Dalek


 * For the 1963 serial, see The Daleks. For the 2005 episode, see Dalek (TV story).

Daleks were the mutated descendants of the Kaleds of the planet Skaro. They fought the Time Lords in the Last Great Time War, ending in the near-total destruction of both races. Regarded by the Doctor as his greatest enemy, the Daleks were hated and feared throughout time and space. They were the oldest and most frequent foes of the Doctor, having faced him several times in all of his incarnations.

Biology
Although the Daleks looked entirely mechanical, they were in fact cybernetic organisms or cyborgs, with a biological body sheathed in and supported by a protective outer shell of Dalekanium metal armour, armed and mobile. In this respect they were somewhat similar to a Cyberman; unlike them, the Daleks' bodies had mutated so drastically from their Kaled ancestors they had lost all humanoid appearance, save for one eye (see below).

Anatomy
1. THE EYE STICK - This incorporates a wide-angle lens that transmits images to a screen within the control chamber. It is mounted on a pivoting arm that protrudes from the Dalek's head section. The head is capable of turning a full 360 degrees providing the Dal mutant with complete all-round vision. The eye is capable of using different types of visual perception, including night and heat vision. 2. INSULATORS - These discs, behind the eye lens, protect the delicate 'eye nerve' mechanism from the harmful effects of cosmic rays. These are essential when the Dalek is in space flight. 3. ENERGY DISPENSERS - Housed in the head section, these dissipate any excess energy, which often builds up in Dalek cells. Acting like safety valves, they release the energy in the form of red heat and supersonic squeals, beyond the range of human hearing. 4. TRANSLATOR UNIT - Daleks have no vocal cords so this unit amplifies the Dal mutant's thoughts into speech patterns acceptable to the listener's brain. This process is reversed when the Dalek is spoken to. 5. SUPER-SENSITIVE STATIC RECORDING SCREENS - All light and static electrical waves are picked up by these photo-sonic screens and transmitted through a power transformer to a network of storage cells. This is the Daleks main source of power. 6. THE WAR COMPUTER - A memory bank in which the Dalek stores its war knowledge, containing every fighting maneuver, or dangerous situation, known to Daleks. It can select a course of action in micro- seconds. 7. THE OUTER CASING - This is made of Dalekenium, a metal alloy developed by the Dals, which is ten times stronger than steel, yet it is only a quarter of the weight of aluminum. 8. THE MANIPULATOR ARM - This provides the Dalek with consideraable manual dexterity. The suction cup produces a tremendously powerful vacuum. This, together with the hydraulic strength of the telescopic arm enables the Dalek to lift enormously heavy weights. It can be replaced by various other attachments. 9. BLASTER-GUN - The Dalek is armed with a blaster-gun, located at the front of the mid-section to the left of the manipulator. The blast-gun moves on a ball and socket arrangement and is connected to a dynamic unit within the casing, which provides it with its power. The gun produces electrical discharges, which are similar in intensity to a bolt of lightning. The gun is also interchangeable and different types of weaponry settings can be used. 10. THE CONTROL CHAMBER - This is the very 'heart' of the machinne. From here the Dal mutant operates all screens, controls and instruments. 11. SENSE GLOBES - Fifty-six of these are positioned around the Dalek's lower casing. These globes react to changes in external conditions and relay data on temperature, humidity, movement and the presence of animal life to the control chamber for analysis. 12. THE GRAVITY COMPENSATOR - This compensates for relative changes in external G-forces, ensuring that the gravitational forces acting on the Dal mutant are kept constant. 13. THE ATTRACTAVON - This can compensate for any angle of movement, in addition to housing the levitation jets, which are capable of lifting the machine off the ground. 14. MOTIVE POWER SOURCE - This large metal bearing rotates the Dalek and can change direction easily at any speed. On the planet Skaro, all floors are metal and charged with electricity. The motive bearing picks up current transmits it to the energy cells at its center and converts it into motive power.

Exterior
The Dalek casing, originally called a "Mark III travel machine", (DW: Genesis of the Daleks) could be separated into three sections.


 * Top: The Dalek's means of vision and communication, a dome with a set of twin speaker 'lights' (referred to as luminosity dischargers (REF: Doctor Who: Monsters and Villains) on the upper part of the sides and a telescope-like eyestalk in the middle. This was attached to the mid-section by a "neck"
 * Mid: On the Dalek's "chest" the Gunstick & Manipulator arm were attached. These provided the Dalek's means of offence and operating capabilities.
 * Bottom: The Dalek's means of mobility was a sturdy base with a skirtlike structure of plates covered with globes. This allowed movement and, in later models, flight.

Battle armour
The creatures inside their "machines" were almost always Kaled mutants, which the Seventh Doctor once described as "little green blobs in bonded polycarbide armour". (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks) Mutated members of other species, including Humans, also occupied the casings on occasion.


 * In the original story, The Daleks, the mutated creatures are called Dals.

The interdependence of biological and mechanical components made the Daleks a type of cyborg. The Imperial Daleks created by Davros during the Imperial-Renegade Dalek Civil War were true cyborgs, surgically connected to their shells. (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks)

Externally, the Daleks resembled human-sized peppershakers, with a single mechanical eyestalk in a rotating dome, a gunstick and a manipulator arm. The casings were made of bonded polycarbide armour (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks, Doomsday), a material that was also called dalekanium. (DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)

The lower shell was covered with fifty-six hemispherical protrusions, which could serve as a self-destruct system (DW: Dalek), and possibly also worked in concert with the slats as the shield generators.

The Dalek creature had no visible vocal apparatus as such and their voices were electronic. Their most infamous battle-cry was "EX-TER-MIN-ATE!", each syllable screeched in a frantic-sounding, electronic scream (the last two syllables together). Other common utterances included "I (or WE) OBEY!" to any command from a superior. Daleks also had radio communicators built into their shells to emit an alarm to summon other Daleks if the casing was opened from outside.

The Dalek's eyepiece was its most vulnerable spot – as there was no back-up system if this was obscured, damaged or destroyed – and impairing its vision often led to its main weapon being fired indiscriminately. The Dalek casing also functioned as a fully-sealed environment suit, allowing travel through the vacuum of space or underwater without the need for additional life-support equipment. (DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, DW: The Parting of the Ways)

A Dalek was connected to its casing through a positronic link. The mutant itself accesses nutrient feeders and control mechanisms inside its internal chamber. (BFA: The Time of the Daleks)

Due to their gliding motion, some models of Dalek were baffled by stairs, which made them easy to overcome under the right circumstances. One time the Fourth Doctor and his companions escaped from Dalek pursuers by climbing into a ceiling duct. (DW: Destiny of the Daleks) Some models were able to hover, or fly under their own power like small spacecraft. (DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Chase, Revelation of the Daleks, Remembrance of the Daleks, Dalek, The Parting of the Ways, Doomsday, Evolution of the Daleks, et c.)

The armour of Dalek Sec and Dalek Caan had temporal shift capacity, possibly unique to those units and the others of the Cult of Skaro. (DW: Doomsday, Daleks in Manhattan)

The power source of the Dalek casing also changed several times. During his first encounter with them on Skaro, the First Doctor learned that the casing was externally powered by static electricity transmitted through the metal floors of the Dalek City. Isolating a Dalek from the floor using a non-conductive material shut down the casing, although it was not immediately fatal to the occupant. (DW: The Daleks) The Daleks overcame this defect by adding dishes to their casing to receive power. (DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth) The Daleks found a better way around this impediment. (DW: The Chase)

By the beginning of the Last Great Time War the Daleks had adapted their technology to use a type of energy apparently linked to the process of time travel (possible Artron Energy.) On more than one occasion, Daleks and their devices were seen to leech this energy from time-travellers to power themselves. (DW: Dalek, Doomsday)

Whatever the power source the Daleks used in the interim, it was (apparently uniquely) immune to being drained by the City of the Exxilons. Strangely, the Daleks retained motive power and the ability to speak even though their weaponry was shut down, which suggests the weapon systems had a separate power supply. The Third Doctor indicated that this was because the Daleks were psychokinetic, and the City unable to absorb psychic energy. Other references to the Daleks having psychic potential are scarce, but on the planet Kyrol the Doctor later discovered an enclave of humanised Daleks who had, through years of meditation, developed psychokinesis to a remarkable degree. (DW: Death to the Daleks, DWM: Children of the Revolution)

The casing was booby-trapped, making even dead Daleks a dangerous foe. They were frequently equipped with virus transmitters which worked automatically. (QR: I am a Dalek) Furthermore, the armour contained an automated distress beacon which activated if disturbed. (DW: Planet of the Daleks)



Interior
The inner casing, in which the actual Dalek resided, also held a life support system and a battle-computer for strategic and tactical knowledge. The Dalek Mutant operated the casings manually. Once removed, other life forms could pilot one if they could fit within. (DW: The Daleks)

Mutant
The interior mutant was, as Ace described it, a green or pinkish "blob." (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks) It was the brain of the Dalek and the true creature that hated everything not a Dalek. The "blobs" were usually genetically mutated Kaleds or, at times, other species captured by the Daleks. They were depicted with multiple tentacular protrusions, a normal right eye and a left eye so reduced in size as to be easily missed. Despite their apparent lack of any motive capability they were capable of defending themselves, as demonstrated when a Dalek attacked and killed a soldier. (DW: Resurrection of the Daleks) While Daleks were typically small mutants, at least one member of the species, Dalek Sec, had extremely large tentacles and was pale green; he could even produce a sac-like membrane that appeared to come from his mouth (most likely a self-induced alteration in preparation for the final experiment). It was this membrane that he used to absorb Mr. Diagoras and transform into a Human-Dalek. (DW: Daleks in Manhattan, Evolution of the Daleks) Before or during the Time War, the Daleks mutated even more, with a large eye in the centre of the body and tentacles. (DW: Dalek)

During WWII, three Daleks managed to engage a Progenitor and create five new breeds of pure-breed Dalek. Their current biophysical appearance is unknown, but presumably less mutated. (DW: Victory of the Daleks)

Vulnerabilities
Although they were nearly invulnerable, Daleks had several exploitable weaknesses. These changed and varied depending on the Dalek's type.
 * Eyestalk susceptible to concentrated fire (DW:Resurrection of the Dalek, Dalek, The Parting of the Ways)
 * Pride
 * Arrogance
 * Lack of imagination
 * Movellan virus (DW: Resurrection of the Daleks)
 * High explosives (DW: Planet of the Daleks, Remembrance of the Daleks)
 * High-powered energy weapons (DW: Parting of the Ways, Journey's End)
 * Bastic bullets (Pre-Time War Daleks only) (DW: Revelation of the Daleks)
 * Dalek gunsticks - Extermination and Disintegration (DW: Evil of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks, The Five Doctors, Revelation of the Daleks, Remembrance of the Daleks, 'Evolution of the Daleks, Victory of the Daleks)
 * Extremely low temperatures (DW: Planet of the Daleks)
 * Extreme heat and pressure
 * Photon beams (DWM: The Dogs of Doom)
 * Reliance on logic & machinery (DW: Destiny of the Daleks)
 * Time Vortex (BFA: The Time of the Daleks)
 * Bats upgraded by the Hand of Omega into energy maces (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks)
 * Overloading (DW: The Power of the Daleks, Journey's End)
 * Rocks in the path (Renegade Daleks only) (DW: The Daleks' Master Plan)
 * Intense sonic beams (DW: Revelation of the Daleks)
 * Anti-Dalekanium Plasma Bolts (SP: The Monsters Are Coming!)

History
The Daleks were the product of a generations-long war between the Kaled and Thal races.


 * Main article: Creation of the Daleks

Over the course of their history, the Daleks developed time travel (DW: The Chase), an interstellar (and later intergalactic) Dalek Empire (DW: The Daleks' Master Plan) and factory ships for conquest (DW: The Power of the Daleks). The radio dishes which had originally been required to allow them to travel on surfaces without a static charge (DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth) also vanished, enabling Daleks to move under their own power.


