2060s Dalek invasion of Earth

The 2060s Dalek invasion of Earth was a conflict between Earth's World Government and the Dalek Empire. Although Dalek and human forces directly clashed on several recorded occasions, the war was largely characterised by a lack of fighting. Within the solar system, tensions gradually rose in official circles as news arrived of the Daleks' technologicial advancements. On Skaro, the Daleks' directive to invade and conquer the entire universe evolved, as they encountered more humanoid species, into a specific desire to stamp out the quality which the Dalek Prime labelled "human spirit".
Despite Earth being a Skaro blindspot for some time, the Daleks eventually discovered its location after a passenger spacecraft from the planet landed on Skaro. The Emperor immediately launched his fleet for an invasion. However, the culmination of multiple years of hostility was foiled in most part by the outside involvement of the Elders, powerful telepaths who had seeded Earth in the distant past. Just one ship survived the onslaught, carrying the Emperor and his closest advisors, the Black Dalek and the Red Dalek, who vowed as they fled to return for another opportunity to invade. Kaslan, leader of the Elders, acknowledged this inevitability, telling Commander Trent and his men that the Daleks would be resisted by "another" at some point in the future.
The Dalek presence in the solar system persisted for a short period after the main invasion force had been repelled. largely through lone units or crashed ships. The Universal Secret Service, later to be replaced by Spectrum, promptly investigated any reports of further Dalek activity and neaturalised the threats as neccesary. The last such report was recorded in 2068 and, by late 2069, Colonel White had classified the earlier records of the Daleks' mounting invasion efforts, leading humanity to gradually forget their old foes, thus leaving them vulnerable to attack upon the Daleks' return.
== History ==
=== Foreshadowing ===
In a time long before the rise of the Dalek Empire and its attempted invasion of Earth in the mid 21st century, Terry Nation discovered in his garden a small cube, made entirely of glass except for a small collection of little compartments at its centre. He drilled a hole through to its centre and several slivers of metal fell into his hand. Upon closer examination, he found them to be microfilms. (PROSE: The Daleks) These "story-cubes" (PROSE: The Dalek Chronicles Found!) made up the Dalek Chronicles and told of the planet Skaro and its inhabitants: a kindly and peace-loving people called the Thals and an inhuman and terrifying race of creatures called the Daleks.
Nation soon shared his knowledge of the cube with David Whitaker and in the following days more cubes came to light. Nation continued to translate the cubes, (PROSE: The Daleks) occasionally working with Whitaker and others, (PROSE: The Dalek Chronicles Found!) in order to bring the world as much information about the Daleks as he could. (PROSE: The Daleks) According to one account, the story-cubes were subsequently mislaid and not recovered in full until 2094.
Much of the Dalek Chronicles concerned the events which led up to the Daleks' invasion of Earth during the 2060s. A translation by Whitaker and Alan Fennell detailed the origin of "Skaro's most ruthless sons" with later instalments documenting their first meeting with the Mechanoids and their conquest of Phryne. They were visualised by Richard Jennings, Ron Turner and Eric Eden. (PROSE: The Dalek Chronicles Found!) Other parts of the Chronicles translated by Nation documented other periods of Dalek history, including their successful invasion of the Solar System at the start of the 25th century (COMIC: Invasion of the Daleks et al.) as well as their attempted reprisal of the conflict in the 27th century (COMIC: The Mechanical Planet et al.) and some of their battles with the Space Security Service in the 40th century. (PROSE: The Outlaw Planet et al.)
Neither Whitaker nor Nation knew for certain "what curve of Time" was responsible for the arrival of the Chronicles from the future but they theorised either that they had been sent by some friendly planet as a warning or that a Dalek history museum had exploded violently in space and accidentally showered the stream of time with the Daleks' secrets. (PROSE: The Daleks) Notably, the Dalek Tapes, a collection of tapes that documented the same early history as the Chronicles, was found by the Doctor after landing in a mouldering and ancient library on a twilight world. (COMIC: The Dalek Tapes) Despite Whitaker's own recollection of his part in discovering and translating the Chronicles, the Dalek Survival Guide noted that "Nation took the secret of his genius to the grave", meaning almost nothing of their true source was known in the years following his death. Some said that a number of story-cubes were recovered from a wrecked Dalek craft while others asserted they were ancient records made by the Daleks themselves. The possiblity of another race being responsible for the history, with their own motives for presenting as they did, also remained. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide)
In contradiction to Nation's findings, the Time Lords believed the creation of the Daleks, which they failed to prevent, occurred concurrent to Earth's ancient history. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) In their Dalek Combat Training Manual, they wrote that the first Daleks to leave their homeworld of Skaro were reconnaissance scouts, one of whom arrived on Earth in the 9th century, where it was defeated before being revived and becoming embroiled in the Recon Scout Incident of 2019 and the Security Drone Incident of 2021, during which it was finally destroyed. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual, TV: Resolution, Revolution of the Daleks) Indeed, the Dalek Survival Guide recorded that, though Nation's Chronicles were thought to contain the "definitive early history of the Daleks" when they were first discovered, other sources, such as the Time Lord Archives and the Bryant Anderson Report, had "cast doubt on the nature" of the Chronicles. It conceded, however, that "some eminent figures" continued to argue "with some justification" that Nation's account remained the most accurate of the available conflicting histories. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide)
The Fourteenth Doctor was aware that the Golden Emperor and his version of Skaro were documented in "children's books from the 21st century", and did not hold them to be reliable, claiming to a psychoplasmic duplicate of the Emperor that they were sensationalised accounts of distant legends, no more reliable than tabloid reports on Bigfoot. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks)
Long following the mid-22th century invasion from the Daleks' perspective, they would attack Earth on several occasions earlier in its history, most noticeably in the Planetary Relocation Incident of 2009. However, the Time Lords were aware that Big Bang Two caused subtle changes in Earth's timeline which would remove the memory of incidents such as this invasion; as such, humanity at large would remain unaware of the Daleks. Both the Time Lords (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) and human historians of the far future were aware that the Daleks, from various points in their own history, were responsible for numerous temporal incursions across the timeline of Earth going back to its ancient history. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
=== Rise of the Daleks ===
"Many thousands of years" prior to the 2060s, the blue-skinned Daleks and the Thals were locked in a "vicious conflict". Zolfian, the Dalek War Minister, oversaw the construction a stash of neutron bombs to destroy the Thals but the pacifist ruler of the Daleks, Drenz, forbade their use. Zolfian responded to this by murdering Drenz and ramping up the war effort, which involved the further production of both bombs and mighty War Machines, an invention of the scientist Yarvelling. Two weeks later, a meteorite storm started fires at the buildings storing the neutron bombs, resulting in their inadvertent detonation and causing the continents of Darren and Dalazar to be utterly devastated. Two years later, Zolfian and Yarvelling emerged from the War Council chamber where they had sought protection from the radiation and they began an unsuccessful search for more survivors of the disaster. Travelling to the capital city of Dalaza, they discovered that the radiation had mutated the original race of Daleks, prompting one of them to repurpose Yarvelling's War Machine into a casing for its survival. The machine Dalek ordered Zolfian and Yarvelling to rebuild the war-factory to facilitate the creation of casings for the other mutated Daleks which they accomplished, finally perishing due to radiation sickness thereafter. (COMIC: Genesis of Evil) The machine Dalek encountered by Yarvelling and Zolfian quickly proclaimed himself Emperor (COMIC: Genesis of Evil) and supervised the construction of a new Dalek City as one of his first acts. The work was completed over a period of two months. (COMIC: Power Play)
In January 2064, B.B.C. Television brought the Universe the first news concerning the Daleks, a previously unknown force. The report stated that "following attempts to make peace with the Daleks, the Thals ha[d] been viciously ambushed and a fierce battle [was] still being fought". (PROSE: Peaceful Thals Ambushed!)
By January 2065, the Dalek homeworld of Skaro was considered by the publication TV Century 21 to be "the most feared globe in all the Universe". (COMIC: Genesis of Evil) Ahead of present-day reports regarding the Daleks' activities direct from the Space News Agency, (PROSE: Titan Declares War! et al.) TV21 retold the historical account of Yarvelling, Zolfian, and the origin of the machine Daleks for its readers. (COMIC: Genesis of Evil, PROSE: Stingray Attacked!) On 30 January, the front page of the magazine's second Universe Edition recapped the ongoing story with a small article titled "Dalek City in Ruins". It stated that a neutron bomb had accidentally exploded on the planet, completely destroying the Dalek capital Dalaza. War Minister Zolfian and scientist Yarvelling were reported to be the only survivors of the catastrophe, with further details about the story available on the twentieth page of the publication. The article was accompanied by a photograph depicting a machine Dalek. (PROSE: Stingray Attacked!)
