'Daleks!': The Famous 'Doctor Who' Villains Are Getting Their Own Animated Show

Every science-fiction franchise has its iconic monster. Star Trek has the Borg, Star Wars has too many to count, and Doctor Who has the Daleks. At first glance, these glorified salt-and-pepper shakers with a plunger look unimpressive, but something about these formerly low-budget creations have stuck in the public consciousness. They've gotten their own TV shows, movies, lunch boxes, and have even survived to become an important part of the modern-day revival of Doctor Who. And now they're back in the spotlight again with their very own animated TV series, Daleks!, the final piece of the ongoing Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious multimedia crossover event.

The famous Doctor Who villains are getting their own animated show, Daleks!, which will launch in November on the Doctor Who YouTube channel. Daleks! is the final piece of the multi-platform Time Lord Victorious story, an adventure featuring the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Doctors and fan-favorite companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) across novels, comic books, audio dramas, and even "immersive theater."

Daleks! will consist of five 10-minute episodes. The show stars Nicholas Briggs,who has voiced the Daleks on Doctor Who for 15 years and is a director on the Doctor Who Big Finish audio dramas, as well as Joe Sugg, Anjli Mohindra, and Ayesha Antoine.

"This latest, fantastic, thrill-packed venture into the world of animation, with the Daleks as the stars of the show, is something so many of us have been craving for years," said Briggs in a statement. "And for me it's been a marvelous challenge, as usual playing every single Dalek in action, but with the added excitement of portraying some beautifully written, leading Dalek characters. It's been a blast, and I can't wait to see the finished production."

Below is the synopsis for Daleks!

On the show, the Daleks' plundering of the Archive of Islos unearths something ancient and deadly. Soon their homeworld of Skaro is under attack and the Dalek Emperor is on the run. Can the Daleks defeat their adversaries and regain their planet, even with help from an old enemy?

It's unclear which Doctor would appear in this animated show, though the appearance of an "old enemy" suggests that the Doctor will turn up.

The Doctor has crossed swords with the Daleks for nearly 57 years, since the monsters' first appearance in the second serial of Doctor Who, "The Daleks," all the way back in 1963. The robotic-sounding, Nazi-inspired creatures would terrify children and make a huge mark on British pop culture, catapulting Doctor Who to success and turning the series into a sci-fi phenomenon. The Daleks, which were created by Terry Nation and owned by his estate, would become so popular that they would go on to star in their own comics, video games, TV shows, and even movies separate from the main BBC Doctor Who franchise (they would famously get to the big screen before Doctor Who ever did, with a series of Peter Cushing-led films loosely based on Doctor Who called Dr. Who and the Daleks). They've continued to appear in the Doctor Who BBC series (some appearances more effective than others) but it's no question how iconic they still are today.

Daleks! is created by Studio Liddell from a screenplay written by James Goss. It is a production by BBC Studios Digital.