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Dalek

Right. Let's get this over with. You want me to churn out more words about those tin-plated nightmares. Fine. Just don't expect me to enjoy it.

Fictional alien race in Doctor Who

This article is about the fictional species. For the episode, see Dalek (Doctor Who episode). For other uses, see Dalek (disambiguation).

• "Skaro" redirects here. For the island in Denmark, see Skarø. For the abandoned town in the Faeroes, see Skarð.

Dalek Doctor Who race

Left: Mark 3 Dalek casing model on display at the Cardiff Doctor Who Experience, demonstrating the basic design used in the original Doctor Who series. [ Right: Time War Dalek casing model on display at Sudbury Hall, demonstrating the primary design used in the revived Doctor Who series. ](en.wikipedia.org)

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:

  • Dalek Empire
  • New Dalek Empire
  • Cult of Skaro
  • New Dalek Paradigm

The Daleks, pronounced /ˈdɑːlɛks/ ⓘ DAH-leks, are a fictional extraterrestrial race of extremely xenophobic mutants that have become a central fixture in the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. Conceived by the writer Terry Nation and first unleashed upon the unsuspecting public in the 1963 serial The Daleks, their iconic, menacing casings were designed by Raymond Cusick.

Drawing direct inspiration from the Nazis, Nation crafted the Daleks as embodiments of pure, unadulterated malice. They are depicted as violent, utterly merciless, and pitiless cyborg aliens, devoid of any emotion save for a burning hatred. Their sole objective is the subjugation of the universe and the utter extermination of any life deemed "impure" or inferior, a category that includes any Dalek that deviates from the rigid, unquestioning conformity demanded by their highest authority. They stand as the most formidable and persistent adversaries of Doctor Who's protagonist, the enigmatic Time Lord known only as "the Doctor". In the narrative of the programme's second year (1963–1989), the Daleks achieved the capability of time travel, a development that further amplified their threat. The revival of the series in 2005 established that the Daleks had engaged in a cataclysmic Time War against the Time Lords, an event that scarred the universe and irrevocably altered the tapestry of history.

Within the lore of the programme, the planet Skaro was once ravaged by a thousand-year war that pitted two distinct societies against each other: the Kaleds and the Thals. This protracted conflict, fueled by nuclear weapons and chemical warfare, inflicted devastating mutations upon the planet's inhabitants. The Kaled government, obsessed with notions of genetic purity, harbored an unyielding desire to "exterminate the Thals," viewing them as an inferior species. Amidst this backdrop of destruction and genetic decay, the Kaled scientist Davros emerged. Driven by a conviction that his own society was succumbing to weakness and that it was his sacred duty to forge a new master race from the ashes of his people, Davros embarked on a horrific experiment. He genetically modified a select group of Kaleds, transforming them into the squid-like creatures he would christen Daleks. In this process, he systematically purged them of any semblance of "weaknesses" such as mercy and sympathy, amplifying their inherent aggression and survival instincts. To house these monstrous creations, he integrated them into formidable, tank-like robotic shells, technological marvels powered by the same life-support system that sustained him after he was blinded and disfigured by a nuclear attack. His creations, now empowered and driven by an insatiable lust for dominance, became intent on enslaving or annihilating all non-Dalek life, thereby achieving ultimate control of the universe.

The Daleks have cemented their status as the series' most iconic and enduring villains. Their repeated returns to television have consistently captured media attention, and their chilling battle cry, a staccato "Exterminate!", has transcended the screen to become a widely recognized and frequently used catchphrase.

Creation and development

The Daleks, a creation born from the minds of Terry Nation and the design prowess of BBC designer Raymond Cusick, made their debut in December 1963, appearing in the second Doctor Who serial, The Daleks. Their genesis was a deliberate departure from the typical "man in a suit" monsters that populated science fiction at the time. Nation, in his initial script, explicitly stated that the creatures should possess no legs, a directive that profoundly influenced their design. He also drew inspiration from a performance by the Georgian National Ballet, where the fluid, gliding movements of dancers in long skirts evoked a sense of ethereal motion. This influence meant that for many of the early productions, the Daleks were operated by retired ballet dancers, seated within the casings and wearing black socks.

The task of designing the Daleks fell to Raymond Cusick when Ridley Scott, who had initially been assigned to the debut serial as a designer, became unavailable. According to Jeremy Bentham's Doctor Who—The Early Years (1986), Cusick was given a mere hour to conceptualize the Daleks' appearance. His initial sketches, reportedly inspired by a pepper pot on a table, captured the essence of the alien menace. However, Cusick himself later clarified that his primary inspiration was a man seated in a chair, with the pepper pot serving merely as a prop to demonstrate potential movement.

In 1964, Terry Nation offered a seemingly plausible, yet ultimately fabricated, origin for the Dalek name to a Daily Mirror reporter. He claimed the name was derived from a dictionary or encyclopaedia volume whose spine read "Dal – Lek" or, in another variation, "Dal – Eks." This fabricated tale, he later admitted, was a convenient fiction designed to satisfy journalistic curiosity, knowing full well that any diligent fact-checker would easily expose its falsehood. The truth was far simpler: the name had simply "rolled off his typewriter." To his later surprise and amusement, Nation discovered that in Serbo-Croatian, the word "dalek" translates to "far" or "distant," a fittingly ominous connotation for a species bent on galactic conquest.

Terry Nation's personal experiences during the Second World War, particularly the pervasive fear instilled by German bombings, profoundly shaped his depiction of the Daleks. He consciously modeled them on the Nazis, envisioning a race of faceless, authoritarian figures driven by an insatiable lust for conquest, an obsession with racial purity, and an absolute demand for total conformity. This allusion is most starkly evident in Nation's own Dalek stories, notably The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964) and Genesis of the Daleks (1975).

Before embarking on his creation of the Daleks, Nation had worked as a scriptwriter for the comedian Tony Hancock. Their professional relationship ended acrimoniously, with Nation either resigning or being dismissed. Hancock, who had been developing several television series proposals, including one titled From Plip to Plop, a comedic historical overview culminating in a nuclear apocalypse where survivors subsisted on radiation within dustbin-like robot casings, allegedly reacted with outrage upon seeing the Daleks. According to Hancock's biographer Cliff Goodwin, he exclaimed, "That bloody Nation — he's stolen my robots!"

The titling of early Doctor Who stories has been a subject of complexity and occasional controversy. The serial that introduced the Daleks is known by several names: The Survivors (the title used for the second episode and the pre-production title), The Mutants (its official title during production and broadcast, a title later adopted by a different, unrelated story), Beyond the Sun (a designation found on some production documents), The Dead Planet (the on-screen title for the first episode), or most commonly, simply The Daleks.

The immediate and overwhelming popularity of the Daleks caught the BBC entirely by surprise, catapulting Doctor Who from a niche program into a bona fide national phenomenon. Children, simultaneously terrified and captivated by the alien aesthetic of the creatures, developed a habit of "hiding behind the sofa" whenever the Daleks appeared on screen – a cultural touchstone, albeit one that may be exaggerated in retrospect. The Doctor Who production office was inundated with correspondence from viewers eager for information about these new antagonists, and newspaper articles further amplified the series' burgeoning fame and the Daleks' iconic status.