On 13 February, the Space Agency released a report revealing evidence of a spacecraft entering Skaro's atmosphere had been picked up on the Electron Displacement Recorder. Curiously, this report claimed these events occurred "only hours" after the completion of the Daleks' "new city", (PROSE: Fireball Surrenders!) seemingly at odds with the date of the Daleks' creation millennia prior. (COMIC: Genesis of Evil) The report also noted that the Dalek Emperor had ordered "immediate evasive action". (PROSE: Fireball Surrenders!) A week later on 20 February, a Space News Agency report clarified that the Daleks had spread sand over their city as protection and camouflage. It also elaborated on the intent of the unidentified enemy, claiming that the sole purpose of their mission appeared to be the mining of sand and that slaves were ordered to collect the very sand which covered the Dalek City. The story concluded with a statement indicating the Daleks were expected to make a counter-attack. (PROSE: Titan Declares War!) By 13 March, the Daleks were reported to have captured the hostile spacecraft which was identified as Krattorian. Further reports reaching the London office suggested that the slaves were progressing their plans to overthrow their "evil master" Kest. (PROSE: Superjet Shot Down)
On 20 March, the Space News Agency publicised the fact that the Daleks had discovered the missing link they needed to begin their conquest of space. For the first time, this information gave rise to concern in official circles because as the statement communicated, if the Daleks managed to achieve their aims, then the whole universe would be in danger. (PROSE: Jungle Terror!) This revelation prompted the News Agency to develop methods in order to monitor Dalek activity on a more reliable basis; further reports were obtained in full colour via a hyper-space video-phone. (COMIC: Power Play)
On 3 April, the Space News Agency reported that the Dalek City had been struck by lightning. This occurrence aroused much speculation on Earth because the Daleks were known to be experimenting with a particularly dangerous new metal. (PROSE: Stingray Hunts Aliens) On 24 April, the Agency released details on the events of the succeeding days. The Dalek Robot Brain had ordered Zeg and the Emperor to fight a duel to the death. The situation arose when Zeg, a worker in the invention shop, discovered a new hardening metal. He offered to share his knowledge with the rest of his species on the condition that he was made Emperor. (PROSE: Zodiac's Rescue Bid!) The hyper-space video-phone recorded that the Emperor won the duel when he crushed Zeg's casing with the extreme cold of liquid oxygen. (COMIC: Duel of the Daleks)
Around this time, Universal Secret Service agent Graham Page discovered TV 21s Dalek-focused bulletins, which were published weekly on Wednesday mornings. (PROSE: Graham Page) Agent Howard Whitehead was also proactive in defending against the possible Dalek threat. He had an idea for how to make model Daleks, composed of such materials as plastic glass, plasticine, matchsticks and wood. Whitehead sent the plans to Senior Special Agent Twenty One who commended him for using his brain. Twenty One also informed him that HQ used his blueprints to create several models and that a mock battle was planned between them and their models of the World Government Army. (PROSE: From Howard Whitehead)
In Campden Town, New London, Mars, an amateur radio astronomer picked up a mysterious repeating message: "All you have left is fear. The Daleks are coming!" On 22 May, it was reported that the communication had filled the entire planet with speculation and alarm, but that the signal had not yet been picked up by any astronomers on Earth. In any event, the Space News Agency assured the general public that the Daleks did not pose any threat because Skaro was so many millions of light years away from the solar system. (PROSE: Tempest Awarded V.M.)
=== First contact ===
Agent Peter Ayliffe, who was relatively new to the Universal Secret Service, wrote to Twenty One to tell him of the Identicode he invented for the Dalek Emperor. Ayliffe requested that Twenty One print details of the Identicode if it pleased the Emperor so other Special Agents would be able to use it. Twenty One assigned Agent 0031 to travel to Skaro and personally deliver the invention but, as Twenty One stated in his reply to Ayliffe, 0031 was never heard from again. (PROSE: From Special Agent Peter Ayliffe)
Soon after this, Twenty One received a letter from Agent J. Webster which claimed that their mother had "won" them a "Dalek Suit" the previous Wednesday. Although Twenty One congratulated Webster on the Dalek Suit, believing it to be simply a representation of a Dalek, Webster exhibited several behavioural changes consistent with that of the genuine article. Webster asserted to have "bec[o]me a Dalek" to the extent of self-identifying as "Special Agent Dalek" and imprisoning and disintegrating his former "pals". (PROSE: From J. Webster)
=== The Daleks' conquest of space ===
The hyper-space video-phone recorded the Daleks' attempted invasion and eventual destruction of Alvega, Skaro's closest neighbor. The Dalek Prime vowed from that point onwards to destroy anything they could not conquer. (COMIC: The Amaryll Challenge) On 26 June, Space Station KZ 24 reported that the main Dalek Fleet had left Alvega and started heading in the general direction of the solar system. According to the laser beam interceptor operator on KZ 24, the Emperor ordered part of his fleet to stay on Alvega while he led the rest to fresh conquests. Following the report, the Malagan Planet System of Galaxy Andromeda ordered the full mobilisation of its army in case of any attempted occupation. In their first act of direct hostility towards the Daleks, the Solar System pledged its full support for Malagan if needed. (PROSE: Daleks Seek New Conquests)
As the Daleks continued their conquest, more people on Earth became aware of their presence, with them even being referenced in an accompanying illustration to a 21st century version of the nursery rhyme Little Miss Muffet. (PROSE: Space-Age Versery Rhymes) Agents of the Universal Secret Service also started to more frequently mention them in their communications to Twenty One. Derek Connell knew reports on Dalek activity were obtained via hyper-space video-phone, (PROSE: From D. Connell of Essex) and R. Miles noted these among a list of news stories they kept up with. (PROSE: From R. Miles) J. Gray complimented TV 21 on their coverage of the Daleks, agreeing that a headline feature to affirm their threat to humanity was a good idea. (PROSE: J. Gray) The Daleks also took over large swathes of popular culture when a film called Dr. Who and the Daleks was produced with Peter Cushing in the title role. (PROSE: Peaceful Thals Ambushed!, From Agent 671107) Imagery from the film was so prominent that Kevin Dibben was surrounded by it when he was promoted to Senior Special Agent and awarded the TV Century 21 Golden Award. (PROSE: Senior Special Agent No.2) Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, the London agent for International Rescue, (COMIC: The Vanishing Ray) interviewed Roberta Tovey, Jennie Linden and Roy Castle regarding their positions as co-stars. Although all three were acting, the reality of the Dalek threat was not underplayed: Penelope speculated that Roberta had experienced sleepless nights during filming, and Roy openly admitted he was more scared than when he was in his horror film. Likewise, Lady Penelope's driver Parker was visibly terrified when she told him they were going to have lunch "with the Daleks", and it was not until she elaborated that he calmed down. (PROSE: Lady Penelope Investigates the stars of the Sensational new film Dr. Who and the Daleks!)
