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Information from Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017). and Dalek Combat Training Manual [+]Richard Atkinson and Mike Tucker, BBC Books (2021). needs to be added.
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The Daleks were a warrior race (TV: The Witch's Familiar [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015)., Hell Bent [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).) made up of genetically engineered mutants (TV: The Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 1 (BBC tv, 1963-1964)., Genesis of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1975).) belonging to fundamental DNA type 467-989. (TV: Daleks in Manhattan [+]Helen Raynor, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).) By most accounts they were originally from the planet Skaro. (TV: The Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 1 (BBC tv, 1963-1964).) The mutants were encased inside an armoured travel machine built from polycarbide (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, Doctor Who season 25 (BBC1, 1988).) and the metal Dalekanium. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1964)., COMIC: The Humanoids [+]The Dalek Book (Dalek annual, Souvenir Press, 1964).)
On many occasions, the Daleks openly acknowledged a single Time Lord, the Doctor, as their greatest enemy. (TV: The Chase [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1965).) The Doctor described them likewise, (COMIC: Defender of the Daleks [+]Jody Houser, Time Lord Victorious release order (Titan Comics, 2020)., TV: Victory of the Daleks [+]Mark Gatiss, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010).) and, in their tenth incarnation, stated that a Dalek was "not just metal, it [was] alive," that "inside that shell, there [was] a creature born to hate, whose only thought [was] to destroy everything and everyone that [wasn't] a Dalek, too." (TV: Daleks in Manhattan [+]Helen Raynor, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).) The Tenth Doctor also noted that from birth, the Daleks were encased in a cold metal shell unable to feel anything, claiming that was why they "scream[ed]." (TV: Doomsday [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 2 (BBC One, 2006).) The War Doctor also said that Daleks were "not robots", but "savage, incredibly intelligent, living, breathing creatures housed inside a war tank". (PROSE: The Stranger [+]Gary Russell, Heroes and Monsters Collection (Heroes and Monsters Collection, 2015).)
The Daleks fought the Time Lords in the Last Great Time War, ending in the near-total destruction of the Dalek race, (TV: Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).) until they rebuilt and restored their empire. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2012).) Intensely xenophobic and bent on universal domination, the Daleks were hated and feared throughout time and space. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1975).) Their goal was to eradicate all non-Dalek life, (TV: Victory of the Daleks [+]Mark Gatiss, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010).) as programmed by their creator. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1975).)
Biology[]
Although the Daleks looked entirely robotic, they were, in fact, cyborgs, with a living body encased in and supported by an armed and mobile outer shell of Dalekanium and polycarbide protective metal armour. These were Mark III travel machines, designed to carry their mutant forms, and they were not truly integrated biomechanoids. (AUDIO: The Four Doctors [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.) In this respect, they were somewhat similar to a Cyberman; unlike them, however, the Daleks' bodies had mutated so drastically from their Kaled ancestors they had lost all humanoid appearance, save for one eye (see below). (TV: The Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 1 (BBC tv, 1963-1964)., Evolution of the Daleks [+]Helen Raynor, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).) The Daleks transmitted information using a sort of artificial telepathic network known as the Pathweb, (TV: Asylum of the Daleks [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2012).) which the Twelfth Doctor would later state to be the "biggest database [he knew]". (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC One, 2017).)
Daleks did not die naturally, every cell being genetically hardwired with an impulse to keep on living, (TV: The Witch's Familiar [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).) even if they were chopped to pieces and left buried for centuries away from their casings. (TV: Resolution [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who New Year Special 2019 (BBC One, 2019).) However, they did age, the body decaying further and further — eventually reaching a point where it was little more than mewling, hateful sludge of dark brownish colour. Incapable of steering their armour, such decayed Daleks would exit them and confine themselves to the sewers of Dalek cities, for which reason the Dalek word for "sewer" was also their word for "graveyard". (TV: The Witch's Familiar [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).) One Dalek creature remained alive even as it was dissected by the scientist Bryant Anderson. (PROSE: We are the Daleks! [+]Terry Nation, Radio Times short stories (1973).)
The Daleks had a strong association with static electricity; not only were their casings powered by it at some points in their history, (TV: The Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 1 (BBC tv, 1963-1964)., The Dalek Invasion of Earth [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1964).) but newly-bred Kaled mutants were brought to life by a static shock before they were put into their casings, and the Second Doctor once explained that static "was like blood to the Daleks". (TV: The Power of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966).) Theodore Maxtible's attempts to involve static electricity in his experimental time travel resulted in his time machine prototype summoning Daleks across time. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1967).)
During the Dalek-Movellan War, the Daleks, to better understand the Movellans, briefly reengineered themselves into "quasi-robotic" creatures, dispensing entirely with organic matter. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual [+]Richard Atkinson and Mike Tucker, BBC Books (2021).) After this led to a centuries-long stalemate, (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979).) the Daleks returned to their organic roots. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017).)
During the Last Great Time War, the Daleks discovered the ability to use artron energy leeched from other time travellers to enact a similar process of regeneration to the Time Lords'. This would allow the Dalek to repair its casing as well as heal its inner organic body. However, this process was still primitive by the time the destruction of Gallifrey by the Doctor; (PROSE: Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Dalek (Robert Shearman), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2021).) it also caused the Dalek to absorb DNA from the time traveller it had used to power its regeneration, beginning to mutate and thus deviated from the Dalek baseline, which was unacceptable for a Dalek. (TV: Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).) Davros later organised an "experiment" whereby he siphoned huge amounts of actual regeneration energy and transmitted it to "every Dalek on Skaro". Immediately after their collective regeneration, the Daleks acknowledged that they were now "more powerful", deeming the experiment a success. (TV: The Witch's Familiar [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).)
Anatomy[]
Casing[]
- Main article: Casing
Exterior battle armour[]
The Dalek casing could be separated into three sections. The top was the Daleks' means of vision and communication, a dome with a set of twin speaker 'lights' (referred to as luminosity dischargers) (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks [+]Trevor Baxendale, BBC New Series Adventures (BBC Books, 2009).) on the upper part of the sides, and a periscope-like eyestalk in the middle. This was attached to the midsection by a "neck", the grating section. (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks [+]Trevor Baxendale, BBC New Series Adventures (BBC Books, 2009).) The Dalek casings invented by Davros were originally called "Mark III travel machines". (TV: Genesis of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1975)., PROSE: Still Need a Title! [+]James Goss and Steve Tribe, The Doctor: His Lives and Times (2013).)
Dalek casings varied in colour and exact appearance, (TV: The Magician's Apprentice [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One|BBC One]], 2015). et al.) with different colours often signifying different ranks within Dalek hierarchy. (PROSE: War of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from War of the Daleks, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1997). Over the Daleks' history, the basic Dalek was first slatless and silver-white when using Dalek War Machines (TV: The Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 1 (BBC tv, 1963-1964)., COMIC: Genesis of Evil [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1965).) then given sensor plate slats to become the Silver Daleks, (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan [+]Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1965-1966).) later replaced by Grey Daleks (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979).) and finally Bronze Daleks. (TV: Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).)
On the Dalek's midsection, the weapons platform, (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks [+]Trevor Baxendale, BBC New Series Adventures (BBC Books, 2009).) the gunstick and manipulator arm were attached. These provided the Dalek's means of offence and operating capabilities. In later models, the midsection was capable of swivelling. Most of the mass of the Dalek mutant was located inside the midsection.
The lower section, the base unit, (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks [+]Trevor Baxendale, BBC New Series Adventures (BBC Books, 2009).) was the Dalek's means of mobility, consisting of a sturdy base with a skirt-like structure of plates studded with sense globes. This allowed movement and, in later models, flight. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, Doctor Who season 25 (BBC1, 1988).)
At very bottom of the base unit was the Dalek fender, (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017).) which the Dalek Survival Guide believed acted like the bumpers of cars, protecting Daleks from collisions. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide [+]Justin Richards, et al., BBC Books (2002).)
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. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, Doctor Who season 25 (BBC1, 1988).)
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 both polycarbide and dalekanium. (WC: Monster File: Daleks [+]Justin Richards, Captain Jack's Monster Files (2008).)
The lower portion of the casing was studded with fifty-six partially-embedded spherical protrusions, (TV: Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).) or sense globes, (COMIC: City of the Daleks [+]The Dalek Book (Dalek annuals, Souvenir Press, 1964).) which could serve as a self-destruct system. (TV: Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).)
The casing was booby-trapped; when Yevgeny Kandinsky touched even the damaged "Meltron" Dalek in Utah, the Dalek made his hand stick onto its casing and, with him stuck, made the man combust into flames. However, when the time traveller Rose Tyler touched the Dalek, the Meltron extracted her DNA and used that to regenerated itself. (TV: Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005)., PROSE: Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Dalek (Robert Shearman), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2021).) The Tenth Doctor once implied that anyone, even non-time travellers, could end up reviving a Dalek by touching its casing, as it gave the casing a chance to extract their DNA. (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks [+]Trevor Baxendale, BBC New Series Adventures (BBC Books, 2009).) Even dead Daleks could prove a dangerous foe. They were frequently equipped with virus transmitters on the casing, which worked automatically. (PROSE: I Am a Dalek [+]Gareth Roberts, Quick Reads (BBC Books, 2006).) Trying to "crack open" a casing would more likely than not trigger self-destruct mechanisms due to its "anti-handling devices and booby traps". (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks [+]Trevor Baxendale, BBC New Series Adventures (BBC Books, 2009).)
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 the Dalek panicking and firing its main weapon indiscriminately in a panic. (GAME: City of the Daleks [+]Phil Ford, The Adventure Games (BBC Wales Interactive, 2010).) It was, however, a sensitive instrument, which allowed the Daleks to see in infrared, among other wavelengths. (PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks [+]John Peel, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1998).) 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. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1964)., The Parting of the Ways [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005)., COMIC: The Dalek Project [+]Justin Richards, Doctor Who - Graphic Novels (BBC Books, 2012).) A Dalek's eyepiece could be connected to other Dalek vision centres. (GAME: City of the Daleks [+]Phil Ford, The Adventure Games (BBC Wales Interactive, 2010)., TV: Asylum of the Daleks [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2012).)
A Dalek was connected to its casing through a positronic link. The mutant itself accessed nutrient feeders and control mechanisms inside its internal chamber. (AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks [+]Justin Richards, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2002).) The Twelfth Doctor once said that a Dalek was "not a machine", but "a perfect analogue of a living being". (TV: Into the Dalek [+]Phil Ford and Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 8 (BBC One, 2014).) Indeed, a Dalek could be "hurt" even when the non-biological part of it was attacked. (TV: Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005)., Into the Dalek [+]Phil Ford and Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 8 (BBC One, 2014).)
A Dalek hovers above stairs. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, Doctor Who season 25 (BBC1, 1988).)
Due to their gliding motion, earlier 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. The Doctor even taunted a single Dalek before disappearing. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979).) Some models were able to hover, or fly under their own power like small spacecraft and travel up the stairs, ending the original weakness. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 22 (BBC1, 1985)., Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005)., Resolution [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who New Year Special 2019 (BBC One, 2019)., et al.)
The original Defence Drone, derived from a Reconnaissance Dalek, was capable of simple spatial shifts. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who New Year Special 2021 (BBC One, 2021).) The armour of the Cult of Skaro had temporal shift capacity, seemingly the only users of such technology during the Battle of Canary Wharf. (TV: Doomsday [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 2 (BBC One, 2006)., Daleks in Manhattan [+]Helen Raynor, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).)
Power sources[]
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. (TV: "The Escape") The Daleks initially overcame this weakness by adding dishes to their casing to receive power, (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1964).) although even these were ultimately replaced by vertical rectangular slats around the midsection which absorbed other sources of power. (TV: The Chase [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1965).)
Even quite late into their history, some Daleks originating on Skaro itself remained powered by static electricity: this was the case with the Daleks from the ship that crashed on Vulcan, (TV: The Power of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966).) although their home time postdated the Imperial-Renegade Dalek Civil War. (PROSE: War of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from War of the Daleks, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1997).) Even Daleks who did not visibly draw their power supply from static electricity retained some sort of association with it, as it was by involving static electricity in his experimental time machine that Theodore Maxtible accidentally summoned into his home Daleks who nevertheless could move freely along its wooden floors. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1967).)
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. On more than one occasion, Daleks and their devices were seen to leech this energy from time-travellers in order to power themselves. (TV: Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005)., Doomsday [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 2 (BBC One, 2006).)
Whatever the power source the Daleks used in the interim, it was (apparently uniquely) immune to being drained by the Great 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 moved around through the power of thought alone, and the City was unable to absorb psychic energy. (TV: Death to the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 11 (BBC1, 1974).) Other references to the Daleks having psychic potential are scarce, but Rusty could telekinetically recall his gunstick if it was detached from his casing, (PROSE: Twice Upon a Time [+]Paul Cornell, adapted from Twice Upon a Time (Steven Moffat), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2018).) and, on the planet Kyrol, the Eighth Doctor discovered an enclave of humanised Daleks who had, through years of meditation, developed psychokinesis to a remarkable degree. (COMIC: Children of the Revolution [+]Scott Gray, DWM Comics (Panini Comics, 2001-2002).)
Additionally, Daleks from the Last Great Time War era were surrounded by force fields that prevented bullets and energy weapons from making contact with their casings. (TV: Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005)., The Parting of the Ways [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005)., Doomsday [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 2 (BBC One, 2006)., Daleks in Manhattan [+]Helen Raynor, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007)., The Big Bang [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010).)
Speech[]
According to certain accounts, the Dalek creature had no visible vocal apparatus as such and their voices were electronic, as the mutant inside could barely utter a squeak. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984)., AUDIO: Jubilee [+]Robert Shearman, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2003).) In contradiction to these accounts, Daleks stripped of their casings were heard to speak in the familiar Dalek voice on several occasions, including but not limited to Dalek Caan after his casing had been ruined by exposure to the whole of time and space, (TV: Journey's End [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) a Black Dalek whose shell had been entirely consumed by the Kiseibya, (AUDIO: Enemy of the Daleks [+]David Bishop, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2009).) and a stranded Dalek reconnaissance scout who reached Earth in the 9th century and was stripped of its casing by human warriors. (TV: Resolution [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who New Year Special 2019 (BBC One, 2019).) One incident showed that a human voice spoken from within a Dalek casing would gain the typical Dalek voice's metallic quality. (TV: The Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 1 (BBC tv, 1963-1964).)
In the case of the Metaltron, the Dalek mutant began its life with vocal cords, but they were quickly cut out of it to make room for metal-synth replacements that the Dalek Empire deemed to be more reliable. (PROSE: Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Dalek (Robert Shearman), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2021).) At any rate, Daleks spoke in high-pitched, stilted, robotic voices that were easy for others to mimic; (TV: The Evil of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1967)., Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005). et al.) their most infamous battle-cry was "EX-TER-MINATE!", 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. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979)., Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005)., The Parting of the Ways [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005). et al.) Daleks also had communicators built into their shells to emit an alarm to summon other Daleks if the casing was opened from outside. (TV: Planet of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 10 (BBC1, 1973).)
At least in the case of non-Daleks who tried to countermand their casings, the communication devices present within limited Dalek speech. Attempts to state their identity emerged as "I am a Dalek" and emotional statements or "you are different from me" came out as "Exterminate". Saying "I am your friend" came out as "I am your enemy". Contractions were also eliminated, with statements such as "I don't understand." and "What's happening?" translating to "I do not understand." and "What is happening?" (TV: The Witch's Familiar [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).) However, these speech restrictions were not present when Dalek themselves piloted their casings, being able to speak of concepts such as friendship, mercy and servitude, often to affect cunning deceptions, set traps and manipulate others to their will (TV: The Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 1 (BBC tv, 1963-1964)., The Power of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966)., The Evil of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1967)., Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005)., Victory of the Daleks [+]Mark Gatiss, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010).) or on rare occasions when genuinely begging for other beings' mercy. (TV: Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005)., AUDIO: Enemy of the Daleks [+]David Bishop, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2009).)
