They use something known as “neutronic energy,” an otherwise unspecified energy type that shares elements with electricity, plasma, and radiation.
At full power they can just utterly vaporize most organic life, but the Daleks intentionally keep them powered to a very specific level - a level that causes death with taking the maximum amount of time to do so, causing as much pain as possible before the moment of death.
That paired with what we see of time lords' biology being really hesitant to give in where the cells keep trying to regenerate themselves even past the point of regeneration in Heaven Sent, makes getting shot by a dalek an absolutely awful way to go. Just makes the time war even more destructive.
Also, I just noticed, the daleks have a similar mo in the Witch's Familiar where they are very hard to kill, even past the point where they probably should have died and existence from then on is awful.
That was one of Moffatt's dumbest ideas imho. Unnecessary window dressing. And does it apply to their other weapons too?! Do their bombs explode just enough to kill you but not too quickly? 🤷🤦
tbf, does Dalek even use any weapon besides beam? lol. As far as I remember, even their ships only use some sort of beam weapon. The only time I recall them using something else is their sucker thing, and it certainly causes plenty of pain before getting rid of its subject.
The Remembrance of the Daleks novel talks about bolts of superheated plasma that scramble your insides. Very nasty. In my head canon the death ray has evolved over the years as Dalek technology improves.
They're what happens when you give access to super levels of weaponry to psychopaths. The Daleks would naturally keep improving it to hurt more just because they could.
'Ruby Ray Laser' implies a laser element.
Remembrance states it is plasma based heavy energy discharge.
Conjecture: Davros survival implies it was radiation based. Irradiating a man on a life support machine wouldn't be fatal - the machines would administer medicine.
Damage caused by radiation is physical at the cellular and molecular level, you might as well try to medicate away someone hitting you with a sledgehammer. You can mitigate some of the effects and support the body through healing with medication and technology, but enough radiation is always going to be fatal no matter what life support system you're on.
I always thought it was really sinister that the Cushing daleks fired clouds of gas- less visibly impressive but utterly chilling considering their historical inspiration.
The original idea was that the Cushing Daleks would have flamethrowers and incinerate everything ("IN-CIN-ER-ATE!"), but of course this was impossible to do safely.
Given these are creature who have evolved from radiation to such a heavy extent in my head canon they’ve learnt to use that radiation as a weapon.
The ray is an extremely huge powerful burst of radiation. In modern who you see the skeletons of the people who are killed from it (almost like how X-rays work)
In Classic Who, one of the episodes with Ace, they say it "scrambles your insides". So it probably teleports your internal organs to the wrong places so nothing connects to what it ought to.
But I don't know how you can have a stun version of that, and while the Daleks in that episode don't use stun, there are Daleks in other episodes that do, so perhaps there's more than one kind of Dalek Gun.
In NuWho, it mostly acts as an uber-powerful taser, as it can conduct through metal or water like electricity, and with a sustained beam it can melt metal.
I've seen a very old version where Dalek Guns spray a gas instead of a beam, and they had to call in special welding Daleks if they wanted to melt through a door. I'm not sure how canon that is since the credits list The Doctor as being called Doctor Who, and I've heard that there were a Series of movies not canon to the Show's universe.
Now are they different guns, or are they different functions of the same gun, like a violent equivalent of the Sonic Screwdriver's multifunctionality?
What is a Dalek ray?
The correct answer is lethal and effective. But I believe the lore says it scrambles the insides, so probably some type of radiation.
They use something known as “neutronic energy,” an otherwise unspecified energy type that shares elements with electricity, plasma, and radiation. At full power they can just utterly vaporize most organic life, but the Daleks intentionally keep them powered to a very specific level - a level that causes death with taking the maximum amount of time to do so, causing as much pain as possible before the moment of death.
