Daleks...

I've heard that this story cops a lot of flack from some elements of the fandom. While there are many elements that I consider bogus (especially the very non-scientific use of gamma radiation and the arsepull used for the ending, not to mention the cliched dialogue used at times), there are many elements to commend this story. Humanised Daleks had been used before (in The Evil of the Daleks), but this is the first time that they have deliberately done so. The themes of the Depression, as well as falling to a bad low (for both the Daleks and the Hooverville residents) are done fine enough, and the cliffhanger's last lines are on a par with those of part 2 of The Tomb of the Cybermen.

The characters are fine enough. The regular characters do fine, as always. Tallulah may seem stereotypical at first, but she is scripted well, and while Miranda Raison's diction is annoying, she is nonetheless a decent actress. Ryan Carnes acting through a mask is rather more convincing as Laszlo. Solomon seems a bit like the stereotype of the 'Magical African American', but it's not too bad, and Hugh Quarshie doesn't do too bad a job. However, the real star is Eric Loren. Although his Diagoras seems rather like a stereotypical quisling of the Daleks, an arrogant snot in a suit, it is when he is transformed into the humanised Dalek Sec that Loren's skill as an actor shines forth, managing to embue humanity into Sec, without making him seem like less of a Dalek.

The story is very lavish-looking, so the less decent points about it are more noticeable. While the CGI Daleks work well, unfortunately, Dalek Sec enveloping Diagoras looks rather fake, and the animatronic head used for humanised Dalek Sec never quite convinces me to the degree that it should. You'd think that two or so decades after animatronics first appeared in Doctor Who (in 1981's The Visitation, I think), there would be considerable advances in making it more convincing. As it is, Eric Loren is more convincing acting than his mask. The pig hybrids are decently realised, but are a rather generic monster for the series.

This story could have been better, but really, it's not that bad. Just some really dodgy story telling in the second part that could have been fixed with a decent rewrite, but otherwise, it works...


SCORE: 8.5/10


And now, the next time trailer for The Lazarus Experiment...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-IXJediwkk[/youtube]