Feature by ALISTAIR M cGOW N
From the so-called ‘Dalekm ania’ merchandise craze that follow ed their 1960s screen debut, to the second Dalek invasion of toy shops in the wake of 2005’s TV revival, the M ark III Travel M achine has proved to be Doctor Who’s most enduring and marketable commodity. Daleks have spaw ned countless wonderful – and occasionally weird – playthings, from sm all bendy toys to lifesize, sit-in fairground rides.
Louis M arx’s ‘Tricky Action’ Dalek (aka The Mysterious Dalek toy) arrived just in time for Christm as 1964 and quickly became the market leader. Created by the UK arm of US toy giant Marx, but manufactured in Hong Kong, it had sold over half a million units by the end of 1965. witha cone shape lim ited by the era’s plastic moulding technologies, it borrow ed M arx’s longstanding ‘tricky action’ mechanism, which had previously pow ered everything from jeeps and locom otives to ‘M ickey M ouse’s Krazy Kar’, allow ing it to lurch around living-room carpets under its own steam (or rather, battery pow er). Its eccentric orbit fascinated kids for hours, sim ultaneously taking its toll on the Dalek’s fragile extrem ities and also any skirting boards in the vicinity. Available in silver and black versions, it was killed o by Terry Nation’s merchandise rights term ination in late 1967, but was revived in 1975 as the Robot Action Dalek in child-friendly red and yellow liveries.
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