 * Main article: Dalek history

Origin of name
"Dalek" had been the ancient Kaled word for god. Davros, the creator of the Daleks, appropriated the name, supposing the Daleks to approximate gods in evolutionary terms. (BFD: I, Davros) Obviously "Dalek" is an anagram of Kaled, the race from which the Daleks were genetically engineered. A scientist under the command of Davros mentioned that the word "Dalek" had never been heard before the Doctor, and then hours later, Davros himself uttered it. (DW: Genesis of the Daleks)

Society and culture
The Daleks were known to write poetry (NA: The Also People), and some of the more elaborate Dalek battlecries had an almost poetic quality about them (for example, "Advance and Attack! Attack and Destroy! Destroy and Rejoice!" (DW: The Chase) and repetition of words such as "Predict! Predict! Predict!" (DW: The Parting of the Ways). In an alternate reality, the Daleks showed a fondness for the works of William Shakespeare. (BFA: The Time of the Daleks)

Due to their frequent defeats by the Doctor, he became a legendary figure in Dalek culture and mythology. They had standing orders to capture or exterminate the Doctor on sight, and were occasionally able to identify him despite his regenerations. This was not an innate ability, but probably the result of good record keeping. The Daleks knew the Doctor as the "Ka Faraq Gatri", (which meant the "Bringer of Darkness" or "Destroyer of Worlds") (DWM: Bringer of Darkness, referencing DWN: Remembrance of the Daleks). The Ninth Doctor claimed that the Daleks also called him "the Oncoming Storm". (DW: The Parting of the Ways)


 * The second name was also used by the Draconians to refer to the Doctor, though probably in a less pejorative sense. (NA: Love and War)

=== Psychology === Daleks had little individual personality and a strict hierarchy. They were conditioned to obey a superior's orders without question. The most fundamental feature of Dalek culture and psychology was an unquestioned belief in the superiority of the Daleks. Other species were either to be exterminated or enslaved and exterminated when no longer necessary. The default directive of a Dalek was to destroy all non-Dalek life forms. Daleks even regarded "deviant" Daleks as their enemies and worthy of destruction. The civil war between the Renegade and Imperial Daleks was an example of this. Each faction considered the other a perversion despite the relatively minor differences. This belief also meant that Daleks were intolerant of such "contamination" even within themselves. (DW: Dalek, The Parting of the Ways, Evolution of the Daleks, BFA: The Mutant Phase) Another result of this superiority complex was their complete ruthlessness. This was due to genetic modifications made to the original Kaled mutants by Davros. It was because of this that it was nearly impossible to negotiate or reason with a Dalek and it was this single-mindedness that made them so dangerous.

Their reliance on logic and machinery was a weakness, albeit one that they recognised. Daleks considered illogical actions impossible. (DW: Destiny of the Daleks) They transferred emotions from other life-forms twice, in one case humans, having refined the Human Factor with the help from the Second Doctor to create Humanised Daleks. (DW: The Evil of the Daleks) In another instance, they refined savagery, hatred and cunning from other life forms. (DWM: The Dogs of Doom) One unintentionally humanised Dalek occurred after it used Rose Tyler's DNA to regenerate after sustaining injuries, involuntarily developing feelings. Its traditional Dalek psychology remained, however, and it self-destructed in disgust. (DW: Dalek)

Religion
As noted above, the Daleks created by the manipulation and mutation of human genetic material by a demented Dalek Emperor were religious fanatics. They worshipped the Emperor as their god. Normal Daleks had no religion, other than their fanatic belief in their own supremacy. (DW: The Parting of the Ways)

Legal system
Although the Daleks had no regard for due process and Galactic Law, there were at least two occasions on which they took enemies back to Skaro for a "trial" rather than killing them on the spot; the first was their creator Davros (DW: Revelation of the Daleks) and the second was the renegade Time Lord known as the Master. (DW: Doctor Who)


 * Accounts differ as to whether the retrieval of Davros was for a 'trial' in the criminal sense but rather a test to see if he was in fact worthy of becoming the supreme leader of the race (BFD: I, Davros) or if they gave him more of a literal trial (DWM: Emperor of the Daleks)

Dalek hierarchy
Although they saw their entire species as superior, the Daleks had a hierarchical system. This included a wide range of ranks bestowed upon selected Daleks. (DW: The Daleks, The Evil of the Daleks, Victory of the Daleks)

Dalek writings
Daleks used inscriptions as recognition codes. (DW: Doomsday) They were able to read human numerals and words, even using them upon occasion. (DW: Planet of the Daleks)

