Dalek drone
The Dalek drone was the most common variant of Dalek. (GAME: City of the Daleks, AUDIO: In Remembrance) They were used as the main "foot soldier", which led to them very occasionally being called warrior Daleks. (PROSE: War of the Daleks)
The Thirteenth Doctor used the term "basic Dalek" in reference to the "normal Dalek soldier". (TV: Resolution) However, despite merely being the basic infantry of the Dalek race, every drone was still a genius. Additionally, in the absence of orders from higher ranking Daleks, drones were to revert to the Dalek directive: to exterminate all non-Dalek life forms. Thus, a single drone could still wage a war of genocide. (TV: Dalek)
At different points in their history, Dalek drones used several different kinds of casings, varying both in appearance, colour scheme and abilities. The Dalek Survival Guide identified at least three distinct types of Dalek Drone. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide) The Dalek Combat Training Manual, which had information from the Last Great Time War and beyond, identified nine. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)
Hierarchy and variance
While the Celestial Intervention Agency believed that Supreme Daleks were more intelligent than typical Dalek drones, (PROSE: The Dalek Problem) any Dalek mutant could be designated a Supreme after its creation, but it was randomly selected and uncommon. During the Last Great Time War, it was a billion to one chance, with most mutants instead being designated Dalek drones and therefore being tasked with simply following a superior's orders, instead of giving them. (PROSE: Dalek)
The Time Lords identified the Emperor's guard, at least those who followed the Emperor in the post-Time War universe, as "guard drones". (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) During the earlier Dalek Civil War, however, the Emperor himself addressed them as "Black Dalek Leaders". (TV: The Evil of the Daleks)
Death Squad Daleks were distinguished from standard bronze Daleks by claw manipulators in place of the standard suction cups, (TV: Revolution of the Daleks) which were also used among the Dalek War Fleet. (TV: The Vanquishers) Dalek Executioners wielded both claw manipulators and rapid fire gunsticks. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks)
History
Army of the Daleks
According to most accounts, the very first Daleks and their Mark III Travel Machines were created by the scientist Davros at the end of the Thousand Year War between his people and the Thals. These first Daleks were a group of drones. These Grey Daleks were large, dark grey, and possessed slats in their midsection. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) After the Neutronic war, (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) the Daleks retreated into the Dalek City, where, despite their original prototype casings being grey with slats, they came to adopt silver casings; in particular, the early silver casings lacked slats and were only powered only by static electricity, (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) which the Daleks grew to be dependent upon. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
According to another account, the Dalek casing was originally designed by the scientist Yarvelling under the name of "Dalek War Machine", being repurposed into a travel machine by the first, naturally-occurring Dalek. Even as this Emperor's progeny developed new forms of casings for the officer class, with the Emperor himself becoming the bulbous-headed "Golden Emperor", the original slatless Dalek War Machines continued to be used as the casings of the Dalek drones. (COMIC: Genesis of Evil, The Amaryll Challenge)
By one account, "rank and file" Daleks coloured a "simple grey and blue" were at the bottom of the original Dalek hierarchy established by the Dalek Prime. (PROSE: The History of the Daleks)
It was a group of Daleks on Skaro in silver, slatless casings who were the first members of the species the First Doctor encountered. They depended on static electricity from the floors of the Dalek City for power. (TV: The Daleks) The Dalek Survival Guide identified these Daleks as an early model of the Skaro City Dalek, (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide) whilst the Time Lords designated the casing type as the "Type I Dalek". (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)
Reconnaissance scout Daleks, the first Daleks out of Skaro, had more abilities than standard Daleks. One, who was forced to construct a new bronze casing to replace its former shell, used these abilities on Earth when being hunted by the Thirteenth Doctor. (TV: Resolution) The Dalek creature later resurfaced and had humans create a new clone Dalek army designated as Defence Drones. The former Reconnaissance Dalek itself inhabited one of these casings, launching an invasion of Earth only for the new army to be destroyed by a Dalek Death Squad that had been lured in by the Doctor, who was aware that the cloned Daleks' contained traces of human DNA which made them impure. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks)
As reported by the Space News Agency on 26 June 2065, the Red Dalek and the Black Dalek participated in the planning of the Dalek invasion of Alvega in the control room of the Dalek City on Skaro. The War Machine Dalek drones under their command were coloured blue. (PROSE: Daleks Seek New Conquests) Identical blue Daleks were seen at Dalek Tracking station PZ8 before it fell to the rust plague. (PROSE: Daleks Suffer Heavy Losses!)
