They're iconic, they said. It wouldn't be Doctor Who without them, they said. Unfortunately both of those statements are entirely true, especially because they're now seemingly popping up in every single episode. In fact, they're so overly used these days that it's more of a surprise when they don't reappear, which is generally a shame because they used to have so much potential. As one of the most formidable and recognisable adversaries in Doctor Who history, the Daleks are almost as old as the series itself, having first encountered the Doctor on screen on a cold winter's night in December 1963. And they haven't stopped coming back since. 'Formidable' they might be (or, at least, used to be) but why does nobody ever describe them as 'persistent', because that's definitely what they are. And it's the sort of persistence that makes you want to push them down the stairs and smack them in the eyestalk until they're begging you for mercy... and even then you wouldn't stop. Seriously, guys. Move on. You're never going to take over the world whilst the Doctor is around, and each time you try, the rest of us care that little bit less, OK? It was cute, at first, that they actually thought they stood a chance of achieving universal domination, but now it's just plain boring. When will they realise that they're just not threatening us anymore? The human race has encountered aliens living in their own wifi, for Goodness sake, so a pepperpot rolling up and telling them to "obey the Daaa-lek race" is hardly going to evoke the sort of reaction they're looking for. But, wait, Daleks have no concept of how utterly ridiculous they look, do they? And they seemingly have no concept of when to let it go, either. To give credit where credit's due, the writers have tried to shake things up over recent years, but unfortunately their efforts have so far been in vein. Let's not talk about the multi-coloured Paradigm from Victory of the Daleks, which have seemingly disappeared from existence just as quickly as they was introduced. It's lucky Series 5 was about cracks in the universe, really, because thankfully they were the first things to get sucked into it. Ignorance is bliss, as they say. Exterminate, indeed...
Dan Butler is the Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture.com. When he isn't writing his own articles or editing other people's, he can be found trawling the internet for gifs of Steven Moffat laughing. Contact him via dan.butler@whatculture.co.uk.
