Skaro
Skaro was the homeworld of the Kaleds and the Thals, made desolate by the Thousand Year War. It later became the birthplace of the Daleks and became embroiled in their conflicts.
Astronomical data
Skaro was a planet of similar atmosphere, climate and gravity to Earth, though it was plagued by sulphuric rain. (GAME: City of the Daleks, TV: Asylum of the Daleks) It was the twelfth planet from its sun. (TV: The Daleks) Skaro's nearest neighbour was a planet called Alvega. (COMIC: The Amaryll Challenge)
Landscape
Skaro had two continents, Davius and Dalazar, which were separated from each other by the Ocean of Ooze. Davius was populated by the Thals, while the humanoid Daleks resided on Dalazar. (COMIC: Genesis of Evil)
- Accounts like The Daleks seem to conflict with this somewhat, clearly showing Daleks and Thals living on the same continent.
A jungle or forest grew on part of Skaro. Following an exchange of neutron bombs, the forest petrified. (TV: The Daleks) Other parts appeared to simply be wastelands devoid of plants or animals. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
- This may have happened as a result of the Thousand Year War between the Thals and Kaleds and/or the later wars between Daleks and Thals.
There were less irradiated plateaus where the Thals lived. (TV: The Daleks)
Hydrothermal activity was indicated by the presence of place names like "Geyser Swamp". However all bodies of liquid may not have been composed of water. At least one river was known to be comprised of sulphuric acid, and the geysers in Geyser Swamp spewed mercury, rather than steam. (COMIC: Duel of the Daleks)
The planet was known to have polar ice caps, though it was unclear whether these were actually comprised of frozen water. The mountains at one of the poles were known as the Polar Mountains. (COMIC: Legacy of Yesteryear)
Known geographic features
Continents/regions
Mountains
Rivers, lakes, and oceans
- Ocean of Ooze
- Geyser Swamp
- Drammakin Lake/Lake of Mutations
- Bottomless Sea
- Sea of Acid
- Sea of Rust
- Serpent Sea
- River of Whirling Waters
Islands
Settlements
- Darrien province
- Kaled Dome
- Dalek City/Kaalann
Native life
All Skarosian life had DNA, (AUDIO: Corruption) which was elemental type 467-989. (TV: Daleks in Manhattan) Though Skaro had once been rich in life, due to the Thousand Year War most of it went extinct. (AUDIO: Corruption) Some of the survivors included the Varga plants (TV: Mission to the Unknown) and Slythers. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth) The Lake of Mutations was home to a variety of life-forms, including the terrorkon. (TV: The Daleks, COMIC: The Terrorkon Harvest) At least one area of the planet was inhabited by large dinosaur-like creatures. (COMIC: The Planet of the Daleks) The planet was also home to a species of magnedons, but many had died in the war, leaving behind inorganic metallic bodies that would not succumb to decay. (TV: The Daleks)
Several sentient species evolved on Skaro, including the Dals, Tharons, Kaleds and Thals. By the time of the Thousand Year War, the Tharons and Dals had gone extinct. (AUDIO: Purity) The Mutos were the mutated Kaled and Thal members of the war. By then, the whole planet was reduced to a wasteland. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
Location
Skaro was described as being "in the next universe but one" (PROSE: Dr Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks). This could suggest existing in another reality, or (in somewhat archaic English) to be in a galaxy adjacent to the Mutter's Spiral.
A Dalek spacecraft was called "Megallanic Cloud Cruiser" (PROSE: The Dalek Book), giving a potential hint to its location in the Magellanic Clouds.
History
Pre-War history
Though Thals used the same name for their world, in the Kaled language, Skaro meant home. (PROSE: War of the Daleks)
10 million years prior to the Thousand Year War, the Kaleds diverged from the Thals. (AUDIO: Corruption) One account states that both the Kaleds and the Thals were descended from humans transplanted from Earth to Skaro as an experiment by the Halldons. (PROSE: We are the Daleks!)
Creation of the Daleks
- Main article: Creation of the Daleks
According to one account, by the time of the creation of the cyborgs known as the Daleks, the Kaleds and the Thals fought the Thousand Year War over the wasteland adjacent to the Kaled Dome. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
Technology had devolved in this time. A Scientific Elite governed the Kaleds. By this phase of the war, biological and nuclear weapons had begun to cause mutations known as Mutos. The Kaled scientists saw this as the end of their species in its "pure" form. The Kaled chief scientist, Davros, decided to accelerate the mutations on purpose to determine their "ultimate form" and placed the results in travel machines. These creatures then became the successors to the Kaleds, the Daleks.
The Fourth Doctor, transported to this time period by the Time Lords to prevent a possible future where the Daleks would rule the universe, played a part in entombing the Daleks in the Kaled bunker. The Daleks still survived and promised to re-emerge. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
Despite the predominance of this account about the creation of the Daleks, others were recorded. (COMIC: The Dalek Chronicles, PROSE: We are the Daleks!)
The aftermath
Centuries or thousands of years passed. Radiation levels dropped, though they still presented a danger to human (and Gallifreyan) life.
