Friday 21 February 2020

CHRONOLOGIES AND TIMELINES: THE HISTORY OF THE DALEKS CONTINUES SOME MORE - PART ONE

Quite some time ago, I took it upon myself to try to arrange all the Dalek stories in a linear order. It was, in fact, my first attempt at a CHRONOLOGIES AND TIMELINES essay. In hindsight, I should have probably started with a species with a less protracted history - but I do love to bite off more than I can chew!

Still, if you haven't read my version of Dalek History and have some considerable free time on your hands, here's the first entry in the series:  https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/06/chronologies-and-timelines-tymecian.html. Just continue following the entries after that for another four installments!   

Of course, it's been quite some time since that series of entries was written. The show continues to produce new Dalek stories. So, from time to time, I take it upon myself to update things. A few years later, I took my first stab at an additional entry. Here is the link for that one:  https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/11/chronologies-and-time-lines-history-of.html.

More time has passed since that entry and more stories with Daleks in them have been made. Once more, I feel it's time for an update. 




Things will be a little trickier than normal to get the next few Dalek stories to fit in a proper chronological order. Unlike the Classic Series - where the Doctor seems to be all over the place in Dalek History, New Who Dalek stories are, for the most part, pretty linear. Almost every time we've seen the Doctor fight the Daleks in New Who, the latest story seems to be his most recent battle against them. With the exception of some his very first clashes (the Cult of Skaro stuff takes place before his visit to Henry VanStatten's bunker) his New Series encounters with his greatest enemy tend to line up quite neatly.

Since Magician's Apprentice/Witch's Familiar, however, (which is the last time we've updated the chronology) things have started getting pretty wonky. The Doctor has really started going up and down their timescale, of late. There even seems to be a full adventure involving a Dalek from before the Time War. Which is, pretty much, a first time for the New Series (I do hypothesize that when Eleven is captured on Skaro at the beginning of Assylum of the Daleks - he is in a pre-Time War period too - but the whole sequence lasts only a few minutes).

Since we are trying to keep things linear, let's tackle the most recent Dalek story first. This is the tale that seems to take place with a Dalek who never made it into the Time War.


ACTUALLY HAVING TO DO A RE-WRITE OF AN EARLIER ENTRY

At the time of writing this, Resolution is the latest Dalek story that we've seen. There have been a few other Dalek appearances between this Thirteenth Doctor tale and Magician's Apprentice/Witch's Familiar but - as I just said - transmission and chronological order don't line up, this time. Resolution actually goes quite a while back in the Dalek timeline. So much so, that I will actually need to adjust some text I have previously written.

Fortunately, the original text isn't too hard to locate. It's the first few paragraphs of the second entry I did on Dalek History (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/06/chronologies-and-timelines-part-2-of.html). Just to make things easier, I'll cut and paste those paragraphs here:

"Having been forced off Skaro, the Daleks were roaming through the cosmos in two distinct versions.    The solar-powered Mark Threes probably stayed in space as much as possible but sent the Mark Twos down to various planets to be employed as occupation forces.    It's likely they attacked various worlds in this way.   The Mark Threes would form blockades around an alien planet so that other neighboring worlds could not assist in resisting the invasion.   And then the Mark Twos would go down to the surface of the blockaded planet to subjugate and plunder.  
            
Most likely, the Doctor in his Second Incarnation had several unseen adventures against the Daleks during this period.   Which is why the Second Doctor was easily recognizeable to the Daleks during  Power of the Daleks. From the Doctor’s perspective, he had these clashes against the Daleks sometime after his encounter with them in Evil of the Daleks.   
            
Of course, our space-faring Mark Threes were also into exploring the universe.   All kinds of scout ships were sent out in this era.   Not all of them came back, though.    One of those scoutships crashed on the planet Vulcan.  A planet that was eventually colonized by humans from the planet Earth.   The story of Power of the Daleks takes place.

There seems to be some controversy with the dating of Power of the Daleks..."

Just to lend a bit more context to the quote: I postulate at the end of Part One of the essay that Daleks hidden in the original bunker Davros was working in eventually emerged and brought the Daleks that had been living in the Dalek city back to life. So, basically, the Genesis of the Daleks Daleks came out of hiding and rescued the Daleks from The Daleks. Both factions then get kicked off of Skaro by the Thals. At the beginning of Part Two of this essay, they have started exploring space. Which leads us into Power of the Daleks

This is where the correction must be made. Between the events of The Daleks and Power of the Daleks, Resolution takes place. 



THE ACTUAL RE-WRITE

That third paragraph must now be modified to look like this: 

"Of course, our space-faring Mark Threes were also into exploring the Universe. Several different types of scout ships were sent out in this era. Some were piloted by just a regular group of Daleks. These usually only strayed so far from the Main Fleet. One of those scoutships  was sent off on reconnaissance and ended up crashing on the planet Vulcan.