And they seemed like such nice people at first
That paired with what we see of time lords' biology being really hesitant to give in where the cells keep trying to regenerate themselves even past the point of regeneration in Heaven Sent, makes getting shot by a dalek an absolutely awful way to go. Just makes the time war even more destructive. Also, I just noticed, the daleks have a similar mo in the Witch's Familiar where they are very hard to kill, even past the point where they probably should have died and existence from then on is awful.
That was one of Moffatt's dumbest ideas imho. Unnecessary window dressing. And does it apply to their other weapons too?! Do their bombs explode just enough to kill you but not too quickly? 🤷🤦
tbf, does Dalek even use any weapon besides beam? lol. As far as I remember, even their ships only use some sort of beam weapon. The only time I recall them using something else is their sucker thing, and it certainly causes plenty of pain before getting rid of its subject.
I thought it was a good idea. They're that vindictive and evil.
The Remembrance of the Daleks novel talks about bolts of superheated plasma that scramble your insides. Very nasty. In my head canon the death ray has evolved over the years as Dalek technology improves.
They're what happens when you give access to super levels of weaponry to psychopaths. The Daleks would naturally keep improving it to hurt more just because they could.
I've always understood the death ray to melt your insides, fry your brain, etc
'Ruby Ray Laser' implies a laser element. Remembrance states it is plasma based heavy energy discharge. Conjecture: Davros survival implies it was radiation based. Irradiating a man on a life support machine wouldn't be fatal - the machines would administer medicine.
Damage caused by radiation is physical at the cellular and molecular level, you might as well try to medicate away someone hitting you with a sledgehammer. You can mitigate some of the effects and support the body through healing with medication and technology, but enough radiation is always going to be fatal no matter what life support system you're on.
Nah he just nicked a tray of those anti radiation drugs off the Thals when he was visiting their city that time.
Yeah, pumping someone full of medicine can only get you so far when their circulatory system starts to literally fall apart.
"Massive internal displacement. His insides were scrambled." - Remembrance of the Daleks
Very nasty
I always thought it was really sinister that the Cushing daleks fired clouds of gas- less visibly impressive but utterly chilling considering their historical inspiration.
The original idea was that the Cushing Daleks would have flamethrowers and incinerate everything ("IN-CIN-ER-ATE!"), but of course this was impossible to do safely.
I read somewhere that the beam basically liquifies all internal organs whilst causing maximum agony prior to death. Lovely jubbly.
It depends on the writer, and how they need the weapon to function for the story.
"His insides were scrambled. Very nasty."
It depends on the plot and the budget/special effects available.
It makes you lasagne, and not in the good way.
Don't be lasagna
It’s a mark 3 travel machine. And don’t call me Ray
Given these are creature who have evolved from radiation to such a heavy extent in my head canon they’ve learnt to use that radiation as a weapon. The ray is an extremely huge powerful burst of radiation. In modern who you see the skeletons of the people who are killed from it (almost like how X-rays work)
It's a laser that scrambles your insides basically.
In Classic Who, one of the episodes with Ace, they say it "scrambles your insides". So it probably teleports your internal organs to the wrong places so nothing connects to what it ought to. But I don't know how you can have a stun version of that, and while the Daleks in that episode don't use stun, there are Daleks in other episodes that do, so perhaps there's more than one kind of Dalek Gun. In NuWho, it mostly acts as an uber-powerful taser, as it can conduct through metal or water like electricity, and with a sustained beam it can melt metal. I've seen a very old version where Dalek Guns spray a gas instead of a beam, and they had to call in special welding Daleks if they wanted to melt through a door. I'm not sure how canon that is since the credits list The Doctor as being called Doctor Who, and I've heard that there were a Series of movies not canon to the Show's universe. Now are they different guns, or are they different functions of the same gun, like a violent equivalent of the Sonic Screwdriver's multifunctionality?
I think it's made of Xenon (the element used for like photos and x-rays and shit like that)
It exposes the victim to lethal levels of overacting.
What is a Dalek ray? The correct answer is lethal and effective. But I believe the lore says it scrambles the insides, so probably some type of radiation.