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Over the weekend, we received the tragic news that Ray Cusick, the original designer of Dr Who’s Dalek arch-enemies, and small-child-terrifyer In Chief, passed away, nearly fifty years after the armour-clad mutants first made all of Britain’s kiddies poo themselves.
The Daleks first appeared in the second Doctor Who serial, casually entitled The Daleks. Since then, they’ve appeared in pretty much every Doctor Who series, both Doctor Who movies, and some pretty bizarre cameos in between. Over time, they’ve gained new elements, like the ability to teleport, and a soft mushy interior (at least in the new series).
Dalek episodes have been some of the best ever — the Doctor always seems to get in the stickiest situations with them. And for that, we’ve got Ray Cusick to thank. But what do you think — what’s the best ever Dalek episode been?
Image credit: mseckington under Creative Commons License
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when they realised stairs could no longer defeat them
ELEVATE!
To be honest most of them mount a stair at about the speed of a Stannah Stairlift. That’s hardly an advantage
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i think my favourite one was where that girl, was a delek and she didn’t realise it, she thought she was trapped in her ship
*Dalek
Ah yes, the only good looking dalek
You mean Jenna-Louise Coleman?
I don’t remember any specific episodes before the current run, with the exception of one where Sylvester McCoy was chased round a housing estate somewhere – I think that was the one where they suddenly developed their stair conquering abilities. I was terrified of them back then, though.
Having said that, my favourite Dalek moment is – obviously – The Timelords / KLF with Doctorin’ the Tardis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdTELokKfCk
It was Remembrance of the Daleks.
Few fun facts it was the 25th Anniversary of the show and briefly featured Joseph Marcell aka Geoffrey from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
Good knowledge!
It did help I watched it on Saturday
Ha, that’s incredible.
Not an episode but I remember (just) as a 5 or 6 year old being taken to a Dr Who Show in London and I was sitting in a seat next to an aisle whilst some stuff was going on on the theatre stage and all of a sudden Daleks started coming down the aisles from the back of the theatre, saying “exterminate, exterminate”…..I remember being scared silly, scrambling over my dad who was in the seat next to me and hiding on the floor as they passed….
Chris, I insist you change that picture. Those modern Daleks are horrible, give us some classic Dalek love.
Speaking of which http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/SparkyisaFreak/dalekLove.jpg
Find me one that the BBC won’t wrest from our cold, dead hands with copyright law and I’m all ears
Daleks were always mutlicoloured based on rank so I’m not sure which classic Daleks you mean. Surely not the golden Time War Daleks? You an hardly call those classic
No, I’m talking classic, as in pre reboot.
You’re talking black and white aren’t you, with Jon Pertwee
John Pertwee was in colour. In fact he started at the same time as Dr who went colour.
guess we only had a black and white tv at the time then
well you’ve gone and confused me again, Doctor who has never been rebooted has it? unless I’ve just lost a huge portion of my memory.
They were all multicoloured when they first appeared, you just couldn’t see as well because you know, it was filmed in black and white
Rebooted was the wrong term. Restarted would be more accurate. John Pertwee is the first Doctor I remember, as Patrick Troughton’s run ended the day before my third birthday.
He is the first doctor I remember as well, but I hadn’t been born when the series originally ended.
ITT: Things to make you feel old
‘YOU ARE THE DOCTOR, YOU ARE THE ENEMY OF THE DALEKS! YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!’
Needless to say Remembrance of the Daleks is one of my favourite Doctor Who stories and easily my most memorable Dalek story. Close second would be Genesis of the Daleks and Planet of the Daleks. Both great stories. I remember seeing Remembrance for the first time on Christmas Day 1993; my Dad had just got The Daleks limited edition set that day and he played it straight away. Seeing the Dalek mothership grind towards Earth followed by the 7th Doctor’s title sequence for the first time has just stuck with me so much.
Also, I think it’s wonderful that Giz has an article that recognises the sadly deceased Mr Cusick.
Daleks now sponsored by Nokia Lumia
Nokia have a history of co-operation with evil empires
Cannot believe the Daleks haven’t been redesigned for the new series. Back in the day, sure… this was pretty high tech. I can’t be the only one who thinks it’s just a bin with a toilet plunger for an arm…. kids have seen scarier robots than that these days
The producers tread a fine line between modernising classic creature designs and being despised by the entirety of the stuck in the mud Whovian fans.