Finally the number one can be announced. It should come as no big surprise which is the number one Doctor Who villain/enemy of all time is:
1. The Daleks
Daleks look entirely robotic but are in fact cybernetic organisms or cyborgs, with a biological body encased in and supported by a protective outer shell of metal armor. They are armed and mobile. They are somewhat similar to a Cyberman; but unlike them, the Daleks' bodies have mutated so drastically from their Kaled ancestors they have lost all humanoid appearance, save for one eye. The Daleks share information using a sort of artificial telepathic network known as the Pathweb. The Dalek casing, originally called a "Mark III travel machine", can be separated into three sections. On the top is the Dalek's means of vision and communication, a dome with a set of twin speaker 'lights' on the upper part of the sides and a telescope-like eye stalk in the middle. This is attached to the mid-section by a "neck". On the Dalek's midsection, the gun stick and manipulator arm is attached. These provide the Dalek's means of offence and operating capabilities. In later models, the midsection is capable of swiveling. The Dalek's means of mobility, located on the lower body, is a sturdy base with a skirt-like structure of plates studded with globes. This allows movement and, in later models, flight. The lower shell was covered with fifty-six hemispherical protrusions, which could serve as a self-destruct system. The creatures inside are almost always Kaled mutants, which the Seventh Doctor described as "little green blobs in bonded polycarbonate armor". According to one account, the creatures inside the Dalek casing were originally known as Dals. Heavily mutated members of other species, including humans, also occupied the casings on occasion. The Imperial Daleks created by Davros during the Imperial-Renegade Dalek Civil War were true cyborgs, surgically connected to their shells. The Dalek creatures have no visible vocal apparatus as such and their voices are electronic. Their most infamous battle-cry is "EX-TER-MIN-ATE!", each syllable screeched in a frantic-sounding, electronic scream. Daleks also have communicators built into their shells to emit an alarm to summon other Daleks if the casing is opened from outside. The Dalek's eyepiece is its most vulnerable spot – as there is no back-up system if this is obscured, damaged or destroyed. The Dalek casing also functions as a fully-sealed environment suit, allowing travel through the vacuum of space or underwater without the need for additional life-support equipment. Due to their gliding motion, earlier models of Daleks were baffled by stairs, which made them easy to overcome under the right circumstances.
The Fourth Doctor and his companions once escaped from Dalek pursuers by climbing into a ceiling duct. Some models were able to hover, or fly under their own power like small spacecraft. The armour of the Cult of Skaro had temporal shift capacity, seemingly the only users of such technology during the Battle of Canary Wharf. The inner casing, in which the actual Dalek resides, also holds a life support system and a battle-computer for strategic and tactical knowledge. The Dalek mutant operates the casings manually. Once removed, other life forms can pilot one. While Daleks are typically small mutants, at least one member of the species, Dalek Sec, had extremely large tentacles and was pale green; he could produce a sac-like membrane that appeared to come from his mouth. It was this membrane that he used to absorb Mr. Diagoras and transform into a human-Dalek in the Daleks in Manhattan story. Before or during the Last Great Time War, the Daleks mutated even more, developing a large eye in roughly the center of the lumpy flesh that comprised its body and tentacles. Although they are nearly invulnerable, Daleks have several exploitable weaknesses. These change and vary depending on the Dalek type. Eye stalks are susceptible to concentrated fire; pride, arrogance, and a lack of imagination; the Movellan virus, high-powered energy weapons, and explosives; temperature extremes, insanity as well as a hatred of self-impurities, and other Daleks are all threats to Daleks; just to name a few. The Dalek race has existed for over 25,000 years. According to one account, "Dalek" was an anagram of "Kaled", the race from which the Daleks were genetically engineered. Ronson, a member of the Scientific Elite under the command of Davros, mentioned that the word "Dalek" had never been heard before the Fourth Doctor used it and then, hours later, Davros himself uttered it. Over the course of their history, the Daleks developed time travel abilities. The radio dishes which had originally been required to allow them to travel on surfaces without a static charge also vanished, enabling Daleks to move under their own power. The Last Great Time War was known as the final battle between the Time Lords and the Daleks. The Doctor was responsible for burning not only ten million Dalek ships, but every Time Lord apart from himself, and at least the Master. The Doctor said this event happened in one second. The Ninth Doctor incorrectly assumed that the entire Dalek race was wiped out apart from a lone Dalek that fell through time into the Ascension Islands. Other survivors of the Time War included the Dalek Emperor, the Cult of Skaro and a group of prisoners inside the Genesis Ark.
Daleks are a warlike race who have waged war across whole civilizations and races all over the universe. When the Eleventh Doctor was on the Dalek Asylum he considered the Daleks the most advanced warrior race in the universe. Due to their frequent defeats by the Doctor, he became a legendary figure in Dalek culture and mythology. They had standing orders to capture or exterminate the Doctor on sight, and were occasionally able to identify him despite his regenerations. The Ninth Doctor claimed that the Daleks also called him "The Oncoming Storm". The Doctor was also referred to as the Predator of the Daleks. Shortly before the destruction of the Dalek Asylum, Oswin erased all knowledge of the Doctor from every Dalek's memory. Daleks have little individual personality and a strict hierarchy. They are conditioned to obey a superiors orders without question. The most fundamental feature of Dalek culture and psychology is an unquestioned belief in the superiority of the Daleks. Other species are either to be exterminated or enslaved, and then exterminated when no longer necessary. The default directive of a Dalek was to destroy all non-Dalek life forms. Daleks even regard deviant Daleks as their enemies and worthy of destruction. The civil war between the Renegade and Imperial Daleks was an example of this. Each faction considered the other a perversion despite the relatively minor differences. This belief also meant that Daleks were intolerant of such "contamination" even within themselves. Despite this, Daleks felt offended by exterminating their own, and deviant Daleks would sometimes instead be sent to the Dalek Asylum, should their hatred be deemed pure enough. The emotional capacity of Daleks is limited to largely negative emotions (hate being chief among them), as human emotions such as compassion and sentimentality were considered to be weaknesses. However, they were capable of comprehending these emotions, and often used them to exploit their enemies. A prime example occurred with the lone Dalek in Henry van Statten's vault; while talking with the Ninth Doctor, the Dalek chose its words carefully, hoping to goad the Time Lord into initiating a physical attack on the chained mutant. Later, the Dalek played on an unwitting Rose Tyler's feelings of pity and compassion, leading her to touch it resulting in Rose Tyler's DNA being used to regenerate after sustaining injuries, involuntarily developing positive feelings. Its traditional Dalek psychology remained, however, and it ultimately self-destructed in disgust.
The only incarnation of the Doctor they have not faced off against is the 8th Doctor. The Daleks have the distinction of being the enemy to have appeared in the most Doctor Who stories of all time with a total of 33 story appearances.
