So Davros…how’s it going?
The Doctor (Tom Baker) is intercepted by the Time Lords on his trip to Earth and learns that he has been selected to uncover the creation of the Daleks on Skaro. The Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) and Ian Marter (Harry Sullivan) discover themselves in the middle of a civil war between the Thals and Kaleds. When the Doctor learns a scientist named Davros has develop a new weapon known as a Dalek, the threat of the Dalek grows, and Davros’ ultimate goal sees no side to the battle.
Doctor Who: The Genesis of the Daleks falls during the twelfth season of the original Doctor Who series. It was a six episode serial running from March 8, 1975 to April 12, 1975. It followed Doctor Who: The Sontaran Experiment and has released as part of The Tom Baker Years collection of DVDs. It is listed as Story #78.
Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!
Doctor Who: Genesis of the Daleks is one of those longer series, but it actually moves a lot faster than some of the six part serials that get lost along the way. The story is pretty concise and has enough twists involving that the six parts seems more justified than some of the other series of that length. It has a pretty typical look for the series with the rock quarry and generic space-like halls making appearances.
The Daleks have always been the ultimate enemy of the Doctor and it is great to see their creation. is a fun enemy and he did return in . The idea that the Doctor would resort to genocide seems a bit unlikely (even if the Dalek accidentally ends up doing it). It just seems very out of character especially at this point in the series. The Daleks have caused a ton of evil, but it also seems to break the whole time paradox rule that sometimes is relevant for the characters in the series and other times is ignored. I like that they ended up doing The Terminator 3 solution by having time just “slide” with the Daleks developing later than previously recorded.
Oh for freak’s sake, Doctor just blow them up!
Doctor Who: Genesis of Daleks is a good story for fans of the series. It is often listed as one of the most popular stories in the series and fills in a lot of backstory in the Daleks’ history. It also is still important in the current Doctor Who stories where Davros has appeared again (and even encountered Sarah Jane Smith again mentioning this encounter). Doctor Who: Genesis of the Daleks was followed by Doctor Who: Revenge of the Cybermen.
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Preceded By:
Doctor Who: The Sontaran Experiment (Story #77)
Followed By:
