'Evolution of the Daleks' (Story Code 3.5) by Helen Raynor

“The population will be converted into Daleks. And from this island we will conquer the world!” - Dalek

With the creation of the Dalek Sec-human hybrid, the Children of Skaro now walk again. Having instructed his Dalek minions to prepare the captive humans for hybridisation, Dalek Sec tells the Doctor that he arrived in New York after using a temporal shift to escape the Torchwood battle. During the conversation, the Doctor realises that Sec’s admiration of mankind’s genius for war shows that the hybrid is beginning to experience human emotions; playing to his adversary’s feelings, the Doctor draws Sec’s attention to a radio, and then uses his sonic screwdriver on the device to create a sonic attack; as the Daleks are thrown into confusion, the Doctor urges his friends to escape to the safety of the sewers. Sec orders the pig-slaves and two of his fellow Daleks to give pursuit, but the Doctor and his party manage to escape to the surface, where they quickly make for Hooverville. With their quarry out of reach, the two Daleks begin to voice their doubts over Sec’s ability to lead the Cult of Skaro. Warning Solomon and the inhabitants of Hooverville that the Daleks plan to use them in their experiments, the Doctor urges them to take up arms to defend themselves against an attack. However, his words come too late, and as the pig-slaves begin an assault on the shantytown, they are soon joined by two airborne Daleks; although Solomon and his men attempt valiantly to hold off the attack, they are easily outnumbered, and it is not long before the Daleks demand their surrender. When Solomon attempts to reason with the Daleks, he is callously shot down – an action that is not condoned by Dalek Sec. The Doctor too is furious, but complies with Sec’s instructions that he be brought to the Dalek control room, on the condition that the humans be allowed to go free; when Sec agrees, the Doctor bids Martha a quick goodbye, slipping her his psychic paper in the process. Arriving in the basement of the Empire State Building, the Doctor confronts Sec over the deaths of the humans; Sec surprises him by agreeing that his comrades’ actions were wrong, commenting that Solomon’s actions were admirable. While the other three members of the Cult of Skaro become concerned that their leader is becoming human, Sec himself observes that while the Doctor is the last of his race, he is the first of a new race of Daleks. Sec explains that when their earlier attempts to create Dalek mutants failed, they changed their plans and amassed a stockpile of thousands of kidnapped humans, each of whom has had their mind wiped in preparation of being overwritten with Dalek thoughts; the Daleks now plan to use the gamma radiation from an imminent gigantic solar flare to provide the power that will enable him to splice Sec’s Dalek-human genetic material onto that of the captive humans – creating a new race of Dalek-thinking humans. When the Doctor protests that there is no room for another race on Earth, Sec asks that he use his TARDIS to take them to a new planet on which to begin a new life; the Doctor begrudgingly agrees to help, and, joining forces with his foes, begins preparations for the experiment’s implementation. Unseen, Laszlo sneaks into the control room along with the other pig-men. Meanwhile, Martha works out that the Doctor wants her to deactivate the energy converter atop the Empire State Building. Together with Tallulah and Frank, Martha uses the psychic paper to gain access to the construction; they soon arrive at the top floor of the building, where, with the aid of the building schematics, they discover that the Daleks have added Dalekanium panels to the mast. As the Doctor and Sec prepare the hybrid gene feed for activation, the other three Daleks mutiny, declaring their leader an enemy and overriding his authority. After the pig-slaves seize the Doctor and Sec, the trio of Daleks substitute the hybrid solution for one of pure Dalek DNA; when the three Daleks become distracted by the onset of the solar flare, the Doctor and Laszlo make a break for the lift, and quickly rejoin Martha, Tallulah and Frank. With only six minutes before the solar flare, the Doctor climbs up onto the scaffolding and begins removing the Dalekanium panels. As the Daleks ascend in the lift, Martha and her comrades prepare for a fight, but then Laszlo collapses; desperately formulating a plan, Martha instructs Frank to help her connect scaffolding poles to the antenna and point them at the lift doors. The Doctor manages to pull off one of the panels, but then drops his sonic screwdriver; his options running out, he then climbs onto the antenna – just as the lightening strikes. While the Time Lord’s body convulses from the energy surge, the pig-men below are fried from the blast conducted along the scaffolding. Down in the Dalek control room, the gamma energy transfers the Daleks’ genetic material into the human prisoners, causing an army of Dalek-humans to awake. The Daleks instruct their new army to take up arms and enter the sewers – the invasion of Manhattan has begun. Reaching the Doctor’s side just as he comes to, Martha returns the sonic screwdriver to her friend. With Dalek Sec now in chains, Dalek Caan takes command and connects itself to the military computer in preparation for full-scale war. The Doctor and his friends head for the theatre, where the Time Lord deliberately draws the attention of his enemies by activating the sonic screwdriver; detecting the Doctor’s presence, Caan sends in the Dalek-humans, who burst in and surround everyone at gunpoint. Dalek Thay and Dalek Jast blast through the wall and glide onto the stage at the front of the house, dragging along their chained prisoner, Dalek Sec. When the Doctor’s warnings of the folly of death and destruction fall unheeded, the two Daleks prepare to gun him down; however, at the last moment Sec intercedes, and he is cut down by his comrades’ extermination beam instead. The Daleks order the hybrids to open fire, but their newly created slaves refuse, questioning their orders to kill. The Doctor explains that when the lightening struck, his Time Lord DNA got in the way, giving the hybrids the freedom to think for themselves. As the Daleks and hybrids opens fire on each other, the Doctor and his party dive for cover; Thay and Jast are destroyed, but at the cost of several of the hybrids, but then the remaining people are killed when Caan activates their inbuilt self-destruct imperative. The Doctor is furious at this act of genocide, and storms down to the basement to confront Dalek Caan; he attempts to negotiate with the creature, but Caan activates an emergency temporal shift, and immediately vanishes before the Time Lord’s eyes. When Laszlo collapses in Tallulah’s arms, his life nearly at an end, the Doctor adamantly declares that no one else will die, and he uses the resources of the Dalek laboratory to save the pig-man’s life. Some time later, Frank offers a cured Laszlo the option of staying in Hooverville, much to Tallulah’s delight. The Doctor and Martha bid farewell to their friends and return to their travels in the TARDIS…

David Tennant (The Doctor), Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones), Miranda Raison (Tallulah), Ryan Carnes (Laszlo), Hugh Quarshie (Solomon), Andrew Garfield (Frank), Eric Loren (Dalek Sec), Earl Perkins (Man #1), Barnaby Edwards, Nicholas Pegg, Anthony Sargo, David Harkinson (Dalek Operators), Nicholas Briggs (Dalek Voices), Paul Kasey (Hero Pig), Ian Porter (Hybrid)

Directed by James Strong
Produced by Phil Collinson
Executive Producers Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner
A BBC Wales production

TX:
28th April 2007 @ 6.45 pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha

*Part 2 of a 2-part story

*Heard on the radio is 'Happy Days Are Here Again', music by Milton Ager and lyrics by Jack Yellen