Sense globe

The Master, after being "augmented by superior Dalek technology" via the adding of "Dalek bumps." (TV: The Curse of Fatal Death)

According to the pamphlet, "Anatomy of the Dalek", sense globes dotted the base unit of the Dalek casing, (COMIC: City of the Daleks, PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks) and Davros' chair. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) Other sources sometimes called these parts of a Dalek casing sensor globes (PROSE: War of the Daleks, Remembrance of the Daleks) or, in one universe, sensor arrays. (AUDIO: Masters of War) They were colloquially known as bumps (AUDIO: Davros) or Dalek bumps. (COMIC: Four Doctors, TV: The Curse of Fatal Death)

The Unbound Doctor once claimed, with regards to the Daleks of the Unbound Universe, that someone told him that "a Dalek can't change its bumps." (AUDIO: Masters of War) The Sixth Doctor of N-Space once referenced the same saying, but noted that the bumps were actually quite easily replaceable, and that it was a bad saying. (AUDIO: Davros)

Quantity

Generally, the Dalek base unit was composed of fourteen vertical panels which each contained four sense globes, making a total of 56 globes. (TV: The Daleks) The larger Daleks of the New Dalek Paradigm, however, sported only twelve panels, with a vertical column replacing the two back panels, making a total of 48 globes. (TV: Victory of the Daleks)

Dalek incubation units consisted of a spherical maturation chamber mounted on a truncated Dalek base with only two rings of sensor globes. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)

The reconstructed scrap casing of the Reconnaissance Dalek was distinguished in that it had only three sense globes on each panel of the base unit, making a total of 42 sense globes. (TV: Resolution) Similarily, the British Proto-Daleks had only three sense globes on each panel, with a curved, armoured layer replacing the upper set of sense globes. (COMIC: The Dalek Project)

Appearance

Though sense globes were typically arranged in even panels that flared out slightly down a Dalek's base unit, arrangement was not uniform across all Daleks. The Marine Dalek, for instance, had a different configuration than standard Daleks. (PROSE: War of the Daleks)

Variants and colours

Many Dalek variants had black sense globes, including the first Dalek Supreme - according to one account - (AUDIO: Return to Skaro) Grey Daleks, (TV: Genesis of the Daleks et al) Gold Daleks, (TV: Day of the Daleks) the Silver Daleks that travelled to Exxilon, (TV: Death to the Daleks, AUDIO: The Dalek Protocol) Renegade Dalek drones, (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks et al) the Dalek Time Controller, (AUDIO: Lucie Miller) the Black Daleks of the Last Great Time War, (PROSE: Engines of War) including Dalek Sec (TV: Army of Ghosts, Doomsday, Daleks in Manhattan) and the Overseer, (AUDIO: Planet of the Ogrons) a Silver Dalek with the shape of a bronze Dalek, (PROSE: The Whoniverse) and the Eternal Dalek of the New Dalek Paradigm. (TV: Victory of the Daleks, The Pandorica Opens) The Dalek Executioners of the Restoration Empire had black sense globes with a red ring on their edges, (PROSE: All Flesh is Grass) while the sense globes of the same empire's Dalek Scientists had the opposite colour scheme, although the two rows of sense globes at the back of the left and right sides of the Scientists' base units had thicker, spiked black rings. (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times) The Time Lords specifically identified the black sensor globes of the Exxilon Daleks as "multiphase" improvements to earlier blue globes. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)

Several Dalek variants, however, instead had light blue sense globes, such as the silver Dalek War Machines, (TV: The Magician's Apprentice, The Witch's Familiar), Dalek saucer commanders, the Supreme Controller that led the Dalek occupation of Earth in the mid-22nd century, (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth) the Silver Daleks with slatted weapons platforms, (TV: The Witch's Familiar et al) and the black-domed Silver Daleks, (AUDIO: The Apocalypse Element et al) including those of the Emperor's Personal Guard immediately prior to the outbreak of the Great War, (TV: The Evil of the Daleks) The sense globes of the Dalek War Machines among the Daleks that pursued the First Doctor, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright across time and space were coloured dark blue instead, (TV: The Chase) as were the sense globes of the Dalek drones of the Restoration Empire. (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times) The Time Lords associated blue globes with the Daleks' "early period", describing them as "low-frequency". (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)