After their destruction of Alvega, the Daleks set their sights on the mineral-rich planet Solturis, which subsequently reported sightings of a Dalek invasion fleet; the World Government was said to be watching developments carefully. (COMIC: The Amaryll Challenge) Indeed, they were kept abreast of events through accounts from both the Solturian News Agency and Space News Agency. (COMIC: The Penta Ray Factor) One such article, released on 31 July, noted that Prince Jareth had been called in by Mirva to investigate another prophecy of Lurr which was possibly related to his continuing opposition to the Daleks. (PROSE: Peaceful Thals Ambushed!) The Solturians ultimately succeeded in defeating the Daleks' and the traitor Geltis' plan to destroy the capital city Bulos with the Pentaray. The Dalek Emperor had already left Solturis when its forces on the planet were crushed, but its fleet was recalled to deal with a crisis on Skaro before it could renew hostilities. (COMIC: The Penta Ray Factor) MI5 had at least one copy of a Solturian News Agency report which depicited the fatal shots Jareth fired at the Dalek forces. It was stored on Captain Blacker's boat and destroyed along with with the ship when Carl blew it up after killing Blacker and stealing the blueprints to a nuclear weapon which could have threatened the safety of the world. Jimmy Bondson successfully retrieved the plans with help from International Rescue. (TV: The Man from MI.5)
Radio station N92 intercepted an urgent call from the Black Dalek to the Emperor about a radioactive dust cloud threatening their homeworld. News of this spread to the rest of the universe on 11 September. According to TV 21s science correspondent, if the cloud had been exposed to Beta-Gamma rays, it could destroy a Dalek in "next to no time". (PROSE: Ice Planet Mystery) This prediction was validated by reports on 25 September about the Daleks' losing battle against a rust plague which could destroy a Dalek in under half a minute. Although the Black Dalek released no information on the number of casualties, station S.N.A. 5 estimated that up to half of the home army had been destroyed. They also had images of Daleks in Dalek Tracking station PZ8 just prior to succumbing to the plague. The report plainly concluded that unless effective action was taken, all the Daleks on Skaro would be destroyed. (PROSE: Daleks Suffer Heavy Losses!) Upon the Emperor's return, he realised the Black Dalek was the carrier and ordered that his casing be reconstructed in the recasting furnace. (COMIC: Plague of Death)
On 23 October, TV 21 reported on a Monstron Space Republic videophone in which President Yequan announced an advanced invasion probe of Skaro. Speaking to four thousand million fighting troops, Yequan proudly proclaimed, "The robot-like Daleks of Skaro will feel the strength and might of the Monstrons. We shall conquer all". (PROSE: Fireball Explosion!) Two Monstrons, Kenex and Yeq, and a small army of Engibrains were able to land on the planet initially undetected due to the rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of the rust plague. (COMIC: Plague of Death, The Menace of the Monstrons) News reached TV 21 on 6 November that the Monstron invaders had launched an attack on the Dalek City. (PROSE: FAB1 Back in Action!) On 4 December, TV 21 stated that the invasion came to an abrupt when the Monstrons' extinct volcano base suddenly exploded into action, destroying the enemy bridgehead. It was noted that nobody knew how or why the volcano became reactive but that it was sure to give the Daleks an opportunity to rebuild their city yet again and reorganise their defences against any further surprise attacks. (PROSE: World Weather Chaos!) A hyper-high frequency report received from Space Station K11 later revealed that a single Dalek, belieing itself to be the only survivor of the attack, avenged its people by firing its gunstick into the volcano and triggering its eruption and the destruction of the Monstrons. (COMIC: The Menace of the Monstrons)
=== Humanity's involvement increases ===
The Universal Secret Service's interest in the Daleks began to spike in this period. Agent Philip Bevan wrote to Twenty One with some theories regarding the anatomy of the robot-like species, but these were overshadowed by word of Bevan's own comic Thriller, a potential rival to TV 21. (PROSE: From Philip Bevan) E. Oglesby also wrote in to provide a list of equipment in their possession, including a Dalekode. Twenty One told Oglesby it was a good report, reminding all agents to take good care of the items and warning them "they never know when they might need it". (PROSE: E. Oglesby) Twenty One also ensured that agents were keen followers of recent Dalek history in case it proved relevant, as evidenced by V. Mason reporting on and retelling the story of Zeg the Red Dalek. (PROSE: Password Report on Red Dalek)
On 11 December, a space spy satellite reported a new build-up of forces on Skaro. According to video screen reports from the satellite, the Daleks had already built a space station for the purposes of refuelling. Shortly afterwards, the leader of the planet Oric sent a plea for help to World President Nikita Bandranaik, stating that the Daleks were intent on space conquest and that an attack on Oric would be a "forerunner" to one against the Solar Empire. The World Security Council met in Washington to discuss the plea, but informed sources claimed no help was to be sent at present (PROSE: Help Plea from Planet) due to the ongoing weather crisis which was devastating Earth at this time. During December and into January 2066, Earth was faced with the havoc of uncontrolled weather for the first time in fifty years. A dramatic rise in temperature led to extensive melting of ice and a three foot rise in the level of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The northern hemisphere, in particular Holland, Belgium, England, as well as the low-lying areas of America and Canada, were the worst affected by widespread flooding, with millions of refugees being forced to leave their homes. (PROSE: World Weather Chaos!) By Christmas, martial law had been declared in the northern hemisphere, and troops deployed to all major cities as rioters and mob armies rampaged through places such as New York and Amsterdam. (PROSE: World Emergency) The World Senate called upon the World Aquanaut Security Patrol to investigate the root cause of the troubles, and Commander Sam Shore ordered Stingray, (PROSE: World Weather Chaos!) manned by Captain Troy Tempest and Lieutenant Phones Sheridan, (COMIC: Curse of the Crustavons et al.) to the North Pole. Bandranaik later confirmed they had orders to destroy any aliens they found to be responsible. (PROSE: World Emergency) Order was finally restored by 8 January, with long periods of sunshine helping rescuers somewhat in the clearing up of mess. (PROSE: Time Barrier Busted)
All was not lost for Oric, however, as Space Station M2 reported that a Mechonoid ship was heading for Skaro. (PROSE: Help Plea from Planet) Although the ship proved to not be any form of direct assistance to Oric, the Mechonoids began hostilities with the Daleks when they started targeting them with the suspicion ray. This bought the inhabitants of Oric more time, as the Daleks chose to focus on retaliation and preparing for an impending war rather than exploring their planet for its minerals. (COMIC: Eve of War) On 1 January 2066, TV 21 reported that "the Universe" was waiting to see if the Daleks and the Mechonoids were going to clash in a galactic war after the species from Skaro came up against an enemy equally as clever, ruthless, and mechanical for the first time in their history. The Dalek War Control Room was pictured alongside the article just as an order was given to destroy a Mechonoid spaceship. (PROSE: Daleks Hit Back!) The ship was successfully destroyed, but so was the Dalek flying saucer with the Red Dalek Leader aboard. The skirmish ended with the Mechonoids warning the Daleks to stay out of their skies. (COMIC: Eve of War)
The Daleks subsequently began to search other planets for new weapons to use in their fight; The Space News Agency documented their successful invasion of Phryne via hyper-space video-phone. The Phrynians served as archivists for the histories and artefacts of a hundred planets, and after the Daleks made short work of Phryne's invisibility shield, the Controller killed himself to ensure the invaders never got hold of his secrets. The remaining Phrynians, led by Saf, went into hiding so that they might one day have a chance to fight back. (COMIC: The Archives of Phryne)
As noticed by the Space News Agency, the Daleks started to track the rogue planet of Skardal after the Astrodalek witnessed its creation. Skardal later impacted with Omega Three, putting it on a collision course with Skaro. (COMIC: The Rogue Planet) On 26 March, TV21s Dalek correspondent reported that the Dalek Emperor had ordered an emergency squad to intercept the planet, which was now "careering wildly" through space, and alter its course. (PROSE: Thunderbird Two) They successfully diverted a meteor storm so that the meteorites would draw Skardal away from Skaro and onto a path with Mechanus, the planet of the Mechonoids. (COMIC: The Rogue Planet) Alarmed by the coming war between the Daleks and the Mechonoids and the likelihood of being targeted by the victor, the Zerovians of Zeros sent the humanoid robot 2K to prevent either side attaining victory. Learning of Skardal, 2K stole a Dalek missile and set it on a course with the planet. He separated the rocket from the warhead, which began a journey back to Skaro, requiring the Daleks to fire their anti-missile rockets to destroy both the warhead and Skardal. 2K then landed on Mechanus and told the Mechonoids that the Daleks had purposely destroyed the rogue planet to save them. He persuaded them to call off the war, but the Mechonoids allowed him to escape to warn his creators that the Daleks and Mechonoids were still enemies. The Space News Agency published a detailed summary of the execution of the Zerovians' plans, spanning several reports. (COMIC: Impasse)
A specially-assigned correspondent from the Hyper-Space News Agency relayed a report to Earth about a Terrorkon who broke through an electric barrier and attacked several Daleks stationed at the Lake of Mutations. It stole a missile and went through an underground lake and into a cave deep in the mountains. After the missile was damaged by fallen rocks, the Dalek Prime ordered that the Dalek City be evacuated. News soon reached London offices from far out in hyperspace that the Emperor had commanded all Daleks to evacuate immediately in case of an explosion. A Red Dalek Leader, accompanied by the Emperor, followed the Terrorkon into the cave and successfully defused the missile, which had been discarded and accidentally activated by the creature for being inedible. The two of them watched as the Terrorkon was devoured by a giant eel, prompting the Emperor to call for an in-depth search of their homeworld in order to discover all its dangers. (COMIC: The Terrorkon Harvest)
=== The looming discovery of Earth ===
On 16 July, Hyper-Space News Agency correspondents watched Skaro closely for news of the Daleks' latest activities because their war plans, which were abundunce in evidence during the last months, had been shelved. Reports indicated that they were carrying out an unprecedented scientific invenstigation into their own planet. (PROSE: "Come In, Tempest") This investigation uncovered sand creatures in the desert, areas of mutated jungle, and stones with special properties. In the Polar Mountains, they inadvertently awoke three humanoid Daleks who had been frozen alive in ice when the neutronic war shifted the poles. Yvric believed he could exchange knowledge with their descendants in return for becoming one of their leaders, but he was promptly mistaken for an invading android and exterminated without a second thought. Witnessing this atrocity, Lodian told Zet that just before they were frozen, he and Yvric had discovered a planet named Earth nine galaxies away and built a spacecraft to get there. While Lodian intended to use the spacecraft to warn Earth of the Daleks, Zet betrayed him by knocking him out and handing him over to the Dalek machines, hoping to bargain with them. However, Lodian escaped and was pursued back to their secret base by Zet and several Daleks. Determining that Zet would tell the Daleks of Earth even if he successfully escaped in his ship, Lodian made the ultimate sacrifice and blew up the ship, killing himself, Zet, and the surrounding Daleks. Correspondents from the Hyper-Space News Agency relayed detailed reports of the entire affair back to Earth. (COMIC: Legacy of Yesteryear)
