THE DEAD PLANET

From their first appearance in 1963, the Daleks have maintained their position as the number one adversary to Doctor Who.

Making their ruthless entrance during the Doctor’s second story, The Dead Planet, the Daleks were an instant success ensuring a future for the Doctor Who series and a place in television history.

Writer Terry Nation’s inspiration for The Dead Planet, came from H.G.Wells’, The Time Machine in which two different factions evolved following a terrible war – the peaceful and ineffectual   Eloi and the brutish light-fearing Morlocks.

In The Dead Planet,  Skaro is the world ravaged by a brief  neutron war between the  Dals  and the Thals, which had occurred 500 years previously. The Thals have become pacifists and live a life of contemplation surviving on anti-radiation drugs, while deep in their underground city, the Daleks,  still at war with the Thals, have mutated into hideous hateful creatures which can only survive in metal casings powered by static electricity.

The Doctor and his companions arrive in the TARDIS and things are never the same again.

Regarding the Dalek props , there were four built for the serial  , along with several life size cut out to make up the numbers. The main design credits were BBC designer, Raymond Cusick, who took the basic shape of a sitting operator and built the design round that, and  Bill Roberts of Shawcraft Models, the firm who actually built the props.

Each prop was more or less visually the same apart from the odd construction differences and numbers written on their backs so the director could identify which prop was which.  However, one prop did have the distinct feature of an opening and closing iris at the end of its eye stalk.

As a backdrop for my Character Options Dead Planet Dalek  I've  hastily put together a little diorama of part of the underground city.

I love the original set design of this part of the Dalek city, very uncluttered and a typical early sixties idea of what an alien city might look like.  

Who’s the Daddy!