lien? Predator? The Thing from Another Planet? Wimps! It's not news to Doctor Who fans worldwide that the most terrifying alien in existence is the Dalek. The twisted product of an ancient and drawn-out genocidal war between the Thals and the Kaleds on the planet Skaro, the radiation-mutated Daleks, now housed in strong, lightweight Dalekenium casings, have one thing on their minds—total universal conquest.
In his first encounter with the Daleks, the Timelord known as the Doctor made a mortal enemy of the race when he unwittingly landed in their deadly war and helped the Thals fight the Daleks.
Introduced in the second Doctor Who serial, "The Daleks," these metal terrors caught the imagination of the world in 1963. The phenomenon of Dalekmania was larger than the Beatles at a time when Star Trek fans didn't yet exist. Kids of all ages scrambled to get toys, photographs, everything they could find that held an image of a Dalek, and there was no shortage! The mania spawned two full-length feature films, and Daleks were a perennial antagonist on the long-running BBC serial until it went off the air in 1987. They remain one of the most recognizable science-fiction icons ever.
For years Dapol held the license to produce toys based on the Doctor Who series, and it produced many Daleks, including pull-back models about 4 inches tall in many colors. Recently, the license went to Product Enterprises, which has already hit the ground running with some well-designed Dalek likenesses.
The Talking Daleks are 6 inches tall and come in a wide variety of colors, all based accurately on Daleks seen in the series. They are sturdily constructed from strong plastics. They are highly detailed, their heads turn, their eyestalks hinge, their two arms are on ball joints. They roll on plastic wheels mounted under the base. Lights at the sides of their domed heads flash when their audio buttons are pressed. Each Dalek has five sound samples from the series.
Daleks replicas rule supreme
These are only the latest in a long tradition of Dalek toys from such famed toy manufacturers as Louis Marx. Product Enterprises can be proud of its foray into the license. These Daleks are quite good. The solid feel of their construction indicates they may be rugged enough to withstand a reasonable amount of play abuse. The head rotation is tight, and it may be difficult to resist the temptation to turn the head dome using the eyestalk as a lever. This is not advisable, although even after repeated testing the eyestalk showed no sign it was ready to break.
The toilet-plunger-like manipulator arm and the blaster gun are both sturdy and have strong ball joints, and the arms themselves are made from a softer plastic less prone to snapping or breaking.
The two review models are the familiar gray battle Dalek with black sensor globes, the most common Dalek seen in the series, and the black-and-gold command Dalek. Also available are the red supreme Dalek, the gold supreme Dalek and the new white-and-gold imperial Dalek.
The sound-and-light activation button is an oval between the two arms. This is cleverly designed to take advantage of a pre-existing feature of the Dalek, and an otherwise obtrusive button was unnecessary. When activated, the audio system is loud and clear and utters phrases and sound effects commonly used by Daleks in the series. The red LEDs in the energy dispensers flash during the audio playback.
The command Dalek has five excellent quality audio samples: "You are an enemy of the Daleks!", "Daleks rule supreme!", "Destroy the Doctor!", "Seek! Locate! Annihilate!" and of course the omnipresent and essential "Exterminate!"
The battle Dalek's five samples are "Locate and destroy!", "Halt! Do not move!", "You will obey!", "Exterminate the Doctor!" and the sound of the Dalek's energy weapon firing.
Getting two or more of these Daleks going at once sounds remarkably like the cliffhanger episode of any Doctor Who Daleks story.
Each operates on 3 AAA batteries.