On 17 September, reports from "secret sources" revealed crisis conditions on Skaro. The Dalek Emperor was believed to be organising a full-scale search for the single Dalek who questioned an imperial order. It was said that the Dalek required a reason for clearing mutated plant-growth in the path of a highway project. The TV 21 report relayed from a Hyper-Space News Agency correspondent reiterated that the Dalek code was one of absolute obedience, so the development of free will, should it spread, could subvert and destroy the entire race. (PROSE: Daleks Face Destruction) It did spread, and hordes of Daleks began to adorn themselves with flowers because the command to "protect beauty" had been given as a Dalek order. Soon the rebels turned on their own kind for crushing such beautiful things as flowers. Eventually, the "one in a million" Dalek, who had developed human-like qualities in its "diseased brain" due to an accident in its manufacture, revealed itself and proclaimed itself the new Emperor. The Dalek Prime, aware that time alone would be its destruction, confronted the Dalek on its purported strength, observing that the flowers on its casing were already dying. He ordered his loyalists to annihilate it; as he turned away, he stated that "beauty [was] for human beings" and that to "destroy human beings" was the true Dalek directive. (COMIC: Shadow of Humanity)
The Daleks captured the Jevon ship Guardian, which was on its way from Jevo to Arides on a mission to wipe out a species of mutated plants. The pollen of these planets was deadly to all human and animal life, and it would threaten all life in the universe if it flowered and spread through space. Taken before the Emperor, Commander Kirid was able to convince him that the Arides pollen was also a threat to the Daleks, so the Emperor released them to complete their assignment. However, Kirid's ruse was discovered when the Daleks stole the weapon which purportedly poisoned the plant and found it to be an ordinary Ultra Gamma Gun. The Daleks then tracked down the Guardian and destroyed it with all of those aboard just after Kirid had successfully performed the spraying of the real poison. However, as the Prime watched the devastation, he briefly doubted himself. He contemplated whether the Daleks had really defeated "this amazing human spirit" and noted the "real test" was yet to come, that being "the war on human beings everywhere". TV 21 reported upon the incident, with one part of it being printed alongside a message from USS HQ to the magazine. (COMIC: The Emissaries of Jevo)
Agent Jeremy Palmer of the Universal Secret Service wrote in to USS HQ from Norfolk. He attached a photograph depicting himself wearing a Dalek Suit which had been constructed by his father. The disguise was built with a wooden frame, half a school globe suitably painted, and black plastic covering resembling a metalert casing. It moved about on casters. It was so realistic that it inspired Headquarters to investigate the possibilities of using similar camouflage in the event agents were ever sent to Skaro on spy-missions. (PROSE: Agents In Action) Agent Richard Barnes showed off his own Dalek model soon after with his comprehensive collection of TV21 instalments. Barnes kept up to date with all aspects of the USS through the Contact 21 page. (PROSE: Agents In Action)
Intent on removing their blindspot of Earth, which was in another part of the universe hidden from Skaro due to skycurve, the Daleks engineered a meteor storm which forced the human passenger spacecraft Starmaker to make an emergency landing on Skaro. After capturing three of those on board, children Tom and Jennie and Captain Flint Fleet, the Dalek Prime ordered the penetration of the ship's force field and its destruction. Fleet, Tom, and Jennie were able to escape incarceration; Fleet and Tom witnessed the deaths of the other passengers, including Tom and Jennie's parents, from Dalek Headquarters, but they decided not to tell Jennie of the grisly fates forced upon her friends and family. (COMIC: The Road to Conflict) Around this time, the Universal Secret Service printed an ability test in TV21 which required agents to test their powers of observation by answering questions about that issue of the magazine without referring back through its pages, with the last question asking how many survivors were left from the Earth ship destroyed by the Daleks. (FEATURE: Agents Observation Test) Continuing their escape, the trio of Captain Flint, Tom and Jennie found a Dalek transporter to leave Skaro and warn Earth of the incoming threat. They were able to get away quietly unopposed because the Daleks presumed their safety and had stationed no guards outside their ships. Despite their lack of prisoners or hostages, the Daleks nevertheless discovered the location of Earth in the next universe but one from a piece of burnt paper found in the rubble of the Starmaker. Speaking to a room full of his forces, the Dalek Prime announced that they would go in search and conquer. (COMIC: The Road to Conflict) This ominous proclamation was the last contents of any reports relayed back to Earth using TV 21s hyper-space communications scanner. (PROSE: Information Service)
=== Attempted invasion ===
Universal Secret Service agent Simon Bucks, who normally operated in Bickley in Kent, wrote into USS HQ with an "amazing" report containing a photograph taken in the Scottish town of Lairg. Bucks speculated that the subject of the image could have been a form of Dalek, perhaps even "an advance guard sent to spy out the land for an imminent full-scale invasion". Agent Twenty One responded that USS action-group operators were already on their way to Lairg to investigate with clear orders to destroy any metal invaders from Skaro who might be in the area. (PROSE: Have Daleks Invaded Scotland?)
In 2067, T.J. Younger replaced Nikita Bandranaik as World President due to the latter's ill health. Younger never publicly acknowledged the Dalek threat. (PROSE: Information Service) While TV 21 were unable to deliver reports on the Daleks, they continued to publish news about Earth's security organisations. These included the escapades of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol's vessel Stingray, (PROSE: Stingray Storm!) the World Space Patrol's ship Fireball XL5, (PROSE: Ambush!) and the Martian exploration vehicle Zero X. (PROSE: Mars Ship Hi-Jacked) It was not until Steve Zodiac, the best known of all World Space Patrol astronauts, was believed dead while patrolling the Astran border (PROSE: Mars Ship Hi-Jacked, World Mourns Dead Space Hero) that TV 21 responded to the many requests for information about the termination of their stories about the Daleks. TV 21 revealed that the hyper-space communications scanner, which relayed reports back to the Fleet Street offices, had broken down, and that they had been led to believe that the Daleks themselves were responsible and therefore had taken over its complete control. (PROSE: Information Service)
Passing through the solar system on its way to Earth, the Dalek Fleet converged with an unusual fleet of spacecraft of an organic construction which was also heading for Earth. Believing that the occupants must also have had plans to invade, the Dalek Prime ordered their destruction. However, their new enemies had already scanned the Daleks with their mind-seeking devices and immediately launched a counter-attack, annihilating several Dalek ships. While confusion reigned on the Dalek Flagship and further retaliation only yielded more casualties, the Daleks suspected the mind-reading capabilities of their foes and retreated towards Titan. Finding a human mining base on the moon, the Daleks demonstrated their power by wiping out Colony Five and capturing six of its men to do their bidding. Instilled with the necessary knowledge and experience of the Daleks' plight, Commander Trent and Johnson were coerced into helping them to protect their own homeworld.
Their attack failed and they were confronted with a being who identified himself as Kaslan. Kaslan explained that he belonged to a race of Elders who existed between the physical and sub-etheric dimensions. He further stated that their "invasion fleet" was actually a medium through which thoughts and energies could be directed and that they had "seeded" Earth in the distant past and had returned to "purify" it after man's abuse. As Trent and Johnson were just pawns, Kaslan freed them of the malevolent influence. According to him, the Daleks would invade Earth in the future to be resisted by "another", but that until the work of the Elders was done they had to intervene. Kaslan's mind then reached out to touch those of the Daleks, creating blind self-destruction as the Dalek Fleet fired upon itself. The Emperor was spared to suffer the "ultimate humiliation", but with the battle over, Kaslan freed Trent to pursue the Prime himself in order to seek revenge for his fallen comrades.
Outnumbered by Trent's squad, the Dalek Prime sought advantage of their pursuers' limited experience of Dalek technology by retreating into the planetary rings of Saturn. Trent was able to pick off one of the Dalek saucers with a lucky shot, leaving only the Emperor's ship remaining. As they watched it on the scanner, Trent speculated that the Emperor must have panicked and dived out of the way but that they were now travelling too fast to pull out and would resultantly burn up in Saturn's atmosphere. Disappointed they were unable to fire the kill shot, Trent and his men returned to Titan. However, the Daleks had operated their nul-grav system to avoid destruction. Certain they would have another opportunity to invade Earth and flanked by the Black Dalek and the Red Dalek, the Dalek Prime vowed that they would not fail the next time. (COMIC: Return of the Elders)
=== Remnants of the invasion force ===
Even after the destruction of the Dalek Fleet (COMIC: Return of the Elders) and humanity's loss of the hyper-space communications scanner, (PROSE: Information Service) the Universal Secret Service continued to monitor the dormant Dalek threat through more direct means. Contact 21 Field Agent Nigel Rawlands was given a mission to inflitrate "an enemy organisation" and so, using his initiative, Rawlands designed and made a Dalek disguise. The outer casing of the disguise was indistinguishable from a real Dalek, and Rawlands later reported that the mission was successfully accomplished. (PROSE: Dalek Disguise)
One of the final reports regarding the Daleks on Earth came from Agent W. Cregan, who operated from London. He attached a photograph of an encounter he had with a Dalek. Cregan stated that he was fully prepared for combat with the alien until it suddenly said "Shake hands. Welcome." Unsure how to proceed, he followed the Daleks' request and shook hands with its gunstick, although he added in his report that he heavily suspected that it was really spy. (PROSE: Friendly Dalek)
In September 2067, a new security organisation named Spectrum was officially launched. Headed by former USS second-in-command Colonel White, it was announced that Spectrum was to take over all of the Universal Secret Service's commitments on Earth, (PROSE: SPECTRUM is Green) including those sparse reports of Dalek activity. (PROSE: Daleks on the Move?) USS agents who had previously reported on the Daleks, such as Philip Bevan, (PROSE: From Philip Bevan) transferred to Spectrum as Spectrum Shades because of this. (PROSE: Comic Shades) However, even before Pete Tracker could publish a headline proclaiming that "Spectrum [was] Green", most of the organisation's resources were diverted elsewhere. (COMIC: SPECTRUM) Captain Black, who had led a troubled expedition to Mars to investigate strange radio signals received from the area, (PROSE: Capt. Black Mars Expedition Lost!) finally returned to Glenn Field but vanished from the base without trace immediately on arrival. (COMIC: SPECTRUM) It was later discovered that Black had fired upon the Mysteron City in a moment of panic while commanding the Zero X mission, inadvertently beginning the Mysteron War, while the real Black was thought deceased with his image being used as an indestructible agent of the Mysterons. (PROSE: Rogues Gallery) Although Spectrum did occasionally deal with other matters, its existence became so entwined with the Mysteron threat that World President Younger once disbanded the organisation when it appeared they had been defeated. After six months of inactivity, he stated that they had "suceeded so well that there [was] no further need for Spectrum as a separate organisation" and that its craft and personnel would be reassigned in the near future. (COMIC: Traitor Black Gives In!) The conflict ultimately lasted until 2069 at the absolute earliest. (PROSE: Stingray Strikes Back!)