While the Daleks are limited in speech and tone of voice, certain Daleks, especially those of a higher rank, have a wider vocabulary and different manners of speaking. Dalek Caan, in his insanity, was able to speak near fluently, speaking with an unusual tone and even managing to laugh. Supreme Daleks after the New Dalek Empire were observed speaking in a deeper and more commanding tone of voice, with fewer of the inflections of pitch often heard when Daleks spoke. (TV: Journey's End [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).)
Interior[]
The inner casing, in which the actual Dalek mutant 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. (TV: The Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 1 (BBC tv, 1963-1964)., The Space Museum [+]Glyn Jones, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1965)., The Witch's Familiar [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).)
A mutant is placed inside a Dalek. (TV: The Power of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966).)
If the interior of the Dalek sustained damage, floating eyeball-like Dalek antibodies would explore the damaged area and eliminate the threat by reducing it to a fine powder. The antibodies would then harvest the ashen remains of the threat, and send them into a feeding tube for the creature to feed off their protein. (TV: Into the Dalek [+]Phil Ford and Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 8 (BBC One, 2014).)
Inside a Dalek was an artificial cortex vault, a "memory bank" that kept the Daleks' hatred "pure". According to the Twelfth Doctor, the cortex vault "extinguish[ed] the tiniest glimmer of kindness [and] compassion". The Dalekanium transport shell did this to all the Daleks on purpose, suppressing any memories that might lead the Daleks away from the "purity" that Davros had envisioned for them. If the cortex vault was broken, it was believed the Dalek could in fact learn positive emotions like friendship and kindness. However, Rusty, a Dalek the Doctor tried to save from the hate filled ideology, did not grow to have kindness. Instead, Rusty simply embraced hating the Daleks after seeing the Time Lord's hate. (TV: Into the Dalek [+]Phil Ford and Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 8 (BBC One, 2014).) When they reunited, Rusty still showed no signs of compassion and only helped the Doctor after learning it could hurt the Daleks. (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC One, 2017).)
Mutant[]
The creatures inside true Daleks were Dalek mutants. In the first appearance of the mutant form, (TV: The Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 1 (BBC tv, 1963-1964).) they were shown to have small hands that somewhat resembled the claws of a lizard, though the entire form was never shown. Later appearances of the mutants were very different, with the Seventh Doctor once describing them as "little green blobs". (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, Doctor Who season 25 (BBC1, 1988).) According to one account, the creatures inside the Dalek casing were originally known as Dals, (TV: "The Ambush") though "Dal" may have simply been another name for the Kaleds. (PROSE: The History of the Daleks [+]John Peel and Terry Nation, The Official Doctor Who & the Daleks Book (St Martin's Press, 1988).)
The living Dalek mutant possessed numerous tentacles, and either a central, single eye, or a normal right eye and a left eye so reduced in size as to be easily missed - overall resembling what Lucie Miller described as "if someone threw up a squid dinner." (AUDIO: Blood of the Daleks [+]Steve Lyons, Eighth Doctor Adventures (Big Finish Productions, 2006).) Despite their apparent lack of mobility, they were capable of defending themselves, as demonstrated when a Dalek attacked and killed a soldier. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984).) Daleks also had some form of telekinesis. (TV: Death to the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 11 (BBC1, 1974)., PROSE: Twice Upon a Time [+]Paul Cornell, adapted from Twice Upon a Time (Steven Moffat), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2018).)
A Kaled mutant attacks a soldier. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984).)
When referring to Dalek Caan, Davros, the very creator of the Dalek race, used male pronouns. (TV: Journey's End [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) However, the Ninth Doctor had used "it" to refer to the "Metaltron" Dalek. (TV: Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).) The Twelfth Doctor referred to Rusty by saying "it" (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC One, 2017).) but also referred to the Daleks as Darvos's "boys". Missy referred to a Supreme Dalek by using male pronouns. (TV: The Witch's Familiar [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).) The Dalek Ambassador was referred to with singular they pronouns. (GAME: Worlds Apart [+]Doctor Who card games (Reality+, 2021).) At least one member of the species, Dalek Sec, possessed a sac-like membrane large enough to engulf an adult human male in preparation for his Final Experiment. It was this membrane that he used to absorb Mr Diagoras and transform into a human-Dalek. (TV: Daleks in Manhattan [+]Helen Raynor, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).)
All Daleks tended to think in the same way, meaning "conferences" between different Daleks were more akin to chorus of different Daleks agreeing with each other. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks [+]Terrance Dicks, adapted from Day of the Daleks (Louis Marks), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1974).) Some mutants had enhanced abilities. The mutant of a Reconnaissance Scout Dalek could possess and control other lifeforms, regenerate energy using ultraviolet light and was capable of surviving without a casing. (TV: Resolution [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who New Year Special 2019 (BBC One, 2019).) Dalek mutants contained Dalek consciousness within even small organic remnants, or even a few pieces of DNA, from which a new Dalek could be grown. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who New Year Special 2021 (BBC One, 2021).)
Heavily mutated members of other species, including humans, also occupied the casings on certain rare occasions. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1975)., Revelation of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 22 (BBC1, 1985)., The Parting of the Ways [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005)., Asylum of the Daleks [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2012).)
- Main article: Dalek of human origin
Vulnerabilities[]
K9 Mark II destroys a Dalek. (COMIC: Doctor Who and the Dogs of Doom [+]John Wagner and Pat Mills, DWM Comics (Marvel Comics, 1980).)
Although they were nearly invulnerable, Daleks had several exploitable weaknesses. Though these varied from type to type, their consistently biggest weakness was their eyestalk, which if damaged enough would leave a Dalek completely blinded. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984)., Revelation of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 22 (BBC1, 1985)., Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, Doctor Who season 25 (BBC1, 1988)., Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005)., The Parting of the Ways [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).) Merely covering it rather than destroying it could sometimes work, for example the Fourth Doctor once blinded a Dalek by throwing his fedora over its eyestalk, (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979).) but Wilfred Mott attempted to blind a Dalek by firing a paintball at it, only for it to melt the paint away almost instantly. (TV: The Stolen Earth [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) The Eleventh Doctor could also create a device using a gunstick and a Dalek eyestalk that could blind an entire platoon of Daleks completely. (GAME: City of the Daleks [+]Phil Ford, The Adventure Games (BBC Wales Interactive, 2010).) A secondary weakness of the eyestalk was its lack of peripheral vision, making the Daleks very easy to hide from or sneak up on. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1964)., Daleks in Manhattan [+]Helen Raynor, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007)., GAME: City of the Daleks [+]Phil Ford, The Adventure Games (BBC Wales Interactive, 2010)., AUDIO: Out of Time [+]Matt Fitton, Out of Time (Big Finish Productions, 2020).)
While the initial energy blasters from Pete's World could barely damage a Dalek beyond momentarily disabling its weapons and impairing their casing, (TV: Doomsday [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 2 (BBC One, 2006).) the advanced version used by Rose Tyler could outright destroy a Dalek with a direct hit. (TV: The Stolen Earth [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) The War Doctor's TARDIS was capable of smashing the Dalek casing if it was rammed into them. (TV: The Day of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, 50th Anniversary Specials (BBC One, 2013).)
A Dalek is exterminated. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 22 (BBC1, 1985).)
The vast majority of projectile weapons were near-useless against them, however bastic bullets, (TV: Revelation of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 22 (BBC1, 1985).) high explosives such as dynamite (GAME: City of the Daleks [+]Phil Ford, The Adventure Games (BBC Wales Interactive, 2010).) and Nitro-9, (TV: Planet of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 10 (BBC1, 1973)., Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, Doctor Who season 25 (BBC1, 1988).), and weapons upgraded by the Hand of Omega (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, Doctor Who season 25 (BBC1, 1988).) have been known to damage and/or destroy them. Most weapons capable of destroying Daleks are energy-based weaponry, such as the energy blasters from Pete's World used in 2009 and the Daleks' own weaponry. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1967)., Planet of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 10 (BBC1, 1973)., The Five Doctors [+]Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who 20th Anniversary Special (Public Broadcasting Service, 1983)., Resurrection of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984)., Revelation of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 22 (BBC1, 1985)., Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, Doctor Who season 25 (BBC1, 1988)., Evolution of the Daleks [+]Helen Raynor, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007)., The Stolen Earth [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008)., Journey's End [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008)., Victory of the Daleks [+]Mark Gatiss, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010)., Into the Dalek [+]Phil Ford and Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 8 (BBC One, 2014)., PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks [+]John Peel, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1998)., COMIC: The Threat from Beneath [+]Dick O'Neill, TVA comic stories (Polystyle, 1973)., The Dalek Revenge [+]John Canning, TVC comic stories (1975-1976).)
Daleks were also highly arrogant, allowing them to make mistakes that would lead to their defeat, one notable example being Daleks Jast and Thay battling their hybrid army when they had a means of instantly killing them the whole time without any risk to themselves, leading to their destruction and leaving Dalek Caan the sole survivor. (TV: Evolution of the Daleks [+]Helen Raynor, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).) They were also highly reliant on logic and had no imagination, leaving them in a stalemate with the Movellans, ended only when a virus was introduced against the Daleks. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979)., Resurrection of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984).) Even the New Dalek Paradigm was noted to have relied more on recycling old ideas, either from their past or others, than creating new innovations. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017).) The Eleventh Doctor noted that, as a result, Daleks were easy to predict and manipulate. (PROSE: Father of the Daleks [+]Dave Rudden, The Wintertime Paradox (2020).) An alternate Davros had similar thoughts, noting that the Daleks had limited potential for growth and development if left to their own devices. (AUDIO: A Genius for War [+]Jonathan Morris, Once and Future (Big Finish Productions, 2023).)
The Daleks were also vulnerable to viruses and sickness such as Light wave sickness, (TV: Planet of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 10 (BBC1, 1973)., AUDIO: Return of the Daleks [+]Nicholas Briggs, Bonus Releases (Big Finish Productions, 2006).) the Movellan virus, (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984).) and Varga plant virus. (AUDIO: Masters of Earth [+]Mark Wright and Cavan Scott, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2014).)
If the Pathweb were to be hacked into, an enemy could delete all record of themselves, which would result in every Dalek forgetting them. However, this was known to be extremely difficult; the Doctor remarking he once tried but was unsuccessful. Oswin Oswald once deleted all records of the Doctor, having access due to her conversion into a Dalek. However, their knowledge of him was later restored by extracting it from the corpse of Tasha Lem. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2012)., The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).) They were also vulnerable to the Eleventh Doctor's regeneration energy, the Time Lord being able to use such to outright destroy them. (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).) They could also be absorbed by Sentient oil. (TV: The Pilot [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).)
As historically, most Dalek casings were incapable of flight, obstructions in their path, or vertical shafts, served to delay them. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979).) Historical records noted that rough terrain had been a legitimate obstacle in the Dalek Empire's early expansion. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017).)
Movellan spacecraft possessed force fields that could destroy a Dalek in seconds. (AUDIO: The Triumph of Davros [+]Matt Fitton, Dalek Universe (Big Finish Productions, 2021).)
During the Planetary Relocation Incident, Donna Noble managed to hack into the casings of the New Dalek Empire, disabling their weapons and overriding their motor control. (TV: Journey's End [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).)
History[]
Description of the Dalek timeline[]
- Main article: Daleks' timeline
Based on the Fifth Doctor's definition of a generation as twenty-five years, (TV: Four to Doomsday [+]Terence Dudley, Doctor Who season 19 (BBC1, 1982).) Dalek history, according to the Fourth Doctor, spanned a thousand generations, 25,000 years. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1975).) However, the Doctor went on to have more encounters with the exterminators, implying their history stretched beyond that limit. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979)., et. al) Indeed, the Fourth Doctor had also stated the Daleks had expanded throughout "all eternity". (TV: Genesis of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1975).)
The Eighth Doctor found Dalek history a difficult thing to remember because it was always changing. (PROSE: Alien Bodies [+]Lawrence Miles, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1997).) A member of Faction Paradox thought that this was because the Doctor "tricked the Dalek Empire into tangling their timeline so bad that their history collapsed under the weight of the paradoxes". (PROSE: Unnatural History [+]Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999).) Historians who studied the Daleks noted the Daleks themselves often dipped back into their own past in their attempts to rewrite past failures, (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017).) and not even the Time Lords could organise all accounts of Dalek history together. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual [+]Richard Atkinson and Mike Tucker, BBC Books (2021).) The Tenth Doctor reflected that "Dalek history was confusing enough before the Time War." (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks [+]Trevor Baxendale, BBC New Series Adventures (BBC Books, 2009).)
Further complicating Dalek history was the species' frequent bouts of apparent extinction. (PROSE: The Last Dodo [+]Jacqueline Rayner, BBC New Series Adventures (BBC Books, 2007).) The "final end" of the Daleks (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017)., et. al) was something that seemed to occur several times, but always ended up not being true; Eve, who was obsessed with collecting the last members of species, recorded the Daleks as enduring numerous mass extinction events, only for the exterminators to always return. (PROSE: The Last Dodo [+]Jacqueline Rayner, BBC New Series Adventures (BBC Books, 2007).) Indeed, the Tenth Doctor (TV: Daleks in Manhattan [+]Helen Raynor, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).) and an anti-Dalek group noted that the Daleks seemed to "always survive", no matter what was thrown at them. (PROSE: Wanted! Daleks [+]Paul Lang, Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024 (Penguin Group, 2023).) Eve specifically thought about how the Daleks would "wink out" in "the far distant past", only to then "emerge again as if from nowhere." In the end, she stopped trying to keep track of the Daleks' supposed exctintions. (PROSE: The Last Dodo [+]Jacqueline Rayner, BBC New Series Adventures (BBC Books, 2007).)
Origins on Skaro[]
- Main article: Creation of the Daleks
The sentient, ancient Gallifreyan weapon known as the Moment once stated that the universe "didn't have Daleks in my day". (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, adapted from The Day of the Doctor (Steven Moffat), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2018).)
The Daleks were, by most accounts, native to the planet Skaro. (TV: The Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 1 (BBC tv, 1963-1964)., et. al) Prior to the Daleks' emergence, Davros found a prophecy in the forbidden Book of Predictions, written in the extinct language of the Dals, which stated "...and on that day, men will become as gods." In the original language, the final word was pronounced "Dal-ek". (AUDIO: Guilt [+]Scott Alan Woodard, I, Davros (Big Finish Productions, 2006).) Meanwhile, another account stated that Davros heard the word in the proposed "Dalek Solution", presented to him by assistant Shan, and that he soon stole her idea, adapting it into what would become the creation of the Daleks. (AUDIO: Davros [+]Lance Parkin, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2003).) However, Ronson, a member of the Scientific Elite under the command of Davros, had never heard the word "Dalek" before the Fourth Doctor used it — hours later, Davros himself was first heard to publicly utter it in reference to his creations. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1975).)
Another account held that the name "Dalek" came late into Dalek development and as a result of a bootstrap paradox; when Davros showcased a Dalek prototype to Mr. Castavillian, he briefly departed, only for the Fourteenth Doctor to crash into the room, recognise the prototype as a "Dalek," and rush to depart the "genesis of the Daleks" after giving it a plunger to replace the multi-dextrous claw severed in his crash. Castavillian, who had been looking for an anagram of "Kaled" to serve as the new creature's name, loved the sound of Dalek and also picked up on the word "exterminate" used by the Doctor in reference to its attacks. Returning to the room, Davros quickly fell in love with the plunger design. (TV: Destination: Skaro [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who (BBC One, 2023).) Other accounts still suggested that the race from whom the modern Daleks mutated were already known as "Daleks". (TV: The Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 1 (BBC tv, 1963-1964)., COMIC: Genesis of Evil [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1965).)
