Dr Who Episode 2904 Daleks in Manhatten (spoilers)

[NecronLord]

Well original Daleks could be driven by a guy lifting the top and sitting inside using levers and shit.

Did Ian actually drive the Dalek? I thought he had to be pushed around by Barbara and Susan, 'though it's been a while since I've seen the episode.

He worked out the controls eventually.

[Big Orange]

Hey!

Solomon's Captain Panaka from The Phantom Menace isn't he?

Yeah, I see him now again on Casualty and Holby City - he also turns up as a policeman opposite Richard Dean Anderson in some cheesy early 1990s adventure film involving Atlantis.

He worked out the controls eventually.

I kinda of thought Daleks would have a neural link up inside their hermetically sealed casings, although when Dalek Sec revealed himself twice when his casing unsealed itself you could see a control panel folding up. It's odd that Dalek Sec's casing interior seems to be surprisingly spacious, even though the travel machine generates powerful energy shields, powered flight and weaponry.

And did any get a hint of Ratcliffe with the unscrupulous construction tycoon, Mr Diagoras? Daleks have a thing for businessmen in the construction industry...

[NecronLord]

I kinda of thought Daleks would have a neural link up inside their hermetically sealed casings, although when Dalek Sec revealed himself twice when his casing unsealed itself you could see a control panel folding up.

Yes and no. They certainly had such things as of Rememberance (Davros' faction) and in non-canonical material. However, the episode we're talking about was the first one, where they couldn't even leave their city. They were a lot more primative then.

It's odd that Dalek Sec's casing interior seems to be surprisingly spacious, even though the travel machine generates powerful energy shields, powered flight and weaponry.

He's a hero character of a Time Lord beating race! He can afford fancy toys.

[Zac Naloen]

Looks like the Dalek's where impressed by humanity's ridiculous ability to survive(IIRC humanity survives well over 5 billion years according to DW:EU, and even then after all of humanity gets exterminated by the Time Lords, they legacy remembers all of them and lives on) as for why the Void Ship originally crashed back into Earth. The time period they shifted back to was the ideal period for them, no nuclear weapons but the ability to develop them in under 10 years with the current infrastructure, dirt cheap labor and lots of it, a political enviroment which didnt give a shit if dozens disappeared in the middle of a major city.

Hold on, The Human Race was wiped out by the Time Lords... why?

[DaveJB]

It happened in The Trial of a Time Lord - the Time Lords moved a sizable chunk of the Milky Way galaxy across a few light years to cover up the fact that someone had broken into the Matrix from Earth and helped themselves to a load of Time Lord secrets. It was intended that everyone and everything on Earth would be destroyed in the process, but some humans still survived.

[DocHorror]

An okay episode.

The Good: The Daleks! I can't get enough of them. The sets looked good & the dialogue generally good.

The Bad: The accents drove me nuts. I know they wanted Neu Yark, but christ

The Ugly: The plot with the dancer & the pig man, would have preferred more Daleks instead of characters we don't give a shit about.

Did anyone else find the way Sec's eye-stalk moved when he spoke irritating?

The pigmen were okay, I'd have prefered Robo-men, but its aimed at kids; kids'd get pigmen.

All in all an okay episode. Interested to see next week & how the Daleks escape again.

[Big Orange]

Yes and no. They certainly had such things as of Rememberance (Davros' faction) and in non-canonical material. However, the episode we're talking about was the first one, where they couldn't even leave their city. They were a lot more primative then.

I imagine the Dalek casings have miniature industrial systems built into them (nanomachines?) that could process local raw resources and build up small Dalek structures or equipment (which was what they doing in their Empire State lair). But I was disappointed that the Daleks last episode had a limited sensore range if they could be evaded by hiding in a tunnel alcove (when the same Daleks could detect Cybermen across the globe and in the earlier episode could scan people through space station bulkheads).

He's a hero character of a Time Lord beating race! He can afford fancy toys.

Well the Daleks did not "win" if their entire grand armada was burnt to a crips and Dalek Sec was hinding inside the Black Sphere O' Doom.

[Stark]

I have to somewhat agree with Orange here: the Daleks have talk-lights and eye-lights on the same circuit (eye-light dimming when they speak is SO 70s), have no peripheral vision or sensors, can't hear someone saying 'Doctor!' less than five meters from them, and can't even see the Doctor IN THE SAME FUCKING ROOM.

I can buy Sec's casing having been already 'prepared' for eating a person, since he didn't move much and had been planning it... but the other stuff? Deaf, blind Daleks with low-volt lights? Urk. I hope they installed a syringe port!

[Xon]

Hold on, The Human Race was wiped out by the Time Lords... why?

It has happened a few times in DW:EU too, but the Time Lords have what amounts to an "undo" button for most things

[NecronLord]

Well the Daleks did not "win" if their entire grand armada was burnt to a crips and Dalek Sec was hinding inside the Black Sphere O' Doom.

The Doctor says the Time Lords lost, and, in true General Haig fashion, the Time Lords now have one man, and they have four, and they have won the Great War.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Well the Daleks did not "win" if their entire grand armada was burnt to a crips and Dalek Sec was hinding inside the Black Sphere O' Doom.

The Doctor says the Time Lords lost, and, in true General Haig fashion, the Time Lords now have one man, and they have four, and they have won the Great War.

More like 6 actually .


