Just a bit of fun, but should you ever feel the need to look up something from the Dalek Chronicles, and you can't be bothered to find/read/buy the paper version, here is your dispensable guide to all things connected to those classic comic strips. The source for each entry is noted at the end of the entry, along with any invention on my part. Please note that Children of the Revolution, Abslom Daak - Dalek Killer, Black Legacy and The Invasion from Space are not part of the Chronicles and therefore not included.

Articles dealing specifically with themes, oddities, speculation and the personnel behind the strip are included in grey boxes to separate them from the main text.

ACID RIVER - Unusual geographical feature of Skaro. It was here that Zeg was first ambushed by the Emperor during their duel. (Duel of the Daleks)

ACTINIC RAY SHIELD - Protective shield around the planet Phryne. Actinic rays heat the surface of approaching spaceships, presumably until they explode. The Daleks, however, counter attacked with Gamma Beta Ice Ray, which sounds much more impressive, and wiped out the Phrynian defences. (The Archives of Phryne)

AERO-VANES - Part of the mechanism of a hoverbout that keeps it in the air. If these become eaten by rust, for example, the hoverbout will drop like a bird with no wings. (Plague of Death)

ALVEGA - Closest of all worlds to Skaro, so also, presumably "deep in hyperspace". Alvega was a lush and verdant world ruled by the Controller and populated by plants called the Amarylls... until the arrival of the Daleks. They burned its vegetation and ultimately destroyed the whole planet by destroying the Controller. One might suppose Skaro to be now protected by an asteroid belt, but this is pure conjecture. (The Amaryll Challenge)

ASTOLITH - Handsome young hero. Astolith used to be a space captain before he was captured by the Krattorians and made a slave. He plotted against the slave traders with Sala and finally piloted the ship away from Skaro. It is likely that he and Sala became an item. (Power Play)

ASTRODALEK - A rather charmingly titled Dalek in charge of the Daleks’ space observatory. It was he who first spotted Skardal being created, though he was unable to provide a solution when the rogue planet started on a collision course with Skaro. (Rogue Planet)

ATREVOLVERS - Ground defence of the planet Phryne, capable of destroying Daleks, assuming of course that the Daleks don’t sprinkle its operators with deadly liquid then blast the atrevolver into tiny pieces. (The Archives of Phryne)

AUDIO METER - Device used by the Daleks to monitor sound on the surface of a planet. It can detect voice waves over a considerable distance. The Daleks used it on Alvega. (The Amaryll Challenge)

AUDS - Unit of measurement/distance. (Eve of the War)

AUN - Advisor to Ruler Gry on the planet Zeros. He appears to be a particularly trusted advisor, and possibly the one who devised the plan to send robot agent 2K to intervene in the war between the Daleks and the Mechanoids. (Impasse)

AUTHORSHIP - Terry Nation’s Dalek Chronicles were almost certainly never written by Terry Nation, just like most of the spin-off fiction from the Daleks. Indeed, Dennis Spooner and Donald Tosh would often complain that his television scripts were so thin that they virtually had to write those too, using Nation’s submission as a guideline. Credit for the Chronicles usually goes to David Whitaker, and it’s clear to see several of Whitaker’s writerly quirks in many of the published strips, such as his fascination with mercury, but it is unlikely that he is the sole author of all 104 instalments. The Pentaray Factor, for example, is very strangely structured, setting up Lurr with his foreteller device and his granddaughter Mirva as the clear protagonists of the piece, before switching it all around in the later episodes such that Mirva stands around doing nothing whilst Jared becomes a traditional hero. I would suggest that Whitaker started this story (the feisty Mirva has many similarities to Sala in Power Play) but that someone else provided the conclusion. This would also explain why the spelling of Pentaray/Penta Ray changes through the story.) Equally, in The Menace of the Monstrons, various plot threads are established before being quietly forgotten about in later instalments. Alan Fennell, the original editor of TV Century 21, claims he outlined “probably the first two or three stories which were basically how it all began. There was a lot of input from my side because I wanted to do it in the first place. I spent a lot of time with David Whitaker, the writer... David then took over. All plots as always are put through the editor anyway for approval so there was probably some input [after this] but I can’t remember what.” (Doctor Who Classic Comics Issue 19)

