DALEKS! OF ALL THE MONSTERS IN ALL OF THE UNIVERSE...
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So, why do I like DALEKS? Well, why does anybody like anything..? You like what you like. Perhaps because you grew up with it, or cos it excites or inspires you. In some way you connect with it, and it 'speaks' to you, and motivates. It's like walking past a shop window, and suddenly you see something you didn't know existed, and it captures your interest.
DOCTOR WHO is a great example of an imaginative, inventive television programme- and as a creative, artistic person- that appeals to me. It's a TV show where you have to blur the edges and fill in the gaps. Just like theatre- it's both real and unreal at the same time. It makes you do some of the work. The DOCTOR and DALEKS are not real- but it's exciting and fun to think they could be! MILLIONS of people around the world have also gone on that same adventure (bridging SIX decades now), to be fascinated and thrilled by the shows' entertaining mix of ideas, words, and images! BUT of all the aspects of the TV series, the DALEKS, in particular, tick all of the boxes. They have become a thing in their own right- a mix of brilliant, and absurd! After all, if they were really that clever they'd just invent themselves some legs. But they are stuck in their own paradox. If they change the way they look, then they stop being recognised as DALEKS, and simply turn into something else, such as CYBERMEN! That makes them very 'image-conscious', so must always wear the same 'clothes'. These metal leopards will never change their 'spots'! But if we've the imagination then we except them and love them, with all of their weaknesses and implausibilities. DALEKS have now become a brand, a symbol, a British Icon, in fact. They're as recognisable as a red telephone box, or a London bus. They're now part of the English language, and having survived their first destructive TV encounter with the DOCTOR, they've gone from strength to strength, for half a century! I think that's something that should be celebrated, and would love to see a DALEK STATUE created in their 'honour', as a way to represent and mark their permanence, popularity, and iconic status. But would others agree...? It all depends on how much you've really loved these strange creatures from another universe, over the past 50 years... |
Tom Baker poses with one of Julian's Daleks
A newspaper article about Julian
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