Evolution of the Daleks

You told us to imagine. And we imagined your irrelevance.

Dalek Jast

Synopsis

Manhattan is the birth place of the new form of the Dalek race, combining the deadly archenemy of the Doctor with his favourite species, humanity. But how well will the rest of the Cult of Skaro take Dalek Sec’s experiment?

Review

Evolution of the Daleks is a bit of a mess really and shows why Daleks tend to be reserved for series finales. They feel a bit out of place mid-series and ultimately the story feels a little inconsequential.

I think the biggest problem with Evolution of the Daleks and, by extension Daleks in Manhattan is that there never really feels like there’s any reason for the story to be set in Manhattan. There is little to no effort to actually integrate the story or characters into the time and place in which the story is set and I found that this led to me not really feeling particularly engaged or caring what happens to the character. The story has moments that want the audience to feel some sense of excitement, and the score by Murray Gold is certainly trying to make them feel exciting – like the Doctor attempting to take the Dalekanium off the top of the Empire State Building – but these ultimately feel utterly flat. We are told that there will be 11 minutes until lightning hits the top of the Empire State Building, but at no time do we actually feel that sense of urgency. Ultimately, it feels as though Helen Raynor had been given a list of loose concepts and was told to write a two-part story featuring the Daleks and it was assumed that it was too big to fail. The result is, sadly, extremely messy.

Viewed in hindsight and knowing how the story of the Cult of Skaro will ultimately conclude, this does feel as though it is a bit inconsequential; there is perhaps no reason why Dalek Caan could not be the sole survivor of the Battle of Canary Wharf and the Daleks have a break until the end of Series 4. There’s not a lot that does the Daleks a lot of favours here, with some bizarre story elements. For instance, Sec does not see the remainder of the Cult of Skaro are planning to betray him, which seems utterly predictable given their seeming horror that their leader plans to divert from Dalek purity. Ultimately, Sec’s plan revolves around creating human Daleks, which does not feel the most riveting, and the exchanges between the Daleks and Dalek humans when they start questioning their orders is not riveting. Having the Doctor working with Sec is an interesting idea, especially as he seems to work with Sec and respect him for thinking outside of the box, even if this alliance will always be uneasy and is ultimately short-lived.

Equally, Dalek Caan is seen instructing the Human Daleks to self-destruct after they have already destroyed Daleks Jast and Thay, which also feels as though it is a weird decision. From a thematic point of view, it is trying to set up the idea of the Doctor versus the last Dalek in creation, but this is clearly not an idea that the show is interested in retreading following Dalek which had pretty much the same premise. When we next encounter Caan, he is raving mad abomination within a reborn Dalek force, but you would think that one of the last three pure Daleks might want to ensure that there were a few more of them about to ensure the survival of the Dalek race, but perhaps he didn’t want to risk Thay and Jast gossiping about him by the water cooler.

Dalek Caan. Your species has been wiped out. And now the Cult of Skaro has been eradicated, leaving only you. Right now, you’re facing the only man in the universe who might show you some compassion. Cos I’ve just seen one genocide. I would cause another one. Caan…let me help you. What do you say?

Emergency temporal shift!

The Tenth Doctor and Dalek Caan

There is an interesting idea, however, at the heart of Evolution of the Daleks. Dalek Sec represents an idea that the Daleks, created by Davros to envisage themselves at the master race, might not necessarily be true. In fact, their lack of success and the fact that there are only four Daleks remaining in all of creation means that they need to widen their scope and perhaps abandon their ideas of racial purity. Ultimately, this is what the Cult of Skaro was devised to do, to find new ways of killing and ensure the survival of the Dalek race. The idea of combining elements of other races into the Daleks to ensure their survival is not a new one, and even the combination of Daleks with humans has been depicted before in The Evil of the Daleks, and more recently, A Genius for War saw the Daleks looking to extract the Time Lord factor to strengthen the Daleks’ cause. It is interesting that Sec is something of a maverick, even amongst this group and the Daleks are unwilling to cross this line, even if their survival is at stake.

The story is really not helped by the Tenth Doctor having a death wish twice, trying to save the humans in Hooverville early on and later in the theatre. It almost feels as though Raynor feels that there is only way for a character to prove that they are a hero and that’s to put their life on the line to protect others and without thinking of . It also feels as though this story has been written to feature David Tennant shouting as much as possible, and this leads to Tennant gurning at the camera, which is a part of his acting which am personally not a massive fan of. Ultimately, I don’t think that Tennant is good at capturing the angry side of the Dalek, although the rest of his performance is otherwise strong. Freema Agyeman gets some strong work away from the Doctor, realising that she has misgivings about her relationship with the Doctor and how she believes that he just sees her as being not Rose. Ultimately, I think this is the point at which the temporary nature of the Doctor and Martha’s travelling arrangement begins to frustrate me. Martha has been through a lot by this point and the Doctor is still not willing to acknowledge her as a full-time companion.

Verdict: Evolution of the Daleks has some solid ideas at its core but fails by way of execution. 3/10

Cast: David Tennant (The Doctor), Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones), Miranda Raison (Tallulah), Ryan Carnes (Lazlo), Hugh Quarshie (Solomon), Andrew Garfield (Frank), Eric Loren (Dalek Sec), Earl Perkins (Man #1), Barnaby Edwards, Nicholas Pegg and David Hankinson (Dalek Operators), Nicholas Briggs (Dalek Voices), Paul Kasey (Hero Pig Man) & Ian Porter (Hybrid).

Writer: Helen Raynor

Director: James Strong

Producer: Phil Collinson

Composer: Murray Gold

Original Broadcast Date: 28th April 2007

Behind the Scenes

• The first story of the revived series to feature the ‘… of the Daleks’ title naming.
• The first two part story of the revived era not to feature the interior of the TARDIS.

Cast Notes

• Miranda Raison would go on to play Sixth Doctor companion Constance Clark for Big Finish. She has also appeared in numerous other roles for Big Finish, including in The Trouble with Drax (The Fourth Doctor Adventures), The Wreck of the Titan and Persuasion.
• Eric Loren would go on to appear in the Big Finish play Assassin in the Limelight.

Best Moment

I do really like the confrontation between the Doctor and Dalek Caan, as brief as it was.

Best Quote

Removing the emotions makes you stronger. That’s what your creator thought, all those years ago.

He was wrong.

He was what?

It makes us lesser than our enemies. We must return to the flesh, and also the heart.

Then you wouldn’t be the supreme beings anymore.

That is good.

That is incorrect!

Daleks are supreme!

No! Not anymore.

But it is our purpose!

Then our purpose is wrong! Where has our quest for supremacy led us? To this! Hiding in the sewers on a primitive world, just four of us left. If we do not change now, then we deserve extinction.

The Tenth Doctor, Dalek Sec, Dalek Caan and Dalek Thay

Previous Tenth Doctor review: Daleks in Manhattan

For more Tenth Doctor stories, click here.