Whatever the origin of their name, there were several conflicting accounts over how the Daleks actually came to be. They were at any rate mutants, the descendants of a rival race to the Thals who had once had humanoid form. (TV: The Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 1 (BBC tv, 1963-1964).) While most accounts stated this race was a species of black-haired fair-skinned humanoids known as Kaleds ,(TV: Genesis of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1975)., et. al) dissenting accounts that later historians ignored (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017).) held that this race may have been blue-skinned humanoids already known as "Daleks" (COMIC: Genesis of Evil [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1965).) or even humans. (PROSE: We are the Daleks! [+]Terry Nation, Radio Times short stories (1973).)
The first Dalek mutant to bond with one of Yarvelling's war machines confronts the last two members of the humanoid Dalek species. (COMIC: Genesis of Evil [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1965).)
Some accounts held that the mutants within the shells had come to be through unguided mutation following the neutron bomb detonation that destroyed both the Thals and the Daleks' forefathers' civilisations, (TV: The Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 1 (BBC tv, 1963-1964)., COMIC: Genesis of Evil [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1965).) the metallic "Dalek War Machine" having either been developed as an originally-unrelated weapon of war (COMIC: Genesis of Evil [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1965).) or as an armour to protect the weak Dalek mutants from the background radiation still infusing their planet even long after the end of the war. (TV: The Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 1 (BBC tv, 1963-1964).)
However, according to most accounts, the eventual mutation of the Kaleds into the blobby, impotent Daleks had been foreseen by the Kaled scientific elite before it actually came to pass, and the mad genius Davros, seeking to protect the Kaled race in any way possible, set about intentionally accelerating this process. The mad scientist made his own alterations to the Daleks' genome to make them into heartless warriors who would harbour innate hatred for all other living things, and similarly designing the Dalek travel machine as an impregnable minitank even as he led his superiors to believe it was only to be used as a life-support system for the Kaleds' sickened, radiation-poisoned descendants. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1975)., The Witch's Familiar [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015). et al.)
Davros also later stated he made the Daleks, including their belief in their superiority, in his own image. (AUDIO: Innocence [+]Gary Hopkins, I, Davros (Big Finish Productions, 2006).) Davros altered the Kaled genetic code to create the Daleks, changing it to Fundamental DNA Type 467-989 to make sure his creations believed in their own superiority. (WC: Monster File: Davros [+]Justin Richards, Captain Jack's Monster Files (2008).) Human historians came to the belief that the events involving Davros and the Kaleds were the correct telling of history, with the other accounts being creation myths other species had created. Only the Last Great Time War could have altered their history to briefly make the other accounts true, (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017).) with it being known that Yarvelling's Church existed during the conflict. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Time War [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who: Lockdown! (2020).) Accounts from after the War continued to regard the story of Davros as the actual origin of the Dalek species. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One|BBC One]], 2015)., et al.)
Seeking to prevent a possible future where the Daleks had succeeded in their goal of exterminating all other life, the Time Lords sent the Fourth Doctor back through time to interfere with the Daleks' creation. However, because of his personal morals, the traveller found himself unable to do much, only delaying the Daleks, by his guess, for around a thousand years. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1975).) Though one account held it to be a later creation who travelled back in time to take over earlier versions of the Daleks, (AUDIO: The Four Doctors [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.) several sources agreed that the Dalek Prime was the first-ever Dalek, (PROSE: The Evil of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from The Evil of the Daleks (David Whitaker), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1993)., War of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from War of the Daleks, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1997). and the one who had made the decision to exterminate the Daleks' own creator Davros due to his being genetically impure by the very standards he had programmed into the Daleks' worldview. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1975).) The first Dalek then set itself up as Emperor of the Daleks, (COMIC: Genesis of Evil [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1965)., PROSE: The Evil of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from The Evil of the Daleks (David Whitaker), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1993).) and continued to experiment on its kin, further mutating them to its own designs. (PROSE: The Evil of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from The Evil of the Daleks (David Whitaker), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1993)., War of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from War of the Daleks, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1997).
The Doctor's actions nevertheless sealed the Prime and the other early Daleks away in the blocked off Kaled bunker, but the Prime declared that the Daleks would emerge one day to become the masters of "the universe". (TV: Genesis of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1975).) According to one historical text, the surviving Kaleds above ground mutated into Daleks themselves and retreated into Davros's Mark II Travel Machines, while the Daleks in Mark III machines remained trapped for some time, (PROSE: The History of the Daleks [+]John Peel and Terry Nation, The Official Doctor Who & the Daleks Book (St Martin's Press, 1988).) while a different history book suggested the Daleks present in the Dalek City were the same ones who the Doctor had trapped underground. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017).) Indeed, the Prime had declared the Daleks would construct their own city once they returned to the surface. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks)
According to one account, the purported two origins were actually distinct events within a single history. After Davros's Daleks were buried for a thousand years by the Doctor's efforts, the Kaleds evolved into the humanoid Daleks, with the Thousand Year War having come to an end. However, after the neutronic exchange that wiped out the "humanoid Dalek", or Dal, civilisation, the Dalek Prime created by Davros reemerged from underground, and, passing itself off as a new mutation, directed the new, "natural" mutant Daleks to climb into Dalek casings, seeing it as an easy way to expand its fledgling race. It then set itself up as the new race's leader. The Dal-descended Daleks remained subservient to the Dalek Prime and the other few Daleks made directly by Davros, as programming within the casings directed them to act so. (PROSE: The History of the Daleks [+]John Peel and Terry Nation, The Official Doctor Who & the Daleks Book (St Martin's Press, 1988).)
Rise of the Daleks on Ameron[]
According to one dissenting account, the Daleks' home planet was Ameron. It had been the stage of an experiment by the Halldons, who transplanted a population of Earth humans there and used their advanced technology to accelerate the humans' evolution. Within 200 years, the Ameron humans had developed technology that frightened even the Halldons, including fearsome weapons. Realising the experiment had gone too far, the Halldons attempted to exterminate their test subjects, but the accelerated humans refused to bow down and destroyed their creators instead before continuing to evolve both in body and in technology at an accelerated rate, soon surpassing their Earthly brothers by millions of years. According to the scientist Bryant Anderson, who was later able to confirm via dissection that, to his great distress, the Dalek creatures were indeed a future form of Homo sapiens, the Daleks' great technology had only allowed them to express the true nature of humanity, "the most destructive force in the universe". (PROSE: We are the Daleks! [+]Terry Nation, Radio Times short stories (1973).)
Later scholars did not confirm or deny Anderson's claims, but some simply viewed his claim as a myth, while others suggested the Thals and Kaleds were a result of proto-humans brought to Skaro by the Halldon. This was like Anderon's account of humans on Ameron, implying the possibility of parallel evolution playing a role in the development of the Daleks. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017).) Additionally, another account, which did in fact reference the Fourth Doctor's adventure against Davros and his development of the Daleks, confirmed the existence of the Halldon, revealing they were powerful enough to fight a time war against the Eternals. (PROSE: Meet the Doctor)
On Skaro[]
After their emergence, the earliest Daleks were directed by their first Emperor to build a city for themselves, which they achieved within two months. As a safety precaution, the Daleks also magnetised the metallic sand surrounding the city, allowing them to pull it towards the city at will, covering it in a large dune that concealed it from unwanted visitors. (COMIC: Power Play [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1965).)
"Centuries" before the Daleks turned their minds to universal conquest, their City on Skaro was, most of all, a storehouse of inventions. The Daleks received a mysterious transmission which they feared might be a declaration of war. Shortly thereafter, Susan, having borrowed the Doctor's TARDIS and tried to make her way to Venus, happened to instead land in the petrified jungle on Skaro. Thinking she might be responsible for the message, or, at any rate, be able to decode it for them, the Daleks took Susan prisoner and brought her back to the City. As she stalled for time and food by decoding the message very slowly, one of the Daleks grew uncharacteristically fond of her, and even the others came to have a measure of respect for her.
Eventually, Susan realised the meaning of this message which had the Daleks so terrified: "peace and goodwill for all". She burst out laughing, startling and even terrifying many of the Daleks, who had never heard laughter in their lives. In the confusion, Susan took her chance to run off back to the TARDIS, and, despite the pleas of the lone Dalek she had befriended, she fled Skaro. The Daleks remained on a war footing for a while before finding the translation Susan had left behind and realising their error. (COMIC: The Message of Mystery)
In the 21st century, according to the Eighth Doctor, the Daleks on Skaro entered the "static electricity" phase of their development. (PROSE: Alien Bodies [+]Lawrence Miles, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1997).)
"The Daleks had been experimenting with weird sex." (PROSE: Bafflement and Devotion [+]Paul Magrs, DWM short stories (Panini Publishing Ltd, 2000).)
The Time Lords knew of alternate accounts surrounding the Thal-Dalek battle, though they were unsure of the accuracy of the claims; (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual [+]Richard Atkinson and Mike Tucker, BBC Books (2021).) Renegade Time Lord Iris Wildthyme, who was known for living through the Doctor's past, had once stopped herself from telling the Eighth Doctor that when she had visited Skaro in her "Jane Fonda" incarnation, she had found that the petrified forest had been "overrun by recalcitrant Aryans in savage blue-eyeshadow". She had been the one who had led the attack on the electrified city, only it had been more terrifying due to the Daleks' experiments with hallucinogens and weird sex - she later likened it to something out of the 1960s, specifically something by Philip K. Dick. (PROSE: Bafflement and Devotion [+]Paul Magrs, DWM short stories (Panini Publishing Ltd, 2000).)
Another account showed that the the incarnation contemporary to Panda had found herself on a dead planet for a "Bring-a-Bottle party". She had stumbled through the petrified forest clutching her bag from the Offy, falling over a "horrid, dusty lizard thing". When she arrived at her destination, she had found that all the doors were closed tight and the lights were off, and she was unable to get the attention of the inhabitants inside. She decided to get drunk, and she left empty bottles around the entrance. She then ran into a bunch of "blond fellas", who helped her find her way back to her bus. (PROSE: From Wildthyme with Love [+]Paul Magrs, Iris Wildthyme (Snowbooks Ltd, 2013).)
One another occasion, her companion Panda once had noted that they had lived through events multiple times, often going "back to with gusto, then with ennui, erased from history, reinstated, improved upon - and then lived through once more for good measure". (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme)
A Dalek guarding prisoners Susan, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright and the Doctor inside the Dalek City. (TV: The Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 1 (BBC tv, 1963-1964).)
When the Doctor first encountered them, the Daleks were stranded in their city on Skaro, as their casings were powered by static electricity channelled by the metal floors of the City, preventing them from leaving it. They eventually found that the Thals had also survived what was known as the neutronic war. After discovering that they had become dependent on the background radiation to the point of the anti-radiation drugs that Susan Foreman gave them being lethal to them, the Daleks attempted to vent radiation from their nuclear reactors into the atmosphere which would have left them as the only living species on Skaro. The First Doctor and his companions led a Thal assault and deactivated their power, believing that he had wiped out the Daleks altogether in the process (the necessity of which crime he lamented, though he saw no other way). (TV: The Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 1 (BBC tv, 1963-1964).) One account suggested that this Thal-Dalek battle had taken place eighteen months prior to 31 July 2065, or in early 2064. (PROSE: Peaceful Thals Ambushed! [+]TV Century 21 short stories (City Magazines, 1965).)
The Doctor later theorised that they were able to return because the Daleks had other colonies on Skaro, which they did indeed, (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth [+]Terrance Dicks, adapted from The Dalek Invasion of Earth (Terry Nation), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1977).) although he had also temporarily believed the Daleks he encountered on 22nd century Earth were from a point in history prior to the supposed destruction of the City's Daleks. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1964).) Through Ace's improper usage of an omega device however, the very Daleks who had faced the Doctor were briefly resurrected, and, having learned of the existence of life on other planets from the visitor, they vowed to conquer the universe and master time travel in order to regain their power. When Bernice Summerfield and the Seventh Doctor restored Skaro's history to its proper course, the latter noted that someone would soon breach the city and reactivate it. (AUDIO: The Lights of Skaro [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.) That someone was the Thal scientist Tryana who, in the decades after the Thal-Dalek battle, found the Dalek Supreme, who had survived in the city's incubation level thanks to its emergency protocols. Manipulating Tryana, the Supreme was able to raise a new generation of Daleks, whom the Supreme eventually intended to lead to the conquest of other worlds, only for the return of the Doctor and his companions to see the destruction of the Dalek City. The Thals however were confident that this had not been the end of the Daleks. (AUDIO: Return to Skaro [+]Andrew Smith, The First Doctor Adventures: Volume Four (The First Doctor Adventures, Big Finish Productions, 2020).)
Although account one depicted the City already existing "centuries" before the Daleks turned their minds to universal conquest, (COMIC: The Message of Mystery) another account stated that it was a short time after the construction of the Dalek City that Skaro was visited by a Krattorian spacecraft piloted by the slave-trader Kest. (COMIC: Power Play [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1965).) The entry of the Krattorian spacecraft in Skaro's atmosphere was detected by the Space Agency, who reported upon it on 13 February 2065; (PROSE: Fireball Surrenders!) the Space News Agency would release more information on the "confused" Krattorian/Dalek conflict on Skaro seven days later. (PROSE: Titan Declares War!) As Kest was there to mine the metallic sand, he soon uncovered the hidden Dalek City, and the Daleks decided to take advantage of this to steal the secrets of space travel from him. Though the ship managed to escape Skaro, the Daleks were undeterred, and, in possession of its schematics, set about crafting spaceships of their own. (COMIC: Power Play [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1965).)
The work was delayed by the lack of available materials, as space travel demanded that the ships withstand heat greater than what ordinary Dalekanium could bear. A scientist, Dalek Zeg, accidentally discovered a new and stronger Dalekanium alloy, Metalert, which could withstand a sun's heat; as his casing had been the first thing transmuted to Metalert, he became immune to other Daleks' death-rays, and, boasting that he was invincible, demanded to be made Emperor. The Emperor tried to have Zeg destroyed by the Black Dalek Leader's superior firepower, but as the scientist rebellious survived even that, they went to the Brain Machine, who ordered that the Golden Emperor and Zeg duel for the title. After numerous failed attempts, the Emperor succeeded in killing Zeg using liquid air, which was 312 degrees below freezing. From the ruins of Zeg's casing, the Emperor acquired the secrets of Metalert, but later declared that it was still flawed and they were not ready to build flying machines. (COMIC: Duel of the Daleks [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1965).)
Space travel[]
More information from the Dalek annuals needs to be added.
Rise of the Dalek Empire[]
A Dalek is torn apart, from the inside out, by the Amaryll. (COMIC: The Amaryll Challenge [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1965).)
Still led by the Golden Emperor alongside the Dalek Council, the Daleks finally perfected the Dalek flying saucer (COMIC: The Amaryll Challenge [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1965).) and forged an interstellar (and later intergalactic) Dalek Empire, (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan [+]Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1965-1966).) their first target being Alvega, the planet closest to Skaro. There, they faced opposition from its plant-like inhabitants, the Amarylls. In the end, a scouting party of Daleks had to be sent to the planet's core to destroy it, which led to the explosion of the entire planet — with the Emperor observing that "what we cannot conquer, we destroy". (COMIC: The Amaryll Challenge [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1965).)
A report regarding the Daleks' invasion of Solturis. (TV: The Man from MI.5 [+]Alan Fennell, Thunderbirds crossover stories series 1 (ITV, 1966).)
