| Dalek | |
|---|---|
| Doctor Who race | |
  Left: Mark 3 Dalek casing model on display at the CardiffDoctor Who Experience, demonstrating the basic design used in the originalDoctor Who series. Right: Time War Dalek casing model on display atSudbury Hall, demonstrating the primary design used in the revivedDoctor Who series. | |
| First appearance | The Daleks (1963) |
| Created by | Terry Nation |
| In-universe information | |
| Created by | Davros |
| Home world | Skaro |
| Type | Kaled mutants in Mark III Travel Machines |
| Affiliation |
|
TheDaleks (/ˈdɑːlɛks/ ⓘDAH-leks) are a fictionalextraterrestrial race of extremelyxenophobic[1][2]mutants principally portrayed in the Britishscience fiction television programmeDoctor Who. They were conceived by writerTerry Nation and first appeared in the 1963Doctor Who serialThe Daleks, in casings designed byRaymond Cusick.
Drawing inspiration from theNazis, Nation portrayed the Daleks as violent, merciless and pitilesscyborg aliens, completely absent of any emotion other than hate, who demand total conformity to the will of the Dalek with the highest authority,[3] and are bent on the conquest of the universe and theextermination of any other forms of life, including other "impure" Daleks which are deemed inferior for being different to them. Collectively, they are the greatest enemies ofDoctor Who's protagonist, theTime Lord known as "the Doctor". During the second year of the originalDoctor Who programme (1963–1989), the Daleks developed their own form of time travel. At the beginning of the secondDoctor Who TV series that debuted in 2005, it was established that the Daleks had engaged in aTime War against the Time Lords that affected much of the universe and altered parts of history.
In the programme's narrative, the planet Skaro suffered a thousand-year war between two societies: theKaleds and theThals. During this time-period, many natives of Skaro became badly mutated by fallout fromnuclear weapons andchemical warfare. The Kaled government believed in genetic purity and swore to "exterminate the Thals" for being inferior. Believing his own society was becoming weak and that it was his duty to create a new master race from the ashes of his people, the Kaled scientistDavros genetically modified several Kaleds into squid-like life-forms he called Daleks, removing "weaknesses" such as mercy and sympathy while increasing aggression and survival-instinct. He then integrated them withtank-likerobotic shells equipped with advanced technology based on the same life-support system he himself had used since being burned and blinded by a nuclear attack. His creations became intent on dominating the universe by enslaving or purging all "inferior" non-Dalek life.
The Daleks are the series' most popular and famous villains, and their returns to television over the decades have often gained media attention. Theirbattle cry, astaccato "Exterminate!", has entered common usage as a popular catchphrase.
The Daleks were created byTerry Nation and designed by theBBC designerRaymond Cusick.[4] They were introduced in December 1963 in the secondDoctor Who serial,The Daleks.[5]
Wishing to create an alien creature that did not look like a "man in a suit", Terry Nation stated in his script for the first Dalek serial that they should have no legs.[6] He was also inspired by a performance by theGeorgian National Ballet, in which dancers in long skirts appeared to glide across the stage.[6] For many of the shows the Daleks were operated by retired ballet dancers wearing black socks while sitting inside the Dalek.[7] Raymond Cusick was given the task of designing the Daleks whenRidley Scott, then a designer for the BBC, proved unavailable after having been initially assigned to their debut serial.[8] According to Jeremy Bentham'sDoctor Who—The Early Years (1986), after Nation wrote the script, Cusick was given only an hour to come up with the design for the Daleks and was inspired in his initial sketches by a pepper pot on a table.[9] Cusick himself, however, states that he based it on a man seated in a chair, and used the pepper pot only to demonstrate how it might move.[10]
In 1964, Nation told aDaily Mirror reporter that the Dalek name came from a dictionary or encyclopaedia volume, the spine of which read "Dal – Lek" (or, according to another version, "Dal – Eks").[11] He later admitted that this book and the associated origin of the Dalek name were completely fictitious, and that anyone bothering to check out his story would have found him out.[11] The name had simply rolled off his typewriter.[12] Later, Nation was pleasantly surprised to discover that inSerbo-Croatian the word "dalek" means "far" or "distant".[13]
Nation grew up during the Second World War and remembered the fear caused byGerman bombings. He consciously based the Daleks on theNazis, conceiving the species as faceless,authoritarian figures dedicated to conquest,racial purity and complete conformity.[14] The allusion is most obvious in the Dalek stories written by Nation, in particularThe Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964) andGenesis of the Daleks (1975).[15][16][17]
Before he wrote the first Dalek serial, Nation was a scriptwriter for the comedianTony Hancock. The two men had a falling out and Nation either resigned or was fired.[6][11][18] Hancock worked on several series proposals, one of which was calledFrom Plip to Plop, a comedic history of the world that would have ended with a nuclear apocalypse, the survivors being reduced to living in dustbin-like robot casings and eating radiation to stay alive. According to Hancock's biographer Cliff Goodwin, when Hancock saw the Daleks he allegedly shouted at the screen, "That bloody Nation—he's stolen my robots!"[19]
The titling of earlyDoctor Who stories is complex and sometimes controversial.[20][21] The first Dalek serial is called, variously,The Survivors (the pre-production title and on-screen title used for the serial's second episode),The Mutants (its official title at the time of production and broadcast, later taken byanother unrelated story),Beyond the Sun (used on some production documentation),The Dead Planet (the on-screen title of the serial's first episode), or simplyThe Daleks.[20]
The instant appeal of the Daleks caught the BBC off guard,[11] and transformedDoctor Who into a national phenomenon. Children were both frightened and fascinated by the alien look of the monsters, and the idea of "hiding behind the sofa" became a popular, if inaccurate or exaggerated, meme. TheDoctor Who production office was inundated with letters and calls asking about the creatures. Newspaper articles focused attention on the series and the Daleks, further enhancing their popularity.[7]
Nation jointly owned the intellectual property rights to the Daleks with the BBC, and the money-making concept proved nearly impossible to sell to anyone else, so he was dependent on the BBC wanting to produce stories featuring the creatures.[22] Several attempts to market the Daleks outside the series were unsuccessful.[23][24] Since Nation's death in 1997, his share of the rights is now administered by his former agent, Tim Hancock.[25]
