A Complete History of the Daleks - The Davros Years - A Classical View

A Critical Analysis
by
Michael James Valdivielso

14. Genesis of the Daleks:

         The Time Lord once again founds himself on Skaro against his will.   The Time Lords has sent him thousands of years back to either stop the Daleks from being created, change them in some way or find a weakness that can be used on them.  This suggests that the Time Lords DAMN well that the Daleks are a product designed by somebody in the past.  We find out that the Daleks have been created by Davros, using machines to design their DNA and even making the shells and weapons they would ride in and use.  He made the Daleks, which he believed to be the final product of Kaled mutation, as a weapon to be used against the Thals.  The creatures inside would be without emotion, run totally by logic.  Solar panels and batteries run the first suits.  They work amazingly well for the planet that seems to be dark most of the time.  The planet itself is scarred and dead.  The landscape is covered with wire, trenches and mines. Mutants, the scarred remains of people, live in the no-mans land between the cities.   The Kaled City is destroyed by the great Thal rocket, which gives Davros the excuse he needs to send the Daleks across the mountain range to destroy the Thal City. In the end the Daleks return and kill all the Kaleds scientists, including Davros himself after refusing to obey him.  They CAN'T obey him, because they are following the very instincts he has coded into  their DNA! In the end, the Daleks are trapped by the remaining Thals in the Kaled bunker.

        How can this fit the older version of the creation of the Daleks?  Well, it fits very well.  After the events above the Daleks dig themselves out.  The Thals, few in number, continue to fight the Daleks as best they can.  The Daleks start to build a city out of the remains of their bunker, hunting down the few remaining Thals and mutants.  In the end the Daleks drop nuclear bombs, like a human trying to kill the bugs in his house by using bug bombs.  This forces the Thals to flee the area and forces the Daleks to go underground. Time passes and the land heals.  Swamps form between the growing Dalek City and the mountains.  By now the Thals have forgotten the Kaleds, but still remember the Daleks (or Dales as they call them).  The Daleks have not forgotten the Thals either and continue to hate them.

        Have the Daleks from 'The Daleks' forgotten about Davros?  No. But they refuse to accept the fact that he created them. We know they develop artistic ideals and emotions, such as hate and pride.  Dalek history is no doubt revised to fit their claim of being the supreme race and only the leaders would have kept the true information within their archives. 

15. Destiny of the Daleks:

        The Daleks, stuck in a deadlock with the Movellans, a race of logical robots, try to dig Davros out to help them.  The planet Skaro even worse than before.  Nothing but ruins and sand dunes.  The Daleks are still using living beings as slaves maybe because of the high background radiation, which would, do damage to advanced equipment.  The Daleks show no mercy; even killing some of their own labor force to force the Doctor to release Davros. An interesting statement is made by one of the Daleks.  It that the data and information presented to Davros was prepared by the Supreme Dalek.  This suggests one Dalek is in control of the race.  Were all the others killed for being failures?  For some reason the Daleks don't have a spaceship waiting on the planet or in orbit.  Are all of their spacecraft tied up in operations against Movellan ships?  One ship could have defended the planet from the Movellan ship which showed up or could have gotten Davros out of there within minutes.

    The Daleks are shown using infrared to scan for heat, tracking the Doctor and friends as they move among the ruins.  The ruins, by the way, don't look like the remains of Dalek architecture.  Could they be the ruins of a Thal City over the ruins of a Dalek City over the ruins of the Kaled ruins?  WHERE are the Thals? We know they developed space flight, so they could have fled the planet years ago, before the return of the Daleks.  A few remarks.  The Daleks willingly attach bombs to themselves and go on a suicide run.  Do they hate or fear the Movellans so much? What happened to the built-in bombs? Also, the Doctor calls the Daleks robots, suggesting that he is so old his memory is going. Poor guy. The over-all impressions I have is that the Daleks seem less flexible, maybe because of their lack of success in fighting the Movellans? 

16. The Five Doctors:

        A Dalek appears in the first episode.  One of the Doctors points out that Cybermen and Daleks were never before allowed into the 'Game' for they were too good at it. 

