Holistic Review: It starts off well, and the historical period is fantastic, but it unfortunately degenerates largely into cliché.
I was originally very excited by Daleks in Manhattan, back when I only knew that we were getting a story set in 1930s Manhattan. It's one of my favorite periods in history, and aside from Chicago, I don't they could have picked a better city to evoke the essence of the thirties. What disappointed me was the inclusion of the Daleks in this particular story - my reaction was along the lines of "Why did they have to be in that story?" And then the revelation that pig-men were involved made me even more worried. New Doctor Who, at least during the last two seasons, seems to have had this obsession with alien races that strongly resemble Earth animals - cat nuns, bat-like Krillitanes, the Racnoss and the Judoon - so I thought, oh great, here comes one more, and this time it's pigs! Well, to my surprise, the pig-men actually make perfect sense in context, and I actually don't mind the Daleks horning in on my 1930s Manhattan story. Unfortunately, there are other factors that I ultimately object to.
The main problem with this two-parter, I think, is that so many of the ideas feel clichéd. It starts mainly in part two, with Sec's idea of bringing humanity to the Daleks. This has been explored in the series before, to some degree - we have the humanized Daleks in The Evil of the Daleks, and their use of a human battle computer in Remembrance. But of course humanized aliens have been seen in other shows, too, like Seven of Nine in Voyager, to take the most similar example. Now, the episode does handle this plot development well - relating it to the Dalek concept of purity, with one Dalek deciding that purity might actually be their downfall, and revealing that the other Daleks do not consider this an acceptable loss even to ensure the survival of their race, is indeed interesting, so I must give them credit for that. But, as Andrew said when he watched this story: "'Is it me or are you just becoming a little bit more human?' And that's how this one goes, the hybrid gets more and more human and realizes that its actions are wrong and the other three turn on it and blah blah blah. It's gonna take some twist for me to like the second half of this one as much as the first." Sorry, Andrew - you basically predicted the entire plot. Then we've also got the scene in which the big strong man privately admits that he's terrified (and that his terror made him unable to intervene when a beloved character was captured/killed), and later the even worse scene in which said big strong man confronts the evil aliens and inexplicably tries to appeal to their better nature. There's a similar scene in Terror of the Vervoids involving Lasky, except that one actually works because of the nature of their relationship. Here, Solomon simply hopes or assumes that the Daleks have a smidgen of good nature, or some reason to listen to him, when in fact we know perfectly well they have no such things. It's ludicrous that he even tries - like they care! The moment he says "If you have any compassion in your hearts, then you'll meet with us and stop this fight!", it's clear that he's going to die. Which he does. Although it is interesting that Sec seems to appreciate his words, and is shocked by his killing, so at least it serves an important purpose in the narrative.
This story does do a pretty good job with its setting - overall, 1930s New York is very skilfully evoked, most particularly in its use of settings. The in-progress Empire State Building is wonderfully worked into the heart of the story (and now I'll never forget the date of its construction), you probably can't go to old New York without seeing the sewers (but, no mention of alligators?), and Hooverville (although not terribly exciting) is a fascinating piece of history that I'd never heard of before. The Depression also rears its head throughout, not just with Hooverville but with Tallulah's financial woes and the workmen's reluctance to quit their job even in the face of possible death. I also really like the juxtaposition of the Depression-era conditions and the majesty of the Empire State Building, which really does make it seem like a grand folly under the circumstances. And there's a great visual link to Frankenstein, with the bodies on pallets suspended from the ceiling, awoken by a blast of electricity. I could've done with a bit more 1930s technology, but at least we do get old-fashioned radios. Overall I felt like part of the story had a great 1930s vibe, but perhaps it wasn't utilized quite as fully as it could have been... probably thanks to the Daleks, who don't really automatically lend themselves to the era in the same way as the Carrionites enhanced Elizabethan England two stories ago. We keep having to veer away from the interesting historical stuff to visit the Daleks' retro-but-still-futuristic underground base.
