Slat

Solar power collection slats, (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) Solar slats, (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) solar cells, (PROSE: The History of the Daleks) shoulder slats, (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide) armour slats or simply slats (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks) were solar panels (PROSE: Mission to the Unknown) which studded the weapons platform of the casings of most Daleks. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks, The Chase) The Third Doctor once referred to them as sensor plates. (TV: Planet of the Daleks)

Daleks assigned as suicide bombers during the Dalek-Movellan War had bombs attached to their slats. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks)

History and variance
Though Davros's early Dalek prototypes possessed slats on their weapons platforms, (TV:, ) the Skaro City Daleks who fought in the Thal-Dalek battle did not possess any, receiving their power through inductive static electricity transmitted through the metal floors of the Dalek City. (TV: ) Several accounts noted these Dalek casings as being either the Dalek War Machines (COMIC: Genesis of Evil) or the Mark II Travel Machines, identifying the Dalek mutants within as a separate strain of Dalek from Davros's direct creations. (PROSE: The History of the Daleks) By one historical account though, these Daleks were indeed descended from Davros's first creations. This account postulated that the removal of the slats had been a conscious choice on the part of the Daleks who had deemed inductive static power, despite its limitations, a more efficient means of power than the one Davros had designed. (PROSE: The Whoniverse)

By the time that the Dalek Empire began expanding to other worlds, later silver Daleks initially overcame this weakness by adding solar energy collection discs to their casing, at the back of the weapons platform, to receive power. Such discs were used along with enlarged Dalek fenders by the Dalek Earthforce which operated during the 2150s Dalek invasion of Earth. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth) Eventually, however, even these were ultimately replaced by vertical rectangular slats around the midsection which absorbed other sources of power, (TV: The Chase) functioning as solar panels. (PROSE: Mission to the Unknown) From then on, the weapons platforms of most Daleks, with the exception of those of the New Dalek Paradigm, were studded by slats. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks, The Chase)

After serving as Supreme Controller of the Dalek Earthforce, (PROSE: The History of the Daleks) the Black Dalek Leader moved from earlier casing to a new casing with slats. During the Mechonoid Incident, the silver Pursuer-Daleks were supported by a dark-domed Dalek variant which operated without slats. (TV: The Chase)

The grey Daleks, beginning with the first Mark III Travel Machines presented by Davros, had grey slats with black sense globes. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) They were subordinate to gold Daleks who likewise had slats matching their wider casing. (TV: Day of the Daleks) Beyond them, Supreme Daleks of the Supreme Council had a golden dome, grating section frame, slats, and sense globes on an otherwise black casing. (TV: Planet of the Daleks) In a dissenting account, the Dalek Survival Guide believed that the drones who followed the Gold Dalek in the Time Paradox Incident were black complete with slats and globes. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide)

By 2094, a photograph of slatted Silver Daleks with a large, blue luminosity discharger not exhibited by later models, and an enlarged Dalek fender matching that of the later Dalek Earthforce, was freely available on Earth, where it served to illustrate a news article about the recovering of a set of story-cubes about the Daleks' history. Five of the Daleks were standing in a deserted street, with other ruined casings of the same type strewn about. (PROSE: The Dalek Chronicles Found!)

Later grey Daleks, seen during the Dalek-Movellan War, had black slats as well as sense globes. However, grey-slatted Daleks remained during this time, and appeared to serve as leaders to the black-slatted Daleks. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks) They followed a black Supreme Dalek which had black slats, but white sense globes. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks)

Following the re-emergence of Davros, the grey Daleks became known as Renegade Daleks. Though their casings were a lighter shade of grey, they remained with black slats and sense globes. They followed a black Supreme Dalek with white slats and sense globes. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)

The white Necros Daleks and later Imperial Daleks loyal to Davros had golden slats and sense globes. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks) Uniquely, the Special Weapons Dalek had a weapons platform with no slats. Davros's Emperor Dalek casing, which consisted of an enlarged dome section atop a base unit, naturally had no slats. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)

The Supreme Dalek of the Dalek Hive sported an additional ring of sense globes in place of the slats on the middle section. (COMIC: Fire and Brimstone)

The bronze Daleks, of the Last Great Time War and beyond, had golden slats and sense globes. (TV: Dalek) Contemporary Black Daleks, such as Dalek Sec, had casings coloured completely black including slats and sense globes. (TV: Army of Ghosts) Dalek X, the Dalek Inquisitor General, was distinguished by his black casing with golden slats and sense globes, (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks) as was an Imperial Guard Dalek. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)

Post-Time War Daleks that posed as British Army Ironsides had dark green slats and sense globes matching their disguised casings. These Ironsides were equipped with army utility belts housing useful battlefield accoutrements strapped to the weapons platform, obscuring their slats. (TV: Victory of the Daleks)

The larger Daleks of the New Dalek Paradigm had weapons platforms with no slats. (TV: Victory of the Daleks)

The bronze "Quasimodo Dalek", which was reconstructed by unfamiliar humans, had slats attached to the base unit in place of the sense globes, which were attached to its weapons platform and dome. (COMIC: The Dalek Project)

Behind the scenes

 * The Daleks seen in the theatrical film Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. all had silver slats regardless of the colour of their wider casing.
 * Dapol, which produced a range of toys based on the classic series of Doctor Who, released several original Dalek variants which did not appear on-screen.
 * W008-3 was silver with blue slats in addition to sense globes.
 * The initial draft for The Only Good Dalek featured the 2005 rather than the 2010 Dalek model, as Justin Richards had not yet been informed of the coming redesign. He originally wrote that the captive Daleks had their slats removed so that they were forced to draw static electricity from the floor like the original Dalek War Machines; when he found that the new Dalek model naturally had no slats on their middle sections, he introduced a power inhibitor.
 * The 2010 edition of The Visual Dictionary, which is considered invalid by this wiki for being non-narrative, identified the plates as "force field broadcast antennae", with each flat panel broadcasting an overlapping field for complete coverage around the Dalek.