Doctor Who Devious Dalek production line

In Episode 3 of our Dr Who fan film, Devious, the Daleks come alive and start their production line. Here we present just the production line itself with some of the imperfections that we accidentally included in the version in Episode 3 removed. We hope you enjoy it!
If you want to read more about how we designed and made the production line please visit the Devious website: www.doctorwho-...
If you would like to see the whole of Episode 3 of Devious please visit: • Devious, a Doctor Who ...
Or you can see all the episode so far released in this playlist: • Devious, a Doctor Who ...
Devious is a Dr Who fan film made purely for our own enjoyment. Dr Who is copyright BBC.

[@nickthepick8043]

This perfectly captures how unnatural it means to be a Dalek, the fact that they cannot reproduce naturally and require a whole production line just to multiply their numbers adds to the evil presence they have at the universe at large. Stellar stuff. If I was a kid and I saw this, this would've either made me a fan, or want a playset of it.

[@doctorwhodevious]

Ashley (who made most of the CG models as well as our real Daleks) does have a 3D printer so there could be a playset 🙂. Although it does take ages to print just one small piece so probably longer than it has taken us to make out Devious episodes to do a whole playset.

[@nickthepick8043]

@@doctorwhodevious It's funny that you mention, I have a 3D Printer too! That's how I made my personal army of Dalek figures. And yeah, they understandably take a while. But hey, all good things take time.

[@naruto199797]

I wonder how more dalek mutants are created because they can't reproduce

[@nickthepick8043]

@@naruto199797I think the process either involves budding or cloning to some degree, but I know that the Dalek Embryo's need strong biomass(Flesh) to keep them sustained during the gestation process. This usually involves a lot of dead people in their wake. However, it should be noted that the Dalek DNA is separate from the biomass needed for the process to occur. The Dalek Emperor broke this rule of thumb, but I think the circumstances were different at the time.

[@tonyug113]

@@naruto199797 in journeys end, daleks are somehow created - presumably cloned from davros's cells (though presumably davros is n unmutated kaled which gives dificulties) -- anyway whose to say young dalek mutants dont enjoy those dalek bumbs (the curse of fatal death).

[@fawziekefli2273]

1:00 The greatest killing machine in the universe, and it's stuck being a factory worker. What a grind.

[@puffythedestroyer8878]

This must’ve been a nightmare to render. But no expenses are too great for the supreme wheelchair squids.

[@OptimysticPessimyst]

This was absolutely incredible. Hands down the greatest piece of Doctor Who fan work I’ve ever seen. Incredible!

[@doctorwhodevious]

Thanks. Glad you liked it.

[@bettyswunghole3310]

The embryo must be very disorientated by the end of the process...

[@doctorwhodevious]

Actually in our story they go into a chamber where they hang around a bit getting conditioned to be inside the Daleks - right at the end - and are a bit like the cave of Daleks in Power of the Daleks. So they are, in fact, rather dazed.

[@li-ion6228]

today on how it's made: Daleks

[@daniellafferety4025]

Today on how it's made the Average citizen of the United states of America. akA: The Dalak!

[@daniellafferety4025]

Built in America of the best quality imported Chinese Plastics painted to resemble tank armor. Job classification average joe. Purpose to replace gasoline power cars, and Caffeine powered inferior organics: Designation Humans. The new line product of the Republican party will dominate the world of political power with halaridity as they leave smoking trials of Caffeinated exhaust fumes behind. Yes! that's Fart gas to rule the world of commodity. Then they will stumble around selling caffeinated drinks like old vending machines used to sell cigarettes! See the improvement of a sponsor like a tobacco co. Can supply. That's why the Dalak Lost the scarow war they had no sponsors!

[@daniellafferety4025]

Whereas the doctor was president elect for the life of the plant Galifery. With a sponsor called Jelly Babies!

[@daniellafferety4025]

Also it's all Timmy wimmiey, and sonic!

[@daniellafferety4025]

Ha.Ha.Ha. oh! Well aconamatata! !