Cultural effect
The Daleks had a devastating effect on the races and individuals that encountered them. For the most part they epitomised fear and danger, especially for the Doctor, Upon arriving in 1966 and seeing the Post Office Tower that contained WOTAN, the First Doctor remarked to his companion he had felt like that when the Daleks were near. (DW: The War Machines) He used his encounters with them to warn Zoe Heriot of what she might encounter. (DW: The Wheel in Space) He also later used a mental projection of a Dalek to show the Time Lords of his enemies. (DW: The War Games) A Dalek was one of many fears that assaulted the Doctor in the Keller Machine. (DW: The Mind of Evil) When as he approached his fourth regeneration, a vision of a Dalek came to him. (DW: Logopolis) Their power over the Doctor continued through his personality when he used a Chameleon Arch,. His human self, John Smith, sketched a Dalek within his A Journal of Impossible Things. (DW: Human Nature)

Their danger was on occasion negligible compared to a greater threat; when speaking of his fellow Time Lords at his trial he stated that "I have battled against evil...I should have stayed here. The oldest civilisation: decadent, degenerate, and rotten to the core. Power-mad conspirators, Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen - they're still in the nursery compared to us. Ten million years of absolute power. That's what it takes to be really corrupt." (DW: The Ultimate Foe) When Rassilon threatened to break the Time-lock on the Last Great Time War the Tenth Doctor warned the Master, that "not just the Daleks" would be unleashed if it were broken. (DW: The End of Time)

The Daleks' impact on those humans who encountered them had different effects on their psyches. They appeared in dreams or visions; Ace associated the Daleks with Nazis; a Dalek with a swastika chased her, chanting "Heil Doktor" following her time in an alternate universe populated by Nazis. (NA: Timewyrm: Exodus). To Bernice Summerfield a Dalek appeared, also in a dream, along side several other races such as Sontarans and Cybermen in which the nature of evil was dissected. (NA: The Also People). Sam Jones, on awakening from unconsciousness exclaimed, "Anyone get the number of that Dalek?". (EDA: The Taint) Alternatively, encounters with the Daleks took a certain pride of place for some individuals. Rose Tyler and Sarah Jane Smith compared their experiences encountering Daleks (and in Rose's case the Dalek Emperor) upon meeting. (DW: School Reunion)

Dalek technology
The key item of Dalek technology was the casing, derived from the Mark III Travel Machines built by Davros. The casings of Davros' Imperial Daleks were made out of bonded polycarbide. (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks) The eyestalk of the casing bestowed superior vision to the Dalek creature. The plunger-shaped attachment functioned as a flexible and adaptable limb. Dalek gunsticks could kill almost any sentient being and could paralyse their victims temporarily or permanently.

The Dalek's gunstick evolved alongside other aspects of Dalek technology. In the original Dalek story (DW: The Daleks) the gunstick seemed to have the same qualities as a human gun. Extermination was not always guaranteed and some targets would be merely wounded.

On the surface of Skaro, within the confines of the Dalek City, the machines ran on static electricity fed from the city floor. They were incapacitated if removed from the floor. The casing technology changed over the years. The first Daleks to emerge from the bunker in which they had been entombed built a city and power from those. (DW:The Daleks) Those occupying Earth during the their 22nd century invasion had dishes on their backs. (DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth) Later models of Dalek casing had internal power supplies, and even repulsor systems that allowed them to hover

Throughout the series, there were many Dalek variants that sported different casings. A Dalek's ability depended on what features its casing offered. (DW: The Daleks, The Evil of the Daleks) The default manipulator arm could be replaced with the likes of flame-throwers and seismic detectors. (DW: The Chase, The Daleks' Master Plan)

By the era of the Last Great Time War, Daleks had force-fields. Whereas previous versions of Daleks could be destroyed by a well-placed bastic bullet, such bullets could not get close to these Daleks' casings. However, they could be penetrated by their own weaponry, and variations thereof. They not only could hover, but travel independently through space. These Daleks could use the DNA of a time traveller to regenerate their bodies and their casings just by virtue of the traveller touching the casing.

