Daleks

Context

Doctor Who is a BBC sci-fi/horror series that started some months ago, in 1963. It became a popular, influential show on British TV, and sloooowly made its way to into foreign geek cultures. There was a gap during the 1990s, but it returned in the mid-2000s. This is when the show grabbed the brass ring – commercial success in the US.

The merciless alien conquerors, the Dalek, are one of the iconic parts of the show (and yes, the i-word is justifiable here). As it happens, we have several entries for these guys. This one covers the version of the Daleks seen in then-recent episodes. The goal was mostly to hash stats out for the Daleks, though, with the history an afterthought.

Background

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History

(Shamefully edited from the Doctor Who Wikia )

On the planet Skaro, during the final days of the Thousand Year War between the Thals and Kaleds, both sides began to suffer mutations. These were caused by the use of nuclear, biological and chemical agents. Some of the mutant survivors, the mutoes, survived in the wastelands.

Kaled Head Scientist Davros then apparently stole from a young scientist called Shan. It was a plan to forever end the competition for resources with the Thals. Either that, or Davros found a prophecy in the forbidden Book of Predictions. It stated that one day mortals would transcend into gods, a prophecy whose last words where “dal ek”.

In any case, Davros started experiments on living subjects. He hoped to deify the Kaled race. Therefore, he deeply mutated people to see what their last stage would be… After perfecting his work (including a tank-like, armed Mark III Travel Machine similar to his own life support chair), he presented his work to the Kaled Elite.

He kept a nursery of embryonic Dalek young. As well as nurturing the physical form of his creations, Davros shaped their minds. The Daleks did not understand concepts such as pity. It did not exist in their “vocabulary banks”.

Hail the Lord

But the Fourth Doctor was sent on a mission by the Time Lords to prevent the creation of the Daleks in the first place, or at the very least lessen the damage they would do in future. Furthermore, many other members of Kaled Scientific Elite attempted to shut down the Dalek project.

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To prevent this, Davros arranged for a fight with the Thals. That exterminated most Kaled opposition – either physical or moral.

The Daleks were then sent to exterminate the Thals, supposedly in retaliation for the attack on the Kaleds. They later turned on Davros, as he wasn’t “one of their number”. A Dalek triggered an accidental explosion which buried the Daleks in a bunker.

In the aftermath, the Doctor believed that he had only retarded their progress by about a thousand years or so, and that they would return.

The Daleks thus were confined to their city for centuries. They believed that the war was a quick neutronic war. They also believed that both sides of the war had been horribly mutated from their original humanoid forms. However, the latter part wasn’t true, as the few surviving Thals were almost exactly like how they were before the war.

These Daleks had evolved without the memory of their own creation. While stuck within the city they became dependant of the high levels of radiation. Without it, they rapidly became claustrophobic and died.

Upon discovering the existence of a non-mutated Thal race they decide to detonate another nuclear device to remove the Thals from Skaro.

However the First Doctor’s interference appeared to have incapacitated them permanently destroying their static electricity power source.

First doctor era

During the XXII^nd century a Dalek faction dependant on static electricity invaded Earth for ten years. They exterminated vast swathes of the planet, as well as destroying several Human colonies. They attempted to turn Earth into a mobile dreadnought.

Just before this could be done, they were overthrown. The First Doctor turned their Robomen servants against them, and the occupation’s command were then wiped out by a volcanic blast. A few remaining Daleks would later try to conquer post-invasion England, but they were also defeated.

Despite their setback the Daleks would go on to form an empire, and attempt several galaxy-level wars. Yet they realised that they did not have enough Daleks to challenge the growing imperial powers of the galaxy. Therefore, in 2430 they invaded the New Earth System with the intention of turning it into a system of breeding colonies.

This was thwarted, but not before three planets were completely exterminated.

Beyond the XXV^th century

In the 26^th Century, the Dalek Empire tried to manipulate the rival empires of Earth and Draconia into warring with each other. They were allied with the Master and supported him with Ogrons. They also quietly conquered the planet Spiridon and began experiments to turn their armies invisible. Eventually, an army of 12,000 Daleks awaited this treatment.

