9. The Daleks Need Pig Slaves Why Now?
First, can we all agree to call the episode "Daleks
Take Manhattan" instead of "Daleks
in Manhattan". It puts them more pleasingly in the line of not just the Angels, but also Jason
and the Muppets. So. Mr. Diagoras has a mysterious set of new 'Masters' that are controlling the building of the Empire State Building. You know, the way that mysterious Masters do. He summons these mysterious 'Masters' from the basement to deal with an employee relations problem, and we're treated to an extended, tension-raising shot of the elevator indicator sign slowly moving our way. At least is would be a tension-raising shot, were the episode not entitled "
Daleks in Manhattan" which gives the game away just a little bit. However, this is certainly not our first rodeo for this exact thing. There's a fifty year old tradition of spending the first episode building up a mysterious adversary, only to reveal in the last shot of the first episode that it's - gasp - a Dalek! Just as had been advertised for months
and clearly mentioned in the title. (See also: Daleks, Planet of the; Death to the; Power of the; Evil of the; and Genesis of;) So you might forgive the viewership for being less than blown over with shock when the elevator doors opened and - gasp - there were Daleks! And... um... I'm sorry, are those anthropomorphic pigs... behind the Daleks there...? Which is probably why the pigs were there to be fair. They knew we were expecting Daleks, but no one expects Dalek Pig men! And obviously the pig men weren't just there for a surprise. They were vital to the Daleks' plan for... um... The Daleks needed them to... uh... Later, they were crucial for... Hmm. Well, sod all, actually. They do a little dramatic menacing, a bit of fetch and carry and there's a brief mention of them being trained to tear people apart with their fangs, not that we ever see it. Personally I think they're just there entirely for that interior elevator shot of the group of them staring up at the progress indicator, which just proves that pig men hate pointless small talk as much as anybody. They may also have been a deliberate attempt to recreate the joy of...