Beslimed ancient Dalek head dredged from English pond

Alan sez, "Volunteers in Hampshire, England, discovered a Dalek head while cleaning trash from the bottom of a local pond!" They're keeping the pond's location a secret, because, "The last thing we want are sci-fi fans descending on the pond frantically seraching for other Dalek parts."

Sales executive Marc Oakland was pushing a rake around the bed of the shallow pool when he found the object with its distinctive eye stalk.
The 42-year-old said: "I'd just shifted a tree branch with my foot when I noticed something dark and round slowly coming up to the surface.
"I got the shock of my life when a Dalek head bobbed up right in front of me.
"It must have been down there for some time because it was covered in mould and water weed, and had quite a bit of damage.
"One of the dome lights was smashed, but the eye-stalk was intact and the head and neck stayed in one piece as I carefully lifted it out."

Dr Who Dalek found in pond (Thanks, Alan!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Environment • Happy Mutants

More at Boing Boing

Ants and Stars: Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic visit the Sardinia Radio Telescope in Italy

The Snowden Principle

gATO

Nosehat, dude, you nailed it! That would be an *awesome* Doctor Who story.

And… “I got the shock of my life” must be British slang for “I shat my pants”. You know you would.
Ian Holmes

Surely the burning question when finding a “Dalek fossil” is: did the Dalek travel backwards in time using Dalek technology (albeit raided from the Time Lords), or did it hitch-hike in a Tardis or another civilization’s time vehicle?
Keeper of the Lantern

Ian:
You are close to the truth!

In the 22nd Century deranged Dr Who fanboys will utilize all of the available technology to create an actual Dalek.

Of course, things rapidly get out of hand as the Daleks replicate and become an actual scourge to humanity. Eventually, someone figures out time travel…
dculberson

I seem to recall some of the Dalek props being destroyed / discarded. But I could be wrong.
Anonymous

Oh dear god no. I hate Daleks, even more than the Cybermen. You have no idea how bloody angry I get whenever The Doctor gets his chance to finish them off once and for all and lets them escape. One day they’re going kill us all, and for what? Because of his stupid thrill of the hunt (for more episodes.)
ill lich

I wonder if the BBC did some filming in that pond, and maybe that head is all that’s left of a demolition sequence.
Hangie

I’m having Dalek flashbacks, Joel reported this last week:

gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/03/04/dalek-found-in-pond.html

Still, IT is a good story…
planettom

I think they should work this in to a future DOCTOR WHO episode.

Current day, a Dalek corpse is pulled from a pond.

The Doctor then has to go back in time and stop a Dalek invasion, by taking one out in a rowboat and disposing of it, Fredo-style.
13strong

I’m wondering how the BBC failed to notice that one of their Dalek’s head was missing, or how they could just leave it in a pond?

Bit odd.
bellebouche

Ex-ca-vate. Ex-caaa-vate!
blitz

Well from those eyestalk discs, it’s later than a Type V – the Colin Baker story would have been ‘Revelation Of The Daleks’, with the daleks being white and gold so it should be easy to figure out.
dainel

The head floated to the surface after he shifted a tree branch. So it didn’t just fell in the pond and sunk to the bottom. It was bouyant.

Does this mean someone actually used the tree branch to keep it at the bottom of the pond? Why are they trying to hide it there?
earbox

@kyderdog: There are also Robert Dalleks, but they’re from another branch of the family that changed the spelling.
Glyph

@#8: “I’m wondering how the BBC failed to notice that one of their Dalek’s head was missing, or how they could just leave it in a pond?”

From the pictures, I’d lay odds that this was a stolen or discarded fan-built replica, not an actual BBC prop. A number of things about the proportions are slightly off: the eyeball looks a bit too big and flat, the neck rings seem to stick out a bit too far, the dome lights are an unusual shape and slightly high on the dome. I’ve also not heard of any BBC props being unaccounted for, which I’d expect to have been reported somewhere if it was the case.

I possibly shouldn’t admit to knowing this kind of stuff.
semiotix

Dammit, #9! I came in here specifically to say exactly that.

Eh, I’m going to say it anyway. EX-CA-VATE! EX-CA-VATE!
alisong76

Obviously the Dalek was just hovering its way home after getting “exterminated” at the pub and fell in the pond. Tragic.
Anonymous

I like how the guy in the picture looks like he is dressed as a Federation soldier from Blakes 7.
alisong76

#21 – we have annual “Clean Up Australia” days here, where communities get together and literally clean up all the filth and garbage that lazy pigs leave behind in waterways, on beaches, in bushland areas, etc. Maybe he was involved in something like that?
Enochrewt

I asked it in the BBG post, I’ll ask it again….

Why is that guy raking a pond?
kyderdog

>Dr Who Dalek found in pond
Are there other types of Daleks?
nanuq

Does the BBC not have a proper procedure for the safe disposal of Daleks? It seems like an environmental disaster in the making!
nosehat

Holy cow, this is exactly how an old-school Dr. Who episode would start!

They’d establish a couple of characters who dredge this out of the pond. The characters would spend some time talking about it, wondering what it was, etc. Then they’d lock it up in a supply room somewhere. That evening, the camera would slowly zoom in on the dalek’s head in the dim light. Suddenly, the lights on top would sputter on just as the ending theme music started up!
edgeplot

Exterminate! (Sorry, had to.)
13tales

OMG! Final, clinching proof of the Dalek conspiracy!