Visit the official Doctor Who website

Visit the official Doctor Who website
Look to the future

Asylum seekers...

Asylum seekers...
Refuge of the Daleks

Doctor Who picture resource

Doctor Who picture resource
Roam the space lanes!

Explore the Doctor Who classic series website

Explore the Doctor Who classic series website
Step back in time

Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood

Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood
Armed and extremely dangerous

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Investigate The Sarah Jane Adventures
Fearless in the face of adversity

Call on Dani’s House

Call on Dani’s House
Harmer’s a charmer

Intercept the UFO fabsite

Intercept the UFO fabsite
Defending the Earth against alien invaders!

Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse

Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse
Programmable agent Echo exposed!

Hell’s belles

Hell’s belles
Naughty but nice

Love Exposure

Love Exposure
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Primeval portal

Primeval portal
Dressed to kill or damsels in distress?

Charmed, to be sure!

Charmed, to be sure!
The witches of San Francisco

Take on t.A.T.u.

Take on t.A.T.u.
All the way from Moscow

Proceed to the Luther website

Proceed to the Luther website
John and Jenny discuss their next move

DCI Banks is on the case

DCI Banks is on the case
You can bet on it!

On The Grid with Spooks

On The Grid with Spooks
Secret agents of Section D

Bridge to Hustle

Bridge to Hustle
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Life on Ashes To Ashes

Life on Ashes To Ashes
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Claire’s no Exile

Claire’s no Exile
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Vexed is back on the beat!

Vexed is back on the beat!
Mismatched DI Armstrong and bright fast-tracker Georgina Dixon

Medium, both super and natural

Medium, both super and natural
Open the door to your dreams

Who’s that girl? (350-picture Slideshow)

Sunday 22 April 2007

Manhattan Transfer


I had a mental wish list of what I wanted to see from “Daleks in Manhattan” and I’m pleased to say the “Doctor Who” team successfully accomplished everything for which I’d hoped. Actually, I’m more than pleased, ecstatic would be closer the mark! Firstly, I didn’t want the appearance of the Daleks held back to the episode’s end. Despite tradition, I didn’t see the point in doing that considering the title. They took a hold of the story just ten minutes in, appearing from an art deco lift of the period, flanked, Ogron-like, by a couple of Pig Men! Sounds bonkers but it worked. Each of the three seasons of new “Doctor Who” has included a two-part Dalek story and, previously, I felt the first episode, in both cases, was a wasted opportunity. “Bad Wolf”, in the first season, squandered its running time on game show nonsense while “Army of Ghosts”, a year later, tried to convince me that said ghosts weren’t Cybermen! And, I guessed the Daleks were waiting to be released from the sphere at the episode’s end. Both these examples felt like forty-five minutes of padding leading to a moment of revelation from which the story could start. Not so on this occasion.


Then there was Miranda Raison. I fell in love with Jo Portman, her character in “Spooks”, from the very first and didn’t want to see her prematurely exterminated in new “Doctor Who”, like so many quality actors before her. Again, I’m happy to report that Tallulah, Miranda’s character in “Daleks in Manhattan”, has survived to fight another day in next week’s concluding episode, “Evolution of the Daleks”. She’s currently languishing underground, lost in the sewers of the city, after a wonderfully touching moment when she is reunited with her boyfriend, Laszlo, who has suffered at the protuberances of the Daleks. If I hadn’t known it was Ms Raison, from the cast list, I don’t think I would’ve recognised her! She looked and sounded so completely different from her tough no-nonsense character of the MI5 series. Having sung her praises for the past couple of years, her performance lived up to expectation showing an altogether different persona to the one to which we’ve become accustomed. I love the scene where, knowing the danger, she has the guts and plucks up the courage to join the Doctor in his search, allowing me to imagine her as companion for one brief moment! Even if she meets a fate worse than death, before story’s end, she’ll have played her part.

And, finally an episode in which Rose isn’t mentioned. She’s been name-checked in every episode since her departure and it was beginning to wear thin. There was no silliness worth speaking of in “Daleks in Manhattan”. Even the obligatory gay reference made me laugh and wasn’t as in-your-face as usual. The Doctor told Martha she could kiss him later and Frank too if he wanted! There was a big grin on actor Andrew Garfield’s face at the suggestion! None of the cast let the side down. Hugh Quarshie was marvellous as Solomon especially at the moment of breaking bread. A terrific message for the audience, adults as well as children, to share especially in times of adversity. I knew Black Dalek Sec would end the episode inhabiting the body of Mr. Diagoras as the tie the hybrid’s wearing on the cover of the “Radio Times” gives the game away! It wasn’t just the visual aspect of the monster the magazine revealed but it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the story. The sequence was handled masterfully. It’s the best Dalek story since the show returned, helmed by the same director as last season’s best story, “The Impossible Planet”. James Strong lives up to his surname!

