City of the Daleks (video game)
Template:Pre-broadcast spoiler
City of the Daleks is the first of the Adventure Games, a series of four games where the player will have the ability to play as the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond. This is the first true Doctor Who game (depending on how you describe the Top Trumps game) since 1996 (Destiny of the Doctors). According to Executive Producer Piers Wenger, it counts as Doctor Who canon, and is just an additional episode of series 5.
Originally announced for initial release on 5th June 2010, it became available for release on 2nd June from the BBC's official Doctor Who website. A Macintosh version of the game is to be released on 15th June. Both download options are free for UK residents. At present the game/mini-episode is not available outside the UK, but the BBC has indicated a potential commercial release for the game in July 2010.[2]
Synopsis
The story begins with the Doctor and Amy in the TARDIS talking about visiting 1963, and specifically which Beatle they'd like to meet. As the Doctor begins to describe London 1963 as "the coolest place in the galaxy" they step out of the TARDIS by the remains of Nelson's column to find London has been almost destroyed.
The pair suddenly see a woman fleeing from a Dalek, who proclaims her to be the last surviving human being. She detonates some kind of explosive, temporarily incapacitating the Dalek, and flees into the Underground below through a manhole. The Doctor and Amy decide to follow her and sneak past the remaining Dalek drones and push a damaged taxi into a barricade barring an Underground entrance.
After entering the Underground, the Doctor and Amy meet the woman, who reveals that the Daleks invaded the planet by opening a rift in the sky, and thousands of Daleks then proceeded to fly down and exterminate the planet below. The army was annihilated and, soon after, resistance groups were also killed, until only she remained. The Doctor comments that the Daleks have never had the power to alter time so dramatically, but before he can continue the woman says that to survive they will have to keep moving, as Daleks will soon be on the way. Sure enough, a Dalek appears and they sneak down a tunnel in the Underground after rewiring its fuse box so the tracks are not dangerous anymore. But before they can escape and leave a trap for the Dalek, it catches up with them and exterminates the woman. The Doctor and Amy escape, and the Dalek sets off the trap, presumably destroying itself.
The Doctor and Amy quickly return to the TARDIS next to Nelson's Column and the Doctor traces the point of interference to the Dalek capital city on Skaro, Kalaan.
After materializing in Kalaan, Amy begins to fade. The Doctor says that, now the human race has been exterminated, she is a paradox, and the TARDIS can only protect her for so long. The Doctor goes into the Dalek facility to find the components of a chronon blocker to stabilize Amy's condition. After sneaking past Daleks to aquire a Dalekanium coil and a Kontron crystal, the Doctor returns to Amy and constructs the chronon blocker, which stops Amy from fading. The Doctor says that to find out how the Daleks have gained so much power, they will need to find the Supreme Council Chamber — but first they'll have to check who's there from the visualizer room. After entering the visualizer room and using the three security consoles to deactivate the visualizer eye, the Doctor and Amy see that the Dalek Emperor is in the Supreme Council Chamber with a device, which the Doctor says is probably the cause of the time interference. He also notices some unusual temporal coordinates.
After taking the lift to the top of the facility, they are captured by drones and taken to the Emperor. When the Doctor tells the Emperor that continued meddling will result in huge damage to the continuum the Emperor shows him the "Eye of Time" — an entity once controlled by the Time Lords, but now in the hands of the Daleks. The Emperor declares that the Daleks will be the new Time Lords. After explaining what the Eye is to Amy, the Doctor damages the Emperor's casing to cause a distraction and they flee through the Eye.
Appearing in the Supreme Council Chamber, but before the city was rebuilt, the Doctor comments that this is where the temporal coordinates from earlier led to. They set a trap for the Daleks who have been sent to pursue them by the Emperor and then go to the visualizer room.
In the visualizer room, the Doctor removes the device in the visualizer eye that is connected to all Dalek vision. He then sends Amy to find a Dalek gun and a Dalek eyestalk in the old facility so that he can use the pieces to construct a device which will limit Dalek vision. Amy evades patrols and Varga plants to get the pieces and returns to the Doctor, who assembles the device, and says that if they can connect it to the old Emperor's pedestal, they can boost the range and blind all the attacking Daleks.
In the Supreme Council Chamber, the Daleks are preparing the Eye of Time for their impending attack on London and planet Earth. Amy runs ahead — able to evade the Daleks because she is fading away — and puts the device in place. The Daleks are blinded and begin firing chaotically around the room. Avoiding the blasts, the Doctor joins Amy at the top of the platform and they jump through it.
Appearing back in the ruined facility — now empty because the timeline has been set back in place, as the Doctor says it should be — the TARDIS is waiting for the Doctor and Amy, and they leave to go and meet Ringo Starr...
Cast
Credits
to be added
Story notes
- City of the Daleks features Varga plants as a main hazard during the third act.
- A new Dalek Emperor is featured in the story. This Dalek Emperor is blue, meaning he could be the Strategist Dalek that was created in DW: Victory of the Daleks.
- The white Supreme Dalek features in the story. All the colours of Progenitor Daleks are seen in the story except the Eternal Dalek.
- A "production line" of Dalek casing is seen.
Promotion
On the 21st April 2010, a number of schoolkids in Sheffield were given the chance to test the game. As a wider promotion, three Daleks were sent to Sheffield, announcing the download date of the game and interacting with passers-by.[3]
Continuity
- While searching for the last survivor the Doctor mentions Yetis and Dinosaurs in the Underground.(DW: The Web of Fear, Invasion of the Dinosaurs)
- As a result of the Daleks altering the timeline and destroying humanity, Amy feels unwell and starts to fade away. This happened to the Fifth Doctor when his previous incarnations were taken out of their timezones.(DW: The Five Doctors)
- The rift in time resembles the Time Field
- The Kontron crystals make a reappearance. (DW: Timelash)
- The Varga plants appear.
- The Doctor and Amy travel to 1963, the same year that Doctor Who started broadcasting and the first episode of Doctor Who was set. (DW: An Unearthly Child)
Timeline
- City of the Daleks occurs before: to be added
- City of the Daleks occurs after: Victory of the Daleks
References
- ↑ City of the Daleks now available, Doctor Who News Page, 2nd June 2010; accessed 3rd June 2010
- ↑ City of the Daleks now available, Doctor Who News Page, 2nd June 2010; accessed 3rd June 2010
- ↑ New Footage and First Reactions
External links
- The Adventure Games at the BBC Doctor Who site.
