Theory:Timeline - Daleks

This page lists appearances of the Daleks - and their creator, Davros - in the order in which they experienced them. This timeline is based upon observations of the Doctor Who universe and the events that occur during each of these stories.

Limiting factors
Daleks with cone-shaped ears are usually seen during or after the Time War, while Daleks with bulb-shaped ears are usually seen before.

Any story where the Daleks have not developed space travel must take place before COMIC: Power Play.

We Are the Daleks!

 * PROSE: We are the Daleks!
 * The Daleks are created from humans.

Genesis of Evil

 * COMIC: Genesis of Evil
 * The Daleks evolve from humanoids, as described in The Daleks.

Genesis of the Daleks

 * TV: The Magician's Apprentice (child Davros)
 * TV: The Witch's Familiar (child Davros)
 * AUDIO: Innocence
 * AUDIO: Purity
 * AUDIO: Corruption
 * AUDIO: Guilt
 * TV: Genesis of the Daleks
 * Davros creates the Daleks.

Space

 * AUDIO: Random Ghosts
 * AUDIO: The Lights of Skaro
 * In the default time period (see how rational I can be) of Random Ghosts and The Lights of Skaro, the Daleks haven't yet developed space travel.


 * COMIC: The Message of Mystery
 * COMIC: Power Play
 * The Daleks gain space travel.


 * COMIC: Duel of the Daleks
 * COMIC: The Amaryll Challenge
 * COMIC: The Penta Ray Factor
 * COMIC: Plague of Death
 * COMIC: The Menace of the Monstrons
 * COMIC: Eve of War
 * COMIC: The Archives of Phryne
 * COMIC: The Rogue Planet
 * COMIC: Impasse
 * 2020 - TV: The Power of the Daleks
 * The Daleks recognise the Second Doctor and they know him in their native time in 2135. Their capsule is bigger on inside, hinting that time travel maybe involved but are still powered by static electricity so has to be earlier in their history. The humans are unfamiliar with Daleks. The trailer states that this story takes place in 2020.


 * 2135- COMIC: The Doctor Strikes Back
 * The Doctor says that the Daleks have garrisons on nearly every planet in the universe at this time (away from Earth's galaxy?). The 2nd Doctor is the Supreme Dalek's arch enemy.


 * COMIC: The Terrorkon Harvest
 * COMIC: Legacy of Yesteryear
 * COMIC: Shadow of Humanity
 * COMIC: The Emissaries of Jevo
 * COMIC: The Road to Conflict
 * The Daleks elect to search for Earth.

First Dalek War

 * COMIC: Return of the Elders
 * The Daleks' invasion is initially repelled, but they vow to return.


 * PROSE: Doctor Who and the Daleks
 * The Daleks do not yet have time travel. They are ruled by the Golden Emperor. They have conflict with humanity, which is not confined to Earth. Therefore this has been placed during the First Dalek War, before the invasion of Earth.


 * 2157 - PROSE: Lucifer Rising
 * The Daleks are attacking Earth colonies.


 * 2157 - PROSE: GodEngine
 * The invasion has begun; the Daleks also attack Mars.


 * AUDIO: Masters of Earth
 * Set during the First Dalek War.


 * AUDIO: The Mutant Phase
 * Set during the First Dalek War, though not for the future Daleks.


 * 2167 - TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth
 * The Daleks' Master Plan, GodEngine, Lucifer Rising and The Mutant Phase date the Dalek invasion to c.2157. The TV story itself is set 10 years later. The Doctor believes that The Daleks is in the Daleks' future.


 * PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks
 * TV: The Daleks
 * 500 years after the Neutron War, not the Thousand-Year War, and generations before Planet of the Daleks. A Dalek with this design is featured in The Space Museum.


 * TV: The Space Museum (cameo)
 * Placed here on the assumption/conjecture that the museum Dalek is a relic of the war.

Second Dalek War

 * 2430 - COMIC: Doctor Who and the Dogs of Doom Humanity has settled in the new Earth system for fifty years since 2380.
 * 2540 - TV: Frontier in Space
 * The Daleks attack.


 * 2540 - TV: Planet of the Daleks
 * Follows Frontier in Space.


 * AUDIO: Enemy of the Daleks
 * Daleks and humans are at war with one another.


 * COMIC: Abslom Daak... Dalek Killer
 * Set during the Second Dalek War.


 * COMIC: Nemesis of the Daleks
 * Set during the Second Dalek War.


 * 26th century - PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks
 * Set during the Second Dalek War.


 * 2570 - PROSE Love and War / AUDIO Love and War
 * Towards the end of the war.


 * TV: Death to the Daleks
 * This occurs a generation after the Second Dalek War.


 * AUDIO: Plague of the Daleks
 * Set in the 45th century, but these Daleks have been in cryogenic suspension for 17 centuries.

Time

 * TV: Day of the Daleks
 * The Daleks have invaded Earth before, so after the first First Dalek War. They have "discovered the secret of time travel." They have had another go at the First Dalek War.


 * AUDIO: Energy of the Daleks
 * These Daleks have travelled back in time to destroy humanity before the Dalek Wars. They refer to the "Dalek Empire" and have high-functioning Robomen.


 * TV: The Chase
 * The Daleks have a dimensionally transcendental timeship.


 * COMIC: The World That Waits
 * Follows The Chase.


 * COMIC: Invasion of the Daleks
 * PROSE: Red for Danger
 * COMIC: The Oil Well
 * PROSE: The Secret of the Mountain
 * COMIC: City of the Daleks
 * COMIC: The Humanoids
 * PROSE: The Small Defender
 * COMIC: Monsters of Gurnian
 * PROSE: Break-through
 * COMIC: Battle for the Moon
 * COMIC: The Mechanical Planet
 * PROSE: The Secret Struggle
 * COMIC: Treasure of the Daleks
 * PROSE: The Five-Leaf Clover
 * COMIC: The Invisible Invaders
 * PROSE: The Log of the "Gypsy Joe"
 * PROSE: Manhunt
 * COMIC: Masters of the World
 * COMIC: The Dalek Trap
 * PROSE: The Outlaw Planet
 * COMIC: Sara Kingdom: Space Security Agent
 * Sara Kingdom is alive.


 * PROSE: The Living Death
 * COMIC: The Super Sub
 * COMIC: The Secret of the Emperor
 * COMIC: The Unwilling Traveller
 * PROSE: Diamond Dust
 * COMIC: The Brain Tappers
 * PROSE: Terror Task Force
 * PROSE: Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!
 * COMIC: Planet of Serpents
 * PROSE: Nightmare
 * COMIC: Flood!!!
 * PROSE: Timechase
 * PROSE: The Doomsday Machine
 * PROSE: Report from an Unknown Planet
 * PROSE: The Fugitive
 * PROSE: The Castaway
 * PROSE: The Seeds of Destruction
 * PROSE: Assassination Squad
 * AUDIO: The Destroyers
 * Sara is alive.


 * 4000 - TV: Mission to the Unknown
 * 4000 - TV: The Daleks' Master Plan
 * Sara dies. The Daleks have time machines.


 * TV: The Evil of the Daleks
 * The Daleks are developing time travel. Skaro exists.


 * PROSE: The Eighth Wonder of the World
 * After The Daleks' Master Plan.


 * AUDIO: Lucie Miller
 * AUDIO: To the Death
 * The Daleks are familiar with the Monk, so after The Daleks' Master Plan.


 * COMIC: Children of the Revolution (human factor Daleks)
 * The Daleks infected with the human factor hide on the planet Kyrol.


 * AUDIO: Blood of the Daleks
 * Humanity at this point has encountered the Daleks before, but these humans are unfamiliar with them.


 * COMIC: The Trodos Ambush


 * COMIC: The Exterminator
 * COMIC: The Threat from Beneath
 * COMIC: Return of the Daleks
 * COMIC: The Dalek Revenge
 * COMIC: Bringer of Darkness
 * Set an unspecified amount of time after Evil.


 * AUDIO: Fear of the Daleks
 * The Daleks have a crystal-based command network.


 * AUDIO: The Elite

Return of Davros

 * TV: ''The Pilot
 * Set in the past according to the Doctor. Steven Moffatt confirmed that the Movellans are more human than the ones in Destiny, placing it before that story. Bronze Daleks are fighting the war.


 * AUDIO: Order of the Daleks
 * These Daleks crashed on their way back to Skaro from the invasion of Kantra, which was mentioned in Destiny.


 * c.4949 TV: Destiny of the Daleks
 * "Thousands of years" after the Daleks were created, Davros is awakened and later put in suspended animation. Neverland mentions the year 4949 in relation to the Dalek-Movellan War and is stored in the Matrix.


 * TV: Resurrection of the Daleks
 * 90 years after the events of Destiny, Davros is taken out of suspended animation to cure the Movellan virus.


 * AUDIO: Davros
 * Between Resurrection and Revelation. TransAllied, Inc was formed back in the 38th century.


 * TV: Revelation of the Daleks
 * AUDIO: The Davros Mission
 * AUDIO: Innocence
 * AUDIO: Purity
 * AUDIO: Corruption
 * AUDIO: Guilt
 * Occur during flight from Necros.


 * AUDIO: The Juggernauts
 * Davros crashes on Lethe but is recovered by the (Renegade) Supreme.


 * AUDIO: The Curse of Davros
 * Davros is leading a force of Imperial Daleks. His skirt matches that of a Dalek


 * AUDIO: We Are The Daleks
 * The Daleks don't recognise the Seventh Doctor. They are Imperial on the cover.


 * COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!
 * Leads into Remembrance.


 * COMIC: Time & Time Again
 * An Imperial Dalek is in 1963, just before Remembrance.


 * TV: Remembrance of the Daleks
 * PROSE: War of the Daleks
 * Follows Remembrance. Skaro survives. Davros dies. This can be the Skaro seen in Asylum of the Daleks and The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar.


 * AUDIO: The Four Doctors
 * The Dalek Prime leads the Daleks.


 * AUDIO: Daleks Among Us
 * Follows Remembrance. Skaro has been destroyed. Davros survives, and his personality is intact. This can be the Davros seen in The Stolen Earth/Journey's End and The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar.


 * AUDIO: Terror Firma
 * Follows Remembrance. Skaro has been destroyed. Davros survives, but his personality is subsumed by that of the Dalek Emperor. This can be the Dalek Emperor in control until Dalek War: Chapter Four.

Empire and Emperor

 * AUDIO: Brotherhood of the Daleks
 * The Daleks recognise Charley from Terror Firma.


 * PROSE: Dead Romance
 * The Daleks and Time Lords make a treaty.


 * TV: Doctor Who
 * The Daleks execute the Master, and allow his remains to be sent to Gallifrey.


 * AUDIO: The Genocide Machine
 * Lee Sullivan's artwork depicts the Golden Emperor. A Special Weapons Dalek appears.


 * AUDIO: The Apocalypse Element
 * The Daleks have dimensionally transcendental timeships and a crystal-based command network. They invade Gallifrey, presumably ending their peace.


 * WC: Shada
 * AUDIO: The Mutant Phase
 * The Daleks are ruled by a Dalek Emperor - depicted on an unused cover as the Golden Emperor.


 * AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks
 * AUDIO: Seasons of Fear
 * The Daleks now have their own equivalent of the Eye of Harmony.


 * AUDIO: Invasion of the Daleks
 * The Daleks involved in this invasion of Mutter's Spiral are time active, and not native to the 42nd century.
 * PROSE: Kalendorf
 * Attack takes place during this story
 * AUDIO: The Fearless: Part 1
 * AUDIO: The Fearless: Part 2
 * AUDIO: The Fearless: Part 3
 * AUDIO: The Fearless: Part 4
 * PROSE: Natalie's Diary
 * Takes place during the Daleks' initial invasion.


