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projectorion
19-August-2005, 07:53 AM
http://www.angelfire.com/stars2/projectorion/daleks4.jpg

'Oh look! The neighbours just arrived!'

Are Daleks evil?

Not too sure about this new Doctor with a northern accent. I live in Australia. This must be one of the few shows that have ever been screened in Britain first. Past Time Lords have posessed a more upper class slang of greater suitability to a "Lord". Tom Baker is still my favourite. Still, the pommy guy currently joyriding in a blue telephone box does have his moments. And the new look of the Tardis(inside atleast) is kind of cool. He still hasn't fixed that chameleon circuit.

One episode had an encounter with the universe's remaining Dalek. Squirrelled away in some subterranean Area51 style Museum on Earth. Full of alien tech which had been falling to earth for centuries. The Dalek had crashed through the atmosphere and burned in its own crater for three days. Poor thing.

Apparently the Daleks nearly succeeded in conquering the universe. Two million Dalek Starships fell upon Gallifrey if I heard correctly. They were all destroyed but so were the Time Lords. One all? Now one Time Lord and one Dalek face off as survivors. The Dalek had fallen through a hole in time during that final great 'Time War', but I'm uncertain how the Doctor escaped.

Daleks are soldiers. Engineered bio-weapons. Cyborgs with advanced computing capability and weapons systems. Perhaps one of the more honest denizens of the Galaxy, their mission to defend their own race and eliminate or enslave any threat(everybody else) has never been kept secret. They are in fact quite open about it and will even squeal "EXTERMINATE" before opening up on an enemy. Rather decent of them to give a warning in my opinion. Almost like the old Knight's code of conduct. Quite capable of subterfuge though, if it allows them to conquer a world with less casualties. Sun Zu must be buried in those memory banks somewhere. How many times did they invade earth? They had remarkable success with many worlds by initially approaching them as 'friends'.

Looking at historical heroes such as Alexander the Great we might ask ourselves what it is we admire about them. What is the difference between Alexander and Ghengis Khan for example? What about Spartacus? Didn't he crucify a Roman legionnaire in the same fashion as one of his kinsmen had been tortured to death by the Romans? Isn't good and evil just a matter of perspective?

Weren't the Daleks just another race doing their very best to survive in a harsh universe and succeeding at it perhaps too well. Any World they couldn't conquer they destroyed. Just as the ancients used to kill children to prevent them growing up to avenge their dead parents.

In the episode I liked the way it got past the 'stairs' problem. I guess it had to evolve to overcome that problem eventually.

http://www.angelfire.com/stars2/projectorion/daleks3.jpg

Big Brother Dunk
02-September-2005, 06:57 AM
I get the impression that the Daleks enjoy destroying humans. You liken their "EXTERMINATE" to old Knights. I think it's more of a gleeful anticipation.

The Borg however, are not evil.

projectorion
03-September-2005, 03:18 PM
Evil is relative. Without evil you can't have good and vice versa.

Gleeful anticipation requires emotion. I don't think Daleks posess a great deal of that.

Borgs are worse in my opinion.

Which would you prefer? Assimilation or disintegration. Bit of a tossup?
:ph34r:

projectorion
04-September-2005, 10:53 AM
Looks like the Daleks survived the merge.

I had to hunt for the thread. It got bumped back a whole page. I notice quite a few forum threads that have been knocked down the lists. A pretty smooth transition so far.

Staiduk
04-September-2005, 12:55 PM
I'd say Daleks are not evil - as mentioned; they're weapons, not individual beings in the strictest sense. Is a gun evil? It can do evil things in the wrong hands; but has no intent in and of itself.

I'd say the creator of the homicidal saltshakers was evil; but not themselves.

Cheers!

P.S. - haven't watched it since Tom Baker - how did they get around the stair problem? ;)

MarkB
04-September-2005, 04:24 PM
Hi folks,
Here in the U.K. there was a comedy show (can't remeber the name right now) and one of the sketches involved the Daleks sort of "off duty". I can't go into too many details as this is a family board but they were a bit more camp than usual!
The new series is really good IMHO they are repeating it here in the U.K and my kids think it's great!
Oh, by the way, the Daleks can now levitate to carry on their business.

MarkB
04-September-2005, 05:09 PM
Just found it, the show was called "T.V Offal"

Big Brother Dunk
04-September-2005, 07:49 PM
Evil is relative. Without evil you can't have good and vice versa.

Gleeful anticipation requires emotion. I don't think Daleks posess a great deal of that.

Borgs are worse in my opinion.

Which would you prefer? Assimilation or disintegration. Bit of a tossup?
:ph34r:
Yep, I agree, evil is relative. And I agree that Borgs are worse.

AGN Fuel
05-September-2005, 08:34 AM
I love the new Dr Who and I'm disappointed that he will only be around for that one season.

I don't think you could regard the daleks as evil as they have been bred to be single-minded and emotionless. At worst, I suppose you could say they are amoral. Wouldn't want to share a flat with one, though!

projectorion
05-September-2005, 12:43 PM
Stavros evil? That's an interesting idea. Didn't the guy who invented dynamite get the nobel peace prize? How do we know our own governments aren't building Raptors or something worse.

EvilBob
05-September-2005, 01:52 PM
Didn't the guy who invented dynamite get the nobel peace prize?
Err, no. The guy who invented dynamite, Alfred Nobel, founded the Nobel Prizes.