By 2094, a photograph of slatted Silver Daleks with a large, blue luminosity discharger not exhibited by later models, and an enlarged Dalek fender matching that of the later Dalek Earthforce, was freely available on Earth, where it served to illustrate a news article about the recovering of a set of story-cubes about the Daleks' history. Five of the Daleks were standing in a deserted street, with other ruined casings of the same type strewn about. (PROSE: The Dalek Chronicles Found!) The Dalek Survival Guide identified this model as Dalek Invasion Force Type 2, suggesting that it came from a different version of history to the Earthforce encountered by the First Doctor. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide)
The Dalek Earthforce which operated in England during the 22nd century Dalek invasion resembled had solar energy collection discs mounted on their backs for external power and larger base fenders, (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth) though some War Machine Daleks during the Daleks' initial expansion phase were seen to get about on alien soil without need of such appendages. (COMIC: The Amaryll Challenge) The Time Lords designated the Earthforce model as the "Type II Dalek", (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) whilst the Dalek Survival Guide identified them as Dalek Invasion Force Type I. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide)
At some point between the brief return of some of the Daleks' humanoid forefathers (COMIC: Legacy of Yesteryear) and the ill-fated rebellion of the One in a Million Dalek, (COMIC: Shadow of Humanity) the drones moved beyond the War Machine casings to instead use a new (TV: The Chase, etc.) silver casing (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) that had slats on their mid-sections. (TV: The Chase, etc.) Some Daleks in (TV: The Power of the Daleks) these silver casings (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) still needed reliable ways of powering themselves, (TV: The Power of the Daleks) but most could move under their own power on any terrain. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks, et al.) The Dalek Survival Guide identified the slatted Silver Daleks as "Dalek Drone Type 1", a later model of the Skaro City Dalek, (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide) whilst the Time Lords designated these as the "Type III Dalek". (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)
In Operation Human Factor, a number of silver drones designated as "test Daleks" were implanted with the Human Factor, the first of which were named Alpha, Beta and Omega. As the Second Doctor anticipated, these now Humanised Daleks questioned the orders of their Black Dalek Leaders which resulted in the Dalek Civil War. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks, PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide)
Later, the Daleks readopted the gunmetal grey colour scheme used by the Mark III Travel Machines, with the Grey Daleks replacing the Silver Daleks as the most common Dalek drone, (TV: Day of the Daleks) Following the earlier Silver Dalek models, the Time Lords designated the Grey Daleks as the "Type IV Dalek". (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) The Dalek Survival Guide designated the grey drones as "Dalek Drone Type 2", whilst referring to those in the Time Paradox Incident as Dalek Invasion Force Type 3. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide)
The Dalek drones were still identified by their grey casings at the beginning of the Second Dalek War of the 26th century (TV: Frontier in Space, Planet of the Daleks) but the casings were altered as the war went on. By the end of the war, some of the Dalek soldiers had a much heavier and more solid look with a distinctive bronze finish, an expanded base, larger cylindrical indicator lights, and a blue-lit eyepiece. These were the first Bronze Daleks. (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks)
In their scrutiny of Dalek history, the Time Lords identified a group of Daleks who were engaged in the conflict against the Space Security Service, consisting of silver Dalek drones, a Red Dalek leader and its red-domed subordinate. These Daleks all sported enlarged fenders like the Dalek Earthforce along with blue, cone-shaped luminosity dischargers. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)
During the Daleks' attempt to build the Time Destructor in 4000, (TV: Mission to the Unknown, The Daleks' Master Plan) Silver Daleks (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) served as drones. (TV: Mission to the Unknown, The Daleks' Master Plan)
The Daleks attempting to seize taranium on Exxilon were silver with "multiphase" black sense globes (TV: Death to the Daleks, AUDIO: The Dalek Protocol) like the Grey Daleks and as opposed to the "low-frequency" blue sense globes of earlier Silver Daleks. The Dalek Survival Guide identified this model as "Dalek Drone Type 3", whilst the Time Lords identified it as the "Type V Dalek", both sources recognising the casing as a modification of earlier silver Daleks. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) These were also the colours of the damaged Dalek casings used in Major McLinn's attempts to create fake Daleks for the Space Security Service. (AUDIO: The Trojan Dalek)
The gunmetal and black design again served as drones during the Dalek-Movellan War, (TV: Destiny of the Daleks) and the rescue of Davros in its aftermath (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks) in 4590. (PROSE: Resurrection of the Daleks) Some Bronze Daleks would also be employed against the Movellans. (TV: The Pilot)
During the Imperial-Renegade conflicts
During his time at Tranquil Repose, Davros genetically engineered an entirely new breed of Daleks from the Resting Ones - these mutants were completely loyal to Davros, and had distinctive white casings with gold sensor globes, neck grating and limbs. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks) This prototype model was designated by the Time Lords as the "Type VI Dalek" (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) and "Imperial Dalek Type I" by the Dalek Survival Guide. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide)
Following the eruption of the war between these and the original Dalek Empire, these came to be known as the "Imperial" faction, now featuring all-gold appendages and white bases and - for the first time - the ability to hover under their own power. Meanwhile, the original Skarosian faction of Daleks retained Grey Daleks as their basic drones and came to be known as the Renegade Daleks, although they phased out the traditional gunmetal casings in favour of a battleship grey and black colour scheme.
