Genesis of the Daleks

078 – Genesis of the Daleks
Doctor Who serial
File:Genesis of the Daleks.jpg Davros unveils the first ever Dalek, using remote control
Cast
Doctor Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor)
Companion Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith)
Others Michael Wisher — Davros Peter Miles — Nyder Stephen Yardley — Sevrin Harriet Philpin — Bettan Dennis Chinnery — Gharman James Garbutt — Ronson Guy Siner — Ravon Jeremy Chandler — Gerrill Drew Wood — Tane Andrew Johns — Kravos Tom Georgeson — Kavell Ivor Roberts — Mogran Richard Reeves — Kaled Leader Peter Mantle — Kaled Guard Michael Lynch — Thal Politician Pat Gorman, Hilary Minster, John Gleeson — Thal Soldiers Max Faulkner — Thal Guard John Scott Martin, Cy Town, Keith Ashley — Daleks Roy Skelton, Michael Wisher — Dalek Voices John Franklyn-Robbins — Time Lord
Production
Directed by	David Maloney
Written by	Terry Nation
Script editor	Robert Holmes
Produced by	Philip Hinchcliffe
Executive producer(s)	None
Production code	4E
Series	Season 12
Running time	6 episodes, 25 minutes each
Setting	Skaro
First broadcast	8 March 1975
Last broadcast	12 April 1975
Chronology
← Preceded by The Sontaran Experiment Followed by → Revenge of the Cybermen

following= Asylum of the Daleks Genesis of the Daleks is the fourth serial of the 12th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that was originally broadcast in six weekly parts from 8 March to 12 April 1975. It marks the first appearance of Davros, the creator of the Daleks.

Plot

The Fourth Doctor is intercepted while travelling from Earth to the Ark by the Time Lords. He is instructed by them to interfere in the creation of the Daleks on the planet Skaro in order to avert a future time where Daleks would dominate the universe. The Doctor is given a Time Ring to use to return to his own time and the TARDIS when the task is completed. The Doctor finds that he is already on Skaro, and joins with his companions Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan. They find that Skaro is a war-torn planet; a generational war of attrition between the Thals and the Kaleds for dominance of the planet has laid waste to its surface and ecology. In the midst of a poison gas attack by the Thals, the Doctor and Harry are dragged inside the Kaled dome, while Sarah is left outside. Sarah eventually runs into the Mutos, the exiled descendants of those mutated by chemical weapons early in the war, but they are then captured by the Thals and used for the dangerous task of manually loading radioactive components into a missile they wish to launch at the Kaled dome. Sarah attempts to lead an escape plan by climbing out of the rocket silo, but the plan fails.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Harry are brought before the Kaled elite, General Ravon, the leader of the Kaled army and Security Commander Nyder. The Doctor attempts to explain that they are aliens, but Nyder refuses to believe it as their greatest scientist, Davros has stated there is no life outside of Skaro. The two have their possessions, including the Time Ring, stripped from them, and are interrogated by another scientist, Ronson, who discovers they are truly alien. At that moment, Davros enters the laboratory, and demonstrates his new "Mark III travel machine", which he later dubs as a "Dalek". After Davros leaves, Ronson confides in the Doctor that he and other scientists believe Davros' research has become immoral and evil, using unethical mutations to create the Daleks, and seeks their help in stopping it. The Doctor promises to tell the Kaled leaders about Davros and the Daleks if Ronson helps them to escape. The Doctor meets with Mogran and other Kaled Councilors, and they agree to halt Davros' experiments, but this is overheard by Nyder's spies. Davros responds by preparing twenty Daleks under computer control, and secretly meeting with the Thal leaders to give them a chemical that will weaken the Kaled dome and allow their rocket to penetrate it.