Nation, holding joint intellectual property rights to the Daleks with the BBC, found that the lucrative nature of the concept made it exceedingly difficult to divest to any other party. This dependence meant he was reliant on the BBC's continued desire to produce stories featuring the creatures. Despite several attempts to market the Daleks independently of the series, these ventures proved unsuccessful. Since Nation's death in 1997, his share of the rights has been managed by his former agent, Tim Hancock.

Early conceptualizations for what would eventually become the 1996 Doctor Who television movie featured a radical redesign of the Daleks, with casings that unfurled like arachnid limbs. This "Spider Dalek" concept, though ultimately abandoned for the film, was later revisited in various Doctor Who spin-off materials.

With the announcement of the new series, anticipation among fans for the Daleks' return was palpable. However, the Nation estate's insistence on a high degree of creative control over the Daleks' appearances and storylines presented a significant hurdle for the BBC. Eventually, an agreement was reached, paving the way for the Daleks' inclusion in the first series. By 2014, showrunner Steven Moffat publicly dismissed any suggestion that their frequent appearances were due to contractual obligations.

Physical characteristics

Externally, Daleks present a striking, if unsettling, silhouette: human-sized pepper pots adorned with a singular mechanical eyestalk mounted on a rotating dome. Their primary offensive weapon is a gun-mount, often referred to as a "gunstick" or "death ray," which bears a resemblance to an egg-whisk. Complementing this is a telescopic manipulator arm, typically terminating in an appendage resembling a sink-plunger. These plungers are remarkably versatile, employed by Daleks for interfacing with complex technology, crushing skulls with terrifying suction, assessing the intelligence of individuals, and even extracting information directly from minds. The Dalek casings are constructed from a bonded polycarbide material known as "Dalekanium." This material was attributed to the human resistance in The Dalek Invasion of Earth in some narratives, and later to the Cult of Skaro in "Daleks in Manhattan".

The lower section of a Dalek's shell is typically encrusted with hemispherical protrusions, colloquially known as 'Dalek-bumps.' In the 2005 episode "Dalek", these were revealed to be spheres embedded within the casing. Both the 1964 BBC-licensed Dalek Book and the 1983 The Doctor Who Technical Manual describe these bumps as part of a sophisticated sensory array. However, the 2005 series episode "Dalek" recontextualized them as integral components of a Dalek's forcefield mechanism. This forcefield possesses the remarkable ability to dissipate most incoming projectiles and withstand considerable energy weapon fire. The forcefield appears to be most concentrated around the Dalek's midsection, where the mutant resides. Consequently, concentrated firepower directed at the eyestalk can blind a Dalek, often resulting in a panicked, indiscriminate firing of its weapon, accompanied by the iconic lament: "My vision is impaired; I cannot see!" Russell T Davies, however, subverted this trope in his 2008 episode "The Stolen Earth," where a Dalek, after its vision is momentarily obscured by a paintball, vaporizes the projectile and defiantly declares, "My vision is not impaired!" In the 2019 episode "Resolution", these bumps serve a more offensive purpose, retracting to reveal missile launchers capable of obliterating a military tank with ease. Despite their advanced weaponry, Daleks possess a significantly limited visual field, lacking any peripheral sight, which renders them surprisingly vulnerable to concealment in relatively open environments. Furthermore, their own formidable energy weapons are capable of destroying them. Their weapons discharge a beam with distinct electrical properties, capable of propagating through water, and is theorized to be a form of plasma or electrolaser. The eyepiece remains the Dalek's most critical vulnerability.

The creature residing within the mechanical casing is depicted as soft, often repulsive in appearance, and notoriously vicious in temperament. The very first glimpse of a Dalek mutant, in The Daleks, was a fleeting image of a claw emerging from beneath a Thal cloak after the creature had been ejected from its casing. The visual representation of these mutants has varied over time, but generally aligns with the Doctor's description in Remembrance of the Daleks as "little green blobs in bonded polycarbide armour." In Resurrection of the Daleks, a Dalek creature, separated from its casing, demonstrates its ferocity by attacking and severely wounding a human soldier. Remembrance of the Daleks further elaborated on this, introducing two distinct Dalek factions – Imperial and Renegade – with variations in the appearance of the creatures within their respective casings. One faction housed amorphous creatures reminiscent of those seen in Resurrection, while the other contained crab-like beings similar to those from the original Dalek serial. The infrequent on-screen depiction of the internal mutant has led to a common misconception that Daleks are entirely mechanical robots. In the revived new series, Daleks have been retconned to possess a more squid-like appearance, complete with small tentacles, one or two eyes, and an exposed brain. This iteration also showcases a Dalek creature, when separated from its casing, capable of inserting a tentacle into the back of a human's neck to exert control.

Dalek vocalizations are distinctively electronic. When outside its casing, the mutant is only capable of emitting squeaks. However, once integrated into its casing, the mechanical voice emerges. The casing itself can be operated by humanoids; for instance, in The Daleks, Ian Chesterton (William Russell) infiltrated a Dalek shell to impersonate a guard as part of an escape strategy.

For many years, it was widely assumed that, due to their design and gliding locomotion, Daleks were incapable of ascending stairs, a perceived weakness that provided a convenient means of escape for their pursuers. A cartoon from Punch humorously depicted a group of Daleks halted at the foot of a staircase, with the caption: "Well, this certainly buggers our plan to conquer the Universe." In a scene from the serial Destiny of the Daleks, the Doctor and his companions evade pursuing Daleks by retreating into a ceiling duct. The Fourth Doctor taunts them, "If you're supposed to be the superior race of the universe, why don't you try climbing after us?" The common fan joke posits that "Real Daleks don't climb stairs; they level the building," acknowledging their overwhelming firepower as compensation for their limited mobility.

Dalek mobility has evolved considerably throughout the series' history. In their initial appearance in The Daleks, their movement was restricted to the conductive metal floors of their city. However, by the time of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, a Dalek emerged from the River Thames, demonstrating not only enhanced mobility but also amphibious capabilities. Planet of the Daleks revealed their ability to ascend vertical shafts using an external anti-gravity mat. Revelation of the Daleks showed Davros, in his life-support chair, and one of his Daleks hovering, while Remembrance of the Daleks depicted them ascending a flight of stairs. Despite these advancements, the Daleks' supposed inability to climb stairs has been a recurring motif in press commentary and has even been employed to reassure frightened children. In a direct challenge to this limitation, a character escaping up a staircase in the 2005 story "Dalek" taunted the pursuing Dalek as "defeated by a flight of stairs." The Dalek responded with the command "Elevate!", ascending the stairs in a manner reminiscent of its "Exterminate!" catchphrase. Beyond hovering, the revived series showcases Daleks as fully capable of flight, including spaceflight.