Star of the show: unquestionably Miranda Raison, in her fantastic diamond-covered outfit, with due props to Helen Raynor for making Tallulah such a fascinating character. It's been a good while since I spotted a supporting character that I really wanted to see join the TARDIS crew, probably not since Lynda, but Tallulah is right up at the top. The funny thing is, it's not that I like Tallulah (although I do), it's that her background and personality are so far removed from any other companion we've had. I hate to say it, but as much as I love Freema, Martha still hasn't diverged all that much from Rose-in-a-lab-coat. Tallulah reacts differently to situations, and I find her personality really intriguing. On one hand, she's sweet and loving and concerned with Laszlo, she has a very vulnerable air, and she can be rather easily scared. But on the other hand, she's brassy ("I'm comin'! Quit yellin'!"), unintimidated ("Tallulah, you're not safe down here." "Then that's my problem!"), gutsy and often brave. And also insightful! I love her heart-to-heart with Martha at the top of the Empire State Building. And her accent makes me giggle. At times Tallulah seems like a bit of a dunce (or perhaps "ditz" would be more accurate / slightly less unkind), but I don't think she really is, at least not to the degree that she sometimes appears. A great example of this is the moment when she declares "I'm not stupid!" while waving a gun at her head, but we later learn that it was an unloaded prop gun. She also comes across as a bit thick when she continually fails to realize that the pig-man is Laszlo, despite mounting evidence in that direction, but part of me thinks that maybe she just doesn't want to believe the truth until it's undeniable, because she sounds like she's grasping at straws... then again, her reaction to seeing him in the light seems to be one of shocked surprise, rather than an acceptance of inevitability, so I just don't know. Either way, even if she isn't a thinker, she's willing to pitch right in and help with a good attitude and a peppy sense of humor, and oh look, I've just described Jamie. But unlike Jamie, ooh, that girl can scream! Now tell me she shouldn't have hopped in the TARDIS at the end... maybe it's only her ties to Laszlo that prevented it.
Perhaps because of Tallulah's presence - although I think she only highlighted a problem that was already there - Martha shines a bit less in this story. Of course she still has her great moments - I love the way Freema phrases "Have you been to the police?" as though Martha knows the answer already, and then follows it up with an understanding and sympathetic nod as Solomon explains; her lines "It's gone off, whatever it is. ... And you've got to pick it up." are hilarious; the superb way that she starts to look at the Doctor for answers, and then catches herself, when Caan tells her "This is the dawn of a new age!"; and her very in-character reaction to electrocuting the pig slaves: "They were people, and I killed them." Martha proves that she can deliver the line "Doctor!" in numerous excellent ways, both when she first sees Laszlo's crouching form in the sewers and again when the herd of pig-men start advancing on the Doctor. And it's nice to see her exercising her smarts as she tries to figure out the Daleks' scheme and how to stop it. However, in this story, her ability to cope with stress briefly comes crashing down; she seems near to hysteria when the pig-men toss her in with the other captured humans, and she develops this unflatteringly breathless delivery. I'm also surprised to find myself a little irritated with her high-pitched breathy laugh, which is so unlike me! I guess it just doesn't sound realistic. But I'm sure I'll get over it. What I will not get over is her continued insistence on mooning over the Doctor, all "He utterly fails to notice how deeply I'm attracted to him" and "He can't see me for who I am because he's still in love with that Rose woman". I said I'd give you one more, Mr. Davies, and this is it. I honestly think this is seriously impacting my ability to like Martha, so wrap it up by the next episode or I'm going to start resenting her. Not kidding. Get a new trick.
The tenth Doctor is a force to be reckoned with in this story. Unquestionably his best line: "They survive. They always survive, while I lose everything." I adore the way he holds Diagoras' gaze before venturing further into the sewers, as if to say: I know exactly what you're up to and I don't trust you one bit, but I'm going to go ahead with your little scheme... for now. I do, however, find it a bit strange that the Doctor keeps egging the Daleks on to exterminate him. The first time is okay, he just stands there and looks smug while the Daleks threaten him (a risky move, but being the hero of the story, it's a guarantee that something will save him in time)... but then the next two times, he practically orders them to execute him, and it's basically dumb luck that they don't say "Okay!" and blast him down a second later. In fact, all three times that he lands himself in this situation, it's the humanized Dalek Sec who bails him out - the first two times because he's curious about the Doctor, and the third time because he throws himself in the path of the beam. See above, re: clichéd plot elements. I mean, even after Sec has been exterminated, what stops the Daleks from just firing again immediately thereafter? Redeeming things somewhat, I like that this time, he actually loses the sonic screwdriver, and has to improvise, and fails (at least with regard to his primary objective; good thing he has backup plans!). He gets some great character moments, too, when he reveals that he has no plans to destroy Caan - the last Dalek in existence! - because it would mean committing genocide (and I wonder what Caan's response would have been if he weren't able to flee, and what would have happened to him), and again when he blazes with determination to save Laszlo's life. After "Oh, Tallulah with three Ls and an H...", I was not expecting him to say "Just you watch me!". I admit, I cheered. (Too bad there was no chance of cosmetic surgery for poor Laszlo, though.) I've also noticed his blue suit for the first time in this episode, and I really like it!
