MK3 MOVIE DALEK

The Mark 3 Movie Dalek made its big screen appearance on the second Doctor Who movie “Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.”in 1966. Here the Doctor and companions travel to Earth and the year 2150 to witness a world in ruins and controlled by Daleks. England looks like a combination of scenarios plucked from the pages of World War 2. A blitzed London, resistance fighters armed with Stens and totalitarian regime which indulges in slave labour.

The Dalek scheme was to drop a bomb down a mineshaft to destroy the Earth’s core, replacing it with a device that would enable them to pilot the planet like a giant spacecraft. This mining operation was carried out in Bedfordshire and in command here was a black Mk3 Movie Dalek which I built the 1/8 Comet Miniatures kit of.

The most interesting scene in the movie is when the Doctor is betrayed by the black marketeer Brockley to the Daleks. As they emerge from the shed, located at some back lot at Shepparton Studios, one can clearly see a set of engine cowlings that would have housed Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engines that would have once powered the Vickers Vimy.

Terry Nation, creator of the Daleks, described them as “hideous, machine-like creatures. They are legless, moving on a round base. A lens on a flexible shaft acts as an eye. Arms with mechanical grips for hands.” Raymond Cusick of the BBC Design Department had the task of bringing this description to the reality of the television screen and from what we’ve seen he has done a remarkable job.