The Dalek race have been an enemy of The Doctor for decades, but the splicing between Human and Dalek in Season 3 of Doctor Who (2007) suggests that the Daleks can not only evolve, but have the capacity to have the thought in the first place.
Dalek Sec / Picture Credit: BBC One
What are Daleks, and who is Dalek Sec?
The Daleks are a race created by Davros many seasons ago, and are essentially born to hate. They aim to kill anything that is not itself a Dalek.
Davros was a Kaled scientist on his home planet Skaro, where the Kaleds were at war with the Thal. Mutated radiation caught up with the Kaleds and thus changed them – Davros mutated the Kaleds even further and put them in his ‘Mark III travel device.'
He renamed his creation the Daleks, an anagram of Kaled, and the rest is, quite literally, history.
Leader of The Cult of Skaro, four Daleks who had won big battles and were assembled into a team by the Emporer Dalek, Dalek Sec begins to do what no Dalek should ever do of his own volition – he thinks.
Dalek Sec believes that, since there are only four Daleks left after the Season 2 finale (in which all but these four Daleks are pulled into the void), the Dalek race need to evolve in order to survive.
Essentially, Dalek Sec dared to dream. And when you’re a Dalek, dreaming is as dangerous as pouring water into hot oil.
The evolution of Dalek Sec’s plans
The evolved Dalek Sec is a brilliant addition to the Doctor Who story. Their idea to evolve takes a turn once he himself becomes more human.
His plan, while still in Dalek form, is to steal people from 1930s Manhattan (which is where the cult ended up after escaping from The Doctor last time), and ‘empty them out’ to then put Dalek ideologies and principles into the empty human shells.
But, once Dalek Sec undergoes the evolution he speaks of, his plans very much change as he becomes less Dalek, and more human.
Once he becomes the grotesque version of Dalek he desires, he then believes that for the Dalek race to survive, the humans he has captured must still have human DNA, as opposed to simply being Daleks in human shells.
The Dalek Hero
Dalek Sec evolves not only into a forward-thinking and considerate being, but he also evolves into a hero.
When the rest of the Cult (Dalek Caan, Jast and Thay) have had enough with what they think are ludicrous and ridiculous plans, they chain Dalek Sec up and begin their onslaught on all the humans they stole, and on The Doctor.
Dalek Sec saves The Doctor’s life. Yes you read that right! When a member of the Cult fires on The Doctor, Dalek Sec jumps in the way – a true testament to how human he has become.
Why does this make Dalek Sec a good character?
Not only is Dalek Sec something we’ve never seen before in the sense that he is a human with one Dalek eye, and tentacles on his face (stay with me), but also in the sense that, as The Doctor (David Tennant) states, he is the only creature that could have lead the Daleks “out of the darkness.”
Dalek Sec is a fantastic character, as in a rather short space of time we see him go from a hatred-filled shell, to a ‘man’ who wants the best for not only his own race, but the human race too.
His compassion once becoming human is so wholly evident and the whole situation is completely new, as Dalek Sec begs for The Doctor’s help in creating this optimistic hybrid of Dalek and Human – and The Doctor agrees!
Dalek Sec is a truly interesting character due to his new way of thinking, the design of Dalek Sec himself, and the fact that Dalek Sec and The Doctor work together to save what could have been the way forward for the Daleks; out of hatred and anger.
For a Dalek to be shown in a more compassionate light is one thing, but for a Dalek to change its very being and have not only an idea, but a whole plan in place to change the very fundamentals of its existence is quite extraordinary.
This character shows the majesty of Doctor Who as a show, that’s why his character is so bafflingly brilliant. For a show that is celebrating its 57th anniversary to still be surprising viewers is phenomenal, and Dalek Sec is one of those many outlandish yet wonderful creations in the midst of a brilliant storyline that shows Doctor Who to simply by phenomenal.
Written by Melissa, who you can follow on Twitter @melissajournal
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