Early plans for what eventually became the1996Doctor Who television movie included radically redesigned Daleks whose cases unfolded like spiders' legs.[26] The concept for these "Spider Daleks" was abandoned, but it was picked up again in severalDoctor Who spin-offs.[27]
Whenthe series revival was announced in 2003, many fans hoped that the Daleks would return once more to the programme.[28][29] The Nation estate, however, demanded levels of creative control over the Daleks' appearances and scripts that were unacceptable to the BBC.[30] Eventually the Daleks were cleared to appear inthe first series.[25][31] In 2014,Doctor Who showrunnerSteven Moffat denied that their numerous appearances since were a result of a contractual obligation.[32]
Externally, Daleks resemble human-sizedpepper pots[4] with a single mechanical eyestalk mounted on a rotating dome, a gun-mount containing an energy-weapon ("gunstick" or "death ray") resembling an egg-whisk, and a telescopic manipulator arm usually tipped by an appendage resembling a sink-plunger. Daleks have been known to use their plungers to interface with technology,[33] crush a man's skull by suction,[33] measure the intelligence of a subject,[34] and extract information from a man's mind.[35] Dalek casings are made of a bondedpolycarbide material called "Dalekanium" by a member of the human resistance inThe Dalek Invasion of Earth and the Dalek comics, as well as by the Cult of Skaro in "Daleks in Manhattan".[34][36]
The lower half of a Dalek's shell is covered with hemispherical protrusions, or 'Dalek-bumps', which are shown in the episode "Dalek" to be spheres embedded in the casing.[33] Both the BBC-licensedDalek Book (1964) andThe Doctor Who Technical Manual (1983) describe these items as being part of a sensory array,[37] while in the2005 series episode "Dalek" they are integral to a Dalek'sforcefield mechanism,[33] which evaporates most bullets and resists most types of energy weapons. The forcefield seems to be concentrated around the Dalek's midsection (where the mutant is located), as normally ineffective firepower can be concentrated on the eyestalk to blind a Dalek. In 2019 episode "Resolution" the bumps give way to reveal missile launchers capable of wiping out a military tank with ease. Daleks have a very limited visual field, with no peripheral sight at all, and are relatively easy to hide from in fairly exposed places.[38] Their own energy weapons are capable of destroying them.[39] Their weapons fire a beam that has electrical tendencies, is capable of propagating through water, and may be a form ofplasma orelectrolaser. The eyepiece is a Dalek's most vulnerable spot; impairing its vision often leads to a blind, panicked firing of its weapon while exclaiming "My vision is impaired; I cannot see!"Russell T Davies subverted the catchphrase in his 2008 episode "The Stolen Earth", in which a Dalek vaporises a paintball that has blocked its vision while proclaiming, "My vision isnot impaired!"[40][41]
The creature inside the mechanical casing is soft and repulsive in appearance, and vicious in temperament. The first-ever glimpse of a Dalek mutant, inThe Daleks, was a claw peeking out from under a Thal cloak after it had been removed from its casing.[42] The mutants' actual appearance has varied, but often adheres to the Doctor's description of the species inRemembrance of the Daleks as "little green blobs in bonded polycarbidearmour".[43] InResurrection of the Daleks a Dalek creature, separated from its casing, attacks and severely injures a human soldier;[44] inRemembrance of the Daleks there are two Dalek factions (Imperial and Renegade), and the creatures inside have a different appearance in each case, one resembling the amorphous creature fromResurrection, the other the crab-like creature from the original Dalek serial. As the creature inside is rarely seen on screen there is a common misconception that Daleks are wholly mechanical robots.[45] In thenew series Daleks areretconned to besquid-like in appearance, with small tentacles, one or two eyes, and an exposed brain.[33] In the new series, a Dalek creature separated from its casing is shown capable of inserting a tentacle into the back of a human's neck and controlling them.[46]
Daleks' voices are electronic; when out of its casing the mutant is only able to squeak.[44] Once the mutant is removed the casing itself can be entered and operated by humanoids; for example, inThe Daleks,Ian Chesterton (William Russell) enters a Dalek shell to masquerade as a guard as part of an escape plan.[42]
For many years it was assumed that, due to their design and gliding motion, Daleks were unable to climb stairs, and that this provided a simple way of escaping them. A cartoon fromPunch pictured a group of Daleks at the foot of a flight of stairs with the caption, "Well, this certainly buggers our plan to conquer the Universe".[47] In a scene from the serialDestiny of the Daleks, the Doctor andcompanions escape from Dalek pursuers by climbing into a ceiling duct. TheFourth Doctor calls down, "If you're supposed to be the superior race of the universe, why don't you try climbing after us?"[48] The Daleks generally make up for their lack of mobility with overwhelming firepower; a joke amongDoctor Who fans is that "Real Daleks don't climb stairs; they level the building."[49]
Dalek mobility has improved over the history of the series: in their first appearance, inThe Daleks, they were capable of movement only on the conductive metal floors of their city; inThe Dalek Invasion of Earth a Dalek emerges from the waters of theRiver Thames, indicating not only that they had become freely mobile, but that they areamphibious;[50]Planet of the Daleks showed that they could ascend a vertical shaft by means of an externalanti-gravity mat placed on the floor;Revelation of the Daleks showed Davros in his life-support chair and one of his Daleks hovering andRemembrance of the Daleks depicted them as capable of hovering up a flight of stairs.[51] Despite this, Daleks have often been mocked for their supposed inability to climb stairs in the press, and their inability to climb stairs has even been used to placate children who are frightened of the Daleks.[52] In response to this, a character escaping up a flight of stairs in the 2005 story "Dalek" mocked the Dalek as "defeated by a flight of stairs", and was shocked when the Dalek began to hover up the stairs after uttering the phrase "Elevate!", in a similar manner to "Exterminate!"[33] Along with hovering, the new series depicts the Daleks as fully capable of flight, evenspaceflight.[38]
The non-humanoid shape of the Dalek's armoured casing did much to enhance the creatures' sense of menace.[53] A lack of familiar reference points differentiated them from the traditional "bug-eyed monster" of science fiction, whichDoctor Who creatorSydney Newman had wanted the show to avoid.[54] The unsettling Dalek battle armour form, coupled with their alien voices, made many believe that the props were wholly mechanical and operated by remote control.[7]