In 2068, Spectrum Shade Gregory Kaser discovered a Dalek presence on Venus during a mission he conducted for the Planetary Exploration Organisation. While taking aerial reconnaissance photographs over the Magnax continent, he spotted a crashed Dalek ship and a Dalek moving away from it. Although initially puzzled as to why there were Daleks on the planet, Kaser soon remembered their threat from some months previously to find and conquer Earth. He then worked out the Dalek was heading in the direction of the Earth colony in the northern sector of the continent. After he had completed his assignment and returned to Earth, Kaser reported his findings to Spectrum, asking if it signified the start of their invasion of Earth. Colonel White stated in response that the implications of the Daleks' visit to Venus were unknown but that Spectrum would investigate. He also assured Kaser there was not yet any cause for anxiety. (PROSE: Daleks on the Move?)
=== Aftermath and legacy ===
By early 2069, the active threat appeared to be over, with TV 21 choosing to reprint some of their older Dalek-centric front pages (PROSE: Flashback...) covering the "critical world situation" of 2065, (PROSE: Flashback...) which they had retrieved from the Century 21 Sydication Time-files. (PROSE: Flashback...) The first was dated to 30 January and covered the explosion of the neutron bomb on Skaro, as well as Marineville's search for S.A.3. and Fireball XL5s discovery of an unknown asteroid in hyperspace. (PROSE: Flashback...) The second was dated to 13 February and reported on the Dalek Emperor's order for evasive action as Skaro was invaded, as well as Steve Zodiac's surrender of Fireball XL5 to the Batmen and the illegal entry of a masked man into the Dunwell Atomic Research Station. (PROSE: Flashback...) The third and final example of this covered the Daleks' planned counter-attack against the Krattorian invaders, in addition to Stingray being trapped in an undersea cavern, a continuing bombardment with rockets of Marineville by Titan, and the kidnapping of one of Lady Penelope's agents. (PROSE: Flashback...)
By the end of 2069, however, the position of TV 21 to keep its readers informed of the past world crises had changed. Spectrum Shade Martin Cater produced a facsimile of the front page of the publication's second edition, which partly concerned the emergence of the Dalek War Machines after Yarvelling and Zolfian were left as the only survivors of the humanoid Dalek race. He sent his work to Cloudbase, asking at the same time if back issues of the magazine were obtainable. Colonel White praised Cater for his efforts but stated that, "for security reasons", back issues were not available. (PROSE: Shades Calling Cloudbase...)
Federation Archivist Van Kalik, writing in From Break-out to Empire: Essays on the Third Millennium, did not acknowledge the 2060s conflict between the Daleks and humanity. He said that, although the popular view of Earth before the late 21st century Break-out was a planet "permanently besieged", in actuality humankind was at peace with its neighbours. Relative to the Break-out, he labelled the Cybermen and "Martian" threats as past and the near-destruction of life on Earth in the First Dalek War as still almost a century in the future. (PROSE: Prelude Deceit)
On 4 August 2094, "Universe Edition No. 1" of a publication entitled The Dalek Chronicles proclaimed news had reached Earth that the alien story-cubes first found on the planet in "the Sixties" had been recovered intact. Though the front page article stated the story-cubes as translated by David Whitaker (and others) were originally revealed piece-by-piece in TV Century 21, (PROSE: The Dalek Chronicles Found!) it showed no awareness of the fact the events documented within the cubes had occurred for real thirty years prior, with it being under this context that TV 21 (PROSE: Stingray Attacked! et al.) and other news agencies had ran stories about the Daleks. (COMIC: Duel of the Daleks, The Penta Ray Factor et al.) Despite this issue of the magazine being labelled as its first, no further editions were ever published, (PROSE: The Dalek Chronicles Found!) and the Daleks faded once more into obscurity in the following years. (PROSE: The Murder Game)
At some point, the human colonists on Vulcan were threatened by a smaller-scale Dalek attack. This was repelled with help from the Second Doctor, Ben Jackson, and Polly Wright. (TV: The Power of the Daleks) The Doctor concluded that the invasion in the 22nd century had not yet taken place, apparently explaining why the colonists were unfamiliar with the threat of the Daleks. (PROSE: The Power of the Daleks) In 2136, Terri Willis told Ben that the Daleks were "just legends". When Ben attempted to convince her he had really encountered them by mentioning Vulcan, Terri told him Vulcan itself was also "practically a legend". (PROSE: The Murder Game)
Having rebuilt from their previous failed attempt, (COMIC: Return of the Elders) the Daleks launched another invasion in 2157. (PROSE: Lucifer Rising) They diverted the solar trajectories of meteors to impact on Earth's land masses (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide) in what scientists believed to be a cosmic storm (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, PROSE: The Whoniverse) or some other natural phenomenon. (PROSE: The Whoniverse) The meteorites eventually stopped and everything settled down again until people began to die of a new and unidentified type of plague, (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Secret Lives of Monsters) which had been sent by the Daleks in missile bombardments. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide) Whole continents of people were wiped out, including Asia, Africa, and South America. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters, The Whoniverse) A vaccine was eventually perfected (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) and a cure based on the rare chemical parrinium found, but by that point the plague had killed ninety per cent of the population (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters) and split up the survivors into tiny communities which were too far apart to combine and fight yet too small to stand on their own. (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters, The Whoniverse) Around six months after the initial fall of the meteors, the Daleks arrived in force and landed their ships all across the world, (PROSE: The Whoniverse, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) easily defeating the weakened Terran Security Forces (PROSE: The Final Sanction) and razing entire cities to the ground, with New York the first major metropolis to fall. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) The Daleks ultimately held the Earth for a decade. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
In 2167, (AUDIO: The Mutant Phase) the First Doctor, Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton, and Barbara Wright arrived in Dalek-occupied London. They worked with resistance fighters to reach the centre of the mining operations in Bedfordshire, where the Daleks' aim was to remove the Earth's core and replace it with a power system to pilot the planet anywhere in the universe. This plan was thwarted when the Bedfordshire mine was destroyed by the Doctor and his companions, (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth) fulfilling Kaslan's prophecy from exactly one hundred years prior. (COMIC: Return of the Elders)
In 2323, the psychoplasmic Dalek City of the Golden City Zone within the Dalek Dome featured a Corridor of Conquests containing items associated with the Golden Emperor's campaign including a Mechanoid shell, models of a Monstron and a Engibrain, 2K's vehicle, the Solturian Pentaray, an encased model of War Minister Zolfian inscribed with the word "insli" and finally directions to Earth. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks)
== Behind the scenes ==
=== Information from invalid sources ===
==== Adverts and competitions ====
As the premise of TV Century 21 was that all its contents was set exactly one hundred years in the future, this naturally included advertising campaigns and competitions launched in the magazine, albeit sometimes to a lesser degree when compared to the regular comic stories. Specifically with regards to Dalek content, these other features did not feel bound by the narrative of The Daleks strip and depicted the Daleks invading Earth as early as 2065 if it either tied-in to an ongoing competition or suited a Dalek-oriented product being promoted by advertisers. Several competitions, such as 25 Huge Inflatable Daleks!, 70 Friction Daleks for Special Agents! and 50 Thunderbirds 3D Painting Sets Must Be Won!, referred to in-universe parts of other bits of TV21 but did not continue the story of the invasion.
100 Dalek Bagatelles To Be Won!, announced on 24 July 1965 had readers answer three questions about The Daleks story The Penta Ray Factor for a chance of winning. It was also hosted by Agent Twenty One from the Universal Secret Service. This adhered to the then-current status quo of The Daleks: humanity's monitoring of the Daleks' development without yet directly interacting with them. Indeed, that issue's part, as usual for the time, was framed as a report from the Space News Agency.
A week later, on 31 July, TV21 28 contained the partially in-universe advert News Flash by Marx which had a loose narrative involving the Dalek invasion of Earth toyshops. This marked the first time the Daleks were seen to have knowledge of Earth's location, obviously meaning it was also their first depicted invasion attempt of the 2060s. The trend of giving the Daleks a much more intimate presence to humanity than they appeared to be in the main comic strip would be picked up by later parodic and promotional TV21 content. That very issue, The Greatest Dalek Competition of All Time! was announced, with an apparently Earth-based Dalek, the winning prize in the competition, wishing prospective entrants good luck.
