As this is a page about the casing itself rather than the Dalek variant, a lot of the detailed history not related to the use of the casings per se should be simplified.
These problems might be so great that the article's factual accuracy has been compromised. Talk about it here or check the revision history or Manual of Style for more information.
- You may be looking for Mark I Travel Machine.
The Dalek War Machines (COMIC: Genesis of Evil) or Mark II Travel Machines (PROSE: The History of the Daleks) were the type of casing used by the Skaro City Daleks, the earliest form of Daleks encountered by the Doctor. (TV: The Daleks) The Time Lords recorded Daleks using this model of casing as Type I Daleks. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)
One account dubbed the casing the Mark II Travel Machine by claiming Davros's chair was the Mark I Travel Machine, (PROSE: The History of the Daleks) whereas other accounts regarded the Mark I as its own casing. (AUDIO: Guilt, et. al) The account using the name "Dalek War Machine" held that it was designed by the scientist Yarvelling, who intended the machine to be used as a weapon to aid the humanoid Dalek race in their war with the Thals. Following the explosion of a neutron bomb destroyed both sides' civilisations, the Dalek mutants retreated into the casings of the machines. After the last of the original race, Yarvelling and Zolfian, had both perished (COMIC: Genesis of Evil) the name Dalek Machine to refer to the species remained for a time (COMIC: Power Play) before simply Dalek became the commonly used term. (TV: The Daleks, COMIC: Duel of the Daleks et al.)
As their technology improved, the Daleks modified their design beyond the War Machine said to be created by Yarvelling, adding slats to their weapons platform. (COMIC: Shadow of Humanity, The Emissaries of Jevo et al.) These new and improved Silver Daleks (PROSE: Mission to the Unknown) more closely resembled the Mark III Travel Machines created by Davros. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) Whilst the Daleks claimed their original travel machines were not designed by Davros, but instead based on designs stolen from other scientists from whom Davros stole the credit, (PROSE: War of the Daleks) Davros and a historical text credited the creation of the original Dalek casing to Davros, specifically saying he had based the design upon his chair. (AUDIO: Guilt, PROSE: The Whoniverse) Indeed, at later points still, grey Dalek casings identical to Davros's creations became the most common type of casing used by Dalek drones. (TV: Frontier in Space, Destiny of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks, etc.)
Hierarchy[]
Initially the only type of Dalek casings, the War Machines as created by Yarvelling were soon established as the casing of the basic Dalek drones. As new Daleks were made, the originals became subordinate to the Golden Emperor, (COMIC: Genesis of Evil) Black Daleks, (COMIC: Duel of the Daleks) and Red Daleks. (COMIC: Eve of War)
A typical job on Skaro for these Daleks would be a worker in the inventions factories. For example, the scientist Zeg (who notably had a name) originally had a standard Dalek War Machine for a casing, although he later improved it by turning its material into metalert. This made it effectively invincible as well as colouring it bright red.
Two Daleks of this type that had been biologically modified challenged the Emperor for the position: Zeg (COMIC: Duel of the Daleks) and the One in a Million Dalek. (COMIC: Shadow of Humanity) Both failed and were destroyed for their treachery.
The War Machines who lived in the Dalek City at the time of the Thal-Dalek battle were a uniform silver and blue, subordinate to the pure black Dalek Supreme. (AUDIO: Return to Skaro) The ones who lived in the city when Davros was dying were under the command of a red and gold Dalek Supreme, a design from the later days of the Dalek Empire. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice)
History[]
Info from Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks and The Dalek Factor needs to be added.
Origins[]
TV Century 21 prints its first image of a machine Dalek. (PROSE: Stingray Attacked!)
