Doctor Who: This Stained Glass Dalek is Proving to be Popular
By James Aggas
There’s a striking new Dalek design that’s proving to be quite popular, even with people who don’t watch Doctor Who.
During the past couple of days, I’ve noticed an image that’s proven to be rather popular. Not just on Doctor Who pages or groups, but on others completely unrelated to the show, too. Facebook page Steampunk Tendencies shared the image — at the time of writing, it currently has over 16,000 reactions, and almost as many shares. Friends that don’t often share Doctor Who images with me (usually, because I’m the one sharing them) posted on my wall to check if I had seen it.
“Stainley” the stained glass Dalek, designed by Chris Thompson for the upcoming audio story ‘Order of the Daleks’ (credit: http://www.jamieanderson.me.uk/)
I had seen it, of course. And I even knew the context of it, too. But I really was quite amazed at the reception this image was receiving from both fans and non-fans.
The image to which I am referring is one of a stained glass Dalek. Designed for the cover of the upcoming Big Finish audio story ‘Order of the Daleks,’ Jamie Anderson revealed more detail about its creation on his website.
"As part of my Doctor Who main range directorial duties for Big Finish, early in 2016 I was given a script by Mike Tucker entitled Order of the Daleks. From the moment I read it, I just knew that we had to take advantage of this amazing opportunity to create a brand new type of Dalek – one fashioned from bent lead and stained glass. I became slightly obsessive about this, and spent many weeks nagging producer David Richardson and executive producer Nicholas Briggs – asking them to let me bring the stained glass Dalek to life.Working with Big Finish and designer Simon Holub, I enlisted designer Chris Thompson to help bring my vision of Mike Tucker’s stained glass Dalek to life."
We then get some more detail from Chris Thompson on how he was able to reach his final design:
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"My main thought process was to create a “Gothic” Dalek and replace all the flat surfaces with glass designs. My initial sketches had palisades, crowns, spikes and other gothic elements, but we decided to dial a lot of these back for story reasons. In the episode itself these Dalek casings are made by very primitive monks so the focus needed to be on the stained glass and not the metal elements.The cloister style neck slats and the claw holding the eye did remain to add a bit of character."
The result is a fantastic design that a wide array of people can admire. I always enjoy it when something related to Doctor Who is so great, and executed so brilliantly, that it appeals to people who don’t watch the show just as much as the biggest Whovians. I’m also extremely excited to listen to ‘Order of the Daleks.’ It’s very difficult to attempt something new with the Daleks, especially in terms of design, but I think Chris Thompson really succeeded.
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