Dalek travel technology varied over time.Dalek spaceships were consistently designed in a saucer shape, and hoverbouts allowed individual Daleks to travel without using their own power. The Daleks also developed time travel capabilities. Time Corridors allowed limited transport between one era and another. The Daleks also developed their own kind of time machine of similar capacities to the Doctor's TARDIS, though they could not change shape.

These time travel machines were also dimensionally transcendental. (DW: The Chase, DW: The Daleks' Master Plan) They could initiate 'emergency temporal shift' which acted as a teleport through time and space to let the Dalek escape a threat. The destination was totally random, unlike other time machines, so there was no way of telling where the Dalek would end up after teleporting. (DW: Doomsday, DW: Daleks in Manhattan, DW: The Stolen Earth)


 * It is not known how advanced their time travel technology had become by the time they vanished to fight the Last Great Time War, but the fact that Dalek Caan was able to travel to the time-locked Last Great Time War meant that it must have approached the level of the Time Lords themselves.

&nbsp The Daleks were also experts in biological warfare, and used (or attempted to use) biological weapons on several occasions. (DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, Planet of the Daleks, Death to the Daleks)

Dalek attachments
See Dalek weaponry

Dalek weapons

 * Gunstick - Extermination and Disintegration - The standard Dalek Weapon.
 * Manipulator arm - Generally used to open doors and pick up objects but it also used as a weapon.HistoryImperialDalek_010.jpg during the civil war. (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks)]]
 * Sensor arm - A powerful weapon used by Daleks guarding the Emperor.

Alternate weapons

 * Flamethrower - An alternate weapon, mostly used to burn through vegetation or other obstacles.
 * Claw arm - Equipped with a blow torch, used to cut through materials too durable for their death rays to penetrate.
 * Machine Gun - A weapon that fired bullets, used in areas where energy based weapons were useless. (e.g. if drained by an external force).

Other attachments

 * Seismic detector - Used to locate the TARDIS.
 * Electrode unit - This allows the Dalek to control electric currents.
 * Syringe - This was used to inject chemicals into Dalek Sec’s casing.
 * Dalek claw - Used to operate Dalek machinery.

Other appearances
Two Doctor Who movies starring Peter Cushing featured the Daleks as the main villains: Dr. Who and the Daleks, and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., based on the television serials The Daleks and The Dalek Invasion of Earth, respectively. However, the movies are not considered canonical in any way, shape or form. Cushing's Doctor is not an alien, but a human inventor, and is literally named "Doctor Who." The movies used brand new Dalek props, based closely on the original design but with a wider range of colours. Originally, the movie Daleks were supposed to shoot jets of flame, but this was thought to be too graphic for children, so their weapons emitted jets of deadly vapour instead. They also appeared in the Doctor Who parody, The Curse of Fatal Death.

Marvel UK was publishing Doctor Who Magazine at the time, which included comic strip stories in its pages. Aside from meeting up with the Doctor in them, the DWM strips also introduced a new nemesis for the Daleks; the Dalek Killer named Abslom Daak. Daak was a convicted criminal in the 26th century who was given the choice between execution and being sent on a suicide mission against the Daleks. He chose the latter and, when the woman he loved was killed by the Daleks, made it his life's purpose to kill every Dalek he came across. The Daleks have also appeared in the Dalek Empire series of audio plays by Big Finish Productions.

Outside of Doctor Who, Daleks also made an appearance in the film Looney Tunes: Back in Action and the Star Wars comic strip, Fett Club. A Dalek-based Transformer that would transform into a Mark III Travel Machine features in an issue of Marvel UK Transformers comic, as well as the Decepticon Starscream picking up Dalek transmissions while flying over a field in England. Spike Milligan wrote a sketch which featured a working-class Dalek with a family of his own, and a Dalek-spoof race (known as the Deacons) made an appearance in a Futurama comic.

Story titles
Beginning with the 1965 stage play The Curse of the Daleks, the best-known title format for stories featuring the Daleks has been "... of the Daleks". This was first used on television in the 1966 serial The Power of the Daleks and was used most recently on TV in 2010's Victory of the Daleks and used recently on a 2010 adventure game. In fact, if comic strips, audios and novels are included, more stories exist that do not use this title format, but "... of the Daleks" is considered ubiquitous enough that the spoof film Myth Runner includes a joking reference to an apparent future Who story entitled Deuteronomy of the Daleks.

