(Note: The story I refer to as Daleks in Manhattan includes the second part, Evolution of the Daleks but I refer to it solely by the one title. After all, we don’t list out six individual episode titles for The Dalek Invasion of Earth, do we? Because that would be stupid.)
I recently received my copy of the latest DWM with the new “Greatest Ever Poll”. In between spitting chips at some of the placements in the top 25 percent of the poll (Journey’s End the 35th greatest Who story ever. Really?) I reserved my greatest level of eye-rolling for the bottom 25 percent which, needless to say, contains some of my favourite stories of all time including Attack of the Cybermen, The Horns of Nimon, The Power of Kroll and The Gunfighters, absolute classics all. Even in a poll sometimes foolishly dominated by new Who (of which I am a cynical sceptical “fan” at times, to say the least) I expected no less than to see the utterly wonderful Daleks in Manhattan at the completely insane low placing of 208.
Let’s make no bones about it. Daleks in Manhattan is my favourite David Tennant story, and my favourite of the Russell T Davies era after The Empty Child. Why do I love it so? Let me count the ways.
One reason is the format and the pacing. I am not a fan of the modern Who’s 45 minute standalone format. For my money, Doctor Who should be feature-length and the modern series’ insistence on assuming the audience is incapable of following a plot across one week (while simultaneously, in the Moffat era, telling “arcs” that span literally years) both irritates no end and makes it unlikely that the new series will ever challenge classic Who in my affections and estimation. Of course, we still get the odd multi-parter, one of which is the subject of this review. So we have the right format, and what’s more, we have the right pacing for the story, with just the right level of mystery, build-up of plot and guest characters etc.
This is the building blocks, but the reason that Daleks in Manhattan flies so high in my affection is its delicious mix of faux-period atmosphere and flat-out tonal wackiness. The 30s New York setting is delightfully cheesy. Some critics complain of its artificiality, but to my mind that is to miss the entire point; of course it’s artificial, this is no more meant to represent the real 30s New York as The Gunfighters was the real Wild West. And just as The Gunfighters is a delightful parody of Western movies more than real history, so Daleks in Manhattan is a glorious pastiche/parody of 1930s B movie sci-fi horror flicks like Frankenstein and The Island of Dr Moreau, mixed with the glamour (or otherwise) of Broadway and showgirls and then liberally spiced with Daleks!
The faux-period feel conjured up is both charming, hugely atmospheric (the night shooting is particularly delicious) and wonderfully silly and the plot chosen to accompany this is more than up to the task of flying right alongside it. There has never been a Dalek story quite as bat-shit nuts as this one, with its pig-men and dancers and, the coup de grace, the humanized Dalek Sec. Dalek Sec is the icing on the cake of this B movie homage. When the cliffhanger reveal came up, I stared in gobsmacked disbelief at the most staggeringly bonkers thing the series had offered up since the Kandyman. After finishing my giggles, I approached part two with a sense of wariness, wondering if, gorgeously daft though it was, this wasn’t going too far. It wasn’t, because, perversely (and in a delightful example of this story’s tonal insanity) Dalek Sec is played dead straight despite his appearance and ends up as a hugely sympathetic, if grotesquely ridiculous, figure.
The fun doesn’t end with Sec though. The tonal instability extends to more wonderfully crazy moments; the pig-men shuffling impatiently in the lift as they wait to attack our heroes, the Dalek looking around suspiciously for eavesdroppers as it starts to bitch about the boss, and best of all, the murder of Solomon. Solomon is set up as a likeable, kind, intelligent, noble figure – which is precisely why his murder is played for black comedy. He gives a Martin Luther King Jnr. worthy speech asking for universal unity, peace and understanding to the Daleks, who respond with such utter predictability that the effect of his inevitable extermination is that of high farce. I dissolved into giggles yet again.
I adore Daleks in Manhattan. It doesn’t really feel like New Who at all, which is presumably why others don’t like it. It feels like one of the original series’ nuttier pieces, an Underwater Menace or a Nimon or even a Happiness Patrol, and I can easily imagine Pat, Tom, or Sylv wandering around in it. I saw it again last year after some time, wondering if I’d misremembered and would not enjoy it as much in the wake of so much fan disapproval. Instead I cackled with glee throughout at one of the most imaginative, bizarre, surreal and just plain FUN Dalek stories ever made.
I love it.
The Daleks In Manhattan and Evolution of the Daleks were broadcast as episodes 4 & 5 of Series 3 of Doctor Who in April 2007. They were released on DVD as part of Series 3 volume 2 and part of the Series 3 boxed set.