17. Resurrection of the Daleks:

        The Movellans have won the war against the Daleks by creating a virus that kills Daleks or at least kills the organic body within the shell. The Daleks try to get Davros away from a human prison ship to help them, but this time the Supreme Dalek is not so trusting.  Near the end of 'Resurrection of the Daleks' he even orders some Daleks to kill Davros.  Science might be their God, but Davros is NOT. The Daleks have developed interesting methods of travel.  The Dalek battle cruiser looks much more powerful and advanced compared to the old saucers.  The war with the Movellans may have forced them to develop such warships. The time tunnel used in these episodes only needs the equipment on one side of the tunnel, in this case the Dalek spaceship.  Whoever enters the spot on the other end is picked up after a few seconds and sent to the Dalek ship.

        A few remarks.  The Daleks are using cloned humans and hired mercenaries as soldiers.  What happen to the Ogrons?  No doubt the Daleks use them because the virus will not work on them. Some of the humans are even used as technicians.  For some reason, the samples of the virus the Daleks have captured have been placed on Earth for safekeeping.  When the Doctor releases the virus, it not only kills the Daleks on Earth, but also makes it impossible for them to invade Earth (for a short period anyway). Davros himself is exposed to the virus (and its his own fault) and starts to die right than and there.  Turns out the virus can't tell him from a Dalek.  In the end even the prison ship is destroyed by one of the Daleks' own cloned humans!  Yet surely the cloned humans, most of them that the Daleks trusted, could still be used to take over the Earth?  Also, one scene shows a Dalek, out of its mobile suit, being able not only live but also ATTACK a human soldier.  Have Dalek scientists been working on the race's DNA to make them more able to adapt to strange environment or are the Daleks just naturally changing, becoming stronger? 

18. Revelation of the Daleks:

        The Head of Davros has set up a factory where human bodies are turned to food for money and the left over brains used to make a new race of White Daleks loyal only to him. Later we find out the head is nothing but cheese, bait for assassins who come to kill him.  Davros is in fact well and still mostly in one piece, watching everything from a safe, unknown area.  The Gray Daleks, who are loyal to the Supreme Daleks, are told of his operation by unhappy employees and come running in a spaceship. The resulting firefight between the Gray Daleks and the White Daleks (with some support with human guards) seems a bit one sided.  The White Daleks get the stuffing beat out of them.  The factory on the planet is destroyed, so it looks like the Supreme Dalek won't get his grippers on the new Daleks after all. But in fact, a White Dalek is captured.  When the Grays pour into Davros' command center the last White Dalek fails to fire, maybe fearing Davros will be hit in the crossfire.  In fact the White is seen exiting stage left, a prisoner! Along with Davros, the White must have been taken back to Skaro, maybe to be studied?  Or maybe in the end the White Dalek helps Davros to the Supreme Daleks and takes command of the mainstream Daleks?

        A few remarks.  Davros seems to have a built-in hover device and can now shoot lightning bolts out of his hands and one eye.  I would guess that he needed parts of his body totally replaced from the damage the virus caused. 

19. Remembrance of the Daleks:

        Davros is back with the title Emperor Dalek and a huge ego.  He proves it by being tricked into blowing up Skaro's sun, the planet Skaro and any other planets in the system.  The Imperial Daleks, no doubt named so by Davros himself (but also called that by the Doctor) have a clean, crisp look, with white and coloring.  Their gripper is also slightly changed to allow them to handle the Dalek controls with more ease.  In fact they have new design, a Weapon Dalek, which is a Dalek with a big gun.  They need it too, because they get their butts kicked again in the first exchange of fire with the 'renegade' Daleks.  The big Weapon Dalek, who looks well used and has seen lots of action, swiftly evens the odds. The Imperial Daleks can even hover, moving up stairs without a problem. No doubt this is copied from the Davros’ own chair.  One, even after the suit was damaged, almost chokes the Doctor with a huge crab-like pincer.  The English scientist noticed that the White Daleks were attached to the equipment directly.  Davros has been improving on them in more ways than one. The 'Imperial' cruiser is also white and very advanced looking.  A tad too clean, the battle cruiser from 'Resurrection' looked more dangerous.  I assume, on the other hand, that the WHOLE ship can travel in time.  Too bad it blew up also, along with the shuttle, which is white on the outside but kind of gym-locker on the inside.  The Black Dalek in charge of the 'renegade' group is one of the most advanced looking of the Black Daleks I have ever seen.  I can only guess it is the last of the 'Supreme Daleks' but nobody calls it that. The 'renegade' Daleks not only have a time device, but also have found out how to brainwash kids and link them with a war computer to direct their Dalek in combat.  The girl who they use on Earth can also shot lightning bolts.