The word Dalek has been titular to more Doctor Who televised story titles than any other noun, although Planet and Death are more ubiquitous if Hartnell-era adventures — which originally did not have story titles as such — are identified only by their episodic titles. Indeed, in the whole of the Hartnell era, Dalek was used exactly once as an onscreen title — for episode two of the adventure later re-christened as The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

A Nazi by any other name
As he grew up during World War II, Terry Nation had vivid memories of the war and, in particular, the Nazis. The Daleks share many characteristics with the Nazi party deliberately. They both believe in the superiority of their race, whether it means the entire species, like the Daleks, or their ethnicity, like the German Nazis. Genesis of the Daleks is the most clear depiction of this parallel, with the Kaleds showing dedication to their cause and near-complete conformity. It also showed the killing of any opposed to their ideology; in this case, the Kaled scientists. The casting out or forced labour of the Mutos is comparable to the Holocaust, as is the Kaled consensus of them as lesser beings. Another comparison to the Holocaust appears in The Dalek Invasion of Earth, in which Daleks refer to the destruction of Earth as "the final solution", a phrase associated with Nazism. They even to greet each other by raising their plungers vertically in a way reminiscent of the Nazi salute. Another blatant reference appears in The Stolen Earth with Daleks chanting "Exterminieren!" as they invade Germany.

Contrariwise, other writers have pointed out the flaws in comparing the Daleks to the Nazis. John Peel noted in the introduction to The Official Doctor Who & the Daleks Book:


 * "They have been compared over the years with Nazis, but this is a tenuous connection at best. Certainly there is a lack of individuality, an unquestioning obedience of orders and a willingness to die for the race - all of this epitomised the Nazi stormtrooper ideal. It isn't hard to see, though, even in the most evil member of the Nazi hierarchy, some spark of buried humanity. Even the elite had their fears and superstitions. The Daleks had none of these."

In aHistory, Lance Parkin expands on this idea:


 * "Real life analogies quickly fail when applied to the Daleks. At times they're compared to the likes of Nazis, but in truth they're literally lacking in humanity. Even "conquest" as we generally understand the term doesn't really interest them - sometimes they put foes to work as slaves (as in Death to the Daleks), but this is almost inevitably in the interest of facilitating new atrocities and exterminations. The point is that one can (and should) hope to use reason against real-world governments, but there is virtually no chance of diplomacy succeeding against the Daleks. ... Basically, the Daleks collectively remain united behind one goal: kill everything that isn't a Dalek."

The catchphrase
The single word most associated with the Daleks is "Exterminate!" which has been uttered by generations of British children impersonating the creatures. However, although a variant of the word, "exterminated" can be heard from the very first appearance of the Daleks, it was not until "Flashpoint", which was the final episode of DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth that a Dalek finally was heard uttering the word "Exterminate!"

Music
In the BBC Wales version, Murray Gold gave the Daleks a leitmotif in the form of the track identified as "The Daleks" on Doctor Who - Original Television Soundtrack. This track was heavily choral. According to Russell T Davies on the DVD commentary to Bad Wolf, the chorus is repeatedly chanting, "What is happening" in Hebrew.

External sources

 * Howe, David J & Walker, Stephen James (2003). The Television Companion: The Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to DOCTOR WHO (2nd ed.) Surrey, UK: Telos Publishing, ISBN 1-903389051-0.
 * Haining, Peter, (1988) "Doctor Who and the Merchandisers", Doctor Who: 25 Glorious Years London, UK: W.H. Allen, ISBN 0-318-37661-X.
 * Davies, Kevin (director) (1993). More than 30 Years in the TARDIS London, UK: BBC Video.
 * Howe, David J & Walker, Stephen James (1994). The First Doctor Handbook London, UK: Virgin Publishing, ISBN 0-426-2-430-1.
 * Finklestone, Peter (producer) (2003). "Talking Daleks" featurette, The Dalek Invasion of Earth London, UK: BBC Video.
 * Seaborne, Gilliane (director) (2005). "Dalek", Doctor Who Confidential BBC Wales.
 * Nation, Terry (ed.) (1979). Terry Nation's Dalek Special, Target Books, bottom.

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