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I'm looking for the in-universe location of the Dalek shown below. The original article: Canny. A Computational Approach to Edge Detection, IEEE Trans. on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 8(6), pp. 679-698 (1986), is a classic paper and anyone who has worked with image processing or computer vision will recognize the original Canny Edge Detector algorithm published by Australian computer scientist and then MIT professor John F. Canny (now at UC Berkeley).

Here is prof. Canny's original paper (paywalled), and a low quality reproduction.

Some other monochrome Dalek images: http://www.themindrobber.co.uk/dalek-invasion-of-earth.html


below: Screen shots from here.

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2 Answers 2

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It's not an in-universe image. It's from the Dr. Who exhibit at Madame Tussauds wax museum in London, 1982-1986.

Dr. Fan "The Gene Lantern" posted a similar image on the Dr. Who North America fan forum:man with Dalek:

Clues: a) It was unlikely that the author would have had an screenshot from the TV series given the technology of the time, b) the image was not from either of the 1960s-era movies, and c) Daleks don't have human companions, and the people standing at the right rear looked like tourists looking at a display over a barrier. Only a few exhibitions were listed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_exhibitions prior to the 1986 publication date of the paper, so this had to be Tussauds, and there was a picture. (Based on Gene Lantern's reflection, the upper right in the image appears to be a mirror.)

And there's yet more detail on the quirky design of the prop on display from Dalek 6388 (which has a lengthy history of all the Dalek props and design changes):

Dalek Six’s shoulders, neck and dome were paired to the Exhibition skirt to become Dalek Six-ex, A disc was added to the top of the dome which sat around the pivot and the lights were replaced. Despite Madame Tussauds being a showcase for mimicry, the prop was inexplicably painted in a light blue finish with silver and black highlights – a colour scheme totally unheard of in the entire history of the programme. At some point during its stay the lights were changed again to the more usual ‘sidelight’ type although these were encircled by discs similar to that of the new addition on top of the dome.

light blue Dalek

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  • oooooh nice one Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 17:20
  • Yes very nice! It certainly looks like this is the correct location and Dalek. I'm getting dizzy scrolling up and back too many times. I wonder if the Dalek just hadn't been completely painted yet when the photo in the paper was taken, or a more diffuse light was used.
    – uhoh
    Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 19:09
  • The color photo and the OP seem to have different Daleks though?
    – Gnudiff
    Commented Mar 24, 2018 at 7:31
  • @Gnudiff Howso? It looks like the nicks in the black belt paint from the OP match up with the first color photo, though the Dalek looks more uniformly painted in the second color image. Commented Mar 24, 2018 at 20:40
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    @Gnudiff I think that's because the OP's image is shot from a little farther to the side, showing more of the length of the Dalek. The original props were about 34 inches wide and 43 inches front to back. Commented Mar 24, 2018 at 21:53
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I think this might be a Dalek warrior from the 1979 story, Destiny of the Daleks. Destiny features Daleks with a distinct elliptical plate between their 'arms', which is unusual. (When this is present, it usually has a similar colour to the surrounding armour.)

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Several scenes also feature a large circuit diagram (or similar plan) on the wall in the background.

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  • The hemisphere colors are not right, and I'm pretty sure there are no daleks with light spheres in that story. Moreover, the "circuit diagrams" do not match, nor are there any people in the background in the daleks' headquarters in Destiny.
    – Buzz
    Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 0:55
  • While the match isn't 100%, this is a very good sign!
    – uhoh
    Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 1:07
  • @Buzz --- I think the colours in the original image may be distorted. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of Destiny, so I can't check for a perfectly matching frame. Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 8:27
  • @IanThompson I've just gotten a hold of an electronic version of the original paper and updated the question. In 1986 I don't think IEEE was publishing in color, so this may be close to the best quality available for the journal article. There's no mention of color in the text.
    – uhoh
    Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 11:09

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