        One last remark. The Doctor, while exploring the Dalek shuttle, finds a map showing that the Imperial Daleks have returned to Skaro.  This must have happened in the future, as both Dalek groups are time traveling from the future to Earth's past to get the 'Hand of Omega,' a remote stellar manipulator. The map shows more than one planet and suggests that the Skaro system had vast amounts of material waiting for the first space going Daleks. The Doctor also lectures Ace about how she almost screwed up Earth history by leaving behind her radio and that not even the Daleks would do something as dangerous as that.  HELLO?  They reinvaded Earth in the 21st-22nd century and totally changed its history over a hundred year period before the Doctor put it back to right with the first version of the invasion.  Are we talking about the SAME Daleks who tried to take over Earth with clones in the 20th century?  The same Daleks who have visited New York and at one time had a battle with warriors of ancient Egypt?  The Doctor better stay away from squirrels because they might mistake him for a NUT! 

The best I can come to a Dalek timeline is:

                     The First Age: Pre-Space Travel
                          The Genesis of the Daleks
                          The Daleks
                      The Second Age: Space Travel
                      22nd Century:
                          The Dalek Invasion of Earth
                          Day of the Daleks
                          The Space Museum
                          The Power of the Daleks
                     The Third Age: Time Travel
                         The Evil of the Daleks
                      23rd-24th Century:
                          Day of the Daleks
                      26th Century:
                          Frontier in Space
                          Planet of the Daleks
                          Death to the Daleks
                      4000 AD:
                          Mission to the Unknown
                          The Dalek Master Plan
                      40th-41st Century:
                          The Chase
                          Destiny of the Daleks
                          Resurrection of the Daleks
                          Revelation of the Daleks
                          Remembrance of the Daleks


 

 

Dalek Revelations – A Classical View

Davros, Daleks, and the Question of Their Origins

By John Rocco Roberto

When the Daleks first appeared on British television back in December 1963, their immediate success at capturing the imagination of the British public spawned what the media titled “Dalekmania.”   Ever since those early days the questions of their origins has caused major debate within fan circles.  Terry Nation himself, penned four separate origin stories for his creations, but the most controversial had to be the invention of Davros in 1975.  Davros was touted as the “creator of the Daleks,” a mutated Kaled scientist (although it is never mentioned in the episode how he was mutated), whose life-support system looked very similar to a Dalek base.  In fact Davros himself, one arm with the use of an artificial eye mounted in the middle of his forehead, was very much like his creations.  But was Davros really the creator of the Daleks?  Or was he simply a single part of a larger creation story as yet to be told?

        Their introduction at the beginning of episode two of “The Daleks” in 1963 had furnished the Daleks with only cursory origins.  It was suggested that they had descended from a race called the Dals, having mutated after the use of a Neutron Bomb.  The Dals, who were teachers and scientists, had used the bomb to defend themselves from the warlike Thals.  Upon detonation of the bomb the Dals retreated into the lower sections of their cities protected from the radiation by travel suits.  Over time both the Dal and Thal race mutated, but where the Thals had mutated into perfect human beings, the Dals had mutated into hideous creatures dependent on radiation to survive.  Sometime over the years, although it is never explained exactly when, the Dals began referring to themselves as Daleks.

        This became the accepted origin of the Daleks for two years, but then, starting in 1965, creator Terry Nation and former program story editor David Whitaker expanded on their creation in the Dalek comic strip.  Running in the magazine TV Century 21, the comic revealed that the creatures resulted from the experiments of a Dalek, not Dal, scientist named Yarvelling.   Briefly, the Daleks were a race of blue skinned people living on Skaro.  A warlord called Zolfian, who had led his people to a war with the Thals, led them.  Building a Neutron bomb to destroy the Thals, the bomb went off prematurely, following a meteor storm. Zolfian survived, as did the scientist Yarvelling, however the only other Dalek survivors were mutated.  Using pre-war machines (built as weapons of war by Yarvelling) as a travel device and sort of mobile home, the survivors escaped the effects of the radiation.  Zolfian and Yarvelling then made more of the Dalek travel machines, which became the race of Daleks, as we know them now.  In the process they created the Gold Dalek Emperor, who served as the leader of the Daleks.  The problem with this version however, is that it contradicts the already established broadcast version, playing down the morality play (in which the Daleks evolved from a peace loving race and the Thals from a war-like one), the original story presented.  In the comic it is the warlord Zolfian that instigated the conflict, and gone is the irony of the “peace lovers” becoming these horrible creatures of hate.