BRAIN MACHINE - The origins of the Brain Machine are unclear. The first mention of it in the original strips is in Duel of the Daleks where it decides that Zeg and the Emperor must fight it out. It returns in Plague of Death to provide a solution to rid the Daleks of the rust cloud. However, this solution causes the cloud to turn into a deadly virus that almost wipes out the whole Dalek species, so perhaps the Brain Machine's advice should be taken with a pinch of salt. It is interesting to note that this is the last time it appears in the strips. By way of justification, I show its destruction in The Menace of the Monstrons following the Engibrain attack, but no such explanation is given in the actual strips. The Brain Machine may have evolved into the Logic Machine, which appears to be installed in every Dalek saucer, but this is purely hypothesis.

BULOS - First city of Solturis. Interestingly, in the original strips, it is also on one occasion referred to as Buros. (The Pentaray Factor)

CONTINUITY - The Dalek Chronicles clearly do not mesh with Doctor Who continuity, where the Daleks were engineered by Davros, rather than being the results of an accidental Neutron blast that spontaneously mutates the humanoid Daleks over a two year period. However, its continuity actually diverges with the very first Dalek story too, as the Daleks’ forebears on screen are said to be Dals, not Daleks and the reasons behind the war are quite different. Still, the strip does appear to offer a reason for the Daleks being able to identify the Mechanoids in The Chase, and even a vague sort of reason why they occasionally call them Mechons (after their leader), and, as the final story ends with the Daleks discovering the location of Earth, we might assume that events are actually leading up to the televised The Dalek Invasion of Earth, though this isn’t necessarily the case.

CONTROLLER (1) - The vegetal heart of Alvega, linked to the surface plant-life via roots. The Controller resisted the Daleks' attempts at conquest and ordered the Amarylls to attack the Daleks. It later sent out a gigantic Worm to destroy the Daleks and their saucer. Finally, it confronted the one surviving Dalek, but the Dalek destroyed the Controller, and Alvega and itself with it. (The Amaryll Challenge)

CONTROLLER (2) - Elderly ruler of the planet Phryne. He set great store by the planet’s defences, but the Daleks still managed to invade. Under threat of torture to relinquish the secrets held by him and his people, the Controller elected to throw himself from a great height rather than let the Daleks have that knowledge. This set a fine example to Saf and the Phrynians, who presumably went to the mountains intent on hurling themselves to their doom. (The Archives of Phryne)

COSMOSCOPES - Dalek instruments for monitoring activity in deep space. They were used to track Skardal’s progress through space. However, they could not detect the planet when it moved behind Omega Three. (Rogue Planet)

CURSE OF THE DALEKS - Although the 1965/66 stage play The Curse of the Daleks probably stands outside of Dalek Chronicles continuity, it does base much of its backstory on details revealed in The Dalek Book, to which The Dalek Chronicles can be seen as a natural prequel. In The Curse of the Daleks, as in The Dalek Book, the Daleks attack Earth in 2129AD (not 2164AD as stated in The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and not 2150AD as stated in Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD) and we are even given a month - December. Mankind eventually defeated the Daleks, though not before London and Paris were completely flattened, but could not bring themselves to wipe out the entire race, so simply switched off the source of the Daleks’ power, leaving them dormant or in some form of suspended animation (and if we really want to mix up our continuities we could compare this to Davros’ long sleep prior to his liberation in Destiny of the Daleks).

An attempt by one of the crew of the starship Starfinder to revive the Daleks to their former glory in the year 2179AD, almost precisely fifty years after their deactivation, finally came to nothing when their power was disconnected again. How the Daleks rose again to become the most feared race in the universe is a story presumably told in The Mechanical Planet, a story in The Dalek World.