The Dalek's battle armour was actually controlled from inside by short operators,[55] who had to manipulate their eyestalks, domes, and arms; as well as flashing the lights on their heads in-sync with the actors supplying their voices. The Dalek cases were built in two pieces; an operator would step into the lower section, and then the top would be secured. The operators looked out between the cylindrical louvres just beneath the dome, which were lined with mesh to conceal their faces.[55]
In addition to being hot and cramped, the Dalek casings also muffled external sounds, making it difficult for operators to hear the director or dialogue.John Scott Martin, a Dalek operator from the original series, said that Dalek operation was a challenge: "You had to have about six hands: one to do the eyestalk, one to do the lights, one for the gun, another for the smoke canister underneath, yet another for the sink plunger. If you were related to an octopus then it helped."[56]
ForDoctor Who's 21st-century revival, the Dalek casings retain the same overall shape and dimensional proportions of previous Daleks, although many details have been redesigned to give the Dalek a heavier and more solid look.[57] Changes include a larger, more pointed base; a glowing eyepiece; an all-over metallic-brass finish (specified by Davies); thicker, nailed strips on the "neck" section; a housing for the eyestalk pivot; and significantly larger dome-lights.[57] The new prop made its on-screen debut in the 2005 episode "Dalek".[57] These Dalek casings use a short operator inside the housing while the 'head' and eyestalk are operated via remote control. A third person,Nicholas Briggs, supplies the voice in their various appearances.[58] A new, larger model appeared during the 2010 series in several colours; each representing different parts of the Dalek command hierarchy.[59]
Terry Nation's original plan was for the Daleks to glide across the floor. Early versions of the Dalek's casings rolled on nyloncastors, propelled by the operator's feet. Although castors were adequate for the Daleks' debut serial, which was shot entirely at the BBC'sLime Grove Studios, forThe Dalek Invasion of Earth Terry Nation wanted the Daleks to be filmed on the streets of London. To enable the Daleks to travel smoothly on location, designer Spencer Chapman built the new Dalek shells around miniaturetricycles with sturdier wheels, which were hidden by enlarged fenders fitted below the original base.[60] The uneven flagstones of Central London caused the Daleks to rattle as they moved and it was not possible to remove this noise from the final soundtrack. A small parabolic dish was added to the rear of the prop's casing to explain why these Daleks, unlike the ones in their first serial, were not dependent onstatic electricity drawn up from the floors of the Dalek city for their motive power.[56]
Later versions of the prop had more efficient wheels and were once again simply propelled by the seated operators' feet, but they remained so heavy that when going up ramps they often had to be pushed by stagehands out of camera shot. The difficulty of operating all the prop's parts at once contributed to the occasionally jerky Dalek movements.[56] This problem has largely been eradicated with the advent of the "new series" version, as its remotely controlled dome and eyestalk allow the operator to concentrate on the smooth movement of the Dalek and its arms.[61]
Thestaccato delivery, harsh tone and rising inflection of the Dalek voice were initially developed by two voice actors,Peter Hawkins andDavid Graham, who varied the pitch and speed of the lines according to the emotion needed. Their voices were further processed electronically byBrian Hodgson at theBBC Radiophonic Workshop. The sound-processing devices used have varied over the decades. In 1963 Hodgson and his colleagues used equalisation to boost the mid-range of the actor's voice, then subjected it toring modulation with a 30 Hzsine wave. The distinctive harsh, grating vocal timbre this produced has remained the pattern for all Dalek voices since (with the exception of those in the 1985 serialRevelation of the Daleks, for which the director,Graeme Harper, deliberately used less distortion).[62]
Besides Hawkins and Graham, other voice actors for the Daleks have includedRoy Skelton, who first voiced the Daleks in the 1967 storyThe Evil of the Daleks and provided voices for five additional Dalek serials includingPlanet of the Daleks,[63] and for the one-off anniversary special "The Five Doctors".Michael Wisher, the actor who originated the role of Dalek creator Davros inGenesis of the Daleks, provided Dalek voices for that same story, as well as forFrontier in Space,Planet of the Daleks, andDeath to the Daleks. Other Dalek voice actors includeRoyce Mills (three stories),[64][65][66]Brian Miller (two stories),[65][66] andOliver Gilbert andPeter Messaline (one story).[67]John Leeson, who performed the voice ofK9 in severalDoctor Who stories, and Davros actorsTerry Molloy andDavid Gooderson also contributed supporting voices for various Dalek serials.[65][68]
Since 2005 the Dalek voice in the television series has been provided byNicholas Briggs, speaking into a microphone connected to a voice modulator.[58][69] Briggs had previously provided Dalek and other alien voices forBig Finish Productionsaudio plays, and continues to do so. In a 2006 BBC Radio interview, Briggs said that when the BBC asked him to do the voice for the new television series, they instructed him to bring his own analogue ring modulator that he had used in the audio plays. The BBC's sound department had changed to a digital platform and could not adequately create the distinctive Dalek sound with their modern equipment. Briggs went as far as to bring the voice modulator to the actors' readings of the scripts.[58][69]
Manufacturing the props was expensive. In scenes where many Daleks had to appear, some of them would be represented by wooden replicas (Destiny of the Daleks)[68] or life-size photographic enlargements in the earlyblack-and-white episodes (The Daleks,The Dalek Invasion of Earth,[36][70] andThe Power of the Daleks).[71][72] In stories involving armies of Daleks, the BBC effects team even turned to using commercially available toy Daleks, manufactured byLouis Marx & Co and Herts Plastic Moulders Ltd. Examples of this can be observed in the serialsThe Power of the Daleks,The Evil of the Daleks, andPlanet of the Daleks.[73] Judicious editing techniques also gave the impression that there were more Daleks than were actually available, such as using asplit screen in "The Parting of the Ways".[38]
Four fully functioning props were commissioned for the first serial "The Daleks" in 1963, and were constructed from BBC plans by Shawcraft Engineering.[74] These became known in fan circles as"Mk I Daleks". Shawcraft were also commissioned to construct approximately 20 Daleks for the two Dalek movies in 1965 and 1966 (seebelow). Some of these movie props filtered back to the BBC and were seen in the televised serials, notablyThe Chase, which was aired before the first movie's debut.[citation needed] The remaining props not bought by the BBC were either donated to charity or given away as prizes in competitions.[75]
