DOCTOR WHO Dalek Week - The Timeline of the Daleks

Christopher Morley returns from 'The Cloven Hoof' and attempts to unravel the timeline of the Daleks.

Come with us now as we enter the study of the vicarage at Devil's End- the Reverend Magister having kindly agreed to see us at short notice. We've come to talk to him about a certain book he has in his collection, stowed away within the bowels of his extensive library. Its not one he chooses to advertise to his congregation at Sunday services though, for reasons which should quickly become apparent to the learned reader.

What could it be, you ask? Why, its the Book of Genesis Of The Daleks! An attempt by scholars to make sense of the often complicated time-line of the Doctor's greatest foes ( though we'd advise any visitors not to mention the Doctor too many times, seems to make him bristle), it stands as one of the greatest relics in universal theology. Sensibly it opens at their point of creation- ' in the beginning there was Davros, & all was good'. Until of course they exterminated him, went off & did their own thing.

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But whence did they go from there? Its on record that they embarked upon a series of crusades throughout time & space, meeting the biggest thorn in their side for the second time after he'd shed his scarf, no doubt confused at the extent of his change in personality.

This time he seemed to be some sort of geriatric retired teacher! They would soon return to the site of the First Dalek Crusade in greater number, bolstered by the secret of invisibility gleaned from the heathen Spiridons! This time the Doctor had changed once more.....& there was to be no glorious victory.

Gallifrey's answer to Methuselah was now a curly-haired action man, proving himself the Oncoming Storm. In other words that which the Daleks feared most, if indeed they could be said to feel anything approaching fear. Didn't stop them trying for a Second Dalek Crusade in what came to be known as Death To The Daleks at least in part due to the fact an uneasy alliance was forcibly reached with the Doctor against the greater threat of the Exxilons. Heresy indeed!

It had long been stated in the recorded history of the former Kaleds that ' Davros giveth & taketh away'. Just what he gave them is impossible to understate. Having been responsible for their accelerated ascension into an ultimate form before they turned on him, the time was come to repent. To that end the Third Dalek Crusade began after they had had their day across a mess of time periods, causing a massive paradox which even Magister is slightly foggy on the exact details of

But where did the quest to find their messiah take them? Fittingly Destiny led the way back to Skaro- home, & indeed a sort of Holy Land for the Daleks. All a long way from the colonies of space in which the Reverend encountered them on what he claims to have been missionary work of sorts. But it was not a happy homecoming, engaged as they were in war with the Movellans. An utterly ruinous conflict for the Dalek race. But a second chance would come, requiring a Fourth Crusade after escaping the clutches of a certain scarf-clad enemy.

Once again Davros's resurrection was required, the mission simple- a jailbreak. But he who gave the Daleks much of their strength had quite another plan up his sleeve. He needed more loyal followers, the whole thing stopped by the presence of another changed Doctor. This one seemed younger, with a certain fondness for cricket. ' The funny thing is' laughs the Reverend ' I never understood the appeal of leather on willow. Test Match Special is all Greek to me! Though I'm told by the Squire our village team is doing rather well of late'.

Its getting a bit stuffy in the library, so Magister suggests we retire to the village pub after he has a quick change of clothes. Catching us up on the walk to the pub, careful not to spoil his robes, he settles himself into a chair by the fire upon arrival- greeting the regulars after strolling in humming what sounds like Mary Had A Little Lamb, only backwards. Strange fellow. Ordering himself a glass of ' the blood of Christ' ( a fine vintage apparently) he resumes his study of Genesis. Logically what could follow it but Revelation? After all a creator must create, & so Davros came to experiment on dying humans. All very unethical, snorts the Reverend. 'And that coat...'. Sins against fashion are outside his jurisdiction though, he tells us. It was shortly afterward that the great Dalek Empire came to crumble.

We pause now in remembrance of the events which led Skaro to implode, civil war between Imperial & Renegade factions ( manipulated by a Doctorly man of mystery in a pullover) proving they had learned nothing from the efforts of their forefathers in what many of their kind regarded as the ultimate evil. But what was the unspeakable deed?

In direct violation of the credo of racial purity, they were to explore the possibility of adding the human genome to their own ' pure' DNA. Firstly though, they required power- thwarted by a Doctor of many hats, who would later seemingly turn collaborator only to meddle & render the whole thing a humiliating defeat. 

Turning now to the New Dalek Testament, a record of their rescue by a new saviour- the ' God of all Daleks' indeed- the time came for them to resurface, led by this new deity. 'WORSHIP HIM!' appears scrawled in ancient lettering at regular intervals.

Of course there was but one survivor of the catastrophic Time War ( covered in the introduction to the New Testament) whose good fortune angered the also-returning Doctor. Active service in such a conflict had changed both, not that the Doctor was able to recall much of it until later in his lifetime & indeed time-stream.

The legend of the War Doctor continues to strike a note of terror in the Skarosian ranks, but Magister dismisses the whole thing as a fanciful concoction. The Doctor was never one for a fight, according to our clergyman host. Besides which, he was too busy interfering with yet another Dalek-human hybridisation attempt according to accounts given in the weighty tome he's showing us. Orthodoxy has it that the next stage of their quest took a specially selected band of crusaders back to Earth...

Where the Doctor was waiting. Having at first been impressed by the transformation of the leader, Sec, into a 'Dalek Human' & seemingly willing to help this new race find its place in the universe, he quickly turned when the others- Caan, Jast & Thay- took it upon themselves to wipe him from the face of the planet, deeming him impure & guilty of the highest blasphemy before also committing genocide against the ' Dalek Human' species. Not the smartest of moves in Magister's eyes. Back into the abyss of the Time War Caan went!

The Reverend shifts somewhat uneasily in his seat. It would appear he recalls something of the War but is reluctant to discuss it, though he recognises an illustration of a man with a fob watch as a kindred spirit. Whether or not he has or will ever see active service he doesn't know, or at least doesn't let on. He's here purely as a man of God, albeit a slightly odd/sinister one as is becoming apparent. Its hard not to believe, perhaps cynically, that his taking holy orders wasn't simply a means of draft-dodging.

When we put this to him he becomes furious. The façade of charm doesn't slip for a moment, though- by way of an excuse to force us to leave he tells us he has an urgent appointment down in the church catacombs. Odd place for an ecclesiastical meeting, we point out to him. 'Perhaps to you godless types.' he sneers. With that he leaves in a bit of a huff, muttering something about ' Azal' under his breath. Perhaps its for the best that we don't stick around to watch the archaeological dig planned for later this evening...

Having sneaked a look at selected appendices of the Book Of Genesis Of The Daleks for ourselves while Magister was in the gents though,we learn there are later marginal quests of theirs- relocating the planets of the solar system, having rescued Davros from certain death as a combatant in the War perhaps the greatest among them, though he is later revealed to have seemingly perished. Doesn't stop the few survivors from the ambitious universal rearrangement from resurfacing in Blitz-torn London & bringing about the birth of yet another race of Daleks- the New Paradigm.

Deeming their predecessors inferior, they later imprison the Doctor ( by now looking younger than he has in a long while) in the mythical Pandorica. Mention is made of a 'Church of the Silence' as well, but as the Reverend has long since departed we can't ask him to help us make sense of it all. Thanks to the Devil's End parish council for allowing us to borrow their beloved pastor for a while!