Whatever Happened to Fay Wray

Doctor Who – Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks

[SPOILER WARNING] 

The Doctor goes to America – again! This time to 1930s New York. There was a lot of good historical background to the story – explaining the depression, Hooverville, the Empire State Building. It’s always good to see that Doctor Who hasn’t lost its ability to inform and educate, as well as entertain!

Obviously this two parter was a dalek story (the clue’s in the title), and I had noticed at the end of last year’s Doomsdaythat the black dalek escaped being sucked into the void, so it was no surprise to see him turn up again. I was a little more surprised to see the other Cult of Skaro daleks too, but what seemed more odd was that these daleks, supposedly the more creative thinkers, were unable to find a way to reproduce. This has never seemed to be a problem in the past. The fusion of dalek Sec (and when did daleks have names??) with a human would have been abhorrent to the daleks of old.

I did, however, really enjoy one moment where the two daleks discuss their former leader’s transformation. The first dalek moved towards the second and spoke in a quieter voice asking if dalek Sec was fit for purpose. The second dalek the looked around to check no one was listening, turned back to the first and agreed. Hilarious!! But then I did enjoy the one-upmanship and one liners from the Cult of Skaro daleks in Doomsday.

But are daleks supposed to make me laugh?