Paradigm
The Daleks were organised into paradigms. (AUDIO: The Monster of Montmartre, PROSE: Engines of War, TV: Victory of the Daleks)
The Dalek Time Controller attempted to create a new paradigm of Daleks. (AUDIO: The Monster of Montmartre)
The Eternity Circle planned to create a new paradigm of Temporal Weapon Daleks and spread them throughout the universe through the use of the Daleks' progenitors. The Daleks harnessed energy from the Tantalus Eye to create a Temporal Cannon comprised of three moons to wipe Gallifrey from history, allowing them to finally win the Time War. With the Daleks in the Tantalus Spiral it was destroyed by Borusa. (PROSE: Engines of War)
Following the Last Great Time War, surviving bronze Daleks used a progenitor they had found to create a New Dalek Paradigm from pure Dalek DNA after they goaded the Eleventh Doctor into unwittingly providing a testimony which confirmed them as Daleks. Themselves impure, the old Daleks accepted that they were inferior and allowed themselves to be destroyed by their successors. (TV: Victory of the Daleks)
Behind the scenes
The Dalek Handbook
The Dalek Handbook identified several Dalek paradigms according to their real world appearance.
- 1963: Dalek War Machine
- 1964: Dalek Earthforce, Saucer Commander, Supreme Controller
- 1965 - 1967: Silver Dalek, Supreme Dalek, Imperial Guard Dalek
- 1972 - 1985: Grey Dalek (Second Dalek War), Gold Dalek, Dalek Supreme
- 1974 - 1984: Exxilon Dalek leader, Exxilon Dalek, Grey Dalek (Dalek-Movellan War), Supreme Dalek (Duplicate Incident)
- 1985 - 1988: Necros Dalek, Renegade Dalek, Supreme Dalek (Shoreditch Incident), Imperial Dalek
- 2005 - 2010: Bronze Dalek, Imperial Guard Dalek, Black Dalek, Supreme Dalek
- 2010: Ironside, New Dalek Paradigm (represented by Supreme Dalek)