Mingling
One of the greatest things about Daleks, apart from the way they come to life on screen, is their temperament. They get pissed off so easily. Even the classic Daleks from the black and white era had the same character flaws, although they were ever-so-slightly more restrained and conniving. Pissing off a Dalek is suicidal. They don’t just yell abuse at you, they will not hesitate to shoot to kill. In fact, sometimes, it feels like Daleks are just waiting for an opportunity. Perhaps they try to antagonize people into irritating them?
Another great thing about Daleks are their complete and total untrustworthiness. Despite this, there are no end of humans and aliens whose egos are so big that they will form an alliance with the Dalek empire in the belief they can manipulate the Daleks. Their mistake is that they think the Daleks are simple, angry little aliens who are willing to delegate a degree of control to their humanoid allies. What they don’t realize is that Daleks hate people with legs and are positively aching for the excuse to zap them.
No one is ever going to be truly satisfied as a subordinate to a Dalek. They will never allow humanoids true authority and that means sooner or later, all their allies start to get paranoid. In the case of Mavic Chen, the traitorous human from Earth’s solar empire in the 41st century, this lesson came very late. The Daleks’ Master Plan is the most epic of all the classic Doctor Who stories. Chen plays off his competitors for the rank of chief ally of the Daleks throughout the episodes, his incredible arrogance growing to the point that when he is questioned, he actually shoves a Dalek’s eyestalk away from him!
This was a step too far. We knew the Daleks were going to kill Chen eventually. They only tolerated him while they needed his assistance in recovering the Taranium Core. But Chen’s effort to convince himself he was still a vital cog in the Daleks’ schemes to try and shovel his paranoia under the rug, resulted in that fatal mistake… pissing off a Dalek.
The scene occurs early in episode 12 and can be viewed online via the fan made “Loose Cannon” reconstructions that use a mixture of surviving photo stills, CGI reconstruction, and surviving audio to give the closest approximation of what the now long lost episodes actually looked like. None of this 2D animated stuff that the BBC officially licensed for their DVDs. The fan stuff is far superior and ultimately leaves you with the sensation you have actually watched the complete episode.
The scene is Mavic Chen’s last. Having been locked up by the Daleks, he has escaped and like a true sychophant believes this is just a misunderstanding that he can rectify by turning over the Doctor’s companions. He rants and raves at the Daleks who, surprisingly, and chillingly, ignore him. They simply stare at him, with those bug-eyed eye-stalks of theirs and the impact is palpable. For once, the Daleks have nothing to say. Instead, they terrorize Chen with a cold, machine-like glare and you know that his time has come. What is even more powerful, is the added weight of knowledge that we have as viewers, knowing what the Dal / Kaled aliens are like, inside those machine housings, and how much they are relishing Chen’s madness before they fry him. All of this is conveyed by perfect timing in the Loose Cannon reconstruction, cutting to the still image of the Supreme Dalek’s silent, glaring response and their blasters. I think it is one of the most genuinely creepy moments in the entire series.
So, don’t think you can make friends with a Dalek. And definitely, do not try to mingle with one at a party.
We have been working to not only restore the Blue Milk Special website back to full working order, but also to set up the latest backup and WordPress protection software so that we can survive the ongoing evolution of web security. A very special thank you to Chris and Jamie or Sparking Design who have been our go to “web rescue team” for the last few years. As I mentioned, this has been expensive due to the amount of hours necessary to rebuild the site, research the conflicts, and find solutions. It is more than Leanne and I can afford alone, which is why I set up a GoFundMe for help. Thanks to a wave of support, we are already near our goal that should not only cover our expenses but put us in good stead to keep the website safe for the future. See below.
Here’s an excerpt from the GoFundMe campaign I’ve set up:
We’ve been publishing our sci-fi funnies for free online for over six years, bringing more than 700 strips, and hopefully more than 700 laughs to our readers. We have used our readership to support various charities and raise awareness of those in need. Along the way, we have made a ton of friends and given an outlet to our creative expression.
On Monday 17th of August, our website was broken when a forced upgrade was pushed down on us by our webhost. WordPress and the ComicPress theme that power our website are essential to keep it going, but the new version will not work with ComicPress without extensive programming by a qualified expert– our go to webdesigner. The website can not last long in its current state. We also need website backups and WordSafe protection to ensure we don’t lose everything before the next mandatory upgrade is pushed down by our webhost. The hours necessary for this work will be expensive and too much for us to handle alone.
As I mentioned above, Blue Milk Special is free for everyone and what little financial support we do get goes toward keeping the project alive. It’s not just 700 strips, blogs, and thousands of comments that are in danger of being lost. It is also 6 years of work and love. That’s why I am hoping that we will not be alone and can count on the incredible charity of our fans for support.
Our goal of $650 is only an estimate and the final cost could go well over that. But if any money is left over, it will go towards future website maintenance expenses and be of huge benefit to the project.
This is an urgent call to arms. If you can spare anything, then now is the time!
For a bit of fun, BMS in black and white.
Lets see him put the moves on Six.
Technically he could have been referring to Mavic to begin with, that outfit he is wearing could easily be mistaken for a skirt, and a Dalek could just be an older astromec droid, to the worlds’ greatest trooper-in-a-cape!
Daleks can’t even stand other Daleks if they’re of inferior genetic material. They were so angry at one human scientist’s decision to create a race of Daleks using human tissue that they sent a ship halfway across the galaxy in the middle of a war knowing full well it was essentially a suicide mission just to destroy a planet where they were making them.
Ah…yes, the joys of the audio adventures and books.