The Genesis Ark was the Dalek name for a Time Lord prison ship from the Last Great Time War.
Characteristics
Slightly larger and similar in shape and colour to a bronze Dalek casing, the Ark was dimensionally transcendental and contained millions of bronze Daleks. The Ark also sported a set of hemispherical controls which the Daleks' suction cups could interact with, though the Daleks themselves could not open it. Only the touch of someone who had been through the Time Vortex could activate it (TV: Doomsday) via their artron signature. (PROSE: TARDIS Type 40 Instruction Manual [+]Loading...["TARDIS Type 40 Instruction Manual (reference book)"])
Whilst it was implied the Daleks could force it open, the act of doing so would require blowing up a star. Like the Daleks' themselves, the Genesis Ark was impervious to human bullets as well as the firepower of the Cybermen from Pete's World. (TV: Doomsday)
History
During the Last Great Time War, the Time Lords used the secret prison ship (TV: Doomsday) and containment unit later renamed by the Daleks as the "Genesis Ark" (PROSE: TARDIS Type 40 Instruction Manual [+]Loading...["TARDIS Type 40 Instruction Manual (reference book)"]) to imprison millions of bronze Daleks. The Doctor, who fought in the war, remained unaware of this. As the Tenth Doctor later reflected, both sides had secrets.
The Cult of Skaro took the Genesis Ark and escaped the war in a Void Ship, intending to use it to re-establish the Dalek Empire after they returned to the universe in 2007. However, though the Daleks could bring the Ark to its final stage of awakening, it could only be opened by the touch of a time traveller which was a safeguard to stop the Daleks from liberating their fellows from the prison ship.
The Daleks would have blown up the Sun to force the Ark open, but first they attempted to coerce Rose Tyler to open it. During a firefight with the Cybermen, Mickey Smith accidentally laid his hand on the Ark, priming it. As the Ark required 30 square miles for activation, the Daleks escorted it out of Torchwood Tower and into the sky. High above Canary Wharf in London, the Ark opened and the Daleks within began pouring out.
When the Doctor reopened the breach to the Void, the Genesis Ark was sucked back through along with the Daleks and Cybermen, as they were all saturated with "Void stuff". (TV: Doomsday) Barring a portion of Cybermen, all those within the Void were eventually wiped out as a result of the reality bomb. (TV: The Next Doctor)
Behind the scenes
- A promotional still image from Doomsday, featuring the Cult of Skaro and the Genesis Ark, is used to depict Dalek invaders on a copy of the newspaper Daily Times in GAME: City of the Daleks. However, the invaders in the game itself are shown to be red Drone Daleks of the New Dalek Paradigm.
- The Genesis Ark appeared in LEGO Dimensions. It could be found in the Black Archive during The Dalek Extermination of Earth.
- The name "Genesis Ark" clearly borrows from the Hebrew Bible, making a connection to Noah's Ark in the Book of Genesis, which carries humans and other creatures from destruction in the narrative, like the Daleks escaping the Time War in TV: Army of Ghosts, in order to retake the universe.