The Imperial Daleks were eradicated by the Seventh Doctor's tricking Davros into detonating the Hand of Omega, (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) with various forms of Grey Daleks continuing to serve the Dalek Prime's now-mostly-unified Dalek Empire. (PROSE: War of the Daleks) By another account, however, the Imperials survived and were victorious. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) The refined Imperial Dalek model was identified by the Dalek Survival Guide as "Imperial Dalek Type 2" (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide) whilst the Time Lords designated it as the "Type VII Dalek". (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)
War with the Earth Alliance
Silver Daleks served during the Daleks' long war with the Earth Alliance, (AUDIO: Invasion of the Daleks) including the hijacking of Project Infinity, (AUDIO: Project Infinity) and the subsequent war against the Mentor's Daleks from a parallel universe, (AUDIO: Dalek War: Chapter One) although the Daleks of N-Space briefly allied with humanity when Kalendorf deemed the Mentor's Daleks an even greater threat to humanity. (AUDIO: Dalek War: Chapter Four)
Under the Dalek Time Controller
"Type III" Silver Daleks continued to serve in the Dalek Empire even when the Time Lords began foreseeing "something terrible" in the time tracks, at least some of whom served under the Dalek Time Controller. (AUDIO: The Great War) Silver Daleks were used to invade Srangor, and came to work inside an underground base to assist the Dalek Time Controller and Kotris in creating a space-time projector. They also occasionally travelled to the surface of Srangor and captured survivors of the Daleks' invasion for experimentation. (AUDIO: X and the Daleks) Silver Daleks were also used to pursue the Eighth Doctor and Molly O'Sullivan across time, starting from Earth in 1914, (AUDIO: The Great War) to 1943, to the Ides Scientific Institute in 1970, and even across the universe, (AUDIO: Fugitives) before eventually recovering them. (AUDIO: Tangled Web) When the Doctor and Molly escaped to Srangor themselves, they investigated the Space-Time Projector; when Straxus was exterminated, Kotris, and by extension, his plans, were erased from history. (AUDIO: X and the Daleks)
Silver Daleks were later used to conquer the Nixyce system, (AUDIO: The Traitor) including Nixyce II (AUDIO: Eye of Darkness) and Nixyce VII; on the latter planet, Silver Daleks again served under the Dalek Time Controller and ensured the enslavement of Nixyce VII's survivors. The Eighth Doctor eventually arrived and attempted to end the slavery of Nixyce VII, but was eventually captured and taken to the Dalek Time Controller, where he revealed his true intentions in coming to the planet; (AUDIO: The Traitor) the Doctor wished for the Time Controller to use the super weapon that the Daleks had created on Nixyce VII to destroy a nearby fleet of Eminence caskets. The Time Controller complied. (AUDIO: Time's Horizon, Eyes of the Master)
On the Eye of Orion, Liv Chenka specifically identified the Dalek Commander of a small contingent of Daleks as silver in colour. This Commander, along with its subordinate Daleks, were exterminated by the Dalek Time Controller (as by this point, the Time Controller had been banished from the Dalek Empire). Shortly afterwards, a force of Silver Daleks, led by a gold Dalek Supreme, landed on the Eye of Orion and dispelled the Eminence gas containing Markus Schriver's consciousness back into Schriver's bunker; the Daleks then forced the Eighth Doctor to lead them to the Dalek Time Controller, where they trapped him, along with Liv, Schriver and the Time Controller, inside the bunker. The Silver Dalek force then left the Eye of Orion, shortly before a temporal wave could hit. Back onboard their ship, the Silver Daleks were ordered by the Dalek Supreme to reconstitute the remains of the Dalek duplicate Adelaine Dutemps, (AUDIO: Eye of Darkness) who the Daleks had recovered from Montmartre, Paris, in 1921, (AUDIO: The Monster of Montmartre) into a unique Dalek Time Strategist. (AUDIO: Eye of Darkness)
The Restoration Empire
By another account, the Imperial Daleks were the victors of the civil war. Reorganising themsleves under the Emperor of the Restoration, the rebranded Restoration Empire patterned itself after the Dalek Empire's early days, the Dalek drones returned to the color scheme of the ancient Silver Daleks, albeit with bulkier casings similar to the Bronze Daleks. They were placed under the command of Grey Dalek leader. (COMIC: Defender of the Daleks, PROSE: The Restoration Empire)
