Drone Dalek (New Dalek Paradigm)
The Drone Dalek, also known as Battle Dalek, (COMIC: The Only Good Dalek) was a specialised Dalek of the New Dalek Paradigm, designed for battle. It was distinguished by its red casing, which was later altered to a darker metallic burgundy. As with their fellows bar the Eternal Dalek, the sense globes on their base unit were coloured dark silver. The first one was created by the Progenitor in 1941. (TV: Victory of the Daleks)
History
The original Drone of the New Dalek Paradigm, along with the other original four Paradigm Daleks (the yellow Eternal, blue Strategist, orange Scientist, and white Supreme Dalek), were created when the three survivors of an encounter with the Doctor tricked the Eleventh Doctor into allowing them to activate the Progenitor device. It escaped through a time corridor with the others and went on to help rebuild the Daleks. (TV: Victory of the Daleks)
When the Daleks acquired the Eye of Time, they opened up a rift in the sky above London Earth in the year 1963, sending forth thousands of Drone Daleks that proceeded to exterminate humanity. Following this, the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond found the Daleks in the ruins of London, with a single survivor using explosives to hold them off. Following Sylvia into the London Underground, she covered their escape before being exterminated. When the Doctor travelled back in time to Kaalann to stop the Daleks rebuilding their empire and invading Earth, there was a squad of Daleks including Drones. The Doctor erased their alterations and the squad was destroyed. (GAME: City of the Daleks)
When the Daleks attempted take-overs of the SS Lucy Gray in their efforts to recover their lost Time Axis there were may Drone Daleks present. The Daleks were destroyed when their ship was sent into the sun. (GAME: Evacuation Earth, Return to Earth)
The Daleks joined the Alliance to imprison the Eleventh Doctor in the Pandorica to save the universe. A Drone Dalek was among three representatives who arrived at Stonehenge in 102 AD with the rest of the Alliance and locked the Doctor in the Pandorica. (TV: The Pandorica Opens)
The Alliance failed to save the universe. Many races, including the Daleks, were wiped from existence, leaving only stone "after-images". When the Doctor reset the universe and timeline, the Daleks were restored to their former form and place in space-time. (TV: The Big Bang)
Drone Daleks fought to protect the Daleks' weapons bases from the Silurians, Sontarans and Cybermen. (GAME: Dalek Supremacy)
When the Daleks invaded London in 2106 using a piece of the Eternity Clock, there where Drone Daleks present. The Doctor and River Song hacked into the Dalek transmat systems and sent the Supreme Dalek to the North Pole. (GAME: The Eternity Clock)
When the Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory Williams were transported to the spaceship of the Parliament of the Daleks, there were many Drone Daleks present. The Time War drones became the prominent Drone again and the Red Drones were elevated to a higher position. Just as the Parliament was about to destroy the asylum, Oswin Oswald removed any memory of the Doctor from the Daleks' Pathweb from the centre of the Asylum, causing the Dalek members of the Parliament, to forget the Doctor entirely. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
Behind the scenes
Props
Three Drone Dalek props of a modified "New Dalek Paradigm" design were created for Asylum of the Daleks.[1]
Cameos
A red Drone Dalek's prop, along with that of a white Supreme Dalek, appeared on an episode of Top Gear when James May hosted a race between two free runners and a motorcyclist through the BBC Television Centre.
Colin Baker uses the Paradigm Drone Dalek to secure a part in the 50th Anniversary Special in The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.
All five archetypes of the New Dalek Paradigm feature in The Lego Batman Movie, appearing among the inhabitants of the Phantom Zone, alongside many famous villains from a number of fictional franchises. Like the others, they are unleashed upon Gotham City by the supervillain known as "the Joker" at the climax of the film, only to be defeated and sealed back inside the prison dimension. Their one line is the exclamation "Exterminate!", actually a piece of archive audio originally recorded by Nicholas Briggs for The Parting of the Ways.
Other matters
- In Dalek Hack, the player has the option to turn a Dalek's casing, shaped identically to the bronze Dalek, into any of the five colours of the New Dalek Paradigm.
