Editing Dalek (section)

==Creation and development==
The Daleks were created by [[Terry Nation]] and designed by the [[BBC]] designer [[Raymond Cusick]].<ref name=Cusick>{{cite book |last=Briggs |first=Asa |author-link=Asa Briggs |title=The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom |year=1995 |volume=5 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0pRGjVGtUvwC&pg=PA422 |access-date=20 March 2010 |isbn=0-19-215964-X }}<br/>Designer Raymond Cusick said that he got the idea for their appearance "whilst fiddling with a pepperpot" and had them produced in fibreglass, at a cost of less than £250 each.</ref> They were introduced in December 1963 in the second ''Doctor Who'' serial, ''[[The Daleks]]''.<ref name=B2>{{cite episode
 | title = The Survivors
 | series = Doctor Who
 | series-link = Doctor Who
 | credits = Writer [[Terry Nation]], Director [[Christopher Barry]], Producer [[Verity Lambert]]
 | network = BBC
 | location = London
 | airdate = 28 December 1963
}}</ref>

Wishing to create an alien creature that did not look like a "man in a suit", Terry Nation stated in his script for the first Dalek serial that they should have no legs.<ref name=";Monsters-80">Howe (1997), p. 80</ref> He was also inspired by a performance by the [[Georgian National Ballet]], in which dancers in long skirts appeared to glide across the stage.<ref name=";Monsters-80" /> For many of the shows the Daleks were operated by retired ballet dancers wearing black socks while sitting inside the Dalek.<ref name="dalek companion" /> Raymond Cusick was given the task of designing the Daleks when [[Ridley Scott]], then a designer for the BBC, proved unavailable after having been initially assigned to their debut serial.<ref name="scott">Howe (1994), p. 61</ref> According to Jeremy Bentham's ''Doctor Who—The Early Years'' (1986), after Nation wrote the script, Cusick was given only an hour to come up with the design for the Daleks and was inspired in his initial sketches by a pepper pot on a table.<ref name="bentham">{{cite book |last=Bentham |first=Jeremy |title=Doctor Who—The Early Years |date=May 1986 |publisher=W.H. Allen |isbn=0-491-03612-4 |location=England}}</ref> Cusick himself, however, states that he based it on a man seated in a chair, and used the pepper pot only to demonstrate how it might move.<ref>Walker (2006), p. 61</ref><!--Cusick is generally given sole credit for the design of the Dalek,<ref>e.g. Nation (1979), p. 42, Howe (1992), p. 124, Peel (1988) pp. 18–20)</ref> but Jeremy Rewse-Davies is occasionally described as the Daleks' co-designer.<ref name="rewsedavies">{{cite news |title=No more transports of delight |first=Jonathan |last=Glancey |author-link=Jonathan Glancey |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/no-more-transports-of-delight-1584494.html |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |location=London |date=1 June 1995 |access-date=28 January 2010}}</ref>-->

In 1964, Nation told a ''[[Daily Mirror]]'' reporter that the Dalek name came from a dictionary or encyclopaedia volume, the spine of which read "Dal – Lek" (or, according to another version, "Dal – Eks").<ref name="Peel2122">Peel (1988), pp. 21–22</ref> He later admitted that this book and the associated origin of the Dalek name were completely fictitious, and that anyone bothering to check out his story would have found him out.<ref name="Peel2122" /> The name had simply rolled off his typewriter.<ref name="companion 13">Howe (1998), p. 13</ref> Later, Nation was pleasantly surprised to discover that in [[Serbo-Croatian]] the word "dalek" means "far" or "distant".<ref name="30 years">Davies, Kevin (director) (1993). ''More than 30 Years in the TARDIS'' London, UK: BBC Video.</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-808-1236-08, Berlin, Reichstagssitzung, Goebbels, Ribbentrop.jpg|thumb|left|Terry Nation drew inspiration from the Nazis in depicting the Daleks as faceless and jingoistic racial supremacists.]]

Nation grew up during the Second World War and remembered the fear caused by [[The Blitz|German bombings]]. He consciously based the Daleks on the [[Nazis]], conceiving the species as faceless, [[authoritarian]] figures dedicated to conquest, [[racial purity]] and complete conformity.<ref>Howe (1992), p. 31</ref> The allusion is most obvious in the Dalek stories written by Nation, in particular ''The Dalek Invasion of Earth'' (1964) and ''[[Genesis of the Daleks]]'' (1975).<ref>Miles (2006), pp. 105–109</ref><ref>Howe (1998), p. 280</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Howe |first=David J. |author-link=David J. Howe |author2=[[Stephen James Walker]] |year=2003 |title=Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide – Genesis of the Daleks – Details |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/genesisofdaleks/detail.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100811124936/http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/genesisofdaleks/detail.shtml |archive-date=11 August 2010 |access-date=20 March 2010 |work=official Doctor Who website |publisher=BBC |orig-year=1998}}</ref>

Before he wrote the first Dalek serial, Nation was a scriptwriter for the comedian [[Tony Hancock]]. The two men had a falling out and Nation either resigned or was fired.<ref name=";Monsters-80" /><ref name="Peel2122" /><ref>Miles (2006), p. 40</ref> Hancock worked on several series proposals, one of which was called ''From Plip to Plop'', a comedic history of the world that would have ended with a nuclear apocalypse, the survivors being reduced to living in dustbin-like robot casings and eating radiation to stay alive. According to Hancock's biographer Cliff Goodwin, when Hancock saw the Daleks he allegedly shouted at the screen, "That bloody Nation — he's stolen my robots!"<ref name="hancock">{{cite book |last=Goodwin |first=Cliff |title=When the Wind Changed: The Life and Death of Tony Hancock |date=Nov 2000 |publisher=Arrow |isbn=0-09-960941-X |location=England}}</ref>