The advertisements and competitions were also notable for suggesting that the First Doctor was involved in the 2060s invasion at its peak. This was impossible for other parts of TV21, which precluded an appearance of the Doctor because he was being featured in the rival strips at TV Comic. These other features achieved this feat, through promoting Doctor Who merchandise and giving it away as prizes, by suggesting the Doctor was developing weapons for the war effort. The Greatest Dalek Competition of All Time! and 200 Anti-Dalek Neutralisers for Special Agents! both gave away batches of "Dr. Who's Anti-Dalek Fluid Neutralisers", the latter being partially in-universe and addressed to Universal Secret Service agents. The connection to the Doctor was explicitly confirmed in a narrative in Dr Who reveals new weapon in his fight against the Daleks which was an advert promoting Lincoln International's new product the Anti-Dalek Neutron Exterminator. The Neutron Exterminator was stated to be a "revolutionary new weapon", "fantastic death-dealing instrument" and a "triumph for British scientists".
The next competition, subitled 25 Anti-Dalek Neutron Exterminators To Be Won!, was set almost entirely in-universe, being introduced with a faux front page in the style of the magazine's cover stories. It had the headline of Fantastic Weapon Blasts Daleks, further stating that a new invasion force had been destroyed by a "fantastic weapon" and, "following the exciting news of the Dalek defeat", Lincoln International had made available twenty-five Anti-Dalek Neutron Exterminators and one hundred Anti-Dalek Fluid Neutralizers. The article was accompanied by a photograph actually depicting a squad of Daleks among the destruction they had wrought on Earth, furthering the story arc of the 2060s invasion in Lincoln's promotional material.
The first competition of 1966, 100 Dalek Bagatelles Must Be Won!, built upon the Dalek-Mechanoid tensions first seen in Eve of War and stuck with the status quo of the 2060s invasion from The Daleks strip. It saw humanity intercept a message sent to Skaro telling the Daleks of an invasion, albeit with nine mistakes made. Readers had to decipher the message and send in their answers to win a prize.
50 Cluedo Games To Be Won!, printed in TV21 54, similarly stuck with the precedent established in The Daleks. For a chance of winning, readers had to identify the deliberate mistakes in six images printed on the page, one of which depicted a Dalek without its Dalekanium. When introducing the competition, Agent Twenty One stated it was a sample observation test used in the selecting of Senior Special Agents and was the "first hurdle" which every office agent had to overcome before embarking on the full training course at the USS spy school. This implied the USS saw the Daleks as a threat which its agents might have to defend against at some point in the future. The later competition 75 Dalek Pencil Craft Sets Offered As Prizes was formulated and hosted by USS agent Francoise Ge-Brun, thus gently tying-in to this idea.
An in-universe advert from TV21 65, Destroy all Daleks with Dr Who's Anti-Dalek Sonic Disintegrator, returned to the continuity track which saw the Doctor developing new weapons for the conflict, with the titular Anti-Dalek Sonic Disintegrator from Lincoln International being hailed as "the newest thing in Dr Who's war against the Daleks". It would be the final piece in TV21 to explicitly refer to the Doctor's role in the 2060s invasion. It also provided new details about the previously seen Anti-Dalek Fluid Neutraliser and Anti-Dalek Neutron Exterminator, as well as the hitherto unmentioned Anti-Dalek Jet Immobiliser, which was again designed by the Doctor. Anti-Dalek Jet Immobilsers were subsequently awarded to runners-up of the competition 25 Whirley Birds Must Be Won!, set largely in-universe due to its focus on hover-jets used by the World Government Salvage Corps.
==== Deadline to Doomsday ====
Following the continuation of The Daleks in Doctor Who Magazine in Return of the Elders, artist Ron Turner began work on a second instalment entitled Deadline to Doomsday. However, Turner died before completing it, with the first two pages, devoid of text or header art, being printed in DWM 276 alongside a tribute to the artist. It was finally completed according to John Lawrence's original script by Lee Sullivan, colourist Charlie Kirchoff and letterer Richard Starkings for the third issue of the fanzine Vworp Vworp!.
Some of the dialogue in the story references the invasion, with the opening caption mentioning "the Daleks' humiliating failure to conquer Earth", though it mostly involved the Emperor's return to Skaro and subsequent transportation back in time to the Thousand Year War after his ship encountered a strange energy field. Once they successfully passed back through the field and returned to the present, the Emperor reconvened his forces in the Dalek City. The story ended with the Emperor announcing their plans had not changed, proclaiming they would in time rebuild their fleet and wage a fresh onslaught for the conquest of Earth.
An outline for another continuation of The Daleks, proposed by John Freeman, also appeared in Vworp Vworp!. As with Return of the Elders and Deadline to Doomsday, it would have seen something (a warp field in this case) interfere during the Daleks' journey from Skaro to Earth in the aftermath of The Road to Conflict which would have prevented them from actually invading.
==== Miscellaneous items ====
In an in-universe letter which was dated to 22 June 1965 but not released to wider audiences until 2017 as part of Letters from the Past, Lady Penelope and Parker "investigated" Dr. Who and the Daleks for Christopher Etherington. Penelope told Etherington that they were "wary" of getting too close to the Daleks but were able to find out some information "from a distance". This included the fact they were silver in colour, about five feet tall, manually operated, and had ordinary men's speaking voices that were put through lots of complicated electronic equipment which distorted them to the voices actually heard. Though some of the story was clearly fourth wall-breaking, the suggestion that Lady Penelope and Parker could have observed a group of Daleks at close range indicates they were present on Earth or very near it.
An otherwise untitled Cosmic Capers comic story featuring the Daleks was published in TV Century 21 for its 1965 Summer Extra. It featured a man who read TV 21s headlines about the destruction caused by the Daleks and proceeded to comment to another man that they were "jolly good fun" but "could never happen". Meanwhile, a group of Daleks brought the landscape behind them to ruins and exterminated droves of people as they both remained oblivious. This marked the only time the Daleks were shown to explicitly kill humans as part of the 2060s invasion, not counting the implicit death of Agent 0031 in From Special Agent Peter Ayliffe, until Return of the Elders.
A second untitled Cosmic Capers comic story featuring the Daleks was published in TV21 on 18 December 1965. A comedic take on the invasion, it pitted Santa Claus and his robotic reindeer against a group of Daleks while he made his deliveries for Christmas.
In DW50Y 1, a photograph of Roy Castle and Jennie Linden reading TV 21, specifically the Space News Agency's reports on the Daleks, was printed with the caption "Ian and Barbara peruse the Doctor's TV21 collection". This suggested Peter Cushing's Dr. Who was aware of the Daleks' impending invasion of Earth or, at the very least, their rapid technological advancement. The original publicitly photograph as seen in the TV21 short story Lady Penelope Investigates the stars of the Sensational new film Dr. Who and the Daleks! instead stated the two people seen in the image to be in-universe versions of Castle and Linden, who were both starring in a film based on real events.
=== Relationship with later media ===
==== Scarcity of reprints ====
Though every comic story from TV Century 21s run of The Daleks has had at least three separate reprints, with some receiving even more, reprints of TV21 material affording greater prominence and stronger links to the 2060s invasion of Earth have been markedly less prevalent.
Little focus has been given to the Dalek content in TV21 outside of their solo strip. This is the most significant factor contributing to the absence of the 2060s war in later media because, excluding The Road to Conflict in the case of the former and barring the "Stop Press" panels in the latter, no story from the comic series depicted the Daleks with the means to invade Earth nor was the setting in the 21st century ever addressed in dialogue or narration. However, the cover stories were framed as in-universe front pages which detailed the stories featured in the issue in the guise of news reports, and it was these that explicitly dated the events of The Daleks to the 2060s, each issue incrementing weekly to exactly one hundred years into the future from the cover date. Other series in TV21 were also significant to the tale of the progressing invasion: for example, the 21 short story From Special Agent Peter Ayliffe, while appearing to simply be a letter sent into the magazine by a young child, in actuality marks the first ever interaction between humanity and the emerging Dalek Empire.
Dalek-focused cover stories have technically received scant reprints, though they have never been reproduced to their original dimensions. Scans have occasionally accompanied real-world articles about TV21 but they are consistently so small that they are barely legible beyond the main headlines. Daleks Seek New Conquests was featured in DWCC 1 and DW50Y 1, Peaceful Thals Ambushed! was featured in DWCC 2, and the 2020 The Daleks graphic novel featured both of those previously mentioned in addition to Daleks Face Destruction.
The final story of The Daleks printed in TV21, The Road to Conflict, was intended to lead into Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D."Daleks in the 21st Century - An introduction to The Dalek Chronicles", DW50Y 1, an adaptation of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, despite being set a century before either. When the one-off comic Return of the Elders was published in 1997 to commemorate thirty years since the end of the series, it continued on from where The Road to Conflict left off. The Dalek Fleet was destroyed with the Dalek Emperor vowing to return, seemingly solving the time discrepancy as the Daleks would have needed a long time to rebuild their fleet. However, due to the lack of attention given to stories such as Daleks on the Move?, which logically take place after Return of the Elders despite being written decades prior, its setting of 2067 and status as the climax of the 2060s invasion of Earth is not oft-mentioned.
