Dalek designer Ray Cusick passes away aged 84

theregister.co.uk

76 pointsiProject3 comments

RIP Ray. :(

People can say what they want, but the Dalek design was both pragmatic and cool, making it the iconic representation of the series. More people think of the Daleks than of any of the Doctors or TARDIS when "Doctor Who" is mentioned.

I keep seeing the word "iconic" when people talk about the Daleks. They're just such an original design. They have animial-like features -- an "eye", appendages, "ears" -- yet they're also cold, mechanical killing machines at the same time. They don't try to look humanoid, like so many sci-fi robots. Even the Cybermen are typical "metal men", but Daleks are something from another world.

The look and the sound of the Daleks communicates very well that they don't care one wit about anything like our aesthetics nor do their ideas of practicality line up with our own.

And yeah, they look like cold, mechanical things, but then one learns that, no, there are biological creatures in there, but that doesn't mitigate anything, it makes things worse. They aren't detached and emotionless machines, they are creatures who find it rational to live inside of tanks and feel only hate and rage for others beings.

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