I'm really pleased that all the supporting actors have thoroughly convincing American accents, and although I'm not a very good judge, all of the New York accents sounded really authentic to me - that was really impressive. Andrew Garfield also puts on a flawless Southern accent (although I'm not discriminating enough to say with any authority that it was genuinely a Tennessee accent, but it sure sounded good to me), which is especially impressive as Wikipedia tells me that although he is US-born, he moved to the UK as an infant. Perhaps his parents were from the South? Either way, I'm impressed. And Frank is a great character, too - very likeable, he has an excellent rapport with Martha, and I think his idea that the squeals in the sewer might be from the lost workers is actually quite shrewd. I quite liked Joe Montana as the construction worker (assuming I've got the right actor), although I can't say for sure if it's because his delivery was so naturalistic or because he has very kind eyes! It was an interesting combination, I think - this macho construction worker who seemed to possess such a gentle nature. Would like to see more of him. (Speaking of which, I assume the construction workers were okay in the end, since they got the job done and we never heard of anything bad happening to them... but I'd like to have known that for sure! I was very invested in their well-being.) I can't say that I was overly enamored of Eric Loren as Diagoras, but he does a great job as the hybridized Dalek Sec (although the credits are a bit confusing; I'm assuming the "Hybrid" played by Ian Porter is actually the Dalekized version of his foreman character, not the proper Dalek-human hybrid?). His voice is a nice mix of American and Dalek, and I particularly love his delivery of "I am Dalek Sec!"
The Daleks come off pretty well here, partly because the Cult of Skaro is marginally more interesting than most other Daleks. Sec's ability to imagine at least makes these Daleks seem forward-thinking, even if not entirely original, and I especially like that this creates dissension within their ranks because they can't fathom no longer being the superior race, even if it means their extinction. I did expect all the Daleks to follow their leader blindly, and the fact that they ended up vehemently disagreeing with him, secretly rebelling, turning against him and ultimately executing him, was very cool and also perfectly in character (cf. Genesis of the Daleks). I really like the moment when Thay and Caan meet in private to discuss Sec, and one of them - I think Caan? - swivels his eyestalk around to be sure they aren't being watched, before voicing his true feelings. I also have to say that, despite my reservations over some of the clichéd situations surrounding the Daleks, they get some pretty awesome lines. The first great one is "My planet is gone. Destroyed in a great war. Yet versions of this city stand throughout history. The human race always continues." which nicely foreshadows later events. I adore "The urge to kill is too strong!" which I think sums up the Daleks really well, and both explains some of their motivations and makes them scarier. They also get the great line "You told us to imagine, and we imagined your irrelevance." Don't think that's exactly what Sec had in mind, guys. I like that they thought to include a way to remotely deactivate all of their newly-converted Daleks, which comes across as very callous, while also hearkening back to the destruction of the haemovores in The Curse of Fenric. And you gotta love their theatrical nature, as they appear onstage with a bang amid a puff of smoke!
I'm ambivalent on the pig slaves, although I definitely prefer them as Dalek-created perversions of nature to random aliens. But still, creatures that viciously... squeal at you are somehow not terribly scary. It's not until Laszlo reveals "They're trained to slit your throat with their bare teeth!" that they actually become scary. And unfortunately, that's moments before the last of them are electrocuted.
