Dalek facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Dalek |
|
|---|---|
| Doctor Who race | |
Time War Dalek model on display at Sudbury Hall, demonstrating the primary Dalek design used in the revived Doctor Who series
|
|
| First appearance | The Daleks (1963) |
| Created by | Terry Nation |
| Information | |
| Created by fictional being | Davros |
| Home world | Skaro |
| Type | Kaled mutants in Mark III Travel Machines |
| Affiliation |
|
The Daleks are a famous made-up alien race from the British science fiction TV show Doctor Who. They are actually mutated creatures from the planet Skaro. These creatures live inside strong, tank-like metal casings. Daleks are known for wanting to conquer the entire universe. They have no pity, feelings, or guilt, as all their emotions were removed except for hate.
The Daleks are one of the most powerful races in Doctor Who history. They are also the Doctor's greatest enemies. When they are about to attack, they famously shout "EX-TER-MIN-ATE!" Daleks come in different colors, like bronze, black, red, white, gold, and silver. They first appeared in the show's second episode, "The Daleks," in 1963. They are not robots, but rather horrible aliens protected by their metal shells. They became mutated during a long war on their home planet, Skaro. An evil scientist named Davros created them. Their metal casings are very tough. They can reflect bullets and have a shield that melts incoming shots, making them hard to defeat.
Writer Terry Nation created the Daleks. BBC designer Raymond Cusick designed how they look. They first appeared in December 1963 and quickly became very popular. They showed up in many more episodes and two movies in the 1960s. The word "Dalek" is even in the Oxford English Dictionary. The Collins Dictionary describes a Dalek as "any of a set of fictional robot-like creations that are aggressive, mobile, and produce rasping staccato speech." The name "Dalek" sounds a bit like the Norwegian word "dårlig," which means "bad" or "evil." The BBC registered "Dalek" as a trademark in 1964 to protect their Dalek toys and other products.
Template:TOC limit=3
Contents
What Daleks Look Like
On the outside, Daleks look like human-sized salt and pepper shakers. They are usually five to six feet (152 to 183 cm) tall. At the top, they have a round, turning dome with a telescope-like eye for seeing. They have two arms. One arm has a powerful energy weapon, often called a "death ray." It looks like a long egg beater. This weapon can also fire gas or other things in some episodes. Their other arm is a telescope with a plunger on the end. They use this plunger arm like a hand. The actual Dalek creature inside the metal casing is rarely seen. It looks like an octopus or a squid.
How Daleks Move
The first Daleks moved on hidden wheels or castors. Operators inside the casing used hand cranks and bicycle chains to move them. Later versions of the Dalek props had better wheels, sometimes from shopping carts. Human operators inside would move them with their feet. However, the props were still very heavy. When going up ramps, stagehands often had to push them from behind, out of sight of the camera. It was hard to control all the parts at once, which sometimes made the Daleks move a bit jerkily. Modern Dalek costumes still have a human operator inside. But now, the dome and eyestalk are controlled remotely. This lets the operator focus on moving the Dalek and its arms smoothly.
The Daleks' Story in Doctor Who
The Daleks have appeared many times on Doctor Who. Their design has changed over the years. This can make their story a bit tricky to follow. When they first appeared in "The Daleks" (1963), they were shown as mutated descendants of a race called the Dals. This happened after a short nuclear war between the Dal and Thal races.
However, in 1975, writer Terry Nation changed their origin story in "Genesis of the Daleks." In this version, the Dals were now called Kaleds (and "Dalek" is an anagram of "Kaled"). The Dalek design was created by one man, a disabled Kaled chief scientist named Davros. Instead of a short nuclear exchange, the Kaled-Thal war was a thousand-year-long conflict. This war used nuclear and other weapons, causing many mutations among the Kaled race. Davros experimented on living Kaled cells. He wanted to find the ultimate mutated form of the Kaled species. He then put these mutated creatures into "travel machines." These machines were designed like his own life-support chair. "Genesis of the Daleks" became the main story for the Daleks' origins. Most of their earlier history was then forgotten or rarely mentioned again.
Daleks in the Modern Series
A single Dalek appeared in the episode "Dalek" in 2005. This Dalek seemed to be the only survivor of the last Time War. This war had destroyed both the Daleks and the Time Lords. The Doctor believed this Dalek had somehow "fallen" out of the war.
The Dalek Emperor returned at the end of the 2005 series. It had rebuilt the Dalek race using human subjects. The Emperor saw itself as a god, and the new Daleks worshipped it. This shocked the Doctor, as Daleks usually have no idea of worship. These Daleks and their fleet were later erased from time in "The Parting of the Ways".
In the 2006 series finale, "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday," another group of Dalek survivors appeared. They were called the Cult of Skaro. They had escaped the Time War by hiding in a space between dimensions. They came out at Canary Wharf in London. This happened because of the actions of the Torchwood Institute and Cybermen from a parallel world. This led to a big fight between Cybermen and Daleks in London. The Tenth Doctor eventually sent both groups back into the void.
However, the Cult of Skaro members (Sec, Caan, Jast, and Thay) survived by "temporal shifting," which means jumping through time. The two-part story "Daleks in Manhattan"/"Evolution of the Daleks" showed they had escaped to 1930s New York. They set up a base in the Empire State Building, which was being built then. Dalek Sec tried to make Daleks evolve by mixing their DNA with human DNA. He became the first "Human-Dalek." But the other three Daleks rebelled and destroyed him because he was no longer a "pure" Dalek. The Cult also tried to create a Human/Dalek hybrid that looked fully human but had Dalek minds. This plan failed when the Doctor interfered. Dalek Caan escaped with another temporal shift.
The Daleks returned in the 2008 series finale, "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End." Their creator, Davros, was back too. It was revealed that Dalek Caan had forced himself back into the Time War, even though it was "time-locked" (meaning no one could enter). This effort made him insane. He rescued Davros, who then created a new army of Daleks from his own flesh. This new Dalek army was led by a Supreme Dalek. Davros was kept imprisoned, but he said he had an "arrangement" with the Supreme Dalek. Davros and the Daleks planned to destroy all creation with a 'reality bomb.' This plan failed because the Doctor and his friends interfered. Dalek Caan also secretly manipulated events to stop them. Although the Daleks were destroyed, the fate of Davros and Dalek Caan is unknown.
Three Daleks from this episode returned in Series 5 ("Victory of the Daleks"). They created five new, different-colored Daleks. These new Daleks escaped into space. Later, they appeared in "The Pandorica Opens" and trapped the Doctor in the Pandorica, which is a super prison. After they were erased from time by cracks in the universe, a stone Dalek appeared. This was an echo of the Dalek race. It was brought back to life by the Pandorica light, which could restore things erased by the cracks. It was later shot in the eye by River Song. The Dalek race, along with the rest of the universe, was eventually brought back by the Doctor.
Images for kids
-
Kaled mutants are octopus-like; many are colored green, like this one from "Resurrection of the Daleks".
-
An Imperial Dalek levitates up a flight of stairs in "Remembrance of the Daleks".
-
A page from the TV 21 comic strip, showing the creation of the Emperor Dalek.
-
The cover of the 1964 novelty song "I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas with a Dalek" by the Go-Go's.
-
The Radio Times magazine cover from April 30 – May 6, 2005. It featured the Daleks returning to Doctor Who and the upcoming general election. In 2008, it was voted the best British magazine cover ever.
See also
In Spanish: Dalek para niños
