Necros Dalek
The Necros Daleks (AUDIO: The Juggernauts) were the Daleks created by Davros on the planet Necros. They were an early prototype of the Imperial Daleks. Referring to their model of casing, the Time Lords used the term Type VI Dalek to describe them. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) The Dalek Survival Guide identified the Necros Daleks as Imperial Dalek Type 1, with the refined Imperial Daleks being the Type 2. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide)
Appearance
In contrast to the drab grey and black "Type IV Daleks", the sleeker Necros Daleks had casings with white livery with gold sense globes and high-pitched, scratchy voices. The prototype models built by Davros on Necros retained the classic eyepiece and suction cup manipulator arms, but also featured rounder bases. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks) The Time Lords believed their appearance was down to a "superior" white insulating layer, whilst their gold sense globes were indicative of a notion of prestige more than anything else.
The Time Lords suggested that these prototypes were based on the structure of the Type V Daleks seen during the Exxilon Gambit, themselves modifications of the Type III Dalek. This design was refined as the "Type VII" Imperial Dalek which was itself, according to the Time Lords, followed by the "Type VIII" Bronze Daleks used in the Last Great Time War. These Bronze Daleks sported gold sense globes, (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) which were originally a distinguishing feature of the Necros Daleks. (PROSE: Revelation of the Daleks)
History
Davros created a new race of Daleks at the Tranquil Repose funerary complex on Necros, using parts from cryogenically frozen bodies. Some, like Arthur Stengos, he decapitated, modified and placed — still living — into a Glass Dalek casing. During the conversion process, Stengos' personality alternated between that of a human and that of a Dalek. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks)
Davros created several thousand of these Daleks. (PROSE: Revelation of the Daleks) Orcini set off an explosion in Davros' bunker, killing many of the prototype Imperials. Other Daleks loyal to the Supreme Dalek then apprehended him and the surviving Necros Daleks, intending to take Davros to Skaro for trial whilst the Necros Daleks were to be reconditioned to obey the Supreme Dalek. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks)
By one account, the ship carrying Davros, en route to Skaro, crashed on the planet Lethe, where Davros set himself up as "Professor Vaso", altering the perceptions of the humans on the colony so they would not recognise him as the "Great Healer". He attempted to create a new machine, a Juggernaut based on a Mechanoid design. Under his Vaso guise, he also "befriended" Melanie Bush, whom he saw as a skilled programmer. Lethe's atmosphere prevented the Supreme Dalek retrieving Davros directly, but its forces intercepted the Sixth Doctor's TARDIS, forcing him to serve as an agent of the Daleks and stop Davros's researches and manipulations. The Doctor discovered two of Davros's Necros Daleks had survived the crash, but were destroyed following Davros's final gambit on the colony and the Supreme Dalek's intervention. (AUDIO: The Juggernauts)
The Time Lords suspected that some of the Necros Dalek survivors could have been present on Skaro during Davros's trial, speculating that they were the Daleks who helped Davros cement his control and establish the Imperium. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)
Behind the scenes
- Four props were constructed to portray Davros's Daleks in Revelation of the Daleks.[1] Ironically, these were later repurposed to function as Renegade Daleks while four new props portrayed the Imperial Dalek drones in Remembrance of the Daleks.[2]
- The image of a finalised Imperial Dalek is used to depict a Necros Dalek on the cover of The Juggernauts.
- The Planet of the Daleks/Revelation of the Daleks boxset features a "Necros Dalek" that does not exactly match its televised depiction, sporting a gold middle section with white solar slats and silver "arms".
- In their list of real world paradigms, The Dalek Handbook counts the Necros Daleks in a "1985-1988" paradigm with the later Imperial Daleks and their enemies, the Renegade Daleks and the Supreme Dalek.