Dalek Omnibus (1976)

Doctor Who and the Daleks Omnibus, edited by Dalek creator Terry Nation, was published by St. Martins Press in 1976 especially for Marks and Spencer. It featured a collection of articles and photographs related to the Daleks as they had appeared in Doctor Who, as well as abridged and illustrated reprints of the novelisations 'Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks' and 'Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks' by Terrance Dicks.

Though the novelisations do take up the majority of the book, the Omnibus is interesting for what else is included. A piece called "The Seventh Galaxy" provided some details about the Dalek's home galaxy. Another called "On Camera" provided photography and script extracts from Genesis of the Daleks. "The Forbidden Planet" described Skaro's two moons, Omega Mysterium and Falkus. A behind-the-scenes feature called "Doctor Who and the Daleks Media History" provided what would have been, at the time of publication, one of the first complete overviews of the various serials, stage plays and films in which the Daleks had appeared. "Invasion - the enemy within", a comic strip, was the lone piece of original fiction. The volume's new material was rounded off with a few diagrams of the anatomy of a Dalek and blueprints of a so-called "Dalek Deep Space Cruiser".


Altered Vistas, on their 'In The Comics' site, suggest the comic strip might be written by Terry Nation. It tells of a Dalek attack on an inhabited planet and the installation there of a huge Dalek army. As the book also contains an abridged version of the novelisation of Planet of the Daleks, this planet may well be Spiridon.

I've got my copy packed away somewhere, and as yet I haven't found scans of this avaiable online.

Worth it just for the cover (artist unknown), but lavishly illustrated throughout, including some quite good stuff. Not to be confused with the other, later, Dalek Omnibus, which contained three stories by Terrance Dicks... I'll do a post on that another time...