Evolution of the Daleks

Doctorwhobox
number=186b
serial_name=Evolution of the Daleks
show=DW


caption=The Daleks prepare to create human hybrids.cite episode | title = Evolution of the Daleks | series = Doctor Who | credits = Writer Helen Raynor, Director James Strong, Producer Phil Collinson | network = BBC | station = BBC One | city = Cardiff | airdate = 2007-04-28]
type=episode
doctor=David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
companion=Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones)
guests=
* Miranda Raison – Tallulah
* Hugh Quarshie – Solomon
* Ryan Carnes – Laszlo
* Andrew Garfield – Frank
* Eric Loren – Dalek Sec
* Flik Swan – Myrna
* Alexis Caley – Lois
* Earl Perkins – Man #1
* Peter Brooke – Man #2
* Ian Porter – Hybrid
* Nicholas Briggs – Dalek Voice
* Paul Kasey – Hero Pig
writer=Helen Raynor
director=James Strong
script_editor=Lindsey Alford
producer=Phil Collinson
executive_producer=Russell T Davies
Julie Gardner
production_code=3.5
length= 2nd of 2-part story, 45 minutes
date=28 April 2007
time=6:45 PM
preceding="Daleks in Manhattan"
following="The Lazarus Experiment"
imdb_id=0996572
series = Series 3
series_link = Series 3 (2007)|

"Evolution of the Daleks" is an episode of the British science fiction television series "Doctor Who". It was first broadcast on BBC One on 28 April 2007, [cite news
title = Doctor Who UK airdate announced
work = News
publisher = Dreamwatch
date = February 27, 2007
url = http://www.dwscifi.com/articles/show/227] and is the fifth episode of Series 3 of the revived "Doctor Who" series. It is the conclusion of the two-part story begun in "Daleks in Manhattan". According to the BARB figures this episode was seen by 6.97 million viewers and was the seventeenth most popular broadcast on British television in that week.cite web
date = 2007-05-09
url =http://www.gallifreyone.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?id=EEZlZFFklACVQJYtpa&tmpl=newsrss
title =Evolution - Final Ratings
work =Outpost Gallifrey News Page
publisher =Source: BARB
accessdate =2007-06-03 ] The story is set in New York City in 1930.cite journal
quotes =
author = Darlington, David
date = 2007-02-28 cover date
title = Script Doctors: Helen Raynor
journal = Doctor Who Magazine
issue = 379
pages = pp. 30–36]

ynopsis

The Cult of Skaro's plan is in full force. Dalek Sec is reborn in a half-human form, and the Pig Slaves launch an enormous assault upon the Central Park Hooverville along with the remaining pure Daleks. The Doctor, Martha, Solomon and the others must fight for their lives, while the future of humans and Daleks alike is being decided underneath the Empire State Building.

Plot

The hybrid Dalek Sec announces that the captive humans are to be prepared for "hybridisation", when a radio suddenly plays; the Daleks turn to face the Doctor, who has emerged from the crowd. The Doctor asks Sec what it feels like to be human. Sec focuses on the traits of ambition, hatred, and war, all traits that humans have in common with Daleks, which does not impress the Doctor. The Doctor then tells Sec and the other Daleks that they have achieved nothing with the Final Experiment. They attempt to capture him but the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to make the radio emit a high pitched sound, disorienting the Daleks and the Pig Slaves. The Doctor and the captured humans escape, catching up with Tallulah on the way. Dalek Thay remains behind to guard Dalek Sec whilst Jast and Caan, secretly discuss their doubts about Dalek Sec's orders ever since he became part human.

