Proto-Daleks were robotic drones based on Dalek casings manufactured by both British and German weapons factories for use in World War I and to aid the New Dalek Paradigm in completing the final stage of the Dalek Project. Proto-Daleks on the British side were manufactured in the factories of Lord Hellcombe, who presented one of them to some visitors as the latest weapon to win the war. The Eleventh Doctor was worried about what purpose the robot had. This Dalek recognised him as the enemy of the Daleks and tried to kill him and Edward Anderson. However, they succeeded in eluding the Proto-Dalek by escaping up a flight of stairs.
The Germans had their own variation of the Proto-Dalek, produced in the factories of Erik Graul. Three of these Daleks were activated and attempted to kill the Doctor and his companions, forcing them to escape on a submarine, which made these Daleks unable to follow them because they were made using primitive technology.
Eventually, when the time came for the final stage of the Dalek Project, the factories of Hellcombe and Graul became automated, mass-producing legions of the mechanical Daleks. The robots were then ordered by the true Daleks to converge on a battle between British and German troops, and turn on the humans they were ostensibly created to serve in order to eradicate all evidence of Dalek intervention. Hellcombe sacrificed himself to destroy the German Proto-Dalek factory, while the Doctor reprogrammed the British Proto-Daleks so that they recognised true Daleks as the enemies. This aided the combined armies to destroy the true Daleks. All Proto-Daleks were destroyed by artillery barrage along with Daleks. (COMIC: The Dalek Project)
Appearance
British and German Proto-Daleks were manufactured during the Great War, and thus looked like a real Dalek casing had it been designed using early 1900's-era technology. Both variants used miniature tank treads for mobility, the eyestalks were much bulkier and camera-like, and were armed with variations of the machine guns used by their respective nations in place of the typical Gunstick. The casings were both painted in dull, military colours — khaki for the British, and dull green for the Germans. Both also sported manipulator arms similar to those used by true Daleks, but they were mounted on a pivot rather than a balljoint.
Both variants of Proto-Dalek were very different in appearance, as a result of being created by different cultures: the British breed had only three globes on each panel of its lower half — with two bulky midsection rings replacing the upper set of spheres. The eyestalk was thick and cylindrical, while the dome lights were shaped like smaller glass hemispheres, and the mesh neck supporting the done itself had two thin metal bands wrapped around it. the British version have a Union Flag on their back mid section.
In contrast, the German Proto-Daleks had a more striking appearance — the bottom half was adorned with several flat, hexagonal plates in place of the usual sensor globes, and the midsection sported an Iron Cross emblem as well as metal slats mimicking the solar panels of a real Dalek. The head section, too, sported some major differences: the dome itself had a point at the top (mirroring the helmets worn by German troops at the time), and the lights were narrow, orange, cylindrical and larger than any true Dalek. Also unlike the British Proto-Dalek, the German version had no mesh in the "neck" section, and instead was just solid metal with several lateral grooves.
Despite the sharp physical differences, both Proto-Dalek variants possessed identical attributes: they were impervious to bullets. Despite being claimed to withstand mortars, grenades and light artillery, a German soldier destroyed a German Proto-Dalek with a hand grenade and heavy artilleries and shell bombardment destroyed several Proto-Daleks. They were also not immune to real Dalek weaponry. (COMIC: The Dalek Project)