(728) Daleks in Manhattan

Daleks in Manhattan is the first two parter of the series and it’s not a story that I rate very highly. In fact before watching this episode today I use to think that it might be the worst Dalek story of the new series and the worst Dalek story since Destiny of the Daleks. The big selling point of this episode was supposed to be a surprise and thanks to the Radio Times this was ruined before the episode even aired. The one Ace that the story had was dealt before transmission. This story was written by Helen Raynor who at this time is normally the script editor. This makes her the first woman since Rona Munro to write for the show.

The thing about this episode is that neither David Tennant nor Freema Agyeman set foot on American soil. They are filming in Wales but visual effects are used to create the idea that they are in 1930’s America. The visual effects have really taken a big step since the previous series and it really shows in these two episodes. Perhaps the best comes when Dalek Sec ingests Diagoras. The character of Diagoras is one that was always going to meet a sticky ending and that proved to be the case.

This episode features Andrew Garfield who has played Spiderman since 2012. Garfield plays Frank and it’s not a particularly important roles. He doesn’t even make it to the halfway mark before taken by the pig creatures. Hugh Quarshie also appears in this episode. Quarshie can be seen regularly in Holby City and plays Solomon in this story and is instantly someone that the Doctor and Martha can trust.

The experiment causes great conflict between the remaining members of the Cult of Skaro. All but Dalek Sec don’t think the experiment should take place because then the Daleks won’t be pure. There is something interesting about this and I actually think that it’s more interesting as to why Dalek Sec thinks it is ok for this to happen.  

Despite the revelation been spoiled by the Radio Times, the design of the Human Dalek is quite good. Even today it still looks like a great effect and it does make for a good cliffhanger but at the time I watched this episode was a little disappointed. However watching it today I found myself liking the episode a lot more. It’s not a classic by any means but there was enough to find it entertaining and a lot better than I thought. Whether this will still be the case in the next episode remains to be seen but I still think that it’s the weakest of the Dalek stories since 2005.