Next, a Dalek invasion fleet (COMIC: The Amaryll Challenge [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1965).) headed to the planet Solturis, where the peaceful ruler Redlin the Wise ignored the warnings of the prophet Lurr about the danger presented by the Daleks. As the Solturians possessed a dangerous weapon known as the Pentaray which posed a threat even to them, the Daleks initially posed as "friendly explorers of space who detest[ed] war" to gain their future victims' trust and thereby learn about the full extent of their arsenal. Despite the Daleks' well-laid plans, the prince Jareth succeeded in regaining the Pentaray just in time to annihilate the Dalek forces who had landed; the Daleks still in orbit were recalled to Skaro before they could foil this counterattack, making Solturis the first planet the Daleks failed to vanquish. (COMIC: The Penta Ray Factor) Captain Blacker, an MI5 agent, was in possession of a report regarding this invasion by January 1965, which he kept aboard his yacht. (TV: The Man from MI.5 [+]Alan Fennell, Thunderbirds crossover stories series 1 (ITV, 1966).)
The Golden Emperor and the rest of his attack fleet returned to Skaro only to find the Dalek City plunged into chaos by a "plague of rust" that destroyed Daleks' casing within minutes of their catching it, usually killing the mutant in the process. It eventually surfaced that the rust germ was being carried solely by the Black Dalek Leader. Initially resigned to his fate, the Black Dalek was repaired by the Golden Emperor, who "could not afford to lose him". (COMIC: Plague of Death) Whilst the Emperor was distracted by the matter of the Plague, a warrior race known as the Monstrons attempted to take over Skaro using their robotic soldiers the Engibrains. Though they succeeded in destroying the Dalek City, they were unable to permanently subdue the Daleks, and were themselves exterminated when a Dalek sacrificed itself to set off the volcano in which the Monstrons had landed their spacecraft. The Daleks then set about rebuilding their City once more. (COMIC: The Menace of the Monstrons)
Shortly after completing the repair work on the City, the Daleks attempted to take over another planet, Oric, which they intended to mine for metals. However, as they were building a space station in orbit around Oric, the Daleks were attacked by the Mechanoids, who first tried to defeat the Daleks covertly by turning them on each other with suspicion rays before being discovered. The Mechanoids proceeded to wage war on the Daleks at full force, declaring themselves supreme and pledging to come to Skaro and destroy it. (COMIC: Eve of War [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.)
Desperate for any edge against the Mechanoids, the Daleks scoured the skies with renewed fervour for any weapons or inventions to use to defeat their enemies if and when they finally came to Skaro. Thus they attempted to rob Phryne of its secrets of invisibility, though they were unsuccessful, only managing to subjugate the planet but losing the secret in the process. (COMIC: The Archives of Phryne [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1966).)
Shortly thereafter, they had to deal with the threat of the "rogue planet" Skardal, a seemingly indestructible astral body set on a collision course for Skaro itself. Choosing to kill two birds with one stone, the Golden Emperor found a way to divert the planet's course and send it in the direction of the Mechanoids' home planet. (COMIC: The Rogue Planet [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1966).) However, while trying to disintegrate a dangerous warhead before it landed on their planet, the Daleks ended up accidentally destroying Skardal before it hit the Mechanoids. By then, the android 2K had been sent by the Zerovians to avert a war between the Daleks and the Mechanoids, which the Zerovians believed would be disastrous for them in the long run, as whichever of the two powers survived would be able to turn its unmitigated attention towards the conquest of Zeros. The robot managed to trick the Mechanoids into believing that destroying the rogue planet had been an intentional declaration of non-aggression from the Daleks, thus averting the war. (COMIC: Impasse [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1966).) The launch of the missiles disturbed a nearby Terrorkon, which broke through an electric barrier and destroyed several Daleks before trying to eat one of the missiles, which it found to be inedible and tossed away, inadvertently arming it. The Daleks managed to deactivate the missile, and the Terrorkon was attacked by a giant electric eel before it could strike again. (COMIC: The Terrorkon Harvest [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1966).)
At one point the Daleks established a colony on Titan. This colony was eventually destroyed when the Daleks drilled too deep and ignited flammable gases beneath Titan's surface. This explosion destroyed the colony and created the rings of Saturn. (PROSE: Dalek Saturn Probe [+]Brad Ashton and Terry Nation, The Dalek Outer Space Book (Dalek annuals, Panther Books, 1966).)
Targeting Earth[]
The Recon Scout's campaign[]
- Main article: Battle of Hope Valley
- Main article: Recon Scout Incident
- Main article: 2021 Dalek civil war
The Reconnaissance Dalek in its rebuilt casing. (TV: Resolution [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who New Year Special 2019 (BBC One, 2019).)
At some point in early Dalek history, reconnaissance scouts more advanced than the regular Kaled mutants were bred, and subsequently sent out into the universe to (as their name implied) scout ahead of the main invasion force. One of the scouts found its way to Earth, during the 9th century, possibly becoming, by the Doctor (TV: Resolution [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who New Year Special 2019 (BBC One, 2019).) and Yasmin Khan's later reckoning, (WC: Case File Eleven [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.) the first Dalek to ever do so. However, it was, after much effort and bloodshed, defeated by the natives, who destroyed its casing and hacked the mutant apart in three pieces in what was remembered as the Battle of Hope Valley. This Dalek would only be awakened on January the 1st, 2019, at which point it rebuilt itself by using a human as puppet. (TV: Resolution [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who New Year Special 2019 (BBC One, 2019).)
During the Recon Scout Incident, (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual [+]Richard Atkinson and Mike Tucker, BBC Books (2021).) it tried to fulfil its goal by beaming the coordinates of Earth to the Dalek fleet, attacking GCHQ. It was, however, unsuccessful, thanks to the effort of the Thirteenth Doctor and her companions who destroyed its makeshift casing. The mutant escaped and puppeted Aaron, using his life as leverage to demand the Doctor take it to the fleet. She used the TARDIS to dump it in a supernova instead. (TV: Resolution [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who New Year Special 2019 (BBC One, 2019).)
The remains of its casing were salvaged and fell into the hands of one of Jack Robertson's technology companies. Working with Jo Patterson, Robertson had the casing's technology used as the basis of security drones. One of his employees, Leo, discovered remnants of organic material in the casing and used it to clone a Dalek mutant, which retained the memories of the original scout. The mutant secretly infiltrated the company to create a breeding farm for a new race of Daleks and puppeted Leo when he attempted to kill it. As these Daleks attempted a takeover of Earth, the Thirteenth Doctor summoned a Death Squad from a later point in a Dalek history who exterminated them all, deeming them impure. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who New Year Special 2021 (BBC One, 2021).)
Full scale invasions[]
- Main article: 2060s Dalek invasion of Earth
- Main article: 2150s Dalek invasion of Earth
- Main article: 2180s Dalek invasion of Earth
- Main article: 2223 Dalek invasion of Earth
Some time later, mining operations on Skaro led to the release of three of the Daleks' humanoid forebears, the last three in existence — Yvric, Lodian and Zet, who had survived frozen in the mountains in life-support machines. Though mistakenly believing the metal beings now in possession of the planet to be the original robots built by Yarvelling, rather than the similarly-designed travel-machines of the modern Daleks, the humanoids realised that the Daleks were devoid of a conscience and, if not stopped, would eventually destroy every planet in the universe in their lust for conquest. Yvric tried to join forces with the "metal Daleks", offering to tell them a great secret (the location of the planet Earth, which he and Lodian had discovered before they were frozen), though he never got to reveal it, as the Daleks, not recognising one their own ancestors, mistook him for an invading android and obliterated him. Zet, having learned the secret of Earth from Lodian, tried the same thing and was met with more success, as the Golden Emperor had by then realised the truth. Before Zet could tell the metal Daleks how to get to Earth, however, Lodian caused an explosion which killed both himself and Zet, burying the secret. (COMIC: Legacy of Yesteryear)
By the end of the 21st century, the Daleks were scattered around the edges of Mutter's Spiral, working on building a stable galactic powerbase. The ones left on Skaro, meanwhile, had attempted to create an independent empire of their own; (PROSE: Alien Bodies [+]Lawrence Miles, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1997).) this faction, known as the Exterminator Daleks, had an Emperor of their own, who resided in the Dalek City of which they had taken control. The Exterminators believed the Daleks should devote their attention to the extermination of surviving Thals. They had some early successes which made them grow complacent, and were ultimately wiped out by a small but well-prepared Thal commando. (PROSE: The Dalek Problem [+]The Doctor Who Role Playing Game supplements (FASA, 1986).)
A Dalek who saw value in beauty also briefly tried to seize power. This revolution was short-lived, however, as the Golden Emperor defeated the renegade and convinced his followers that beauty's short-lived nature meant that it was inimical to the Dalek ideal of everlasting power. (COMIC: Shadow of Humanity [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1966).)
The Golden Emperor was later tricked by a Jevon space-crew into letting the Jevon ship leave Skaro. Upon realising they had been tricked, the Daleks swore to wage war on humanoids like never before, (COMIC: The Emissaries of Jevo) and paid particular attention to a human spaceship that crashed on their planet. Though three of the humans managed to make it back home alive, they left behind a scrap of paper with Earth's coordinates, leading the Daleks to decide to conquer the planet Earth. (COMIC: The Road to Conflict)
A Dalek patrols London. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1964).)
Although the initial Dalek invasion force was easily repelled, (COMIC: Return of the Elders) the Daleks did eventually conquer and occupy the Earth in 22nd century after unleashing a plague on the planet (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1964)., AUDIO: Masters of Earth [+]Mark Wright and Cavan Scott, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2014).) and easily defeating the Terran Security Forces. (PROSE: The Final Sanction) The Dalek invasion force was led by a Black Dalek, known as the Supreme Controller, and each saucer was under the command of a Dalek saucer commander. They used Robomen for patrols and overseeing slaves. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1964)., AUDIO: Masters of Earth [+]Mark Wright and Cavan Scott, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2014).) A Red Dalek also served as a commander in London, (TV: Susan and the Daleks [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.) a city which would survive the invasion, but it suffered some of the greatest attacks since The Blitz. (PROSE: Illegal Alien [+]Mike Tucker and Robert Perry, adapted from Illegal Alien, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1997).)
New York City was totally destroyed, (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1964).) while Iris Wildthyme once led her friends against a Dalek saucer in the Putney Common. (PROSE: From Wildthyme with Love [+]Paul Magrs, Iris Wildthyme (Snowbooks Ltd, 2013).) In 2163, the Sixth Doctor foiled the Daleks' plan to unleash a Varga plant virus and new Robomen Elite in 2163 and erased any record of his involvement afterwards but the invasion continued. (AUDIO: Masters of Earth [+]Mark Wright and Cavan Scott, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2014).) Travelling in the Doctor's TARDIS, an older Susan Foreman accidentally arrived in the midst of the Dalek occupation in Trafalgar Square. She escaped aboard the TARDIS, but the Red Dalek, having failed to catch her aboard a hoverbout, dispatched a Blue Chrono-Dalek after her. After Susan thought she was safe in a new time zone, the Dalek entered the TARDIS and confronted her and a boy within the time machine, proclaiming that it now belonged to the Dalek Empire. (TV: Susan and the Daleks [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.)
Back in the 22nd century, the Daleks commenced a mining operation in Bedfordshire in order to reach the Earth's magnetic core, replace it with a propulsion system, and turn the whole planet into a massive spacecraft. Some time after their takeover of Earth, however, the First Doctor foiled the plan before its completion; the pit they had dug turned into an active volcano, the eruption of which killed the remaining Daleks and destroyed their base. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1964).) A Dalek research facility, DA-17, remained intact. The Eighth Doctor and his granddaughter Susan Foreman were trapped along with the Master and new Daleks were produced by the hatchery. They attempted to conquer England but were destroyed when DA-17 exploded. (PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks [+]John Peel, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1998).)
Later in the 22nd Century, the Dalek Time Controller was retrieved by the Daleks, though it was decaying from having been thrown through time. As this era's Daleks were unable to repair it, they sent a distress call which attracted the Monk, who was able to repair it. The Dalek Time Controller took control over Dalek operation and orchestrated a second Dalek invasion of Earth, forcing the Monk to release another plague to weaken humanity. It planned to use Earth as a Space/Time vessel containing the viruses scattered across Time from the destruction of the Amethyst Viral Containment Station, having seen where they would end up while it was in the Vortex and installing a time engine into Earth to travel to this point. The plague planet could then be piloted through the Universe, infecting entire planets. The Daleks worked with the Monk to maintain control of Earth whilst installing the time engine, allowing him to collect artefacts of human civilisation. Ultimately, the Time Controller, and all Daleks on Earth, were dragged into a time warp thanks to the sacrifice of Lucie Miller crashing a Dalek Saucer containing a bomb into the mine. (AUDIO: Lucie Miller [+]Nicholas Briggs, Eighth Doctor Adventures (Big Finish Productions, 2011)./To the Death [+]Nicholas Briggs, Eighth Doctor Adventures (Big Finish Productions, 2011).)
According to another account, Susan instead met the Thirteenth Doctor, who, walking with her through the ruins of the 22nd century Earth, showed her granddaughter a dead Dalek she could take her anger out on. (PROSE: Fellow Traveller)
In 2223, the Daleks launched a new invasion of Earth, with a Black Dalek acting as Dalek Supreme. The Supreme led a single saucer to London to establish a base for the invasion, with the Dalek Litigator accompanying as it was using the invasion to hunt down the Bruce Master. The Supreme wasted resources fighting the Master, who massacred the Daleks, leading to the Litigator contacting the Dalek Parliament who ordered the invasion be abandoned. The Master confronted the Daleks at their saucer, torturing and killing the Supreme and forcing the Litigator to flee by temporal shift. (AUDIO: Vengeance [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.)
Other wars with humanity[]
The Daleks continued to improve their technology: they developed factory ships for conquest, (TV: The Power of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966).) and the radio dishes which had originally been required to allow them to travel on surfaces without a static charge (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1964).) also vanished, enabling Daleks to move under their own power on any planet.
Daleks hear Davros's address before the 2254 invasion (GAME: Dalek Attack [+]R.D. Hulley, Alternative Software (1992).)
The Seventh Doctor once foiled a Dalek invasion of Earth in Earth's year 2254, which had been planned out by Davros and a Dalek Emperor different from the Golden Emperor on Skaro. Davros had stolen a Time Ring, for which crime he was tracked down by the Time Lords and frozen in time soon after the Doctor caused the destruction of the Davros-friendly Emperor on Skaro. During these events, large numbers of Dalek variants existed, both on Skaro and as part of the Earth invasion force. Among them were redesigned Daleks with radically different casings, who, for example, had no eyestalk but instead two large round eyeholes. (GAME: Dalek Attack [+]R.D. Hulley, Alternative Software (1992).) During this war, the Daleks obliterated the human colony of Phobos and experimented with human Drones before exterminating them when Davros failed to suppress their emotions. (PROSE: An Incident Concerning the Continual Bombardment of the Phobos Colony [+]Paul Cornell, Brief Encounter (1990).)
