Reconnaissance Dalek
Thirteen calls this Dalek the "Recon Dalek" in Revolution of the Daleks. Case File Eleven calls it "The Reconnaissance Dalek".
Talk about it here.
A reconnaissance scout Dalek 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.
History
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. 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)
Legacy
Khan later recorded a case file on the recon scout (WC: Case File Eleven) and, at some point after learning about the Cybermen from Captain Jack Harkness, (TV: Fugitive of the Judoon) mentioned their encounter with the Dalek to Ace, a former companion of the Seventh Doctor. (PROSE: At Childhood's End)
The image of this Dalek was among the wealth of memories which the Thirteenth Doctor, while trapped by the Spy Master, used to overwhelm and break free from the Matrix in the ruins of the Capitol on Gallifrey. (TV: The Timeless Children)
Clone
- Main article: Recon Dalek Clone (Revolution of the Daleks)
Remnants of it, stuck in the broken and battered casing, was later collected by scientist Leo Rugazzi to create a new lifeform, unknowingly allowing a new race of Daleks to be born. It was implied that this new Dalek mutant was the very same Recon Scout which the Doctor indicated was potentially true, stating that "Dalek consciousness can live within the tiniest fragment of the their DNA." In order to stop it and the Defence Drones, 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, the 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 Kaled 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, despite the fact that reconnaissance Daleks were the first to leave Skaro, according to the Thirteenth Doctor, (TV: Resolution) whereas bronze Dalek casings were not used until the Second Dalek War. (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks)
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)
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 in the episode, 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/