By one account, the "Mark II Travel Machines" were the initial Dalek designs by Davros following his life-support chair, the Mark I Travel Machine. (PROSE: The History of the Daleks) An account of the event similarly depicted the Mark I Travel Machine as being based on Davros' life support system. (AUDIO: Guilt) However, another account stated Davros had only made his chair after seeing the fear an early Dalek struck in Ravon. (PROSE: Davros Genesis) The design was ultimately finalised with the Mark III Travel Machines, (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) with the Time Lords understanding that Davros had abandoned his first two prototypes. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)
In contrast to accounts involving Davros, another account of the creation of the Daleks claimed that the first Dalek War Machine was presented by Yarvelling to minister Zolfian at a War Council meeting. The latter ordered mass production of the machines, believing them to be the perfect weapon to destroy any surviving Thals after the explosion of their neutron bomb. (COMIC: Genesis of Evil) According to the myths concerning these events retold by some of the peoples who had been conquered by the Daleks, Yarvelling's War Machines had initially been designed as autonomous robots that could thus safely travel through irradiated areas. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) One account suggested that the humanoid Daleks, descended from the Kaleds, had found and copied Davros's stockpile of Mark II Travel Machines, rather than inventing them themselves. (PROSE: The History of the Daleks)
As the bombs were accidentally exploded prematurely, the Humanoid Dalek race mutated from the radiation and were forced into the casings of the War Machines as protection on the advice of the "first Dalek", (COMIC: Genesis of Evil) who was actually not one of the new mutations but one of Davros's Mark III Travel Machine-using Daleks, risen at last from the bunker where he had been sealed a thousand years prior by the Fourth Doctor. The Dalek Prime viewed the new mutations and empty casings as an opportunity to quickly grow his forces, with the Davros-created Daleks remaining the inner circle while the new, Mark II-using Daleks would be used as expendable fodder. (PROSE: The History of the Daleks)
After two years, Yarvelling and Zolfian emerged from their bunker and discovered what their race had become. They rebuilt the war factory but both perished before they could make more machines to shield themselves from the radiation. After they died, the first Machine Dalek declared himself Emperor. (COMIC: Genesis of Evil) Their first act under the new Emperor was to build the Dalek City and they achieved this feat in 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)
According to one body of research, however, the Skaro City Daleks' slat-less machines were not preexisting designs, but rather created by the Daleks themselves by altering the Mark III Travel Machines; the book postulated that the Daleks had, over the centuries, come to believe that inductive static power, despite its limitations, was a more efficient means of power than the one Davros had designed. (PROSE: The Whoniverse)
On 30 January 2065, TV 21 issued its first news piece about Skaro as part of its second Universe Edition, covering the neutron bomb on Skaro and the Daleks whom emerged in its wake. A photograph depicting one of the new Daleks accompanied the article. (PROSE: Stingray Attacked!)
Early days of the War Machine Daleks[]
Shortly after these events, the planet was visited by a Krattorian spacecraft piloted by the slave-trader Kest. As Kest was here to mine the metallic sand, he soon uncovered the 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)
A worker in the inventions factory, Zeg, discovered a stronger Dalekanium alloy called Metalert that would aid in their interplanetary travel. An Oquolloquox directly struck Zeg and he absorbed the sunlight and the Metalert which meant he was now resistant to immense heats and could feel some level of emotion. He challenged the Emperor and managed to survive acid, mercury and the gunstick of the feared Black Dalek but the extreme cold of liquid oxygen crushed him. (COMIC: Duel of the Daleks)
A Dalek guarding prisoners Susan, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright and the Doctor inside the Dalek City. (TV: The Daleks)
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)
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) 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) 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)
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)
At a point where they had regained the ability to move freely outside their City, but still had not set out into space, the Daleks received a mysterious transmission which they feared might be a declaration of war. Shortly thereafter, Susan, having borrowed the Doctor's TARDIS 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)
Use in conquest of the universe[]
War Machines were used to test out the Dalek Empire's first attempts at spacecraft which was eventually perfected in the Proto 13 design. These Daleks were also used as the invading force in their first interplanetary conquest, the Battle for Alvega. (COMIC: The Amaryll Challenge) These Daleks were also used in the invasion of Solturis with some of the force briefly occupying the city of Bulos before sustaining casualties and the Emperor being summoned back to Skaro. (COMIC: The Penta Ray Factor)