James Strong does a nice job directing, with lots of interesting camera angles. The first CGI shot of the lit-up Chrysler building (I actually had to look that up, because I had no idea what it was called) over the nighttime Manhattan skyline is rather breathtaking, so it's quite understandable that they reuse it during the episode. Other cool shots: Solomon tossing his cup of coffee into the fire (right at the camera); Tallulah glaring up at the camera and looking evil as she growls "You put the devil in me!"; the hybrid rising into the foreground of the frame as he talks about feeling pain like no Dalek has felt in thousands of years; the bullet bouncing off the Dalek armour (glad it doesn't exterminate Frank for that!); the great zoom into Dalek Caan as he detects the signal of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver; and my favorite, the shot of the Doctor standing confidently astride the theatre seats, while the Dalekized humans flank his right side and his friends cluster behind him to the left. The firefight in the theatre is excellently staged, and very impressive to boot! (I love the guns that the Dalekized humans are firing - those are some cool energy beams!) The one shot I'm not super-fond of is the reveal of the mutant's face... they were panning up to a great reveal, but then they suddenly cut to an overhead angle, from which the Dalek-human just looks kind of weird. And, oddly, when the humanized Sec picks up the radio to examine it, the shot has obviously been flipped - I wonder why? I also have to say, I feel a bit gypped that we don't get to see Martha using the psychic paper to get past the guards - instead, we seem to get the cheapo-copout shot of them talking about what happened while riding up in a dingy old elevator. At least its dinginess is justified later in the episode. The second unit did a great job filming in New York City, and the effects work of combining the footage is practically seamless - it's really hard to tell where the location filming begins and ends. I love that they sent a camera crew over to the States for this episode... that's just brilliant. Really nice effects include the gene solution flowing through all the pipes, and the one-eyed skull as Sec is exterminated. Diagoras getting swallowed by the mutant's appendage was icky, but obviously CGI, particularly when we see his entire sheathed body squirming around inside the casing as it closes back up. Had it been quicker, it would've been better. I'm not a huuuuuuge fan of the Dalek-human's design... partly because the stubby little tentacles around the face look kind of silly, and a bit rasta. The hands are great, though, and the giant brain is appropriately retro-looking while also being very icky.
Gotta say, love the music here. We get some super classic period songs right from the start, which really put me into a happy frame of mind, and it all seems to inspire Murray Gold, whose score at times resembles a 1930s B-movie, particularly when the Dalek is first arriving in the elevator, and again when the workers are taking the Dalekanium up to the roof. At times I was put in mind of the hugely-enjoyable Voyager episode "Bride of Chaotica!". But, aaaaaah! They threw in "Puttin' on the Ritz"! I'm sure I'll mention this again when I get to reviewing Kinda, but I cannot hear that song without thinking of the 1982 version by Taco, and specifically his music video, in which he was dressed in a top hat and (as I recall) white face-paint and hissed his way through the song, which reminded me in an extremely disturbing way of Dukkha. I've never been able to listen to that song since - I find it very menacing! A nice sound effect, too, as the Dalek glides past the Doctor and Tallulah in the sewers.
Minor points:
Martha: "I've always wanted to go to New York. I mean, the real one, not the... New New New New New one."
Foreman: "How much further?"
Diagoras: "Beyond your imagination."
Foreman: (annoyed) "Oh, what's that supposed to mean? Who are they?"
Martha: "I'll kill you for this."
Doctor: (amused) "Hmmm!"
Doctor: "What's your name?"
Tallulah: "Tallulah. Three Ls and an H."
Tallulah: "Oh, honey. I got one song in a backstreet revue, and that's only 'cause Heidi (Shakeem?) broke her ankle, which had nothing to do with me, whatever anybody says."
Martha: "We're not... together."
Tallulah: "Oh, sure you are! I've seen the way you look at him, it's obvious."
Martha: "Not to him."
Tallulah: "Oh! I should've realized. He's into musical theatre, huh? What a waste."
Tallulah: "How dull is that! Come and see a real show!"
Tallulah: "But, if that's not a human being, that kinda implies... it's from outer space." (the Doctor stares at her, unsmiling.) "Yet again, that's a no with the kidding!"
Tallulah: "Well, that's not fair! You're the smartest guy I ever dated!"
Doctor: "Yeah, well, you can kiss me later. You too, Frank, if you want."
Doctor: "Tell me what you're thinking right now."
Hybrid: "I... feel..."
My Brain: "...pretty?" (expects second musical number)
Tallulah: "New York City... if aliens had to come to Earth, well, no wonder they came here."
Tallulah: "You're a physician? Really?"
Tallulah: "You wanna get all sad... you wanna have a contest with me and Laszlo?"
Tallulah: "Gammon radiation? What the heck is that?"
Frank: "One man down and we ain't even started yet!"
Martha: "I can't help noticing... there's Dalekanium still attached."
Doctor: (gets an idea) "Tallulah!"
Tallulah: "That's me! Three Ls and an H."
Doctor: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, and maybe the odd pig-slave-Dalek-mutant-hybrid too."
A pleasant historical interlude, with some really great things (ie, Tallulah and the music) and some un-thrilling things (the clichéd plot elements). Entertaining, but it falls short of lovable.