Dalek variants

Alterations were made to accommodate the requirements of specific plot elements in various serials and episodes or at the request of producers, designers and directors to revitalise the Dalek appearance.

As this usually took the form of a plywood board to which castors had been attached and a hole cut out for the operator's feet, these brief appearances were of little assistance in maintaining the illusion of the props being functional, armoured casings housing an alien being.

[7][10][12] From 2005 onward the Dalek creature has been seen more frequently, in its latest incarnation resembling a pale octopus-like being with a single viable eye, a vestigial nose and mouth, and an exposed brain.

Consequently, serial designer Spencer Chapman and manufacturer Shawcraft Engineering devised a tricycle arrangement, incorporating three pneumatic tyres, to replace the original castors and carry the props over uneven ground.

They were replaced by a steel mesh wrapped around the upper collar of each prop, over which were mounted twenty-three vertical, oblong slats ostensibly forming a power collection array (although this function has never been confirmed on screen).

A gimballed hemisphere referred to as both a "seismic detector" and a "TARDIS perceptor" appears, and in the episode "The Planet of Decision" an "electrode unit" is employed to disable an electronic lock.

Although fabricated using measurements and moulds taken from an existing prop, the "goon" Daleks exhibited minor differences from the original Shawcraft builds including the substitution of single dowel neck struts for the trefoil cross section items which were the norm up to this point.

In Death to the Daleks the travel machines display a silver livery with black shoulders, hemispheres and fender, with a task force leader being differentiated from its subordinates by amber, instead of clear, dome lights.

The dome lights are substantially larger and enclosed in metallic cages and the eye stalk pivot is surrounded by a cowl, below which is a horizontal oblong depression containing an ideogram unique to each Dalek.

[10] The BBC book Doctor Who Files: The Cult of Skaro states that Dalek Sec's black casing is constructed from "Metalert", an enhanced form of Dalekanium reinforced with flidor gold and sap from the extinct Arkellis flower.

[81] Each of the five New Paradigm variants has a casing of a different colour, representing their role in Dalek society: red, Drone; blue, Strategist; orange, Scientist; yellow, Eternal and white, Supreme.

Published design drawings and commentary by concept artist Peter McKinstry indicates that this section is capable of opening to deploy alternative weapons which would traverse around the midsection to replace the standard armament, although this has not been portrayed on screen.

The neck is devoid of struts and consists of four flared rings detailed with small vertical slots, and is mounted towards the front of the Dalek giving the appearance of a prominent hump to the rear shoulder section.

The eye design features five closely spaced discs of identical diameter behind an eyeball, inset with horizontal fins, on the front of which is a veined "organic" lens which glows with a yellow light.

The original design of the Reconnaissance Scout travel machine is not established as, in the story, the casing of the individual that visited Earth was destroyed 900 years before the time in which the episode is set.

Unaware that the casing once contained a living creature, and discovering organic cells inside it, the scientist clones them and inadvertently creates an imperfect copy of the Reconnaissance Scout Dalek mutant.

[75] The Defence Drone casings shown in the episode are similar in design to the Reconnaissance Scout Dalek's replacement travel machine, but with a predominantly black colour scheme and cleaner lines.

[14] In "The Parting of the Ways" (2005) the Emperor Dalek and the few surviving members of its crew hide in space for centuries after the Time War, harvesting organic material from captured humans and genetically manipulating it to rebuild their race.

The process results in a mutated humanoid creature with fingers tapered to points, a large, exposed brain and a single eye set in a face framed by six thick tentacles.

[91] Another distinctive design feature is the gun, which has a wider bore than the TV counterpart, lacks mantles and is depicted as projecting a pressurised jet of destructive, lethal vapour rather than an energy discharge.

The hero props seen in the film were constructed by Shawcraft Engineering while the Daleks with integrally moulded shoulder collars, which were mainly used to make up numbers in crowd scenes, were produced by the Plaster Workshops at Shepperton Studios.

[91] Three Mark 1 Movie Dalek props can occasionally be seen in the Doctor Who television serial The Chase, hired from AARU, the production company responsible for the Dr. Who films, to increase numbers.

The colour scheme for the drones used in the second film is essentially the same as that used for the television versions at the time, being silver with grey shoulders, natural aluminium collars and slats, blue hemispheres and a black fender.

The Curse of the Daleks was a stage play written by David Whitaker and Terry Nation which appeared for one month at the Wyndham's Theatre in London, England beginning on 21 December 1965.

[96] Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday was a stage play written by Terrance Dicks which ran at the Adelphi Theatre in London, England, for four weeks beginning on 16 December 1974.

Before the last two humanoid Daleks die, exhausted by their labours and the effects of radiation, it appoints itself as Emperor and has a special casing constructed to reflect its new rank, made from "...Flidor gold, Quartz and Arkellis flower sap...".

It is portrayed as being genetically engineered to have an enhanced perception of the space-time vortex, enabling it to direct Dalek strategies involving time travel while limiting temporal destabilisation.

Marsh Daleks are also referenced briefly in Marc Platt's Doctor Who novel Lungbarrow (1997), in which it is said that during the 26th century humans fought and disabled them by shooting at their legs with high-impulse carbines.

[123] Featured in the video game Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock (2012), this version of the Dalek Emperor first appears as a large, levitating, purple sphere, studded with silver hemispheres.

[125] They are depicted as generally conforming to the "New Series" Dalek design, but are mounted on a large base equipped with 'tank tracks' while the standard manipulator arm and gun stick are replaced by a circular saw and multi-barrel energy weapon respectively.