I had such a great dream last night that I thought I’d share it with you as I think apart from being a great I think I might develop into something. It was all about Dalek Builders.

I arrived in some kind of warehouse not knowing what to expect. I was assured I’d be impressed. There were a handfull of young guys there waiting too (some on mountain bikes!) on an upper level that looked down on the warehouse floor. Not long after a Dalek was brought is. I was indeed impressed as this Dalek was really impressive, NSD style but in navy and dark red. Once the people down stairs had retreated to safe distance the Dalek came to life and started blowing up the obstacles placed near it and started shouting ‘exterminate’ in typical Dalek fashion. None the less it didn’t seem at all bothered by the upper level audience.

After the demonstration I was privileged to meet the ‘builders’ responsible. This wasn’t just a fan build of the Dalek prop, it was proper Dalek fan build, including mutant! The guys responsible were part of what was called Dalek Arena a big business real life underground robot wars with corporate sponsorship. They showed me posters and other merchandise specifically made to encourage people to bet on their Dalek come the next Arena day.

I asked to come along to this arena event and before knew it I was there.

Again the main action was set in a lower level, the audience on an upper level that could look down into a pit area about 20 square meters in size. But also on this upper area were stalls, each advertising the one of the 12 Daleks competing. There were posters and flyers everywhere, each promoting the various entries. Some were more classic Daleks, there was even a Shawcraft build involved which had very a traditional stall (I’m sure there would have been a poster made in MS word in there somewhere) plus far more expensive looking posters and Daleks. I remember also that one of the Daleks was sponsors by Pizza hut. Those who bet on it would get a free pizza if it won.

I didn’t get to understand the rules of the game though I assume it was a matter of survival not unlike gladiatorial games. The Daleks I did see included a suped up Day of the Daleks gold Dalek with some extra stuff on it’s shoulder section, plenty of NSD Daleks in various colours and a Necros white Dalek which had been badly damaged.

I new round seemed to be happening and a Dalek was brought in. As the starting bell was rung the Dalek came to life but started screeching out for help and was clearly distressed. It was a classic style black Dalek and people realised with astonishment that it contained a real Kaled mutant. I asked around and discovered that this was really rare but seemingly didn’t pay off when it came to winning. Having not given the matter much thought before I asked what kind of mutants the rest of them had.

I was told most of them were genetically reengineered animals, dogs and sheep etc. One of the NSD was a human, the builder’s late father in fact and some were fully automated/mechanised. The navy Dalek I’d been following and was powered by a pig based mutant. It was one of the favourites to win and would often charge at his opponents, sometime even head butting them.

As with most dreams there was no conclusive ending and that was pretty much all I saw and learnt. I was remarkably (and thankfully) detailed and has really inspired me to do some more CGI work. Might even make a good fan film.