doctor who 3.4: daleks in manhattan
Clare thinks the Dalek Sec hybrid was a bit silly. I quite liked him.
Although sucking a bloke up and then shaking and smoking a bit is a bit lame. But I’ll let that go. I’ll let the Noo Yoik accents go too. But there’s just so much about this episode that you have to gloss over.
One of the worst bits of narrative development I have ever seen: The Doctor finds a gloopy brain. The Doctor attaches gloopy brain to a 1930s wireless. This apparently creates a tissue scanner doofer that gives planets a number. The Doctor does some mental arithmetic and in flash it comes to him: Daleks!
To be fair, we already know that, so there’s no point in another big revelation in dramatic terms, but still, it just seems so, well… lazy. More pig-fellas - why? Not exactly inconspicuous when planning a covert invasion.
What else? A showgirl called, yes, Tallulah. Oh, thanks.
Then there’s the bit where the Doctor and Tallulah hide from a Dalek in an alcove.
Why would you create the ultimate fighting machine and not give it peripheral vision? OK, OK, that’s an old question, a redundant question… redundant if the writers never drew attention to it.
But it’s Doctor Who, it’s ace. I just wish they’d stop it with the sloppy little things so it could be ace.
I can’t help feeling that the writers of the new series are great at sweeping emotional character arcs and intriguing high episode concepts, but often fail to shade them in with believable detail. Compare Daleks In Manhattan to last week’s Gridlock, which was elevated above its slight premise by great detail.
I don’t ask for much. I will suspend disbelief in a heartbeat as long as it kicks arse. And Daleks kick arse (yeah I said it…) I just want stories that make sense.