However, the Third Doctor exposed their plan. And he later ensured the Spiridon army was imprisoned in ice.

The result was the II Dalek War, a vicious conflict that ravaged many worlds and lasted decades. The situation was grim enough that Earth would give its worse criminals the choice of execution or becoming highly-armed Dalek Killer soldiers.

The Daleks attempted to occupy Earth again. However, their attempt was thwarted by humanity’s alliance with other races. Still, due to a failure to launch nuclear weapons, Mars was temporarily occupied.

By this period of time, the Thals became the sole owners of Skaro.

Fifth millennium

In a second attempt in the year 4,000, the Dalek Empire recruited human traitor Mavic Chen and many power-hungry galactic leaders. This was part of a plot to bring down and carve up the Earth empire. Unknown to their allies, the Daleks planned later to kill them and seize their unprepared worlds too.

They also attempted to use the Time Destructor as a weapon and a means of war. The First Doctor stopped this, and the Dalek’s former allies were prepared to fight off Dalek assaults.

After that, the Daleks constructed a time machine to pursue the Doctor through time and space. This eventually also ended in failure on the planet Mechanus and a new conflict with the Mechanoids.

Later, the Daleks warred against the Movellans, a robotic race. The two sides were locked in a long stalemate. Each side’s computers kept them in this logical equilibrium. To solve the stalemate the Daleks returned to Skaro (the Thals are completely absent from the planet at this point). They uncovered their creator Davros, whom they had previously attempted to exterminate.

Davros returns

Following this event the Movellans discovered a virus. It was deadly to the Daleks and could permeate their casings. There were massive Dalek casualties, forcing them to reinforce their forces even with Human Daleks. In an attempt to find a cure the Dalek Supreme ordered Davros to be recovered from the Humans to assist in a cure.

During this point the Daleks began using a different form of time travel: time corridors. They used these to place duplicates in positions of authority in Earth’s history, intending to manipulate events for the Daleks’ best interests. They planned to eventually create a duplicate of the Fifth Doctor and use it to kill the High Council on Gallifrey.

Davros retired to the planet Necros. He began creating his own race of Daleks from remaining Humans at Tranquil Repose. Only a very low amount of cells could be used, so he had to kill quite a bit in the process. Humans informed the Renegade Daleks of Davros’ whereabouts, and they retrieved him.

However their craft was knocked off course. Davros crash landed on the planet Lethe. The Renegade Daleks recruited the 6^th incarnation of the Doctor to assist in Davros’ capture.

Thanks to the manipulations of the 6^th then 7^th Doctor, Davros escaped trial. He ended up on Spiridon, changing many of the buried Daleks into Imperials. As the Doctor intended, an all-out Dalek civil war resulted.

Give them a Hand

The civil war concluded after Davros’ faction clashed in 1963 London over the Hand of Omega, which the Doctor had left there in a previous incarnation.

The 7^th Doctor ensured that Davros’ faction, the Imperial Daleks, acquired the Hand. Attempting to use the Hand to grant his Daleks unlimited time travel, Davros caused Skaro’s sun go supernova.

Davros escaped on a life pod but was captured. A Dalek Emperor was installed on Skaro (or maybe a New Skaro). From there, the Emperor instigated several investigations, including a time travel. One methhod used earthling Edward Waterfield’s static electricity mirrors.

Another research investigation was made into the Dalek Factor. The 2^nd Doctor was recruited to assist. However he reversed the Dalek Factor processing machines implanting a group of Daleks with the Human Factor. A short civil war ensued, decimating the planet and destroying the emperor (or at least critically injuring him).

LI^st century

In the 51^st century, the Daleks secretly assisted a Human scientist in creating an artificial sun, the Cauldron.

In the 53^rd century, led by the Dalek Supreme, they seized control of the Cauldron. Their plan was to collapse it into a black hole and invade parallel universes. The Threshold opposed them (having been hired by the Time Lords) but failed at the last minute. However, the Daleks were eventually defeated by the the Doctor and Izzy Sinclair.