Dalek turns on Dalek out of fear of catching the rust plague. (COMIC: Plague of Death)
The reason for this was that a rust plague had accidentally manufactured a radioactive cloud of dust at a weapons factory that destroyed Daleks on contact. There was a brief state of panic with Dalek turning on Dalek out of fear of contracting the plague. However, it was soon discovered that the Black Dalek was the only carrier and when he was cured order was restored. (COMIC: Plague of Death) Whilst distracted with the aftermath of the plague, the Monstrons landed in an inactive volcano. Several Daleks in War Machine casings were sent to investigate but were destroyed by their force field. The Monstrons' robots, the Engibrains succeeded in entombing the Dalek City but one Dalek soldier also succeeded in sacrificing itself to set of the volcano where the Monstrons were hiding. Elsewhere, other War Machines gave some of their power to operate a magnet that rescued the Emperor. After this, repair work on the City began. (COMIC: The Menace of the Monstrons)
Daleks in War Machines were posted on the space station orbiting Oric. One of them was affected by the Mechanoid's suspicion ray and turned on the other Daleks working there. They were also on board the Dalek flying saucer that destroyed the Mechanoid ship. (COMIC: Eve of War) In preparation for the approaching war with the Mechanoids, War Machines were sent to explore the cosmos in search of new technology. They constituted the ground force that invaded Phryne with some Phrynians escaping in the hope of overthrowing them some day. (COMIC: The Archives of Phyrne) Later, the Emperor ordered all Daleks to use their brain power to think of a solution to the rogue planet Skardal being set on a collision course with Skaro. (COMIC: The Rogue Planet) The Daleks in the City attempted to apprehend the Zeros robot 2K before he escaped. The missile on the ship that he escaped in destroyed Skardal. 2K also persuaded the Mechanoids the cease hostilities with the Daleks. (COMIC: Impasse)
Some War Machine Daleks were installing some new defences on Skaro when a Terrorkon attacked them. Several Daleks were destroyed before the creature was finally subdued by an electric eel. The Emperor vowed to explore Skaro and learn of its dangers. (COMIC: The Terrorkon Harvest) After this, others encountered a race of sand creatures before destroying them (COMIC: Legacy of Yesteryear) as well as another patrol destroying the Zomites, a race of intelligent insects, with the help of the First Doctor, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright whom they let leave Skaro alive for their services but warned them never to return. (COMIC: The Daleks Destroy the Zomites)
The Emperor questions Daleks decorated with flowers on their motives. (COMIC: Shadow of Humanity)
Whilst on routine patrol, the Daleks discovered one of their humanoid ancestors that had awoken from suspended animation in the mountains who they exterminated, believing them to be an intruder on the planet. Once they discovered the truth, some War Machines teamed up with Zet to track down Lodian, who knew the location of Earth. They finally caught up with him, but he exploded his escape vessel instead of allowing the Daleks to conquer Earth. (COMIC: Legacy of Yesteryear) Later, it was discovered that through an accident in manufacturing, a War Machine had human qualities. It led a brief revolution and gained some followers before being destroyed by the Emperor. (COMIC: Shadow of Humanity)
At a time in their history when they knew of the planet Earth, a pair of War Machines tested their new Earthmen Detector as they stalked the Doctor, Ian and Barbara. However, the device went off at the exact moment that a cat passed it, leading them to believe that it was defective. The Daleks left to destroy the useless artefact. (COMIC: The Daleks Are Foiled)
At some point, the Daleks invaded Trodos and nearly wiped out the Trods. They were defeated by the Second Doctor. (COMIC: The Trodos Ambush)
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)
In one account of the Dalek Prime's history, it had, during the trials to become Dalek Emperor, led the Dalek War Machines to invade Shade. After surviving the ordeal, the Prime was transferred out of its own War Machine casing and implanted into an official emperor casing. (AUDIO: Across the Darkened City)
25th century invasion[]
By the year 2400, Skaro moved to the Solar system around the orbit of the Sun, making it easier for the Daleks to invade. (COMIC: Invasion of the Daleks) On Skaro, the Daleks assessed the system's planets and moons according to strategic importance. (COMIC: Dalek Planetarium)
Before moving to invade Earth, the Daleks first wiped out the primitive races on the moons of Jupiter and the monsters on the moons of Saturn. They then destroyed the small human colony on Mars in just three hours.
Several weeks later, the Daleks travelled to Venus to conquer it. They were briefly seen passing Earth by Paddy who was working on an observation satellite but they activated an electron shield which masked their presence. As flying saucers were regarded as a 20th century myth, he was sent on sick leave back to Earth and treated for moonspots.
