It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that the Daleks need Doctor Who far more than Doctor Who needs the Daleks. When the series was brought back in 2005, people at the BBC automatically assumed that the Daleks would feature. Jane Tranter assumed they would be in the opening episode, but RTD argued for keeping them back to mid-series to act as a mini-reboot, should the initial audience fall away.
The assumption that the series would include the Daleks annoyed the estate of Terry Nation, who argued that they co-owned them and had to give permission. At one point this permission was withheld, and so the Spheres were devised (which would ultimately manifest as the Toclafane). For the estate to hold back use of the Daleks would have been a remarkably stupid thing to do, for it would result in no new income. The whole point of a legal estate is to safeguard a legacy - but it is also designed to provide income for the deceased's descendants. Think of all the Dalek merchandise released since 2005, and you'll see just how much money the estate would have been throwing away.
Back in 1966, 'Dalekmania' was in full swing, and Terry Nation had visions of spinning them off into as many profitable avenues as possible. He had already agreed to a stage play (which didn't make him any money, apart from a number of Dalek casings which he could hire out to church fetes), they were in a comic, and there had been a movie starring Peter Cushing. Nation took elements from his The Daleks' Master Plan and devised a TV series for the Daleks, which wouldn't involve the Doctor. The heroes would be the Space Special Security Service, including Sara Kingdom (despite her recent death), her brother and a humanoid android. Nation offered this to the BBC, including the use of his stage play casings (for a fee), but they refused to bite. 'Dalekmania' was already on the wane, and the Beeb already had Doctor Who.
Nation then looked further afield, especially to the US TV networks. He desperately wanted to make it in America, after having come into contact with so many US TV executives involved with his ITC adventure series. Any move to produce a Dalek series in America would involve exclusivity. Any interested network would want some control over rights - ideally a 50-50 split as Nation had enjoyed with the BBC. This meant withdrawing the Daleks from Doctor Who.
Busy on other, more lucrative, projects, Nation stopped writing Dalek stories - happy to hand over to David Whitaker, who had been scripting Dalek material (often uncredited) since the beginning.
The second Troughton Dalek story - Evil of the Daleks - would be the last time they were to feature in the series, as Nation prepared to take them overseas.
The production team wasn't overly upset. Thanks to the Nation co-ownership, Daleks cost extra money to use - whereas the increasingly popular Cybermen had no such budgetary strings attached.
Their departure would be marked on screen, with a final apocalyptic battle on Skaro that would see them wipe themselves out in a civil war, initiated by the Doctor.
The Dalek comic had featured an Emperor, which Nation had always disliked. He had instead created the Black Dalek to lead the race. For such a big story, Whitaker elected to include the Emperor, though it was quite a different version to the comic one, which was mobile, golden in colour and topped with a huge globe. The TV version took an insect queen as its inspiration - a huge bloated unit, unable to move from its central chamber. This was an idea reflected in the set design.
When it came to the final battle, word came down from Sydney Newman to amend the ending slightly - to indicate that the Daleks weren't completely destroyed. He was keeping the door open for their potential return. Handling the battle scenes was future director Tim Combe. He had a small light continue to throb like a heartbeat at the centre of the wrecked Emperor, suggestive of a hint of life.
As it was, Nation was unsuccessful in his efforts to sell the Daleks in America. He quickly discovered that the movie had failed to make any kind of impact over there, so there was nothing to build on.
That he continued to withhold the Daleks until Season 9 is a myth. We know that he was interested in having them feature in the opening story of Season 6, to be written by Whitaker, but then pulled out when he discovered that the production team wanted to have them meet the Cybermen.
Doctor Who had survived quite happily for four seasons without the Daleks, replacing them with the Cybermen, Ice Warriors, the Master and a host of interesting new monsters like Autons and Silurians.
After Genesis of the Daleks, they were only occasionally brought back (only once per Doctor in the end). The series was once again showing how it did not need them.
Lately, the Daleks have been dragged out for every New Year Special, as well as the Centenary Special, and frankly many of us are a bit sick of them. Maybe RTD will want to feature them in the 60th Specials, or use them to help establish Ncuti's 15th Doctor, but I hope not.
Terry's grandkids need Doctor Who, but Doctor Who does not need the Daleks.
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