Glass Dalek (Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks)

A Glass Dalek was first-in-command of the Dalek City during Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, Dr Who and Susan English's first visit to Skaro.

Its casing was shattered to pieces by the Thals when they attacked the Dalek City at the suggestion of the time travelers, seemingly killing the Dalek leader. (PROSE: Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks) When the Doctor, Barbara, Susan and Ian returned to Skaro and the Dalek City a few Thal generations after the original assault, they found a Dalek Supreme who inhabited a nutrients tank instead of a casing, the original leader of the Daleks from their first visit, who hid from the Thals in a secret level of the City. (AUDIO: Return to Skaro)

Behind the scenes

 * In the original The Daleks TV serial, no particular Dalek seems to be in charge; while some Daleks are seen commanding others, all possess ordinary Dalek War Machines as casings. Even as the novelisation created the Glass Dalek to play the part of leader, the feature film remake of the story, Dr. Who and the Daleks, instead placed a Black Dalek as the head Dalek. Later, and once more from the pen of David Whitaker, The Dalek Chronicles showed the Dalek Emperor as the leader of Dalek society on Skaro in its early days, and, indeed, as the original builder of the Dalek City. Finally, in the audio story Return to Skaro, which took place a few generations after the original Dalek story, a Dalek Supreme was now in charge of the surviving city-dwelling Daleks. This Dalek initially resided in a glass container before transferring itself into a unique black casing.
 * Glass Daleks were later brought to televised Doctor Who in Revelation of the Daleks. However, in that story, and others following it, the glass casings were not markers of rank, but rather a type of casing designed to turn a human occupant into a Dalek.