On Venus, New Paris was unprepared for the Dalek attack and after the savage onslaught it was reduced to ruins with the survivors rounded up and after a brief protest during which several dissenters were exterminated, they were made into slaves. After this, two Daleks were sent on hoverbouts to investigate the Churchill Mountains where Jeff, Andy and Mary Stone were on a working holiday. They destroyed their cabin and captured Jeff and Mary whilst Dalek Scout 159. Andy used a rock blaster to destroy the scout and after discovering its intercom, vowed to rescue Jeff and Mary. (COMIC: Invasion of the Daleks)
After four months of hiding himself from the Daleks and struggling with the sometimes scarce food supply, Andy discovered from a dying man on Major Road Eight that Jeff had been taken to the lead smelting works because of his profession as a mineralogist. Two days, Andy infiltrated the lead works and located Jeff who was in control of a new painting process that allowed the Daleks the combat the rust they suffered from in the climate of the planet. With Andy's assistance, Jeff mixes sodium azide and lead salt with the paint mixture and convinces the Daleks that all the casings should be painted at once. Under the hot Venusian sun, the paint hardened and the sodium azide combined with the salt to produce lead azide which fractures causing thousands of tiny explosions. The disorientation experienced because of this allow Andy enough time to release Jeff from his chains and they both escape, with the mission of locating Mary. (PROSE: Red for Danger)
Before they could conquer Earth, the Daleks needed lots of oil but the delays involved in procuring this on Venus angered the Dalek Council who ordered that the slaves be worked to death. Mary negotiated with the Daleks to employ a system where one half of the work force rests while the other half works to increase productivity and prevent casualties from exhaustion. This new system was very efficient so Mary was sent to New Paris to implement the system at other oil wells. The glass on the binoculars Jeff and Andy was using led to them almost being detected in a nearby forest which gave them the idea to reflect the heat the sun to one of the search lights to start a fire. The oil well was destroyed which prompted the slaves inside to rebel against their masters. After they were freed, they talked with Jeff and Andy and gave them information about the whereabouts of Mary. (COMIC: The Oil Well)
Suddenly, the Daleks disappeared from Venus. Although it was known that huge fleets of them had retreated to other universes, a large section had been last seen near the Churchill Mountains, which they had hollowed out and made a base. Vel Karneen of the Space Army landed on the planet in search of them. Whilst thinking on the Winston Dam, Jeff noticed that the central Churchill Mountains was larger than the others whereas before the Dalek occupation they had all been the same size, deducing that the Daleks must be inside. Vel allowed him and Andy to borrow a copterjet which they landed at the bottom of the mountains before beginning the climb upwards. They discovered the Dalek base and gained access. The slaves were rolling oil drums from a stockpile to the base of the rockets, where its contents were drawn out to the interior of the space fleet. Andy reunited with Mary and spread the word among the prisoners of the incoming rescue whilst Jeff disabled the lights in the base. Once doing so, the slaves all ran towards the exit and down the mountain with only minor casualties being sustained. The Daleks immediately attempted to flee with all twenty rocket ships stored in the mountain being met by the Space Army. The Daleks managed to down one of the Space Army ships but were completely obliterated soon after, ending their occupation of Venus. (PROSE: The Secret of the Mountain)
Later, on one of his scouting space trips, Jeff landed on Skaro and delivered a report back to Earth on the inner workings of the Dalek City including a document titled Anatomy of the Dalek. He was briefly seen by one Dalek but was able to escape before capture. (COMIC: City of the Daleks)
Equipped with a spectroscanner that could detect Dalekenium, the Stones found a badly wounded man named Catilla who told them that he and his crew were captured by the Daleks and taken to Mars. They escorted him and the crew back to their ship where he fell into a coma but that night the spectroscanner was destroyed. When questioned, Cattila revealed they were artificial humanoids and that the Daleks promised them Mars in return for the capture of the Stones. Andy knocked him out and a squad of Daleks arrived but Jeff swiftly wiped them out with a weapon on the ship - the pulveriser. The trio then headed back to Venus with their prisoners. (COMIC: The Humanoids)
The Daleks decided to send an advance rocket ship which landed in a field in Kent to establish a reception station for the full invasion by spraying down liquid metal so the larger ships could land on the hardened metal strips rather than the uneven ground. A young mole who was experiencing his first night out of home alone, observed as these events unfolded. He went over to examine the oblong sheets and tiny silver balls to deduce that this was what he had smelt. An approaching Dalek startled him and he hurriedly burrowed underneath the metal roadway and then veered and surfaced. The weight of one of the sprayers pressed down on the edge of the metal sheet bearing the hole and dipped, falling onto its side. It accidentally turned on and sprayed liquid metal all over the Daleks which collided with each other in an attempt not to be solidified. Two Daleks escaped the initial burst and sped away to retrieve a solution from the ship but were caught on the ramp. They were all easily disarmed when found the next morning. (PROSE: The Small Defender)
Daleks based on Gurnian captured the spacecraft that Andy and Mary were travelling in. To amuse, the Daleks let their prisoners loose on the planet with the hope of them being devoured by the native Horrorkons. However, the Horrokons ignored Andy and Mary and they worked out that it is metal that appeals to them. They gathered up all the scraps they could find and lured one of the beasts to the Daleks that were pursuing them where they were destroyed. Andy and Mary quickly got off the planet with the intention of calling in the Space Army to deal with the remaining Daleks. (COMIC: Monsters of Gurnian)
Eventually, the Daleks were forced to retreat back to Skaro where they activated a force field to prevent the Space Army from landing. On Jupiter, Mary was able to blend three kinds of acids together which ate through the silcronium casings the Daleks wore. On Mercury, Andy trained an army of silver ants to carry rust and spread it amongst them. On Pluto, Jeff discovered how to bend the sun's rays which first blinded and then disarmed Dalek invaders.
