Originally Posted By: Prometheus

The Daleks have always been "Meh" to me. Hand on my heart, the only three Dalek stories that I can watch more than once are Genesis of the Daleks, Dalek, and The Stolen Earth/Journey's End. For some reason, it seems to me that their earlier comparison with Nazis is what stimulated the cultural passion for them with UK fans. The rest of the world just sees them as very loud, psychotic, questionable robot-things. I've always liked the (original) Cybermen better, anyway.


One analysis I read was that Daleks were especially frightening to British kids (remember, it was originally a children's show) because they had no faces. Nothing that could be resolved into a face, an expression, anything. For some reason, that seems to be especially disturbing to many on an instinctual level.

Plus, they were the only race other than the Time Lords who could meet the Doctor on his own terms: they had time travel too. The 12-part story "The Chase" was a huge hit with the original fans because there was literally no place and no time for the Doctor and his companions to go in hopes of escaping their pursuers.