Jamie gives us his thoughts on the Paradigm Daleks…

Back in 2010, the Doctor Who fan base erupted when the first pictures of the newly-designed Daleks were revealed. Mostly the opinions was negative (mainly due to the colour) but were they really that bad? And could the problems that they did have be solved now?

First, let’s go through the three main problems that people had with them:

• They did nothing threatening or memorable or scary in their first appearance
• They looked fat and wooden
• They looked like Power Rangers thanks to their multi-colour scheme

The first issue is absolutely correct; they were not very effective in their first appearance, Victory of the Daleks (2010), mainly because they only killed five people. In the other episode in the revived series which included a redesign, Dalek in 2005, the lone Dalek in that episode killed, err, 200. Awkward. Despite this, they did have a half-decent plan, but overall they were unbelievably underused in this episode. However, this is not a reason to hate them – this is a result of so many brilliant things to tell and so little time. It should have been a two – parter, with Part one focussing on the Ironsides and Part two focussing on the Paradigms.

The second issue, again, is right. The actual Dalek prop is made from wood, and this design displays this perfectly. Although they are a lot taller and more physically imposing than the 2005 models, all the bolts and anything that makes it look mechanical has been thrown in the bin. Also, the design is a lot fatter. Consequently, the Paradigm Daleks look horribly fake. And don’t get me started on that hideous zipper at the back. I don’t care whether there is a rumoured weapon in there, it still looks terrible.

This is by far the biggest issue, but I think it can be solved. Did the Daleks really need a redesign? They still looked fine and no-one was crying for them to be changed. I know it was a new era for the show, but you don’t need to change everything. I can somewhat understand why they wanted to change the Daleks, but couldn’t they just improve on the 2005 versions? Possibly making them bigger and giving them individual roles?

Thirdly, we have the multi-colour scheme which unfortunately has led them to be called the Power Rangers and Jelly Babies amongst others. I agree with this argument because the Daleks are meant to be war machines, so why would they bother with bright colours? The only thing good about this colour co-ordination is that it gave each colour Dalek a role, including Scientist. As I was thinking about this last night, I came up with an idea. The only bright colour I like on a Dalek are Red. Other than that, they are much better in dark colours. Then I had an idea; give the 2005 Dalek designs roles and put them in dark colours.

Role                                         Colour of Paradigm         My colour

Supreme                                  White                                           Red with gold (e.g. Supreme Dalek in Journey’s End)

Eternal Dalek                         Yellow                                         Bronze (e.g. 2005 colour of Dalek)

Drone Dalek                           Red                                                Silver

Strategist Dalek                    Orange                                         Dark Green (e.g. Ironsides)

Scientist Dalek                      Blue                                               Black (e.g. Dalek Sec)

In addition, unlike the Paradigm designs, I’ve put some thoughts into the colours; for example, the Eternal Dalek is Bronze because there are a lot of Bronze Daleks who survive big disasters and remain eternal. The Eternal Daleks are charged with keeping the Daleks alive. I have also thought of these reasons for the Supreme, Strategist and Scientist. As for the Drone, I made them Silver because it is quite a simple colour which would make them easier to send out in big amounts. All of the Daleks are the same as the 2005 design.

To conclude, the Paradigm Daleks do have problems, but most of them can be solved. If you’re watching Steven Moffat, use my ideas because they are so many stories to do with the individual roles.