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The Dalek Emperor

Well it's no secret now that we have the dalek emperor in the story - but what does it look like?

Well when we filmed the main dalek control room a year or so back half the time was spent with the central control area with two dalek brain units hovered over it, and the last session was spent with the Emperor prop in place.

Due to restricted ceiling height and the fact that loads of special effects were to be added we only needed to use the lowest 7 feet height of the emperor.

And certainly it was a difficult prop to get into place - being in two parts was a sort of a help except that it meant that when assembling in the awkward space it was very difficult for those involved in putting it together to actually get out and back into the room from within!

Although the prop used was the bottom part of the traditional 1967 version it is by no means the same! The final raised dias and lighting assembly for the whole thing is enormous! We are still building the full fifth-scale model to be used in filming - and even in fifth-scale the final model will be something like eight feet high (so scale that up and it's 40feet!!!). So you will eventually see the emperor within a giant housing and lighting rig. The lighting rig was made a few years ago and tested and is now braving the elements outside until it pops back indoors for a repair and incorporating into the model.

[Ashley likes living dangerously leaving props outside - the third tardis console set had a lighting lower section which was left outside for three years in all weathers with very poor shielding and then it only needed one bit of soldering before it was used solidly over several days last January (2005) - and it was mains-lighting!!! He just likes to make props that will cope with anything!! (Don't worry peeps - it was tested carefully before use and circuit-breakers/fuses were checked first).]

The rest of the full-sized version is now in bits, with the black balls demounted although there are plans to reconstruct it complete with the head section on - more on that later if we make any progress there (there are some shots with Auriga and the Emperor behind him that could be remounted with the full prop as the original shots were problematical).

So for the moment we'll keep showing only arty shots of the prop (like the one here where the pipes are too small) and will show you images of the prop when we're satsfied we get what we're looking for.


navigation - you are in: sets props etc > the dalek emperor

The Dalek Emperor

Well it's no secret now that we have the dalek emperor in the story - but what does it look like?

Well when we filmed the main dalek control room a year or so back half the time was spent with the central control area with two dalek brain units hovered over it, and the last session was spent with the Emperor prop in place.

Due to restricted ceiling height and the fact that loads of special effects were to be added we only needed to use the lowest 7 feet height of the emperor.

And certainly it was a difficult prop to get into place - being in two parts was a sort of a help except that it meant that when assembling in the awkward space it was very difficult for those involved in putting it together to actually get out and back into the room from within!

Although the prop used was the bottom part of the traditional 1967 version it is by no means the same! The final raised dias and lighting assembly for the whole thing is enormous! We are still building the full fifth-scale model to be used in filming - and even in fifth-scale the final model will be something like eight feet high (so scale that up and it's 40feet!!!). So you will eventually see the emperor within a giant housing and lighting rig. The lighting rig was made a few years ago and tested and is now braving the elements outside until it pops back indoors for a repair and incorporating into the model.

[Ashley likes living dangerously leaving props outside - the third tardis console set had a lighting lower section which was left outside for three years in all weathers with very poor shielding and then it only needed one bit of soldering before it was used solidly over several days last January (2005) - and it was mains-lighting!!! He just likes to make props that will cope with anything!! (Don't worry peeps - it was tested carefully before use and circuit-breakers/fuses were checked first).]

The rest of the full-sized version is now in bits, with the black balls demounted although there are plans to reconstruct it complete with the head section on - more on that later if we make any progress there (there are some shots with Auriga and the Emperor behind him that could be remounted with the full prop as the original shots were problematical).

So for the moment we'll keep showing only arty shots of the prop (like the one here where the pipes are too small) and will show you images of the prop when we're satsfied we get what we're looking for.