Silver drones were also among the Time-Sensitive Dalek in the Dalek Time Squad that the Emperor sent back to the Dark Times. Being standard drones, they were not supposed to be independent thinkers, but River Song suspected they could be anyway. (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times) A drone survived the events in the Dark Times and sent a warning out to the universe. It was this message that had been picked up by the Emperor. The Daleks' involvement in the Kotturuh crisis had thus been a bootstrap paradox, as the drone's message was what had convinced him to send the Time Squad back at all. (PROSE: The Last Message)
Time War and aftermath
During the Last Great Time War, the Bronze Daleks definitively supplanted any forms of Grey Daleks and Silver Daleks as the standard for Dalek drones. (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks, I Am a Dalek, Engines of War, TV: The Last Day, The Day of the Doctor, Dalek) The Time Lords, who believed the Bronze Daleks to have been developed for the Time War, identified the model as the "Type VIII Dalek" and termed it the "ultimate warrior". (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)
By this point, the Bronze Daleks were armed with a swiveling mid-section that allowed the Dalek a 360-degree field of fire and a force field that fully disintegrated approaching bullets. The design also added a new feature to the eyestalk: if something was obstructing its vision (such as paint), a heat discharge could melt the obstruction. It was also able to regenerate itself by absorbing electrical power and the DNA of a time traveller. The manipulator arm was also able to crush a man's skull in addition to the technology interfacing abilities shown by earlier models. (TV: Dalek, The Stolen Earth) The four unique Daleks who comprised the Cult of Skaro had the built-in "Emergency Temporal Shift" functions. (TV: Doomsday)
Later in the Time War, the Daleks had bolstered their numbers by converting humans into Dalek drones. Due to their "impure" origins, they were viewed as more expendable than Skarosian Daleks and so were fielded as cannon fodder. (PROSE: Engines of War) In their observation of the Asylum Incident from the post-Time War universe, the Time Lords understood that not all Dalek conversions were successful and that finding even one Dalek drone that was not totally subservient to Dalek control would provide a massive tactical advantage. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)
A single bronze Dalek soldier, who was fielded in the fall of Arcadia, fell through time to Earth where it was found by humans and, after fifty years, ended up in the Vault of Henry van Statten, who called it the "Metaltron", in 2012. Greatly damaged, the "Metaltron" sent a distress signal which was picked up by the Ninth Doctor, who believed it to be the last Dalek in existence at the time. Manipulating Rose Tyler to make physical contact with its casing, the "Metaltron" used her background radiation to reconstruct itself. In the absence of orders from superiors, the "Metaltron" fought to escape the Vault and intended to follow the Primary Order, the extermination of all non-Dalek life, only to find it was mutated by Rose's human DNA. Conflicted with its new emotions, the Dalek chose to self-destruct. (TV: Dalek)
The drone casings of the New Dalek Empire were identical to the bronze casings of the Time War Dalek Empire. One minor variation, the Vault Daleks (found aboard their space station the Crucible) possessed a specialised manipulator arm with eight "digits" but were otherwise identical. The mutants inside all the New Empire casings were grown from the cells of Davros' own body. (TV: The Stolen Earth) The New Dalek Empire was ultimately destroyed by the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor, however. (TV: Journey's End)
The Daleks restored
When the Dalek race was successfully restored using the Progenitor device, the first five individuals of the New Dalek Paradigm emerged. Their casings were larger than their predecessors' and the new drone was bright red, but other than the colours was otherwise no different from its superiors such as the Strategist and the Scientist Dalek. As with their fellows bar the Eternal Dalek, the sense globes on their base unit were coloured dark silver. (TV: Victory of the Daleks) The New Paradigm's casing model was designated by the Time Lords as the "Type IX Dalek". (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) The new drones were alternatively designated as "Battle Daleks" (COMIC: The Only Good Dalek) and remembered by historians as the "Red Drones", with the very first Red Drone being assigned command of the new army as the original five members of the New Paradigm formed a new Dalek Supreme Council. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
