# Dr. Who: Why are the Daleks supposed to be so formidable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 20, 2006, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-who-why-are-the-daleks-supposed-to-be-so-formidable/357482 "2006-05-20T01:44:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-who-why-are-the-daleks-supposed-to-be-so-formidable/357482/21 "2006-05-23T22:47:15Z")
The Daleks are certainly powerful in the new series. With shielding as well as armour and 360deg rotation of the weapon section. Seems they are all genius level IQ just the soldiers seem to be warped into an abject requirement for orders, and so function poorly without them. Insights into Dalek psychology are gained in later eppisodes, warning some spoilerism follows… for Bad Wolf and The Parting Ways episodes Humans can be turned into Dalek creatures with sufficient genetic engineering, seems that feeding the Humans a constant supply of death and terror through the media helps both keep the Humans from reacting positively to other alien races, and makes them good stock for building dalek creatures. The Daleks hate any creature that is not Dalek, and being created from Human seems to have had an adverse effect on the new Dalek’s psychology. They can be scared by the Doctor for instance, flinching backwards. Anyone else think/hope that the time wars lead to the sort of distruction that simply going back in time can’t help. ie that if the Doctor were to go back to Gallifrey (sp?) to a time ‘before’ the war he would find it uninhabitted. That the Daleks and Timelords have been removed from history almost completely. Also it seems the Doctor’s idea of the correct future history of the Universe has a supreme human colonisation and interbreeding. Maybe the Daleks also saw this future, and that was the reason they seeked to make the new Daleks by modifying Humans. So if Human dominance of the universe is somewhat unavoidable the dominance may still be by human-Daleks. The Dalek emperor would hardly waste time with Humans and that blobby creature to control them otherwise. The Timevortex-Rose godbeing did seem to destroy the Daleks, but she really put things right. Maybe there was a right otherplace/time where those Daleks should be and they were sent there rather than destroyed? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-who-why-are-the-daleks-supposed-to-be-so-formidable/357482/22 "2006-05-24T01:24:07Z")
[QUOTE=Morgyn] Can’t tip 'em over with a rock, they have a force field that seems to be proof against a lot. [/QUOTE] Sorry. no more posts allowed in this thread unless they rhyme. Dammit. That leaves mine out. Ahem. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-who-why-are-the-daleks-supposed-to-be-so-formidable/357482/23 "2006-05-24T04:19:22Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] Well, if they saw you had the foresight to bring your own towel, they might let you get a lot closer than they would otherwise, thinking that perhaps you just needed to borrow a toothbrush. [/QUOTE] It’s even funnier when you know that Douglas Adams wrote for some Tom Baker era episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-who-why-are-the-daleks-supposed-to-be-so-formidable/357482/24 "2006-05-25T00:53:04Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] Yeah, and even if they CAN only scream “EXTERMINATE!” and shoot you with a death ray, the death ray appears to be a mighty effective tool. [/QUOTE] Would that be a 1920’s style death ray? Well, \*someone \*had to say it! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-who-why-are-the-daleks-supposed-to-be-so-formidable/357482/25 "2006-05-25T01:13:23Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] Well they are so fearsome that they only need to tell you, “I…am…a…Dalek” to frighten you. Although unless you are watching the first few episodes when you didn’t know who they were it was fairly pointless. [/QUOTE] Did they ever actually say “I…am…a…Dalek”? Or was that merely how we imitated them in the playground? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-who-why-are-the-daleks-supposed-to-be-so-formidable/357482/26 "2006-05-25T02:20:39Z")
They probably did from time to time – often an alien race would come up against them without knowing what they are – but I doubt the phrase was common on the show. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-who-why-are-the-daleks-supposed-to-be-so-formidable/357482/27 "2006-05-25T02:22:40Z")
I also seem to recall one show where they said, “We are Daleks. We are invincible.” So that may be what was being imitated. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-who-why-are-the-daleks-supposed-to-be-so-formidable/357482/28 "2006-05-25T15:09:30Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Did they ever actually say “I…am…a…Dalek”? Or was that merely how we imitated them in the playground? [/QUOTE] I thought that was amongst the expressions said by the 1970’s talking dalek toy, but a web search reveils it only said “Exterminate”, “Attack”, “You will obey!” and “What are your orders?” ---
**Author:** ![Madwoman\_in\_the\_Annexe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/94ad74/32.png) [@Madwoman\_in\_the\_Annexe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madwoman_in_the_Annexe)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-who-why-are-the-daleks-supposed-to-be-so-formidable/357482/29 "2006-05-25T16:09:52Z")
[QUOTE=Bippy the Beardless] Anyone else think/hope that the time wars lead to the sort of distruction that simply going back in time can’t help. ie that if the Doctor were to go back to Gallifrey (sp?) to a time ‘before’ the war he would find it uninhabitted. That the Daleks and Timelords have been removed from history almost completely. [/QUOTE] I think that is, indeed, the case. I think both groups definately have the know-how to effect that kind of outcome. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-who-why-are-the-daleks-supposed-to-be-so-formidable/357482/30 "2006-05-25T17:33:39Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] “We are Daleks. We are invincible.” [/QUOTE] Which was sung in a rater feminine lilt (for Daleks) to the tune of a Hellen Reddy song. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-who-why-are-the-daleks-supposed-to-be-so-formidable/357482/31 "2006-05-25T17:44:00Z")
[QUOTE=Madwoman in the Annexe] I think that is, indeed, the case. I think both groups definately have the know-how to effect that kind of outcome. [/QUOTE] I’m guessing there exists certain anomalies like the car that kills Rose’s dad in the pocket universe, that may exist and could be used to try and resurect either the timelords or the Daleks, but that they are rare, and likely to attract those ‘grim-reaper’ creatures. I wonder if those grim reapers could harm a Dalek, though it was stated nothing in this universe could harm them, it looked like their attack was purely physical and could perhapse be deflected by dalek armour or force fields. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-who-why-are-the-daleks-supposed-to-be-so-formidable/357482/32 "2006-05-25T19:03:53Z")
[QUOTE=NoClueBoy] Which was sung in a rater feminine lilt (for Daleks) to the tune of a Hellen Reddy song. [/QUOTE] Sounds like something from [Doctor Who: The Musical](http://www.cruden.demon.co.uk/doctorwhomusical.htm). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-who-why-are-the-daleks-supposed-to-be-so-formidable/357482.md?page=1)