Daleks in Manhattan (TV story)

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Daleks in Manhattan was the fourth episode of Series 3 of the revived series. The episode marks the reappearance of the Cult of Skaro.

Synopsis

Martha is taken to 1930s New York, just before the Empire State Building had been built. But something is out to change the course of history. Daleks and Pig Slaves alike stalk the streets of Manhattan, as the Cult of Skaro plan their most devious scheme yet. As their plans for evolution escalate out of control, will the Doctor, Martha, and their new friends, Solomon, Frank, Tallulah and Lazlo, be able to stop them, or will Daleks finally take all?

Plot

A young man, Laszlo, gives Tallulah, a showgirl, a rosebud before her nightly performance. As she leaves to take the stage, he investigates a sound, and is attacked by a creature that resembles a humanoid pig.

The Doctor and Martha arrive at the Statue of Liberty. Seeing the uncompleted Empire State Building, the Doctor estimates the date, while Martha finds a newspaper dated 1st November 1930. The Doctor notes the headline 'Hooverville Mystery Deepens' and reads about people going missing. He then takes Martha to Central Park where a Hooverville is located. Solomon, leader of the Hooverville, tells them that people disappear at night, leaving behind their few possessions. He asks the Doctor why people can build the tallest building in the world but not help the starving people of Hooverville.

At the top of the Empire State Building, Mr Diagoras orders a foreman to speed up construction on the mast. When the foreman refuses, Mr. Diagoras summons one of his 'Masters' to deal with him. Dalek Caan and two Pig Men emerge from the lift, and Mr. Diagoras tells them that the foreman is disobeying his orders. Dalek Caan has the foreman taken away for 'the final experiment'. He then orders Mr. Diagoras to recruit more 'bodies' for the final experiment.

Mr. Diagoras arrives at the Hooverville to recruit workers to clear a collapse in the sewers, offering a dollar a day. Intrigued by an admission that people sometimes fail to return, the Doctor accepts the job. Martha goes with him, along with Solomon and a young man named Frank. Mr. Diagoras sends them half a mile in, but they find no obstruction, just a green lump of alien flesh. The Doctor examines and pockets it. Next they come across a lone Pig Slave. As the Doctor talks to it, more Pig Slaves arrive, and chase the Doctor and friends through the sewers.

Mr. Diagoras orders the crew working on the Empire State Building to attach strange strips of metal (taken from a Dalek's 'skirt') to the base of the mast, and to complete the task that night. The workers complain about the unsafe conditions, but comply after Diagoras threatens to replace them. After they leave, Dalek Caan discusses the construction with Mr. Diagoras, and mentions that his planet was destroyed in a war, while humans survive across time, building and rebuilding New York City. Mr. Diagoras tells the Dalek that he fought in a war, and that he promised himself he would survive at any cost. Noting that Diagoras is most like them in mentality, Dalek Sec orders him to the basement, where he is seized for use in their 'final experiment'.

The Doctor, Martha and Solomon escape the sewers through a manhole, but Frank is captured. The others emerge in the theatre, where Tallulah points a gun at them. She demands to know what they did with Laszlo, who disappeared two weeks earlier. The Doctor gets Tallulah to discard the gun (which was only a prop), and Tallulah tells them about Laszlo's disappearance. The Doctor and Solomon search for equipment the Doctor can use to examine the alien flesh, while Martha and Tallulah compare notes about Laszlo and the Doctor. Solomon confesses that he left Frank behind because he was scared. Solomon then returns to the Hooverville, telling everybody about what happened to Frank, and that they must now fight.

Dalek Sec states that, to survive, the Daleks must evolve. Dalek Thay questions the results of the experiment, arguing that merging with humans (an inferior race) is directly against the Dalek philosophy; Dalek Sec counters that, after everything that has happened, there remain millions of Humans but only four Daleks. Dalek Sec intends to sacrifice himself for the survival of the Dalek race, just as Dalek Thay sacrificed the metal from his casing. Dalek Sec opens up his casing and uses his long tentacles to grab Mr. Diagoras. He pulls him closer and envelops him in his own body before dragging him into his casing to begin the 'evolution'.

Martha is watching Tallulah's dance number when she notices a Pig Slave watching from the other side of the stage. She tries sneaking behind the dancers to reach him, but he runs away. Noticing that he is more human than pig, she follows him into the prop store, where he disappears down the manhole.

The Doctor studies the alien flesh, and learns its planet of origin: Skaro. He rushes to find Martha, and hears her scream as she is seized by Pig Slaves. He goes down the manhole after her. Tallulah follows him, despite the Doctor's warning. Moments later, he grabs her and hides as a Dalek glides by. The two then find the Pig Slave that Martha saw: Laszlo, who managed to escape the Dalek lab before his alteration into a Pig Slave was completed.