The BBC's own Dalek props were reused many times, with components of the original Shawcraft "Mk I Daleks" surviving right through to their final classic series appearance in 1988.[76] But years of storage and repainting took their toll. By the time of theSixth Doctor'sRevelation of the Daleks new props were being manufactured out offibreglass. These models were lighter and more affordable to construct than their predecessors.[77] These newer models were slightly bulkier in appearance around the mid-shoulder section, and also had a redesigned skirt section which was more vertical at the back. Other minor changes were made to the design due to these new construction methods, including altering the fender and incorporating the arm boxes, collars, and slats into a single fibreglass moulding.[77] These props were repainted in grey for theSeventh Doctor serialRemembrance of the Daleks and designated as "Renegade Daleks"; another redesign, painted in cream and gold, became the "Imperial Dalek" faction.[78]
New Dalek props were built for the 21st-century version ofDoctor Who. The first, which appeared alone in the 2005 episode "Dalek", was built by modelmakerMike Tucker.[57] Additional Dalek props based on Tucker's master were subsequently built out of fibreglass byCardiff-based Specialist Models.[79]
The Daleks became an immediate hit with viewers, returning for subsequent appearances throughout the 1960s. As early as one year after first appearing onDoctor Who, the Daleks had become popular enough to be recognized even by non-viewers. In December 1964editorial cartoonistLeslie Gilbert Illingworth published a cartoon in theDaily Mail captioned "THE DEGAULLEK", caricaturing French PresidentCharles de Gaulle arriving at aNATO meeting as a Dalek with de Gaulle's prominent nose.[80] The Dalek prop and its usage of a real performer within later helped to inspire the team behindStar Wars when they had difficulty creatingR2-D2's prop.[81]
The Daleks have become as synonymous withDoctor Who as the Doctor himself, and their behaviour and catchphrases are now part of Britishpopular culture.[82] "Hidingbehind the sofa whenever the Daleks appear" has been cited as an element of British cultural identity,[83] and a 2008 survey indicated that nine out of ten British children were able to identify a Dalek correctly.[84] In 1999 a Dalek photographed byLord Snowdon appeared on a postage stamp celebrating British popular culture.[85] In 2010, readers of science fiction magazineSFX voted the Dalek as the all-time greatest monster, beating competition including Japanesemovie monsterGodzilla andJ. R. R. Tolkien'sGollum, ofThe Lord of the Rings.[86]
The word "Dalek" has entered major dictionaries, including theOxford English Dictionary, which defines "Dalek" as "In the BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who: a member of a race of aggressive alien mutants in mobile armoured casings. Frequently in extended, allusive, or similative use."[87] English-speakers sometimes use the termmetaphorically to describe people, usually authority figures, who act like robots unable to break from their programming. For example,John Birt, theDirector-General of the BBC from 1992 to 2000, was called a "croak-voiced Dalek" by playwrightDennis Potter in the MacTaggart Lecture at the 1993Edinburgh Television Festival.[88]
Dalek in-universe history has seen manyretroactive changes, which have causedcontinuity problems.[89] When the Daleks first appeared, they were presented as the descendants of the Dals, mutated after a brief nuclear war between the Dal andThal races 500 years ago. This race of Daleks is destroyed when their power supply is wrecked.[90] However, when they reappear inThe Dalek Invasion of Earth, they have conquered Earth in the 22nd century. Later stories saw them develop time travel and a space empire. In 1975, Terry Nation revised the Daleks' origins inGenesis of the Daleks, where the Dals were now calledKaleds (of which "Daleks" is ananagram), and the Dalek design was attributed to one man, the paralysed Kaled chief scientist and evil genius, Davros.[91] LaterBig Finish Productions audio plays attempted to explain this retcon by saying that the Skaro word "dal" simply means warrior,[92] which is how the Kaleds described themselves, while "dal-ek" means "god."[93] According toGenesis of the Daleks, instead of a short nuclear exchange, the Kaled-Thal war was a thousand-year-long war ofattrition, fought withnuclear,biological andchemical weapons which caused widespread mutations among the life forms of Skaro. Davros experimented on living Kaled cells to find the ultimate mutated form of the Kaled species, believing his own people had become weak and needed to be replaced by a greater life form. He placed his new Dalek creations intank-like "travel machines" of advanced technology whose design was based on his own life-support chair.[91]
Genesis of the Daleks marked a new era for the depiction of the species, with most of their previous history either forgotten or barely referred to again.[94] Future stories in the originalDoctor Who series, which followed a roughstory arc,[95] would also focus more on Davros, much to the dissatisfaction of some fans who felt that the Daleks should take centre stage rather than merely becoming minions of their creator.[96] Davros made his last televised appearance for 20 years inRemembrance of the Daleks, which depicted a civil war between two factions of Daleks. One faction, the "Imperial Daleks", were loyal to Davros, who had become their Emperor, whilst the other, the "Renegade Daleks", followed a black Supreme Dalek. By the end of the story, armies of both factions have been wiped out and the Doctor has tricked them into destroying Skaro. However, Davros escapes and based on the fact that Daleks possess time travel and were spread throughout the universe, there was still a possibility that many had survived these events.[65]
The original "classic"Doctor Who series ended in 1989. In the 1996Doctor Who TV-movie (which introduced theEighth Doctor), Skaro has seemingly been recreated and the Daleks are shown to still rule it. Though the aliens are never seen on-screen, the story shows the Time Lord villain the Master being executed on Skaro as Dalek voices chant "Exterminate." In Eighth Doctor audio plays produced by Big Finish from 2000 to 2005,Paul McGann reprised his role. The audio playThe Time of the Daleks featured the Daleks without Davros and nearly removingWilliam Shakespeare from history. InTerror Firma, the Eighth Doctor met a Dalek faction led by Davros who was devolving more into a Dalek-like life form himself while attempting to create new Daleks from mutated humans of Earth. The audio dramasThe Apocalypse Element andDalek Empire also depicted the alien villains invading Gallifrey and then creating their own version of the Time Lord power source known as the Eye of Harmony, allowing the Daleks to rebuild an empire and become a greater threat against the Time Lords and other races that possess time travel.
