Daleks - Why are they so weak?

[Rommie2006]

One thing that has been bugging me. We know Timelords are among the most powerful race in any form of published material (book, TV, movies). The Daleks were the Timelords archenemies. Presumably, they were of the same magnitude of power.

So why is it that Daleks can get fried so easily? I'm referring to the Season 4 finale, in which alternate reality Rose/Mickey/Jackie brought their huge space guns and fried a Dalek with one shot.

WTF? Earth tech energy weapons can overcome a Daleks defences? Aren't Daleks supposed to be one of the top civilizations too?

[Stark]

They're not really 'Earth tech'; they're almost certainly Pete's World Torchwood weapons, from stolen alien technology. Individual Daleks are powerful, but their war against the Time Lords was not an infantry action. I believe they simply nicked some technology which allowed them to fight the Time Lords directly and eventually in the Vortex. I mean, Daleks might not be particularly great, but they're a shitload better than Chancellery Guards.

Daleks in general do not have parity with the Time Lords.

[Parallax]

It could also be easily argued that the Daleks only posed a real threat to the Time Lords because those of Gallifrey:
a) Were insanely arrogant about their own capabilities.
b) Really non-interventionist in nature. They simply refused to interfere.

With a, they were actually probably right. They were capable of some insanely powerful feats. The problem, of course, was b ... they simply refused to take action when anyone else with even the smallest shred of common sense would have locked Skaro in a time loop bubble at a point in time before they achieved time travel capabilities.

Instead, the Time Lords first action against the Daleks was to send a committed pacifist back to stop their creation. That only delayed the Daleks advancement by 1000 years. A great deal of better alternatives were available but the Time Lords were just too damn silly to go with them.

[NecronLord]

WTF? Earth tech energy weapons can overcome a Daleks defences? Aren't Daleks supposed to be one of the top civilizations too?

That technology was specifically altered by the Doctor in doomsday to become an anti-dalek gun.

Even so, the Daleks only got lucky because some Time Lord moron decided to send a guy with a 'no kill' rule to wipe them out at their creation, instead of a big fat bomb, or the meddling monk or someone.

[Shroom Man 777]

These same Daleks end up creating shit that can threaten to wipe out all universes and have tech to put time-traveling gear in their damn shells. They are most definitely not weak and credit must be given to where it's due. I mean, damn, they even managed to deactivate the TARDIS!

Also, Time Lords would also die when shot by a big honking ray gun. Why are they so weak?

[dragon]

Well if you consider the orginal series the Daleks were taken out by rocket launchers and a few not so lethal items.
The new Daleks are a lot stronger but still aren't invincible. It takes specialized weapons to deal with them now. Granted the Daleks aren't as bad as those ugly critters with that thick armor that works for the shadow proclamation. Considering as soon as there magic tech that disable our weapons ceased to function normal bullets were able top easily pierce and kill them.

[Crazedwraith]

Well if you consider the orginal series the Daleks were taken out by rocket launchers and a few not so lethal items.
The new Daleks are a lot stronger but still aren't invincible. It takes specialized weapons to deal with them now. Granted the Daleks aren't as bad as those ugly critters with that thick armor that works for the shadow proclamation. Considering as soon as there magic tech that disable our weapons ceased to function normal bullets were able top easily pierce and kill them.

You're getting confused. The guys working the Shadow Proclamations for the Rhino in Smith & Jones, The Gedoon (on the moon!) The ugly guys that stopped guns from working were Sontarans, they appeared in Season 4 and were not working for the Shadow Proclamation. They were just Galactic Conquerors

[dragon]

Well if you consider the orginal series the Daleks were taken out by rocket launchers and a few not so lethal items.
The new Daleks are a lot stronger but still aren't invincible. It takes specialized weapons to deal with them now. Granted the Daleks aren't as bad as those ugly critters with that thick armor that works for the shadow proclamation. Considering as soon as there magic tech that disable our weapons ceased to function normal bullets were able top easily pierce and kill them.

You're getting confused. The guys working the Shadow Proclamations for the Rhino in Smith & Jones, The Gedoon (on the moon!) The ugly guys that stopped guns from working were Sontarans, they appeared in Season 4 and were not working for the Shadow Proclamation. They were just Galactic Conquerors

Oops my bad got the two mixed up.