 * AUDIO: The Human Factor
 * AUDIO: Return of the Daleks
 * AUDIO: "Death to the Daleks"
 * PROSE: Alby
 * Takes place during Alby's search for Suz.


 * AUDIO: Project Infinity
 * AUDIO: Dalek War: Chapter One
 * AUDIO: Dalek War: Chapter Two
 * AUDIO: Dalek War: Chapter Three
 * AUDIO: Dalek War: Chapter Four
 * PROSE: Museum Peace
 * The Dalek Empire is all but destroyed, though Daleks from other points in their timeline exist between the 42nd and 63rd centuries.

Dalek Supreme

 * AUDIO: Renaissance of the Daleks
 * The Daleks are rebuilding. [elaborate?]


 * COMIC: Fire and Brimstone
 * Starting here the Daleks are ruled by a Dalek Supreme. Set in the 53rd century.


 * AUDIO: The Exterminators
 * Set in the 67th Century. The Daleks are ruled by a Dalek Supreme.


 * AUDIO: The Healers
 * AUDIO: The Survivors
 * AUDIO: The Demons
 * AUDIO: The Warriors
 * AUDIO: The Future
 * PROSE: Natalie's Diary
 * PROSE: Mutually Assured Survival

Conflict with the Time Lords

 * AUDIO: Dark Eyes
 * AUDIO: The Great War
 * AUDIO: Fugitives
 * AUDIO: Tangled Web
 * AUDIO: X and the Daleks
 * The Time Controller and Time Lords are using temporal technology against each other. No higher-ranking Daleks appear.


 * AUDIO: The Traitor
 * AUDIO: Time's Horizon
 * AUDIO: Eyes of the Master
 * AUDIO: The Monster of Montmartre
 * AUDIO: Master of the Daleks
 * The Time Controller's faction conquers the 20th century.


 * AUDIO: Eye of Darkness
 * The Daleks are ruled by a Supreme Dalek.


 * AUDIO: Gallifrey
 * AUDIO: Arbitration
 * AUDIO: Extermination
 * AUDIO: Ascension
 * The Daleks are acting against Gallifrey. They are invading other timelines. They are depicted with cone-shaped ears. They refer to their alliance with Braxiatel in Death and the Daleks. They remember Romana from The Apocalypse Element and say she has shown the Daleks mercy before (The Time of the Daleks).


 * PROSE: The Stranger
 * AUDIO: The Innocent
 * AUDIO: The Thousand Worlds
 * AUDIO: The Heart of the Battle
 * AUDIO: Legion of the Lost
 * AUDIO: A Thing of Guile
 * AUDIO: The Neverwhen
 * PROSE: Engines of War
 * WC: The Last Day
 * The Gallifreyan city of Arcadia falls to the Daleks.


 * TV: The Day of the Doctor
 * Set shortly after Arcadia has fallen. The War Doctor survives the Last Great Time War, and with the help of his other twelve incarnations, destroys the fleet of Daleks concentrating fire on Gallifrey on the final day of the Time War.

After the Time War

 * At some point, four separate groups of Daleks survive the Time War independently. Three of the four are effective dead-ends of the timeline.


 * TV: Dalek
 * PROSE: I am a Dalek
 * Two separate lone Daleks survive the Time War by becoming stuck on earth.


 * COMIC: Carnage Zoo / Flight and Fury / The Living Ghosts / Extermination of the Daleks
 * A group of Daleks survives the Time War.


 * TV: Bad Wolf
 * TV: The Parting of the Ways
 * The Dalek Emperor survives the Time War and ends up in the Sol system circa the year 199,900.


 * TV: Army of Ghosts
 * TV: Doomsday
 * WC: Tardisode 13
 * The Cult of Skaro and many prisoners within the Genesis Ark, who escaped into the Void. At the end of Doomsday, the Cult emergency temporal shift, leading into further stories. Tardisode 13 is set during the Battle of Canary Wharf.


 * TV: Daleks in Manhattan
 * TV: Evolution of the Daleks
 * The Cult has recently escaped Canary Wharf. At the end of Evolution of the Daleks, Dalek Caan again temporal shifts into the Time War.