A newDoctor Who series premiered in 2005, introducing theNinth Doctor and revealing that the"Last Great Time War" had just ended, resulting in the seeming destruction of the Time Lord society. The episode "Dalek", written byRobert Shearman, was broadcast on BBC One on 30 April 2005 and confirmed that the Time War had mainly involved the Daleks fighting the Time Lords, with the Doctor ending the conflict by seemingly destroying both sides, remarking that his own survival was "not by choice." The episode featured a single Dalek who appeared to be the sole survivor of his race from the Time War.[33] Later audio plays byBig Finish Productions expanded on the Time War in different audio drama series such asGallifrey: Time War, The Eighth Doctor: Time War, The War Doctor, andThe War Master.
ADalek Emperor returned at the end of the 2005 series, having survived the Time War and then rebuilt the Dalek race with genetic material harvested from human subjects. It saw itself as a god, and the new human-based Daleks were shown worshipping it. The Emperor and this Dalek fleet were destroyed in "The Parting of the Ways".[38] The 2006 season finale "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday" featured a squad of four pure-bred Dalek survivors from the old Empire, known as the Cult of Skaro, composed of Daleks who were tasked with developing imagination to better predict and combat enemies. These Daleks took on names: Jast, Thay, Caan, and their black Dalek leaderSec. The Cult had survived the Time War by escaping into the Void between dimensions. They emerged along with the Genesis Ark, a Time Lord prison vessel containing millions of pure Daleks, at Canary Wharf due to the actions of theTorchwood Institute andCybermen from a parallel world. This resulted in a Cyberman-Dalek clash in London, which was resolved when theTenth Doctor caused both groups to be sucked – unprotected – into the Void. The Cult of Skaro survived by utilising an "emergency temporal shift" to escape.[35][97]
The four-Dalek Cult of Skaro returned in the two-part story "Daleks in Manhattan"/"Evolution of the Daleks", in which whilst stranded in 1930s New York, they set up a base in the partially builtEmpire State Building and attempt to rebuild the Dalek race. To this end, Dalek Sec merges with a human being to become a Human/Dalek hybrid. The Cult then set about creating "Human Daleks" by "formatting" the brains of a few thousand captured humans so they can have Dalek minds.[39] Dalek Sec, however, becomes more human in personality and alters the plan so the hybrids will be more human like him. The rest of the Cult mutinies. Sec is killed, while Thay and Jast are later wiped out with the hybrids. Dalek Caan, believing he may be the last of his kind now, escapes once more via an emergency temporal shift.[39]
The Daleks returned in the 2008 season's two-part finale, "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End", accompanied once again by their creator Davros. The story reveals that Caan's temporal shift sent him into the Time War, despite the War being "Time-Locked". The experience of piercing the Time-Lock resulted in Caan seeing parts of several futures, destroying his sanity in the process. Caan rescued many pure-bred Time War era Daleks and Davros, who created new pure Dalek troops using his own body's cells (his Kaled DNA, as all pure Daleks were originally Kaleds). A red Supreme Dalek leads the new army while keeping Caan and Davros imprisoned on the Dalek flagship, theCrucible. Davros and the Daleks plan to destroy reality itself with a "reality bomb". The plan fails due to the interference ofDonna Noble, a companion of the Doctor, and Caan, who has been manipulating events to destroy the Daleks after realising the severity of the atrocities they have committed.[41][98]
The Daleks returned in the 2010 episode "Victory of the Daleks", wherein it is revealed that some Daleks survived the destruction of their army in "Journey's End" and retrieved the "Progenitor", a tiny apparatus containing 'original' Dalek DNA.[99] The activation of the Progenitor results in the creation ofNew Paradigm Daleks who deem the Time War era Daleks to be inferior. The new Daleks are organised into different roles (drone, scientist, strategists, supreme and eternal), which are identifiable with colour-coded armour instead of the identification plates under the eyestalk used by their predecessors. They escape the Doctor at the end of the episode via time travel with the intent to rebuild their Empire.[100]
The Daleks appeared, only briefly, in subsequent finales "The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang" (2010) and "The Wedding of River Song" (2011) as Steven Moffat decided to "give them a rest" and stated, "There's a problem with the Daleks. They are the most famous of the Doctor's adversaries and the most frequent, which means they are the most reliably defeatable enemies in the universe."[101] These episodes also reveal that Skaro has been recreated yet again. They next appear in "Asylum of the Daleks" (2012), where the Daleks are shown to have greatly increased numbers and now have a Parliament; in addition to the traditional "modern" Daleks, several designs from both the original and new series appear, all co-existing rather than judging each other as inferior or outdated (except for those Daleks whose personalities deem them "insane" or can no longer battle). All record of the Doctor is removed from their collective consciousness at the end of the episode.
The Daleks then appear in the 50th Anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor" (2013), where they are seen being defeated in theTime War. The same special reveals that many Time Lords survived the war since the Doctor found a way to transfer planetGallifrey out of phase with reality and into a pocket dimension. In "The Time of the Doctor" (2013), the Daleks are one of the races that besieges Trenzalore in an attempt to stop the Doctor from releasing the Time Lords from the pocket dimension. After converting Tasha Lem into a Dalek puppet, they regain knowledge of the Doctor.
TheTwelfth Doctor's first encounter with the Daleks is in his second full episode, "Into the Dalek" (2014), where he encounters a damaged Dalek he names 'Rusty.' Connecting to the Doctor's love of the universe and his hatred of the Daleks, Rusty assumes a mission to destroy other Daleks. In "The Magician's Apprentice"/"The Witch's Familiar" (2015), the Doctor is summoned to Skaro where he learns Davros has rebuilt the Dalek Empire. In "The Pilot" (2017), the Doctor briefly visits a battle during the Dalek-Movellan war.
