Drone Dalek (New Dalek Paradigm)
The Drone Dalek, also known as Battle Dalek (COMIC: The Only Good Dalek) or Red Drone, (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) 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. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks) A grey variety also existed. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
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. The Paradigm eventually returned to using the Bronze Dalek casing seen during the Last Great Time War for its drones.
History
Red casings
Information from The Only Good Dalek
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 the New Dalek Empire 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)
After the Daleks had taken over the planet Goth, they mass produced the Drone Daleks as a new army while the original of their number formed a new Supreme Council with its fellow founders. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
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. One red Dalek also had a black dome, serving as the guard of the Emperor. (GAME: The Eternity Clock)
Return of the bronze casing
As the New Paradigm continued its operations, the Bronze Dalek seen in the Last Great Time War (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) emerged once more, being seen in the Dalek Project and Sunlight Worlds campaigns. (COMIC: The Dalek Project, PROSE: The Dalek Generation) After the many failures of the New Dalek Paradigm, the Dalek Empire underwent a restructuring, creating the Resurrected Dalek Empire and lessening Paradigm influence.
Prime Minister of the Daleks promoted the red and grey Daleks to an officer class while returning the basic drone to the Bronze Dalek design, feeling that the older design would evoke fear of the Daleks once again. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
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. 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)
The Dalek memory of the Doctor was restored during the Siege of Trenzalore after harvesting information from Tasha Lem. The Dalek drones and the rest of their forces in the siege were destroyed when the Eleventh Doctor regenerated. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
Behind the scenes
Props
As with its fellow new Daleks, the Drone Dalek in Victory of the Daleks was depicted with a specially created prop. This prop was later used to portray the Drone Dalek in The Pandorica Opens.[1]
Three Drone Dalek props of a modified "New Dalek Paradigm" design were created for Asylum of the Daleks.[2]
Portrayal
Discounting the chants of the Parliament of the Daleks in Asylum of the Daleks, Drone Daleks have never been heard to speak on-screen; they are seen speaking as individuals only in video games.
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.