Vel Karneen lost a total of twelve ships whilst attempting to enter the gaps in the force field at Skaro's north and south poles. Whilst discussing balloons, it occurred to Jeff that if one of the poles were sealed then the Daleks would have no air and suffocate. As this happened, a note was sent through the force field telling the Daleks of this and soon after they lowered the field to discuss peace terms. (PROSE: Break-through!)
The Dalek Emperor agreed to the terms that the Daleks would never leave Skaro again and that their dreams of conquest were over. The world rejoiced over peace with newspaper articles reaching New York and Paris, a cricket commentary being interrupted in one location and robots receiving extra oil. Andy remembered that the Black Fleet had last been seen near Earth and realising that the Moon was undefended, he, Jeff and Mary set off to investigate. They discovered Daleks there intending to use discarded nuclear bombs to stir up lots of dust and rock. They were then planning to use a megla ray during a solar eclipse to send the dust and rock to Earth making the air unbreathable. Mary set the bombs to detonate before the eclipse occurred which destroyed the Daleks who were still preparing on the Moon. As they watched the eclipse from space, Jeff confirmed that their search for Daleks was only just beginning. (COMIC: Battle for the Moon)
27th century invasion[]
Info from The World That Waits, Masters of the World and Manhunt needs to be added.
In the early 27th century, after "two hundred years" of peace, an unknown Mechanical Planet moved through the universe destroying planets it came across, serving a potential threat to both Earth and Skaro. Earth possessed few weapons because of the many years of peace and did not understand how to use the Daleks'. The Emperor came to Earth and assured ambassador Brit Sovard that with their weapons returned to them they could deal with the planet. Brit reluctantly agreed and humans Jay and Gregg rode with the Emperor on his ship to ensure the success of the mission. After the planet was destroyed, the Emperor asked that the humans warn Earth and "all the planets in every sky" that the Daleks will come to conquer them. (COMIC: The Mechanical Planet)
Soon after, the Daleks infiltrated Earth and came to be based beneath the yet to be finished Octagon building. They made Humanoid copies of several people in authority including Minister of Defence Tal Yorke, who they had kidnapped along with his family. The humanoid replaced the real Yorke for the Nine Planet Screen broadcast at which he was to make a different speech that would have damaged Earth's alliances. Before it begin, however, Yorke was seemingly assassinated by Agent Meric Scrivener of Unispace Security who then fled. He was pursued by Agent Arthur Lippert, Agent Brit, and journalist Tom Lytton. They followed him first to the burning remains of Yorke's mansion and then to the Octagon, believing him to be insane. Lytton found a switch inside and they continued where they discovered many prisoners manacled to the walls. They were quickly confronted by a Dalek who was shot and killed by the concealed Meric. He explained to the trio that he had known Yorke for a long time and knew the one at the conference to be a fake. He killed the fake and fled in case he was detained for questioning giving the Daleks time to relocate. Meric, Brit and Arthur freed the prisoners after Meric deduced Lytton to also be a humanoid. In his report, Lippert suggested that Meric be awarded the Nine Planet Star Decoration for his intelligence, endeavour and bravery, an idea Unispace Controller for Earth Bronson Bailey heavily endorsed. (PROSE: The Secret Struggle)