In 2400, the Emperor gave an address at the Great Council Chamber, ordering a Dalek invasion of the solar system, with Earth as their prime target; this was because, as the humans had created colonies on Mars and Venus, the Emperor was worried that they might try to land on Skaro someday soon and wanted to pre-empt such an attack. They were able to conquer Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn and captured mineralogist Jeff Stone, (COMIC: Invasion of the Daleks) who they set to work concocting paint that would protect their casings from rusting on Venus. Instead, Jeff used lead azide paint to incapacitate the Daleks before escaping with help from his brother Andy and going to find their sister Mary, who was also captured. (PROSE: Red for Danger) They tracked Mary to a Venusian slave camp, where the Daleks were harvesting oil to give them enough fuel to invade Earth. Mary successfully negotiated an agreement which lead to an increase in productivity, causing her to be placed in charge of all the oil mines on Venus. Her brothers meanwhile infiltrated the camp she was stationed at, blew up the oil well and armed the slaves to kill the surviving Daleks only to find Mary had been transferred to New Paris. (COMIC: The Oil Well) They later located Mary in the Dalek's Venusian headquarters inside the Churchill Mountains. In order to rescue her Jeff caused a power cut in the Dalek base, forcing them to evacuate and allowing the Space Army to attack suddenly, destroying the entire fleet and liberating Venus. (PROSE: The Secret of the Mountain)
The war against the Daleks continued, with Jeff going undercover in the Dalek City and discovering key information about Dalek technology. He also saw the Daleks taking control of humans using a Skaro mesmeristor, creating drones which they termed Humanoids. One Dalek detected Jeff and raised the alarm, but he escaped with the information. (COMIC: City of the Daleks [+]The Dalek Book (Dalek annuals, Souvenir Press, 1964).) Armed with new information on the Daleks, the Stones proceeded to Mars, where Humanoids were sent to destroy their ship's spectroscanner so the Daleks could ambush them. They succeeded in this task but were captured, allowing the Stones to discover the impending Dalek attack and repel them with their ship's weaponry before escaping. (COMIC: The Humanoids [+]The Dalek Book (Dalek annual, Souvenir Press, 1964).)
An advance party of Daleks landed in Kent and attempted to lay a liquid metal runway to prepare for an impending invasion. Their attempts were derailed when a mole burrowing nearby damaged the liquid metal sprayer, causing it to spray the Daleks and freeze them in place. (PROSE: The Small Defender)
Andy and Mary Stone were captured on Gurnian by a Marsh Dalek patrol, who attempted to kill them by forcing them into the swamp where the horrorkons lived. They figured out that the horrorkons ate metal and used some to lure them out of the swamp, causing them to attack and eat the Daleks while Andy and Mary escaped in their ship. (COMIC: Monsters of Gurnian)
Eventually the Daleks were completely driven out of the Solar System and Skaro was blockaded by the Space Army, in a military action lead by the Stones and Vel Karneen. The Daleks set up a magnetic field around Skaro to keep the humans out, but the Space Army were able to close off one of the two access openings and prepared to use the other to draw out the planet's atmosphere, forcing the Daleks to surrender. (PROSE: Break-through!) With no other options, the Daleks agreed to a peace agreement forbidding them from ever leaving Skaro again and completely disarming them. One group of Daleks refused to this agreement and hid on Earth's moon, where they planned to detonate a cache of nuclear weapons to create millions of tonnes of debris which they would slam into Earth using a Megla-Ray. Mary Stone sabotaged the weapons so they detonated an hour early before the Daleks had time to evacuate, destroying them. (COMIC: Battle for the Moon)
The Second Dalek War[]
- Main article: Second Dalek War
Rearmament[]
By one account two hundred years of peace between the Daleks and humanity passed, with the Daleks disarmed, until a mysterious Mechanical Planet came which threatened both Skaro and Earth. The Emperor landed on Earth and made an offer to eliminate the threat in exchange for the return of confiscated Dalek weaponry, which the humans grudgingly accepted. Ultimately, the Daleks destroyed the Mechanical Planet and, with their weapons and power restored, the Emperor vowed to conquer "all the planets in every sky". (COMIC: The Mechanical Planet) The Daleks later discovered the Mechanoids had created the planet, and invaded Mechanus, where they wreaked revenge on the Mechanoids by destroying their city with an Atom divider. (COMIC: The World That Waits)
Soon after, the Daleks abducted Defence Minister Tal Yorke and his family and replaced them with Humanoids in order to have the humanoid Yorke undermine Earth's war effort by damaging critical alliances. However, Unispace Security agent Meric Scrivener discovered the plot and assassinated the robot Yorke before burning down Yorke's residence, killing the replacements of his family. Agent Arthur Lippert pursued Scrivener, but was kidnapped by a humanoid duplicate of journalist Tom Lytton and several enslaved humans and taken to The Octagon, where the Dalek overseeing the operation attempted to replace him with a humanoid. Scrivener arrived and shot the Dalek, killing it. The remaining humanoids were then arrested and deactivated. (PROSE: The Secret Struggle)
Two men, Borg and Zemmer, kidnapped Security Agent Brit and took her to Skaro, where they attempted to rob the Dalek Treasure House and leave her as the scapegoat. However, Brit managed to escape, leaving Borg and Zemmer, who were exterminated. Responding to the break-in, the Daleks re-inventoried their treasure house but found nothing missing except a diamond stolen by Brit during her escape. (COMIC: Treasure of the Daleks)
Having given him a tour of the Dalek City, the Emperor personally interrogated Irishman Pat Kelley, who had arrived on Skaro in the spaceship Emerald Isle. Believing him to be a spy, the Emperor ordered all the Dalek inventions and technology, which Kelley had praised, to be screened for flaws. Interpreting Kelley's advisement for the Daleks to grow out their five-leaf clovers as an attempt at sabotage, the Emperor had his ship refitted before sending Kelley back to Earth with the clovers, believing that it would bring Earth to ruin. Little did he realise however, Kelley had in fact been playing an elaborate ruse to acquire the clovers all along. (PROSE: The Five-Leaf Clover)
When the Skaro water plant was sabotaged, the Emperor initially believed that human slaves were responsible. Soon after, however, the Daleks caught an alien spy whom the Emperor ordered to be brought to him. The spy proved to be scout for an army of Birdmen that invaded Skaro. Though the invaders were ultimately exterminated, the Emperor lamented that their ability of invisibility, a potential asset to the Daleks, was lost with them. (COMIC: The Invisible Invaders)
A Dalek squadron began the construction of Interferer Beams on the planet Esmera in order to block all radio signals on Earth before abandoning the planet, leaving behind an Orbitus to finish the construction. The beams were completed, but the Orbitus was found by Rod Marlow, who re-programmed it to destroy them. (PROSE: The Log of the "Gypsy Joe")
A group of Daleks established an underwater base on an uncharted planet and abducted Unispace Security agent Brit, hypnotising her into helping them construct duplicates of Meric Scrivener and the Five Presidents of Earth in order to replace them and disarm humanity. This failed as the real Scrivener infiltrated the base, shot the Daleks guarding Brit and flooded the base. (COMIC: Masters of the World)
Space Pilot Commander Don Morais and his co-pilot Zec were abducted by Daleks while on a reconnaissance mission and forced to search for the rare mineral doranium in order to power Dalek missiles. They found a doranium vein in the Valley of Rocks directly beneath a Dalek space station and managed to trigger an electrical explosion which destroyed the doranium and the space station. (COMIC: The Dalek Trap)
Scientist Jim Hardwicke, creator of the Hardwicke Elixir, was kidnapped by the Daleks and forced to produce his elixir for them in order to render all of humanity unconscious. Jim provided the Daleks with a weakened version which only lasted a few weeks, after which the humans awoke and repelled the Dalek invasion. The Daleks managed to get Jim to produce a perfect version of the elixir only for him to drink it, rendering himself permanently unconscious and preventing the Daleks from ever using his formula. (PROSE: The Living Death)
Operation Divide and Conquer[]
By another account, the Daleks sought renewed war against humanity as early as 2540, when they allied with the Master to undermine the Earth and Draconian Empires and set them against each other and then take over with a huge army assembled on Spiridon. (TV: Frontier in Space [+]Malcolm Hulke, Doctor Who season 10 (BBC1, 1973).) This was known as Operation Divide and Conquer. (AUDIO: The Dalek Conquests [+]Nicholas Briggs, BBC Audio (2006).) Despite the Master's failure to cause war, the army was prepared and the Daleks looked toward utilising the invisibility properties of Spiridon's inhabitants as a means of developing stealth technology. However, all of these plans were foiled when the Dalek army was frozen by the Third Doctor and a taskforce of Thals. (TV: Planet of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 10 (BBC1, 1973).) Once the Earth and Draconian Empires learned it was the Daleks disturbing the peace, war was declared on the Dalek Empire. (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks [+]Trevor Baxendale, BBC New Series Adventures (BBC Books, 2009).) However, a journalist, understanding that a direct chronology of Dalek history was very hard to piece together thanks to Dalek time travel, speculated that the Daleks that fought this conflict were not actually from the 26th century. (AUDIO: The Dalek Conquests [+]Nicholas Briggs, BBC Audio (2006).)
A Dalek force led by a Black Dalek destroyed a fleet of civilian transporters and allowed a ship piloted by Lieutenant Beth Stokes and Sergeant Tahira Khan to escape so that they could follow them to the planet Bliss where Roarke 279 research facility was located. The Daleks encountered the Seventh Doctor and his companions Ace and Hex. Professor Toshio Shimura created the parasitic creatures the Kiseibya, and these creatures attacked the Daleks, tearing through a Dalek platoon, leaving the Black Dalek — now infested with Kiseibya eggs as the only survivor when the Doctor arrived. The remaining Daleks on the planet ordered their ship to depart to prevent the Kiseibya spreading before exterminating themselves. The Doctor departed the base before the Black Dalek exploded, destroying the facility and the Kiseibya: the very atrocity that history recorded would take place. (AUDIO: Enemy of the Daleks [+]David Bishop, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2009).)
The Tenth Doctor and Fourth Doctor are faced with the attack on the Cathedral of Contemplation. (AUDIO: Out of Time [+]Matt Fitton, Out of Time (Big Finish Productions, 2020).)
During the Second Dalek War, a Dalek Supreme, who reported to Skaro Command, led a force to capture the Cathedral of Contemplation after intercepting one of its doors, planning to use it to open a link to Earth to attack without warning. They sent through a Dalek duplicate to ensure the door remained open to gain access and then invaded. They exterminated the Abbess and claimed the control room but found themselves unable to operate the Cathedral. The Daleks captured the Tenth and Fourth Doctors, who had been aboard the Cathedral, and connected their minds to the Cathedral. The Doctors opened a door to Earth and the Supreme ordered the Daleks through. The Daleks were destroyed however, as the Doctors had actually opened a door to the final destruction of Earth in 5.5/Apple/26. They abandoned the Supreme inside the Cathedral as it collapsed, unable to survive without the Abbess. (AUDIO: Out of Time [+]Matt Fitton, Out of Time (Big Finish Productions, 2020).)
The Arkheon Threshold[]
During the Second Dalek War, the Daleks used more advanced casings. Despite their efforts, after decades of fighting, the Daleks found they were losing. They tried to use the Arkheon Threshold, a rift in time above a planet they had destroyed decades earlier, planning to use the rift to wipe out humanity throughout time so that the human race would have never existed. They used human prisoners to dig through the crust of the planet to reach the Threshold. The Tenth Doctor joined forces with a crew of Dalek Bounty Hunters aboard a spaceship called the Wayfarer. About the same time, the people of the planet Auros learned of an approaching Dalek fleet, and the population fled before the Daleks arrived. Meanwhile, the Daleks waited for the refugee fleet to come to them and the Dalek Inquisitor General, Dalek X, ordered the citizens sent to work in the Arkheon mines. The crew and the Doctor were taken prisoner on Arkheon and the Doctor was forced to reveal his identity. Dalek X arrived to subject the Doctor to torture and extract Bowman's brain to learn how to bypass Earth's defence systems.
The Doctor explained that the Daleks did not have the technology to use the Threshold, but Dalek X thought the Doctor's TARDIS would allow their plan to succeed. The Doctor used his TARDIS as a lure to take Dalek X to Hurala, where Bowman, Koral and he escaped due to Cuttin' Edge attacking a Dalek and being exterminated. The Doctor detonated the abandoned fuelling station on Hurala, destroying all the Daleks as well as Dalek X's flagship, the Exterminator. The loss put a huge dent in the Dalek war machine. Earth pushed back their fleet and the Dalek Empire surrendered shortly after. Dalek X was knocked down by a gantry and survived the explosion, though was badly damaged and unable to escape. (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks [+]Trevor Baxendale, BBC New Series Adventures (BBC Books, 2009).)
Further strengthening of the Dalek Empire[]
The final action of the Third Dalek War came with the Exxilon Gambit. (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.) It started when a Dalek Saucer travelled to the planet Exxilon in search of Parrinium, where all of its power was taken by the Exxilon City. The Dalek task-force encountered the Third Doctor and his companion Sarah Jane Smith along with a human expedition. They attempted to gun down the humans, but discovered that the Exxilon City had also drained their power supplies, rendering their gunsticks useless and forcing the Daleks to form an unholy alliance with the humans. While their gunsticks didn't work, the Daleks replaced them with machine guns and enslaved the Exxillons in search for parrinium. When their power was restored, the Daleks revealed they were the cause of the Space plague and were about to fire plague missiles to kill the Exxilons and the Doctor as they made their getaway in their ship. However, it and its crew were destroyed by Dan Galloway, who had stowed away on the ship with a Dalek bomb, which he detonated. (TV: Death to the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 11 (BBC1, 1974).)
The Second Doctor is confronted by the Daleks. (COMIC: The Trodos Ambush [+]Roger Noel Cook, TVC comic stories (1967).)
At some point, the Daleks invaded Trodos and nearly wiped out the Trods. They were defeated by the Second Doctor. (COMIC: The Trodos Ambush [+]Roger Noel Cook, TVC comic stories (1967).) A group of Asymmetrical Daleks targeted the planet Zaos to serve as a beachhead for a subsequent invasion of Earth. However, the Second Doctor arrived and allied with the native Zaons to fight them off. (PROSE: Daleks Invade Zaos)
A Dalek outpost was located on an Earth-like planet. The planet was rich in the materials the Daleks needed to construct more Daleks. In 2135, the Second Doctor arrived on the planet, intent on fighting the Daleks' power. Using a home-made Dalek casing for a disguise, he infiltrated the outpost (leaving John and Gillian Who in the TARDIS) and learned that the Dalek Supreme was on his way to supervise the production of thousands of Daleks. He went to the mine to sabotage it, but was spotted leaving his casing and was forced to flee. The Daleks searched for him and, unable to tell which one was the impostor, began destroying each other. The Dalek Supreme contacted them from his ship and ordered them to stop, but the Doctor then impersonated the Dalek Supreme and ordered the Daleks to destroy themselves. The Doctor escaped in the TARDIS just before the Dalek Supreme arrived, having struck a devastating blow against the Daleks. (COMIC: The Doctor Strikes Back)
The Daleks established a base on a Earth-like planet and constructed the giant Exterminator which they intended to use to destroy the Earth. The Second Doctor, John and Gillian arrived on the planet and learned what the Daleks were up to. To defeat them, they derailed the train carrying the Daleks who had been trained to operate the Exterminator, and stole the weapon's instructions so the Doctor could learn to operate it himself. He then used the weapon to destroy all the Daleks on the planet. (COMIC: The Exterminator)
The Daleks invaded an unnamed Planet, where they attempted to construct tracks they could use to travel. The Second Doctor, John and Gillian arrived just as they were building the tracks and managed to escape before sending out an electrical current which destroyed the Daleks and their tracks. (COMIC: Jungle Adventure)
On an unnamed planet, the Second Doctor, John and Gillian tested the Doctor's pedal-copter, which crashed. When they got up, they ran into a group of Daleks, who chased them. They managed to keep them back by pelting them with rocks, then threw a boulder in the Daleks' way before escaping in the TARDIS. (COMIC: Attack of the Daleks)
The Daleks led by a Dalek saucer commander used a saucer to destroy Earth satellites during the Cold War, hoping the Americans and the Russians would blame each other and the conflict would escalate. The saucer landed at the bottom of the ocean, sealed within a pressure dome, where it was to wait until the Daleks saw the perfect moment to strike. However, it was infiltrated by the Third Doctor who contacted a submarine, the HMS Pandora, and ordered it to fire on the ship. The Daleks died as the ship flooded. (COMIC: The Threat from Beneath)
The Daleks invaded Ercos and enslaved the Klims to test the Dalek driller in order to destroy both Ecros and Earth. The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith foiled the Daleks' plans. (COMIC: The Dalek Revenge) Sometime prior to 3985, (PROSE: Legacy [+]Gary Russell, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1994)., Theatre of War) the Daleks destroyed New Mondas by intercepting the Seventh Cyber-Fleet and installing Oblivion Continuums into newly-converted Cybermen, which they detonated inside Cyber-Control on New Mondas. (COMIC: Cyber Crisis)
The Daleks invaded the New Earth System with Werelok henchmen they brought to the 25th century from "many years ago" and planned to destroy the system with neutron fire so that they could turn the system into a breeding ground for cloning Daleks by isolating the qualities of various creatures throughout Mutter's Spiral and breeding it into the new Daleks. The Fourth Doctor froze the Dalek battlecraft in one moment in time and space forever when he disconnected the time-space rationaliser of the Daleks' time transporter. (COMIC: Doctor Who and the Dogs of Doom [+]John Wagner and Pat Mills, DWM Comics (Marvel Comics, 1980).)