The titling of early ''Doctor Who'' stories is complex and sometimes controversial.<ref name="pixley">{{cite web |last=Pixley |first=Andrew |date=15 January 2001 |title=By Any Other Name |url=http://homepages.bw.edu/~jcurtis/Pixley_3.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523062944/http://homepages.bw.edu/~jcurtis/Pixley_3.htm |archive-date=23 May 2011 |access-date=20 March 2010 |work=Earthbound Timelords}}</ref><ref>Howe (1998), unpaginated "Authors' Note"<br />{{cite book |last=Richards |first=Justin |author-link=Justin Richards |title=Doctor Who—The Legend: 40 Years of Time Travel |publisher=[[BBC Books]] |year=2003 |isbn=0-563-48602-3 |location=London |page=19}}</ref> The first Dalek serial is called, variously, ''The Survivors'' (the pre-production title and on-screen title used for the serial's second episode), ''The Mutants'' (its official title at the time of production and broadcast, later taken by [[The Mutants|another unrelated story]]), ''Beyond the Sun'' (used on some production documentation), ''The Dead Planet'' (the on-screen title of the serial's first episode), or simply ''[[The Daleks]]''.<ref name="pixley" />

The instant appeal of the Daleks caught the BBC off-guard,<ref name="Peel2122" /> and transformed ''Doctor Who'' into a national phenomenon. Children were both frightened and fascinated by the alien look of the monsters, and the idea of "hiding behind the sofa" became a popular, if inaccurate or exaggerated, meme. The ''Doctor Who'' production office was inundated with letters and calls asking about the creatures. Newspaper articles focused attention on the series and the Daleks, further enhancing their popularity.<ref name="dalek companion" />

Nation jointly owned the intellectual property rights to the Daleks with the BBC, and the money-making concept proved nearly impossible to sell to anyone else, so he was dependent on the BBC wanting to produce stories featuring the creatures.<ref name="dioe notes">On-screen production notes, ''The Dalek Invasion of Earth'' London, UK: BBC Video, 2003.</ref> Several attempts to market the Daleks outside the series were unsuccessful.<ref>Peel (1988), p. 56</ref><ref>Howe (1997), p. 86</ref> Since Nation's death in 1997, his share of the rights is now administered by his former agent, Tim Hancock.<ref name="daleksback">{{cite news |date=4 August 2004 |title=Daleks back to fight Doctor Who |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3535588.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100427051852/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3535588.stm |archive-date=27 April 2010 |access-date=20 March 2010 |work=BBC News}}</ref>

Early plans for what eventually became the [[Doctor Who (1996 film)|1996 ''Doctor Who'' television movie]] included radically redesigned Daleks whose cases unfolded like spiders' legs.<ref>Segal (2000), pp. 48–53</ref> The concept for these "[[Spider Dalek]]s" was abandoned, but it was picked up again in several [[Doctor Who spin-offs|''Doctor Who'' spin-offs]].<ref name="spider">{{Cite comic |date=2005 |title=Doctor Who: Endgame |story=Fire and Brimstone |publisher=[[Panini Comics]] |location=[[Royal Tunbridge Wells]], Kent |writer=[[Alan Barnes (writer)|Barnes, Alan]] |penciller=[[Geraghty, Martin]] |inker=[[Robin Smith (comics)|Smith, Robin]] |pages=52–89, 214 |id={{ISBN|1-905239-09-2}}}}<br />{{cite book |last=Peel |first=John |author-link=John Peel (writer) |title=Doctor Who: War of the Daleks |publisher=BBC Books |year=1997 |isbn=0-563-40573-2 |location=London}}</ref>

When the new series was announced, many fans hoped that the Daleks would return once more to the programme.<ref name="scifi.com">{{cite web |author=Michael Anthony Basil |date=6 October 2003 |title=Science Fiction Weekly – Letters to the Editor |url=http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue337/letters.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031014114937/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue337/letters.html |archive-date=14 October 2003 |access-date=6 January 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Put scary Daleks back in Dr Who! |url=http://archive.thisishampshire.net/2004/7/3/27117.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100428083638/http://archive.thisishampshire.net/2004/7/3/27117.html |archive-date=28 April 2010 |access-date=20 March 2010 |publisher=thisishampshire.net}}</ref> The Nation estate, however, demanded levels of creative control over the Daleks' appearances and scripts that were unacceptable to the BBC.<ref name="nodaleks">{{cite news |date=2 July 2004 |title=No Daleks in Doctor Who's return |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3859651.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110227082556/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3859651.stm |archive-date=27 February 2011 |access-date=20 March 2010 |work=BBC News}}</ref> Eventually the Daleks were cleared to appear in the first series.<ref name="daleksback" /><ref name="yesdaleks">{{cite news |author=Bishop, Tom |date=24 April 2005 |title=Dalek terror returns to Doctor Who |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4469761.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100427024318/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4469761.stm |archive-date=27 April 2010 |access-date=20 March 2010 |work=BBC News}}</ref> In 2014, ''Doctor Who'' showrunner [[Steven Moffat]] denied that their numerous appearances since were a result of a contractual obligation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=DWTV |date=2014-11-15 |title=Moffat: Daleks Are Not A Contractual Obligation |url=https://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/moffat-daleks-are-not-a-contractual-obligation-68881.htm |access-date=2021-05-18 |publisher=Doctor Who TV |language=en-GB}}</ref>