With the Thirteenth Doctor's final adventure on the horizon, fans are wondering if the Doctor's greatest foes, the Daleks, will make an appearance in Jodie Whittaker's last episodes of Doctor Who. Daleks are the quintessential Doctor Who monster. Only a year younger than the show itself (having first made their debut in 1964), the Daleks made a lasting impression on all fans of the show. Their ability to strike fear and hatred into the hearts of the Doctor will never get old.
Throughout the years, there have been some epic Dalek stories, and with each tale usually came a new variant of Dalek. The 1980s gave fans one of the coolest Daleks of all: the Special Weapons Dalek, and the later variants in the New Series have yet to disappoint.
Paradigm Daleks
In season 5, the Daleks hadn't been seen fully since their appearance in the season 4 finale, almost 2 years prior. Thankfully, "Victory Of The Daleks" rectified this by apparently introducing Dalek Ironsides, built to help the Allied Forces win World War II.
However, this was a Dalek ploy to trick the Doctor into resurrecting the Paradigm Daleks, who were considered far superior to the bronze variants. The Paradigm Daleks were certainly very colorful and big, but they definitely weren't very popular with fans.
Executioner Daleks
These Daleks were introduced in the latest New Year special, "Eve Of The Daleks." They were said to be a special group of Daleks who were masters in the art of execution. Their physical design remained basically the same, except for their gun, which was replaced with a Dalek machine gun.
This weapon had the ability to fire off multiple energy blasts in quick succession. What makes them so memorable is that these Daleks managed what few Daleks have never achieved: they killed the Doctor and their companions. If it wasn't for that pesky TARDIS time loop, the Daleks would be the rulers of the Universe.
The Dalek Emperor
The Dalek Emperor first appeared in the 1967 serial, "The Evil Of The Daleks." The Emperor's first appearance in the New Series was in the season 1 finale. Here, the Emperor had gone insane, creating a new Dalek race out of humans and proclaiming to be the God of all Daleks.
While the visual design of the Emperor Dalek is very impressive and unique, the Emperor tends to be more of a thinker than a fighter, making it less memorable than other Dalek variants. In season 1, the Emperor simply continued to grandstand while giving the Doctor plenty of time to figure out a way to destroy him.
Rusty The Dalek
In season 8, the Twelfth Doctor's first battle against the Daleks consisted of him going inside a Dalek to help repair the damage sustained by warfare. In doing so, the Doctor maintained that there was no such thing as a good Dalek.
This motif continued throughout the episode, culminating in Rusty inheriting the Doctor's hatred of the Daleks and exterminating his Dalek brethren, becoming an extremely influential Dalek as well as one of the most memorable. Rusty later returned in the 2017 Christmas special, where he had seemingly regained his hatred of the Doctor.
The Supreme Dalek
This Dalek had a pretty cool design, which helped to boost its memorability factor. Instead of the normal bronze livery, the Supreme Dalek was painted metallic red with bronze orbs. It also had three helmet lights instead of two and had large gold rods on each side forming part of the casing.
This variant first appeared in the season 4 finale, one of the best Dalek stories of the Modern Series. This was when it proved its power by imprisoning Davros, the creator of the Daleks, and destroying almost all of time and space by using a reality bomb. The Supreme Dalek really was almost unstoppable.
The Oswin Dalek
Possibly one of the most tragic but nicest Dalek variants, Oswin Oswald was a variant of not just the Doctor Who foe but also companion Clara Oswald. Born to save the Doctor time and time again, Oswin was captured by the Daleks imprisoned in the Asylum.
She was incredibly clever, so the Daleks fully converted her. However, she created a mental wall, blocking this horrible event, fully believing that she was still human. In a heartbreaking scene, the Doctor convinced her that she was a Dalek and she ended up saving him by letting him go.
Dalek Sec
Dalek Sec was a very interesting Dalek. Not only did he have a completely different paint job to all the other Daleks (black rather than bronze), he was also the only Dalek to ever think about changing who they are in order to survive.
In season 3 of New Who, Dalek Sec committed the ultimate Dalek sin by merging with a human, becoming impure. This created a Human Dalek, who began to feel empathy and respect, which the Daleks couldn't tolerate. So, naturally, they exterminated him, giving Dalek Sec a brutal death.
The Reconnaissance Dalek
This was the first Dalek the Thirteenth Doctor ever faced, and what a resourceful little Dalek it was. The Reconnaissance Dalek was full of dirty little tricks, including using ultraviolet light to regenerate itself and attaching itself to hapless humans to force them to do its dirty work.
Even one single cell of this Dalek was dangerous, making it tightly memorable. When cloned, it was able to build yet another Dalek army and almost took over the Earth, until the Doctor defeated it by, uh, bringing yet more Daleks to the Earth.
Dalek Caan
The second member of the Cult of Skaro to make this list, Caan was little more than a lackey in his first two appearances. However, he underwent a dramatic change in season 4. He flew into the Time War and rescued Davros, shattering his mind as he did so.
This action blew up his casing and turned Caan quite insane. The other Daleks were uneasy and confined the 'Abomination' to the basement alongside Davros, who revered Caan. However, Caan's travels showed him the truth about the Daleks and he conspired to destroy them all.
Davros
Davros made his Doctor Who debut way back in the Fourth Doctor serial, "The Genesis Of The Daleks." It was a fantastic episode that expanded on how the Daleks came to exist. Davros was a great villain and the Doctor was definitely thrown for a loop.
Davros made his return to New Who in the season 4 finale. His best scenes were always those where he and the Doctor had a chance to talk. Davros used the Doctor's morality against him and the tension between the two geniuses was utterly palpable, helping to cement Davros as the most memorable Dalek of all time.