When Brit realised that Borg and Zemmer had commandeered her ship, the Daring with the intention of robbing the Dalek Treasure House on Skaro she protested because they were at war. They planned that the Daleks would blame Unispace Security for the theft which would escalate tensions. Brit managed to escape with her ship leaving the Daleks to exterminate Borg and Zemmer whom they thought were just pirates. (COMIC: Treasure of the Daleks)
In search of a five-leafed clover, Pat Kelly travelled to Skaro where he bluffed the Emperor into allowing him to stay in the Dalek City where he could look around. Upon meeting with the Emperor again, Kelly complimented him on their hydroponics chambers and made special note of their clovers. Reasoning that Kelly must be a spy and that he noted the clovers because he knew they would grow quickly, blocking their metal roadways and strangling their machines, he had Kelly's ship the Emerald Isle fitted with the clovers to bring certain doom to Earth. The Daleks allowed Kelly to leave and after hearing Kelly's seemingly happy reaction, the Emperor remarked that he was probably undergoing the last stages of insanity. (PROSE: The Five-Leaf Clover) After destroying a race of Birdmen who intended to conquer Earth after using Skaro as a testing ground for their invasion, the Emperor lamented that their secret of invisibility had died with them as it could have been a useful weapon against the humans. (COMIC: The Invisible Invaders)
On 16 October 2612, Captain Rod Marlow was ordered by Scrivener to make a sweepsurvey of Esmera in the 27th Galaxy as reports had been received that the Daleks had landed on the planet and built Interferer Beams to block all radio waves on Earth and the surrounding planets. Marlow discovered six incomplete Interferer machines but after another sweep of the planet returned to see them fully completed. However, he soon ran into difficulty and was forced to evacuate his damaged ship, the Gypsy Joe. After approaching the construction site, Marlow discovered an Orbitus that had been ordered to protect the Interferer Beams. After discovering rust and fearing damage, the Orbitus deconstructed and rebuilt the machines every day. Marlow reprogrammed the Orbitus to obey only human commands and ordered it to destroy the Interferer Beams. On 18 October, Marlow and the Orbitus returned to Earth for the former's son's birthday and the latter as a gift for him. (PROSE: The Log of the "Gypsy Joe")
40th century conflict[]
Info from The Dalek Trap, Sara Kingdom: Space Security Agent, The Super Sub, The Secret of the Emperor, The Brain Tappers, The Outlaw Planet, The Living Death and Diamond Dust needs to be added.
Phasing out of the Dalek War Machines[]
After this, the Daleks' technology improved and they modified their design away from Yarvelling's creation to reflect this, such as the addition of slats. (TV: The Space Museum, COMIC: The Emissaries of Jevo et al.) This design, known as the Silver Dalek, more closely resembled the Mark III Travel Machines that Davros presented to the Kaleds as his Daleks (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) and in rare cases they moved further away from this design, such as the discs attached to the back of casings during the 22nd century Dalek invasion of Earth. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, AUDIO: Masters of Earth) Indeed, some time later, Grey Daleks strictly identical in exterior appearance to Davros's original Travel Machines replaced the Silver Daleks as the normal form of Dalek drone. (TV: Frontier in Space, Destiny of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks, etc.)
Persistence of War Machine Daleks[]
Although most Daleks alive at later points in the species' history operated various forms of Mark III Travel Machines rather than the original Dalek War Machines, (TV: Planet of the Daleks, Remembrance of the Daleks, Victory of the Daleks, etc.) Daleks in War Machines still existed in the universe.