Numerous Dalek variants had gold sense globes, such as bronze Daleks, (TV: Dalek et al) a Dalek Supreme of the Supreme Council, (TV: Planet of the Daleks) as well as two identical Supreme Daleks, (AUDIO: The Genocide Machine, Emissary of the Daleks) the red and gold Supreme Dalek casings first used during the Second Dalek War, (AUDIO: Out of Time) Dalek X, (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks) the Imperial Daleks (TV: Revelation of the Daleks et al) and their Special Weapons Daleks, as well as Davros' Emperor Dalek casing. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) Many of the Dalek Emperor's casings, such as those of the Emperor of the Restoration (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times) and the Dalek Empire during the Last Great Time War, also had gold sense globes. (TV: The Parting of the Ways) Uniquely, by the time of the Great War, the Dalek Prime had a pair of sense globes which were coloured gold, above a row of black sense globes. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks) A Grey Dalek of the Restoration Empire sported yellow sense globes. (COMIC: Defender of the Daleks)

Some Daleks had silver sense globes, such as the Dalek Scientists based on Asteroid Theta 12 during the Last Great Time War, (AUDIO: A Thing of Guile) and the Supreme, Scientist, Strategist and Drone Daleks of the New Dalek Paradigm. (TV: Victory of the Daleks) The Dalek Time Commanders of the Restoration Empire had silver sense globes with a blue ring around the edges. (PROSE: The Restoration Empire) Davros' chair, which closely resembled the base unit of a Dalek, also had silver sense globes, (TV: Genesis of the Daleks et al) as did the near-identical chair of an alternate universe Davros after he began merging with echoes of his other selves from across the multiverse. (AUDIO: Palindrome, Restoration of the Daleks)

The biomechanoid control system of the Renegade Daleks' battle computer appeared as a chair resembling a black Dalek base unit with silver sense globes, like the contemporary Dalek Supreme. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)

The Supreme Dalek that led the Renegade Daleks had white sense globes. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks, Remembrance of the Daleks)

Dalek attack ships sported a high frequency sensor globe array. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual, TV: The Day of the Doctor)

The Dalek Prime Minister was situated in a cylindrical cabinet of transparent finitoglass, a life-support tank connected to a data feed which was itself linked to an array of white high-intensity sensor globes at the top of the structure. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe, Dalek Combat Training Manual)

The sense globes of the two Daleks that masqueraded as the "Ironsides" were coloured in the same shade of green as their casing. (TV: Victory of the Daleks) The dark green, robotic Proto-Daleks, which were constructed by the British and Germans as part of the Dalek Project during the First World War, had different base units; the British Proto-Daleks had only three sense globes on each panel of their base unit — with a curved, armour plate replacing the upper set of sense globes, while the German Proto-Daleks' bottom half was adorned with several flat, hexagonal plates in place of the usual sense globes. (COMIC: The Dalek Project)

Function

The "Metaltron" self-destructs. (TV: Dalek)

Sense globes were evidently the instruments of the Dalek self-destruct process; the bronze Dalek named "Metaltron" ejected all its sense globes to create a field in which it was completely destroyed. (TV: Dalek) The Master, however, once stated that they could detect ion-charged emissions and operate as etheric beam locators at a distance of up to twenty thousand light-years — for which reason he sought to acquire some himself. (TV: The Curse of Fatal Death)

On multiple occasions, sense globes functioned as sockets for cables and wires that extended from a Dalek's casing. For example, in the 26th century, a Command Dalek was connected to its base ship via numerous wires and cables which were fitted to the sense globes of its base unit. (COMIC: Abslom Daak... Dalek Killer) Similarly, during the 41st century conflict against humanity, a Chief Strategist of the New Dalek Paradigm was connected to its command ship via cables that extended from the Strategist's sense globes. They interfaced the Chief Strategist into the ship's computers, and even allowed it to see the battle from the point of view of the drones fighting. (COMIC: The Only Good Dalek) Furthermore, during the Dalek Project performed by a team of Daleks of the New Dalek Paradigm on Earth in the First World War, a Black Dalek was connected to Survey Ship Sigma. (COMIC: The Dalek Project)

Individual cases

One Dalek, a reconnaissance scout, built itself a new casing in 2019 Yorkshire which had short-range missiles behind each globe. One of these missiles made short work of a tank which sought to destroy the Dalek. (TV: Resolution)

In a possible timeline, (PROSE: The Tomorrow Windows) the Master allied himself with the Daleks and had his body "augmented with superior Dalek technology" as part of the deal. The first operation gave him a manipulator arm, but the Master later got rid of it after a ninth incarnation of the Doctor pointed out that he had no idea what to do with it. When they met again, the Master had indeed had two "Dalek bumps" grafted onto his chest, and proudly recited their various functionalities to the Doctor's fiancée Emma. Both the Doctor and Emma pointed out that the positioning of the Dalek bumps on the Master's chest made them resemble breasts, to his continuing annoyance. (TV: The Curse of Fatal Death)