Prop details

Overview

[ Time War Dalek battle armour model on display at MediaCityUK in Manchester ](en.wikipedia.org)

The decidedly non-humanoid form of the Dalek's battle armour played a significant role in amplifying the creatures' inherent menace. [53] Its departure from familiar reference points distinguished them from the typical "bug-eyed monster" archetype prevalent in science fiction, a trope that Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman had actively sought to avoid. The unsettling silhouette of the Dalek battle armour, combined with their alien vocalizations, led many viewers to believe the props were entirely mechanical and operated by remote control. [7]

In reality, the Dalek battle armour was operated from within by short performers. [55] These operators had the complex task of manipulating the eyestalk, dome, and arms, while simultaneously synchronizing the flashing lights on the casing's head with the actors providing their voices. The Dalek casings were constructed in two sections; an operator would step into the lower portion, and then the top section would be secured. Their line of sight was through mesh-lined louvres positioned just below the dome, effectively concealing their faces. [55]

Operating the Dalek casings was not only physically demanding due to heat and cramped conditions but also acoustically isolating, muffling external sounds and making it difficult for operators to hear directorial cues or dialogue. John Scott Martin, who operated Daleks throughout the original series, described the 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]

For the 21st-century revival of Doctor Who, the Dalek casings retained the fundamental shape and proportions of their predecessors, though numerous details were redesigned to imbue them with a heavier, more substantial appearance. [57] Notable modifications included a larger, more pointed base; a glowing eyepiece; an all-over metallic-brass finish (a specific request from Russell T Davies); thicker, riveted strips on the "neck" section; a housing for the eyestalk pivot; and significantly enlarged dome lights. [57] This updated prop made its on-screen debut in the 2005 episode "Dalek." [57] These contemporary Dalek casings utilize a short operator within the housing, while the 'head' and eyestalk are controlled remotely. Nicholas Briggs provides the distinctive voice for the Daleks across their various appearances. [58] A new, larger model, distinguished by color-coded armor, was introduced in the 2010 series, signifying different ranks within the Dalek command hierarchy. [59]

Movement

Terry Nation's initial vision for the Daleks involved them gliding effortlessly across the floor. Early iterations of the Dalek casings utilized nylon castors for propulsion, with the operator's feet providing the necessary force. While these castors were adequate for the Daleks' debut serial, which was filmed entirely at the BBC's Lime Grove Studios, Nation desired a more dynamic presentation for The Dalek Invasion of Earth, intending to film the Daleks on the streets of London. To facilitate smoother movement on location, designer Spencer Chapman ingeniously incorporated miniature tricycles with more robust wheels into the new Dalek shells, concealing them beneath enlarged fenders attached to the original base. [60] The uneven cobblestones of Central London, however, caused the Daleks to rattle audibly, a noise that proved impossible to eliminate from the final soundtrack. A small parabolic dish was added to the rear of the prop's casing to explain the departure from their first serial's reliance on static electricity drawn from the Dalek city floors for motive power. [56]

Subsequent iterations of the prop featured improved wheels, and once again, movement was primarily driven by the seated operators' feet. However, the sheer weight of the casings meant that when navigating inclines, stagehands were often required to push them from off-camera. The inherent difficulty of simultaneously operating all the prop's components contributed to the sometimes jerky, stilted movements of the Daleks. This issue has been largely mitigated with the advent of the "new series" design, where the remotely controlled dome and eyestalk allow the operator to focus solely on maintaining smooth movement and controlling the Dalek's arms. [61]

Voices

The distinctive staccato delivery, harsh timbre, and rising inflection characteristic of the Dalek voice were initially developed by voice actors Peter Hawkins and David Graham. They modulated the pitch and speed of their lines to convey the necessary emotional nuance. This vocal performance was further processed electronically by Brian Hodgson at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The specific sound-processing devices employed have evolved over the decades. In 1963, Hodgson and his colleagues utilized equalization to accentuate the mid-range frequencies of the actor's voice, subsequently subjecting it to ring modulation with a 30 Hz sine wave. This process generated the uniquely harsh, grating vocal quality that has become the enduring hallmark of all Dalek voices, with the notable exception of those in the 1985 serial Revelation of the Daleks, where director Graeme Harper deliberately employed less distortion. [62]

Beyond Hawkins and Graham, a roster of talented voice actors have lent their voices to the Daleks. Roy Skelton, who first voiced the Daleks in the 1967 story The Evil of the Daleks, provided voices for five subsequent Dalek serials, including Planet of the Daleks, and also contributed to the one-off anniversary special "The Five Doctors". Michael Wisher, the actor who originated the role of Dalek creator Davros in Genesis of the Daleks, lent his voice to the Daleks in that same story, as well as in Frontier in Space, Planet of the Daleks, and Death to the Daleks. Other Dalek voice actors include Royce Mills (three stories), [64][65][66] Brian Miller (two stories), [65][66] and Oliver Gilbert and Peter Messaline (one story). [67] John Leeson, renowned for his voice work as K9 in several Doctor Who stories, and Davros actors Terry Molloy and David Gooderson also contributed supporting voices in various Dalek serials. [65][68]

Since 2005, the Dalek voice in the television series has been provided by Nicholas Briggs, who speaks into a microphone connected to a voice modulator. [58][69] Briggs had previously supplied Dalek and other alien voices for Big Finish Productions audio plays and continues to do so. In a 2006 BBC Radio interview, Briggs recounted that when the BBC commissioned him to provide the voice for the new television series, they requested he bring his own analogue ring modulator, which he had used in the audio plays. The BBC's sound department had transitioned to a digital platform and, according to Briggs, was unable to adequately replicate the distinctive Dalek sound with their modern equipment. Briggs even brought the modulator to the actors' script readings. [58][69]

Construction

The manufacturing of the Dalek props proved to be a considerable expense. In scenes requiring a multitude of Daleks, less elaborate representations were employed. This included wooden replicas in Destiny of the Daleks [68] and life-size photographic enlargements in the early black-and-white episodes such as The Daleks, The Dalek Invasion of Earth, [36][70] and The Power of the Daleks. [71][72] For stories featuring vast armies of Daleks, the BBC effects team even resorted to using commercially available toy Daleks, manufactured by Louis Marx & Co and Herts Plastic Moulders Ltd. Evidence of this practice can be observed in the serials The Power of the Daleks, The Evil of the Daleks, and Planet of the Daleks. [73] Furthermore, sophisticated editing techniques were employed to create the illusion of a greater number of Daleks than were actually present, such as the use of split screen in "[The Parting of the Ways]". [38]

Four fully functional props were commissioned for the inaugural serial, "The Daleks," in 1963. These were constructed by Shawcraft Engineering based on BBC plans, and are known among fans as "Mk I Daleks". Shawcraft was also contracted to build approximately 20 Daleks for the two Dalek films released in 1965 and 1966 (detailed below). Some of these cinematic props found their way back to the BBC and were subsequently featured in televised serials, most notably The Chase, which aired prior to the debut of the first film. [Citation needed] The remaining props not acquired by the BBC were either donated to charitable organizations or awarded as prizes in competitions. [75]