For real Deep Space Exploration, however, a Special Recon Scout Dalek was employed. The Recon Scout worked alone. It was genetically-modified so that the Kaled Mutant was far more resilient and adaptable. The Mutant even had special abilities that regular troopers didn't. If needed, it could leave its shell and control the minds and bodies of other creatures around it. In many ways, a Recon Scout was near-indestructible. Which it needed to be since it was, oftentimes, isolated and working in harsh conditions. 

A Recon Scout Dalek does make its way to Earth sometime around the Ninth (or, possibly,  Tenth) Century. Upon its arrival, Humanity recognizes its threat potential. In fact, three rival armies band together to combat it. They manage to destroy the Recon Scout's outer casing and split the Mutant within into three pieces. Which are then scattered to the three corners of the world to be buried and guarded so that they can never be re-assembled. Unfortunately, things don't quite go according to plan. One of the guardians is shot down by thieves while still in transit to where he had intended to bury his portion of the creature.

The body of that third guardian is eventually discovered by archaeologists sometime around the year 2018. They brush away at the body til they find the pack he was carrying with his portion of the Kaled Mutant in it. On New Year's Day, 2019, they place the Mutant under a UV light. Which is all the stimuli that part of the Kaled needed to revive and summon the other two pieces of itself.  It then takes control of one of the archaeologists and uses her to rebuild its casing and summon the Dalek fleet to invade the Earth.

Fortunately, the Thirteenth Doctor, along with Ryan, Yaz and Graham, intercede in time to stop this.The Recon Scout is definitely destroyed by the end of the adventure as it gets dropped into a supernovae. This is the story of Resolution.

This is, of course, not the only time humans had trouble with Dalek scouts. On the next occasion, however, they were far more fortunate. It was not a Recon Scout Dalek that they dealt with - it was just a group of a standard Daleks in a crashed scoutship that they found on Vulcan when they began to colonize it. They were still quite deadly - as all Daleks are. But they represented a far lesser danger than the Dalek in 2019 did. Power of the Daleks happens here.

There seems to be some controversy with the dating of Power of the Daleks.... " 

From here, the regular wording of this entry can resume.


INDICATIONS OF A POST-TIME WAR DALEK

Having done all this work to claim that Resolution is a pre-Time War Dalek story, I will admit that some of what we see in the adventure does still hint that this is a Dalek from New Who rather than the Classic era. However, most aspects of the plot that indicate this are purely visual. Which means that they're quite easy to dismiss.

The biggest piece of evidence that points toward a post-Time War Dalek  happens when the Recon Scout re-builds his outer shell. Admittedly, it does look a lot like the notorious bronze-liveried design that only seemed to exist after the Time Wars. This is, however, highly subjective. All Dalek casings look quite similar. So the Kaled Mutant was just going with a basic look that happened to most resemble a Time War Dalek.

It may also be possible that when the Recon Scout was scanning the internet he found secret files that showed pics of Time War Daleks from one of their attacks on Earth. Wanting to look like the most recent model, he chose to go with that style.

Some might also point out that the drawings that were done of the battle with the Dalek in the Ninth Century also seem to feature the bronze-liveried version. Again, it's really difficult to tell if this is truly case. It's a hand-drawn picture of a Dalek - it could look like almost any model.




So, aside from a few visuals, this really does appear to be a story that features a Dalek from the Classic Series. From quite early on in their history, in fact. The backstory of Resolution could actually be the first time Daleks and humans meet. Yes, the proper plot of Resolution does take place in 2019: a time when there have already been several New Who Dalek attacks on Earth. But this is still a Dalek from way before the Time Wars. So the story fits in a very different place in the Dalek timeline.

The Recon Scout is attempting to summon the Dalek Fleet at the end of the episode. Had he succeeded, it would also been a fleet from way before the Time Wars. According to my own theories, the Daleks that survived the Time Wars are hanging around in the Fortieth Century and beyond. They might go back in time a bit now and again to attack Twenty-First Century Earth, but that is not their "natural" time zone. Any local fleet that might be reachable during 2019 would have been Pre-Time War - not Post.





Okay, Resolution has found its place in Dalek History. But getting it to fit was a more complicated process than expected. This entry has gone on far longer than it needed to. There are, however, two other stories since our last update that still need to be covered. We will look at where they might fit in this convoluted history in the next entry. 

Want to take a proper look at my Dalek History entries but don't feel like scrolling all the way back up to the top of the page? Here is the first entry again:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/06/chronologies-and-timelines-part-2-of.html
Keep following the posts after that to get the whole thing....

Here is the first addition I had to make: 
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/11/chronologies-and-time-lines-history-of.html









































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