10 Crazy Doctor Who Theories Fans Actually Believed

All the best Doctor Who monsters connect, in one way or another, back to us.

Nowhere is this more obvious than with the Cybermen, ‘upgraded’ humans who have abandoned all individuality in the name of progress. Likewise, the Daleks were inspired by the worst aspects of humanity, as displayed in World War II. But unlike the Cybermen, they’re not literally us. Or are they?

One theory which has reared its head a few times over the years states that Skaro is, in an Orphan 55-style twist, a future version of Earth, with the Thals and the Kaleds – and therefore the Daleks – descended from humans.

It might seem like an impossibility, and completely incompatible with the origin story established in 1975’s Genesis of the Daleks – but the same idea did cross the mind of real-life Dalek creator Terry Nation two years earlier.

We Are The Daleks!, a short story Nation wrote for Radio Times’ 10th anniversary Doctor Who Special in 1973, detailed a different account of the Daleks’ creation, which explicitly stated that they were evolved from humans.

As with the various Cyberman creation myths, these origin stories don’t necessarily have to contradict each other. Indeed, to once again invoke Orphan 55, in “one possible future”, perhaps Skaro really is Earth.

Alternatively, perhaps this theory should simply be exterminated. We’ll let you decide.