History Trivia / DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks

----

--->I never felt that we got the Dalek episode right the first time round, and I don't think we got the Daleks right.

--->When I saw the [New Dalek Paradigm] designs, I loved them in every respect apart from the hump. I said, "I think the hump is dodgy", because whatever has happened to the Daleks over the years, the fundamental pepper pot design has not been altered. It works. It's a design classic. What we've got now is...I think it's pushed just a little too far. They look fat. From the side, it looks as if they're slouching. Maybe if the head were bigger, to be more in scale? I think it's sad that the Daleks' new look has been the disproportionate focus of ire, because I love everything else about them. If it weren't for that hump, they'd be exactly what I wanted.

** The episode was intended to be the first of several to prominently feature the New Paradigm Daleks, with future episodes planned to focus on the workings of their caste system and presumably the details of what each one was designed for. However, following the disastrous reception to the New Paradigm Daleks' design, these plans were scrapped and the RTD-era Dalek design was brought back for [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E1AsylumOfTheDaleks their next major outing]] (a New Paradigm Dalek appears in "The Big Bang", and another one fleetingly in "The Wedding of River Song"), with the New Paradigm Daleks restricted to cameos, and eventually being jettisoned altogether after Creator/MattSmith left the series.
** Creator/MarkGatiss originally wanted there to be a green Dalek, but he decided that green "just doesn't seem to work somehow". A black Dalek, commonly used for top-ranking Daleks since the '60s, was also rejected.

* DeletedScene: A scene cut from the episode explained how the Doctor and Churchill had known each other for a while.
* InspirationForTheWork: Creator/StevenMoffat inspired by a visit he made with his sons, Joshua and Louis, to the Cabinet War Rooms which had been Churchill's base of operations during World War II and were now a museum. For added variety, he decided that Churchill and the Doctor should already be old friends.
* OldShame: The unfortunate fate of the Dalek redesigns because nobody would take them seriously. They had a lot of cool prospects, too, each being themed after a specific important function, like preservation of the Dalek race (Eternal), basic combat (Drone), technology (Scientist) game-planning (Strategist), and leadership (Supreme).

--->When I saw the designs, I loved them in every respect apart from the hump. I said, "I think the hump is dodgy", because whatever has happened to the Daleks over the years, the fundamental pepper pot design has not been altered. It works. It's a design classic. What we've got now is...I think it's pushed just a little too far. They look fat. From the side, it looks as if they're slouching. Maybe if the head were bigger, to be more in scale? I think it's sad that the Daleks' new look has been the disproportionate focus of ire, because I love everything else about them. If it weren't for that hump, they'd be exactly what I wanted.

** Creator/MarkGatiss originally wanted there to be a green Dalek, but he decided that green "just doesn't seem to work somehow". A black Dalek was also rejected.

* RecycledScript: Creator/MarkGatiss borrowed big chunks of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E3ThePowerOfTheDaleks The Power of the Daleks]]", but with more of a knowing, InternalHomage/WholePlotReference approach. The stuff that's borrowed — Daleks feigning servitude to humans, the Doctor protesting that they're pure evil and no-one believing him, a quirky scientist who discovered them promoting them to the leader of his people as a new development that can solve all of their problems, the Daleks doing it all as a plan to grow their ranks — is all aesthetic stuff, and the actual plot machinery itself is fairly different. For example, "Power" takes place on a human colony on another planet, "Victory" is set in WWII London.

** The episode was intended to be the first of several to prominently feature the New Paradigm Daleks, with future episodes planned to focus on the workings of their caste system and presumably the details of what each one was designed for. However, following the disastrous reception to the New Paradigm Daleks' design, these plans were scrapped and the RTD-era Dalek design was brought back for [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E1AsylumOfTheDaleks their next outing]], with the New Paradigm Daleks restricted to cameos, and eventually being jettisoned altogether after Creator/MattSmith left the series.

** The episode was intended to be the first of several to prominently feature the New Paradigm Daleks, with future episodes planned to focus on the workings of their caste system and presumably the details of what each one was designed for. However, following the disastrous reception to the New Paradigm Daleks' design, these plans were scrapped and the classic Dalek design was brought back for [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E1AsylumOfTheDaleks their next outing]], with the New Paradigm Daleks restricted to cameos, and eventually being jettisoned altogether after Creator/MattSmith left the series.

** Creator/MattSmith told Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine:
-->I never felt that we got the Dalek episode right the first time round, and I don't think we got the Daleks right.

-->When I saw the designs, I loved them in every respect apart from the hump. I said, "I think the hump is dodgy", because whatever has happened to the Daleks over the years, the fundamental pepper pot design has not been altered. It works. It's a design classic. What we've got now is...I think it's pushed just a little too far. They look fat. From the side, it looks as if they're slouching. Maybe if the head were bigger, to be more in scale? I think it's sad that the Daleks' new look has been the disproportionate focus of ire, because I love everything else about them. If it weren't for that hump, they'd be exactly what I wanted.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: A major reason for the attempted new Dalek design beyond story purpose is that Karen Gillan is a good deal taller than Billie Piper, who the Time War Daleks were designed to work with, and it would be hard to keep her towering over them from looking silly.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: One reason for the Dalek redesign was that the RTD Dalek props were built with Creator/BilliePiper's height in mind, so the new Daleks were built to match Creator/MattSmith's height. Creator/KarenGillan even says in the Confidential episode that they're taller than her.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The episode was intended to be the first of several to prominently feature the New Paradigm Daleks, with future episodes planned to focus on the workings of their caste system and presumably the details of what each one was designed for. However, following the disastrous reception to the New Paradigm Daleks' design, these plans were scrapped and the classic Dalek design was brought back for [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E1AsylumOfTheDaleks their next outing]], with the New Paradigm Daleks restricted to cameos, and eventually being jettisoned altogether after Creator/MattSmith left the series.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The episode was intended to be the first of several to prominently feature the New Paradigm Daleks, with future episodes planned to focus on the workings of their caste system and presumably the details of what each one was designed for. However, following the disastrous reception to the New Paradigm Daleks' design, these plans were scrapped and the classic Dalek design was brought back for [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E1AsylumOfTheDaleks their next outing]], with the New Paradigm Daleks restricted to cameos.

* RealitySubtext: The new Daleks exterminating the last three RTD Daleks in existence. Old props out, new props in. (Or at least, that's what was ''intended'' to happen...)

* RealitySubtext: The new Daleks exterminating the last three RTD Daleks in existence. Old props out, new props in.

'''WARNING! THERE MAY BE UNMARKED SPOILERS!'''

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: One reason for the Dalek redesign was that the RTD Dalek props were built with Music/BilliePiper's height in mind, so the new Daleks were built to match Creator/MattSmith's height. Creator/KarenGillan even says in the Confidential episode that they're taller than her.

* RealitySubtext: The new Daleks exterminating the last three RTD Daleks in existence. Old props out, new props in.