Back in the Dalek lab, smoke billows from Dalek Sec's casing while he shakes violently. His comrades urge him to cancel the experiment, but he refuses and asks for an injection. Dalek Jast plunges a syringe containing a "chromatin solution" into his casing.

Martha is thrust in with a parade of captives, including Frank. They are met first by Dalek Caan, and then Dalek Thay who reports that "the Dalekanium is in place." The Daleks use their plunger arms to scan their captives' brains as the Doctor hides nearby and watches. Laszlo explains that the "low intelligence" captives become Pig Slaves, while the "high intelligence" ones are designated for 'the final experiment'. Laszlo urges Tallulah to go back without him. The Doctor joins Martha in the high intelligence group as they proceed towards 'the final experiment'. Tallulah runs through the sewers, but gets lost.

The captive party reaches the Dalek lab under the Empire State Building, where Dalek Jast attends to Dalek Sec. The Doctor tells Martha to ask what they are doing; he does not want the Daleks to notice him. Martha steps forward and demands to know what is happening. The Daleks tell her she will bear witness to the rebirth of the Dalek race. Dalek Sec's casing opens, and a humanoid creature emerges, with a Dalek mutant-like head and yellow hands, wearing Mr. Diagoras' suit. It flexes its new limbs as the other three Daleks recoil from it. "I am a Human Dalek," it tells them all, "I am your future..."

Cast

Crew

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

Casting

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound



Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.
          

With this episode, Helen Raynor became the first woman to write a Dalek story.


References

Story notes

  • The working title for the episode was originally "Daleks in New York" but was changed due to the fact that it would be easier to say Manhattan.
  • Miranda Raison's performance of "My Angel Put the Devil in Me" marked the first time an original song had actually been performed on screen in Doctor Who.
  • Miranda Raison waved at the botttom half of a when they had stopped filming Dalek and it apreantly waved it's plunger back.
  • Although various Dalek Emperors, Dalek Supremes, and the Dalek creator Davros, have appeared over the years, the Daleks of the Cult of Skaro (Sec, Caan, Jast and Thay) were the first individual recurring Daleks.

Ratings

  • 6.69 million viewers - BARB final ratings
  • 6.3 million viewers - Overnight ratings
  • 1.13 million viewers - BBC3 Repeat ratings

Myths

  • Several rumours about an art deco Dalek appearing in this episode or the next part were proposed when names were revealed of series three episodes. No such Dalek appeared.
  • Another rumour was that Mr Diagoras, when in completely human form, was Dalek Sec. This was due to pictures of him standing next to three other Dalek-aware humans, who resembled the Cult of Skaro.

Filming locations

  • Some location filming in New York.
  • Bute Park, Cardiff.

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
  • Some of the buildings seen were not built until the 1990s.
  • There is a point where a Dalek is looking at Mr. Diagoras and his eyestalk is moving up and down but when it cuts to the view from the Dalek, it is still.
  • When Diagaros is seen being merged he has gloves on but when he becomes a hybrid the gloves are gone.
  • The Statue of Liberty is shown with an opaque gold-plated torch. That version of the torch was not installed until 1986, before which it was constructed of a metal framework with illuminated glass windows.

Continuity

  • The Cult of Skaro last appeared in DW: Doomsday.
  • This is the first time that Skaro had been mentioned on screen in the new series (the last mention on screen was in DW: Remembrance of the Daleks). The Cult of Skaro, of course, was mentioned in Doomsday, but Skaro was not explicitly stated as being the Dalek's home planet until this story.
  • This is the first time since the Daleks' debut story that one of them has actually considered leaving their shells.

Home video releases

Series 3 Volume 2 DVD Cover

See also

External links

Template:Series 3

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Dalek television stories
For the purposes of this list, a "Dalek story" is one in which one living, authentic Dalek plays a part within the confines of the story, outside of flashbacks to previous stories and cliffhangers that lead into the following story. For this reason, stories such as The Space Museum are not counted due to the Daleks' appearance being defined by their importance to following stories, while stories such as The Wheel in Space and The Waters of Mars are absent due to the Daleks' only contribution being references to past Dalek stories. Stories like The Wedding of River Song, Hell Bent, Once, Upon Time and The Vanquishers are also not included due to the Daleks' appearance being restricted to a single scene of no consequence to the plot of the story, while the TV movie is also absent due to the Daleks only being heard from off-screen.
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