DALATOMIC BEAM MISSILE MACHINE - Device being tested by the Daleks. Rods are lowered into a container (content unknown). This produces radioactive beta-gamma rays. Unfortunately for the Daleks, the device was unstable and exploded. The beta-gamma radiation mixed with rust particles to produce a rust cloud that almost destroyed the Daleks. (Plague of Death)

DALAZAR - Continent on Skaro situated across the Ocean of Ooze. Dalazar was home to the Daleks and site of their capital city. (Genesis of Evil) (See Map for details)

DALEADER - Title given to the leader of the saucer commanders. Kind of cute. (Rogue Planet)

DALEKAURAL STATION EIGHT - Listening station in the Dalek City built after the Monstrons destroyed the original city. (Eve of the War)

DALEK CITY - Situated in Dalazar. The original city was destroyed by a neutron explosion. It is implied in the original comic strip that the new city of the mechanised Daleks is built on the same site. (Genesis of Evil and Power Play) This city was later attacked by a rust cloud (Plague of Death) and then destroyed by the Monstrons. (The Menace of the Monstrons) A new city was subsequently built (presumably on the same site again) with better defences. (Eve of the War) (See Map for details) The city is located close to the Lake of Mutations and was almost destroyed when a Terrorkon stole a missile and headed into the mountains. The Daleks were forced to evacuate the city. (The Terrorkon Harvest)

DALEKENIUM - Skarosian metal from which the original Dalek casings were constructed. This was later treated to produce Metalert. (Duel of the Daleks)

DALEK INFORMATION CHAMBER - Tall building on the outskirts of the Dalek City. Inside is a vast screen. It is in this chamber that the Emperor gloats about the impending destruction of Mechanus, and on the roof of this building that robot agent 2K was almost captured by the Daleks after listening in to the Emperor’s plans. (Impasse)

DAVIUS - Continent on Skaro. Davius was home to the Thals. (Genesis of Evil) (See Map for details)

DEAD FOREST - Never actually mentioned or seen in The Dalek Chronicles proper, but it features in the Altered Vistas adaptation of Impasse.

DESERT NORTH CONTROL - Desert tracking station monitoring the skies above Desert 23. It is manned by two Daleks who are in contact with a control centre inside the Dalek city. It was Desert North Control that first detected robot agent 2K’s touchdown on Skaro. (Impasse)

DESERT STATION GX.YUR - Dalek tracking station situated North-North West of the Dalek City. It was completely destroyed by attack from a rust cloud. (Plague of Death)

DESERT 23 - Barren area of Skaro (longlat Northwest by South) monitored from Desert North Control. It is probably not too far from the Dalek City. It was here that robot agent 2K touched down in his personal spaceship. (Impasse)

DET - Unit of power. The Magray Ultimate’s anti-mags must be increased by ten dets to stop the saucers being drawn along after the meteorites. (Rogue Planet)

DIMENSION ATOMS - Another wonderful Dalek discovery. Now for the science. When you add dimension atoms and substance particles to an hypnotic cloud, which is composed of thought patterns, you get an indelible image stored on the memory retina of the Dalek victim. Did you get  that? There will be homework, you know... (Eve of the War)

DOCTOR (WHO) - Never mentioned throughout either the Dalek Chronicles (obviously for contractual reasons) or the Dalek annuals. Perhaps the Dalek Chronicles take place in an alternative universe where the Doctor (and maybe even the Time Lords) never exist and the Daleks’ mastery of space (though seemingly not time, which is never mentioned, perhaps to avoid stepping on the parent series’ toes) is assured.

EDEN, ERIC - Artist who illustrated The Archives of Phryne. Eden studied with Frank Hampson in Southport and briefly joined the Dan Dare team in 1950. After a spell in advertising he returned to the strip in 1955, where he specialised in airbrush art. Eden also scripted many Dan Dare stories before he left Eagle. He went to work for TV21, where he drew Lady Penelope and Fireball: XL5 amongst other strips. He died at his home in Shropshire in 1983, aged only 59.

EIGHTY-FOURTH GALAXY - Galaxy which Skardal travelled through. It was whilst it was here that AstroDalek first detected its progress through space. (Rogue Planet)

ELECTRIC BARRIER - Forcefield (also known as a Voltastream) used to protect the Daleks from the Terrorkons on the Lake of Mutations, the place where the Daleks stored their missiles. (The Terrorkon Harvest)

ELECTRIC EEL - See Giant Electric Eel. (The Menace of the Monstrons)

ELECTRON DISPLACEMENT RECORDER - Device created by the Daleks for detecting UFOs as they enter Skaro's atmosphere. (Power Play)

ELECTRONIC ATTRACTOR - A device used by the Daleks to divert the Terrorkons while they install new missiles in the underwater launch bays in the Lake of Mutations. Possibly it emits some kind of mating signal, or perhaps it just sounds like food. (The Terrorkon Harvest)

ELECTRONIC WAVE PROJECTOR - Solturan device capable of recording the image displayed in Lurr's Bowl of Tomorrow. (The Pentaray Factor)

FLIDOR GOLD - Flidor is, according to the 1964 Dalek Book, one of Skaro's satellite moons. It is apparently "a dead world but rich in a blue veined gold metal".This implies that the humanoid Daleks had rudimentary space flight, but that this secret was briefly lost to their mechanised descendants. (Genesis of Evil, and I slipped in another reference in Duel of the Daleks, source The Dalek Book 1964)

FLIER - Solturan method of transport. (The Pentaray Factor)

GAMMA BETA ICE RAY - Not to be confused with Beta Gamma Rays, which are radioactive, the Gamma Beta Ice Ray is the perfect antidote for Actinic Rays. They wiped out the Phrynian defence network allowing the Daleks to land on Phryne. Presumably every Dalek saucer is equipped with a Gamma Beta Ice Ray projector. (The Archives of Phryne) Sounds like a 1970s ice lolly to me...

GELTIS - Nobleman of Solturis who planned to seize total power through the Daleks and the Pentaray. He was cousin to Lurr and eventually stabbed him and then blew up the house. Geltis was killed by Jareth who threw a rock at him and toppled him over a cliff. Not a very noble way to die. (The Pentaray Factor)

GEYSERS - See Mercury Geysers.

GIANT ELECTRIC EEL - One of the strange mutants left on Skaro after the war. They lived in the old watercourses beneath the city and, probably, in the Lake of Mutations. The Daleks used one to repower themselves before heading out to kick some Monstron butt. (The Menace of the Monstrons). Another giant eel (though possibly not electrified) features in The Terrorkon Harvest. It attacked the rogue Terrorkon and ultimately destroyed it, though possibly losing its own life in the process.

GRY - Ruler of the Zerovians who authorised the plan to send a robot named 2K to thwart the Daleks and the Mechanoids. Judging by his opening speech to his advisors, he has ruled “for aeons”, which suggests an incredibly long life span for the Zerovians. Mmh... a race of incredibly long-lived people who occasionally interfere in the events of the universe... Who does that sound like? (Impasse)

HELP - What to shout if you see a Dalek. Then run. Actually, better still, run and then shout help. You stand a better chance of staying alive.

HOVERBOUTS - Introduced in the sixth story, though it is implied that they have been in operation for some time, the hoverbouts give the Daleks total mobility, though the ones in this story invariably end up pulped on the ground thanks to the rust cloud. Hoverbouts contain aero-vanes which help them to fly. (Plague of Death)

HYPERSPACE - Apparently, Hyperspace is where Skaro (and presumably Alvega and the rest of the Skarosian star system) is located, according to Genesis of Evil. Hyperspace is a theory, as old as at least the 1940s, that suggests that space, which seems three-dimensional to us, is actually possessed of more dimensions and that, in another dimension, our space is actually curved and folded such that locations that seem distant are actually close together, providing you can escape three-dimensional space, hop into hyper-dimensional space, and then emerge at the point you desire. I suspect that David Whitaker, whose grasp of science is evidently tenuous at best, is not basing his use of the word on accepted ideas, and uses Hyperspace instead to mean an area of space a long way away from Earth (i.e. deep space).

IMPULSE SHIELD - One of the defences of the planet Phryne. Unfortunately, the Daleks destroyed it before the Phrynians could use it to defend themselves. (The Archives of Phryne)

INFLATABLE PLASTIC EMPEROR - The Emperor's cunning means of decoying Zeg amid the mercury geysers. (Duel of the Daleks)

INFLATABLE PLASTIC PENTARAY - David Whitaker's love of inflatables borders on the disturbing, unless he was trying to develop a marketing opportunity with a range of inflatable toys based on the comic strip. The inflatable Pentaray was used to substitute the original, which the Daleks stole. (The Pentaray Factor)

INFORMATION CHAMBER - A vast chamber in the Dalek city on Skaro capable of housing all Daleks. It is here that they are briefed with vital information. (Rogue Planet)