[@edwardcatt2399]

What’s cool about this is that it takes that somewhat ‘flimsy’-looking classic design with the paper-thin slats, which is a great silhouette but not really convincing as ‘heavy duty battle armour’, and turns it into something that _could_ actually be subject to quick-turnover production . . . Moreover when you see their actual ‘production’ like this these screen-accurate props become much more ‘believable’ . . . Well done anyway 👍

[@doctorwhodevious]

We do love the new series bronze daleks but wanted classic silver and blue for Devious. Ashley later adjusted them for the Neverwas - another fan film we were involved in - plus the two stage plays put on a few years ago. Those slats are flimsy - on our real daleks several have broken slats, so we did model some CGI with the same broken slats.

[@Liam-jq2iz]

today on how it’s made

[@LIAMMAGEE-t4i]

I always thought that the menial work necessary to perform practical tasks like working in a Dalek construction factory, for instance, would be done by an intermediary form of Dalek mutant. It would be capable of surviving outside a complete Dalek casing, would have limbs with the equivalent of hands attached so that intricate work could be carried out and have limited intellectual properties, but be totally subordinate to the authentic Dalek mutants; it would be a sort of drone, in fact. That way, you could obviate any questions concerning a Dalek's viability as a functional organism. Once encased, the Dalek has a prime directive: the subjugation and/or destruction of other life-forms ( its suction/manipulation arm is capable of vital manipulations of objects, of course ). PS, we must remember that as much as anything, the concept of the Dalek is metaphorical and we shouldn't try to be too literal in our realisation of them.

[@doctorwhodevious]

I am not sure - the special weapons Dalek is seen as "the abomination" in the novel of Battlefield isn't it? So any deviation from a pure Dalek is a bad thing..

[@thadnewey3671]

This is both terrifying but fascinating and the music adds to the atmosphere

[@richardthomas6771]

Absolutely stunning work. You should be working at the BBC. Awesome 😊

[@doctorwhodevious]

Thanks. We would jump at the chance!

[@AlfalfaWendigo]

Giving heavy Portal 2 vibes, very cool! Love the Dalek models as well, really well made so props to you!

[@doctorwhodevious]

Not sure what portal 2 is, but thanks for the compliment.

[@zackman9230]

Power of the Daleks with a RTD era budget

[@doctorwhodevious]

Thank you for the compliment but the budget is less than 1960s Dr Who - done completely in a free 3D program, Blender, with a £300 graphics card and lots of time.

[@kingfairytale4306]

That’s even more impressive!

[@blueberry1vom1t]

I love how you can see through the years several different interpretations of how a dalek factory works from fanon and canon. The daleks being as old as a species as they are in universe, all of these animations could exist inside the same canon as daleks and their technology evolve.

[@doctorwhodevious]

Our original plan was to remake the Power of the Daleks production line as it appeared in the TV show but the BBC already did that so it evolved (and we may have got a bit carried away).

[@transportationuk7656]

I can feel a smile while watching this(a Davros smile if you will). So satisfying to see the production of the supreme beings in every multiverse and beyond. All hail the Dalek Empire.

[@cybernovadw5124]

Also Davros: "The Automated Dalek Production line has been Started, I gave no such Order! Who did" Five Minutes Later, DEAD. Or so we think, just suffered a Massive Circuitry disturbance which put his bodily functions in long term Suspension but either way I don't think Davros should have thought the whole personality thing through of the daleks, Instead he slowly lost his eventually matching the Daleks lack of Personality by Journeys end with Willing destruction of the Universe on his mind.

[@darransykes3406]

I like to see the Dalek shop steward strike for better pay and conditions with every Sunday off from a 6 day working week.... lol

[@galaxydirewolf6606]

I love this so much!🤩 I'm a 3D modeller of 3 years, now freelance, and my first project was a dalek. (Though I couldn't figure out the shape at the time and scrapped it 😅, decided to make a tardis console instead)

[@dvcltd]

Ashley made the Daleks in Blender (all the 3D is done in blender). We did have the advantage that he had made full size props for Devious in the first place.

[@declanstewart17yearsago35]

This really gives a sense of the 1960s daleks really being a heavy duty machine of war

[@bukster1]

So in the first few seconds of this video, we see half assembled Daleks sitting on the assembly line waiting to be completed. I hope the assembly line hadn't been shut down for too long or the mutants inside might have been getting a bit bored sitting there for months on end.

[@doctorwhodevious]

It's part of our fan film and (spoilers!) in that they are pretending to be shut down to fool the Doctor.

[@NCC-nk1tm]

So that's how they did it at Shawcraft...

[@rossimusprime]

This dalek production line is super amazing. And this animation kinda reminds me of the episode power of the daleks

[@doctorwhodevious]

We were planning on doing an exact replica of the power production line but Mike Tucker more or less did this for the Blu-ray release. Plus we realised that we wanted something more complex. We did try to include some similar shots although by the time we finished animating you probably do not recognise them.

[@robertroy92]

looks fantastic amazing great job and good behind the scenes

[@doctorwhodevious]

Many thanks for the kind words. If there is any timecode left in any of these frames this time we will go mad ;-) We are going to get on with Episode 5 now but may revisit this in the future for our own benefit and would upload again just in case anyone is interested..

[@robertroy92]

@@doctorwhodevious good luck

[@Kent933]

​@@doctorwhodevious when will episode 5 come out

[@davehill1693]

the best dalek production line animation ever.

[@doctorwhodevious]

Thanks. Glad you like it.

[@edwardcatt2399]

Oooh I didn’t notice before but I like that big green battery bank behind the gunstick terminal!

[@RingandRaven]

Did you.....did you use the stargate ring transporter sound effect when the neck rings are lowered into place? If I'm not insane, thats a genius easter egg :D

[@kuronyra1709]

Yup, it is. It 100% is.

[@dvcltd]

Glad you liked it. We Just had to put it in..

[@Hexag0nedd]

heard the ring transporter sound effect from stargate 2:36

[@doctorwhodevious]

Had to be done...

[@infinitymasksandsculptures5301]

This is absolutely brilliant, you are a genius Thank you !!!😊

[@wcapewell3089]

This is very impressive, how many polygons go into making the daleks?

[@doctorwhodevious]

Blender is telling me the exterior of the dalek is 99,502 faces.

[@Problembeing]

Wonderfully realised!!

[@andywilx8815]

Absolutely stunning. BUT… did that Dalek actually say “please”? 😂 Great work. ❤ We all need to start lobbying Apple for a dalek emoji 🧂

[@voltran7677]

he said restart production line, not please start production line

[@dvcltd]

@@voltran7677 Definately "restart". No self-respecting Dalek would ever say please. In our story they shut down the production line and all pretended to be dead in order to "sucker" the Doctor in to fixing a technical problem for them. Then they restart it when they get what they want.

[@LCBK]

It is kind of interesting how the dalek workers don’t have guns

[@doctorwhodevious]

We liked the look of the Daleks without guns..

[@aceofjames1]

@@doctorwhodevious THOSE WORDS ARE BLASPHEMY DO NOT BLASPHEME fr though what good is a dalek if it cannot EXTERMINATE!

[@doctorwhodevious]

@@aceofjames1 Well they are looking after "baby" Daleks and you would not want them to get annoyed with the babies and shoot them..

[@kingfairytale4306]

​@@doctorwhodevious That's a fair point.

[@bonjovi1612]

Best Dr Who episode for 30 years!

[@doctorwhodevious]

Thank you so much. We do like a lot of NuWho ourselves though.

[@TheEleventhDoctor]

hey any news on episode 5? I'M SO DYING TO SEE IT!

[@doctorwhodevious]

Sorry for the late reply. It is coming soon. We were hoping for beginning October, but it will probably be a week to two after. Real life keeps getting in the way.

