Doctor Who Club of Australia

[Tegan]

The climax would have been so much better without certain photos being released early.

One thing I'm liking about this series is the attention to detail. When Dalek Sek appears from the lift, his eye is exactly behind the light on the lift doors. When Martha is talking to Tallulah at her makeup table, just as an aside she tries the lipstick. Tallulah's dancing and singing is pretty ordinary, not as if she were dancing in a huge Broadway show. but more like off-off-Broadway. Tallulah straightens Laszlo's collar when she meets him in the sewers.

Again, and this is cropping up all the time now, someone (Laszlo this time) says "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." This has been cropping up time and again and especially when there is no imperative to say it.

I don't know what it means, but I'm intrigued to find out just what it is.

One of the reasons I was, as a child, always more frightened by the Cybermen than the Daleks is that a human could be transformed into a Cyberman, but a Dalek could only kill you. Now it appears the Daleks can also transform you into either a pig or a Dalek.

I've had to change my mind on this, the Daleks are now officially the most frightening enemy of the Doctor.

[dave]

The finale certainly would have made a bigger impact if the human dalek photos hadn't been released early. Still, looks like next week should be a good episode.

The accents didn't bother me as much as I thought they would, having seen the trailer last week. In fact, I thought the actors did a fairly good job of keeping their accents consistent.

Did anyone else think of a Rutan when the Doctor found that green blob on the ground?

Must say that I'm glad we finally have an episode this season where there's no mention of Rose, or the Doctor pining for her. Finally.

All in all, I really enjoyed this one. Can't wait for next week.

[meglos]

Fantastic, Epic. I think this has the makings to be one of the greatest Dalek stories ever

[Todd]

I was a bit underwhelmed by this. Perhaps too high expectations.

At times it moved so slowly and there was an awful lot of info dump in the first 20 minutes.

Good performances by all the cast.

And it was good to see the Daleks manipulating the situation.

The ending was a shock as I hadn't seen the pictures. Thank Goodness.

Overall another sound episode that looks great but I just found the script a bit clunky at times.

[FredDag]

I have to agree with Todd, I was expecting a lot more from this episode. The Daleks seemed a little too chatty for me this time. One thing I did enjoy was those brief scenes where with the Daleks gliding around the underground corridores in the dark (with the Doctor and co hiding), would of loved to of seen this expanded a tad. Hopefully put together with part two the story will be great.

[Hiruma]

I also enjoyed this episode, esp when the Daleks were gliding around the Sewers.

From what I can remember the Daleks have been for a long time into scientific experimentation. One of the very early Dalek Stories (and I hate myself for forgetting the name) had them trying to unlock the secrets of invisibility from the locals.. logically I assume this would be by experimenting on them. There have also been several other Dalek stories where they have been experimenting on people (normally humans) to either create new Daleks or the like. This isnt the first use of a dumb but agressive slave race either : Ogrons being the first. Its just the first time on screen that we have seen one genetically engineered.

I loved the scene with the Daleks talking amongst themselves. Dissession in the Ranks. Im thinking Thay is gonna be the one siding with the Doctor to get rid of his ex buddy Sec. Cant have Human/Daleks running around.

With all the talk about the Master returning I spent several attempts looking through the broadway audience for any sign. Nothing as far as I can tell

I think you will find the episode has the chance to move more slowly because it was a two parter. I often find that some episodes can move too fast, so I like it when the Doctor can slow down and 'smell the trees' as it where. Establishing the story is vitally important.


btw... Am I right in thinking that this episode was actually shot in location in NY?

[meglos]

[Greg]

As Fred's mentioned, it is hard and even unwise to try to judge half a story.

That said, series three continues to impress with generally better written stories than a significant part of series two. This one manages to evoke a sense of place with its setting (although they could bamboozle me here - I don't know a lot about New York during the Depression).

The acting is also of a high quality - and the American accents don't grate as much as I'd feared. The sets are good, though the sewers, like all TV sewers, don't look foul enough. Remarkably smooth floors - just what the Daleks ordered!

Unfortunately, though, some things don't work so well. Let's start with the episode title - has to win an award for the laziest title in the history of Who! 'Daleks in Manhattan' sounds more like a soundbite in a story pitch than something that should ever been the name of a story.

I don't understand the pig-headed aliens. Why do they have pig heads? Maybe we'll be told more in part two, but at the moment, it looks like 'we had a pig-headed alien in series one and people liked it, so we'd better do more...'.