At the start of August 2022, Anderson Entertainment launched a men's t-shirt featuring the official TV Century 21 issue 4 comic coverThe Gerry Anderson Store (archived), described by Jamie Anderson as the beginning of a "new TV21 range"The Gerry Anderson Podcast #216. It was available in sizes small to 4XL and in the colours black, heather grey, and navy blue. The cover played host to the short story Fireball Surrenders! which primarily focused on the titular Fireball XL5 but did also feature a smaller image of a Dalek and an accompanying article about their activities from Earth's Space Agency. Though not a conventional reprint, this marked the first time since their original releases that a cover story related to the Daleks and, by extension, their subsequent invasion of Earth, was offically reproduced in a manner lending itself to actually being read. However, the product would not last long, being included in an "End of the Road" collection and scheduled for removal from sale on Friday 30 SeptemberThe Gerry Anderson Store (archived), though the shirt would survive a couple more days after this date before being dropped on Monday 3 OctoberThe Gerry Anderson Store (archived), just two months after its initial release.
==== Absence in reprints ====
When reprints of the pertinent TV21 sources did occur, the connections to 2060s conflict were either downplayed or outright absent most of the time. Even in reprints of The Daleks, including in otherwise comprehensive and faithful collections such as The Dalek Chronicles or the 2020 graphic novel The Daleks, the framing banners which tied the events of the stories back to Earth were absent.The sole identified exception to this is on page 16 of The Dalek Chronicles, where the fourth page of Duel of the Daleks is introduced as "Report from Space News Agency via HYPER-SPACE VIDEO-PHONE". The content of this banner varied in the original releases, but the two most common variations attributed the stories to a "report from the Space News Agency via hyper-space video-phone" or a "report relayed from a Hyper-Space News Agency correspondent".
The first Dalek story from TV21 to be reprinted was not a Daleks story. The honour instead went to the untitled instalment of Cosmic Capers from the Summer Extra 1965 when a whole page of Capers was reproduced in TV21 Annual 1970. Although most were standalone, the Dalek-centric one lost much of its prior context as The Daleks had not featured in the magazine for over two years by the time of the Annual's release in 1969 and consequently the Daleks would not have made TV 21 front page news as they had in the narrative.
Duel of the Daleks was the first Daleks story to be reprinted, as Dalek Duel, in Doctor Who Holiday Special 1973. On this occasion, the "Stop Press" feature in the final panel of each part, which regularly tied into other news stories in the contemporaneous setting of TV Century 21, was also absent. Aside from a new title card and the one piece of opening narration, there was no new material. The lack of "Stop Press" panels was instead solved by rearranging the art so the full story ran to six full pages in length rather than the seven as in its original printing across seven parts.
Several instalments of The Daleks were reprinted in Terry Nation's Dalek Annual 1977 and Terry Nation's Dalek Annual 1978 where the "Stop Press" feature was again absent, this time replaced with new narration. This narration implicitly made the reprints concurrent with the other stories in the annuals which dealt with the ADF-Dalek War but, in any event, made them incompatible with their original timeline placement in the lead-up to the 2060s invasion. The reprint of The Menace of the Monstrons added multiple references to the Daleks' long conquest, including the fact the hoverbout had been used in successful campaigns for "more than three thousand years". This, clearly, made it impossible for the story to be set only a few years since the first part of Power Play.
In The Amazing World of Doctor Who, Eve of War was reprinted as A Fresh Start. It replaced the "Stop Press" features with new narration, but did not explicitly contradict The Daleks stories as they were printed in TV21. Indeed, its introduction referenced the invasion of the Monstrons in the previous story despite the book not reprinting The Menace of the Monstrons or containing any new story featuring them.
In 1980, Doctor Who Magazine reprinted the stories from Genesis of Evil to The Menace of the Monstrons as The Dalek Tapes. Not only did The Dalek Tapes lack the extra context afforded to the stories at the time of their first publications, it replaced it with an entirely new premise. According to the The Dalek Tapes, the Doctor discovered the titular tapes after landing in a "mouldering, ancient library on a twilight world", and the tapes themselves were narrated by an unidentified individual. This new context of decaying records and a potentially unreliable narrator cast doubt on the Dalek creation tale featuring the humanoid Daleks in the wake of the 1975 broadcast of Genesis of the Daleks, which contained an alternate account featuring Davros and the Kaleds that proved to be much more prevalent in the Doctor Who stories of the years to come.
After the conclusion of The Dalek Tapes, the reprinting of The Daleks soon resumed in DWM 53. In that and the following issue, Eve of War was published, unusually replacing the "Stop Press" feature with an extra title card. The Archives of Phryne was published in DWM 54 and DWM 55. While actually a partial reprint of The Quest from Terry Nation's Dalek Annual 1977 instead of TV Century 21 where the art originated, it lacked the new context given to its events in the Dalek annual by explicitly following on from Eve of War. This run of reprints ended with The Rogue Planet and Impasse in DWM 56 and from DWM 58 to DWM 68. They were also partially reprinted from a Dalek annual, this time Terry Nation's Dalek Annual 1978. The narration which replaced the "Stop Press" panel was retained but the narration replacing the title cards was rewritten because (newly-designed) title cards accompanied the stories to better suit their release on a weekly basis.
From DWM 180 in 1991 to DWM 193 in 1992, Doctor Who Magazine again printed the stories from Genesis of Evil to Duel of the Daleks. Unlike The Dalek Tapes, there was no new narration and the "Stop Press" feature was retained. The reprints were soon moved to Doctor Who Classic Comics where the stories from The Amaryll Challenge to The Archives of Phryne were printed from DWCC 1 to DWCC 6. The Rogue Planet was published in DWCC 8 and Impasse in DWCC 12, before the remaining stories from The Terrorkon Harvest to The Road to Conflict were published from DWCC 14 to DWCC 19.
The 1994 publication of The Dalek Chronicles reprinted all one-hundred-and-four instalments of The Daleks with their "Stop Press" panels untouched and was notably preceded by the new short story The Dalek Chronicles Found!. Written in the style of a TV21 cover story, it was set in 2094, exactly one hundred years into the future. The story did reference the in-universe TV Century 21 by stating the events of the titular Dalek Chronicles had originally been revealed there. However, it did not mention the Space News Agency or its Solturian counterpart, the organisations ultimately responsible for bringing these reports to TV21. Instead, The Dalek Chronicles Found! claimed that TV21s content had come from "alien story-cubes" first found in "the Sixties", translated and visualised by a team of people which included David Whitaker. This harkened back to a marketing effort employed in the 1960s, in which the earliest Dalek stories were portrayed as real tales from the future which had been found in small glass cubes by Terry Nation and subsequently translated by Nation and Whitaker. Several releases were advertised as being from these Dalek Chronicles and the tale behind Nation's discovery of the cubes was detailed in a short story by David Whitaker contained within the theatre programme for The Curse of the Daleks. This story made it clear everything involving the Daleks up to that point (beginning with 1963's The Daleks) was intended as part of the Chronicles. This would have presumably included TV21s Dalek yarns which had begun several months before the stage play; the explicit inclusion of the story-cubes in relation to The Daleks thus cannot be considered a retcon per se. When examining the available in-universe evidence, it is tempting to draw the conclusion that Spectrum obfuscated the information surrounding the Dalek invasion when they restricted access to it so well that the populace of 2094 believed the Daleks' exploits in TV21 to based upon the story-cubes discovered and translated decades before the events therein had actually occurred.
In 2013, Genesis of Evil and The Terrorkon Harvest were reprinted for the first issue of Doctor Who 50 Years with their "Stop Press" panels intact.
In an introductory article, the 2020 collection The Daleks acknowledged the events of Information Service by stating TV21 "blam[ed] the Daleks' absence on 'the breakdown of the hyper-space communications scanner which relayed information back to our Fleet Street Offices'". It did not, however, reference the 2060s invasion by also stating Information Services claim that the Daleks were responsible and had taken over its complete control.
==== Further references to The Daleks ====
As stated above, the 2060s invasion itself was almost never depicted in stories postdating the fall of TV21 in the early 1970s. However, passing allusions to events originally presented in-universe as explicitly leading up to the Daleks' attempted conquest of Earth were slightly more common, albeit not by much. Attempts to reconcile Genesis of Evil with Genesis of the Daleks were by far the most regular way such references materialised, with one account attributing the differences to fighting during the Last Great Time War. What effect this intervention had on the Daleks' first invasion of Earth and TV21s depiction of the wider world of the 2060s Solar Empire remains unclear.