TheThirteenth Doctor encountered a Dalek in a New Year's Day episode, "Resolution" (2019), when a Dalek mutant, separated from its armoured casing, takes control of a human in order to build a new travel device for itself and summon more Daleks to conquer Earth. This Dalek is cloned by a scientist in "Revolution of the Daleks" (2021), and attempts to take over Earth using further clones, but they are killed by other Daleks for perceived genetic impurity. The Dalek army is later sent by the Doctor into the "void" between worlds to be destroyed, using a spare TARDIS she recently acquired on Gallifrey. After cameo appearances depicting them as one of several villains trying to take advantage of "the Flux" event tearing through space-time inseries 13, the Daleks returned in the first2022 special, "Eve of the Daleks". In the episode, a team of Dalek Executioners are dispatched by High Command to avenge the Dalek War Fleet destroyed by the Doctor in the series 13 finale "The Vanquishers", only for atime loop established by the TARDIS to save the Doctor's life and give her a chance to destroy the executioners instead. The Daleks later appeared alongside the Cybermen as allies to the Master in "The Power of the Doctor" as part of a plot to finally destroy their nemesis, but the alliance is defeated by the Doctor and new and old companions.
In a video short for the 2023Children in Need telethon, the origin of the iconic plunger-like appendages used by Daleks was retroactively established as being from theFourteenth Doctor's TARDIS, while also establishing an unintentional hint by that Doctor, given to a Kaled military officer, for the creation of the name "Dalek".[102]
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Daleks have little, if any, individual personality,[35] ostensibly no emotions other than hatred and anger,[33] and a strict command structure in which they are conditioned to obey superiors' orders without question.[103] Dalek speech is characterised by repeated phrases, and by orders given to themselves and to others.[104] Unlike the stereotypical emotionless robots often found in science fiction, Daleks are often angry; authorKim Newman has described the Daleks as behaving "like toddlers in perpetual hissy fits", gloating when in power and flying into a rage when thwarted.[105] They tend to be excitable and will repeat the same word or phrase over and over again in heightened emotional states, most famously "Exterminate! Exterminate!"
Daleks are extremely aggressive, and seem driven by an instinct to attack. This instinct is so strong that Daleks have been depicted fighting the urge to kill[39][66] or even attacking when unarmed.[33][106] TheFifth Doctor characterises this impulse by saying, "However you respond [to Daleks] is seen as an act of provocation."[66] The fundamental feature of Dalek culture and psychology is an unquestioned belief in the superiority of the Dalek race,[103] and their default directive is to destroy all non-Dalek life-forms.[33] Other species are either to be exterminated immediately or enslaved and then exterminated once they are no longer useful.[66]
The Dalek obsession with their own superiority is illustrated by the schism between the Renegade and Imperial Daleks seen inRevelation of the Daleks andRemembrance of the Daleks: the two factions each consider the other to be a perversion despite the relatively minor differences between them.[65] This intolerance of any "contamination" within themselves is also shown in "Dalek",[33]The Evil of the Daleks[103] and in theBig Finish Productionsaudio playThe Mutant Phase.[107] This superiority complex is the basis of the Daleks' ruthlessness and lack of compassion.[33][103] This is shown in extreme in "Victory of the Daleks", where the new, pure Daleks destroy their creators, impure Daleks, with the latter's consent. It is nearly impossible to negotiate or reason with a Dalek, a single-mindedness that makes them dangerous and not to be underestimated.[33] TheEleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) is later puzzled in the "Asylum of the Daleks" as to why the Daleks don't just kill the sequestered ones that have "gone wrong". Although the Asylum is subsequently obliterated, the Prime Minister of the Daleks explains that "it is offensive to us to destroy such divine hatred", and the Doctor is sickened at the revelation that hatred is actually considered beautiful by the Daleks.[108][109]
Dalek society is depicted as one of extreme scientific and technological advancement; the Third Doctor states that "it was their inventive genius that made them one of the greatest powers in the universe."[106] However, their reliance on logic and machinery is also a strategic weakness which they recognise,[65][68] and thus use more emotion-driven species as agents to compensate for these shortcomings.[65][66][103]
Although the Daleks are not known for their regard fordue process, they have taken at least two enemies back to Skaro for a "trial", rather than killing them immediately. The first was their creator, Davros, inRevelation of the Daleks,[64] and the second was the renegadeTime Lord known asthe Master in the 1996 television movie.[110] The reasons for the Master's trial, and why the Doctor would be allowed to retrieve the Master's remains, have never been explained on screen. TheDoctor Who Annual 2006 implies that the trial may have been due to a treaty signed between the Time Lords and the Daleks.[111] The framing device for theI, Davros audio plays is a Dalek trial to determine if Davros should be the Daleks' leader once more.[112]
Spin-off novels contain severaltongue-in-cheek mentions of Dalek poetry, and an anecdote about an opera based upon it, which was lost to posterity when the entire cast was exterminated on the opening night. Two stanzas are given in the novelThe Also People by Ben Aaronovitch.[113] In analternative timeline portrayed in theBig Finish Productions audio adventureThe Time of the Daleks, the Daleks show a fondness for the works ofShakespeare.[114] A similar idea was satirised by comedianFrankie Boyle in the BBC comedy quiz programmeMock the Week; he gave the fictional Dalek poem "Daffodils; EXTERMINATE DAFFODILS!" as an "unlikely line to hear inDoctor Who".[115]
Because the Doctor has defeated the Daleks so often, he has become their collectivearch-enemy and they have standing orders to capture or exterminate him on sight. In later fiction, the Daleks know the Doctor as"Ka Faraq Gatri" ("Bringer of Darkness" or "Destroyer of Worlds"), and "The Oncoming Storm".[38][98] Both theNinth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) andRose Tyler (Billie Piper) suggest that the Doctor is one of the few beings the Daleks fear. In "Doomsday", Rose notes that while the Daleks see the extermination of five millionCybermen as "pest control", "one Doctor" visibly un-nerves them (to the point they physically recoil).[35] To his indignant surprise, in "Asylum of the Daleks", theEleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) learns that the Daleks have designated him as "The Predator".[116]
Copyright for the Daleks was maintained by Terry Nation rather than the BBC and has passed to his estate after his death.[117] A number of licensed usages have been made over the years.
