Dalek

:For other uses, see Dalek (disambiguation).

Merchandising

The BBC approached Roger Tuckwell, an Australian entrepreneur who was handling product merchandising for other BBC shows, and asked him to do the same for the Daleks and Doctor Who. Tuckwell created a glossy sales brochure that sparked off a Dalek craze, dubbed "Dalekmania" by the press, which peaked around the time The Chase aired in 1965.

Related Topics:
Australia - 1965

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The first Dalek toys from Louis Marx & Co. appeared that year, along with toys of the Mechanoids (robotic foes of the Daleks also introduced in The Chase). The Mechanoids were created with the expectation that they would become as popular as Daleks, but they were not as successful. Other unsuccessful BBC attempts to create a "replacement" for the Daleks, or at least duplicate their popularity included the Voord (The Keys of Marinus), the Krotons (The Krotons) and the Quarks (The Dominators). Also unsuccessful were Dalek toys made of rubber.

Related Topics:
The Keys of Marinus - The Krotons - The Dominators

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At the height of the Daleks' popularity, apart from toy replicas, there were also Dalek construction kits, Dalek board games and activity sets, Dalek slide projectors for children and even Dalek playsuits made from PVC. There were collectible cards, stickers, toy guns, music singles, punching bags and many other items. Between 1963 and 1965, the BBC published three annuals with short stories and comic strips featuring the Daleks, written by Whitaker and Nation. The Dalek Annual was revived in 1976 and 1977, with stories and selected reprints from the TV 21 comic strip.

Related Topics:
1963 - 1965 - 1976 - 1977

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In the 1970s, Palitoy released a Talking Dalek which could utter standard Dalek phrases such as "You will obey!" and "Exterminate!" Later, model kits of other Dalek-related characters like Davros, the Supreme Dalek and Gold Daleks were also released. In 2001 a new range of talking Daleks were produced, along with a talking Cyberman and a talking Davros.

Related Topics:
1970s - 2001 - Cyberman

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The Daleks have featured in computer games since the 1980s, beginning with an unlicensed modification of the Robots game called Daleks. However, the game uses Daleks only as generic monsters, with no Dalek-specific features. Licensed Doctor Who games featuring Daleks include 1984's The Key to Time, a text adventure game for the ZX Spectrum. Daleks also appeared in minor roles or as thinly disguised versions in other, minor games throughout the 80s, but did not feature as central adversaries in a licensed game until 1992, when Admiral Software published Dalek Attack. The game allowed the player to play various Doctors or companions, running them through several environments to defeat the Daleks. In 1997 the BBC released a PC game entitled Destiny of the Doctors which also featured the Daleks, among other adversaries, who also seemed to be able to follow the player character up the stairs. In 1998 the BBC released a Doctor Who screensaver done in Macromedia Shockwave which had a built-in minigame, where the player controlled K-9 battling the Daleks through seven increasingly difficult levels.

Related Topics:
1980s - Robots - Daleks - 1984 - ZX Spectrum - 1992 - Dalek Attack - Companions - 1997 - PC - Destiny of the Doctors - 1998 - Screensaver - Macromedia Shockwave - K-9

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At present, there are a few unauthorised Dalek games that can be played online, such as the Java applet game Daleks! a Macromedia Flash game, Daleks — Dissolution Earth, and a modification for Half-Life, Dalek Unbidden. One of the robots in the game Paradroid looks like a Dalek and its background info mentions that its appearance frightens humans. Another unauthorised game is DalekTron, a Windows only game based on and written in the Smalltalk programming language to coincide with the 2005 series.

Related Topics:
Java applet - Macromedia Flash - Modification - Half-Life - Paradroid - Smalltalk

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Conversely, an authorised online game is The Last Dalek, a Flash game created by New Media Collective for the BBC. It is based on the 2005 episode and can be played at the official BBC Doctor Who website.

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