The group arrives back at Hooverville. Solomon advances the possibility that he could reason with the Daleks, but the Doctor explains that because they are vulnerable they have become more dangerous than ever. Soon enough, a watchman sees one of the Pig Slaves. In response the remaining residents form a defensive circle to shoot the Slaves, which are armed only with their tusks and bare hands. Daleks Jast and Caan fly over Hooverville, killing the defenders so the Pig Slaves can abduct others. As the Daleks prepare to exterminate the remaining armed humans, Dalek Sec and Dalek Thay watch from the Empire State Building via visual link. The leader, Solomon, tries to reason with the Daleks, appealing to their sense of mercy. As pure Daleks have none, Caan promptly exterminates him. Sec gasps as Solomon falls to the ground. Furious, the Doctor steps out and demands they kill him too. Caan is more than willing to oblige him but is ordered to stop by Dalek Sec, who requests that the Doctor be returnd to the Daleks' genetics laboratory. Hesitating, Caan and Jast begrudgingly obey. The Doctor, noting that the Daleks have changed their minds for the first time in history, agrees to be taken to the laboratory on the condition that the Daleks do not kill the residents of Hooverville. Martha asks the Doctor whether she can go with him, but the Doctor refuses, saying that she should help the injured. At the same time, he slips her the psychic paper.

At the lab, the Doctor is furious that the Daleks killed people, even though Dalek Sec only wanted the Doctor. Sec admits that the deaths were wrong and that he admired Solomon's courage. Sec explains to the Doctor how he wants to create a new race with combined Dalek and human DNA by 'formatting' the human brain, ready for information to be loaded onto it, thus ensuring that the Daleks will live on in these new hybrids. As Earth's power generation capabilities are inadequate for the task, Sec plans to use a gamma strike from a solar flare (only eleven minutes away) which will hit the Empire State Building as an energy source, but there are problems which only the Doctor's knowledge can fix. The Doctor has no choice but to help the Daleks. He prepares the gene solution, ready to be fed into the human 'shells'. In the meantime, Sec explains that the new race will have the intelligence of a Dalek, but the emotions of a human. He also states that the Daleks' obsession with universal supremacy must be removed, which the others protest. The Doctor asks Sec about the Pig Slaves; Sec explains that none survive for more than a few weeks, as Laszlo overhears him. However, seven minutes before the flare, as the gene-solution containing Sec's altered DNA is pumped into the humans, the other Daleks override the system and make them pure Dalek. Dalek Caan leads a mutiny, taking Sec and the Doctor hostage. They propose that Sec is no longer Dalek, and hence not worthy of leadership. The Doctor and Laszlo escape to the elevator and ascend to the top of the Empire State Building. Dalek Caan orders the Pig Slaves to pursue them and kill the Doctor.

At the same time, Martha, Frank, and Tallulah use the psychic paper to gain entry into the Empire State Building. Upon reaching the top floor, they scan the building's blueprints, looking for any changes in design or construction. They discover the panels added to the spire. The Doctor and Laszlo arrive. informed of the change, the Doctor climbs up to the top of the building and tries to remove the panels. However, he only manages to remove one before losing his grip on the sonic screwdriver; all he can do is hug the pole as the lightning strikes. Meanwhile, Martha has made a makeshift lightning rod from some spare pipes to divert the lightning onto the elevator, electrocuting the Pig Slaves as they arrive.

The Dalek humans awaken, and Dalek Caan designates himself their controller. Sec angrily states that the job was to be his, but Caan deems him unfit and orders the Dalek humans to take up arms (Thompsons fitted with standard Dalek laser weapons). The army heads into the sewers, and the Doctor, Martha, Tallulah, Frank and Laszlo head for Tallulah's theatre.

At the theatre, the Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver to let the Daleks know where he is, and a squad of Dalek humans march in. Daleks Thay and Jast come blasting through onto the stage, with Sec bound in chains. The Doctor tries to tell the Daleks that what they have done to Sec is wrong, because he is the most intelligent Dalek who ever existed. They prepare to exterminate the Doctor, but Sec tries to reason with them. When that fails, Sec sacrifices himself by standing in the way of a blast which Thay had intended for the Doctor. The Doctor showed his respect for Sec by calling him the only creature who could have led the Daleks out of the darkness. He then demands that the Daleks order the Dalek humans kill him. Dalek Thay gives the order, but the Dalek humans do not respond. One of the Dalek humans repeatedly questions Thay's orders, and eventually states that they are not Daleks. The Doctor reveals that, because he hugged the pole as the lightning came through, some Time Lord DNA was mixed with the hybrids and gave the Dalek humans freedom. Thay promptly kills the one who questioned his orders, and the other Dalek humans then return fire. Thay and Jast kill several more but are eventually overwhelmed by the sheer volume of lasers. Back in the building, watching via the visual link, Caan states that the Dalek humans are a failure, and commands the Dalek Humans to "destruct". All the Dalek humans suddenly clutch their heads in agony and collapse.

