Special Weapons Dalek
The Special Weapons Dalek was a heavily-armoured Dalek with enhanced defensive capacities and even greater offensive capacities.
History
The Special Weapons Dalek were created not before the Battle of Pejorica. In 1854, through a time corridor, an inoperative Special Weapons Dalek landed back in time in the house of Michael Faraday. (AUDIO: The Four Doctors)
After detecting the Sixth Doctor on Skaro, the Daleks later known as the Renegades sent the Special Weapons Dalek to exterminate him. Later, the then-Dalek Emperor sent the Special Weapons Dalek to Spiridon to deal with Davros's Daleks there. (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!)
The Imperial Daleks employed the Special Weapons Dalek against the Renegades during the Shoreditch Incident. After it had done its work, it returned to the Imperial Dalek mothership via the Imperial Dalek Shuttle. When the shockwave from the destruction of Skaro hit, it was most likely destroyed along with the other Imperial Daleks on board the craft. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
Following their encounter with Davros, the Renegade Daleks also began using a special weapons Dalek variant in their campaigns. (PROSE: War of the Daleks)
While Ace was in Spacefleet fighting in the Second Dalek War, she witnessed a Special Weapons Dalek vaporise a Red Crescent ship full of children. She drilled through its motive units so it couldn't move in an attempt to steal its energy banks. While she did this, it begged her to kill it. Ace listened to it cry until its power ran out. (PROSE: Lucifer Rising)
At least one Special Weapons Dalek was among the insane Daleks contained in the Dalek Asylum planet. It appeared to be one of the inactive and/or catatonic of the Dalek inmates. The planet was obliterated by the Parliament of the Daleks, destroying the Special Weapons Dalek along with all the other Daleks in the Asylum. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
At some point, presumably after the Imperial-Renegade Dalek Civil War when an Emperor was back in control, a Special Weapons Dalek was utilised by the Supreme on Kar-Charrat. (AUDIO: The Genocide Machine)
By the 53rd century, the Daleks had entire platoons of Special Weapon Daleks. (COMIC: Fire and Brimstone)
During the Last Great Time War, Temporal Weapon Daleks were very similar to Special Weapons Daleks, armed with a large Temporal Cannon. They were a variant of the Skaro Degradations. The Eternity Circle planned to create a new paradigm of these Daleks and spread them throughout the universe through the use of the Daleks' progenitors. But the new planned paradigm was never deployed, the Eternity Circle being stopped by the War Doctor and Borusa (PROSE: Engines of War)
Features and appearance
Unlike a conventional Dalek, the Special Weapons Dalek had no manipulator arm or eye-stalk. Instead, it had an enormous energy cannon mounted on the front of the armoured casing in place of the usual small gunstick and several gold squares around the dome in place of the usual eye-stalk.
The Special Weapons Dalek's firepower was so great that one shot completely vaporised two conventional Renegade Daleks, leaving only a pair of burn marks, and the armour was sufficient to deflect conventional Dalek energy weapons without suffering any apparent harm.
Initially, the Special Weapons Dalek had a conventional grey livery, marred by dark green stains. (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!) Later, like other Imperial Daleks, its livery was white with gold bumps, but with sections of metallic grey armour covering most of the upper portion with much battle scoring. It never spoke and it is unknown whether it could do so.
The gold squares around its dome are suggested to light up if one were to display speech, much like the sets of luminosity dischargers seen on the domes of conventional Daleks.
Psychology
It has been stated that the enormous power source required for its weapon resulted in high levels of radiation being released and altering the structure of the Dalek's brain, resulting in insanity. It was only used in extreme situations and was unofficially known among the Daleks as the Abomination. (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks)
Behind the scenes
One of a kind?
Whether or not the Special Weapons Dalek in Remembrance of the Daleks is unique, or one of many is without definitive proof. The novelisation of Remembrance of the Daleks implies the existence of only one Special Weapons Dalek, giving it a personal history and the name "Abomination". In something of a contradiction, Emperor of the Daleks! and Remembrance show a Special Weapons Dalek fighting for the Renegade and Imperial factions respectively. Finally, Fire and Brimstone shows an entire army of Special Weapons Dalek, either disproving the myth or showing the eventual mass production of the type. In the Dalek Survival Guide it is stated that they were mass-produced, and that two other, more intelligent models existed, the Air-borne Dalek and camoflaged Torpedo Dalek. However, this is only a secondary source, so it is not a legitimate source of infomation.
From a production perspective, the only televised stories to feature a Special Weapons Dalek, Remembrance and Asylum, were restricted to using one simply due to there being only one prop of the type.
Other matters
- Special Weapons Daleks would have been featured in the aborted 30th anniversary film The Dark Dimension.
- There were supposed to be two variants of Special Weapons Dalek. However, the second design was scrapped, and was never used.
- According to Sylvester McCoy on the audio commentary for Remembrance of the Daleks, cast and crew used to refer to the Special Weapons Dalek as the 'Rambo Dalek' on set. During the same commentary, Sophie Aldred refers to it as a 'Punk Dalek'.