Footage of a Dalek's base unit and sense globes was captured by a British news broadcast during the Battle of Canary Wharf in 2007. (WC: Tardisode 13)

To complete the Empire State Building before a gamma radiation lightning strike hit Earth in 1930, three of the panels with sensor globes of Thay's base unit were removed and attached to the building's mast, as the Dalekanium of the plates was required to attract the gamma strike. In their place, Thay was given crude iron replacement plates. The Tenth Doctor attempted to remove them too late as the lightning struck him, resulting in Dalek-Humans infused with Dalek Sec's altered DNA as well as the Doctor's Time Lord DNA. (TV: Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks)

The bronze "Quasimodo Dalek", which was reconstructed by unfamiliar humans, had a pair of sense globes fitted in place of the luminosity dischargers atop its dome. Additional sense globes were attached to the weapons platform in place of the slats, which were attached to its base unit. (COMIC: The Dalek Project)

Half a casing's worth of sense globes was among the technology removed from a Dalek by a human guerrilla faction on Earth in the 2010s. (AUDIO: The Dalek Transaction)

Within the Dalek Asylum, sensor globes littered the ground among the insane Daleks. Picking one up, Rory Williams mistook it for an egg as a Dalek stuttered. Though Rory attempted to offer it to the Dalek, he soon found that it was saying "exterminate", leading him to promptly escape as the Dalek attempted to kill him. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)

Within the Dalek City, Missy tickled a Dalek's sense globes while describing the Doctor's TARDIS as "the dog's unmentionables." (TV: The Magician's Apprentice)

A number of sense globes belonging to the Dalek named Rusty, who was captured by the Combined Galactic Resistance, had been lost or damaged by the time he was found by the Twelfth Doctor aboard the Aristotle. (TV: Into the Dalek) Rusty was still in this battered state when the Doctor met him again on Villengard billions of years into the far future. (TV: Twice Upon a Time)

Other references

The Tenth Doctor mistook the roundels within the Twelfth Doctor's version of the TARDIS' control room for "Dalek bumps". It was for this reason that he initially mistook the control room as belonging to the Master's TARDIS. (COMIC: Four Doctors)

Behind the scenes

Terminology

The Dalek Book's Anatomy of a Dalek uses the term "sense globes". This term is also used in The Doctor Who Technical Manual.

According to Terry Nation's Dalek Annual 1978's feature on Davros, the globes attached to his chair were "disc sensors" which each had different functions, each registering an aspect of humanoid touch such as sensitivity to heat and cold. Capable of detecting obstacles, they also served to protect the chair from collision or impact.

Terry Nation's Dalek Special's Inside a Dalek identifies the globes as "hostility sensors".

Terry Nation's Dalek Annual 1979's Anatomy of a Dalek points out the "ultra sensitive globes".

The Doctor Who Yearbook 1993's Anatomy of the Imperial Dalek identifies the globes as "sensor pods".

DWM 471's Anatomy of a Dalek! identifies the globes as "hemispherical detectors".

Deflector Globes

Deflector Globes

• James Johnson rendered a Time War-era Reconnaissance Dalek model which was featured on the cover of Gallifrey: War Room 1: Allegiance. Ahead of release, Johnson released a closer look at his designs, with one of the Reconnaissance Daleks' distinguishing features being the Deflector Globes. He clarified that the accompanying text wasn't in any way official, and that he added it "just for fun".

Deflector Globes were a variation on standard issue Sensor Globes, they shielded the temporal signature of a Dalek from most Time Lord scanning technology, allowing them to work behind enemy lines undetected.James Johnson

Merchandise

• Released by Dapol, an exclusive Davros action figure had a variant of his black chair with a gold control panel, sense globes and fender, replacing the televised silver.

Other matters

Otherwise faithful to the televised depiction, a unique quirk of the Type VIII Daleks appearing in the online games The Doctor and the Daleks and Doctor Who Game Maker is that their base units have only 3 rings of sense globes rather than the usual 4.

Michelle Gomez confirmed on Twitter that her tickling a nearby Dalek's bumps when referring to the TARDIS as "the dog's unmentionables" was improvised.

In The Weakest Link: Doctor Who Special, Nicholas Briggs jokingly stated that Daleks do not play golf because "they're covered in their own balls."