Dalek

Daleks were the armoured, mutated descendants of the Kaleds of the planet Skaro. They fought the Time Lords in the Last Great Time War, ending in the near-total destruction of both races. Intensely xenophobic and bent on universal domination, the Daleks were hated and feared throughout time and space. They were the oldest and most frequent foes of the Doctor, having faced him several times in every one of his incarnations.

BIOLOGY
Although the Daleks looked entirely robotic, they were in fact cybernetic organisms (or cyborgs), with a biological body encased in and supported by a protective outer shell of Dalekanium metal armour, armed and mobile. These were actually the Mark III travel machines designed to carry their mutant forms, and they were not true integrated biomechanoids. (AUDIO: The Four Doctors) In this respect, they were somewhat similar to a Cyberman; unlike them, however, the Daleks' bodies had mutated so drastically from their Kaled ancestors they had lost all humanoid appearance, save for one eye (see below). (TV: The Daleks, Evolution of the Daleks) The Daleks shared information using a sort of artificial telepathic network known as the Pathweb. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)

ANATOMY
EXTERIOR The Dalek casing, originally called a "Mark III travel machine", could be separated into three sections.Top: The Dalek's means of vision and communication, a dome with a set of twin speaker 'lights' (referred to as luminosity dischargers). On the upper part of the sides and a telescope-like eyestalk in the middle. This was attached to the mid-section by a "neck".Midsection: On the Dalek's midsection, the gunstick and manipulator arm were attached. These provided the Dalek's means of offence and operating capabilities. In later models, the midsection was capable of swiveling.Bottom: The Dalek's means of mobility was a sturdy base with a skirt-like structure of plates studded with globes. This allowed movement and, in later models, flight.Battle armour editThe creatures inside their "machines" were almost always Kaled mutants, which the Seventh Doctor once described as "little green blobs in bonded polycarbide armour". According to one account, the creatures inside the Dalek casing were originally known as Dals. Heavily mutated members of other species, including humans, also occupied the casings on occasion. Daleks of human originThe interdependence of biological and mechanical components made the Daleks a type of cyborg. The Imperial Daleks created by Davros during the Imperial-Renegade Dalek Civil War were true cyborgs, surgically connected to their shells.Externally, the Daleks resembled human-sized pepper- shakers, with a single mechanical eyestalk in a rotating dome, a gunstick and a manipulator arm. The casings were made of both polycarbide and dalekanium. The lower shell was covered with fifty-six hemispherical protrusions, which could serve as a self-destruct system. The Dalek creature had no visible vocal apparatus as such and their voices were electronic. Their most infamous battle-cry was "EX-TER-MIN-ATE!", each syllable screeched in a frantic-sounding, electronic scream (the last two syllables together). Other common utterances included "I (or "WE") OBEY!" to any command from a superior. Daleks also had communicators built into their shells to emit an alarm to summon other Daleks if the casing was opened from outside. The Dalek's eyepiece was its most vulnerable spot – as there was no back-up system if this was obscured, damaged or destroyed – and impairing its vision often led to the Dalek panicking and firing its main weapon indiscriminately. The Dalek casing also functioned as a fully-sealed environment suit, allowing travel through the vacuum of space or underwater without the need for additional life-support equipment. A Dalek's eyepiece could be connected to other Dalek vision centres. A Dalek was connected to its casing through a positronic link. The mutant itself accessed nutrient feeders and control mechanisms inside its internal chamber. Due to their gliding motion, earlier models of Dalek were baffled by stairs, which made them easy to overcome under the right circumstances. One time the Fourth Doctor and his companions escaped from Dalek pursuers by climbing into a ceiling duct. Some models were able to hover, or fly under their own power like small spacecraft.The armour of the Cult of Skaro had temporal shift capacity, seemingly the only users of such technology during the Battle of Canary Wharf. The power source of the Dalek casing also changed several times. During his first encounter with them on Skaro, the First Doctor learned that the casing was externally powered by static electricity transmitted through the metal floors of the Dalek City. Isolating a Dalek from the floor using a non-conductive material shut down the casing, although it was not immediately fatal to the occupant. The Daleks initially overcame this weakness by adding dishes to their casing to receive power, although even these were ultimately replaced by vertical rectangular slats around the midsection. By the beginning of the Last Great Time War, the Daleks had adapted their technology to use a type of energy apparently linked to the process of time travel. On more than one occasion, Daleks and their devices were seen to leech this energy from time-travellers to power themselves. (TV: Dalek, Doomsday) Whatever the power source the Daleks used in the interim, it was (apparently uniquely) immune to being drained by the City of the Exxilons. Strangely, the Daleks retained motive power and the ability to speak even though their weaponry was shut down, which suggests the weapon systems had a separate power supply. The Third Doctor indicated that this was because the Daleks were psychokinetic, and the City unable to absorb psychic energy. Other references to the Daleks having psychic potential are scarce, but on the planet Kyrol, the Eighth Doctor discovered an enclave of humanised Daleks who had, through years of meditation, developed psychokinesis to a remarkable degree. (TV: Death to the Daleks, COMIC: Children of the Revolution) The casing was booby-trapped, making even dead Daleks a dangerous foe. They were frequently equipped with virus transmitters which worked automatically. (PROSE: I am a Dalek) Furthermore, the armour contained an automated distress beacon which activated if disturbed. (TV: Planet of the Daleks) True Dalek FormA Kaled mutant in Time War armour. (TV: Daleks in Manhattan)Interior editThe inner casing, in which the actual Dalek resided, also held a life support system and a battle-computer for strategic and tactical knowledge. The Dalek mutant operated the casings manually. Once removed, other life forms could pilot one if they could fit within. (TV: The Daleks)MutantThe interior mutant was, as the Seventh Doctor described it, a green or pinkish "blob." It was the brain of the Dalek and the true creature that hated everything not a Dalek. The "blobs" were usually genetically mutated Kaleds or, at times, other species captured by the Daleks. They were depicted with multiple tentacular protrusions, either a single eye or a normal right eye and a left eye so reduced in size as to be easily missed - overall resembling what Lucie Miller described as "if someone threw up a squid dinner." Despite their apparent lack of any motive capability, they were capable of defending themselves, as demonstrated when a Dalek attacked and killed a soldier. While Daleks were typically small mutants, at least one member of the species, Dalek Sec, had extremely large tentacles and was pale green; he could even produce a sac-like membrane that appeared to come from his mouth (most likely a self-induced alteration in preparation for the final experiment). It was this membrane that he used to absorb Mr Diagoras and transform into a human-Dalek. Before or during the Last Great Time War, the Daleks mutated even more, developing a large eye in roughly the centre of the lumpy flesh that comprised its body and tentacles.