Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Two syllables of pure menace, barked in a staccato electronic voice. It lasted because a child can do it in a playground and nobody mistakes it for anything else. The word reduces the Daleks' hatred to a job description, which is part of what makes them unlike other monsters, and it shows how a catchphrase can arrive late and still define a creature.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Doctor WhoShow the scene
The Daleks' battle cry took a while to arrive. Terry Nation's mutants debuted in Doctor Who in 1963 and a form of the word, "exterminated", is heard in their first story, but a Dalek is not heard shouting "Exterminate!" until "Flashpoint", the final episode of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, which ended its run on 26 December 1964. That serial, set in London and Bedfordshire in 2167 with the First Doctor, has Daleks occupying the Earth. After it, the word became their regular way of describing the killing of individuals, and generations of British children have shouted it in playgrounds.
Sources (3)
- TARDIS Data Core: DalekThe catchphraseReference checked
- TARDIS Data Core: The Dalek Invasion of EarthInfoboxReference checked
- TARDIS Data Core: FlashpointBehind the scenesReference checked
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