The Doctor and Harry mount a rescue attempt for Sarah at the Thal dome. They free Sarah, but as they escape, the Doctor is captured. He watches helplessly as the Thals launch their rocket and destroy the Kaled dome. At the Kaled bunker, Davros declares the Kaled race is dead, giving birth to the Daleks; he orders Ronson's death as a traitor that gave over the chemical secret, instructs the next scientist, Gharman, to remove compassion and pity from the new Dalek mutations, and send a troop of Daleks to the Thal dome to exterminate all those inside. In the confusion, the Doctor, Sarah, and Harry rejoin with the few Thal and Mutos survivors, and make their way back to the Kaled bunker. The Doctor instructs the Thals and Mutos to try to destroy the bunker, while he and his companions return inside. They are captured by Davros, who becomes aware of the Doctor's knowledge of the Daleks' future. The Doctor is forced to describe how the Daleks were defeated in the future to prevent the execution of Sarah or Harry. Davros records the information in order to prevent future Dalek defeats. The three are taken to a cell, where they realize they must also get the recording along with the Time Ring to prevent disaster to future time.

The Doctor, Sarah, and Harry are freed by another scientist, and told that Davros appears to have succumbed to the demands of the Kaled Councilors and will stop his research but wants to call a vote. While Davros pleads his case, the Doctor recovers their possessions including the Time Ring. On the vote, the remaining Kaled elite are split between Davros and Gharman, and fighting breaks out between them with Davros using the Daleks to kill those against him. The Doctor and his companions use the opportunity to rig explosives in the Kaled mutation room, but the Doctor is unable to bring himself to detonate it. Instead, they turn their attention to destroying the recording by capturing Nyder who they force to take to where the recording has been stored. After destroying it, they learn that the Thals and Mutos have prepared to detonate explosives to seal the Daleks inside the bunker, and have little time to escape. The Doctor returns to destroy the Kaled mutants; a Dalek inadvertently completes the circuit and destroys the room. The Doctor, Sarah, and Harry escape just before the Thal explosives go off.

Meanwhile, the Daleks have killed everyone except Davros in the Kaled bunker and started the production line against Davros' wishes. Davros, realising that his creations have achieved sentience, attempts to destroy the bunker, but he is shot by a Dalek and apparently killed. The Daleks announce that they are the superior race and will dominate the universe.

The Doctor, Sarah, and Harry say goodbye to the surviving Thals and Mutos. While the Doctor did not stop the Daleks, he does believe he has hindered their development for some centuries, and thus successful in his mission. The three use the Time Ring to return to their own future.

Continuity

• This serial forms part of a continuous series of televised adventures for the TARDIS crew, beginning from the end of Robot and continuing through to Terror of the Zygons.
• In Part One, Sarah refers to "the beacon", which is apparently intended to be a reference to Space Station Nerva. However, the space station does not serve as a beacon in that story, and is not called a beacon until the following story, Revenge of the Cybermen. The error probably occurred because Revenge was recorded before Genesis.
• The novelisation of The Evil of the Daleks by John Peel suggests that the very first Dalek seen is the one that exterminates Davros at the end of this story and eventually becomes the Dalek Prime mentioned in Peel's novelisation of The Daleks' Master Plan and then the Dalek Emperor seen in Evil.
• The Daleks and the Time Lords are later involved in a destructive Time War, alluded to in the 2005 series. Executive producer Russell T Davies stated in an episode of Doctor Who Confidential that the origins of the Time War date back to this story, where the Time Lords struck first. Davies also made reference to this attempted genocide as a root of the Time War in a text piece in the Doctor Who Annual 2006. The Doctor's own internal struggle with the morality of wiping out the entire Dalek race is revisited to a degree in the 2005 series episodes "Dalek" and "The Parting of the Ways" and is a story point in the 2008 season finale "Journey's End".
• The 2006 four part audio series I, Davros depicts Davros' early life, from his childhood, right up to a few weeks before Genesis of the Daleks. Peter Miles reprises his role as Nyder in fourth episode, Guilt.
• This story was referenced in the 2008 episode "Journey's End", when Davros again meets Sarah Jane, recognising her and commenting on her presence at the birth of the Daleks.

Production

• The title for the story when commissioned was Daleks — Genesis of Terror.
• Part Two is unusual in that it is one of the very few episodes not to begin with a reprise, and also one of the few to end in a freeze frame.