[@felinusfeline5559]

If the modern series still had classic dalek designs this is how I picture they would be shown. Fantastic.

[@aledwalters8977]

The dalek production line looks amazing. And seeing al those daleks being built is very good to see.

[@TheGenuineDWNUT]

This is great stuff! Very reminiscent of the Battle Droid factories from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones!

[@doctorwhodevious]

I knew we should have put Anakin's arm stuff to one of the conveyor belts in there, and C2POs head in one of the brain units..

[@celticarchie]

Freakin' Awesome EXTERMINATION!!! Sauce!!! :D

[@WilliamjameswestWEST]

Brillient.

[@stardude2006]

This is eerie and cool at the same time.

[@Itaskashowstable100]

Reminds me of Wonka’s factory.

[@doctorwhodevious]

Now we have to do a version with Dalek embryos singing the umpla loopa song!

[@tonyug113]

@@doctorwhodevious i HAVE to see that now

[@SuperCookie64]

Got an idea: Maybe once all 6 episodes are finished, you could release the raw 4:3 footage elsewhere? That way, people could create their own custom 4:3 versions if they want.

[@doctorwhodevious]

There is actually about 160 hours of raw footage, including a lot of rubbish. bad takes and scenes we cut. So that is probably not a good idea. It would be interesting to see someone else's edit though!

[@ShellyHill-n6x]

Wait till you see this cool video ❤

[@joelper7567]

As someone who is learning animation, this is beautiful. The modelling, materials and animation are all just perfect.

[@doctorwhodevious]

We are still learning and I am sure we will always have more to learn. We are using Blender, which is free, so all you need is a decent computer and some time (well, a lot of time).

[@steveredfearn120]

Incredibly good. Mesmerising!

[@doctorwhodevious]

Glad you liked it.

[@patrickbyrne9971]

when you fall asleep first at the sleepover

[@ShellyHill-n6x]

I wish I had a dalek shell

[@ultralaggerREV1]

Some of the Dalek’s armor material is officially called “Polycarbide” which I don’t think it exists

[@RayGun-mz8hy]

This is a fantastic piece of work! I have watched it over and over again it's just brilliant and so well thought out and produced.

[@ShellyHill-n6x]

Well Well Well...

[@billyberry-rf5yu]

So that's how the Daleks was made that's really cool

[@paulnash9851]

Kudos to the creator of this. It must of taken massive amounts of effort + passion.... VERY well done indeed 👌👍...

[@dvcltd]

If you ask our partners it also take a degree of obsession..

[@slateoffate9812]

Who's the transparent Dalek?

[@doctorwhodevious]

In our story he is the Dalek in charge of the production line, plus we just thought it looked good and was harking back to Revelation of the Daleks.

[@paulashe61]

Their hearts are connected to electricity

[@EXTERMINAAAAAAAATTTTTEEEEEEEE]

Music?

[@doctorwhodevious]

Most of the music is made in a Program called SonicFire Pro which generates scores from pre-made tracks which you buy from them and then tailor to suit your video. I could not tell you where you could hear more and as it is copyright Sonicfire (the fact that we bought it gives us a licence to use it) means we cannot put out the music on its own. The opening few seconds of music are taken from the original Dalek story.

[@craigwilliams6734]

Now, that is impressive!!! Wonderful!!!

[@doctorwhodevious]

Thank you.

[@dylantuddenham9081]

So daleks are 3d printed

[@doctorwhodevious]

Should we be at all worried that our main Dalek maker, Ashley, who has made about 9 life size Daleks already from Fibre glass, bought a 3D printer after we completed this CGI version...

[@cybernovadw5124]

@@doctorwhodevious Oh my word..... Well as long as they don't have any Kaled or any other Compatable Humanoid genetic material to be genetically Mutated Into a Dalek Mutant we should be fine........ (they say with confidence absolutely no terror in tone of voice whatsoever....)

[@guynewmountain1909]

Just awesome work...

