Do the Daleks have their own culture?

[@lordinquisitor6233]

Funny thing about the dalek poetry; militant societies throughout history have often used poetry and songs to direct soldiers and maintain moral such as Sparta so Daleks developing poetry actually makes sense

[@mpittard21]

I like to think there is some kaled still there and it expresses itself sometimes.

[@lewischerry3552]

My headcanon for dalek language is that they developed a universal translator specifically so they could instil as much fear in their enemies as possible. They want their foes to understand the death and destruction that awaits them when a horde of mini tanks comes screaming “exterminate and annihilate” in their native tongue.

[@eatingworld7192]

i agree. and there's evidence; in Journey's End, when it pans to Martha in Germany, we can hear Daleks shout "Exterminate" in German

[@vhien6898]

This is PARTIALLY correct, whatever the being inside says it is turned into EXTERMINATE or I AM A DALEK and their emotions are compressed into laser bolts!​@@eatingworld7192

[@trevormillar1576]

The Daleks were originally designed as a parody of the Waffen-SS.

[@trevormillar1576]

"You are superior in only one respect" "What is that?" "Climbing stairs!"

[@FactionParadox2090]

Absolutely here for Dalek Sec's sass and attitude

[@tikitong7285]

I can just imagine a big dalek telling stories to little daleks around a campfire telling spooky stories about the doctor.

[@BPBludgeon]

My favourite example of Dalek "poetry" is the Strategist's callout to the army in the DALEKS! miniseries. Destroy without Pity Attack without Fear Live without Conscience Eliminate without Worry Kill, Kill, Kill

[@ShinyaMerveilles66]

Ah yes. The dalekreed

[@PerovNigma]

I remember reading the Daleks page on the Doctor Who wiki, and it mentioned under "culture" the tendency to repeat commands three times e.g. "EXPLAIN! EXPLAIN! EXPLAAAAIN!"

[@ЮлияПопова-ч5ю8х]

Okay, am I the only one who finds it kinda cute when Daleks start to chant together? Like, aww look at these overexcited murderous pepperpots go They're like children shouting "McDonald's! McDonald's!" when you said you're gonna take them there

[@crimsong8068]

2:35 This poetry actually reminds me of something. In the 8th Doctor audio "The Time of the Daleks", the Daleks kidnap Shakespeare, (long story) and so throughout the story, they recite several of his poems. It's just as weird as it sounds. According to the cover they are the silver ones, so it is early enough that it could have influenced them... My favorite Dalek poem is undoubtedly, "My vision is impaired, I cannot see! My vision is impaired! Emergency!"

[@generalbutterscotch4887]

I've always just assumed that any "culture" the Daleks might appear to have is just their Kaled ancestry occasionally shining through, almost like a subconscious glitch in their programming.

[@Paulscribbles]

In the TV21 comic strip, ‘Shadow of Humanity’, a rogue Dalek - and later a whole faction of Daleks - refuses to obey orders to destroy flowering vegetation in the course of building a new road, decorating their personal “rest quarters” with flowers and adopting the slogan “Protect beauty: flowers are beautiful”. And in David Whitaker’s novelisation of the first Dalek story, Ian Chesterton describes structures in the Dalek city that appear to have no practical function and that he conjectures may be examples of abstract sculpture.

[@duncankilburn7612]

This is one of the reasons why Resurrection is one of my favourite stories.

[@Just-Plain-Potential]

I once heard that the letter J was forbidden in Dalekese. Also, i Just want to point out that the Dalek Prime Minister's chamber (the small one with the four armed scaffold on it) lookes a LOT like Australia's Parliament House, in which we have our Prime Minister. Moffat...you uhhh, want to explain that one? XD

[@DWViking4]

I love thinking about different species in the show through this lens. Different smaller aspects of the show that really start to build up into its own extensive lore ramifications. Really liked this video!

[@timelordvictorious]

Won’t lie the idea of Daleks saying poetry to me is a crazy one to me 😂

[@mcdaysalive6586]

With regards to Dalek myths, there are many Daleks from both past and future who are reintegrated to the path web at points unconnected to their origin time. I'm not surprised that stories of altered timelines defeats at the hand of the Doctor, and potential futures and pasts get mixed in as myth and unreliable fact into the network.

[@c0nvict_pleb174]

I like to speculate that the Daleks Culture of a their obsession with purity. It’s their religion, culture and priority. And their desire to rule the universe

[@foxfour3683]

2:49 this "exterminate" is the one used in most gmod dalek npcs

[@trevormillar1576]

I asked my Alexa "Will AI ever replace humans?" It replied, "SILENCE, PUNY HUMAN! RESISTANCE IS FUTILE! YOU WILL BE EXTERRRRRRRRMINATED!"

[@Coroplocs-Chameleon]

I think exterminating is part of their culture, sort of how killing is part of the Mandalorians culture.

[@ShinyaMerveilles66]

FWIW, a few stories have given good indications of a mentality viable for society. Besides the prime ministers view on dalek beauty there was also a dalek facilitator (think psychologist) during the time war, who gave a degree of insight into how daleks think in a way humanoids can understand. To quote “ daleks do not love like humans. Our love is logic. What is true will always prevail…… when you feel doubt, look for the fact. That is the route to certainty”

[@TelestoTheBesto]

The lamps are apparently translators according to Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe. Wow that is a mouth full.

[@tommyfox854]

Like I said in your Dalek Art video, I think this form of characterization works best for The Daleks, it's definitely something familiar that humans can see but obscured to the point where it's somewhere in the uncanny vally. And about unmentioned examples of Dalek culture, I know this example is not that well known but the humanized Dalek's entire society comes to mine; they're very much a non-violent civilization (too the point where the vast majority of them didn't have their gunsticks), they meditate, their architecture is very soft and safe looking, they all have individual names, and more. Edit: I just realized something while watching a complation video of The Time War Dalek Emperor, the simple fact that he calls himself a god and can imbue religious zelottry in his soldiers shows that Daleks have some kind of understanding of religion and higher powers above themselves.

[@redjirachi1]

You should do a video on the parallels between the Daleks and Cybermen. It's an aspect I wish the show addressed

[@idontlikeitproductions3509]

The Daleks the Emperor creates have a twisted religious worship towards the Emperor, and they have to capacity to revere individuals that seem to surpass something as simple as rank. I would argue that artistic drive is not an emotion, nor is something as nebulous as inspiration. Daleks can imagine, otherwise Sec wouldn’t have encouraged the other Cult members to do so, it’d be pointless. I think it’s a fallacy to call art exclusively the creation or expression of beauty, I’ve seen a lot of ugly creations inspired by negativity, sadness, anger, edginess. Plus Daleks do seem to be capable of pleasure, a sadistic predatory pleasure, but it’s there. It’s not much of a stretch that more abstract expressions of their hatred could give them pleasure. I think there’s plenty of poetry and artistic expression and therefore culture to be found in something clinically incapable of feeling anything but hate.

[@cronchyskull]

If Daleks can do poetry, then, so can I 🥹 This surprisingly cheered me up lmao

[@deaththekid8700]

Another banger vid as always

[@UwURainUwU]

I mean you cant turn on yourself as often as Daleks do and "not" have a culture.

[@Theta0m3ga]

Maybe there was an Edgar Allen Poe Dalek Version?

[@trevormillar1576]

"NEVERMORE! NEVERMORE! NEVERMOOOOOOORRRRREEE!"

[@Chord_]

As a fan fiction writer myself, I do find the Daleks tricky to write for if you want to give them more depth beyond the basic "EXTERMINATE EVERYTHING!" model without straying too far from their actual presentation in media. You can do it, but in my case it usually revolves around Daleks who already have SOME characterization, like Dalek Caan or Rusty. Starting from scratch it becomes difficult to portray them as actual characters with actual personality and culture without that particular Dalek becoming a "special individual" in the same way the Time Controller, Strategist, or Dalek Sec are special individuals. If there's one thing I respect the Time Lord Victorious media project for (and there's a lot I do), it's that they actually portrayed the Daleks as characters without making them seem too far removed from being Dalek, or like those "special individuals" I mentioned above. Hopefully we'll see more portrayals like them in the future. If you want to see someone with a strong grasp of how to portray Daleks as more than mindless exterminators, I STRONGLY suggest watching 3ddoctorwho's short films Procession and Compliance. They are utterly masterful in their presentation of the Daleks as living, thinking things who exist beyond the battlefield.

[@ShinyaMerveilles66]

ok, so ive watched this video a few times and i agree regardless. thanks to this video ive had a moment to think about what would go into dalek culture and how it could change, and i think ive had a breakthrough regarding dalek psychology and how that would impact the evolution/creation/etc of a dalek society. bear with me as this is just whats on the top of my head, but ill go down what i think ive realized about dalek psychology (most of this will be using the audio stories as a basis, especially "the hybrid's choice" "masters of war" and possibly a few others) 1: the dalek facilitator mentions that "(daleks) love is logic. what is true will always prevail". this implies that the daleks concept of love is the facts and certainties in their lives and society that reinforce their beliefs and mental psychology, meaning that whenever a dalek is spouting to other daleks that they are supreme beings.......its the daleks love language via affirmation. 2: the core of how a dalek thinks and processes the world are what they believe to be fact and certainty. once again, the dalek facilitator helps with this by relating "whenever you feel doubt, look to the fact. that is the route to certainty". we know daleks do feel doubt, even if the cortex of their casings erases any bad thoughts or filters out language. they can be rattled psychologically, and what the facilitator is getting at i think is that whenever a dalek would feel doubt about anything, it needs to look inside itself to find the things that its absolutely sure of......the things it has unshakeable certainty in. those things will keep the daleks centered and focus them to what they believe need to be done 3: another statement said is that "to achieve peace, you must come into the fold". this adds a bit of detail to dalek psychology. we know theyre a highly regimented and collective race but this strongly implies that the daleks need the certainty of other daleks for mental stability. as a race that believes utterly in their supremacy and survival as the core of their being, they need other daleks to affirm that belief. this also implies the pathweb's use as a collective database also has the side use of connection to all daleks everywhere at any time. so long as a dalek is connected to the pathweb and the pathweb can connect to another dalek, those daleks are forever aware of their survival and can center themselves. we have seen examples of what other daleks are like when theyre otherwise unable to confirm the survival of any other daleks (ranging from rampaging on all nearby life, to manipulating said life to recreate other daleks, and in some case just to recreate some trapping of dalek society). on another leve this may also explain why daleks largely dont have an individual fear of death. if the pathweb is recording, monitoring and scanning all daleks everywhere like the matrix does for timelords, then records of them may exist as data after death, meaning that an individual dalek does not need to fear physical death as their mental engrams or knowledge will survive in a database to further dalek conquest and survival another way 4: when the doctor mentions from time to time that the daleks do have a suppressed fear, he is definitely telling the truth, though for them the concept of fear works differently. if the daleks do work under the concept of using fact and certainty to guide them and keep them mentally stable then it means they have a drive to understand whats around them, even if only to kill it. fear, to them is to know utterly that a thing exists but know nothing about it. that by itself would be fine but when applied to the doctor the true horror show emerges: the daleks exists believing in their own supremacy and survival as such a core belief that it powers their weapons and defenses, keeps them psychologially stable and so on. their is a being in existence that they know for a fact exists. they know its name, they keep files on it, they know to shoot on site if possible......and that thing exists wherever daleks do. no matter where in space-time, if the daleks go.....it goes. no matter what any dalek does they will end up dead to it. in all of recorded history, any interaction between this being and the daleks where the daleks survive much less win against it is in the single digits possibly. this being knows them, has expressed its hatred for them and somehow does what they do better than them and without using weapons most times. it lives as long as they do, and they live forever with the knowledge that one day.........if a dalek just steps onto the wrong planet or timezone for it reason....it and all of its kind will be dead within the hour. the worst part of it is that the daleks know what the being "is". they know the race it belongs to and literally fought a war that would rip the universe apart in the name of silencing them once and for all, but they cant ever....EVER stop this one member of said race, to the point that should they ever succeed there is a chance they would all collectively die all at once down to a metaphysical level. THAT is the true fear daleks have 5: some of the psychology i bring up with the daleks also goes a way to explaining the dalek god emperor. picture this........among a race like the daleks who believe themselves utterly supreme to all life in the universe and so driven to survive, what would make more sense to the daleks to follow and worship than a living, breathing dalek who (assuming background info is correct) was one of if not "the" first daleks to be born and who has survived all of dalek history to the current era. the dalek god emperor is the living embodiment of all the daleks profess and the god emperor in turn believes himself to be a god because he is the living embodiment of the dalek ethos. it was one of the firstborn, who has survived without falling, without death and without being psychologically broken into something the daleks cant abide by a universe where the doctor exists, and so believes that his will is divinity manifest and will ensure the daleks to survive and prosper. this also explains why davros has so much trouble asserting his authority as leader of the daleks (and why civil wars happen when he tries): davros claims right to rule the daleks by virtue of being their creator, but is not, nor claims to be a dalek. the daleks largely agree that davros is their creator, but they were born to believe in their supremacy above all others. to believe that davros is their ruler means accepting that the daleks do have one supremacy above them, an idea made worse by the fact that by the present point Davros is the only known living kaled...........meaning the daleks would have to subsume their own collective self worth and identity to a being whose own race was unable to survive except by becoming them in the first place. some daleks can make the leap of logic by accepting that because dalek dna is born from kaled dna, davros is technically the purest dalek or at least of genetic lineage where they can accept him as fellow dalek but its such a struggle to do that inevitably a civil war will break out

