Doctor Who (2005): Daleks in Manhattan (1)

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Location: New York
Date: 1930s
Enemies: Daleks (Cult of Skaro), Pig Slaves
It's 1930s New York. As Manhattan finds itself in the grip of The Great Depression, people are disappearing off the streets.
Savage Pig Men are hiding in the sewers and, at the very top of the Empire State Building, the Doctor's oldest nemeses, The Daleks, are busy preparing their most audacious plan yet.
The Doctor and Martha must team up with the locals to defeat the Daleks and prevent an already depressed city from total ruin. Read full recap »

YOUR SCORE

RESET

N/A n/a

Writers:: Helen Raynor

Director:: James Strong

Stars:: David Tennant (The Tenth Doctor); Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones)

Recurring Role:: Nicholas Pegg (Dalek Operator); David Hankinson (Dalek Operator); Nicholas Briggs (Dalek Voices)

Guest Star:: Alexis Caley (Lois); Anthony Spargo (Dalek Operator); Stewart Alexander (I) (Worker 2); Barnaby Edwards (Dalek Operator); Mel Taylor (Dock Worker); Joe Montana (II) (Worker 1); Hugh Quarshie (Solomon); Flik Swan (Myrna); Eric Loren (Mr. Diagoras); Andrew Garfield (Frank); Ryan Carnes (Laszlo); Miranda Raison (Tallulah); Peter Brooke (Man 2); Earl Perkins (Man 1); Paul Kasey (Hero Pig); Ian Porter (Foreman)

The story is set in November, 1930, as revealed by the newspaper Martha finds early on. The Hooverville in Central Park, however, did not exist until 1931. edit »
As the camera reveals the Statue of Liberty, the underscore quotes Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin, a tune that some would consider "a musical portrait of New York City". edit »
Although one can see the Empire State Building from Liberty Island (where the Statue is), the view seen by the Doctor and Martha in this episode looks like they are across from Mid-Town Manhattan rather than Lower Manhattan as it should be. edit »
Just before The Doctor explains to Martha about Hooverville, the opening line of the 1929 Irving Berlin song Puttin' On The Ritz can be heard. The incidental music of the next scene begins with the instrumental of the song. edit »
The line by Dalek Thay concerning racial purity is a reference back to their creation as revealed in the Tom Baker story Genesis of The Daleks. In the story, Davros, creator of the Daleks, is creating the ultimate form of the Kaled race. For Dalek Sec to say that they are at an evolutionary standstill AND need to improve themselves, is nothing short of miraculous given their programmed imperatives. edit »

International Air Dates:

Australia: 21 July 2007
Canada: 8 July 2007
New Zealand: 16 September 2007 on Prime
United States: 27 July 2007 edit »
The Daleks had previously visited the Empire State Building in the 1965 serial The Chase in the original Doctor Who series. edit »
Overnight viewing figures for this episode were 6.3 million, with a final viewing figure of 6.69 million. edit »
The Dalek's Pig Men slaves were inspired by the H. G. Wells novel The Island of Dr Moreau. edit »
The half human/half Dalek face mask takes 90 minutes to apply. edit »

Foreman: One word from me and every man on this site stops work. So, go on, tell your masters that.
Diagoras: If that�s your attitude, I think you should tell them yourself.
Foreman: Yeah? Well, I ain�t afraid of no man in a suit (Diagoras presses the elevator call button) These� these new bosses, what�s their names?
Diagoras: I think you can say they�re from outta town.
Foreman: Italians?
Diagoras: Bit further than that.
Foreman: How much further?
Diagoras: Beyond your imagination.
Foreman: Oh, what�s that supposed to mean? Who are they? (pause) Mr. Diagoras, who are we working for?
Diagoras: Behold your masters.
(The elevator doors open to reveal Dalek Caan, flanked by two Pig Slaves)
edit »
Martha: Daleks! I demand to be told. What is this Final Experiment? Report!
Dalek Jast: You will bear witness.
Martha: To what?
Dalek Jast: This is the dawn of a new age.
Martha: What does that mean?
Dalek Jast: We are the only four Daleks in existence. So the species must evolve. A life outside the shell. The children of Skaro must walk again! edit »
Dalek Thay: (after scanning Martha) Superior intelligence. This one will become part of the Final Experiment.
Martha: You can�t just experiment on people. It�s insane! It�s inhuman!
Dalek Thay: We are not human! edit »
Laszlo: They�re divided into two groups: high intelligence and low intelligence. The low intelligence are taken, become Pig Slaves like me.
Tallulah: That�s not fair! You�re the smartest guy I ever dated!
The Doctor: And the others?
Laszlo: They�re taken to the laboratory.
The Doctor: Why, what for?
Laszlo: I don�t know. The masters only call it the Final Experiment. edit »
Tallulah: That metal thing? What was it?
The Doctor: It�s called a Dalek. And it�s not just metal, it�s alive.
Tallulah: You�re kidding me!
The Doctor: Do I look like I�m kidding? Inside that shell, there�s a creature born to hate, whose only thought is to destroy everything and everyone that isn�t a Dalek too. It won�t stop until it�s killed every human being alive.
Tallulah: But if that�s not a human being, that kinda implies� it�s from outer space. (off the Doctor�s look) Yet again, that�s a no with the kidding. Boy! Well, what�s it doing here? In New York? edit »

Tallulah: Come on honey, take a look. Ever been on stage before?
Martha: Oh...little bit...you know...Shakespeare...