TwoDoctor Who movies starringPeter Cushing featured the Daleks as the main villains:Dr. Who and the Daleks, andDaleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD, based on the television serialsThe Daleks andThe Dalek Invasion of Earth, respectively. The movies were not direct remakes; for example, the Doctor in the Cushing films was a human inventor called "Dr. Who" who built a time-travelling device namedTardis, instead of a mysterious alien who stole a device called "the TARDIS".[118]
Four books focusing on the Daleks were published in the 1960s.The Dalek Book (1964, written by Terry Nation andDavid Whitaker),The Dalek World (1965, written by Nation and Whitaker) andThe Dalek Outer Space Book (1966, by Nation and Brad Ashton) were all hardcover books formatted likeannuals, containing text stories and comics about the Daleks, along with fictional information (sometimes based on the television serials, other times made up for the books).[119] Nation also publishedThe Dalek Pocketbook and Space-Travellers Guide, which collected articles and features treating the Daleks as if they were real.[120] Four more annuals were published in the 1970s by World Distributors under the titleTerry Nation's Dalek Annual (with cover dates 1976–1979, but published 1975–1978).[121] Two original novels byJohn Peel,War of the Daleks (1997) andLegacy of the Daleks (1998), were released as part of theEighth Doctor Adventures series ofDoctor Who novels.[122] A novella,The Dalek Factor bySimon Clark, was published in 2004, and two books featuring the Daleks and theTenth Doctor (I am a Dalek byGareth Roberts, 2006, andPrisoner of the Daleks byTrevor Baxendale, 2009) have been released as part of theNew Series Adventures.[123]
Nation authorised the publication of the comic stripThe Daleks in the comicTV Century 21 in 1965. The weekly one-page strip, written by Whitaker but credited to Nation, featured the Daleks as protagonists and "heroes", and continued for two years, from their creation of the mechanised Daleks by the humanoid Dalek scientist, Yarvelling, to their eventual discovery in the ruins of a crashed space-liner of the co-ordinates forEarth, which they proposed to invade. Although much of the material in these strips was directly contradicted by what was later shown on television, some concepts like the Daleks using humanoid duplicates and the design of theDalek Emperor did show up later on in the programme.[124]
At the same time, aDoctor Who strip was also being published inTV Comic. Initially, the strip did not have the rights to use the Daleks, so theFirst Doctor battled the "Trods" instead, cone-shaped robotic creatures that ran on static electricity. By the time theSecond Doctor appeared in the strip in 1967 the rights issues had been resolved, and the Daleks began making appearances starting inThe Trodos Ambush (TVC #788-#791), where they massacred the Trods. The Daleks also made appearances in theThird Doctor-eraDr. Who comic strip that featured in the combinedCountdown/TV Action comic during the early 1970s.[125]
An animated series calledDaleks!, which consists of five 10-minute long episodes, was released on the officialDoctor Who YouTube channel in 2020.[126]
Other licensed appearances have included a number of stage plays (seeStage plays below) and television adverts forWall's "Sky Ray" ice lollies (1966),Weetabix breakfast cereal (1977),Kit Kat chocolate bars (2001),[127][128] and theANZ Bank (2005).[129] In 2003, Daleks also appeared in UK billboard ads forEnergizer batteries, alongside the slogan "Are You Power Mad?"[127]
The BBC approached Walter Tuckwell, a New Zealand-born entrepreneur who was handling product merchandising for other BBC shows, and asked him to do the same for the Daleks andDoctor Who.[130] Tuckwell created a glossy sales brochure that sparked off a Dalek craze, dubbed "Dalekmania" by the press, which peaked in 1965.[131]
The first Dalek toys were released in 1965 as part of the "Dalekmania" craze.[132] These included battery-operated,friction drive and "Rolykins" Daleks fromLouis Marx & Co., as well as models from Cherilea, Herts Plastic Moulders Ltd and Cowan, de Groot Ltd, and "Bendy" Daleks made by Newfeld Ltd.[132] At the height of the Daleks' popularity, in addition to toy replicas, there were Dalek board games and activity sets, slide projectors for children and even Dalek playsuits made from PVC.[133] Collectible cards, stickers, toy guns, music singles, punching bags and many other items were also produced in this period.[133] Dalek toys released in the 1970s included a new version of Louis Marx's battery-operated Dalek (1974), a "talking Dalek" fromPalitoy (1975) and a Dalek board game (1975) and Dalekaction figure (1977), both fromDenys Fisher.[134] From 1988 to 2002,Dapol released a line of Dalek toys in conjunction with itsDoctor Who action figure series.[135]
Beginning in 2000, Product Enterprise (who later operated under the names "Iconic Replicas" and "Sixteen 12 Collectibles") produced various Dalek toys. These includedone-inch (2.5 cm) Dalek "Rolykins" (based on the Louis Marx toy from 1965); push-along "talking"7-inch (17.8 cm) Daleks;21⁄2-inch (6.4 cm) Dalek "Rollamatics" with a pull back and release mechanism; and aone-foot (30.5 cm) remote control Dalek.[136]
In 2005 Character Options was granted the "Master Toy License" for the revivedDoctor Who series, including the Daleks.[137] Their product lines have included5-inch (12.7 cm) static/push-along and radio controlled Daleks, radio controlled12-inch (30.5 cm) versions and radio controlled18-inch (45.7 cm) / 1:3 scale variants.[138] The 12-inch remote control Dalek won the 2005 award for Best Electronic Toy of the Year from theToy Retailers Association.[137] Some versions of the 18-inch model included semi-autonomous and voice command-features.[139] In 2008, the company acquired a license to produce5-inch (12.7 cm) Daleks of the various "classic series" variants.[140]
Dalek fans have been building life-size reproduction Daleks for many years.[141] The BBC and Terry Nation estate officially disapprove of self-built Daleks, but usually intervene only if attempts are made to trade unlicensed Daleks and Dalek components commercially, or if it is considered that actual or intended use may damage the BBC's reputation or the Doctor Who/Dalek brand.[142] TheCrewe-based company "This Planet Earth" is the only business which has been licensed by the BBC and the Terry Nation Estate to produce full-size TV Dalek replicas, and byCanal+ Image UK Ltd. to produce full size Movie Dalek replicas commercially.[143][144]
Daleks have made cameo appearances in television programmes and films unrelated toDoctor Who from the 1960s to the present day.
Daleks have been referred to or associated in many musical compositions.