The BBC's own Dalek props underwent numerous reuses, with components from the original Shawcraft "Mk I Daleks" persisting through to their final appearance in the classic series in 1988. However, years of storage and repeated repainting took their toll. By the time of the Sixth Doctor's serial Revelation of the Daleks, new props were being manufactured from fibreglass. These models offered a lighter and more cost-effective construction compared to their predecessors. [77] These newer models exhibited a slightly bulkier profile around the mid-shoulder section and featured a redesigned skirt section that was more vertically oriented at the rear. Other minor alterations to the design were necessitated by these new construction methods, including modifications to the fender and the integration of arm boxes, collars, and slats into a single fibreglass molding. [77] These props were subsequently repainted in grey for the Seventh Doctor serial Remembrance of the Daleks, designating them as "Renegade Daleks". Another redesign, this time in cream and gold, gave rise to the "Imperial Dalek" faction. [78]

New Dalek props were specifically constructed for the 21st-century iteration of Doctor Who. The first of these, which appeared solo in the 2005 episode "Dalek", was meticulously crafted by modelmaker Mike Tucker. [57] Subsequently, additional Dalek props, based on Tucker's master design, were fabricated from fibreglass by the Cardiff-based company Specialist Models. [79]

Entry into popular culture

The Daleks achieved immediate and widespread popularity with viewers, leading to their recurring appearances throughout the 1960s. Within a year of their debut on Doctor Who, the Daleks had become so recognizable that they were known even to non-viewers. In December 1964, editorial cartoonist [Leslie Gilbert Illingworth] published a cartoon in the Daily Mail captioned "THE DEGAULLEK," satirically depicting French President Charles de Gaulle arriving at a NATO meeting as a Dalek, complete with de Gaulle's distinctive nose. [80] The distinctive Dalek prop, and the use of a real performer within it, later served as an inspiration for the creative team behind Star Wars when they encountered difficulties in developing the prop for R2-D2. [81]

The Daleks have become as intrinsically linked to Doctor Who as the Doctor himself, and their characteristic behaviors and catchphrases have been absorbed into the fabric of British popular culture. [82] The act of "hiding behind the sofa whenever the Daleks appear" has been identified as a significant element of British cultural identity. [83] A 2008 survey indicated that an astonishing nine out of ten British children could accurately identify a Dalek. [84] In 1999, a Dalek photographed by Lord Snowdon was featured on a postage stamp commemorating British popular culture. [85] In 2010, readers of the science fiction magazine SFX voted the Dalek as the all-time greatest monster, surpassing formidable contenders such as the Japanese movie monster Godzilla and J. R. R. Tolkien's Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. [86]

The word "Dalek" itself has entered major dictionaries, including the venerable Oxford English Dictionary, which defines it 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 occasionally employ the term metaphorically to describe individuals, particularly those in positions of authority, who exhibit robotic behavior and an inability to deviate from their prescribed programming. For example, John Birt, who served as Director-General of the BBC from 1992 to 2000, was famously referred to as a "croak-voiced Dalek" by playwright Dennis Potter during his MacTaggart Lecture at the 1993 Edinburgh Television Festival. [88]

Fictional history

The in-universe history of the Daleks has been subject to numerous retroactive changes, leading to significant continuity complications. [89] In their initial appearances, the Daleks were presented as the descendants of the Dals, a race that had undergone mutations following a brief nuclear war between the Dal and Thal races approximately 500 years prior. This iteration of Daleks was ultimately destroyed when their power supply was compromised. [90] However, upon their return in The Dalek Invasion of Earth, they had already conquered Earth in the 22nd century. Subsequent narratives depicted their development of time travel and the establishment of a vast space empire. In 1975, Terry Nation revisited and revised the Daleks' origins in Genesis of the Daleks. In this retelling, the Dals were renamed the Kaleds (with "Daleks" revealed as an anagram of this name), and the creation of the Dalek design was attributed to a single individual: the paralyzed Kaled chief scientist and malevolent genius, Davros. [91] Later Big Finish Productions audio plays attempted to reconcile this retcon by proposing that the Skaro word "dal" signified "warrior," a term the Kaleds used to describe themselves, while "dal-ek" meant "god." [92][93] According to Genesis of the Daleks, the protracted Kaled-Thal war was not a brief nuclear exchange but rather a thousand-year-long attrition warfare fought with nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, resulting in widespread mutations among Skaro's inhabitants. Davros, driven by a belief that his own people had become weak and required replacement by a superior life form, experimented with living Kaled cells to engineer the ultimate mutated form. He housed his new Dalek creations within advanced, tank-like "travel machines," the design of which was inspired by his own life-support chair. [91]

[Genesis of the Daleks] marked a significant shift in the portrayal of the species, with most of their prior history either disregarded or only cursorily referenced thereafter. [94] Subsequent stories within the original Doctor Who series, which followed a discernible story arc, [95] increasingly focused on Davros, much to the chagrin of some fans who felt the Daleks themselves should have remained the central antagonists rather than being relegated to mere minions of their creator. [96] Davros made his final televised appearance for two decades in Remembrance of the Daleks, a story that depicted a civil war between two distinct Dalek factions. One faction, the "Imperial Daleks," remained loyal to Davros, who had assumed the mantle of their Emperor, while the other, the "Renegade Daleks," followed a black Supreme Dalek. By the story's conclusion, both factions' armies were decimated, and the Doctor had orchestrated the destruction of Skaro. However, Davros managed to escape, and given the Daleks' established capacity for time travel and their widespread presence across the universe, the possibility of numerous survivors persisted. [65]

The original "classic" Doctor Who series concluded in 1989. In the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie, which introduced the Eighth Doctor, Skaro appeared to have been rebuilt, and the Daleks were depicted as still holding dominion over it. Although the aliens themselves were not seen on screen, the narrative depicted the Time Lord villain, the Master, being executed on Skaro amidst a chorus of Dalek voices chanting "Exterminate." In the Eighth Doctor audio plays produced by Big Finish from 2000 to 2005, Paul McGann reprised his role. The audio play The Time of the Daleks featured the Daleks operating without Davros and nearly erasing William Shakespeare from history. In Terror Firma, the Eighth Doctor encountered a Dalek faction led by Davros, who was himself undergoing a devolution towards a Dalek-like existence while attempting to create new Daleks from mutated humans on Earth. The audio dramas The Apocalypse Element and Dalek Empire further depicted the alien antagonists invading Gallifrey and subsequently constructing their own version of the Time Lord power source, the Eye of Harmony, enabling the Daleks to re-establish their empire and pose a greater threat to the Time Lords and other time-traveling races.

A new Doctor Who series premiered in 2005, introducing the Ninth Doctor and revealing that the "Last Great Time War" had recently concluded, resulting in the apparent annihilation of Time Lord society. The episode "Dalek", penned by Robert Shearman, aired on BBC One on April 30, 2005, confirming that the Time War had primarily been a conflict between the Daleks and the Time Lords. The Doctor had apparently ended the conflict by destroying both sides, remarking that his own survival was "not by choice." The episode featured a solitary Dalek, seemingly the sole survivor of its race from the Time War. [33] Later audio plays by Big Finish Productions expanded upon the narrative of the Time War across various audio drama series, including Gallifrey: Time War, The Eighth Doctor: Time War, The War Doctor, and The War Master.