Also concerning the episode: Daleks were awesome (Though the whole Octopus suction slime from hell thing is new), the best thing about Dr.Who (well, them and the doctor), and their newest theme music is also awesome.
"In-Fer-ior IN-TELL-IGENCE, YOU WI-LL B-ECOME PIG SLAVES".
How can you not love a race that invents pig-slaves .
The reveal was also awesome "Behold, your masters" even if it was spoiled by the preview and episode title.

Dancer and pig-man was predictable and formulaic, and a waste of time.
The Italian accents & 30's music were overdone & over-used.

The sensor thing was really funky, optical sensors is one thing, since we've seen that they do see in a narrow arc (at least seeing on the whole "See through bulk-heads level", not just close range optics), but not hearing the shouts?
I do see why it would be set, due to the fact that otherwise you lose the ability to have "hiding" scenes.

Maybe it can be chalked up to the damage and jury-rigged components? We saw them replacing panelling with fucking Ceramics, surely sensor damage might also be feasible.

[Vegi]

Decent episode, though I expected a bit more from a dalek episode. I also think that Dalek Sec will fail and the other Daleks who have shown they're not entirely convinced that his plan is correct, will exterminate him for his failure.

[Stark]

I'm hoping they use the ESB to recharge and say 'all systems coming on line... HOLY FUCK THE DOCTOR IS LIKE RIGHT THERE JESUS'. Hopefully they're not retarded, they're just in power-save mode given their lack of backup, hence no EW or sensors or whatever.

[Imperial Overlord]

I'm hoping they use the ESB to recharge and say 'all systems coming on line... HOLY FUCK THE DOCTOR IS LIKE RIGHT THERE JESUS'. Hopefully they're not retarded, they're just in power-save mode given their lack of backup, hence no EW or sensors or whatever.

Either that or they're feigning ignorance to suck the Doctor so they can do something horrible to him.

[Stark]

Either that or they're feigning ignorance to suck the Doctor so they can do something horrible to him.

Yeah, Flash speculated that maybe they'll cry 'yoink got ur TARDIS' and run off. Anything is better than short-sighted Daleks.

[NecronLord]

To be fair to them, it's not like they're going to seriously be examining their slaves, and it's only been half a minute, and they've been rather preoccupied.

[Hillary]

Mrs Hillary made the comment after last week's story that half of Martha's lines sounded like they'd been written for Rose. After watching this episode, I tend to agree with her - the odd line here and there just doesn't seem to fit with her character, which is rather more intelligent than the dizzy blond chav.

As for the Daleks not spotting the Doctor, I'm hoping Stark is right.

All in all, a decent set up for next week with the human dalek creature thingamy. Great stuff.

[Drooling Iguana]

I'm hoping they use the ESB to recharge and say 'all systems coming on line... HOLY FUCK THE DOCTOR IS LIKE RIGHT THERE JESUS'. Hopefully they're not retarded, they're just in power-save mode given their lack of backup, hence no EW or sensors or whatever.

Either that or they're feigning ignorance to suck the Doctor so they can do something horrible to him.

WOULD YOU LIKE A JELL-Y BAB-Y?

[petesampras]

Decent episode, though I expected a bit more from a dalek episode. I also think that Dalek Sec will fail and the other Daleks who have shown they're not entirely convinced that his plan is correct, will exterminate him for his failure.

Dunno if they will want to kill of Sec. We could end up with rebel 'pure' Daleks versus hybrid Daleks under Sec as an ongoing theme. I read somewhere about the Doctor making - 'a deal with the devil' or something like that in the next episode.

I'm just waiting for Timewar Daleks, which were near impervious to advanced 21st century weapons, to get beat by 1930s 'street gang' level weapons. You all know this could happen, I really wish Dr Who would apply some consistancy.

Still nothing beats a bomb with a third the power required to destroy a planet, later on being shown to have about as much power as a grenade in one of the cybermen stories.

[NecronLord]

I'm just waiting for Timewar Daleks, which were near impervious to advanced 21st century weapons, to get beat by 1930s 'street gang' level weapons.

You've clearly not watched the preview for next episode.

[petesampras]

I'm just waiting for Timewar Daleks, which were near impervious to advanced 21st century weapons, to get beat by 1930s 'street gang' level weapons.

You've clearly not watched the preview for next episode.

Sadly I missed it, flatmate wanted to change channel as soon as episode ended. Is it viewable anywhere?

[Teleros]

This any help Pete ?

[Teleros]

Wups, wrong link. This is the one you're after.

[Big Orange]

I'm hoping they use the ESB to recharge and say 'all systems coming on line... HOLY FUCK THE DOCTOR IS LIKE RIGHT THERE JESUS'. Hopefully they're not retarded, they're just in power-save mode given their lack of backup, hence no EW or sensors or whatever.

I hope that would probably happen, since as I said earlier that Dalek prowling around the sewer tunnels and the Daleks in general seemed pretty dopey and nowhere near as perceptive as they seemed in the last two seasons with their travel machines apparently possessing starship grade sensors - also you wonder why their equipment in their basement lair never detected the TARDIS phasing in just a few miles away (you would've thought they would be wary about another major spacepower coming to Earth if the Daleks did something to attract notable attention).

[2000AD]

Hey!

Solomon's Captain Panaka from The Phantom Menace isn't he?

Yup, he was also in Casualty (Or Holby CIty, one of the two) and after looking him up I find that apparently he was the black dude in Highlander too, cool.