AWSUM TOYS:
EVOLUTION OF THE DALEKS
A brief look at the evolution of the Dalek Toys
from 1964 to present.
By 1964, Dalek Mania was on the rise. Xmas stockings wouldn't be complete without the inclusion of Dalek merchandise. In the days before mass produced merch, (and a good two decades before the rise of Star Wars and its subsequent global toy industry), Dr Who was already way ahead of the game. However, nobody was at the helm to steer this crazy juggernaut, at least when it came to making accurate Dalek toys…
DALEK$$$$$ !
From an toolmaker or engineers perspective, in stuns the mind at how terribly inaccurate Dalek toys originally were. I imagine the chaps at Shawcraft too, were probably needing a stiff drink (or twenty), in the wake of toy manufacturers making a stupendous mint, on the design that Shawcraft had sweat blood and tears over, only not to see a penny of its rewards and to add insult to injury, they didn't even look like Daleks!
Of course, it wasn't about accuracy, it was about business. Toy manufacturers of the time basically couldn't care less about Daleks actually looking proportionally correct and such shrewd business men (who didn’t know a Dalek from a Ducks elbow) simply saw the Dalek success story, as a window of opportunity, to be exploited by every means possible.
However the results were less than favourable but for most kids, it didn’t matter. Owning any crappy toy Dalek was better than nothing and moreover, like owning gold itself, a status symbol, in effect, the emperors new clothes. If it was labelled a ‘Dalek’, thats all that mattered and much like today, (where we buy expensive trainers labelled Nike etc) the Dalek image, was an indelible currency for trade.
Still, why did they look so crappy? Lets have a look.
FLEETING GLANCES
The 1960's :
In a time, when there was no internet, no home VHS video recorders, (and no repeats), catching that brief glimpse of the Daleks on Television must have been rather like the ornithological equivalent of bird watching. It basically meant kids had to be at home at a certain time, (negotiate with the parents), sit in front of the Television, tune in and be ready to watch and pay attention, (if and when) the Daleks might appear, which in those days was quite a rarity.
In fact, the sequel to the first ever Dalek story, (Dalek invasion of Earth) caused an absolute outrage across Britain, because kids had been waiting months for the Daleks to return, only for one Dalek to appear out of the river Thames, right at the very end of the episode!
This outrage meant of course, that an entire country of school kids, would have to wait yet another entire week of school drudgery, just to find out what was going to happen on Dr Who next. Such a concept now seems ludicrous but that’s just the way it was.
In fact, it became such a big deal, that BBC switchboards were jammed with complaints from angry parents, drawn into the madness of childhood anxieties, that they ended up watching the show too and becoming fans themselves! Suddenly Dr Who had become a family affair and with it the demand for Dalek toys at Christmas was inevitable.
ANY OLD CONE WILL DO
But as far as the merchandise was concerned, literally anything cone-shaped was used by the toy companies. A combination of making a fast buck and a general apathy towards accuracy didn't help. Plus it was extremely difficult for small toy firms to get a real grip on the Dalek shape without decent source material. Useful reference photos of Daleks where quite rare, and what was available was confined mainly to the odd cover of the Radio Times and other magazines or the odd article in news papers, which again were difficult to acquire unless one was astute enough to save them from the bin. Even the Dalek annuals, merely presented the Daleks as cones.
So it was no surprise that the original Dalek toys produced, were terrible and allowed to get away with being as rubbish as they were, for the kids didn’t have much to go on either. If a child’s only reference point was his own memory of a Dalek, (seen fleetingly on Tv for a mere few minutes a week), then such withdrawal symptoms were sure to explode at the first sight of any Dalek related toy available, no matter how inaccurate. 
Thus anything chucked out on the toy market and labelled a ‘Dalek’ was better than nothing at all and (like so many hopelessly dependent addicts) kids went wild for Dalek pencils, cut-o-matics, Rollykins, playsuits, bump and goes, clockworks and anything else with vaguely cone shaped potential, which (all in all) looked nothing like what was actually seen trundling across the television screen, briefly once a week. Never the less, it kept the kids placated from storming the gates.
I know I did.
PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE
Anyway, no matter. Dalek Mania was gearing up a notch, in the shape of Louise Marx Bump and Go Daleks, all made of brittle plastic, allowing the arms to break off instantly. In fact this would be a lingering bugbear of any subsequent Dalek toy, for decades to come. While other toy manufactures had conquered this problem years ago, it seemed that Dalek toy manufacturers were simply unable (or couldn’t be arsed) to re-calibrate the elasticity of the plastics used to make the Dalek appendages. 