INSLI - According to the 1964 Dalek Book, this is a Dalek word meaning "It is ready". It is used by both humanoid and mechanised Daleks. (Genesis of Evil amongst others, source The Dalek Book, 1964)

INTERCEPTOR MISSILES - Dalek defence, presumably located aboard their saucers. Four missiles were launched from Phryne’s moon and wiped out four-fifths of a space squadron sent to attack them. Unfortunately the fifth-fifth plunged down on the base and wiped it out. (The Archives of Phryne)

INVENTIONS FACTORY - Zeg's workplace. It was hit by the Oquolloquox. (Duel of the Daleks)

INVISIBILITY SHIELD - The invisibility shield cloaked the planet Phryne and its solar system (but bizarrely not Phryne’s moon). However it was not a solid barrier and could easily be pierced, just as the Dalek saucer eventually did. (The Archives of Phryne)

JARETH - Prince of Solturis, and son to Redlin. Jareth was initially a lazy young man, but the coming of the Daleks, and Mirva's persistence galvanised him into action. He killed the treacherous Geltis and then destroyed the Daleks with the Pentaray. (The Pentaray Factor)

JENNINGS, RICHARD - Prolific but, in recent years, criminally overlooked artist. Richard Edward Jennings was born in Hampstead on 20 May 1921, and grew up suffering from asthma. At sixteen he earned a free place at the Central School of Arts, although he was only two years into the course when the World War Two broke out. Although keen to get into the Air Force, Jennings was unable to due to poor eyesight. Instead he was shipped out to the Middle East where he worked with Air/Sea Rescue.

After the war, he received a grant to continue his education but, having enjoyed travelling, he "packed a rucksack and hit the road," first working as a fisherman, spending his spare time painting murals in a boathouse. The owner of a large brewery saw these paintings and hired him to travel around Devon decorating pubs and small hotels.

After nearly two years he returned to London and, whilst delivering some artwork to an agency, he bumped into an artists' agent who broke the news that a new magazine called Eagle was just about to be launched. Jennings took the 'Tommy Walls' advertising strip that appeared in colour on the inside back cover, his first episode appearing in October 1950. Jennings wrote many of his own scripts and remained on the strip for three years.

In 1953, Jennings was offered a new strip: "Then came an idea from our brilliant editor, Marcus Morris. He called in Guy Morgan, the senior script writer of a famous film studio, to produce a new adventure series. I was asked to do the artwork and 'Storm Nelson' was launched. My experiences in Air/Sea Rescue during the war were a great help." Storm Nelson was a maritime adventurer whose adventures took him around the world. Launched on his first adventure on 2 October 1953, Storm would keep sailing his ship, the Silver Spray, through the pages of Eagle until 3 March 1962, with Jennings taking only a nine-month sabbatical in 1955-56. After a while, Guy Morgan (writing as Edward Trice) left the strip and Jennings once again took up his pen to write the stories as well as producing the artwork.

Jennings also drew other features, including 'Seeing Stars' for Eagle, 'The Fighting Tomahawks' for Junior Mirror (both 1954), 'The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe' for Swift (1957-58) and various contributions to Swift Annual. He also shared some of the duty drawing the advertising strip 'Adventures of the Bovril Brigade' (1961) with Frank Hampson.

With the end of 'Storm Nelson', Jennings switched briefly to scriptwriting only, adapting 'The Lost World' from the novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for artist Martin Aitchison; he returned to drawing again with 'Island of Fire' which ran in Eagle between July and October 1962. After exactly twelve years on the paper Jennings found himself out in the cold.

He spent a year drawing 'The Daleks' for the back page of TV Century 21 in 1965 and also provided illustrations for The Dalek Book (1965), The Dalek World (1966) and The Dalek Outer Space Book (1967), but slowly drifted away from comics. "For eighteen months [I] worked as a long-distance lorry driver. Not very exciting but I was broke! I took my ancient jeep up to the Yorkshire Dales where I travelled around painting pub signs and portraits. Obviously trying to recapture my youth!"

Jennings, with the assistance of his daughter, retired to Cornwall where he continued to paint and also study Eastern philosophies. He died of pneumonia at Camborne, Cornwall, on 19 January 1997, aged 75. He was cremated at Kernow Chapel, Penmount, Truro, with one of his unfinished paintings.