After witnessing this genocide, the Doctor goes to the Empire State Building to confront Caan, both of them the last of their respective species. He offers to help, telling Caan that he is probably the only person in the universe that would show him any compassion. He has already seen one genocide today; he does not want to see another. Caan replies with a cry of "Emergency Temporal Shift!" and, as the Doctor lunges forward to stop him, Caan vanishes.

Laszlo is on his deathbed, so the Doctor starts to work on a solution to save him, stating that "there's been enough death today." Later, Laszlo (still a Pig Slave, but alive and healthy) and Tallulah are in the park. Frank comes and tells Laszlo that he talked to the residents of Hooverville, and that they will take him in and give him a home; as always, Hooverville is the place people can go when they have nowhere else. As the Doctor and Martha are about to enter the TARDIS, Martha says there's somebody for everyone; the Doctor's reply is noncommittal. Martha then asks the Doctor if he thinks he will ever meet Dalek Caan again, and the Doctor responds, "Oh, yes. One day."

Continuity

*The Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver in conjunction with a wireless radio to emit a high-pitched shriek that temporarily paralysed the Daleks and the Pig Slaves, facilitating an escape. Previously, in "The Runaway Bride", he used the screwdriver in conjunction with a wedding DJ's sound system to deactivate the Robot Santas.
*In "Smith and Jones", the Doctor referred to his having received an electric shock when helping Benjamin Franklin fly his kite. In this episode, he again proves resilient to high levels of electrical current. This ability was also demonstrated in "Terror of the Zygons", "World War Three", "Genesis of the Daleks" and the audio stories "Spare Parts" and "Blood of the Daleks".
* When hurrying to the vaudeville theatre, The Doctor says "Allons-y"; the second time he uses the catchphrase after "Army of Ghosts".
*The idea of humans being the "great survivors" re-surfaced in "Utopia".

Daleks

*This is the first episode to use the familiar "_____ of the Daleks" titling scheme since 1988's "Remembrance of the Daleks". The scheme was started on screen with "The Power of the Daleks" in 1966, although the earlier "The Dalek Invasion of Earth" (which had no onscreen title) had "The Return of the Daleks" as a working title.
*The Daleks count in rels, the Dalek unit of time, about equal to one second. [cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/episodes/2007/facts/fact_305.shtml|title=Doctor Who - Fact File - Evolution of the Daleks|accessdate=2007-04-28] The measurement was first introduced in the non-canonical movie "Dr. Who and the Daleks" (1965), then introduced to the TV continuity in "Doomsday" (2006).
*Several other "Doctor Who" stories have featured Daleks and human beings being combined in different ways. These include:
**"The Evil of the Daleks": humans are infused with the "Dalek Factor", and Daleks infused with the "Human Factor"
**"Revelation of the Daleks": human beings kept in suspended animation, pending the discovery of disease cures, are instead converted into Daleks
**"Dalek": a Dalek extracts human DNA to regenerate itself, and is altered in the process
**"The Parting of the Ways": the Daleks in this story are all created from humans by the Dalek Emperor
**The "Doctor Who Quick Reads" book "I am a Dalek": The Dalek Factor is added to humans in the Roman era
*At the climax of this story, the Daleks are defeated when the human/Dalek hybrids turn on them. The Daleks are similarly overthrown by their creations in "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", in which the Doctor's companions turn the Robomen, humans conditioned to serve the Daleks, against their masters.
*The Daleks once again show a weakness to their own weapons, as previously seen in "The Evil of the Daleks", "Planet of the Daleks" and "The Five Doctors". Daleks Thay and Jast are destroyed by a constant barrage of fire from the variant Dalek energy weapons wielded by the hybrids.
*Davros is obliquely referenced for the second time since the show's return in 2005 (the first having been in "Dalek").
* Dalek Sec refers to the "emergency temporal shift" that it activated in "Doomsday", explaining that all of the Cult of Skaro escaped being sucked into the Void by this method. Dalek Caan also initiates a similar shift at the end of this episode.
* Dalekanium, referenced in this episode and "Daleks in Manhattan", was first referred to in "The Dalek Invasion of Earth".
* Once again, the Daleks use a 'battle computer' to direct mass operations on Earth, as in "Remembrance of the Daleks". On that occasion, it was controlled by an altered human girl; here, it is operated by a direct link to Dalek Caan.
*The Daleks state that they first attempted to reproduce themselves in New York by creating Dalek "embryos". Dalek embryo technology and an "embryo room" were previously seen in "Genesis of the Daleks". The idea of Daleks being genetically replicated was previously seen in "Power of the Daleks".