There are problems with some of the prosthetics in that they are way too static to be believable. The eyes of aliens for a start and, especially in this episode, the pig ears. They are made to look like they are flopping, but they are rigidly in that 'flop' position. If you can't make 'em move, don't include them.

I also had a bit of a problem with Sec sucking that guy's body in - he was a big guy, I don't see how he would have fit into the Dalek casing with the Sec creature and all the bits. In deed, the inside of the casing seemed devoid of things to fill it. Why don't Daleks have smaller casings that would allow them to fit into smaller spaces and sneak around?

Sounds like I'm piling up lots of criticisms. These are more niggling matters that detracted from my ability to simply enjoy the episode than things that means the story doesn't work.

With any luck, some of my concerns will be done away with next week.

[Tegan]

[Hiruma]

The pig creature made a bit of twisted sense to me. Even now doctors are using pig organs etc as replacement parts for humans (nothing too futuristic though).

Genetically this is done because they are quite close and compatiable to the human body. If you carry this to the full extent genetically crossing Pigs and humans for a slave race isnt a bad way to go. Pigs can generally be quite docile until provoked. Sec probably also wanted to see how the merging of a lifeform with a human worked.. to his own grand experiment. While the scripwriters may love their pigmen, I think in this case it was genetically logical enough.

At heart though i believe the pigmen were such because they were easier to control than an untouched human and because they helped in the grand experiment.

People may have other views though.

[dave]

I think you might be right about the pig-men, Hiruma.

My question with the human/dalek hybrid is: Why?

What possible advantage does Sec have now that he didn't have before? I agree with Greg that the 'how' is a bit problematic too, seeing as there shouldn't have been room in Sec's body casing to fit that bloke in; however, why are they interested in such an experiment in the first place? I hope this is addressed in part two.

[Hiruma]

THEY Arnt

Sec was the interested one. Thay and co did all they could to disuade him. I think they see the Human race as 'survivors' as mentioned elsewhere in the episode. Do I see the Daleks taking orders from a Hybrid? Nope

[SharazJek]

[Greg]

[Sulp Niar]

The pigs... they made sense to me when I was watching it. I had an explanation, but now I've completely forgotten it. As for Sec slurping a human, I don't really mind. We know that Dalek embryos are capable of strangling (Genesis of the Daleks) so it's not like RTD is exactly rewriting continuity here - and a Cult of Skaro, well, that sort of explains things too. I liked the idea, actually. It gives the Dalek saga a kick in the backside.

I also liked the line about the Daleks always surviving and the Doctor losing everything. It reminded me that he always seemed to lose companions to the Daleks; it also made me feel less like the Daleks were overused returning monsters and more like they were some personal plague that the Doctor can't cure. With one line!

The direction was fabulous. I liked the use of Gershwin right at the start as the Doctor and Martha realise where they are. The flamboyant theatre production was great - I've always liked stories where Daleks are surrounded by lunacy - and the makeup was uniformly excellent.

The only thing that vaguely irritated me was Solomon, simply because of his name. He divided the bread after all - I felt it was a tad too obvious.

Overall I really liked it! I can't wait for the next part. I'm astonished really - can the New Series do something it's never done before (in my opinion) and have four great episodes in a row?

[losthopes]

awsome awsome awsome!

[Greg]

Didn't notice the reference to King Solomon first time through - presnted with the question of who should get the loaf of bread, Solomon tears it in half and gives half to each claimant.

BTW - Hugh Quarshie, who played Solomon, has previously appeared in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, as well as in the origin story of Nikelodeon's revival of The Tomorrow People back in the 90s. His voice was featured as a computer in Red Dwarf. He also starred in a couple of episodes of Press Gang, scripted by Steven Moffat.

[montypython]

These episodes just keep getting better and better! Like everyone else, there were a few things that didn't quite make sense for me, but I'm not gonna repost them. The thing that bugs me the most is that Martha's always hinting that she wants something with the Doctor. It's not gonna happen!

[Ickabod]

I haven't seen the preview piccys so I thought it was good....no twin towers though....maybe it was the Daleks coming back....but overall...I liked it....and yayyyy no mention of Rose ....finally

[Bionic Woman]

That was good observation about there being no Twin Towers in this episode, seeing as they they weren't built until the early 1970's. Better not mention that to the Daleks or else they might get ideas.