Martha references her adventure with The Doctor, The Shakespeare Code edit »
There are elements of The Phantom Of The Opera to the story: a disfigured man (The Phantom/Laszlo) is in love with a singer (Christine/Tallulah) and watches her on-stage, with a final confrontation that takes place underground (Phantom's lair/the sewers). edit »
Tallulah: Oh… I shoulda realized. He’s into musical theatre, huh? What a waste.

The phrase ‘into musical theatre’ is a euphemism for homosexuality, due to a stereotype of gay men liking extravagant and camp musicals such as The Wizard Of Oz. Tallulah is responding to Martha's mention of The Doctor's lack of interest in her, assuming that the Doctor must be gay to not be interested in her. edit »
Diagoras was an ancient Greek poet and sophist of the 5th century BC. He became an atheist after a slur against him went unpunished by the gods. According to Athenagoras the Athenian Diagoras divulged the Orphic doctrine, published the mysteries of Eleusis and of the Cabiri, and chopped up the wooden statue of Hercules to boil his turnips. edit »
The character of Solomon is based on the biblical figure King Solomon. The scene where he breaks the bread and shares it between the two men is similar to a story where Solomon threatens to cut a baby in half in order to determine which of two women is the baby's real mother. He gives the baby to the woman who does not want the baby harmed. edit »

8.5
10
vbkzlfie
member since: Jul 4, 2008
Daleks in Manhattan (1)
The Bottom Line: "Adventurous"
I find it's always difficult to accurately review the first episode of a two-part story without having seen the concluding episode. It's akin to doing a half-time report at a football match. ...Continue »
So, to continue the analogy, was the first of this Doctor Who game of two halves full of goals galore? Or a no-score bore? The story so far . . .

Having been to Multiple New York five billion years in the future, The TARDIS has landed in 1930 New York, where The Doctor and Martha Jones discover an America in the throes of The Depression. They visit Hooverville, a camp in Central Park, where impoverished inhabitants are forced to live.

Unbeknown to The Doctor, he's not the only alien in the city - The Cult Of Skaro, with the assistance of Dalek Sec's Emergency Temporal Shift, have escaped being sucked into the void at the end of their last encounter with The Doctor, and those last four Daleks in the Universe have plans for the human race and the under-construction Empire State Building.

They have enlisted the help of a local high flyer, Mr Diagoras, who has been "recruiting" residents of Hooverville for Dalek experiments under the pretext of working in the sewers. The Doctor and Martha join the latest work party, and discover terrifying Pig Men lurking in the depths - as well as remnants of what appears to be an alien lifeform.

Escaping to the surface, The Doctor, Martha and the leader of the Hooverville camp, Soloman, encounter a local showgirl, Tallulah, who explains her boyfriend, Lazlo, has disappeared.

To The Doctor's horror, research on his discovery in the sewers reveals that it's of Dalek origin - but he has a more-pressing concern. Martha has gone missing (again) and he believes she has been taken back to the sewers. He and Tallulah head down there in pursuit, where they discover Lazlo, his face disfigured into pig-like form by the Daleks.

Martha has been captured by the Daleks and, while The Doctor watches from the background, the Daleks reveal the secret of their "final experiment" to her - Dalek Sec has absorbed Diagoras inside its casing, and created a human Dalek hybrid. Their plan is to evolve into a new species . . .

Sounds like a goalscoring feast to me!

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode, as I have this whole series so far. Four episodes in, and I've found Series 3 has stepped up considerably on the previous two series, as the production team gain more confidence and experience.

I'm a fan of the two-episode format. The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances and Bad Wolf/The Parting Of The Ways in Series 1 and The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit and Army Of Ghosts/Doomsday in Series 2 are widely regarded by Doctor Who fans as the pick of their respective seasons, and the fact that these were longer stories is no coincidence. At the "old-style" four parts, the story has much more time to breathe and affords the writer space for improved characterisation. It would always be five two-parters and three single-parters for me. Possibly, some viewers are now accustomed to the faster pace of single episodes, and find two-parters slow by comparison but not me.

Script Editor and Doctor Who writing debutant Helen Raynor (doubtless with assistance from her mentor, Russell T Davies) delivered a fine script, with good background work and some promising ideas, notably the human Dalek, of course. The Pig Men - although why they were actually in that form is a curiosity (file in the writers' prerogative box) - were horrible-looking things. Kudos to the prosthetic team!