Dalek War Machines during the Dalek Civil War (TV: The Evil of the Daleks)
A War Machine variant with a dark dome were part of the chase after the First Doctor the subsequent assault on Mechanus. (TV: The Chase) Slatless Daleks were also seen amidst the Dalek Civil War between the Humanised Daleks and the Emperor's Personal Guard, (TV: The Evil of the Daleks) and made up the Spiridon army. (TV: Planet of the Daleks)
An empty Dalek War Machine was among the exhibits in the Space Museum on Xeros. (TV: The Space Museum) It was theorised that this particular War Machine had been either a lone scouting unit that the Moroks had overwhelmed or a recovered piece of Dalek refuse. (PROSE: The Whoniverse)
Dalek War Machines were present in 2254 on Skaro when the Seventh Doctor was sent there to retrieve a Time Ring stolen by Davros and the Dalek Emperor, even though most of the Daleks present were of later types, including advanced redesigned Daleks that scarcely even resembled the original models and a gigantic version of the War Machine. (GAME: Dalek Attack)
The Dalek Prime Strategist, who still used a damaged War Machine. (COMIC: Defender of the Daleks)
The Dalek Prime Strategist of the Restoration Empire still operated a battle-scarred Dalek War Machine. The Prime Strategist saw his usage of the ruined casing as a way of announcing that he relied more on wits than on weapons, (PROSE: The Restoration Empire) though the Tenth Doctor speculated that, after having spectacularly failed the Emperor before, the Strategist had actually been confined to his antiquated casing as a form of punishment. (COMIC: Defender of the Daleks)
Station 7 had records of the Dalek War Machine during humanity's 41st century conflict with the New Dalek Paradigm. (COMIC: The Only Good Dalek)
After the Last Great Time War, an insane Dalek in a War Machine was among the inmates of the Dalek Asylum when the Eleventh Doctor and his companions were sent there by the Dalek Prime Minister of the New Paradigm. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks) Several silver-coloured Dalek War Machines with blue sense globes were among the inhabitants of the Dalek City when the Twelfth Doctor was called to Skaro by a dying Davros, one also sporting a black dome. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice) These Daleks were destroyed when rejuvenated Daleks from the sewers attacked them. (TV: The Witch's Familiar)
The Time Lords of the Last Great Time War knew of the War Machines as a Type I Dalek and noted that they could be found in off-world monitoring duties, after more advanced warrior Daleks had cleared away significant opposition. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)
Undated events[]
Daleks in War Machines used the nerve machine to remotely paralyse the First Doctor whilst he was within the TARDIS. After determining the Doctor's affliction using the telepathic helmet, Ian Chesterton left the TARDIS and found the nerve machine. By upsetting the mechanism, Ian ruined the nerve machine and thus set the Doctor free. (COMIC: Dr. Who and the Nerve Machine)
The Doctor and Ian rescued a scientist who was captured by the War Machines because of an invention he made that they wanted. When telling them of what happened, a Dalek spotted them. Thinking quickly, Ian threw his coat over the Dalek's eye and the trio all made their escape. (COMIC: Rescued from the Daleks)
On one planet, the Doctor and Ian constructed a ray gun, which the latter used to successfully destroy DK3. As a result, the Daleks fled the planet in their Dalek flying saucers. (COMIC: The Defeat of the Daleks)
Other references[]
The image of a Dalek War Machine was used to represent the Daleks among the many adversaries that the Doctor had faced before his Malfeasance Tribunal in a textbook of Time Lord history. (PROSE: A Brief History of Time Lords)
Behind the scenes[]
Props[]
A total of four props were constructed to portray the City-dwelling Daleks in The Daleks.[1]
Design changes[]
Ron Turner's first iteration of Dalek drone, significantly different to his later work. (COMIC: Eve of War)
Despite the term "Dalek War Machine" only referring to the design of Yarvelling's original creation, the design has still evolved over the years. Different artists had slightly different ways of illustrating the Daleks. For example, in The Dalek Chronicles the design was fairly consistent under Richard Jennings and then was changed significantly under Ron Turner, who, after his first stories as artist eventually brought it back to more closely resembling Jennings' work. Additionally, Eric Eden for his one story (namely The Archives of Phryne) to base his Dalek designs of that on those from Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. which resulted in yet another design. War Machine Daleks of the Dalek Movies type were later seen among the Daleks inhabiting Skaro in the Seventh Doctor video game Dalek Attack.
The other consideration is the fact that The Daleks was initially broadcast in monochrome. Comic stories of the time took advantage of this fact and made the Daleks more colourful than the props used. However, when the original model reappeared on televised Doctor Who in 2012 and 2015, the comic redesign was ignored and the props were based on the original props used in 1963. This resulted in a different, yet equally valid design.
A typical Louis Marx friction toy
For the production of The Chase, some of the slat-less props from the first Cushing movie were loaned and modified, creating a Dalek variant. Model shots of The Evil of the Daleks and Planet of the Daleks used the Marx Toys version of the Dalek War Machines.
Other matters[]
This model is known in some fan circles as the Mark I Travel Machine, a term used in the Big Finish audio story Guilt to refer to a prototype travel machine built by Davros before he settles on the Mark III Travel Machine. This is alluded to, though not quite confirmed, in the comic story Regeneration of a Dalek (which is, besides, not considered a valid source on this Wiki) where the Dalek War Machine-type casing of the titular Dalek bears the inscription "Mk. 1" on its weapons platform.