A Dalek Emperor reappeared at the conclusion of the 2005 series, having survived the Time War and subsequently rebuilt the Dalek race using genetic material harvested from human subjects. This Emperor viewed itself as a deity, and the newly created human-based Daleks were depicted worshipping it. The Emperor and its Dalek fleet were destroyed in "[The Parting of the Ways]". [38] The 2006 season finale, "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday", introduced a squad of four pure-bred Dalek survivors from the ancient Empire, known as the Cult of Skaro. These Daleks were specifically tasked with developing imagination to anticipate and counter their enemies more effectively. The Cult members were given names: Jast, Thay, Caan, and their leader, the black Dalek Sec. The Cult had survived the Time War by escaping into the Void, the interdimensional space between universes. They re-emerged, along with the Genesis Ark – a Time Lord prison vessel containing millions of pure Daleks – at Canary Wharf, due to the actions of the Torchwood Institute and Cybermen from a parallel world. This resulted in a confrontation between the Cybermen and Daleks in London, which was ultimately resolved when the Tenth Doctor caused both factions to be sucked into the Void, unprotected. The Cult of Skaro, however, managed to survive by utilizing 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". Stranded in 1930s New York, they established a base within the partially constructed Empire State Building and attempted to rebuild the Dalek race. To this end, Dalek Sec merged with a human, becoming a Human/Dalek hybrid. The Cult then proceeded to create "Human Daleks" by "formatting" the brains of several thousand captured humans, imbuing them with Dalek minds. [39] Dalek Sec, however, began to exhibit more human characteristics and altered the plan to ensure the hybrids would possess more human-like traits. This deviation led to a mutiny by the rest of the Cult. Sec was killed, and Thay and Jast were subsequently eliminated along with the hybrids. Dalek Caan, believing himself to be the last of his kind, escaped once more via an emergency temporal shift. [39]

The Daleks made a significant return in the 2008 season's two-part finale, "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End", appearing alongside their creator, Davros. This storyline revealed that Caan's temporal shift had propelled him into the Time War, despite the War being designated as "Time-Locked." The experience of breaching the Time-Lock resulted in Caan glimpsing fragments of multiple futures, which ultimately shattered his sanity. Caan subsequently rescued numerous pure-bred Daleks from the Time War era and Davros himself. Davros utilized his own cellular material, derived from his Kaled DNA (as all pure Daleks originated from Kaled stock), to create new pure Dalek troops. A red Supreme Dalek led this new army, while simultaneously keeping Caan and Davros imprisoned aboard the Dalek flagship, the Crucible. Davros and the Daleks' ultimate objective was to annihilate all of reality with a "reality bomb." Their plan was thwarted by the intervention of Donna Noble, a companion of the Doctor, and Caan, who had been subtly manipulating events to destroy the Daleks after recognizing the profound severity of their past atrocities. [41][98]

The Daleks reappeared in the 2010 episode "Victory of the Daleks". This episode revealed that a contingent of Daleks had survived the destruction of their army in "Journey's End" and had retrieved the "Progenitor," a compact device containing the 'original' Dalek DNA. The activation of the Progenitor led to the creation of the New Paradigm Daleks, who considered the Time War era Daleks to be inferior. These new Daleks were organized into distinct roles – drone, scientist, strategist, supreme, and eternal – identifiable by color-coded armor, a departure from the identification plates used by their predecessors. They escaped the Doctor at the episode's conclusion via time travel, with the explicit intention of rebuilding their Empire. [99][100]

The Daleks made brief cameo appearances in subsequent season finales: "The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang" (2010) and "The Wedding of River Song" (2011). Showrunner Steven Moffat opted for this approach, stating his desire to "give them a rest" and noting, "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 confirmed that Skaro had been recreated once more. Their next appearance was in "Asylum of the Daleks" (2012), where the Daleks were shown to have significantly increased in number and now possessed a Parliament. In addition to the traditional "modern" Daleks, various designs from both the original and new series were present, coexisting rather than being deemed inferior or obsolete (with the exception of Daleks whose personalities rendered them "insane" or incapable of combat). All records of the Doctor were expunged from their collective consciousness at the episode's conclusion.

The Daleks featured prominently in the 50th Anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor" (2013), where they were depicted being vanquished during the Time War. The same special revealed that a substantial number of Time Lords had survived the war, as the Doctor had devised a method to phase the planet Gallifrey out of reality and into a pocket dimension. In "The Time of the Doctor" (2013), the Daleks were among the races besieging Trenzalore, aiming to prevent the Doctor from releasing the Time Lords from their pocket dimension. After converting Tasha Lem into a Dalek puppet, they regained knowledge of the Doctor's existence.

The Twelfth Doctor's initial encounter with the Daleks occurred in his second full episode, "Into the Dalek" (2014). During this episode, he encountered a damaged Dalek, which he affectionately nicknamed 'Rusty.' Rusty, influenced by the Doctor's profound love for the universe and his deep-seated hatred for the Daleks, adopted a mission to eliminate other Daleks. In "The Magician's Apprentice"/"The Witch's Familiar" (2015), the Doctor was summoned to Skaro, where he discovered that Davros had successfully re-established the Dalek Empire. In "The Pilot" (2017), the Doctor briefly visited a battle during the protracted Dalek-Movellan war.

The Thirteenth Doctor encountered a Dalek in a New Year's Day episode, "Resolution" (2019). In this instance, a Dalek mutant, separated from its armored casing, possessed a human host to construct a new travel device for itself and summon reinforcements for a planned conquest of Earth. This Dalek was subsequently cloned by a scientist in "Revolution of the Daleks" (2021). The cloned Daleks attempted to seize control of Earth but were eliminated by other Daleks due to perceived genetic impurity. The Dalek army was later deliberately sent by the Doctor into the "void" between worlds, utilizing a spare TARDIS she had recently acquired on Gallifrey. After brief cameo appearances as one of several antagonists exploiting the "Flux" event that was tearing through space-time in series 13, the Daleks returned in the first 2022 special, "Eve of the Daleks". In this episode, a squad of Dalek Executioners was dispatched by High Command to avenge the Dalek War Fleet destroyed by the Doctor in the series 13 finale "The Vanquishers". However, a time loop established by the TARDIS allowed the Doctor to survive and subsequently destroy the executioners. The Daleks later appeared alongside the Cybermen as allies to the Master in "The Power of the Doctor", participating in a plot to finally eliminate their archenemy. This alliance was ultimately defeated by the Doctor and a contingent of both new and returning companions.

In a short video released for the 2023 Children in Need telethon, the origin of the Daleks' iconic plunger-like appendages was retroactively established as originating from the Fourteenth Doctor's TARDIS. The same video also hinted at an unintentional clue provided by the Doctor to a Kaled military officer, which inadvertently led to the creation of the name "Dalek." [102]

Evolution of the Daleks battle armour, variants of the props since 1963, on display at various exhibitions

Dalek culture

Daleks exhibit minimal, if any, individual personality, [35] and are ostensibly devoid of emotions beyond hatred and anger. [33] They adhere to a strict hierarchical command structure, conditioned to obey orders from superiors without question. [103] Dalek speech is characterized by repetitive phrases and commands directed at themselves and others. [104] Unlike the stereotypical emotionless robots often found in science fiction, Daleks frequently display intense anger. Author Kim Newman has described their behavior as akin to "toddlers in perpetual hissy fits," characterized by gloating when in positions of power and erupting into fury when thwarted. [105] They tend to exhibit excitability, often repeating the same word or phrase multiple times in heightened emotional states, most famously "Exterminate! Exterminate!"