Led by the Dalek Emperor the Daleks then sought knowledge and information throughout the universe. Their goal was to construct their own empire.

A Dalek squad was sent to the planet Kar-Charrat to obtain information from the Library position there. They also mined the planet Etra Prime and crashed it into the planet Archetryx to gain a time vessel. This would aid their incursion of Gallifrey, the Time Lords home planet.

All the while, they also mined the Apocalypse Element. Then, they ignited the element in the Seriphia Galaxy. This created a new powerbase from which they could begin their empire.

Following their creation of the Seriphia Galaxy the Daleks built up their forces. Then they launched an attack on Vega 6. There they could mine Veganite to create a multi-dimensional bridge to another universe.

The conquest thus resumes

Following their invasion they recruited Susan Mendes to manage and ’inspire hope‘ in their slaves. She and her accomplice Kalendorf assisted the Daleks for several years, helping the Daleks control the many worlds they conquer. Soon much of the galaxy was conquered, including Spiridon (now called Zelaria) and Earth’s solar system.

Susan Mendes and Kalendorf later led a revolution against the Daleks. Mendes was seemingly killed in the first stages of the fighting.

Meanwhile, the Dalek Emperor was already journeying to the planet Lopra Minor. There he could use the Human-built Project Infinity, enhance it with their extra Veganite, and create the doorway between universes. In these realities, they could attempt to find information about how alternate universe Daleks had conquered the universe.

The Daleks from the alternate universe were equal and opposite to the Daleks who sought them out. War ensued. The alternate universe Daleks (lead by the Mentor) sided with the Humans against the Daleks.

However, the alternate Daleks turned out to be a threat in their own right. They intended to eventually enforce peace via genocide. They also attempted to destroy Susan Mendes’ body, which contained the consciousness of the Dalek Emperor.

Kalendorf and Suz allowed her to be taken away by the original Daleks. The aliens erased most of her mind to only leave the Emperor in her body. The Daleks & Alliance then joined forces against the alternate Daleks, driving them out.

Kalendorf then hit the Daleks in a pre-emtpive strike. He planted a trigger in Suz’s mind. Once she was linked to the Daleks network, she sent an pulse that destroyed every Dalek and Dalek technology in the galaxy. This became known as the Great Catastrophe, as the devastation took out whole star systems and collapsed galactic civilisation.

However, the Serephia Daleks survived. They regrouped and return to the Milky Way 2500 years later.

The Last Great Time War

The Daleks, again led by the Emperor became involved in a conflict with the Time Lords. This was the Last Great Time War. There was a significant battle on Arcadia. The fighting between Daleks and Time Lords raged through space and time, making many species homeless.

The Time Lord homeworld, Gallifrey, did not survive. Of the Time Lords themselves, only the Doctor and the Master survived. The Doctor incorrectly believed that no Daleks had survived.

But a single Dalek survived, crashing to the planet Earth to the Ascension Island around 1962. It laid screaming for three days before it was retrieved. From there it was passed around several collectors before ending up in Henry van Statten’s museum in 2012.

There it encountered the Doctor. It was further activated by Rose Tyler and the DNA of a time traveller. However was unable to cope with its “feelings”. That was caused either by her DNA or the extreme events it had lived through. The Dalek self-destructed.

This is just garbage

The Dalek Emperor survived having fallen through time. He ended up near Earth around the year 200,000. The Emperor subtly influenced events on Earth and aboard the orbiting space station. He also used the waste, the garbage of humanity and carefully selected and cultured DNA – to build and grow a new race of Daleks.

The Emperor launched an attack on Earth. He would then turn it into a new world for the Daleks, and become the God of this population. These plans were thwarted when Rose Tyler absorbed elements of the time vortex. She destroyed the Dalek Emperor and his fleet.

Another group of Daleks also escaped the time war. These were known as the Cult of Skaro. They used a Void Ship to escape into the Void with the Genesis Ark. They emerged from the Void Ship on Earth 2007 within Torchwood 1. Mickey Smith allowed for the opening of the Genesis Ark. It was a Time Lord prison ship for Daleks, bigger on the inside than out.

