"Evolution of the Daleks" is the fifth episode of the third series of the revived British

science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...

series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''. It was first broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

on 28 April 2007, and is the conclusion of the two-part story begun in "

Daleks in Manhattan "Daleks in Manhattan" is the fourth episode of the third series of British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast on BBC One on 21 April 2007. It is part one of a two-part story. Its concluding part, "Evoluti ...

" on 21 April. The episode is set in New York City in 1930. In the episode,

Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in the 1963 ''Doctor Who'' ...

Sec (

Eric Loren Eric Loren is an American film and television actor based in London. He played Mr Diagoras and the Dalek Sec Hybrid in the long-running British TV series '' Doctor Who''. He also played Kurtis Trent in '' Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness'' ...

) of the Cult of Skaro attempts to make further alterations to his human test subjects he intends to remake into a new race of Daleks as part of his species' evolution. Sec is betrayed by his fellow Daleks for doing this. According to

Broadcasters' Audience Research Board The Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB) is a British organisation that compiles audience measurement and television ratings in the United Kingdom. It was created in 1981 to replace two previous systems whereby ITV ratings were compiled ...

figures this episode was seen by 6.97 million viewers and was the seventeenth most popular broadcast on British television in that week.

Plot

After the creation of the hybrid

-human, the

Tenth Doctor The Tenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the main protagonist of the BBC science fiction television franchise ''Doctor Who''. He is played by David Tennant in three series as well as nine specials. As with previous incarnations of the ...

confronts the Cult of Skaro and helps

Martha Martha (Hebrew: מָרְתָא‎) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness to ...

and Frank escape. As Dalek Sec begins experiencing emotions Dalek Caan and Dalek Jast discuss their lack of confidence in him. The Doctor and Martha return to

Hooverville A "Hooverville" was a shanty town built during the Great Depression by the homeless in the United States. They were named after Herbert Hoover, who was President of the United States during the onset of the Depression and was widely blamed for it. ...

, which is attacked by the Daleks. Although Solomon is killed, Dalek Sec orders the Doctor to be brought to him alive. At the Dalek lab at the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...

, the Doctor learns that the Daleks are planning to combine their DNA with humans and create more hybrids. The process requires more energy than can be generated with the technology of 1930, so the Daleks plan to use

gamma radiation A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ or \gamma), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic waves, typically s ...

from a

solar flare A solar flare is an intense localized eruption of electromagnetic radiation in the Sun's atmosphere. Flares occur in active regions and are often, but not always, accompanied by coronal mass ejections, solar particle events, and other solar phe ...

. The Doctor agrees to help once he realises that the human subjects are already brain dead and cannot be saved otherwise. He also offers to take the new hybrids and the Daleks to a new planet so they can start over, to which Dalek Sec agrees. Daleks Caan, Jast, and Thay stage a mutiny, chaining up Dalek Sec and declaring him a traitor. The Daleks then decide to replace the human DNA completely with their own. The Doctor regroups with Martha, who has broken into the Empire State Building with Tallulah and Frank and analysed the building plans together. Martha tells the Doctor he must remove the Dalekanium panels on the mast of the building to stop the energy collection. The Doctor does not remove the Dalekanium in time and holds the mast as the strike hits. The energy flows down the building, awakening the new hybrids. The Doctor returns to the theatre with the human-Dalek army following them in the sewers. In the theatre, the Doctor pleads with Daleks Thay and Jast to listen to Dalek Sec and let him help. They refuse, attempting to kill the Doctor but Sec steps in between and sacrifices himself. The Daleks order their army to kill the Doctor, but find that the humans are questioning orders. By exposing himself to the gamma strike, the Doctor caused some of his

Time Lord The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', of which the series' main protagonist, The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor, is a memb ...

DNA to transfer to the human shells. The army kill Thay and Jast. Dalek Caan activates a termination sequence to kill the rest of the army. Upset by this act of genocide, the Doctor returns to the Dalek lab to face Caan, but Caan escapes via temporal shift.

Production

The theatre sequence was filmed at the Parc & Dare Theatre, Treorchy. Scenes set at the Hooverville shanty town were filmed at Bute Park, Cardiff. Some second unit filming for this story was done in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. 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 second time any filming for ''Doctor Who'' has been conducted in America. (The 1996 TV movie, although produced in Vancouver, Canada, included establishing shots of San Francisco filmed by a second unit; an earlier story, ''

The Two Doctors ''The Two Doctors'' is the fourth serial of the Doctor Who (season 22), 22nd season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in three weekly parts on BBC One, BBC1 from 16 February to 2 March 1985 ...

'', was originally to have been filmed in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, 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 The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...

'' on 12 November 2006, and confirmed by the BBC in late December.

References

External links

*
"it's started"
��episode trailer * {{Dalek stories, selected=Television Tenth Doctor episodes Dalek television stories Doctor Who pseudohistorical serials Doctor Who stories set on Earth 2007 British television episodes Television episodes set in New York City Television episodes set during the Great Depression Television episodes about homelessness Fiction set in 1930 Television episodes set in the 1930s