KENEX - He and his companion Yeq were the two Monstrons who landed on Skaro with their army of Engibrains intent on enslaving or destroying the Daleks. They almost succeeded too, but a lone Dalek triggered the volcano where the Monstron ship had landed, destroying the threat. (The Menace of the Monstrons)

KEST - Slave trading Krattorian whose ship landed on Skaro. He planned to collect a fortune in sand, but the Daleks had other ideas. Keen to save his own life, Kest made a deal with the Daleks: the secret of space flight in return for the deaths of Sala and Astolith, though he secretly planned to make off in his space vessel. He was burned to a crisp in the ship's rocket exhaust. (Power Play)

KRATTORIANS - Large humanoid slave traders commanded by Kest. When their ship landed on Skaro, all bar Kest was killed by the Daleks. It was the Krattorian’s spaceship, and its flight manual in particular, that provided the Daleks with the secret of space flight, although it would seem that Krattorian propulsion methods were not wholly suited to the Daleks’ casing, as the Daleks were forced to adapt the techniques and improve their casings. (Power Play)

LOGIC MACHINE - A computer aboard Searcher One, and presumably every Dalek saucer, that answers questions. This is possibly derived from the Dalek Brain Machine, as seen in previous stories. The Logic Machine aboard Searcher One gives Searcher One Leader the clues he needs to locate Phryne. (The Archives of Phryne)

LONGLAT - Dalek measuring unit for recording the position of an object (such as Northwest by South). Robot agent 2K also uses the term whilst in space. (Impasse)

LURR - Aged futuristic fortune-teller from Solturis. Lurr's Bowl of Tomorrow helped save the planet from the Daleks, though it couldn't help save Lurr, who was stabbed by his cousin Geltis. He was survived by his granddaughter Mirva who may later have married Jareth. It is interesting to note that Redlin says Lurr's Bowl of Tomorrow has been of assistance many times before. As Solturis has enjoyed one hundred years of peace, the bowl has either helped preserve that peace, or been used for relatively trivial matters, such as locating missing artefacts and giving reports on weather and natural disasters. However, its accuracy is clearly in some doubt as Redlin doesn't immediately believe Lurr's claims that the Daleks are bad news. (The Pentaray Factor)

MAGNETISER - Dalek device for magnetising metallic sand and covering the Dalek City. However, the magnetic field isn't strong as digging can uncover the city. (Power Play, and I added an extra reference in The Menace of the Monstrons)

MAGNETISER (2) - Also referred to in The Menace of the Monstrons where it is simply a large magnet on a crane, presumably used for righting toppled Daleks.

MAGNATRAP - Dalek device operated by three Daleks intended to capture robot agent 2K. As its name suggests, it threw out a strong magnetic field to pull the robot down to the ground and immobilise him. (Impasse)

MAGNETS - Magnets are clearly one of David Whitaker’s favourite devices (perhaps harking back to the puzzle in the cell aboard the Dalek saucer in The Dalek Invasion of Earth). They feature in Power Play, The Menace of the Monstrons and Rogue Planet. See the entry below for my ideas about Mr Whitaker and magnets...

MAGRAY ULTIMATE - The Dalek saucers in Rogue Planet were all fitted with Magray Ultimate, which allowed them to fill a meteorite storm with magnetic power. David Whitaker clearly had something of a love affair with magnets. I bet his fridge was covered with them. (Rogue Planet)

MECHANOID INTERCEPTOR - An odd Mechanoid job title given that the craft in question was given specific instructions not to intercept or engage the Daleks directly at any time. (Eve of the War)

MECHANUS - Hostile jungle world and home of the robotic Mechanoids. On TV it was also home to the giant fungi known charmingly as the gubbage cones. We like the sound of gubbage cones. The Emperor changed the course of Skardal and set it on a collision course with Mechanus. (Rogue Planet) Robot agent 2K later landed on Mechanus in an attempt to deceive the Mechanoids. He was detected by surveillance equipment on the roof of the Mechanoid city, which suggests that aliens regularly land there. (Impasse)

MEMORY RETINA - Every Dalek has one built into its casing. For exciting uses for the Memory Retina see the entry for Dimension Atoms... (Eve of the War)

MENOID - The Menoid Master of the Mechanoids, basically just another Mechanoid, though either painted a fierce red or permanently lit with red lights. It seems likely that the Menoid remains on Mechanus, out of harm's way. (Eve of the War)

