International Dalek Remembrance Day Date in the current year: December 21, 2024

The Daleks were created by screenwriter Terry Nation and designed by Raymond Cusick. They are a race of cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the evil genius Davros. The Daleks are octopus-like mutants that travel around in tank-like mechanical casings equipped with various appendages and arms. Since the Daleks are extremely vulnerable without their casings, they are hardly ever seen in their natural form. One can even argue that a Dalek separated from its casing is hardly a Dalek anymore.

The Daleks used to be a humanoid race named the Kaleds. Over the centuries, they have lost not only their humanoid appearance, but also the ability to experience most emotions. Their dominant emotions are anger and hatred, and the primary goal of the Daleks is to conquer the universe and exterminate the races they see as inferior.

The Daleks have a high level of intelligence, but they are highly reliant on logic due to the lack of emotions and imagination, which is one of their weaknesses. Most Daleks have no names, although there are a few exceptions, and their society is build on a strict command hierarchy, where each Dalek has a specific place and must follow the orders of higher ranking Daleks, who have more advanced capabilities.

The Daleks have appeared in most seasons of Doctor Who Classic Series (except for seasons 7, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 23 and 24). In the first few episodes of the revival series, the Doctor was sure that he had destroyed all the Daleks during the Time War, but the sixth episode of the first season, titled “Dalek”, proved him wrong. Since then, the Doctor’s greatest enemies have appeared in almost all seasons of the revival series, except for season 11.

The appearance of the Daleks has not fundamentally changed since their introduction in 1963. However, there have been a number of different models and variations of the Daleks. In addition to standard Daleks, they include the Dalek Emperor, the Dalek Supreme, Necros Daleks, Imperial Daleks, Renegade Daleks, the Cult of Skaro (whose members possess a sense of individuality and have names), New Paradigm Daleks, and even Dalek/human hybrids.

International Dalek Remembrance Day is celebrated on December 21, because on this day in 1963, the Daleks made their first appearance in the second Doctor Who serial, known as The Daleks, The Mutants, or The Dead Patient. It is unknown who exactly came up with the idea of celebrating Dalek Day, but this person was most likely a Doctor Who fan. The holiday has even received BBC’s official blessing: in 2020, several tweets with the hashtag #DalekDay appeared in the official Doctor Who Twitter account, and at one point the account was even “taken over” by the Daleks.

The easiest way to celebrate Dalek Day is to rewatch your favorite Doctor Who episodes featuring the Daleks. If you’re friends with fellow Doctor Who fans, you can throw a Dalek-themed party and/or exchange Dalek-themed presents (action figures, mugs and T-shirts with Daleks on them, etc.).