Cast notes

• Hilary Minster, who played a Thal soldier, had also played a Thal in Planet of the Daleks.
• Peter Miles previously played Dr. Lawrence in Doctor Who and the Silurians and Professor Whitaker in Invasion of the Dinosaurs.
• Stephen Yardley later appeared in Vengeance on Varos.
• Dennis Chinnery had previously been seen in The Chase and would later appear in The Twin Dilemma.

Reception

File:Genesis of the Daleks DVD cvr.jpg

The DVD version of Genesis of the Daleks released in 2006

The serial is described as "one of the most popular of all time" by the Outpost Gallifrey episode guide, and as "a gem of a story" by David Howe and Stephen James Walker in their Doctor Who Television Companion, and in a 1998 poll of readers by Doctor Who Magazine, over 2500 voters placed Genesis at the top of a poll to find the greatest Doctor Who stories of all time, and it has regularly featured in the top-tens of other similar polls down the years, such as in 2004 when it topped Doctor Who Magazine 's "greatest Doctor Who story ever" vote. However at the time of broadcast, there were some complaints about the level of violence portrayed. Mary Whitehouse's National Viewers' and Listeners' Association complained that Genesis contained "tea-time brutality for tots".

Outside references

• The Time Lord who appears at the story's beginning is costumed to resemble Death in Ingmar Bergman's film The Seventh Seal. Gareth Roberts has compared this character to the ghost of Hamlet's father, setting the protagonist (the Doctor) on a violent mission with which he has moral qualms.
• Dalek creator Terry Nation based the Daleks on the Nazis, and this episode abounds with deliberate parallels. A madman leads his own race to its destruction. He is supported by security services that ride roughshod over the military and anybody else that gets in their way. They dress wholly in black, and salute each other by raising their hands and clicking the heels of their boots together. Their bespectacled leader, Nyder, is cold-hearted and ruthless, and even wears an Iron Cross in earlier episodes before the medal later disappears from his costume. Much of the action takes place in "the Bunker".
• The discussion between the Doctor and Davros about the hypothetical viral weapon is regarded as a classic moment from Doctor Who. The debate is reproduced almost word for word as a homage in the computer game Discworld Noir.
• Martin Wiggins, senior lecturer and fellow at the Shakespeare Institute at Stratford-upon-Avon, suggests that the Doctor's indecision about destroying the Dalek embryos in the "have I the right?" scene is derived from The Brothers Karamazov.

In print

A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in July 1976. From 1983 it was designated number 27 in the series, although it was not until 1991 that an edition was released bearing that number. According to the DVD Text commentary, the "Genesis of the Daleks" novelisation has the largest print run of any of the original series. Template:Doctor Who book

LP, CD, VHS & DVD releases

• In 1979, the BBC released a condensed audio version of this serial as an LP. Tom Baker recorded newly written narration for this release. In 1988, this recording would be reissued by BBC Audio alongside a later radio play, Slipback. It was subsequently released on CD in a revised and expanded version by BBC Audio paired with Exploration Earth: The Time Machine in 2001.
• The serial was released on VHS by BBC Enterprises in 1991 with The Sontaran Experiment, and again as part of a box set of stories featuring Davros in 2001.
• It was released on DVD in the United Kingdom by BBC Worldwide on April 10, 2006 and in the United States by Warner Home Video on June 6, 2006 as a two disc special edition. It is also available as part of a box set along with Destiny of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks.
• In February 2011, AUDIO GO (the new home of BBC AUDIO) re-issued the 1979 condensed version on a single-disc CD as part of their "vintage beeb" range. This release is styled as a vinyl LP, and has been re-mastered by Mark Ayres.

External links

• Genesis of the Daleks at BBC Online
• BBC - Watch interview with Elisabeth Sladen talking about Genesis Of The Daleks
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• Template:Doctor Who RG

Reviews

• Template:OG review
• Template:DWRG

Target novelisation

• Template:DWRG
• On Target — Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks