Dr Who- Evolution of the Daleks
August 6th 2007 06:01
Ah, the Daleks. Has there ever been a more intimidating science fiction villain? Forty years ago, when the inaugural half hour long Dr Who black and white episodes were an after-school tradition for many thousands of British schoolkids; the mere mention of the Daleks sent the little tykes diving for cover behind their sofas as if someone had just sounded an air raid alarm.
Nowadays, sadly, they look more than a little quaint. They surely rank up there with the daftest of sci-fi designs. Star Trek boasted more bad coiffures and gaudy outfits than an 80s Duran Duran video (the Romulans with their Beatles wigs, and the Klingons with their metal band hair). The Daleks rather come across as R2 D2 with a severe anger management problem. But despite their apparent garbage bin ancestry, there’s a certain je ne sais quoi about the little fellas. I am fond of their ability to spout classic epithets at any given opportunity (high pitched robotic voice Cybermen are superior to Daaaaleks in only one respect. You are superior at dying!) And obviously so are the legions of diehard Dr Who partisans, because otherwise why would the scriptwriters continue to bring them back in multi part episodes?
It is 1930s New York and the Empire State Building is under construction (with a little help from our extra-terrestrial robots, who have their own ulterior motives for the project). I am fascinated by this era of history, and the best Dr Who eps tend to be the ones set in a real historical location, even if they are mostly filmed on soundstages in Cardiff, Wales. Most of the scenes in this episode take place indoors, or in a sewer system, which might be a reflection of the budgetary constraints. The sole outdoor location is a squatter’s camp outside Manhattan, which is most likely in actuality a field somewhere in regional Wales. The guest actors also struggle to convey the illusion that we are in Prohibition era America, because of their fluctuating aptitude at mastering the accent. Main female guest, showgirl Tallulah, is satisfactory at affecting the New Jersey twang (albeit in a slightly cliché manner) but some of the other performers are less convincing.
Creature feature fanatics will have a field day with this two-parter. Alongside the eponymous Daleks, there is an abundance of anthropomorphic pig slaves (mutated humans under the thrall of their robotic conquerors), and a curious lobster-headed monstrosity named Dalek Sek, a hybrid between a Dalek and a human. His plan is to resurrect the moribund Dalek species by combining Dalek and human DNA in what he calls ‘The Final Experiment’. The other subordinate Daleks, however, don’t take kindly to this half-breed ordering them about, and so they take matters into their own hands, mutinying against Lobster Head and, instead, they endeavour to create a pure blood Dalek renaissance.
The Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) intervenes, and infuses the test subjects with his own Time Lord DNA. I found myself wondering: if the Doc gave them Time Lord attributes, how did the Daleks murder them at the end? Could they not just regenerate into another form?
Speaking of the Doctor, I might go into Tennant’s performance a little bit here. I must confess to finding him a more limited actor than Christopher Eccleston was in the lead role. Whereas Eccleston’s Doctor came across as a bit loony and manic, yet with a hint of darkness; Tennant’s portrayal is frequently raving and arms-flapping. He tends to, I hate to say it, overact a lot of his scenes. The current Doctor, in his defence, is a more aloof and funny character than his sometimes serious counterpart played by Eccleston.
The new assistant Martha Jones, may as well be Rose Tyler. She really isn’t that different a character from her predecessor. Okay, she’s a doctor, which is a fairly major difference, but for all we know, series producer Russell T Davies could well have dusted off an old Rose script and given it to Martha, changing a couple of lines here and there. I must say that the new Dr Who series somewhat over-emphasises the romance element. There was very little romance in the old Dr Who series, and there was hardly ever any intimation that the Doctor was in that way interested in any of his companions. I can’t help but feel that the ‘human dimension’; or the Eastenders style soap opera of Rose’s family (or for that matter, Martha’s) was pressured upon the creators by the BBC. Dr Who was never really mainstream entertainment. It was slightly quirky, offbeat, and occasionally silly, but it was never a daytime soap opera. Whenever I see Martha making doe eyes at the Doctor, I roll mine. This is science fiction, not Dawson’s Creek!
There is a promise at the end of the episode that ‘we’ll see the Daleks again’. I don’t doubt it for a second. I’d be more surprised if we didn’t. Ultimately, it’s a fun romp; and a good two hours (well, one and a half, but who’s counting?) of Dr Who, only let down by the realities of the budget (loads of studio sets) and a few iffy accents from its supporting cast.
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