TV#13 : "Resurrection of the Daleks"

Transmitted:

8/2/84 - 15/2/84

Props used:
 

4

Operators:

John Scott Martin

Cy Town

Tony Starr

Toby Byrne
 

Voices:

Royce Mills

Brian Miller

(Component parts may be mixed - References to film Daleks means film 'style')

The Daleks exploded back onto our screens, four years after their last major appearance, in 'Resurrection of the Daleks!' The props themselves looked like they had been made up from an explosion of parts themselves!

Again Davros appeared and it seemed that much more time was spent on his appearance than his creations. He was given a new mask and a very well refurbished chair which included a completely new top section with new switches and lights.

Four props covered the Dalek work. The first consisted of the film skirt and original shoulders, still sporting the reduced number of slats as first seen a year previously in 'The Five Doctors'. The second was the refurbished original shoulders (with four bolts around the oval) with the oddball skirt first seen in 'Destiny'. The third had the 'Invasion' skirt with an NSC top half, whilst the fourth was NSC skirt and film shoulders. The necks consisted of 3 NSC and one original, with the domes following the same pattern. As with previous stories it seems that the necks and domes were the most likely components to be changed around during filming. Again the necks were seen at various heights. The eyestalks were painted white whilst the eyerings had a new layout.

This picture (left), taken from the 20th anniversary Radio Times, shows what appears to be our fourth Dalek (from descriptions above) being prepared. Although here it still sports the dome that another prop had had previously in 'The Five Doctors'.

The four props (now all painted back in the gun metal grey with black trimmings) were rarely used all together, with 'the oddball' dalek generally being left out or kept to the rear. Clever editing made it appear as if there were more props. For the second recording block 'the odd ball' was repainted in black and white for the appearances as the Dalek supreme.

For location work a couple of props were taken for promotional purposes, although they were not used in the location filming (one SFX prop did appear). One was made up from the 'Invasion' skirt with NSC shoulders, the other was 'the odd ball'. Looking carefully the blue of its previous livery can be seen on the front of the skirt (inset right).  Both of these had orange or red dome lights (one had one of each!) that were replaced with white lights for studio filming.

A couple of the props had their domes modified to allow them to tip forward, and extensive use was made of lightweight props for destroying or destroyed Daleks.

Around the same time Blue Peter (as they had many times before) featured the four props in a promotional item. 


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TextŠ Jon Green & The Mind Robber, 2007