Daleks in Manhattan

Plot

The TARDIS materialises on Liberty Island, bringing the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones to New York City in November 1930, the depths of the Great Depression. A newspaper story about missing people leads them to Hooverville, a makeshift tent city in Central Park. There, the camp's leader, Solomon, fills them in on the disappearances. A rich man named Mr Diagoras arrives to hire workers for sewer construction.

The Doctor, Martha, Solomon, and a young man called Frank sign on. In the sewers, they are told to dig out a blocked tunnel. While exploring, the Doctor collects a sample of strange alien organic matter. The group soon flees from Pig Slaves, but Frank is caught.

The Doctor, Martha, and Solomon escape up a ladder into a theatre, where they meet Tallulah, a showgirl whose boyfriend Laszlo has vanished. Using theatre equipment, the Doctor builds a matter analyser while Martha comforts Tallulah. During Tallulah's performance, Martha sees a Pig Slave onstage and chases it into the sewers, where she is captured. The Doctor and Tallulah follow, finding the Pig Slave is actually Laszlo.

They also see a Dalek, confirming the Doctor's analysis that the organic matter is from Skaro. Laszlo reveals the Daleks are behind the disappearances, turning people into Pig Slaves or using them for an unknown experiment. Tallulah tries to get back to the theatre but gets lost, while the Doctor and Laszlo sneak into the unfinished Empire State Building. They find Martha and Frank, and the group encounters the Cult of Skaro.

The Doctor hangs back as Martha asks the Daleks their plan. The Daleks explain they want to merge the Dalek and human races. Dalek Sec performs the first test on himself, fusing with Mr Diagoras to become the first Dalek-human hybrid.

Production

Steven Moffat was initially assigned to the two-parter but pulled out from the episodes, offering to write the series' Doctor-lite episode Blink instead to make up for the inconvenience to the production team. Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks was given to Helen Raynor, who is the first woman to write a televised Dalek story and the first woman to write a story for the revived series. Some filming for this story was done in New York City for plates of the city, including images of Central Park, the Empire State Building, and the Statue of Liberty.

However, on the online episode commentary for Gridlock, David Tennant, when asked if he filmed in New York, replied, I didn't, everybody else did! All of the scenes with Martha and the Doctor in front of the Statue of Liberty were actually filmed in Wales. The production team found a wall that matched the base of the statue. The Mill also used the shoot for elements of the Majestic Theatre.

This episode includes the first location filming outside of the United Kingdom since Doctor Who's return in 2005. Several original Doctor Who stories included location filming outside of the UK: City of Death (1979) included filming in Paris, Arc of Infinity (1983) included filming in Amsterdam, Planet of Fire (1984) included filming in Lanzarote, and The Two Doctors (1985) included filming in and near Seville. Also, the entirety of the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie was filmed in Vancouver, apart from some stock footage of San Francisco and world capitals.

Scenes set at the Hooverville shanty town were filmed at Bute Park, Cardiff from 9–11 and 13–14 November 2006. The dance scene was rehearsed in London but shot in the Parc and Dare Hall, in Treorchy, South Wales on 15 November. A shot supposedly in the Hooverville shows the Empire State Building, incomplete, looming over trees in the background. In fact the building is about 2 km from Central Park, much further than might be inferred from the shot.

Similarly the view of the southern tip of Manhattan from Liberty Island is exaggerated to make the building seem part of southern Manhattan and close to Liberty Island. The true distance is about 8 km from the island to the building. The closest point on Manhattan is 2.6 km from the island.

Broadcast and reception

The episode drew 6.69 million viewers in its final ratings. It was later released on DVD alongside "Evolution of the Daleks," "The Lazarus Experiment," and "42," with no bonus content. Mark Wright of The Stage gave a positive review, commending the use of the setting, the portrayal of the Daleks, David Tennant’s performance, and the supporting cast. He felt the two-part format allowed the story to breathe, and called the script among the best modern Doctor Who has to offer.

SFX’s Richard Edwards was also generally favorable toward the two-parter, but noted that the cliffhanger in "Daleks in Manhattan" was weakened because Radio Times had already revealed Dalek Sec’s hybrid form. IGN’s Travis Fickett was less impressed, rating it 6.5 out of 10. He thought the Daleks came across as goofy and almost comic relief, and disagreed with Wright by calling Tallulah an offensive stereotype and the other American characters annoying stock figures.

Despite praising Tennant and Freema Agyeman’s acting along with some striking visuals, Fickett criticized the premise for lacking coherence and having a muddled message.