        Later, in a 1973 edition of the Radio Times (celebrating Doctor Who's tenth anniversary), Terry Nation once again provided a totally different origin premise.  In his short story “We Are The Daleks,” the scientist Halldon, who had captured and accelerated the evolution of early man, creates the Daleks on the planet Ameron.  Not only did this version contradict the previous two origin stories, but this time the Daleks weren’t even from Skaro!

        1974 saw Nation's attempts at a Dalek story for Season Twelve rejected, as outgoing producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks felt the story submitted was too similar to earlier Dalek ones. As an alternative Letts suggested that Nation depict the creation of the Daleks, a suggestion that the writer was more than happy to produce.  Instead of reusing ideas from either of his two previous Dalek origins, Nation decided to once again pen a different version, while trying not to contradict the original “Dead Planet” version. The first draft of the script, titled “Daleks: Genesis Of Terror” was commissioned on April 1st, 1974.  The production did not proceed without its problems.  Neither new producer Philip Hinchcliffe or new script editor Robert Holmes were particularly keen on the Daleks, and Holmes had been convinced to retain the story only by Letts' enthusiasm for the project.

         “Genesis Of The Daleks” went into production on January 6th, 1975, providing the biggest contribution to Doctor Who mythology since the Daleks introduction of 1963; Davros, the scientist who brings the Daleks into existence.  Terry Nation has said that he devised Davros with the intention of giving the Daleks a spokesperson, someone who was more interesting to watch than the monotone Daleks.  In his story, the TimeLords send the Doctor back to Skaro to prevent the Dalek creation.  On Skaro he encounters a race called the Kaleds, who are at the breaking point of a 1000-year war with the Thals.  Radiation and chemical weapons used in the first years of the war began producing mutations, and Davros, who was originally assigned the tasks of finding new weapons to end the war, quickly realized that this was futile, and turned the direction of his work to the survival of the Kaled race.  Experimenting on Kaled embryos he created what he called the ultimate creature, the Dalek mutant.  Realizing what his race will eventually mutate into he then designed a travel machine, and thus the Daleks were born.

         The problem with “Genesis” is that it contradicts too many of the original origin aspects established in “The Dead Planet.”  Gone is the Neutron Bomb, the Dalek survival chambers and even the original race name of Dal.  In addition, the Daleks, who at first could only travel on the surfaces of their cites (due to drawing power from the floors) can travel anywhere across the planet, suggesting that the Daleks had somehow lost this ability by the time the events of “The Dead Planet.”  Nation answered criticism of this conflict by explaining that history was a constant stream of discovers, each one shedding more light on a subject as time went by.  It was not that the origin story in “The Dead Planet” was wrong, but simply a case of not having complete information.  “Genesis,” according to Nation, provided that information.

         But do both versions of Dalek origins have to contradict each other?  Is it possible that the origin stories from "The Dead Planet" and "Genesis of the Daleks" are both correct?  There have been many attempts to blend these two versions together.  In John Peel's "The Official Doctor Who and the Daleks Book," the Dals break away from their Thal masters changing their name to Kaled so as to forget their past.  Eventually the hate between these two groups lead to war.  It is during the war that Davros and Nyder first create the city-bound Dalek Mark I machines in the ruins of the old Dal capital.  They then return to the Bunker to work on the mutation process as well as new and better Mark II and III travel machines.  After the war it is the survivors who wander into the old Dal capital, find the Mark I machines and crawl into them.  The problem with this theory is that it makes the original Daleks a completely different race from the ones in the rest of the series.