Dalek Sec attempted an invasion of Earth, but was thwarted by the Doctor. Most of Sec’s forces were sucked back into the void.

1930s

The Cult of Skaro escaped via an Emergency Temporal Shift to New York around the 1930s. They hid beneath the Empire State Building, using basic mutation technology to create pig slaves to do their work. There Dalek Sec (Jast, Caan and Thay) attempted to created a new Dalek mutant. But this failed.

They then decided to use a gamma burst to impart a Dalek factor to Humans. Dalek Sec became fixated upon creating a new Dalek race, eventually bonding with a human male known as Mr. Diagoras and becoming a Dalek-Human hybrid. Following the merger dissent began to arise between the transformed Sec and the other members of the Cult of Skaro.

The Tenth Doctor led the converted Humans against the Cult of Skaro. The Dalek Thay accidentally killed Sec. Thay and Jaast were destroyed by the converted Humans. Dalek Caan escaped via an Emergency Temporal Shift.

The Daleks are the masters of Earth

Caan managed to penetrate the Time-lock of the Last Great Time War. He even succeeded in saving Davros, though the act caused Caan to lose his sanity. With Davros saved, the Daleks made a base of operations in the Medusa Cascade. They were a second out of sync with time, allowing them to operate unhindered.

Davros himself made a new race of true Daleks from his own cells. These went on to create the New Dalek Empire. They also created a device that snatched 27 planets and placed them within the Medusa Cascade. The lot included Earth. These were invaded by the Daleks in the War in the Medusa Cascade.

Personality

Unless given other orders, a Dalek main desire is domination over every other species and, eventually, their extermination once they are not useful for other plans. Daleks can, though, be talked into not killing somebody as their need to control everything leads them to spare the lifes of anybody that seems to have information they don’t.

Eventually their only emotion, hate, resurfaces. Thus, they tend to exterminate everybody they meet.

After the Last Great Time War, all Daleks seem to both fear and deeply hate The Doctor. He can easily become their main target in any group, but he can equally talk his way through them for minutes (or maybe the Doctor has the Shouting Power 🙂 ).

Quotes

“Ex-ter-mi-nate ! Ex-ter-mi-nate !”

“My vision is impaired ! I cannot see.”

The Doctor (locked in a jail with an alien tagged “Metaltron”): “Look, I’m sorry about this. Mr. Van Statten might think he’s clever but never mind him. I’m here to help. I’m called The Doctor.”
“Metaltron”: “Doc-tor ?”
The Doctor (shocked) “Impossible !” (“Metaltron” turns out to be a Dalek)
Dalek: “*The* Doctor ? Exterminate ! Exterminate !”
The Doctor: “Let me out !”
Dalek: “EXTERMINATE !”

Dalek: “The Daleks must survive !”
The Doctor: “The Daleks have failed ! Why don’t you finish the job, and make the Daleks extinct ? Rid the universe of your filth ! Why don’t you just *die* ?”
Dalek: You would make a good Dalek.”

Cyber Leader: “We have five million Cybermen. How many are you ?”
Dalek Leader: “Four.”
Cyber Leader: “You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks ?”
Dalek Leader: “We would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek ! You are superior in only one respect.”
Cyber Leader: “What is that ?”
Dalek Leader: “You are better at dying.”

By KalEl el Vigilante.

Source of Character: Dr Who tv series (I specially used serials “The Daleks” (1963-64), “The Dalek invasion of Earth” (1964), “Genesis of the Daleks” (1975), “Remembrance of the Daleks” (1988), plus chapters “Dalek” (2005), “Bad Wolf/The parting of the ways” (2005), “Doomsday” (2006) and “Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks” (2007), plus BBC documentary “The Dalek tapes” (2006)), characters created by Terry Nation.

Helper(s): Mari Nieves Galvez, Eric Langendorff, Roy Cowan, Alan Wilkinson, Sébastien Andrivet, Wikipedia, Doctor Who Wikia, Darci..