MERCURY GEYSERS - Another geographic feature of Skaro, and the scene of another of the Emperor's ambush attempts on Zeg, this time employing an Inflatable Plastic Emperor. (Duel of the Daleks)

METALERT - New metal created by Zeg to overcome the problems of space travel. It was much stronger than the previous Dalek casing, capable of withstanding greater extremes of temperature and even acid and mercury. However, it was not immune to Liquid Air (Duel of the Daleks), nor yet to rust (Plague of Death). It also presented a slight drawback in that it drove Zeg completely crackers. As an amusing aside, Dalek Sec’s casing in the new series of Doctor Who was enhanced with Metalert on the express orders of the Emperor during the Great Time War.

METALSCAN - Unsuprisingly, this is a scan for metallic objects that the Daleks used to locate the stolen missile in The Terrorkon Harvest.

METEORITE STORM - Actually an asteroid belt around Skaro (possibly the debris of Alvega), which the Emperor magnetises and uses to draw Skardal away from a collision with Skaro. Rather improbably, given the lack of a polar north in space, the wrongly termed meteorites lie west to south west of Skaro. (Rogue Planet)

MICRO-TRANS - Dalek device for translating alien speech. The Daleks used it on Alvega to communicate with the Amarylls. (The Amaryll Challenge)

MIRVA - Granddaughter of Lurr on Solturis. Her initial trust of the Daleks was soon replaced with a determination to make Jareth listen to her. Together they discovered that the Pentaray had been substituted for an Inflatable Plastic Pentaray. She probably married Jareth after the Daleks had been defeated. (The Pentaray Factor)

MONSTRONS - Alien invaders of Skaro who, together with their Engibrains, entombed the Dalek City. They were destroyed when a lone Dalek triggered a volcanic eruption. However, Monstron planning is so poor it seems likely they would ultimately have failed anyway. They talk of enslaving the Daleks, but then set out to completely destroy them. They talk of sending a captured Dalek back with an engibrain inside, but forget to do this. They talk of dissecting the captured Dalek, but forget to do this too. (The Menace of the Monstrons)

NEUTRON BOMB - Powered by pure cobalt and responsible for the (trans)mutation of the Daleks after a freak meteor strike detonated the neutron store. (Genesis of Evil) It is also loosely and implausibly implied that the explosion created several curious geographical features such as the Acid River and the Mercury Geysers. (Duel of the Daleks)

OCEAN OF DEATH - Geographic feature of Skaro mentioned in the opening narration of Power Play. (Dalek Annual 1977) (See Map for details)

OCEAN OF OOZE - Geographic feature of Skaro lying close to Dalazar. (Genesis of Evil) (See Map for details)

OMEGA THREE - Nothing to do with fish oils. Rocky and uninhabited world distant from Skaro. Skardal collided with it. (Rogue Planet)

OQUOLLOQUOX - A fierce gale that occurs on Skaro once every six years. Its timely arrival during Zeg's experiment caused an accident that left Zeg irradiated and strengthened. (Duel of the Daleks)

ORIC - A planet distant from Skaro which the Daleks intended to make their first port of call following their expansion after the Monstrons' invasion. They planned to mine the world of its valuable metals. However, to reach Oric required the building of a space station for refuelling, and the Mechanoids did not take kindly to this kind of expansion so close to their empire. Alas, it seems poor Oric remained unexplored by Daleks. (Eve of the War)

PATROL COMMANDER - A Dalek rank within the Dalek City. (The Menace of the Monstrons)

PENTARAY - The ultimate weapon on Solturis which fires a mixture of Alpha, Infra, Omega, Ultra and Beta rays (hence the use of the word Penta, meaning five). It had not been used in one hundred years before the coming of the Daleks. The Daleks stole the Pentaray, substituting it for an Inflatable Plastic Pentaray. Geltis provided the Daleks with the operating key, but then turned the machine against his allies. Jareth used the weapon to destroy the Daleks and their saucers. (The Pentaray Factor)

PENTA RAY - It is interesting to note that the spelling of Pentaray in the original strip changes from this spelling to the above over the course of the instalments, perhaps suggesting a change of writer. (The Pentaray Factor)