The 2002 novel Dalek Survival Guide, which leaned heavily on past continuity to frame itself as an in-universe publication, analysed the provenance and overall accuracy of three creation stories, those from Genesis of Evil, Genesis of the Daleks, and We are the Daleks!. Notably, all three accounts were subject to accusations of incredibility in some areas, with questions being raised as to the feasibility of Nyder's and the wheelchair-bound Davros's trips across the wasteland between the Kaled and Thal Domes as well as pictographic evidence never showing more than three Daleks at a time when there were meant to be twenty in the case of Genesis of the Daleks, though it was this account which was ultimately deemed to be the most reliable. Of Genesis of Evil specifically, it stated "the narrative flavour of the Dalek Chronicles suggests folklore, legend or myth rather than factual, historical account" but acknowledged this "'myth'" could have been based on "hard facts", being especially critical of the characterisation of the "supposed genius scientist Yarvelling" who made the decision to "chance" a stroll on Skaro's radioactive surface.
The 2014 short story The Secret Lives of Monsters, published as part of a larger reference book, posited that the tale focusing on Yarvelling, along with the alternative Dalek origin from We are the Daleks!, were "myths and legends" containing "a grain of truth", the true Dalek creator being Davros.
The 2017 short story Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe, again a component of a reference work, saw historians determine that stories speaking of blue-skinned humanoid Daleks as the the forebears to the Daleks were "warped, mythologised accounts" which had arisen in the cultures of species the Daleks had conquered at one point or another. They granted, however, that for one moment at least, the Yarvelling story may have briefly "become" the true origin of the Daleks at one point during the Time War. The story also contained references to The Amaryll Challenge and The Archives of Phryne. On the Daleks' early space program as seen in the former, it stated that "few records existed [...] largely due to their later habit of rewriting history in their favour". Nevertheless, it described in detail the development of Proto 4 and Proto 9, with the caveat that it was possibly apocryphal. The attempted conquest and subsequent destruction of Alvega, also seen in The Amaryll Challenge, was covered with the understanding that "no one [knew] the first world to fall to the Daleks, although many believe[d] it to be Alvega". Phryne from The Archives of Phryne was briefly mentioned along with several other planets from spin-off media in a later section about the expanding Dalek Empire.
In the 2020 short story Doctor Who and the Time War, an account where the Eighth Doctor was the one to activate the Moment and end the War, Yarvelling's Church was mentioned.
=== Inextricable connections to the world of Gerry Anderson supermarionation ===
The 2060s Dalek invasion was also unprecedented in its volume of crossover involvement with stories, characters, and concepts from another franchises. TV Century 21 was written with the intent that all the stories and articles printed within described a single fictional future history of the solar system, with a couple of series set in the present day only accessible via the use of a time machine. Although the most noteworthy aspect of this premise was the explicit reveal of a shared universe in the Gerry Anderson-produced supermarionation series (which was only prominently advertised on television through the appearance of Zero X in Thunderbirds and later in Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons), The Daleks was no exception to this rule: it was made clear that events pertaining to the Dalek invasion of Earth were occurring concurrently with Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, and Captain Scarlet comic stories.
The most regular format for these crossovers were the cover stories, framed as the front page of an in-universe periodical which detailed the contents of the issue as news stories. The Daleks shared the headlines with stories relating to Fireball XL5 and Stingray both on ten occasions each and with Thunderbirds six times. Although there was little interaction between the stories, the relationship between the series was not understated: Tempest Awarded V.M., for example, featured an image of a Dalek alongside a large colour photograph of Captain Troy Tempest of Stingray. The "Stop Press" panel at the conclusion of each part of The Daleks also provided crossovers between the Doctor Who universe and the supermarionation universe on an almost-weekly basis for both years that the strip featured in the magazine. Although the single panel sometimes hosted appearances from regular characters such as Penelope Creighton-Ward of Thunderbirds, Commander Zero of Fireball XL5, and Phones Sheridan of Stingray, they were often more peripherally centred. For example, despite the mention of the Canadian Forest Fire Patrol in The Archives of Phryne, the organisation was not seen or heard from in the corresponding Thunderbirds story Blazing Danger.
The crossovers between the two franchises reached unprecedented levels with the broadcast of The Man from MI.5 on 20 January 1966. In the opening scenes, Carl, the lead antagonist of the episode, boards the boat of British Secret Service agent Captain Blacker. After killing him, Carl rifles through multiple desk drawers before locating the blueprints of a nuclear weapon and exploding the ship. Among the various documents in the drawers were several issues of the in-universe TV 21 publication. Viewers were afforded a brief glimpse of the back page of TV21 32, which hosted the final instalment of The Penta Ray Factor, framed as a report from the Solturian News Agency. The report's presence was narratively significant for indicating that other security organisations on Earth (in addition to the Universal Secret Service) were taking an interest in the Daleks' conquest inching ever closer to the solar system. From a real world perspective, The Man from MI.5 marked the first televised crossover between Doctor Who and another franchise and the first time the Daleks made a televised appearance outside of their parent show, ironically on the BBC's main competitor ITV. Constituting only the seventh ever Dalek story on television, The Man from MI.5 was also notable for being the televised debut of the Dalek Emperor, predating his Who debut in The Evil of the Daleks by over a year.
The most explicit narrative crossover between a Who and Anderson property in the magazine came in TV21 28 with the release of the short story Lady Penelope Investigates the stars of the Sensational new film Dr. Who and the Daleks!. As the Lady Penelope Investigates mini-series usually featured interviews with fictionalised versions of celebrities, as the title implied, one might expect a non-fictional look into the making of Dr. Who and the Daleks, but this was not the case. The cover story Peaceful Thals Ambushed! made it clear the film was based on a real-life event, and the seriousness of the Dalek threat should it reach Earth was extremely evident. Parker, another mainstay of Thunderbirds, was terrified by Lady Penelope's suggestion that they would be having lunch "with the Daleks", and Roberta Tovey and Roy Castle both testified as to their fear of the Daleks, the latter openly admitting he was more scared than when he worked on horror films. Lady Penelope and Parker were shown to actually observe the Daleks in the flesh when they "investigated" a group of them "from a distance" during an in-universe letter dated to 22 June 1965 but not released to the general public until 2017 as part of an online post entitled Letters from the Past.
There were also multiple instances of events happening in Anderson-based strips implicitly influencing humanity's response to the Dalek invasion. In the cover story Help Plea from Planet, after a meeting of the World Security Council, informed sources stated that no help would be sent to Oric should the Daleks invade despite the desperate pleas of the Oric leader. This decision was influenced by the Stingray story Arctic Weather Menace which both the preceding and succeeding DWU cover stories, World Weather Chaos! and World Emergency, tied in to. Those stories stated that mass flooding had caused riots and the displacement of millions of refugees, resulting in the declaration of martial law in the northern hemisphere with the World President Nikita Bandranaik himself also heavily involved. These turns of events no doubt impacted the World Government's ability to send troops to Oric, as they were needed on home soil.
In a broader sense, it could be said that Colonel White and the Spectrum organisation from the Anderson-produced Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons was responsible for another influential event. In preparation for the start of Captain Scarlet comic stories in conjunction with the start of the series on television, the cover story SPECTRUM is Green was published on 23 September 1967. It revealed that the newly-formed organisation would take over all commitments of the USS on Earth, the real world reason for this being the replacement of Contact 21 as the readers' interactive section of the magazine with Spectrum Shades. The new feature functioned in largely the same way, with a final Dalek-centric story coming in 1968 with Daleks on the Move?. This story was arguably the most connected the Doctor Who universe had ever been to any of Anderson's series as it promised direct interaction between the Daleks and Spectrum. Despite this, Sprectrum was mostly concerned with the ongoing Mysteron War, which, after the first episode of the series, titled The Mysterons, became the programme's focus for the rest of its duration. Indeed, a critical plot point in Traitor Black Gives In! is that Spectrum is disbanded after the Mysterons are seemingly defeated. The Daleks' last appearances in the original run of TV21 was a trio of stories in which the in-universe version of the magazine looked back on some of its front pages from 2065, including the one which covered the emergence of the Dalek War Machines in Genesis of Evil. They were referenced again in a special one-off edition of the magazine published in 2014, in the short story Shades Calling Cloudbase.... In it, Spectrum Shade Martin Cater has produced a facsimile of the second edition of the magazine, the same one dealing with the rise of the Daleks, and sends it to Cloudbase for review, asking if the real thing and other back issues are available. Colonel White tells him they are not, "for security reasons". His precise reasoning is never explained but in the cover story Stingray Strikes Back! we learn the Mysteron War has just begun anew, resulting in White asking all Spectrum agents for help in the fight. The out-of-universe reason for the security blackout is obvious: Network Distributing no longer has the rights to reprint the issues from the 1960s. In-universe, however, it provides a plausible explanation as to why the Daleks were so hastily forgotten after their high-profile attempted invasion, becoming merely legends by 2136 as stated in The Murder Game. The impact on this on Doctor Who canon can be taken to its logical conclusion: if the Daleks were not forgotten, humanity would have been able to better resist or completely repel the 22nd century Dalek invasion as seen in the First Doctor story The Dalek Invasion of Earth. As well as the substantial difference to Earth history this would have affected, it would also have meant that Susan Foreman would not have left the TARDIS team to wed David Campbell at this juncture.
== Footnotes ==
Category:Conflicts
Category:21st century Earth-based conflicts
Category:Dalek conflicts
Category:Human conflicts