Initially, the design of the Red Drone was mass-produced, serving in the war with the Space Security Service and, in alternate timelines, invasions of Earth in 1963 and in 2106. (GAME: City of the Daleks, Return to Earth, The Eternity Clock; COMIC: The Only Good Dalek) However, as the Eleventh Doctor inflicted a series of defeats on the New Paradigm, the Prime Minister of the Daleks chose (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) to return to using the smaller bronze Time War model as the standard drone, with the larger red version being elevated to a higher position and given a more metallic burgundy colour. The bronze Daleks served in the Siege of Trenzalore and the conflict with the Combined Galactic Resistance. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks, The Time of the Doctor, Into the Dalek,; COMIC: The Dalek Project; PROSE: The Dalek Generation, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
Daleks used casings seen throughout their history on Skaro, which had been remade and become the centre of their empire. (TV: The Witch's Familiar) Dalek drones in bronze casings, sliver casings, and at least one grey casing were present at Dalek control in the rebuilt Dalek City. When the now-dying Davros wished to see the Doctor again, the Twelfth Doctor, Missy, and Clara Oswald were brought to Skaro, with Missy and Clara soon being brought to control and seemingly exterminated by the various Dalek variants, (TV: The Magician's Apprentice) but they actually escaped using their vortex manipulators. (TV: The Witch's Familiar) The Daleks then "destroyed" the Doctor's TARDIS, (TV: The Magician's Apprentice) but, due to the Hostile Action Displacement System, she survived. (TV: The Witch's Familiar)
Afterwards, Dalek drones spread through the city to locate the Doctor, with a bronze drone and a Special Weapons unit finding Davros without his life support chair in the Dalek City infirmary. The drones and other units in Dalek control had been expecting Davros to enter, only to see the Doctor had stolen their creator's "chair", protecting him via its force field. After the Doctor threatened the various Daleks, only to be bluntly told Clara was dead, Colony Sarff brought him back to Davros, who truly planned to use the Doctor's regeneration energy to prolong his life and make the Daleks on Skaro Dalek-Time Lord hybrids. As the two spoke in the infirmary, Missy and Clara were in the sewers, with the Time Lady using a dwarf star alloy brooch to damage a drone's casing. Thus, the decaying Dalek sewer mutants killed the drone, letting Missy put Clara inside to pretend to be the drone. While they were in Dalek control, however, regeneration energy flowed into every Dalek on Skaro.
Leaving Clara behind in the casing that she was unable to properly speak out of, Missy used a gunstick to save the Doctor, and the hybrid Daleks were soon attacked by the rising decaying Daleks, now energised from the Doctor's regeneration energy. After freeing Clara from her casing and leaving Missy, the Doctor reassembled the TARDIS with his sonic sunglasses, escaping the Dalek City as the decaying Daleks continued to destroy it. Elsewhere, Missy ran through the city until she surrounded by several Dalek drones and an Elite Guard Dalek, but she told the Daleks she had a "very clever idea". (TV: The Witch's Familiar) Indeed, Missy stayed on Skaro for sometime (PROSE: Postcards from the Universe) before finally making her escape from the Daleks. (PROSE: The Liar, the Glitch and the War Zone)
Dalek drones under a bronze commander took part in the Master's Dalek Plan alongside the Spy Master, the Cyber-Warriors under Ashad, and the Master's Cyber-Masters. (TV: The Power of the Doctor) Drones also served in the frontline of in the 1966 Dalek invasion of Earth under a Supreme Dalek. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks)
Behind the scenes
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.
Invalid sources
- Grey Dalek drones appear in Trapped in the Time Corridor, an illustration for the 30th Anniversary Calendar, serving under the Golden Emperor, the Black Dalek, the Red Dalek, and a red-domed Dalek.
- The Dalek Handbook claims that the grey Daleks succeeded the silver Daleks as drones following the Dalek Civil War, dated to the 41st century, and that their presence in the 26th century Operation Divide and Conquer and the Spiridon campaign was indicative of continued operations to overwrite history in the Daleks' favor, with the silver Daleks seen in the Exxilon Gambit being 27th century-native Daleks that had been subsumed into future Dalek forces.
- New Paradigm Drone Dalek is one of Dalek enemies used in the Doctor Who: Legacy mobile game.
- Depending on the player's progress, "Standard Dalek" is a potential rank for the Metaltron to attain in the video game NOTVALID: The Last Dalek.
