"Reconnaissance Dalek"
A Dalek reconnaissance scout, referred to as the "Reconnaissance Dalek" by Yasmin Khan and the Thirteenth Doctor , (WC: Case File Eleven; TV: Revolution of the Daleks) was one of the first Daleks to leave Skaro. It was sent to Earth in the 9th century to gather data in advance of an invasion. Defeated by humans, the trisected Dalek mutant was buried in three parts, and came to be revived in the 21st century.
Following its defeat at the hands of Team TARDIS, (TV: Resolution) the Recon Scout was cloned and inadvertently resurrected by human scientist Leo Rugazzi. The Dalek created a new race of Daleks, but it was destroyed for good by Death Squad Daleks summoned by the Thirteenth Doctor who deemed the Dalek and its subordinates to be impure due to their corrupted DNA. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks)
History
A day to come
Through the extrapolations of the Matrix, the Time War-era Time Lords foresaw the encounters with the Reconnaissance Dalek in the Doctor's personal future. Though they regarded all future events they saw as merely theoretical, it was recorded in the Dalek Combat Training Manual in a chapter for section leaders. They attributed the "remarkable" feat of the Dalek having initially been defeated by primitive humans to it being unprepared for the overwhelming opposition that it faced, anticipating that they would not be so lucky were they to encounter one. Regarding the 2021 Dalek civil war, it came much to the concern of the Time Lords that a single Dalek was able to create a whole new mutant strain of the Dalek race without the advanced skills of Davros, the Dalek Emperor or the Cult of Skaro. As such, they began research into the genetic make-up of the Reconnaissance Daleks to further understand the extent of their abilities. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)
Arrival on Earth
According to the Thirteenth Doctor, reconnaissance scouts Daleks were the first Daleks ever to leave Skaro, and this individual may have been the first to reach Earth. Arriving on Earth in the 9th century, the Dalek was faced in the Battle of Hope Valley by an army made up of humans who had previously been at war with each other. Despite suffering tremendous losses, the army managed to "only just" defeat the Dalek, trapping it in netting and burning its casing. Practising caution, the Three Custodians split the mutant into three parts, each taken to different parts of the planet, and guarded by their descendants, so it might not recover. However, the third Custodian was shot by an arrow in Yorkshire, before he could complete his journey. (TV: Resolution)
Restoration
Buried by the passage of time, the Lost Custodian was eventually found beneath Sheffield Town Hall and the location became an archeological dig. On New Year's Day 2019, the Lost Custodian's piece of the Kaled mutant was found by archaeologists Lin and Mitch. The third piece of the Kaled was accidentally revived under ultraviolet light, and summoned its other parts. The Dalek subsequently took control of Lin, one of the archaeologists, and used her to gain intelligence, acquire transport, and retrieve its old gunstick. Using remnants of its old shell, combined with spare parts found at Dinkle's farm, Lin built this Dalek a new metal casing.
Letting Lin go, the Dalek went on a rampage (TV: Resolution) in what was dubbed the Recon Scout Incident. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) It killed an entire army detachment, and fired a missile into their tank, destroying it. The Dalek was intent on contacting its fleet, and made its way to the Government Communications Headquarters in order to enact its plan. It shut down all power in the UK in the process.
The Dalek was finally stopped by the Thirteenth Doctor, Graham O'Brien, Yasmin Khan, Ryan Sinclair, Mitch, Lin and Aaron using a microwave oven, which melted its new casing. However, the Kaled latched onto Aaron, and demanded transport in the Doctor's TARDIS. The Dalek was finally thwarted when the Thirteenth Doctor jettisoned it into a supernova. The Dalek attempted to take Aaron with it, but Ryan managed to reach his father who fought off the Dalek's control while his son pulled him to safety. (TV: Resolution)
Resurrection
While one account held that Giles of the Preternatural Research Bureau was dispatched to pick up a broken microwave and a battered alien casing in Sheffield on New Year's Day, (PROSE: Preternatural Days) matching the story of how the Recon Dalek's casing was destroyed, (TV: Resolution) the casing actually ended up in the hands of agents of Jack Robertson. Remnants of the Dalek, stuck in the broken and battered casing, were later collected by scientist Leo Rugazzi to create a new lifeform, unknowingly allowing a new race of Daleks to be born. Rugazzi's original new Dalek mutant was the very same Recon Scout, in mind as well as in body; the Doctor observed that "Dalek consciousness can live within the tiniest fragment of their DNA."
