K9 meets Davros
Daleks down the Ages!
Daleks have made regular TV appearances since they first came onto the BBC television screens back in 1963. Here are some of the front covers from the BBC Radio Times down the ages, depicting the era of the Daleks, both past and present.
We begin with 1964, then 1966, 1972, 1999 and following on with this current 21st Century from 2003, 2005 and lastly; but not ending on, 2006.
Daleks are of Welsh Origin!
The original creator of the Daleks, the sadly missed Terry Nation was born in Llandaff, Wales in 1930; and he died at the age of 67 in 1997.
The man who designed the shape and structure of the TV Dalek machines was Bill Roberts, who was also Welsh and was born in Penydarren, Merthyr in the valleys of south Wales. It is thanks to both these Welshmen that the Doctor's greatest enemies, The Daleks, have been invading our television screens since 1963; and will be doing so for a long time to come!
Daleks on record.
I once had an E.P. vinyl record of the Dalek story "The Chase" taken from the TV series Doctor Who back in the late 1960's. Sadly I appear to have lost this album, as one does over the decades; and as I no longer have a record player, I couldn't play it if I still had it.
For those of you who may have had this, it will bring back some happy memories; and for those who've never seen it before, here it is!
Daleks in the Movies.
The Daleks appeared in two movie films, both adapted from the Doctor Who TV shows; and both starring Peter Cushing as Dr.Who. The first was "Doctor Who and the Daleks" made with the late Roy Castle playing the role of Ian Chesterton. I actually met Roy, and he was a really nice man, when he appeared in the stage play/musical "Pickwick" along with another close friend of ours, the late and sadly missed Sir Harry Secombe. But I digress, so back to the plot.
The photos below are all from the 2nd movie "Daleks- Invasion Earth, 2150 A.D." which again starred Peter Cushing as the Doctor, with Bernard Cribbins, Roberta Tovey, Jill Curzon, Ray Brooks and Andrew Kier. This second film was screened in 1966 and was, like the first, made in colour. It also gave us a chance to see lots of Daleks, as the big screen was not as limited as a television studio. Picture 1 shows Robomen taking human prisoners into the Dalek Saucer Spaceship watched by the Red Dalek, who was 2nd in command to the Supreme Dalek.
Picture 2 actually shows how we had a chance to win a film Dalek in a competition done by a famous breakfast cereal company!
The next picture is the Supreme "Black" Dalek in the main control room.
Our final picture shows 2 Daleks from the film in front of a control panel.
Who is Davros?
To counteract the effects of nuclear fallout and radiation poisoning, Davros created the Dalek, which was a creature able to survive as it was protected by an outer casing around the creature itself. Not only did the machine have a casing of Dalekenium, but the actual mutated being within could actually thrive any radio activity by remaining in the Kaled's underground bunker until the radiation died down to an acceptable level. It is also believed that the Dalek creature actually requires a certain amount of radiation in order to survive. This event took place in the Dr. Who story "Genesis of the Daleks" starring Tom Baker in the role as the 4th Doctor.
Daleks & Doctors.
There are probably lots of photos of Dr. Who and the Daleks out there; but here are a sample of just a few of the actors who played the Doctor, and had encounters with Daleks along the way!
This first photo appeared in a Radio Times supplement on December 17th, 1964; and shows the very first Doctor, William Hartnell, well known for the eccentric way he played the role.
Also from the Radio Times, published by the BBC on June 6th, 1968; an inset photo of the 2nd Doctor, played by Patrick Troughton. He made the role of the Doctor slightly more of a comedian than his predecessor, as this Doctor played a recorder in order to cope with stressful problems.
The next photo shows a much later Doctor. In fact, this was incarnation number 7, played by Sylvester McCoy. He is perhaps remembered as the Doctor who had to deal with two rival factions of Daleks; the Rebel forces of the Dalek Supreme, and the Imperial forces of the Emperor Dalek, who of course turned out to be none other than Davros. Here we see him with a gold & white Dalek of the Imperial forces, and the Special Weapons Dalek, which has only ever been seen in the story "Remembrance of the Daleks" in 1988.
Books and Comic Magazines
Many of you may have bought books about Daleks and Doctor Who, as there are plenty around if you look hard enough. I haven't actually got any of the old magazine type comics which were around back in the 1960's and 70's, but here is one which is still going strong today, even though this first issue is now 27 years old at the present date of October 20th, 2006.