[@RobertPaulPrime]

Ah yes, the horrors of the MK1 dalek production line.

[@themightybob]

Those are mk3 daleks though

[@morgandude2]

MK1 TV Dalek didn't have slats and mesh, the weapon was far more intricate with acrylic spacers, the eye stalk had 9 rings and the colour scheme was a pale silver/chrome, grey and light blue skirt sensor domes. Still my favourite Dalek.

[@jamiebowler4693]

I love that the mutants are held in just a small sphere, really adds to the theme of claustrophobia.

[@dvcltd]

When building the inside we were very concious of the fact that there is no way a human (Ian Chesterton for example) could get in the Dalekand move around. It was influenced by designed of the inside that appeared in old Doctor who annuals.

[@PlanetChris1962]

Fantastic! What a superb scene!

[@badwolf66]

I love the photorealism of this! How many Daleks do you think are produced on a weekly/monthly/yearly basis? I know that's just 1 factory out of a possible millions.

[@doctorwhodevious]

The production rate is ridiculously high. We almost follow one being made in 5 minutes!

[@TheWanderer1000000]

2:35 That's the ring teleporter sound effect from Stargate!

[@doctorwhodevious]

Yip. Love that sound effect and it looked like the Stargate rings.

[@wcapewell3089]

I thought it was.

[@ZOMBiFOX13]

Yoo this is fucking awesome

[@ExpressRhubarb]

absolutely brilliant! and love how all the little design quirks of the Devious Daleks and little superficial chips and scuffs made it onto the models that's incredible attention to detail!!

[@doctorwhodevious]

We took pictures of the real daleks that we used and made textures out of them.

[@paulashe61]

Fantastic

[@professorn.shroudthegreats2916]

dude i am imprest this is intresting dalek designs and production

[@doctorwhodevious]

Thanks

[@Shadowkey392]

Only one problem: Daleks in the show never had that sphere thing for the Daleks to sit in.

[@CHINZIG_UK]

Old anatomy artwork shows daleks were encased is some sort of inner chamber. Perhaps it's a design thing, some dalek types had them, others may not have.

[@michaelkean5969]

Not all dalek armor has the same architecture

[@ANIMUS.STUDIOS]

Episode 5 will be The Devious Doctor's last one?

[@stephencranford1102]

No, Devious is a 6 part story.

[@naruto199797]

Hopefully we'll see something like this in the main show at some point this is amazing

[@doctorwhodevious]

Thanks for the nice words but I think this kind of sequence is too long for a real episode. We even wondered if it was too long for our own Devious Episode 3 but we figured only Dr Who fans would be watching so it would be ok.

[@naruto199797]

@@doctorwhodevious agreed a more shorter version but it would still be really cool

[@matthewmason7792]

So one thing I don’t understand is how does the Dalek control the casing? Like does the container it’s in break once it’s been sealed inside the casing and allows it to use the controls inside or something?

[@m.sharif_3d]

I only remember this from the Series 9 episode, The Witch's Familiar; the Daleks use telepathic control & technology to move themselves. When Missy tells Clara to get in a Dalek and to move, Clara's mind was the power in controlling her Dalek. Though I do also assume that the Daleks have a sort of control panel inside too...Dalek fiction-lore isn't something which I'm very knowledgeable at but, I hope this helps? 😅

[@matthewmason7792]

@@m.sharif_3d yeah I think that’s the consensus. Honestly makes more sense than voice activation or actually moving controls for a squid mutant.

[@David1988Mufc]

​@@m.sharif_3dHave you seen the third doctor story death to the daleks ???

[@SuperCookie64]

When part 6 eventually comes out, will all the episodes get 4:3 releases? Because it seems like they've been cropped to 16:9. (Not in this specific one.)

[@doctorwhodevious]

They have been cropped, or if the footage did not work well cropped we filled in the edges in various ways. There won't be a 4:3 version because we would have to redo all the upscaling and effects. Since most screens are widescreen we decided to just widescreen the whole thing.