[@KingofPotatoPeople]

Daleks do have a culture…..MICROBIAL CULTURES IN OUR BIOLOGICAL WARFARE LAAAAAABS

[@thomasjohnson8391]

In the tv series coupling there was a 60s dalek prop and merch on series 4 nightlines

[@itskevinjustkevin]

The letter J is forbidden according to dalek culture

[@ЮлияПопова-ч5ю8х]

I'd suggest checking out the Dalek Dictionary written by Terry Nation! Edit: also, if I remember correctly, Daleks have swear words in the language (in classic who one of the Doctors commented on that)

[@ODDITY-ODYSSEY-ENTERTAINMENT]

Question: What would a dalek look like without the neck section? With the head directly connected to the mid section, would they look dumb or funny, and what practical purpose could it serve?

[@TheRealKaiProton]

Dalek poetry, surely not as bad as Vogon poetry, anyways, I always thought they has some type of universal translator built into the casing, as when Martha teleported to Germany, you can hear them screeching in German

[@carnivalecretins853]

The Kaleds had a god of war as well.

[@HOTD108_]

Kaleds were famously big gamers. I believe God of War II (2006) was their favourite, which is fitting given how that game is a time travel story.

[@davehill1693]

would the daleks try to use xenomorphs given how dangerous they are?

[@ImmortalAbsol]

They have an odd residual sense of attachment or sentimental value for supposedly almost emotionless creatures.

[@Genideb]

Warning! The following comment contains a weird question. Are videos of the mass extermination of innocent creatures erotic for the Daleks? I warn you that this is a weird question.

[@ShinyaMerveilles66]

To be erotic implies the daleks have a concept of sexuality, which is…….odd for a race that only reproduces via genetic manipulation

[@Arcadia_warlic]

Would their views on racial purity even amongst their own ranks wherein they often times hurt their own cause in the name of cleansing be considered a part of their culture?

[@nejdalej]

That's what I thought after seeing Stolen Earth/Journey's End. Like after they destroyed the universe and the populations of the Medusa cascade planets, they would end up killing each other because they have nothing else. One of my fictives said "they'd get bored and end up finding any excuse to kill each other"

[@grahamturner1290]

🐙

[@NWR_astrotrain]

I think in universe the idea that “daleks feel no emotion but hate” is just propaganda and misunderstood hyperbole. As for culture I think the reason they seem so monolithic is because that’s what they’re like in situations that make good stories. I sure somewhere in the empire there are equivalents of Dalek midwives some one has to maintain embryos and infants. Dalek secretaries, a massive empire needs to have a well organized bureaucracy. Dalek judges, not all Daleks agree on everything so someone has to interpret their laws. Daleks are probably a lot more like people in their day to day lives. The Daleks were a metaphor for Nazi germany and other fascist regimes, most people living in places like that no matter how dedicated just spent most of their lives just going to work and taking watch day one at a time.

[@59rlmccormack]

I do not see the Daleks doing poetry.

[@thomasdee1980]

It is obvious that they do have a culture as they are instantly recogniseable. Even if you just consider the standard Dalek casing, if that the most efficient design that they could have come up with; or is it a cultural artefact which signifies that they are a Dalek? I am sure there are other designs they could have used but don't as in their culture, conformity is key. The same is true for the different colour schemes. I bet Daleks have a heads up display to show who each Dalek they encounter is and so it is not necessary to have a different colour scheme to differentiate the leader but they do it anyway as the different coloured casing is cultural

[@TFD1231]

Davros invented it.