The Fifth Doctor took Tegan and Nyssa to Florana early in its history, when it was a barren planet. He found that a Dalek had crashed and taken control of the planet, pretending to be its god. It was destroyed by Thane, who attempted to take over himself. This resulted in the killing of many of the inhabitants, and the flowers Florana was named after grew from their ashes. (AUDIO: The Elite)
By 5124, Lunar University student River Song had repeatly asked for funding requests for a university expedition into Dalek-controlled space, stating that they should see what the Daleks were currently doing. (PROSE: Student Bodies)
Time travel[]
Early days of Dalek time travel[]
Thirsting for time travel which would finally even the odds between them and the Doctor, as well as generally enabling wider Dalek conquest of the universe, the Daleks allied themselves with the Renegade Time Lord Shazar. Shazar gave them the knowledge and the means to build a fleet of TARDISes to conquer the galaxy. The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith foiled the plan by having the Daleks damage their space station's cooling system, as it was very close to a sun. The Daleks escaped with their TARDIS fleet but all ships exploded by cirenium, destroying them. (COMIC: Return of the Daleks) The Seventh Doctor reflected that the Daleks had trouble with time travel because the Timewyrm, who they called "Golyan Ak Tana", the twister of paths, changed the possibilities all the time. The Daleks sent a taskforce against the Timewyrm but she consumed them. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation [+]Paul Cornell, adapted from Total Eclipse, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1991).)
According to the Daleks themselves, they made a treaty with early Time Lords that allowed them to develop simple time travel, while also keeping them from being scooped out of time for entertainment (PROSE: Dead Romance [+]Lawrence Miles, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1999).) in the Game of Rassilon. (TV: The Five Doctors [+]Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who 20th Anniversary Special (Public Broadcasting Service, 1983).) When the treaty was updated at a much later point in history, Chris Cwej told Christine Summerfield about this original treaty, but by the time she wrote Dead Romance, she couldn't remember what the Daleks had promised the Time Lords in return. According to what the Daleks had told Cwej, the original treaty had been broken when the Time Lords tried to wipe out their species (PROSE: Dead Romance [+]Lawrence Miles, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1999).) by sending the Fourth Doctor to Skaro's past. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1975).)
Early Dalek time travellers on the hunt for the First Doctor. (TV: The Chase [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1965).)
The Daleks managed to develop primitive time travel in the form of taranium-powered Dalek time machines of their own, which resembled cruder version of the Time Lords' own timeships. Under orders from the Dalek Prime, the Black Dalek Leader sent an execution squad (PROSE: The Chase [+]John Peel, adapted from The Chase (Terry Nation), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1989).) of Pursuer-Daleks (AUDIO: The Daleks [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.) in a Dalek time machine to pursue the TARDIS throughout history and kill the First Doctor and his companions, seeking revenge for the liberation of Earth in the 22nd century (PROSE: The Chase [+]John Peel, adapted from The Chase (Terry Nation), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1989).) after deciding the Doctor was their greatest enemy. After the Doctor and his companions left the Space Museum of Xeros, the Daleks readied their time machine to exterminate their greatest foes. (TV: The Space Museum [+]Glyn Jones, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1965).)
The squad chased them to the planet of Aridius, New York City in 1966, the Mary Celeste, the Festival of Ghana, and, finally, to Mechanus. The Daleks created a robot version of the Doctor to "infiltrate and kill" the real Doctor and his companions, but it was destroyed. Trying to hunt down the Doctor themselves, the squad ended up attacking the Mechanoids in their Mechanoid City, (TV: The Chase [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1965).) kicking off a long standing riviarly between the Mechanoids and Daleks. (COMIC: The World That Waits) During the ensuing Mechonoid Incident, the Dalek Leader slipped away from the battle with the Mechanoids after it realised that the assassination squad had no chance of winning. As the last surviving Dalek and in an act of self-sacrifice, it hacked into the city's computer systems and set the whole place to self-destruct, hoping to kill the Doctor and his companions in the blast.
However, the Dalek squad had thus failed in its mission, as the Doctor and his friends escaped from the chaos. Two of the Doctor's companions, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, used the Dalek time machine to travel back to their own time before destroying it, (TV: The Chase [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1965)., PROSE: The Chase [+]John Peel, adapted from The Chase (Terry Nation), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1989).) thus crippling the Dalek time researches until the Time Destructor Incident. (PROSE: Mission to the Unknown [+]John Peel, adapted from The Daleks' Master Plan and Mission to the Unknown (TV story), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1989).) Some human historians believed this mission had been launched later in Dalek history, claiming that the Black Dalek Leader had launched this operation after the Third Doctor destroyed a Gold Dalek. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017).)
At some point, the Daleks attacked the Earth in the year 2000. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1975).)
At some point, Time Squad of Grey Daleks were sent to exterminate the human race before they could challenge the Daleks by channelling an excess of energy into the receivers on Earth in 2025. This would lead to the formation of a giant forcefield around Earth, which would counteract the effect of gravity. The Moon would be forced out of Earth orbit. This would in turn cause the Earth to shift on its axis of rotation, leading to highly destructive floods, Earthquakes and tectonic events which would eventually wipe out all life on the planet. The Fourth Doctor and Leela stopped them by redirecting the energy transfer to their ship as they fled. (AUDIO: Energy of the Daleks [+]Nicholas Briggs, The Fourth Doctor Adventures (Big Finish Productions, 2012).)
Conflict with the Space Security Service[]
- Main article: War (The Only Good Dalek)
- Main article: Great War (The Evil of the Daleks)
As they had several times before, (PROSE: Mission to the Unknown [+]John Peel, adapted from The Daleks' Master Plan and Mission to the Unknown (TV story), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1989).) it was said the Daleks invaded Earth a thousand years before the Time Destructor Incident (TV: Mission to the Unknown [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1965).) of the year 4000. (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan [+]Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1965-1966)., PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual [+]Richard Atkinson and Mike Tucker, BBC Books (2021).) Like before, were "beaten back" in the end. (PROSE: Mission to the Unknown [+]John Peel, adapted from The Daleks' Master Plan and Mission to the Unknown (TV story), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1989).) Instead of focusing on the Mutter's Spiral, the Daleks focused on conquests throughout the Outer Galaxies with the intention to one day return to Earth. (TV: Mission to the Unknown [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1965).)
The Daleks attacked the world Mark Seven and Hera lived on. They exterminated Hera, inspiring Mark to join the Space Security Service to fight back against them. (AUDIO: Cycle of Destruction)
A Dalek force on the way to invade the "Big Four" were diverted to the radioactive planet Barzilla after Sara Kingdom spread a rumour that a huge vein of gold had been discovered. Upon arriving the force was ambushed and destroyed by the Earth fleet. (PROSE: The Outlaw Planet)
Sara Kingdom is chased by Dalek humanoids (COMIC: Sara Kingdom: Space Security Agent [+]Brad Ashton and Terry Nation, The Dalek Outer Space Book (Dalek annuals, Panther Books, 1966).)
Daleks abducted Professor Lomberg and imprisoned him in a slave camp on Vara. The Daleks wanted Lomberg to create an indestructible casing for them. Sara Kingdom rescued Lomberg and provided the Daleks with an unstable formula that lead to the destruction of the camp. (COMIC: Sara Kingdom: Space Security Agent [+]Brad Ashton and Terry Nation, The Dalek Outer Space Book (Dalek annuals, Panther Books, 1966).)
The Daleks attacked Explorer Base One on M5, capturing David Kingdom. (AUDIO: The Destroyers)
In the year 4000, the Daleks formed an alliance with powers from the Outer Galaxies in the first stage of a plan to invade Earth's solar system. Space Security Service agent Marc Cory discovered the alliance’s formation on Kembel however the Daleks exterminated him before he could send word to Earth. (TV: Mission to the Unknown [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1965).) The Guardian of the Solar System, Mavic Chen, joined the Daleks’ alliance and supplied them with an emm of Taranium, which was vital to the Time Destructor, which the Daleks planned to use to wipe out the Solar System. However the First Doctor, allied with Sara Kingdom, escaped with the Taranium, and the Daleks pursued him until he apparently surrendered it to them.
The Black Dalek Leader attends a meeting of the Galactic Council (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan [+]Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1965-1966).)
This turned out to be a fake, however, so a Dalek task force, with the Red Dalek Leader, sent from Skaro in another time machine by the Dalek Prime pursued him and his companions through time until the core was finally recovered in Ancient Egypt. They successfully recovered the core, although the Red Dalek was killed by rocks during the battle with the Egyptians. The Doctor activated the Time Destructor which destroyed the Daleks, their invasion fleet and left Kembel a wasteland. (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan [+]Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1965-1966)., PROSE: The Mutation of Time)
With the Dalek plans exposed, the exact situation the Daleks had wanted to avoid by taking out the heart of human space occurred. Several powers declared war against the Dalek Empire over the following millennium, beginning the Great War. (PROSE: The Evil of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from The Evil of the Daleks (David Whitaker), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1993).) During the Great War, (PROSE: The Whoniverse [+]George Mann and Justin Richards, BBC Books (2016).) in the Space Year 17000 according to the Fourth Doctor, the world of Hyperon deployed war rockets against a Dalek invasion of Venus. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1975).)
During the 41st century, the Daleks fought the SSS in a war. (AUDIO: The House of Kingdom) The Daleks also invaded the Galactic Federation in the 4010s. (PROSE: Legacy [+]Gary Russell, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1994).)
Vulcan plot[]
- Main article: Vulcan Incident
At some point, a Dalek factory ship crashed on Vulcan, where it lay for two hundred years until a human scientist named Lesterson recovered and penetrated the capsule. Once activated, the surviving Daleks in the capsule decided to pose as obedient robotic servant drones, claiming to be the colonists' willing servants. The Daleks took advantage of the colonists' naive trust to establish a reproduction plant - on a conveyor belt system - with which to increase their numbers, with the newly bred mutants declaring themselves "the new race" of Daleks. The Second Doctor eventually destroyed the Daleks by turning the colony's power source against them, but not before the Daleks killed a vast number of the colony's inhabitants. (TV: The Power of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966).) Additionally, several Daleks survived, (TV: Asylum of the Daleks [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2012).) with one raising its eyestalk as the Doctor's TARDIS departed. (TV: The Power of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966).)
The Second Doctor discovers the Daleks. (TV: The Power of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966).)
Nevertheless, survivors of the engagement were driven insane by their encounter with the Doctor, so, though they were reunited with the rest of the Dalek race, they were banished to intensive care in the Dalek Asylum. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2012).) According to several accounts, this battle on Vulcan occurred early in overall Dalek history. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017)., A Brief History of the Daleks [+]Paul Lang, 2018.) Indeed, the Time Lords dated this "Vulcan Incident" to be after the Time Destructor Incident. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual [+]Richard Atkinson and Mike Tucker, BBC Books (2021).) By another account, it occurred after the Imperial-Renegade Dalek Civil War. (PROSE: War of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from War of the Daleks, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1997).
The Great Dalek Civil War[]
- Main article: Dalek Civil War
Though it pained him to admit it, the Dalek Prime eventually realised that the Daleks were slowly and steadily losing their Great War: two hundred saucers were lost to the Thals in the Seventh Sector, half of the Dalek fleet had been annihilated on the Draconian frontier, and six planets had been won back from the Daleks' control by the Terran Federation. Faced with the computer prediction that the Daleks would be utterly defeated within eighty years if things went on this way, the Emperor took the decision to resort to time travel more fully than ever before: as the Doctor's interference had always been what threw a spanner in the Daleks' schemes, he reasoned that not only preparing for the Doctor's involvement, but drawing him out outright, might be the Daleks' path to victory. (PROSE: The Evil of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from The Evil of the Daleks (David Whitaker), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1993).)
The Emperor's Personal Guard try to protect him. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1967).)
Hence, after Daleks under the leadership of the Emperor were eventually summoned to 19th century Earth by the human businessman and amateur alchemist Theodore Maxtible, who had devised a new form of time travel involving mirrors and static electricity, they took over Maxtible's techniques for themselves. Armed with this venue for time-space travel, they used it to trick the Second Doctor into a trap. They asked him to implant the Human Factor into three Daleks, claiming that they desired to become humanised Daleks allying the best of mankind and Dalek-kind. In truth, the Emperor's design was that the Doctor's experiment would, by contrast, also identify the Dalek Factor, which they would then spread through Earth's history — thus preventing their Great War with Earth from happening.
However, having realised the Daleks' plan, the Doctor encouraged the three humanised Daleks, Alpha, Beta and Omega, to defend themselves. Fearful of the implications, the Emperor ordered many Daleks through an archway that would re-implant the Dalek Factor. However, the Doctor switched factors so that all Daleks through the archway were humanised. A conflict between the normal and humanised Daleks inevitably broke out across Skaro, apparently ending the Daleks. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1967)., PROSE: The Evil of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from The Evil of the Daleks (David Whitaker), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1993).)
According to one dissenting account, the Dalek Prime's Human Factor gambit and the subsequent near-destruction of the Dalek Empire actually occurred at a later point in Dalek history, postdating the revival of Davros and the Dalek-Movellan War. (PROSE: The History of the Daleks [+]John Peel and Terry Nation, The Official Doctor Who & the Daleks Book (St Martin's Press, 1988).)
Restructuring of the Empire[]
The Dalek Civil War did not end the Daleks as the Doctor predicted it would; the humanised Daleks were defeated and the Emperor's forces began rebuilding. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks [+]Terrance Dicks, adapted from Day of the Daleks (Louis Marks), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1974).) Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield later returned to the Dalek City, entering in the Great Hall and realising that the Emperor had in fact survived. As four Silver Daleks closed in, they realised even more Daleks were present in the room. Though these Daleks had captured the Doctor's TARDIS, (HOMEVID: Emperor of the Daleks) one account claimed the Doctor, in his personal timeline, would not confront the Daleks again until they had created a new command structure, involving grey Dalek drones and Gold Supreme Daleks. Now in their third incarnation, the Doctor reflected on how he was wrong to believe that the Daleks had been utterly defeated. (TV: Day of the Daleks [+]Louis Marks, Doctor Who season 9 (BBC1, 1972).) By another account, the Doctor was still in their second incarnation upon learning the Daleks and their Emperor had survived the Civil War. (COMIC: Bringer of Darkness [+]Warwick Gray, DWMS comic stories (Marvel Comics, 1993).)
The Daleks led by a Gold Dalek, invaded Earth in an alternate 22nd century after the World Peace Conference was destroyed by Shura from the future. World War III started as various global factions accused each other of having done so. They used Ogrons as enforcers. The Third Doctor and Jo Grant travelled to 1970s and undid that alternate timeline. Shura used the bomb to destroy the Daleks and Ogrons in the Auderly House. (TV: Day of the Daleks [+]Louis Marks, Doctor Who season 9 (BBC1, 1972).) One account claims a Black Dalek was present as a second-in-command and was responsible for much of the Gold Dalek's tasks while the Gold Dalek acted as an overseer. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks [+]Terrance Dicks, adapted from Day of the Daleks (Louis Marks), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1974).) A group of human researchers also knew of a Dalek assault on the Home Counties, during which Ogrons were deployed as the vanguard of the invasion. UNIT troops defended Britain against the Daleks. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017).)