Then again, why should they? When a broken Dalek meant Mum and Dad would have to go out and buy yet another toy Dalek. So if you are wondering why the seas are full of plastic, well, now you know. Out there somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, is probably an island of discarded broken Dalek toys! If only they had been made of metal, they might rust in peace.
CORGI & DINKY TOYS
In hindsight, had the BBC approached more reputable companies (such as Corgi or Dinky Toys), we might have had cast aluminium Dalek toys of a reasonable standard by the mid-sixties!
Talking of which, Corgi, (famous for making accurate metal toy cars), was churning out James Bond Aston Martin DB5’s, with ejector seats and various other gadgets and selling them like hot cakes.
Meanwhile, numerous other toys were now available, absolutely authentic reproductions in miniature: mini works of art being sold globally, (such as Dinky Toys fantastic range of Thunderbirds Vehicles), yet somehow, when it came to Dalek toys, the results were less than retarded, to say the least.
DODGY DEALS
In retrospect, Dr Who Director Richard Martin said as much in an interview, that the Dalek merchandise was simply awful. One can imagine some sort of sponsorship ‘deal’ was struck with toy manufactures to use them in the Dr Who episodes but the lack of accuracy was likely due to time and money and due care. Despite these merchandisers were approached by the BBC to make accurate models (Richard Martins circle, at least had tried to persuade them) even offering them the plans etc, these pleas were ignored and it has annoyed the hell out of everyone ever since.
The 1970's
Palitoys attempt was as good as it got. The selling point that it could now make a toy Dalek that could talk. However, the appendages were plagued with the age old problem of brittle plastic components, making them easy to break off in the hands of small children, such as myself.
The Denise Fisher Dalek was perhaps the better of the two, in only that it was miles more in proportion, than that of its Palitoy rival. Up until that time, this was the most accurate Dalek ever made, and interestingly based on Terry Nations Red Top Dalek, that he owned, intended for a Dalek Tv serial that never materialised.
Nevertheless, Dalek toys still had a long way to go, in terms of accuracy.
THE NEXT GENERATION
The 1980's :
It was only by the 1980's and 90’s, when diligent fans (such as Julian Vince) turned the tide, by making fantastic Dalek models, (even animating them), soon followed by Stewart Sevans, who actually took measurements from a rare as hell honest to god original Dalek prop.
In the advent of the internet, it was not long before such endeavours were spurning a whole new generation of builders, to begin making accurate DIY Daleks and thus forming memberships to various builders guilds, such as Project Dalek.
DAPOL -SCHMAPOL !
The 1990s'
Yet, despite all this, toy companies such as Dapol were still insisting on making crude Dalek toys, perhaps the only improvement was the durability of the plastic and improved elasticity of the appendages, making them less prone to snapping off but as far as accuracy was concerned, they still had a long, long way to go...
PRODUCT ENTERPRISE
The 2000's
Perhaps the biggest breakthrough in Dalek toys was Product Enterprises wonderful range of Talking and Radio Controlled Daleks, which also included micro push and goes and fabulous rollykins etc.
Another breakthrough was their release of movie Dalek variants, of various sizes. All these versions had reasonable detail. Gone were the brittle appendages (that break off in a child’s clumsy hands in five seconds) and more importantly, they were dimensionally correct. Well, almost.
DALEKS WITH CHARACTER
The 2010's
However, it would take another decade before a totally screen accurate Dalek figurine was finally available, courtesy of Character Options and to this date, these are the most accurate Dalek toys ever produced. In fact everything about them is fantastic. They are essentially the result of a culmination of 50 years of Dalek toy evolution, stemming from rubbish plastic cones (with brittle appendages) to the latter day talking varieties. Plus they come in every range of Dalek design possible, from movie variants, to NSD's and those bloody new paradigms. But the less said about those the better. 
All in all, these models are so respectable looking, that no Dr Who fan, (young or old) should be without a few cluttering up the shelf or mantelpiece, in effect replacing mothers china ornaments of yesteryear.
BIGGER IS BETTER
But for those who want bigger, (for the ultimate Dalek toy), one can buy a full size totally accurate Dalek reproduction from This Planet Earth for £3,500. But to own such a status symbol, sacrifices may have to be made and divorce settlements may ensue…
Excellent article. Very informative. I liked the swoppit daleks as a kiddy, because they had flat backs, and the Marx Rolykins, as they were small enough to make Blue Peter vehicles for them.
ReplyDelete