Production

*Some second unit filming for this story was done in New York City. [cite journal
quotes = "Seven hours a-flying!" That's how long it took for our director, James Strong, and his team to fly to JFK, for the Official First Ever "Doctor Who" Shoot in New York!
last = Davies
first = Russell T
authorlink = Russell T Davies
date = 2007-12-03 cover date
title = Production Notes: 12 Facts a-Facting!
journal = Doctor Who Magazine
issue = 377
pages = 66 ] It primarily consisted of static shots of landmarks and landscape views, many of which were digitally altered to remove architecture created since the story's setting. This constitutes the first time any filming for "Doctor Who" has been conducted in America. (The 1996 TV movie, although produced for an American network, was actually filmed in Canada; an earlier story, "The Two Doctors", was originally to have been filmed in New Orleans, but the budget of the time would not allow it.)
*The presence of the Daleks in this story was reported by the "News of the World" on 12 November 2006, [cite news|publisher=News of the World|title=Dalek return|last=Richardson|first=Rachel|page=31|date=12 November 2006] and confirmed by the BBC in late December.cite news |title=Doctor battles Daleks in New York |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6211731.stm |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |date=2006-12-27 |accessdate=2006-12-27 ]

Outside references

*"Happy Days Are Here Again" by Milton Ager and Jack Yellen is heard on the radio.
*Martha makes a reference to the 1957 film "The Prince and the Showgirl" starring Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier, adapting it to Laszlo and Tallulah's situation as "The pig and showgirl".
*When the Doctor and Martha first go to Hooverville, "Puttin' on the Ritz" by Benny Goodman can be heard in the background.
*When the Doctor arrives in the lift, he says "First Floor, Perfumery", in the manner of a department store lift attendant. This method of announcing both floor and departments found thereon is also used as the basis of the theme music to the BBC situation comedy "Are You Being Served?". Since Britons typically use the phrase "ground floor" to describe what Americans would call "the first floor", the line is an ostensible Americanisation of the "Are You Being Served?" theme's first verse, [http://www.behindthesofa.org.uk/2007/05/daleks_invasion.html Behind the Sofa's review of "Evolution of the Daleks"] which begins with the words, "Ground Floor, Perfumery". [http://home.hiwaay.net/~emilyj/theme.html Lyrics for "Are You Being Served?"]

References

External links

*BBCDWnew | year=2007 |id = 305| title = Evolution of the Daleks
*Doctor Who RG | id= who_tv26 | title=Daleks in Manhattan" / "Evolution of the Daleks | quotes=y
*Brief | id=2007de| title=Daleks in Manhattan" / "Evolution of the Daleks | quotes=y
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/doctorwho/ram/305_preview?size=16x9&bgc=CC0000&nbram=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1 "it's started"] — episode trailer

Reviews

*OG review | id=2007-05| title=Evolution of the Daleks | quotes=y