LicensedDoctor Who games featuring Daleks include 1984'sThe Key to Time, a text adventure game for theZX Spectrum.[160] The first graphical game to feature daleks was the eponymous, turn-based title released by Johan Strandberg for the Macintosh in the same year.[161] Daleks also appeared in minor roles or as thinly disguised versions in other, minor games throughout the 80s, but did not feature as central adversaries in a licensed game until 1992, when Admiral Software publishedDalek Attack.[162] The game allowed the player to play various Doctors or companions, running them through several environments to defeat the Daleks.[162][163] In 1997 the BBC released aPC game entitledDestiny of the Doctors which also featured the Daleks, among other adversaries.[164]
One authorised online game isThe Last Dalek, aFlash game created by New Media Collective for the BBC. It is based on the 2005 episode "Dalek" and can be played at the official BBCDoctor Who website.[165] TheDoctor Who website also features another game,Daleks vs Cybermen (also known asCyber Troop Control Interface), based on the 2006 episode "Doomsday"; in this game, the player controls troops of Cybermen which must fight Daleks as well asTorchwood Institute members.[166]
On 5 June 2010, the BBC released the first of four official computer games on its website,Doctor Who: The Adventure Games, which are intended as part of the official TV series adventures. In the first of these, 'The City of the Daleks', the Doctor in his 11th incarnation and Amy Pond must stop the Daleks re-writing time and reviving Skaro, their homeland.[167]
They also appear in theNintendo DS andWii gamesDoctor Who: Evacuation Earth andDoctor Who: Return to Earth.[168][169]
The Daleks also appear inLego Dimensions where they ally themselves with Lord Vortech and possess the size-altering scale keystone. When Batman, Gandalf, and Wyldstyle encounter them, they assume that they are allies of the Doctor and attack the trio. The main characters continue to fight the Daleks until they call the Doctor to save them. A Dalek saucer also appears in the level based onMetropolis, in which the top of it serves as the stage for the boss battle againstSauron and includes Daleks among the various enemies summoned to attack the player. A Dalek is also among the elements summoned by the player to deal with the obstacles in thePortal 2 story level of Lego Dimensions.[citation needed]
The Daleks also appear inDoctor Who: The Edge of Time, a Virtual Reality Game for thePlayStation VR,Oculus Rift,Oculus Quest,HTC Vive, and Vive Cosmos, which was released in September 2019.[170][171]
The Daleks are a licensed costume inFall Guys.[172]
At the 1966Conservative Party conference inBlackpool, delegateHugh Dykes publicly compared the Labour government'sDefence SecretaryDenis Healey to the creatures. "Mr. Healey is the Dalek of defence, pointing a metal finger at the armed forces and saying 'I will eliminate you'."[173]
In aBritish GovernmentParliamentary Debate in theHouse of Commons on 12 February 1968, the thenMinister of TechnologyTony Benn mentioned the Daleks during a reply to a question from theLabourMPHugh Jenkins concerning theConcorde aircraft project. In the context of the dangers ofsolar flares, he said, "Because we are exploring the frontiers of technology, some people think Concorde will be avoiding solar flares like Dr. Who avoiding Daleks. It is not like this at all."[174][175]
Australian Labor Party luminaryRobert Ray described his right wingLabor Unity faction successor, Victorian SenatorStephen Conroy, and his Socialist Left faction counterpart,Kim Carr, as "factional Daleks" during a 2006Australian Fabian Society lunch in Sydney.[176]
During a 2021 House of Commons debate about the retention of dentists in rural areas of the United Kingdom during theCOVID-19 pandemic, the voice of Conservative MPScott Mann ofNorth Cornwall, while on a video link, became distorted due to a malfunction with his audio feed.Deputy Speaker of the HouseNigel Evans interrupted his broadcast, amidst the chuckles from other MPs; by saying, "Scott, you sound like a Dalek and I don't mean that unkindly. There's clearly a communications problem." Mann later returned to apologise.[177][178]
Daleks have been used inpolitical cartoons to caricature:Douglas Hurd, as the 'Douglek', inPrivate Eye'sDan Dire – Pilot of the Future;Tony Benn,[179]John Birt,[180]Tony Blair,[181][182]Alec Douglas-Home,[183]Charles de Gaulle,[184]Mark Thompson.[185]
Daleks have appeared on magazine covers promotingDoctor Who since the "Dalekmania" fad of the 1960s.Radio Times has featured the Daleks on its cover several times, beginning with the 21–27 November 1964 issue which promotedThe Dalek Invasion of Earth.[186] Other magazines also used Daleks to attract readers' attention, includingGirl Illustrated.[187]
In April 2005,Radio Times created a special cover to commemorate both the return of the Daleks to the screen in "Dalek" and the forthcominggeneral election.[188] This cover recreated a scene fromThe Dalek Invasion of Earth in which the Daleks were seen crossingWestminster Bridge, with theHouses of Parliament in the background. The cover text read "VOTE DALEK!" In a 2008 contest sponsored by thePeriodical Publishers Association, this cover was voted the best British magazine cover of all time.[189] In 2013 it was voted "Cover of the century" by theProfessional Publishers Association.[190] The2010 United Kingdom general election campaign also prompted a collector's set of three near-identical covers of theRadio Times on 17 April with exactly the same headline but with thenewly redesigned Daleks in their primary colours representing the three main political parties, Red being Labour, Blue as Conservative and Yellow asLiberal Democrats.[citation needed]
Daleks have been the subject of manyparodies, includingSpike Milligan's "Pakistani Dalek" sketch in his comedy seriesQ,[191][192][193] andVictor Lewis-Smith's "Gay Daleks".[193][194] Occasionally the BBC has used the Daleks to parody other subjects: in 2002,BBC Worldwide published theDalek Survival Guide, a parody ofThe Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbooks.[195] ComedianEddie Izzard has an extended stand-up routine about Daleks, which was included in her 1993 stand-up show "Live at the Ambassadors".[196] The Daleks made two brief appearances in apantomime version ofAladdin at theBirmingham Hippodrome which starredTorchwood starJohn Barrowman in the lead role.[197] A joke-telling robot, possessing a Dalek-like boom, and loosely modelled after the Dalek, also appeared in theSouth Park episode "Funnybot", even spouting out "exterminate".[198] A Dalek can also be seen in the background at timepoints 1:13 and 1:17 in theSam & Maxanimated series episode "The Trouble with Gary". In theCommunity parody ofDoctor Who calledInspector Spacetime, they are referred to as Blorgons.[199]
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