Back in 2015 in my Ultimate Adventure custom Dalek post I foolishly said that I wished The Curse of the Daleks had its own unique Dalek variant so that I could make customs from all three Doctor Who stage plays. This was actually incorrect, as Curse of the Daleks did indeed have its own unique variant - a black Supreme Dalek using the same body as the original 1963 Daleks. So, having an abundance of these Daleks at my fingertips thanks to the release of the B&M History of the Daleks sets, I set about finally filling this gap in my collection.
The Curse of the Daleks is a 1965 stage play which did not feature the Doctor, but instead starred a team of astronauts that crash land on Skaro and encounter some de-powered Daleks. One of them believes that he can turn the Daleks into his servants, but of course that doesn’t turn out very well for him. The Daleks in this stage play are based off their appearance in the original 1963 serial, however they are led by a black Dalek - something that didn’t debut until The Dalek Invasion of Earth. The stage play featured newly constructed Daleks, some of which featured some rather interesting appendages. For more information on these Daleks, as well as their relationship with the second Dalek movie Daleks’ Invasion Earth - 2150 AD, please check out this really informative piece from Dalek 6388.
The Dalek was built using a History of the Daleks #1 1963 Dalek as the base, dismantling it and then spraying the dome and skirt section black. This was done with Tamiya black spray paint. The hemispheres were then hand painted using Citadel Lothern Blue, which I learnt whilst doing my Witch’s Familiar Dalek is extremely close to the original colour. To finish off I painted the circular part of the eyestalk black, and then added a silver circle to the centre of the plunger. The last detail wasn’t completely necessary, but I liked how it gave the model that little bit of extra accuracy. Technically I should have got rid of the prop marking on the back of the Dalek as well, but it’s so small it didn’t really seem worth it.
Truth be told, this is probably my least favourite of all the 60s Dalek Supreme variants. The Dalek Invasion of Earth version has a much bolder colour scheme with its black mid-section and eyestalk, and the later addition of the slats from The Chase onwards just gave it a much stronger look over all. But despite how odd the grey mid-section looks here, it’s a pretty unique looking Dalek and one that I’m happy to welcome into my collection. Even though there wasn’t a “leader” Dalek per se in the original serial this figure looks great alongside the 1963 Daleks, and you can imagine that they might have had a leader like this to guide them through those early days on Skaro - perhaps even the Dalek that originally attempted to kill Davros?
As a big fan of all three Doctor Who/Dalek stage plays (what I would give to have seen them in person) it’s great to finally have representation from all of them in my collection, even if it isn’t a complete set. The Curse of the Daleks Supreme might be the most TV-esque in terms of appearance, but they’re all very different from each other and definitely stand out in a collection. I’d definitely like to add the Ultimate Adventure black Dalek variant to the ranks too one day, but for now this is a pretty fine trio that pays homage to one of the more forgotten sides of the franchise.
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