Movellan The Movellans were android s who warred with the Dalek Empire . Physical characteristics . The Movellans outwardly resembled human s of various ethnicities and genders . All of the Movellan androids wore white , form - fitting uniforms . On each shoulder was a glowing green ampoule held in a metal frame . Movellans had silver dreadlocks ; the commander ' s dreadlocks had black tips rather than silver . Being androids , the Movellans were strong and tough . The major weakness of the Movellan design was each android ' s external power pack which , being carried on their belts , was easily removed and completely shut down the android . The power pack circuitry could also be modified , reprogramming the android to obey human orders . Because they did not wish to reveal their mechanical status to others , they did not allow aliens to see them in death , claiming such a thing would be against their code of honour . Their side - arm was a cone - shaped pink gun . It had a white cover into which their hands fitted when holding the gun . The weapon had both " kill " and " stun " settings . ( TV : " Destiny of the Daleks " ) Technology . The Movellans ' spacecraft fix on their landing spots with a targeting beam , and once they have landed , the lower half drills into the earth as a means of camouflage and defence . These ships have an intergalactic range and time - warp capability . Inside the ship , some Movellans wore headphones , presumably as a way of interfacing directly with the ship ' s computer . The Movellans ' main destructive weapon was the Nova device . This invention counted down to zero , at which point it altered the molecular structure of the atmosphere so that the atoms become flammable . Without protective shielding around the device , it would burn up an entire planetary atmosphere . It could , however , be turned on without being armed ( making it into basically nothing more than an elaborate egg - timer ) . ( TV : " Destiny of the Daleks " ) History . Early history . The Movellans originated from Movella ( PROSE : " The Also People " , AUDIO : " Alien Heart " ) in the star system 4 - X - Alpha - 4 . ( TV : " Destiny of the Daleks " ) The Movellans were created in the image of a humanoid race that they destroyed after achieving self - awareness . ( PROSE : " The Also People " ) According to the Dalek Prime , the Movellans were actually created by the Dalek s for the purpose of faking a war in order to convince Davros he was in danger . ( PROSE : " War of the Daleks " ) According to Brastall , the actions of the Fourth Doctor , Sarah Jane Smith , and Harry Sullivan in the Adelphine Cluster led to Deepcity developing " a force of synthonic robots . . . that [ would ] contribute significantly to the Daleks ' final demise " . ( PROSE : " A Device of Death " ) Some historians believed that the Clade s were created in response to a species being pushed to brink of extinction by the Movellans . ( PROSE : " Peacemaker " ) Movellan - Dalek War . Most accounts agree that the Movellans and the Daleks encountered each other while both sides were expanding their interstellar empires beyond the bounds of the Mutter ' s Spiral and immediately engaged in a war which lasted for centuries . ( TV : " Destiny of the Daleks " , " Resurrection of the Daleks " , PROSE : " Remembrance of the Daleks " ) The Twelfth Doctor lured a sentient oil puddle which had taken the form of human university student Heather into a war zone during a skirmish between Movellans and a group of Daleks , in the hopes of the Daleks destroying it . ( TV : " The Pilot " ) As the empires ' respective warfleets were evenly matched , neither side ' s purely logical battle computers could find a successful strategy for an attack against the other and so the two fleets remained locked in a stalemate , constantly manoeuvering and probing for weakness but never actually firing a single shot . The Daleks returned to their homeworld , Skaro , to retrieve and revive their creator Davros , hoping that he could find a way to break the impasse , and the Movellans sent their own expedition to stop them . Davros determined that the first side to take a seemingly reckless gamble would be able to gain the advantage , but the Fourth Doctor prevented either side from returning to their respective fleets with this insight . ( TV : " Destiny of the Daleks " ) About ninety years later , the Movellans developed a biological agent which attacked and was almost instantly fatal to the physiology of the mutant within the Dalek shell . This virus effected a turning point in the Dalek - Movellan War , reducing the once - great Dalek empire to a few scattered colonies . Once more , they sought out Davros for assistance . By this time , Davros resided in cryogenic suspension in a space station . The plan went wrong both as a result of Davros himself turning against the Supreme Dalek as well as the involvement of the Fifth Doctor . ( TV : " Resurrection of the Daleks " ) The Daleks mounted a " war of vengeance " against the Movellans which was called the Pa Jass - Gutrik . The Special Weapons Dalek participated in this war . ( PROSE : " Remembrance of the Daleks " ) During an encounter with the Daleks on Red Rocket Rising , the Eighth Doctor guessed that the Daleks may have been at war with the Movellans at the time . The Daleks did not clarify who they were currently fighting . ( AUDIO : " Blood of the Daleks " ) When the Eighth Doctor and Samantha Jones visited Skaro , the Daleks were using Movellans as part of their workforce . The Doctor suggested that the Movellans may have been reprogrammed , but the Dalek Prime insisted that the Movellans were not an independent race and that they had been obeying Dalek orders since their creation . ( PROSE : " War of the Daleks " ) Legacy . Movellans appeared as enemies in the video game " Happy Deathday " . ( COMIC : " Happy Deathday " ) When the Fourth Doctor was regressed backwards in time by a space amoeba , the Movellans were among the past adversaries he had visions of . ( COMIC : " Timeslip " ) The introduction to " The Children of Davros " mentioned the Movellans as an example of a synthetic warrior race . ( COMIC : " Abslom Daak - Dalek Killer " )