The Dalek took control of Rugazzi's infrastructure, and made all the necessary orders and purchases to manufacture a vertical farm in Osaka, where it began cloning new Daleks. Using its new army of Defence Drones, the Dalek started invading, with intent to use Earth as a base to take over the universe. In order to stop it, the Doctor sent the Dalek's original reconnaissance signal into the Time Vortex and summoned Death Squad Daleks, who exterminated the new Daleks for being impure.
Teleporting aboard the Dalek saucer via spatial shift, the first clone insisted that it was the last remains of the Recon Scout and that it had completed the original's mission and given its life for the Dalek cause. Although the clone insisted that it could be purified, the Death Squad Daleks exterminated it with their blasters, destroying the Recon Scout once and for all. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks)
Appearance
The Dalek mutant itself had green skin, except for a small part of the brain visible (distinguished as being red), and was much larger than the average Kaled mutant. It also appeared to have more tentacles that were longer, and it appeared much more squid-like. The mutant's original Dalek casing, as seen in an ancient scroll depicting its appearance during the Battle of Hope Valley, appeared to resemble a bronze Dalek.
The reconstructed casing that the reconnaissance scout Dalek made for itself while possessing Lin was made from scrap metal from Dinkle's farm, and spare parts of the Dalek's original casing. The final result was a rusted casing that the Thirteenth Doctor dubbed "junkyard chic". The base unit was similar to those of most Dalek casings, except for the two front rows of sense globes, and two at the backside, which were larger than the rest, while all of them could be pulled back to reveal extremely explosive missiles. The weapons platform was a metallic grey and appeared to have been attached by screws. The gunstick was a pipe while the manipulator arm resembled a metal claw instead of a sucker arm. The grating section, which was notably shorter than on regular Daleks, featured a pair of metal rings; part of the inner grating section would light up red when the Dalek spoke. The dome was slightly diffrent from normal Daleks' domes with dust and rust covering it, and the eyestalk was slightly different from the general eyestalk, while the vision-field while appearing blue from the outside did not alter the vision colour for the Kaled mutant inside. The luminosity dischargers appered covered by small metallic pieces. (TV: Resolution)
When it was resurrected, it had the same casing as the other Defence Drone Daleks. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks)
Behind the scenes
- According to Darren Fereday, the concept artist, the Dalek was fully robotic and thus radio-operated, requiring no Dalek operator inside the casing. Three separate systems controlled the eyestalk, the gunstick and manipulator arm, and the lights. He also noted that the melted Dalek made use of practical LED lighting.[1]
- Nicholas Briggs revealed that he wanted to make this particular Dalek super arrogant and that he wanted it to sound as little as possible like the regular Daleks as it is sitting on Lin's back as it is speaking within its mind.[2]
- To keep the Dalek a secret prior to the broadcast of Resolution, it was given the codename "Kevin".[3]
Footnotes
- ↑ @DarrenFereday (1 January 2019). Tweet. Retrieved on 2 January 2019. “Robotics controlling the three layers independently, the eye stalk, arms, the lights. Between the Art Dept and the Prop Makers, this was tight work. True super team. And staggering that the melted one was all practical LED lighting 🤩”
- ↑ https://www.doctorwho.tv/news?article=nick-briggs-exclusive-interview-i-wanted-to-make-this-dalek-superarrogant&fbclid=IwAR0F2_oK3dRIlHrvO5M7JWYyj_HSfQXxDe39SU9-b_98alajYc0830wObNY
- ↑ https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-02-11/doctor-who-dalek-code-name-kevin-resolution/