 * TV: The Stolen Earth
 * A version of Davros who isn't Emperor appears.


 * TV: Journey's End
 * TV: The Waters of Mars (cameo)
 * Caan is an insane oracle after rescuing Davros from the Time War. The Dalek appearing in Adelaide's flashback is from when the 26 planets appeared in the Earth's sky.


 * TV: The Beast Below (cameo)
 * TV: Victory of the Daleks
 * Continues The Beast Below's cliffhanger. Surviving Daleks, seemingly made from Davros' cells from The Stolen Earth / Journey's End, awake the New Dalek Paradigm.


 * GAME: Return to Earth
 * GAME: Evacuation Earth
 * GAME: City of the Daleks
 * GAME: The Mazes of Time
 * COMIC: The Only Good Dalek
 * TV: The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang
 * AUDIO: Living History
 * The Dalek is described as bronze, and depicted as a Time War-era Dalek on the cover.


 * TV: The Wedding of River Song
 * GAME: The Eternity Clock
 * COMIC: The Dalek Project
 * TV: Asylum of the Daleks
 * The Daleks' memories of the Doctor are wiped by Oswin Oswald. Skaro is in ruins and has been abandoned. The Dalek Prime minister rules the Daleks.


 * TV: The Time of the Doctor
 * The Daleks regain their memories of the Doctor through Tasha Lem.


 * PROSE: The Dalek Generation
 * The Dalek Time Controller is in its home time period. The Daleks know the Doctor. The New Dalek Paradigm is referenced. Dalek puppets appear.


 * AUDIO: Patient Zero
 * The Controller is sent back through Dalek history, to Lucie Miller. The Chase appears to be recent. Artwork depicts the Daleks with bulb-shaped ears.


 * GAME: The Doctor and the Dalek
 * TV: Into the Dalek
 * Daleks and humans are at war with one another. The Dalek command net has records of the Daleks' post-Time War history.


 * TV: The Magician's Apprentice
 * TV: The Witch's Familiar
 * Davros says that he and the Daleks rebuilt Skaro after the Doctor asks about Skaro's existence.

Unplaced

 * AUDIO: Death and the Daleks
 * Not long after the Second Dalek War in real time. The Daleks aren't native to this time, and their involvement changes history. Benny is familiar with the Dalek-Movellan war - but this must be down to her time travel experience.


 * AUDIO: Good Night, Sweet Ladies
 * The Dalek timeship is dimensionally transcendental, sentient, and somewhat humanoid.


 * TV: The War Games (cameo)
 * PROSE: Hide and Seek
 * AUDIO: Glorious Goodwood
 * COMIC: Jungle Adventure
 * COMIC: Attack of the Daleks
 * COMIC: The Disintegrator
 * COMIC:  *Sub Zero 
 * COMIC: The Planet of the Daleks
 * PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus (dream)
 * PROSE: The Also People (dream)
 * PROSE: Father Time (cameo)
 * PROSE: The Last Resort (cameo)
 * PROSE: The Tomorrow Windows (cameo)
 * PROSE: Warmonger (dream)
 * PROSE: Private Investigations
 * PROSE: The Best Joke I Ever Told
 * PROSE: Mission to Galacton
 * AUDIO: Jubilee
 * The Daleks use transolar discs. They invade in 1903.


 * AUDIO: The Five Companions
 * COMIC: Children of the Revolution
 * COMIC: Metamorphosis
 * TV: The Five Doctors (cameo)
 * GAME: Destiny of the Doctors
 * PROSE: The Eight Doctors
 * PROSE: Suz
 * COMIC: Genesis of Evil
 * COMIC: The Return of the Daleks
 * COMIC: Happy Deathday (videogame)

aHistory Timeline
This pre-Time War timeline is from the third edition of aHistory. Most of the dates given here are speculative.