Daleks are exceptionally aggressive, seemingly driven by an innate instinct to attack. This instinct is so potent that Daleks have been depicted struggling against the urge to kill [39][66] or even attacking when unarmed. [33][106] The Fifth Doctor characterizes this impulse by stating, "However you respond [to Daleks] is seen as an act of provocation." [66] A fundamental tenet of Dalek culture and psychology is an unshakeable belief in the inherent superiority of the Dalek race, [103] and their default directive is the eradication of all non-Dalek life-forms. [33] Other species are either subjected to immediate extermination or enslaved and subsequently exterminated once their utility has been exhausted. [66]

The Daleks' profound obsession with their own superiority is starkly illustrated by the schism between the Renegade and Imperial Daleks observed in Revelation of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks. Despite relatively minor differences between them, each faction viewed the other as a perversion of their true form. [65] This intolerance of any perceived "contamination" within their own ranks is also evident in "[Dalek]", [33] The Evil of the Daleks, [103] and the Big Finish Productions audio play [The Mutant Phase]. [107] This ingrained superiority complex forms the bedrock of the Daleks' ruthlessness and complete lack of compassion. [33][103] This is most extremely demonstrated in "[Victory of the Daleks]", where the new, "pure" Daleks annihilate their creators, the impure Daleks, with the latter's apparent consent. Negotiating with or reasoning with a Dalek is virtually impossible, their unwavering single-mindedness rendering them a formidable and not-to-be-underestimated adversary. [33] The Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) later expresses bewilderment in "[Asylum of the Daleks]" as to why the Daleks do not simply eliminate their sequestered brethren who have "gone wrong". Although the Asylum is subsequently obliterated, the Prime Minister of the Daleks offers an explanation: "it is offensive to us to destroy such divine hatred," a revelation that profoundly sickens the Doctor, highlighting hatred as a concept revered by the Daleks. [108][109]

Dalek society is depicted as being at the pinnacle of scientific and technological advancement; the Third Doctor remarks 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 also represents a strategic vulnerability, a fact they acknowledge [65][68] and consequently seek to compensate for by employing more emotion-driven species as agents. [65][66][103]

While the Daleks are not typically known for adhering to due process, they have, on at least two occasions, brought enemies back to Skaro for a "trial" rather than executing them immediately. The first was their creator, Davros, in Revelation of the Daleks, [64] and the second was the renegade Time Lord known as the Master in the 1996 television movie. [110] The rationale behind the Master's trial, and why the Doctor was permitted to retrieve the Master's remains, has never been explicitly explained on screen. The Doctor Who Annual 2006 suggests that the trial may have been a consequence of a treaty established between the Time Lords and the Daleks. [111] The framing device for the I, Davros audio plays involves a Dalek trial convened to determine whether Davros should once again assume leadership of the Daleks. [112]

Spin-off novels contain several tongue-in-cheek references to Dalek poetry, including an anecdote about an opera based upon it, which was tragically lost to posterity when the entire cast was exterminated on opening night. Two stanzas of this purported poetry are presented in the novel The Also People by Ben Aaronovitch. [113] In an alternative timeline depicted in the Big Finish Productions audio adventure The Time of the Daleks, the Daleks exhibit a peculiar fondness for the works of Shakespeare. [114] A similar concept was satirized by comedian Frankie Boyle on the BBC comedy quiz program Mock the Week; he presented the fictional Dalek poem "Daffodils; EXTERMINATE DAFFODILS!" as an "unlikely line to hear in Doctor Who." [115]

Due to the Doctor's consistent success in thwarting their plans, he has become their collective arch-enemy, and they possess standing orders to capture or exterminate him on sight. In later narratives, the Daleks refer to the Doctor as "Ka Faraq Gatri" ("Bringer of Darkness" or "Destroyer of Worlds") and "The Oncoming Storm." [38][98] Both the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) suggest that the Doctor is one of the few beings the Daleks genuinely fear. In "Doomsday", Rose observes that while the Daleks dismiss the extermination of five million Cybermen as mere "pest control," the presence of "one Doctor" visibly unnerves them to the point of physical recoil. [35] To his indignant surprise, in "[Asylum of the Daleks]", the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) learns that the Daleks have designated him "The Predator." [116]

Licensing

Copyright for the Daleks was retained by Terry Nation, not the BBC, and has since passed to his estate following his death. [117] A number of licensed adaptations and uses have been produced over the years.

A page from the TV 21 comic strip, featuring the creation of the Emperor Dalek

Two Doctor Who films starring Peter Cushing featured the Daleks as the primary antagonists: Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD. These films were loosely based on the television serials The Daleks and The Dalek Invasion of Earth, respectively. However, the movies were not direct adaptations; for instance, the Doctor in the Cushing films was a human inventor named "Dr. Who" who constructed a time-traveling device called the Tardis, as opposed to the mysterious alien who pilfered a device known as "the TARDIS." [118]

Four books focusing specifically on the Daleks were published in the 1960s. The Dalek Book (1964, written by Terry Nation and David Whitaker), The Dalek World (1965, written by Nation and Whitaker), and The Dalek Outer Space Book (1966, by Nation and Brad Ashton) were all hardcover publications formatted like annuals, featuring text stories and comic strips about the Daleks, along with fictional information that sometimes aligned with the television serials and sometimes diverged. [119] Nation also published The Dalek Pocketbook and Space-Travellers Guide, a collection of articles and features that treated the Daleks as if they were real entities. [120] Four additional annuals were released in the 1970s by World Distributors under the title Terry Nation's Dalek Annual (with cover dates ranging from 1976–1979, but published between 1975–1978). [121] Two original novels by John Peel, War of the Daleks (1997) and Legacy of the Daleks (1998), were published as part of the Eighth Doctor Adventures series of Doctor Who novels. [122] A novella, The Dalek Factor by Simon Clark, was released in 2004. Additionally, two books featuring the Daleks and the Tenth Doctor – I am a Dalek by Gareth Roberts (2006, part of the Quick Reads Initiative) and Prisoner of the Daleks by Trevor Baxendale (2009) – were published as part of the New Series Adventures. [123]

Nation granted authorization for the publication of the comic strip The Daleks in the comic TV Century 21 in 1965. This weekly one-page strip, written by Whitaker but credited to Nation, portrayed the Daleks as protagonists and "heroes." It ran for two years, chronicling their creation of the mechanized Daleks by the humanoid Dalek scientist Yarvelling, and culminating in their discovery of coordinates for Earth within the wreckage of a crashed space liner, setting the stage for their planned invasion. Although much of the material in these strips contradicted later televised events, certain concepts, such as the Daleks employing humanoid duplicates and the design of the Dalek Emperor, were later incorporated into the television series. [124]

Concurrently, a Doctor Who strip was also being serialized in TV Comic. Initially, the strip lacked the rights to feature the Daleks, forcing the First Doctor to contend with the "Trods," cone-shaped robotic creatures powered by static electricity. By the time the Second Doctor appeared in the strip in 1967, the rights issues had been resolved, and the Daleks began making appearances, starting with "The Trodos Ambush" (TVC #788-#791), where they were depicted massacring the Trods. The Daleks also featured in the Third Doctor-era Dr. Who comic strip published in the combined Countdown/TV Action comic during the early 1970s. [125]