Even though the Daleks involved in the invasion had failed to recognise the Third Doctor until confirming his identity, (TV: Day of the Daleks [+]Louis Marks, Doctor Who season 9 (BBC1, 1972).) the same group of human researchers claimed these events had occurred after the eve of the Second Dalek War from the Dalek's perspective. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017).)
Meanwhile, the surviving humanised rebels, led by Alpha, were forced to flee Skaro in a captured saucer. Alpha had a vision of a world where they could live in peace and seclusion, knowing the rest of their species would never stop hunting them. They settled on Kyrol in a subterranean city, Azhra Korr, beneath the sea bed. Here they created their own culture, making art, meditating, and developing the psychic abilities latent in all Daleks. The Eighth Doctor and his companion Izzy Sinclair helped the humanised Daleks defeat the Kata-Phobus, the last Kyrolian. The Kyrolian race became extinct when Alpha and the other Daleks self-destructed. (COMIC: Children of the Revolution [+]Scott Gray, DWM Comics (Panini Comics, 2001-2002).)
Return to power[]
A small group of Daleks spent three hundred years hiding beneath an Antarctic glacier waiting for humans to advance to a stage where the Daleks could use their technology against them to invade Earth. This eventually happened when a nuclear submarine, the USS Jefferson, entered the cavern and the Daleks enslaved its crew through mind control. They launched proton missiles into Sydney Harbour, and invaded Sydney. They planned to use factories to turn humans into Daleks and take over Earth. Discovering the Third Doctor, the Daleks chased him in the Jefferson to Sydney Harbour Bridge, where Lt Davis destroyed the Daleks by dropping a live cable on the submarine from above. (COMIC: *Sub Zero)
The Daleks, having observed the destruction of their forces on Earth, used a time vector to transport the TARDIS to Skaro, where they planned to perform an operation on the Doctor which would mentally turn him into a Dalek. The Doctor and his companion Finney escaped into the jungle, where they used a herd of dinosaur-like creatures to destroy the Daleks. (COMIC: The Planet of the Daleks)
Further battles[]
The Daleks took over the home planet of the Anthaurk, forcing them to move to the Minerva system and begin a military focused culture. (PROSE: The Fall of Yquatine [+]Nick Walters, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2000).)
At some point, a Dalek ship was shot down in a war, crash landing on the planet Red Rocket Rising. The Eighth Doctor deduced that Professor Martez had turned human beings into "Mutant Daleks" in his experiments to make humans more like Daleks using deceased but intact Daleks and technology taken from the ship. Years afterwards, a group of Daleks with short supplies and badly damaged from fighting were under the leadership of a Dalek Supreme, and responded to a signal sent by Professor Martez, pretending to take the survivors of the asteroid-stricken world Red Rocket Rising to another planet.
In reality, the Daleks deflected the asteroid to destroy Martez' experiments, whom had deviated from the idea of Dalek blood purity, and failed. They planned to detonate their command ship to destroy the Mutant Dalek base to ensure that the blood of the Daleks remained pure, and after that they would exterminate all humans on the planet. An explosion inside the command ship cancelled the detonation, causing the ship to go off course, saving Eileen Klint's people thanks to Tom Cardwell. Despite this, the Daleks decided to destroy the mutants personally. A full-scale Dalek battle followed, with both Dalek groups determined to completely wipe out the other. With the help of the humans, both groups of Daleks wiped each other out. (AUDIO: Blood of the Daleks [+]Steve Lyons, Eighth Doctor Adventures (Big Finish Productions, 2006).)
In 45th century Stockbridge, a rain was mutating the villagers into zombie slaves of the Daleks. They tried to turn the Doctor into a Dalek and use his TARDIS to help conquer the universe, but failed and they were defeated. (AUDIO: Plague of the Daleks [+]Mark Morris, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2009).)
Dalek-Movellan War[]
- Main article: Dalek-Movellan War
Bomber Daleks on the march.(TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979).)
According to the Celestial Intervention Agency's research, during a time when the Dalek Empire was divided under the control of two Emperors, the Daleks were attacked by the Movellans. One Emperor was killed by the Movellans leaving the other, who had been based on Skaro, in charge of the entire empire. This hampered the Daleks' tactics, as the Emperor was unable to keep track of forces that had been under the other's control. (PROSE: The Dalek Problem [+]The Doctor Who Role Playing Game supplements (FASA, 1986).)
During Borusa's quest for immortality, a Grey Dalek was Time Scooped into the Game of Rassilon and set against the First Doctor and Susan. The two managed to trick the Dalek into the ricochet of its own gunstick, killing it. (TV: The Five Doctors [+]Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who 20th Anniversary Special (Public Broadcasting Service, 1983).) The Time Lords later deduced that the abducted unit had come from the 46th century, during the Dalek-Movellan War, and that its abduction had been one of the acts of aggression that had triggered the Last Great Time War. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual [+]Richard Atkinson and Mike Tucker, BBC Books (2021).)
Just as how the Daleks used both bronze and grey casings in their war with the Movellans, (TV: The Pilot [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017)., Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979).) a Bronze Dalek and two Grey Daleks chased Walter the Worm in an attempt to exterminate him, only to fail. (WC: The Daleks Chase Walter the Worm) The Twelfth Doctor once arrived in a war zone during the Dalek-Movellan conflict with Nardole and Bill Potts. (TV: The Pilot [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).) During the conflict, the Daleks made themselves into robots to try to better understand the Movellans. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual [+]Richard Atkinson and Mike Tucker, BBC Books (2021).)
A faction of Daleks returned to Kembel seeking to regain lost knowledge of time travel. They used a time bubble to send a Dalek back in time to attempt to assassinate the First Movellan, (AUDIO: The Triumph of Davros [+]Matt Fitton, Dalek Universe (Big Finish Productions, 2021).) however it only succeeded in destroying the Space Security Service's time machine. (AUDIO: The Wrong Woman) The Kembel faction did succeed in recreating a Dalek time machine. (AUDIO: The Triumph of Davros [+]Matt Fitton, Dalek Universe (Big Finish Productions, 2021).) The war indeed was fought throughout time; (AUDIO: The Dalek Gambit) the Daleks mainly used time corridors to travel through time, (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984).) whereas Movellan ships used time warps. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979).)
The conflict soon resulted in a centuries-long stalemate, with each side's purely logical battle computer keeping them in deadlock. To circumvent this stalemate, the Daleks returned to Skaro, which had been abandoned, to find Davros so his biological mind could reprogram their battle computers to win the war, being followed by a rival Movellan expedition. The Fourth Doctor saw to the defeat of both factions, destroying the majority of the Dalek force after they made into Bomber Daleks sent against the Movellan vessel. Davros was taken by the Daleks' liberated slaves to stand trial. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979).)
The Daleks attempted to recapture Davros whilst he was being transported by an Earth Protection Corps vessel, also carrying the Tenth Doctor, however interference by Movellan forces resulted in the Earth ship crashing on Kembel. There the Movellans captured the Doctor and Davros whilst the Kembel Daleks caught his companion Anya Kingdom and Earth Protection Major Keelan. (AUDIO: The Dalek Defence) The pair were attached to bombs and sent to infiltrate the Movellan vessel but were quickly exposed and thrown out along with the Doctor, so the Daleks recaptured them. After Davros announced an alliance between Daleks and Movellans against Earth via the pathweb, the Kembel Supreme decided to work with the Doctor against Davros. However, Davros eventually revealed the alliance was just a front to attempt to infect the First Movellan with a virus.
The Doctor prevented the virus spreading into the Movellans beyond Kembel whilst Earth Protection forces summoned by Keelan overwhelmed the Daleks on Kembel and recaptured Davros. The Doctor subsequently stole the Kembel Daleks' time machine, and Anya destroyed the Supreme when it tried to stop him. (AUDIO: The Triumph of Davros [+]Matt Fitton, Dalek Universe (Big Finish Productions, 2021).) The war continued for another 90 years, until the Movellans developed a Movellan virus to defeat the Daleks, (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984).) who had returned to their organic states. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017).)
Imperial-Renegade Dalek war[]
The virus spreads, the schism begins[]
A Dalek drone is brainwashed by one of Davros's agents. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984).)
In 4590, (PROSE: Resurrection of the Daleks [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.) with more and more Daleks dying from the Movellan virus, (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters [+]Justin Richards, BBC Books (2014).) a detachment of Daleks and Troopers led by the Supreme Dalek embarked on a rescue mission in hopes of their creator to find a cure for the virus. They also used a time corridor and a Dalek duplicate called Stien to trap the Fifth Doctor to duplicate him and his Companions to assassinate the Time Lord High Council. However, the Doctor broke free of the duplication apparatus and turned Stien to his cause. Meanwhile, Davros turned several Dalek Troopers and two Daleks to his cause through mind control, only for the Supreme's Daleks to destroy the rebels. Both Davros and the Doctor unleashed the virus and the Dalek ship was destroyed by Stien. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984).)
Nevertheless, Davros's work on analysing the virus had already been sent to Dalek Supreme Command, allowing the Daleks to quickly develop a cure. (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters [+]Justin Richards, BBC Books (2014).) Both Davros and the Supreme Dalek also survived the event. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 22 (BBC1, 1985)., PROSE: Resurrection of the Daleks [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.) However, to avoid the virus, the Daleks had dispersed across the cosmos, (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984).) which led to increased factionalism amongst the Dalek Empire. After Davros's actions officially opened up a schism, (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, adapted from Remembrance of the Daleks (Ben Aaronovitch), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1990).) the divide amongst the Daleks left their never-ending war effort in ruins, with invasions and wars failing. The Daleks grew concerned at the growing divide amongst their kind, with the Daleks on Skaro, despite continuing to claim that they did not need "humanoid lifeforms", coming to believe that they needed to rescue Davros so their creator could provide them direction. (AUDIO: Innocence [+]Gary Hopkins, I, Davros (Big Finish Productions, 2006).)
Necros and the trial[]
Daleks from Necros. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 22 (BBC1, 1985).)
Davros escaped to Necros and began to turn intelligent cryogenically frozen people into Imperial Daleks to conquer the universe. However, Takis called the Daleks to take Davros to stand trial. The Grey Daleks fought their way past the Imperials to take Davros. He tried to get them to take the Sixth Doctor, but they didn't recognise him. The Daleks' attempt to recondition the Imperials failed because of the Imperials' destruction by the Doctor and Orcini. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks [+]Eric Saward, Doctor Who season 22 (BBC1, 1985).) However, the Time Lords did later ponder if some Necros Daleks survived and helped their creator cement his control on Skaro during his trial. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual [+]Richard Atkinson and Mike Tucker, BBC Books (2021).)
According to one account, en route to Skaro the ship carrying Davros crashed on the planet Lethe. Davros was rescued, and he set himself up as 'Professor Vaso' and attempted to create a new machine, a Juggernaut based on a Mechanoid design. Lethe's atmosphere prevented the Supreme Dalek retrieving Davros directly, but its forces intercepted the Sixth Doctor's TARDIS, forcing him to serve as an agent of the Daleks and stop Davros' researches and manipulations. The Doctor discovered two of Davros' Necros Daleks had survived the crash, but were destroyed following Davros' final gambit on the colony and the Supreme Dalek's intervention. (AUDIO: The Juggernauts)
One account claimed that Davros was brought to Skaro for a trial but learned of a Thal spy named Lareen who had snuck aboard their ship. She tried to convince Davros to destroy his creations with a more powerful strain of the Movellan virus the Thals had developed, but, upon reaching Skaro, Davros denounced her and revealed the existence of the virus. Surprised that Davros had not unleashed the virus and believing he was worthy of becoming the Emperor, the Daleks of Skaro proclaimed Davros to be their leader and exterminated Lareen. Before Davros arrived and was gifted the rank, the Dalek Supreme was planning to take on the role of Emperor, (AUDIO: The Davros Mission) yet other accounts suggested there already of an Emperor on Skaro during this time.
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Grey Daleks chasing after Davros on Spiridon (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks! [+]Paul Cornell, DWM Comics (Marvel Comics UK, 1993).)
That account claimed that Davros was put on trial for his life before the Emperor on Skaro. As part of a scheme with his future self, the Sixth Doctor rescued Davros just before the Daleks carried out their sentence of death. The Doctor took Davros to Spiridon, where he could lick his wounds and bide his time. The Doctor intended to lay the groundwork for a Dalek civil war and spoke to Davros of his future destiny as Emperor Dalek. When Daleks led by the Supreme Dalek landed on Spiridon with the Seventh Doctor, Davros set his new army of Imperial Daleks against them, along with a Special Weapons Dalek. The Supreme Dalek was killed. The Imperials then took over Skaro, seemingly exterminating the Emperor, and Davros was instated as Emperor of the Daleks. (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks! [+]Paul Cornell, DWM Comics (Marvel Comics UK, 1993).)
A third account claimed there was no "legal" trial. Instead, the Daleks of Skaro brought Davros to them to see if he was able to solve the schism (AUDIO: Innocence [+]Gary Hopkins, I, Davros (Big Finish Productions, 2006).) that had developed after the Movellan war. (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, adapted from Remembrance of the Daleks (Ben Aaronovitch), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1990).) Disgusted that the Daleks were seemingly scared and had failed their potential, Davros nonetheless agreed to offer them direction. Firstly, he reflected on his childhood and the creation of the Daleks to teach the Daleks of their earliest days. The Daleks who had brought Davros to Skaro to provide them direction claimed to be working under the command of the Dalek Supreme, (AUDIO: Innocence [+]Gary Hopkins, I, Davros (Big Finish Productions, 2006).) yet the Black Dalek Leader, by most accounts, was opposed to the idea of Davros having any command over the Empire. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, Doctor Who season 25 (BBC1, 1988)., et. al)
Open warfare[]
- Main article: Imperial-Renegade Dalek Civil War
Renegade Daleks who served the Supreme (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, Doctor Who season 25 (BBC1, 1988).)
No matter what account of Davros' trial was true, the Dalek Empire was eventually divided into two camps. With Davros as its Emperor, one faction developed into an Imperium of Daleks given white casings and mechanical upgrades, yet these "Imperial Daleks" were seen as impure by the Black Dalek Leader, which led a faction of Grey Daleks that came to be known as the "the Renegade faction" (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, Doctor Who season 25 (BBC1, 1988)., et. al) on Davros's order; he decried the separatists under the Supreme as "renegades" for refusing to bow before him. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017).)These two sides clashed in what became known as the "Imperial-Renegade Dalek Civil War". The Imperium secured control over Skaro, (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, Doctor Who season 25 (BBC1, 1988)., et. al) though the Renegades later claimed the world controlled by Davros was not the original Skaro. (PROSE: War of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from War of the Daleks, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1997).
At some point, the Grey Daleks encountered the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown on the planet Omnia, which they had conquered after the Battle of Destiny. The Doctor made it his mission to free the planet from Dalek control, which was being supported by their puppet leader, Carmen Rega. The occupation was commanded by a Dalek Supreme and aided by a Special Weapons Dalek. (AUDIO: Emissary of the Daleks [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.) Davros and his Imperial Daleks travelled back to the Battle of Waterloo in an attempt to change history but were thwarted by the Sixth Doctor. (AUDIO: The Curse of Davros [+]Jonathan Morris, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2012).)