The Thals evolved into a handsome people, believing they were now of intellectual and physical perfection. They lived a simple pastoral and pacifist lifestyle. The Thals never ventured into the Dalek City near the petrified forest or showed any curiosity about it. Because of their dependence on static electricity to move about, the Daleks stayed within the city.
The First Doctor landed the TARDIS on Skaro, not knowing the planet's dangers. Ironically, the Daleks' discovery of the Doctor and his companions, who came from off-world, caused them to wonder about and to fear the existence of other sentient life on Skaro.
The Doctor's companion, Ian Chesterton, taught the Thals to use violence in self-defence, in order to protect themselves against the xenophobic Daleks who threatened them.
The Daleks came to know, during this time, that they needed high radiation to live. With levels subsiding and their lives threatened, the Daleks proposed to set off another neutron bomb. As this would take too long, the Daleks instead planned to release radiation from nuclear reactors into the atmosphere.
A combined effort by the Doctor, his companions and the Thals resulted in the electricity supply for the city being cut off, leaving the Daleks immobile and powerless. (TV: The Daleks)
Spaceflight era and after
During the 26th century, it seemed that the Thals had reclaimed Skaro from the Daleks. (TV: Planet of the Daleks)
In another era, in the Dalek City, the Dalek Emperor ruled an empire which spanned both space and time. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks)
The Master's execution took place on Skaro and the Seventh Doctor made arrangements to go there to pick up the remains. (TV: Doctor Who) The fact that the Doctor could do this indicated a somewhat less hostile attitude of the Time Lords towards the Daleks under President Romana. (PROSE: Lungbarrow)
- These events may have taken place in the relative past of Skaro's timeline before its destruction, as the Doctor did not comment on the fact that, in his personal timeline, he had already destroyed Skaro.
At some point, the Daleks made a home on New Skaro, though it is unclear whether Skaro was under Thal control or destroyed, or possibly "lost". (PROSE: Birthright)
Supposed destruction of Skaro
Skaro was apparently destroyed when, as planned by the Seventh Doctor, the Hand of Omega caused its sun to go supernova. The stellar explosion released a shockwave which quickly struck the nearby world. It ripped and burned the planet to smithereens. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
Survival of Skaro
The Dalek Prime later claimed that Skaro had not in fact been destroyed. The Daleks, during their invasion of Earth in the 22nd century, had discovered records that showed Skaro's destruction. An attempt to change history was unsuccessful. (TV: Day of the Daleks)
The Daleks decided to terraform the planet Antalin to resemble Skaro as a decoy and manipulated Davros and the Doctor into ensuring that Antalin was destroyed in place of the original Skaro. (PROSE: War of the Daleks)
Skaro was later devastated during the Last Great Time War between the Daleks and the Time Lords. (TV: Daleks in Manhattan)
After the new Progenitor Daleks escaped, they travelled to Skaro and rebuilt the Dalek Emperor, their city of Kaalann and later their whole empire. The Eleventh Doctor discovered that the New Dalek Empire had invaded Earth in 1963. He went to the rebuilt city of Kaalann and discovered that the Daleks had found the Eye of Time, a Time Lord device that helped them alter Earth's timeline. Using the Eye, the Doctor travelled to Kaalann in its ruined state before the return of the Daleks. He sabotaged the Daleks' vision, allowing him to deactivate the Eye. The timeline returned to normal and the New Dalek Empire and their 1963 invasion of Earth was erased. Skaro reverted to its ruined condition. (GAME: City of the Daleks)
An area of the Petrified Forest was salvaged by humans at some point close to the 41st century and taken to Earth's Station 7 for research. (COMIC: The Only Good Dalek)
The Eleventh Doctor revisited the devastated Skaro after being summoned by a woman called Darla, who claimed to have been looking for her daughter, Hannah. However this was a trap to capture him, Darla had been taken over by the Daleks. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
Alternate timelines
In an alternative 22nd century, the Daleks conquered Earth after a World War III had occurred there in the 20th century. The Daleks transported Earth's mineral wealth back to Skaro. (TV: Day of the Daleks)
In another alternate timeline, the Dalek Emperor destroyed Skaro by exploding the planet in the 43rd century when it came under attack by the Mutant Phase. (AUDIO: The Mutant Phase)
Other Skaros
Just as they colonised "New Skaro," the Daleks made other planets they conquered into "Skaros," as they did to the Seriphia Galaxy (AUDIO: The Apocalypse Element) and planned to do to the Sunlight Worlds. (PROSE: The Dalek Generation) This may account for the discrepency of Skaro's destruction in that the planet has been destroyed several times because there have been several planets.
Minor references
- The Tenth Doctor once stated, "A foe that cannot be killed, that would put the fear of Skaro into you". (PROSE: The Resurrection Casket)
Behind the scenes
Continuity controversy
- John Peel's explanation in War of the Daleks that the Doctor did not really destroy Skaro at the end of Remembrance of the Daleks, and that instead a planet called Antalin was destroyed, has not been met with great approval among Doctor Who fans.
The Dalek Pocketbook and Space Travellers Guide
- According to the non-narrative source REF: The Dalek Pocketbook and Space Travellers Guide, the Island of Gushing Gold jetted molten gold into the air.
