OK, this is actually two episodes (sssh!) and it's the one where the Doctor's greatest and most iconic adversaries invade New York City and transpire to take over the world (again) by infiltrating the Empire State Building for no apparent reason. It sounds like it should be awesome on paper except it totally isn't... so where did it all go wrong for these persistent petulant pepperpots? Well, the downfall is in the writing, really. The story is lacklustre at best, considering it had so much potential, and it feels like it could have just as easily been told in one episode which would've at least saved us from any more 'dramatic' filler sequences featuring our central characters being chased through the Manhattan sewers by half human pig slaves (as funny as that is). And just what is all that human Dalek Sec stuff about, by the way? He's somehow even less intimidating as a tentacled mutated businessman and what's the point of having a Dalek story if there's absolutely no underlying threat whatsoever? The New York setting was wasted, too. Yes, the show's budget didn't allow them to actually film in the Big Apple itself but they've done a much better job at recreating planets that don't actually exist than they did one of the world's most iconic cities. Most of the action takes place in a park which means that it could've been set pretty much anywhere and the Statue of Liberty seemingly forgot that it was a Weeping Angel which was nice of her. Seriously. It would've been good if the Daleks actually had taken over the world this time, just so something interesting happened.
Dan Butler is the Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture.com. When he isn't writing his own articles or editing other people's, he can be found trawling the internet for gifs of Steven Moffat laughing. Contact him via dan.butler@whatculture.co.uk.