[PeZook]

Let me put it this way: Hey, the humans can supposedly wipe out entire nations! How come they die when shot?

How is anybody gonna believe they can do all that when they can't even survive a bullet to the head?

So unrealistic!

[dragon]

Let me put it this way: Hey, the humans can supposedly wipe out entire nations! How come they die when shot?

How is anybody gonna believe they can do all that when they can't even survive a bullet to the head?

So unrealistic!

That's the thing they weren't being shot in the head. The bullets was going through their armor as if it wasn't even there. My body armor I had in the Army was better than their crap suits.

[Juubi Karakuchi]

Their capabilities can vary massively depending on their overall situation. In 'Resurrection of the Daleks', where they actually have to use human auxiliaries (in Dalek-themed armour no less), they are vulnerable to firearms. The Doctor comments on this in 'Journey's End' IIRC, stating that the Daleks he normally encounter are desperate scavengers, while those responsible for the Reality Bomb are part of a Dalek Empire at the height of its power. This analogy made some sense considering how much time-travelling the Doctor does. It also put me in mind of the ST Voyager two-parter 'Year of Hell', with different versions of the Krenim Imperium existing depending on which civilization Annorax happens to have erased from history.

[Shroom Man 777]

That's the thing they weren't being shot in the head. The bullets was going through their armor as if it wasn't even there. My body armor I had in the Army was better than their crap suits.

UNIT is a human organization that specializes in dealing with human threats, and upon learning that their firearms were being neutralized, they immediately got themselves new bullets that would be more effective in the situation. Stuff like bastic bullets aren't unheard of. Also, this organization has used frickin' superlasers to blow up floating alien island-ships and has a flying aircraft carrier.

How did the Valiant fare against MAXIMUM EXTERMINATE anyway?

[TC Pilot]

Considering a bog-standard Dalek in "Dalek" is an existential threat to near-future Earth, the combined firepower of Torchwood and Cybermen didn't so much as scratch the Cult of Skaro in "Doomsday," Davros' Daleks are on the verge of destroying reality itself, that they completely conquered Earth in a few minutes, and that we see them literally reshape entire continents in "Parting of the Ways," where, once again, their opponents' weapons are completely useless against them, and generally the very appearance of a Dalek makes the Doctor shit bricks, I'm not sure how anyone who actually watched the new series can go ahead and think "Wow, these guys sure are weak!"

[Patrick Degan]

In previous eras, Daleks made up for any actual physical weaknesses through either sheer weight of numbers or resort to strategems such as biowarfare to reduce the population of a world targeted for conquest. They had at one point managed to develop their own crude form of TARDIS technology ("The Chase") but either lost that capability or that Dalek nation was erased.

The Imperial Daleks of Davros ("Rememberance Of The Daleks") had improved armour (though nothing that could withstand an antitank shell), developed a specialised combat unit with a very heavy-duty blaster weapon (the special weapons Dalek) and possessed standard weaponry in their battleships capable of sterilising the surface of a world. The Imperials were wiped out, of course, when the Doctor used the Hand of Omega to burn Skaro.

Davros survived the destruction of his flagship and found some way to recreate his creatures, or found some units which were still alive on a base somwhere. They withdrew from time and space and spent centuries building up in both numbers and capability until they developed into the far more powerful Time War-era Daleks, with not only much improved armour but enhanced forcefield defences and a battleshell capable of 360° midsection rotation, eliminating the vulnerability of the limited firing arc for their blasters —and of course combined those capabilities along with their WMD with the swarm principle; sending out forces numbering in the hundreds of millions and in the end gathering their entire population of ten billion for the final assault on Gallifrey.

[mr friendly guy]

Let me put it this way: Hey, the humans can supposedly wipe out entire nations! How come they die when shot?

How is anybody gonna believe they can do all that when they can't even survive a bullet to the head?

So unrealistic!

I was going to say something along those lines, but you beat me to it.

Except I was going to use how come we get beaten in hand to hand combat by lions or apes.

Individually daleks can be tough, but they aren't superman level power. However their strength lies in wank technology, just like we have almost driven those animals into extinction because we have better technology.

[Batman]

Depending on what version of Superman and what version of Dalek you use, they actually are
And yeah, that line of reasoning is stupid. Star Wars humans are just as fragile as real world ones which is why they totally didn't have the technology to blast Alderaan into smithereens. Oh wait.