Wednesday, 27 November 2013

The Mothership Daleks Pt 4 - The Paradigm Daleks by DJ Forrest


In Victory of the Daleks we were introduced to a newer breed of Dalek, newer and far glossier than their predecessors.  They had thicker fenders, pretty much reminiscent of those from the 1965 movie ‘Dr Who & The Daleks, by Amicus Productions.  These Daleks were also coloured and varied in rank.

The new Daleks were also taller and slimmer at the sides but held a rather large rear, which was explained as the place for the new Daleks to store further weapons, as of yet still to be seen in an episode.


Their eye sockets are far larger and instead of the smooth orb this new eye socket has eight fins around the outer edges.  There are also five black disks along the stalk.  The lights on the dome are as tall as Time War Daleks and those of the Superior Dalek of Classic Who.

The black strips around their weapons, the waistband had returned to how they had been in the classic era.  But their overall shape reminds me in a confectionery sort of way of a ‘Walnut Whip’.



Beneath the dome unlike in previous versions where two bronze disks separated the grill, this has been altered to incorporate the grills into the disks but each disk becomes wider by the time it reaches the shoulders of the Dalek.
Despite their apparent shape they are still manually operated (see Interview with Barnaby Edwards) http://projecttorchwood.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/interviews-barnaby-edwards.html

These are the Paradigm Daleks

The first of these was the White Supreme Dalek which appeared in the TV story Victory of the Daleks, The Pandorica Opens and The Wedding of River Song.  This Dalek was white and grey sporting all of the above in shape and design. 

The New Dalek Paradigm was created by the Progenitor device, which used pure Dalek DNA.  The Daleks who had been created using Davros’ cells, thus making them ‘unclean’ and not worthy to the new empire sacrificed themselves by being exterminated by their own kind.
The original five Daleks of the New Paradigm, and the leadership class once their new empire was created, were more powerful and much larger than any of their predecessors.’ http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/New_Dalek_Paradigm

The Progenitor
 
As you can see by the original Camouflage Dalek as how the Time War and previous Daleks appeared, to how the Dalek looks in these episodes, there is a considerable difference.


A nugget of fact:
The new Paradigm Daleks were not a hit with the hardened fans, although the younger generation, (children) loved them.  Some of our fans referred to them as Power Ranger Daleks’ or big, moody, colourful but somehow the hump doesn’t work.

Mark Gatiss wrote into the script ‘Victory of the Daleks’ that he wanted ‘big buggers, bigger than we’ve had before and they certainly were, the eyestalk with the new Daleks was level with Matt Smith’s eyeline.  These new Dalek designs were put together from input from the writer of the episode, Mark Gatiss, the production designer, Edward Thomas, Executive Producer Steven Moffat, and Concept Artist Peter McKinstry.

In Episode 3, Series 5, Victory of the Daleks, written by Mark Gatiss, directed by Adam Smith, produced by Steven Moffat, broadcast on 3rd April 2010 featuring Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill and Matt Smith.  Dalek voices by Nicholas Briggs, Dalek Operators Nicholas Pegg and Barnaby Edwards
the 11th Doctor, receives a call from Winston Churchill played by Ian McNeice during the London Blitz, and visits him. During which time they discover Churchill has employed 'Ironsides', (camouflage Daleks kitted out in uniform colours of a British soldier during the 2nd World War, and capable of making a cup of tea), a scientific creation by Professor Bracewell (Bill Patterson)  who the Doctor later realises is an android created by the Daleks in order to destroy Earth.  There is a device which is activated by the Doctor after he names himself and the Daleks, and in order to deactivate the device they have to convince the scientist that he is human.


Just like their predecessors, the Paradigm Daleks had levels of rank and position:
Supreme Daleks were white.

The Eternal Dalek – yellow
  
 Strategist Daleks – blue
  
 Scientist Daleks – orange



Drone Daleks – red

Eggs-Stir-Min-Eight!

In Series 7, Broadcast 1 September 2012, director Nick Hurran, writers Steven Moffat, Terry Nation (The Daleks) producer Marcus Wilson,
Dalek 1 Barnaby Edwards, Dalek 2 Nicholas Pegg, (uncredited Dalek operators - John Davey and Matthew Doman), Daleks Voice, Nicholas Briggs
Asylum of the Daleks, we were returned to the bronze Time War Daleks of old, although they were a deeper bronze than the originals. 
In this episode the Doctor had been captured along with his companions Rory and Amy and sent to the Asylum just as his two companions are about to divorce.  The Asylum is a planet where insane Daleks are exiled, and there aren’t just a few, there are millions.  The Doctor is aided along the way by Oswin Oswald whose ship had crashed on the planet a year earlier and had been trapped there ever since. 

The Paradigm Daleks were classed as the ‘Officer’ rank in this episode, governing over the bronze that were often the Drone rank.

In The Big Bang episode we were introduced to the Stone Dalek. After imprisoning the Doctor for 1, 894 years inside the Pandorica, the Stone Daleks were discovered alongside the large cubed prison in Britain’s National Museum.  The two statues had been the petrified remains of two Daleks, the last of their kind.  However one did come back to life and pursued the Doctor and his companions throughout the museum, finally killed by River Song.

As the Daleks began to create their Empire, two Dalek Emperors were known to have ruled the New Dalek Paradigm at some point.  See Game: City of Daleks, The Eternity Clock http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rs69w/profiles/city-of-the-daleks

Much later in Asylum of the Daleks a Parliament was established and the Supreme Dalek given a lower rank and answerable to the Dalek Prime Minister.

And Finally...

Throughout history the Daleks have tried and failed to destroy all of mankind and all of the universes, yet one man stands to stop them at every turn, and that one man is The Doctor!

Hopefully we’ll never see an end to the Doctor’s adversary, there will be more over the years, and an abundance of colours and shapes, and sizes, but whatever and however they look, there will be no mistaking their call to arms!



Photo Source and Dalek information:
Thanks also to Simon Mallinson & Thumbnail Traveller

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