The Daleks were great here. Excellently voiced by Nick Briggs as always, seeing the individual Daleks with personality (of sorts) and interacting with each other as opposed to simply the "I obey" and "Exterminate" mantra, gives them an added dimension. Doctor Who moves up a level when the Daleks are around. And that was the case here, without them even engaging our eponymous hero. Loved the idea of the human Dalek, and it was superbly realised - a really great, dramatic cliffhanger, right up there with the end to Army Of Ghosts. And the Dalek Sec prosthetic was another triumph.

More marvellous work from The Mill, too, with the absorption of Diagoras into Dalek Sec's casing and converting Cardiff into New York, and Murray Gold's show tune was great fun and a welcome spot of light relief. James Strong, who did such a sterling job on The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit is a good director at the helm. He really has the knack of making a TV series look anything but.

The performances (because that's what they look like) of the extras and sometimes the supporting cast is a slight negative in many Doctor Who stories, I find, and some of the back-up and the accents did leave room for improvement. Hugh Quarshie was pleasing as Soloman, though and Miranda Raison was great as Tallulah (three els and an aitch). Obviously introduced as a lighter character to contrast the bleakness of the Daleks' plan, her Phantom Of The Sewers love story with Lazlo is another nice addition which couldn't really have been expanded upon in a single-episode story.

There was also a brief reminder of the background one-sided love story between The Doctor and Martha, in her exchange with Tallulah (amusing that she observed that The Doctor's liking of musical theatre meant he must be gay The Doctor's aside to himself that "(the Daleks) always survive, while he loses everything (he has)" shows his hostility towards his bete noir will never diminish - and that his loneliness has not been eased by Martha's presence. His feelings towards her are much more in keeping with the classic series Doctors' aloofness. This may change later in the series, but there's little sign of it so far. I've come to take Freema Agyeman and David Tennant's excellence as read this series. The latter has this role absolutely nailed with last year under his belt. He is going to be very difficult to replace when the time comes. Eight and a half out of 10 so far.
08/13/08 08:21am | report abuse
8
10
scifirantergirl
member since: Aug 23, 2007
Daleks in Manhattan (1)
The Bottom Line: "Well written"
You know.....
I'm a pretty open- minded girl when it comes to my perspective on attractiveness. ...Continue »
You know.....
I'm a pretty open- minded girl when it comes to my perspective on attractiveness. I think Klingons are hot. I'd cuddle with a Wookie. I'd even try to figure out exactly which techniques Data is programmed with.

I have to draw the line at the newly revealed Human Dalek. Can we say YUCK.
*shudders*
*gag*

.... YUCK!!!!

Daleks in Manhattan was a great episode. In this episode we go back in time to 1930's New York smack dab in the middle of the depression. People are disappearing. Pig faced things are running around kidnapping them. We find out the Daleks are responsible for that and for building the Empire State Building. That's hilarious!

This episode had the right level of suspense and I'm going to cut this short and say I can't wait to watch the next episode. Getting ready to hop on a flight to Cardiff.....
09/07/07 08:30pm | report abuse
6
23
laufu
member since: Dec 5, 2003
Daleks in Manhattan (1)
The Bottom Line: "Bottom of the barrel"
Interesting concept, but astoundingly cheesy execution. ...Continue »
This is, by far, the worst episode of the new 2005 series. The writing is ATROCIOUS, although it apparently appeals to the Brits, as most people rate this far higher than it every should have been. I find it amazing that the residents of a country with such a rich history of art and culture think THIS episode is worthy of a 9!

The writer should be fired and never allow to work on the series again. Let's get Matt Jones in for another 2 parter. the Impossible Planet / Satan Pit episodes were VERY enjoyable.
04/29/07 07:50pm | report abuse
9.6
10
katzarr
member since: Nov 24, 2006
Daleks in Manhattan (1)
The Bottom Line: "Exactly why I watch this series"
An episode of realisations. ...Continue »
Martha realises that the Doctor hasn't noticed her awful attempts at flirting and isn't interested. The Doctor realises that while he lost everything, Skaro lived on. The Daleks realise that they are on the brink of extinction so go human. Impoverished New Yorkers realise that everything isn't right.
I loved this episode. The Daleks are absolutely fantastic - I particularly admire the idea of the Cult Of Skaro: the thinking Daleks. This ep., as all of the other Dalek ep.s, was just as good as the one that went before. I can't wait to see what happens next, with Sec the Dalek-human xD.
04/29/07 08:00am | report abuse
9.7
10
patattack12
member since: Mar 28, 2007
Daleks in Manhattan (1)
The Bottom Line: "A very special episode"
this episode is absaloutly brilliant in every way and there is also a new form of dalek called the human dalek I just cannot believe it. ...Continue »
this episode is deffinatly my favourite episode with daleks in it ( so far ) . I find the pig slaves when you look close up to them really freaky because they have that sloppy dull red eyed face. but the main story of this episode is the evoloution of the dalek it was so cool at first when they said that there was going to be an evolved dalek but I never new it was going to be human , I really would of prefered dalek sec as the way he is not the human thing , why did have to do it on dalek sec is what i am woundering and most of all he was my favourite .
04/28/07 03:23am | report abuse