 * 683: AUDIO: Innocence
 * 696: AUDIO: Purity
 * 709: AUDIO: Corruption
 * 709: AUDIO: Davros / Corruption
 * 759: AUDIO: Guilt
 * 760: TV: Genesis of the Daleks
 * 1763: COMIC: Genesis of Evil
 * 1765: COMIC: Genesis of Evil
 * 1765: COMIC: Power Play
 * 1765: COMIC: Duel of the Daleks
 * 1765: COMIC: The Amaryll Challenge
 * 1765: COMIC: The Penta Ray Factor
 * 1765: COMIC: Plague of Death
 * 1765: COMIC: The Menace of the Monstrons
 * 1765: COMIC: Eve of War
 * 1765: COMIC: The Archives of Phryne
 * 1765: COMIC: The Rogue Planet
 * 1765: COMIC: Impasse
 * 2020: TV: The Power of the Daleks
 * 2050: AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks
 * 2146: COMIC: The Terrorkon Harvest
 * 2146: COMIC: Legacy of Yesteryear
 * 2146: COMIC: Shadow of Humanity
 * 2146: COMIC: The Emissaries of Jevo
 * 2146: COMIC: The Road to Conflict
 * 2146: COMIC: Return of the Elders
 * 2167: TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth
 * 2170: TV: The Chase
 * 2172: TV: Day of the Daleks
 * 2188: AUDIO: Lucie Miller
 * 2190: AUDIO: Lucie Miller / To the Death
 * 2199: PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks
 * 2263: TV: The Daleks
 * 2430: COMIC: The Dogs of Doom
 * 2540: TV: Frontier in Space
 * 2540: TV: Planet of the Daleks
 * 2550: COMIC: Abslom Daak... Dalek Killer
 * 2550: COMIC: Nemesis of the Daleks
 * 2550: COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!
 * 2560: PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks
 * 2560: AUDIO: Enemy of the Daleks
 * 2600: TV: Death to the Daleks
 * 2602: AUDIO: Death and the Daleks
 * 2966: TV: The Evil of the Daleks
 * 2970: COMIC: Bringer of Darkness
 * 2990: COMIC: Children of the Revolution
 * 3340: PROSE: The Dalek Factor
 * 3994: AUDIO: The Destroyers
 * 4000: TV: Mission to the Unknown
 * 4000: TV: The Daleks' Master Plan
 * 4015: COMIC: The Only Good Dalek
 * 4500: TV: Destiny of the Daleks
 * 4590: TV: Resurrection of the Daleks
 * 4600: AUDIO: Davros
 * 4615: TV: Revelation of the Daleks
 * 4615: AUDIO: The Davros Mission
 * 4620: AUDIO: The Juggernauts
 * 4625: COMIC: Up Above the Gods / Emperor of the Daleks!
 * 4663: TV: Remembrance of the Daleks
 * 4693: PROSE: War of the Daleks
 * 4703: AUDIO: Terror Firma
 * 5200: COMIC: Fire and Brimstone
 * 5250: AUDIO: The Mutant Phase
 * 5256: AUDIO: The Genocide Machine
 * 5256: AUDIO: The Apocalypse Element
 * 5425: AUDIO: Invasion of the Daleks / The Human Factor
 * 5425: AUDIO: Return of the Daleks
 * 5426: AUDIO: Brotherhood of the Daleks
 * 5427: AUDIO: The Fearless: Part 1 / The Fearless: Part 2 / The Fearless: Part 3 / The Fearless: Part 4
 * 5430: AUDIO: "Death to the Daleks!" / Project Infinity
 * 5436: AUDIO: Dalek War: Chapter One / Dalek War: Chapter Two / Dalek War: Chapter Three / Dalek War: Chapter Four
 * 5441: AUDIO: Dalek War: Chapter Four
 * 7500: AUDIO: Dalek War: Chapter One / Dalek War: Chapter Two / Dalek War: Chapter Three / Dalek War: Chapter Four
 * 7520: AUDIO: The Exterminators / The Healers / The Survivors / The Demons / The Warriors / The Future
 * 18,000: AUDIO: Plague of the Daleks