        We can theorize that when the TimeLords sent the 4th Doctor back to Skaro to avert the Dalek's creation they changed the way in which the Daleks that creation came about.  This notion is supported by events in the series itself.  Throughout the series the notion of Parallel Time Lines had been used time and again.  We know from “Pyramids of Mars” that Parallel Time Lines are possible, as Sarah Jane remarks that Sutekh could not have destroyed the world because she knows that it is intact in her own time.  The Doctor explains that there are endless possibilities, then takes her forward in time to show her what the world now looks like in her time, a barren wasteland.  She cannot return to her original timeline unless they stop Sutekh. Therefore it is entirely possible that we do indeed have more than one Dalek timeline.

        We know that the origin story from "The Dead Planet" differs from the Davros version in several basic ways.  In "The Dead Planet" the Daleks evolved from the mutated forms of the Dal people after a Neutron Bomb is used.  The mutation evolves slowly over time.  In "Genesis of the Daleks," the Kaled people are already mutating, so Davros, their Chief Scientist, accelerates this process thus creating the Daleks.  However is it not possible that the Doctor's intervention became the catalyst of temporal interference, which allowed the Davros version to come about?  Surely Davros originally had no notion of future Dalek events until the Doctor showed up.  Is it not possible that after his first encounter with the Doctor Davros decided to take steps to insure his survival?  We are shown that Davros has made changes to his life-support system in several episodes (the mind control drug in “Resurrection,” the hover ability in “Revelation”), is it not possible that he did the same in “Genesis” by adding a Cryogenic system?

        Is it not possible that in the original version of Dalek history a "Dal" scientist named Davros worked on the Dalek project with other scientist during a thousand year war?  His contributions are a major force behind the Dalek project, but not the only ones.  After he and his fellow scientists are killed in the bunker the remaining Dals set off the Neutron Bomb thus ending the war and beginning the chain of events which will lead up to “The Dead Planet.”  But now the Doctor comes along. His intervention does little to change Dalek history (if he had delayed them a 1000 years then his first incarnation could not have encounter the Daleks in “The Dead Planet”), but it does provide a catalyst for Davros to survive.  In support of this it is important to remember two facts established in the episode.  First, Davros, and the rest of the Kaled race for that matter, does not believe that there is any life in the universe beyond Skaro.  The Doctor's presence proves that wrong.  Secondly, now knowing that life does exist on other planets, and learning from the Doctor that his Daleks will suffer defeat at the hands of many of these races, Davros decides that he must stay around to guide the Daleks.  We know he is a megalomaniac, so he now takes steps to insure his survival.  It is also not unreasonable to believe that upon his revival thousands of years later, and with no one left alive to contradict him, Davros claims sole responsibility for the Dalek's creation.

        By this theory it is possible that Dalek history now follows two separate time tracks.  In the first track, “The Dead Planet" track, Dalek history follows the events of the series up to “Death to the Daleks.”  Then, because in this track the Doctor did not interfere, Dalek history follows an un-broadcast timeline, possibly the stories as presented by Big Finish Productions (Mutant Phase, Apocalypse Element, Genocide Machine, War of the Daleks, Time of the Daleks).  In the “Genesis” track, the stories after “Death to the Daleks” follow exactly as they did in the broadcast program ("Destiny," "Resurrection," "Revelation," “Remembrance"), possibility ending with the events as depicted in John Peel’s “War of the Daleks.”  All of this is major conjecture of course, but it is something consider.

        It may be that there will never be one single theory that ties all of Dalek history together.  Creating a simple chronological order to the Dalek adventures is difficult enough, and blending two stories separated by 12 years may prove impossible.  It is important however, to remember that as it is with any long running sci-fi series, it is what the fan brings, and takes away from the series that is really important, and it may be that how the Daleks came about is not as important as the fact that they did come about.  After all, do we really think about their origins every time we heard those words: “Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!”

Reference:

Haining, Peter; Doctor Who: A Celebration; 1983

Peel, John & Nation, Terry; The Official Doctor Who and The Daleks Book; 1988

Lofficier, Jean-Marc; Doctor Who: The Programme Guide; 1989

Pixley, Andrew; The Daleks: A History from BBC Video; 1993

Howe, David J. & Walker, Stephen James; Doctor Who: The Television Companion

Special thanks to Stephen O'Connell for the TV21 Dalek Origins.

Essay © 2002 John Rocco Roberto.