Daleks can't see red

The invisible dalek?

Back in the sixties I was reading a Dr. Who annual, as you do, and I happened upon the “Dalek Defence Guide” which gave helpful tips for surviving a Dalek invasion. Daleks were the number one science fiction baddy of the time, so I reckoned these tips were worth taking seriously. One of them was that, since Daleks can’t see the colour red, you should wear red clothes and hide behind a red post box if you see a Dalek going past.

This caused me all kinds of problems. If they can’t see red, how does this work? Does red appear black (in which Daleks would see you as black) or transparent (in which case the Dalek would see what was behind you). If they see red as transparent, how does the view of what is behind get through you for the Dalek to see. And how does the universe know to show the world behind you to the dalek, and not you behind the red thing?

Yep, I started over thinking things pretty early in life….

Update:

Thanks to the wonders of the internet I’ve found the original reference. You can read the entire Dalek World from 1965 here. I actually think the description makes a kind of sense. It’s not that red stuff is hidden, just that the dalek brain does not notice it as such. But I might be overthinking again….