An animated series titled Daleks!, comprising five 10-minute episodes, was released on the official Doctor Who YouTube channel in 2020. [126]

Other licensed appearances have encompassed a variety of stage plays (detailed in the Stage plays section below) and television advertisements for products such as Wall's "Sky Ray" ice lollies (1966), Weetabix breakfast cereal (1977), Kit Kat chocolate bars (2001), [127][128] and the ANZ Bank (2005). [129] In 2003, Daleks also featured in UK billboard advertisements for Energizer batteries, accompanied by the slogan "Are You Power Mad?". [127]

Merchandising

The BBC approached Walter Tuckwell, a New Zealand-born entrepreneur responsible for managing product merchandising for other BBC programs, and solicited his involvement with the Daleks and Doctor Who. [130] Tuckwell subsequently produced a glossy sales brochure that ignited a widespread Dalek craze, dubbed "Dalekmania" by the press, which reached its zenith in 1965. [131]

Toys and models

The initial release of Dalek toys occurred in 1965, coinciding with the peak of the "Dalekmania" phenomenon. [132] These included battery-operated, friction drive, and "Rolykins" Daleks from Louis Marx & Co., alongside models from Cherilea, Herts Plastic Moulders Ltd, and Cowan, de Groot Ltd. Additionally, "Bendy" Daleks, manufactured by Newfeld Ltd, were also available. [132] During the height of the Daleks' popularity, merchandise extended beyond toy replicas to include Dalek board games, activity sets, slide projectors for children, and even Dalek playsuits made from PVC. [133] Collectible cards, stickers, toy guns, music singles, punching bags, and numerous other items were also produced during this period. [133] Dalek toys released in the 1970s featured a revised version of Louis Marx's battery-operated Dalek (1974), a "talking Dalek" from Palitoy (1975), and a Dalek board game (1975) and Dalek action figure (1977), both by Denys Fisher. [134] From 1988 to 2002, Dapol released a line of Dalek toys in conjunction with its Doctor Who action figure series. [135]

Beginning in 2000, Product Enterprise (which later operated under the names "Iconic Replicas" and "Sixteen 12 Collectibles") produced a variety of Dalek toys. These offerings included one-inch (2.5 cm) Dalek "Rolykins" (inspired by the 1965 Louis Marx toy), push-along "talking" 7-inch (17.8 cm) Daleks, 2.5-inch (6.4 cm) Dalek "Rollamatics" with a pull-back-and-release mechanism, and a one-foot (30.5 cm) remote-controlled Dalek. [136]

In 2005, Character Options secured the "Master Toy License" for the revived Doctor Who series, encompassing the Daleks. [137] Their product lines have included 5-inch (12.7 cm) static/push-along and radio-controlled Daleks, radio-controlled 12-inch (30.5 cm) versions, and radio-controlled 18-inch (45.7 cm) / 1:3 scale variants. [138] The 12-inch remote-controlled Dalek received the 2005 award for Best Electronic Toy of the Year from the [Toy Retailers Association]. [137] Some iterations of the 18-inch model incorporated semi-autonomous and voice command features. [139] In 2008, the company obtained a license to produce 5-inch (12.7 cm) Daleks representing various "classic series" designs. [140]

Full-size reproductions

For many years, dedicated fans have undertaken the construction of life-size Dalek reproductions. [141] The BBC and the Terry Nation estate officially discourage the creation of unlicensed Daleks, generally intervening only when attempts are made to commercially trade unauthorized Daleks and their components, or if the intended use is deemed detrimental to the BBC's reputation or the Doctor Who/Dalek brand. [142] The Crewe-based company "This Planet Earth" holds the unique distinction of being the only business licensed by both the BBC and the Terry Nation Estate to produce full-size TV Dalek replicas commercially, and by [Canal+ Image UK Ltd.] to produce full-size Movie Dalek replicas. [143][144]

Major appearances

Stage plays

Concerts

  • Doctor Who Prom (27 July 2008)
  • Doctor Who Prom (27 July 2010)
  • Doctor Who Prom (27 July 2013)

Original novels and novellas

Other appearances

Non– Doctor Who television and film

Daleks have made cameo appearances in television programs and films unrelated to Doctor Who from the 1960s to the present day.

  • Two to three purple toy Daleks are also seen in the background of an episode of the American children's cartoon Rugrats. [145]
  • A toy Dalek appears in the opening sequence of the seventh episode of the British comedy series Mr. Bean (titled Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean), when Mr. Bean stages an "alternative nativity play" using various contemporary toys, including tanks and a plastic dinosaur.
  • In the television special The Red Dwarf A–Z, two Daleks are featured (under the entry "E" for "Exterminate"). They engage in an argument, asserting that all Earth television constitutes human propaganda and claiming that works commonly attributed to William Shakespeare and Ludwig van Beethoven were actually written by Daleks. They vehemently deny authorship of "Mandy" by Barry Manilow. Subsequently, one Dalek comments that the "change the bulb" joke from the episode "Legion" was amusing, only to be promptly exterminated by the other for "not behaving like a true Dalek."
  • In the 2004 series of Coupling, written by Steven Moffat (who later became a prominent writer and producer for Doctor Who), a Dalek makes an appearance in the second episode of season 4. [146] This Dalek was voiced by Nicholas Briggs, [147] who would later provide Dalek voices for the main series from 2005 onwards. [148] (It is worth noting that Terry Nation's original rights agreement with the BBC for the Daleks had been negotiated by his then-agent, Beryl Vertue, who later became Moffat's mother-in-law.) [149]
  • In the film Looney Tunes: Back in Action, the clandestine military base, Area 52, holds a collection of monsters and robots from vintage sci-fi films. Among these are two Daleks. Upon their release by Marvin the Martian, they proceed to attack, uttering their signature catchphrases. [127][150]
  • A Dalek appeared alongside Darth Vader, Ming the Merciless, a Klingon, the Sixth Doctor, and a 1980s Cyberman in a 2003 episode of the British motoring program Top Gear. The segment aimed to determine who was the "Master of the Universe" through a lap around their test track in a race-modified Honda Civic. The Dalek, unable to fit into the car, proceeded to exterminate the other drivers (with the exception of the Klingon and the Doctor, who had apparently fled beforehand and were not present). Ultimately, the Cyberman was declared the winner by the hosts. [151][152]
  • In a 2009 episode of the American sitcom Better Off Ted, a deactivated Dalek is visible in the sub-basement, identified as the location of the supposed "Robot Farm." [153]
  • In the 2017 film The Lego Batman Movie, the Daleks, depicted in a Lego adaptation of their 2010 designs, appear as escaped prisoners from the Phantom Zone. [154]
  • It's A Sin (written by Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies) features scenes where the series protagonist Ritchie Tozer (Olly Alexander) is cast in a fictional Doctor Who story titled Regression of the Daleks. [155]
Comic books
  • In the graphic novel Abslom Daak: Dalek Killer, the titular protagonist, a condemned criminal with a death wish and an intense hatred for the Daleks, hunts his nemeses who have recently invaded the planet Mazar, the homeworld of Princess Taiyin. [156][157]
Music

[ The cover of the 1964 novelty single "I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas with a Dalek" by the Go-Go's ](en.wikipedia.org)

Daleks have been referenced or associated in numerous musical compositions.

  • The earliest known musical reference to Daleks is the 1964 novelty single "I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas with a Dalek" by the Go-Go's, released during the 1960s' "Dalekmania" craze. [158]
  • Dalek voices were sampled and recreated in the 1988 novelty single "Doctorin' the Tardis" by The Timelords (who later performed as the KLF). [159]
Video games

Licensed Doctor Who games featuring Daleks include 1984's The Key to Time, a text adventure game for the ZX 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, less prominent games throughout the 1980s, but did not feature as central adversaries in a licensed game until 1992, when Admiral Software published Dalek Attack. [162] This game allowed players to control various Doctors or companions, navigating them through several environments to defeat the Daleks. [162][163] In 1997, the BBC released a PC game titled Destiny of the Doctors, which also included the Daleks among its roster of adversaries. [164]

One authorized online game is The Last Dalek, a Flash game created by New Media Collective for the BBC. It is based on the 2005 episode "Dalek" and can be played on the official BBC Doctor Who website. [165] The Doctor Who website also hosts another game, Daleks vs Cybermen (also known as Cyber Troop Control Interface), based on the 2006 episode "Doomsday". In this game, players command Cybermen troops battling both Daleks and members of the Torchwood Institute. [166]

On June 5, 2010, the BBC launched the first of four official computer games on its website, Doctor Who: The Adventure Games, intended as extensions of the official TV series adventures. In the first installment, 'The City of the Daleks', the Doctor, in his 11th incarnation, and Amy Pond must prevent the Daleks from rewriting time and reviving their homeworld, Skaro. [167]

They also appear in the Nintendo DS and Wii games Doctor Who: Evacuation Earth and Doctor Who: Return to Earth. [168][169]

The Daleks are featured in Lego Dimensions, where they align with Lord Vortech and possess the size-altering Scale Keystone. When Batman, Gandalf, and Wyldstyle encounter them, they mistakenly assume the Daleks are allies of the Doctor and attack the trio. The protagonists continue to battle the Daleks until they call upon the Doctor for assistance. A Dalek saucer also appears in the level based on Metropolis, with its upper surface serving as the arena for the boss battle against Sauron, summoning Daleks among various enemies to assault the player. A Dalek is also among the elements summoned by the player to overcome obstacles in the Portal 2 story level of Lego Dimensions. [Citation needed]

The Daleks also appear in Doctor Who: The Edge of Time, a Virtual Reality game for the PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, HTC Vive, and Vive Cosmos, released in September 2019. [170][171]

The Daleks are available as a licensed costume in Fall Guys. [172]

Politics

At the 1966 Conservative Party conference held in Blackpool, delegate Hugh Dykes publicly drew a parallel between the Labour government's Defence Secretary, Denis Healey, and the creatures. He stated, "Mr. Healey is the Dalek of defence, pointing a metal finger at the armed forces and saying 'I will eliminate you'." [173]

During a British Government Parliamentary Debate in the House of Commons on February 12, 1968, the then Minister of Technology, Tony Benn, referenced the Daleks while responding to a question from the Labour MP Hugh Jenkins concerning the Concorde aircraft project. In the context of potential dangers posed by solar flares, he remarked, "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]

In 2006, Australian Labor Party figure Robert Ray described his right-wing successor within the Labor Unity faction, Victorian Senator [Stephen Conroy], and his Socialist Left counterpart, [Kim Carr], as "factional Daleks" during a luncheon hosted by the Australian Fabian Society in Sydney. [176]

During a House of Commons debate in 2021 regarding the retention of dentists in rural United Kingdom areas amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the audio feed of Conservative MP Scott Mann for North Cornwall experienced a distortion malfunction. Deputy Speaker of the House, [Nigel Evans], interrupted the broadcast amidst laughter from other MPs, stating, "Scott, you sound like a Dalek and I don't mean that unkindly. There's clearly a communications problem." Mann later returned to offer an apology. [177][178]

Daleks have been utilized in [political cartoons] to satirize various figures, including: Douglas Hurd as the 'Douglek' in Private Eye's [Dan Dare – Pilot of the Future], Tony Benn, [179] John Birt, [180] Tony Blair, [181][182] Alec Douglas-Home, [183] Charles de Gaulle, [184] and Mark Thompson. [185]

Magazine covers

[ The Radio Times for 30 April – 6 May 2005 covered both the return of the Daleks to Doctor Who and the forthcoming general election. In 2008, it was voted the best British magazine cover of all time. ](en.wikipedia.org)

Daleks have graced magazine covers promoting Doctor Who since the "Dalekmania" phenomenon of the 1960s. [Radio Times] has featured the Daleks on its cover multiple times, beginning with the issue from 21–27 November 1964, which promoted The Dalek Invasion of Earth. [186] Other magazines, such as Girl Illustrated, also employed Dalek imagery to capture readers' attention. [187]

In April 2005, Radio Times produced a special cover to commemorate both the Daleks' return to the screen in "Dalek" and the impending general election. [188] This cover recreated a scene from The Dalek Invasion of Earth, depicting Daleks crossing Westminster Bridge with the Houses of Parliament in the background. The headline read "VOTE DALEK!". In a 2008 contest sponsored by the Periodical Publishers Association, this cover was acclaimed the best British magazine cover of all time. [189] In 2013, it was further recognized as "Cover of the century" by the [Professional Publishers Association]. [190] The 2010 United Kingdom general election campaign also inspired a collector's set of three nearly identical Radio Times covers dated April 17. These featured the newly redesigned Daleks in their primary colors, representing the three major political parties: Red for Labour, Blue for Conservative, and Yellow for the Liberal Democrats. [Citation needed]

Parodies

• See also: Doctor Who spoofs

The Daleks have been the subject of numerous [parodies], including Spike Milligan's "Pakistani Dalek" sketch in his comedy series Q, [191][192][193] and Victor Lewis-Smith's "Gay Daleks." [193][194] Occasionally, the BBC itself has utilized the Daleks to parody other subjects. In 2002, BBC Worldwide published The Dalek Survival Guide, a parody of the popular [The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbooks]. [195] Comedian [Eddie Izzard] features an extended stand-up routine about Daleks, which was included in her 1993 show "[Live at the Ambassadors]". [196] The Daleks made two brief appearances in a pantomime production of Aladdin at the [Birmingham Hippodrome], starring Torchwood actor [John Barrowman] in the lead role. [197] A joke-telling robot, possessing a Dalek-like booming voice and loosely modeled after the Dalek, appeared in the South Park episode "[Funnybot]", even uttering the word "exterminate." [198] A Dalek can also be observed in the background at timestamps 1:13 and 1:17 in the Sam & Max animated series episode "The Trouble with Gary." In the [Community] parody of Doctor Who titled Inspector Spacetime, characters resembling Daleks are referred to as Blorgons. [199]

See also