Serving under the command of the Dalek Prime, which held the title of Emperor for the Renegade Daleks, (PROSE: War of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from War of the Daleks, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1997). the Black Dalek Leader continued to lead the Renegade faction as the Supreme Dalek. However, the factionalism that had started after the Movellan war continued to divide the Dalek race, as the Renegade faction was not a united force, with some pockets of the faction not even declaring hostilities against Davros. During the war against Davros' faction, the Supreme hoped to find a way to unite its faction, eventually deciding it would need to kill the Doctor to bring about such a future. (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, adapted from Remembrance of the Daleks (Ben Aaronovitch), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1990).)
An Imperial Dalek shuttle landing in 1963 (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, Doctor Who season 25 (BBC1, 1988).)
During the war, the Imperial and Renegade Daleks both headed to Earth in 1963 to claim the Hand of Omega. The Imperials controlled H. Parson, while the Renegades used Judith Winters as their battle computer and "allied" with the Association. The two factions waged a lengthy battle at Shoreditch. Aided by the Special Weapons Dalek, the Imperial Daleks won, almost wiping out the Renegades aside from the Supreme. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, Doctor Who season 25 (BBC1, 1988).) During the battle, one Imperial Dalek was transported to 2016 by a rift in time at Coal Hill School. It learnt of the outcome of the battle and attempted to travel back to forewarn its comrades. It was stopped by the efforts of Ace and Quill. (AUDIO: In Remembrance)
The Imperial Daleks took the Hand of Omega, as the Seventh Doctor had planned all along. Davros plotted to (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, Doctor Who season 25 (BBC1, 1988).) detonate the second sun of the Daleks' homeworld Skaro with the Hand, (PROSE: The Stranger [+]Gary Russell, Heroes and Monsters Collection (Heroes and Monsters Collection, 2015).) giving the Daleks the power of unlimited time travel. In the Imperial Daleks' time zone, he did so, causing it to go supernova. This action, however, destroyed the planet and the Imperial fleet, as the Doctor had programmed the Hand to do. On Earth, the Doctor talked the last Renegade Dalek, the black Supreme Dalek, into self-destructing. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, Doctor Who season 25 (BBC1, 1988).) He did think to himself that, in reality, the Supreme was not the last of its kind and merely said that to convince the Dalek into destroying itself. (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, adapted from Remembrance of the Daleks (Ben Aaronovitch), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1990).)
A new empire[]
From the ashes of the civil war[]
Following the destruction of Skaro, Dalek battlecruisers continued to protect the area of the galaxy where Skaro used to be, even though it was now desolate. The Doctor briefly visited this part of space after encountering peace-loving Daleks in an alternate universe. (PROSE: The Ripple Effect)
The Dalek Prime, (COMIC: Shadow of Humanity [+]unclear authorship, The Daleks comics (City Magazines, 1966).) who was credited to be the leader of the Renegade Daleks and winner of the civil war in one account of history. (PROSE: War of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from War of the Daleks, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1997).
According to some accounts, the Dalek Prime's Renegade Daleks emerged victorious, now referring to themselves as the true Imperials. Davros' escape pod was acquired by a garbage ship, the Quetzel, which the Eighth Doctor and Sam Jones also ended up on. A group of Thals arrived, with the intention of using Davros to effectively turn them into Daleks so they could fight the Daleks better. A Dalek force arrived and took the Quetzel to a planet called Skaro. The Dalek Prime claimed that this was the original Skaro, and that the planet the Doctor had destroyed was a decoy called Antalin. The Dalek Prime knew that some of its own Daleks were loyal to Davros and put Davros on trial to flush them out. A battle ensued and the Dalek Prime emerged victorious. A Dalek factory ship was lost to the Time Vortex, (PROSE: War of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from War of the Daleks, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1997). with the Doctor believing it was the ship that would crash on Vulcan and be dealt with by his second incarnation. (PROSE: War of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from War of the Daleks, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1997).; TV: The Power of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966).) Davros was apparently executed, though a Spider Dalek loyal to him had promised to pose as his executioner and teleport him to safety, (PROSE: War of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from War of the Daleks, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1997). which Davros's later survival would appear to confirm. (TV: Journey's End [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008). et al.)
According to one dissenting account, it was also around this point post-civil war point in Dalek history, (PROSE: The History of the Daleks [+]John Peel and Terry Nation, The Official Doctor Who & the Daleks Book (St Martin's Press, 1988).) rather than prior to the Dalek-Movellan War and revival of Davros as most accounts tended to hold, (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017)., COMIC: Bringer of Darkness [+]Warwick Gray, DWMS comic stories (Marvel Comics, 1993)., etc.) that the Dalek Emperor's Human Factor gambit occurred, backfiring into a "final end" for the Dalek race as it became engulfed in the original Dalek Civil War arranged by the Second Doctor. (PROSE: The History of the Daleks [+]John Peel and Terry Nation, The Official Doctor Who & the Daleks Book (St Martin's Press, 1988).) Although the Doctor thought it plausible that some Daleks would survive the cataclysm and rebuild, he was hopeful that they would never again reach the same heights as before. He further believed that the Dalek Prime was finally dead, (PROSE: The Evil of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from The Evil of the Daleks (David Whitaker), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1993).) unaware that its backup systems had kicked on and the lights of the Emperor still shined through the night of Skaro. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1967).)
Another account of the end of the Imperial-Renegade Civil War held that Davros' escape pod entered the time vortex and was found by a Nekkistani ship. The Eighth Doctor, Samson Griffin and Gemma Griffin found the Nekkistani ship in the vortex and the Griffins boarded the ship to investigate. Davros exacted his revenge by sending them back to Earth, wiping the Doctor's memory of them and operating on the TARDIS. Samson was sent home and Gemma became part of the "resistance" to the new race of Daleks Davros made on Earth. They conquered the planet, leaving only the area where Samson lived free from Dalek control.
When the Doctor, Charley Pollard and C'rizz returned from the Divergent Universe, Davros was waiting for them. Davros' mind had become fractured between his own personality and that of "the Emperor". A series of events led to the Doctor actually giving the Daleks their Emperor and letting them leave Earth. Davros left Earth with his Daleks, the Emperor personality dominant. (AUDIO: Terror Firma)
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A Black Dalek officer on Azimuth (AUDIO: Daleks Among Us [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.)
A third account stated that Davros' escape pod crash-landed on Azimuth, which the Seventh Doctor and Ace had, at least seemingly, liberated from Dalek occupation twenty local years prior. In truth, a Dalek force under a Black Dalek reminded hidden on the world. After Davros landed and attempted to make contact with other Daleks in the universe, he encountered the Seventh Doctor again. He contacted Daleks that took over planet and created a clone of his younger self Falkus as Davros' son. When learned about the Persuasion machine from Will Arrowsmith, Davros wanted it to reassert his control over the Daleks. However, the machine was destroyed by Elizabeth Klein. (AUDIO: Daleks Among Us [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.)
A fourth account, which may have been a result of the changes to history caused during the Kotturuh crisis, suggested that after Davros fled the war, one Dalek Supreme exterminated all other members of the Dalek Council (PROSE: The Restoration Empire [+]James Goss, Time Lord Victorious (Eaglemoss Collections, 2020).) and was elected the new Dalek Emperor of the Imperial Daleks. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe [+]George Mann, Justin Richards and Cavan Scott, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (Ebury Publishing, 2017).) He founded the Restoration Empire and modelled himself on a former emperor, building a gold casing which augmented his brain capacity. Under his command, the Daleks remade Skaro. To further harken back to the old empire, he brought back the Silver Daleks as Drones. (PROSE: The Restoration Empire [+]James Goss, Time Lord Victorious (Eaglemoss Collections, 2020).) This Emperor was advised by the Dalek Prime Strategist, which claimed to be the oldest Dalek alive. (COMIC: Defender of the Daleks [+]Jody Houser, Time Lord Victorious release order (Titan Comics, 2020).)
The Dalek Hive[]
- Main article: Dalek Hive
The Daleks of the Dalek Hive. (COMIC: Fire and Brimstone [+]Alan Barnes, DWM Comics (Marvel Comics UK, 1997).)
According to another account, after the destruction of Skaro, the last surviving Daleks reorganised themselves into a mobile Dalek Hive led by a gigantic Dalek Supreme.
While sailing past the Magellan Cluster, the Dalek Hive was attacked by a ship which had fallen through a rift from another universe. After wiping out all of its aggressive inhabitants save one, the Daleks were horrified to discover the insectoid mutants were the Daleks of this other universe. Becoming paranoid about being invaded en masse by "unalike" Daleks from parallel realities, they threw their all into the idea of a preemptive strike against the rest of the Omniverse.
To do so, they had their android Marquez interfere with humanity in the 51st century, who were creating an engineered sun called Crivello's Cauldron similar to the Eye of Harmony. He ensured that the Eighth Doctor got involved, thereby making sure that the biodata of an individual time sensitive would become bonded to the Cauldron. When the Doctor and Izzy visited the Cauldron at a later date, the Daleks took control of Icarus Falling — one of the artificial worlds now orbiting the Cauldron — and used the Doctor as a conduct to take control of the Cauldron and make it collapse into a black hole which could then be turned into an interdimensional gateway.
They had failed to realise that various forces from other universes were waiting for just such an opportunity to swarm in — including the spider-like Daleks as well as the Great Vampires. The Dalek Hive and its fleet were attacked as they began to cross through the wormhole, quickly proving no match for their enemies, with the Dalek Supreme being destroyed by the alternative Daleks. Ultimately, the Doctor got Ptolemy Muttonchops, an avatar of the Cauldron, to take conscious control of the Cauldron's power and cause it to go supernova, destroying the Daleks entirely. He discovered that Rassilon had orchestrated this entire sequence of events, paying the Threshold an unknown prize for them to embed an operative on Icarus Falling and ensure that those events would come to pass, wiping out the Daleks once and for all. (COMIC: Fire and Brimstone [+]Alan Barnes, DWM Comics (Marvel Comics UK, 1997).)
Renewal of the Dalek Empire[]
Their cameo in Seasons of Fear, which is explained in The Time of the Daleks [+]Justin Richards, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2002)., needs to be added
The Supreme on Kar-Charrat. (AUDIO: The Genocide Machine [+]Mike Tucker, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2000).)
On the first stage of their new empire, the Daleks invaded Kar-Charrat to gain knowledge data from the Library on Kar-Charrat with their Test subjects. They created the first test subject, but it went insane. However, the second test subject was able to gain knowledge from the Wetworks facility and gained a respect for non-Dalek life and refused to obey orders to kill and destroy. It was destroyed by the Special Weapons Dalek. The Daleks were stopped by the Seventh Doctor and his companion Ace who planted explosives which killed the Daleks and destroyed the Wetworks facility, freeing the Kar-Charratans. However the Dalek Supreme retreated to its mothership and reported failure to the Emperor Dalek, who was infuriated and ordered it to self-destruct. It did and the Emperor decided another plan would be completed. (AUDIO: The Genocide Machine [+]Mike Tucker, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2000).) Unknown to the Doctor, the Daleks gained information which they would use in their invasions including about the human mind and Project Infinity. (AUDIO: Invasion of the Daleks [+]Nicholas Briggs, Dalek Empire (Big Finish Productions, 2001)., Project Infinity)
The second stage of the Dalek Empire was to take control of Gallifrey. The Daleks led by the Black Dalek removed the Etra Prime from time and space so that they could mine the Apocalypse Element from the planet kidnapping a Monan and Time Lord delegation including Lady President Romanadvoratrelundar. Twenty years later the Daleks sent Etra Prime on a collision course with the planet Archetryx, which was hosting a temporal treaty attended by twenty of the Temporal Powers. The Dalek force invaded Gallifrey and added their own mental energy to the Eye, which did contain the Element. The Daleks were defeated by the Sixth Doctor. Despite that defeat, The Daleks detonated the Element in the Seriphia Galaxy, destroying everything within it, and allowed the Daleks to establish a power base and to control over a million Skaros for their new empire. (AUDIO: The Apocalypse Element [+]Stephen Cole, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2000).)
During the early days of the Dalek invasion and occupation of Earth in 22nd century a lone Dalek in 2158 Kansas had been damaged by weapon fire which penetrated its casing, allowing for a parasitic wasp to enter the body. Once the Dalek returned to base, it was deemed damaged and sent to the repair bay where its genetic material was to be analysed. This was part of the Daleks' standard practice of taking the DNA to the reproductive factories for the breeding of more Daleks. It was at this point that the Dalek Emperor from an alternate future arrived and informed them of a great catastrophe that would befall them and provided them a cure; an insecticide that would prevent a so-called "Mutant Phase" from occurring.
The Fifth Doctor and Nyssa arrived to help a Thal professor Ptolem and his friend Ganatus for the research over the Mutant Phase. This had caused the Daleks transformation into nearly indestructible creatures. The Dalek Emperor forced the Doctor to return to the 22nd century to stop the mutant phase's origins and destroyed Skaro by exploding the planet in the 43rd century when it came under attack by the Mutant Phase. The Emperor implanted his mind into Ganatus' to make sure Ptolem and the Doctor did their work. It was the Emperor who was the cause of implementing an ineffective pesticide paradox. The Doctor convinced him not to change the past. The Emperor listened and negated the alternate timeline and the Mutant Phase and the Emperor was erased from existence. (AUDIO: The Mutant Phase [+]Nicholas Briggs, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2000).)
The final stage of the Empire began when the Daleks launched over a thousand Dalek Saucers into the Time Vortex. A Temporal Extinction Device was deployed in a time fissure by a Dalek vessel within the Time Vortex. This caused instability. The Dalek time ship was swamped by a tidal wave of temporal energy. They were trapped in a Time loop however one pilot and two strategists arrived to General Mariah Learman after using an escape Time corridor. The Daleks injected her with drugs and transformed her into a Dalek. They invaded Earth in the 17th century. These forces were stopped by the Doctor, who left them trapped in the vortex. (AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks [+]Justin Richards, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2002).) The Time Lords later made a deal with the Daleks that allowed them to leave the Time Vortex. (AUDIO: Neverland)
Second Great Dalek Occupation[]
- Main article: Second Great Dalek Occupation
Having learnt of Project Infinity from the Library on Kar-Charrat, the Emperor planned to hijack it and bring forth an army of alternate Daleks who had conquered their own universe. (AUDIO: Project Infinity [+]Nicholas Briggs, Dalek Empire (Big Finish Productions, 2002).) To this end, he ordered the conquest of Mutter's Spiral, beginning with the invasion of Vega VI, from which he mined veganite (AUDIO: Invasion of the Daleks [+]Nicholas Briggs, Dalek Empire (Big Finish Productions, 2001).) to boost the power of Project Infinity when the time came. (AUDIO: Project Infinity [+]Nicholas Briggs, Dalek Empire (Big Finish Productions, 2002).) The Daleks' invasion was opposed by the Earth Alliance, resulting in a massive war. (AUDIO: Invasion of the Daleks [+]Nicholas Briggs, Dalek Empire (Big Finish Productions, 2001)., The Human Factor [+]Nicholas Briggs, Dalek Empire (Big Finish Productions, 2001)., The Fearless: Part 1 [+]Nicholas Briggs, Dalek Empire (Big Finish Productions, 2007)., Part 2 [+]Nicholas Briggs, Dalek Empire (Big Finish Productions, 2007)., Part 3 [+]Nicholas Briggs, Dalek Empire (Big Finish Productions, 2007)., Part 4 [+]Nicholas Briggs, Dalek Empire (Big Finish Productions, 2007).) This period was known as the Second Great Dalek Occupation. (AUDIO: Return of the Daleks [+]Nicholas Briggs, Bonus Releases (Big Finish Productions, 2006).)
The Daleks attack. (AUDIO: Project Infinity [+]Nicholas Briggs, Dalek Empire (Big Finish Productions, 2002).)
The Emperor and the Dalek Supreme used Su