6 comments:

Karen said...

I have to say I actually enjoyed the build up to the Daleks appearing in the previous episodes. Actually in "Army of Ghosts" I had no idea that the Daleks were making an appearance. The Cyberman I had guessed but I had no clue as to the Daleks. I hadn't watched any trailers or read anything about the upcoming two part story which was why I had missed it entirely. Made all the difference in enjoying the episode. I find that I enjoy them more if I don't read up on them. Although this season I have been guilty of it.

The Radio Times kind of spoiled the ending for me. I think I would have preferred it if I had not seen that. I knew that when the Daleks are looking for intelligent humans that it would be to turn them into Daleks as there have been a few stories like that. I would have never have guessed though that they would have taken a more human form had it not been for RT. Still enjoyed it though.

Have to admit also that not as huge a fan of Miranda Raison's character. She was great if she didn't talk. The accent grated on my nerves a bit.

Steve said...

I agree with your review, TimeWarden - thought it a class episode.

Not sure I was fully convinced by the idea of Dalek's splicing themselves with humans but, as I've previously admitted, I never really watched the previous Doctor Who incarnations so maybe I'm missing out on huge swathes of DW history... maybe precedents have been set years ago that I am in complete ignorance of.

I agree with Karen that the Radio Times cover did rather let the cat out of the bag! I quite liked Miranda Raison's accent though - my only problem was that her singing voice and dancing were weak but it kind of fits I guess: she was a mere show filler on the music hall billing.

Andrew Glazebrook said...

As I said on Steve's blog I think that creature really reminded me of Neil Gortons work on Gerry Andersons Space Precinct, and was nowhere near as cool as the mask he did for the Ood.
I do like watching Freema's bum though !

doppelganger said...

hmmm.... i seem to be in a minority here... I hated it...

Your admiration for Ms Raison aside, there were far too many people running around with 'stock subplot character' written all over them.

The dalek human thing... was a double let down... not only did the RT let the cat out of the bag (maybe there's a second cat?) but their shot was actually far better lit, meaning when it did turn up, it actually looked even ropier than I'd feared.

The Daleks would not in any way acknowledge any superiority of the human form.... this is just wrong, wrong, wrong.....the quicker RTD gets shipped off to Coronation St (as is rumoured) the better - the two major villains both fumbled now...

doppelganger said...

OK, so it was written by Helen Raynor - I'm still blaming RTD though ....

TimeWarden said...

I enjoy stories that build to the appearance of the monster at the end of the first episode too. I just didn’t like the way it was done in the stories mentioned, especially “Bad Wolf”. I’ll never be able to relate to “Big Brother” or “The Weakest Link” as part of the “Doctor Who” universe. With “Army of Ghosts”, it was more a case of just finding it a bit on the dull side despite being directed by Graeme Harper. He could only work with the given script though and, unfortunately, the first thing that always comes to mind about that episode is the nod to “Ghostbusters”!

Regarding the “Radio Times” cover, the “Doctor Who” production team obviously decided publicity to be more important than viewer enjoyment. If I remember, they did the same last year with the Cyber Controller. I thought the image would spoil the surprise for some which is why I held off posting it until after transmission of the episode although avoiding the picture, on display on many a website and in all the newsagents, was always going to be tricky!

I did wonder if Miranda Raison’s accent would grate considering how I’ve felt about characters in the past such as Jackie, Donna and, more recently, Annalise. I didn’t really find it a problem in the same way one accepts a Liverpudlian accent in “Brookside”, for example. But, a dame from Brooklyn’s not my most favourite sound in the world! Maybe it didn’t irritate because, after her opening scene, she didn’t appear again until about halfway through. If I’m honest though, I prefer her in “Spooks” which isn’t to say I didn’t like her in “Doctor Who”.

I didn’t really enjoy “Space Precinct”. It tried so hard to be American even without Shane Rimmer on board, who had been in the original pilot episode when it was to be called “Space Police”. It always came over as completely disposable. Many hated “Terrahawks” though, which I enjoyed, and I think Anderson was back on form with the CGI version of “Captain Scarlet”. I agree about the design of the Ood. Best new monster in new “Who”. I must admit that my eyes do occasionally wander in the direction of Freema’s bottom but I try to stay focused!

The purity of the Daleks has been undermined, to a certain extent, in their acknowledging the concept of the imagination as a possible way to stave off extinction but no more so than the Cybermen emotively exclaiming “Excellent” in “Earthshock”. The Daleks are desperate and needs must. They have been interested in the human factor before, as a means of overcoming perpetual defeat, in both the Troughton story “The Evil of the Daleks” and, regarding their programming by Davros, in “Genesis of the Daleks”. In their defence, the gold Daleks did look at one another almost in amazement (and disgust?) that Sec could possibly suggest such a thing. Maybe the Daleks are actually wising up which could result in making them an even more formidable adversary.