[@SuperCookie64]

@@doctorwhodevious Aight.

[@timecontroller8800]

Holy shit this is sooo good! U should feel really proud of this it’s so amazing

[@trackmastertheman7801]

An extended version of the dalek production line, but then again if we got this in the anti Genesis trailer, it would be a show

[@officialibk8065]

Damn fine work, damn fine.

[@doctorwhodevious]

Thanks.

[@basilfunkenstein361]

Such a cool sequence, amazing work!

[@doctorwhodevious]

Thanks

[@Dominic-mm6yf]

👏 Excellent production.

[@doctorwhodevious]

Glad you liked it.

[@zedoniverse]

Amazing animation on the dalek production line!

[@UNDEFINED_SOUL]

Technology makes me lost my mind

[@Browncoat7969]

I'm surprised by this epic amazing animation.

[@jerrymoto6249]

very cool

[@tbaker4736]

This is amazing!

[@WilliamjameswestWEST]

❤❤❤❤❤

[@brettsalter3300]

Beautiful work!

[@markfrancis1210]

That was cool, and a little scary

[@scottm5425]

Telsa's next production line

[@m.sharif_3d]

This has been put together really, well! Words cannot explain how impeccable this entire animation is!

[@davidclarke3121]

Thank you for the compliments. You would not believe how many things in the animation we see that are wrong 🙂

[@Ivan888-x4q]

Nice work

[@emperordalek102]

that friends is how daleks are made

[@doctorwhodevious]

We do have some other daleks in Ashley's shed made out of fibre glass and wood. The GCI ones are easier to make ;-)

[@emperordalek102]

Agreed.

[@IkedaHakubi]

So well done!

[@Astralwolf23]

That was brilliant.

[@owenrichards1418]

This is amazing.

[@android65mar]

Certainly the most complex Dale construction set up I ever saw- great work!

[@davidclarke3121]

Thanks. We did get a bit carried away.

[@android65mar]

@@davidclarke3121 Oh I do like it though- especially all the little details of how the bumps get put on and everything- most cool

[@doctorwhodevious]

@@android65mar Thanks.

[@FluxLabsProjects]

Stargate, anyone?

[@jamielench5722]

I noticed that too lol

[@robloxian1585]

Yeah I heard the sound of the transport rings from stargate

[@stopwatchstudios9622]

Would you be interested in being hired as a voice actor

[@danieleroccati3715]

It looks awesome! A great revisitation of the original factory line from Evil of the Daleks. I would say it is even better! Just out of curiosity, is it made in Blender and rendered in Eevee?

[@davidclarke3121]

If you want to know more there is an article linked to in the description that explains stuff like that. Made in Blender and rendered in Cycles.

[@angelsone-five7912]

Mind bogglingly realistic.

[@heisafraid]

Sarcasm?

[@angelsone-five7912]

@@heisafraid Not in the least.

[@TheEleventhDoctor]

Any release date for episode 5?

[@stephencranford1102]

We are hoping it's going to be ready for around May this year 🤞🏻

[@TheEleventhDoctor]

@@stephencranford1102 so long to wait 😭

[@zaax]

The background noise is way too loud.

[@doctorwhodevious]

We had the music take priority during the actual episode and this time round we wanted to have the sound-scape to have a more dominant role for this presentation. Just wanted to highlight Stephen's excellent work. We thought about leaving the music out of it all together, but then decided to keep it, but lower than the sound effects.

[@KingofPotatoPeople]

Dare I say that these Dalek voices are more authentic than Dalek Voice Mr. Monopoly Nick Briggs?

[@doctorwhodevious]

Our main Dalek voice guy Steve will be flattered but Nick Briggs is the voice of the Daleks. He also told us which Mooger Fooger to buy and what settings to use.

[@KingofPotatoPeople]

Don’t get me wrong, I love Nick’s work. But I’d like two voice actors to provide Dalek voices like in the classic era. And I think you have the guy here.

[@jaceborg]

Superb stuff :)