Genesis of the Daleks

One of the most famous and most loved stories in Doctor Who history, this really deserves the fame and praise it receives. It is a fabulous story with brilliance in every aspect of its production.

The Doctor, Sarah and Harry are intercepted by the Time Lords as they try to return to the Nerva space station via Transmat. The Time Lord who speaks to The Doctor gives him a mission to interfere with the creation of the Daleks as they are considered a threat to the Universe. He is told he can stop their creation or influence their nature for the better. They find themselves in the middle of a war on Skaro between the Thals and the Kaleds. The war has gone on for a very long time and scientist Davros has created the Daleks in order to bring the war to an end. Davros is power crazed and has evil intent for his Daleks to become all powerful creatures. There are adventures as The Doctor seeks to interfere with Davros' plans. Finally when he has the chance to destroy the Daleks, The Doctor has a moral dilemma as to whether to destroy the Dalek race is excusable due to their evil or if it makes him as bad as the Daleks with such a genocidal act.

The script, story and acting are top class throughout. Davros is an inspired creation, a villain of the finest quality and acted amazingly well by Michael Wisher. Baker is on top form and his scenes with Davros and their intellectual duelling is gripping. The scene with the dilemma of conscience for The Doctor trying to decide whether to destroy the Daleks is genius and the story as a whole is exceptionally well written (combined efforts of writer Terry Nation and script editor Robert Holmes) and directed (David Maloney doing another super job).

One of the most exceptional stories in Doctor Who and therefore television history.

Not much can be said that has not already been written about Genesis of the Daleks. If you are looking for a definitive Doctor Who serial as an example of what the classic series was, this is it. The reinvention of the Daleks shown here proved to be the enduring legacy, more than the serials that came before and setting the bar high for everything that came after. Over 40 years later it is still engaging and a nearly flawless story.

Genesis of the Daleks is often thought of as a classic among us Whovians; so golden, in fact, that it would probably destroy an entire Cyberman fleet. It's obvious why, for Genesis of the Daleks is an excellent tale of morality that even manages to surpass the excellence of the very first Dalek serial 'The Daleks'.

One thing that's very clever about Genesis is how Terry Nation scatters hints throughout at what the Kaleds will become. The Kaleds already believe in purity. They already want to exterminate those whom they see as inferior. It's not hard to see that these Kaleds will become the machines of hatred we love to hate. Terry Nation was, of course, inspired by the Nazis when he created the Daleks; the Kaleds are already essentially Nazis here.

If the Kaleds are Nazis, then that makes the primary antagonist of this six parter, Davros, as their Hitler. And what a great Hitler he makes. Michael Wisher is brilliant; at all times, he seems every bit as intimidating as you would naturally expect for a scientist dictator desperate to see his new creation the Daleks succeed.

What truly sets this serial among the true greats of Doctor Who, however, is the gripping exploration of the Doctor's morality. The 'Do I have the right?' speech is an iconic and defining moment for the show, and for good reason too. The classic series isn't particularly known for its writing but the famous speech is as good as, if not better than the superior writing and dialogue of the new series.

Simply put: Genesis of the Daleks is a masterpiece and if you don't like it, you should be exterminated.

A grim origins tale made before origins tales became cool. I think all good stories have a hidden layer to give them depth and that is sadly what was missing from a lot of eighties Who. Rather than seemingly random placements of objects and concepts to provide flourishes to work that wasn’t suited to it a more preferable choice would to be to add philosophical and moral dilemmas, but not in such an overt way as to impose on the viewer.

I doubt any would watch for that alone but ‘Genesis’ never lacks pace and is perfectly weighted for a six parter. It never relies on chase scenes or special effects montages that add little or nothing to the narrative but instead seeks purely to entertain in the most thought provoking way.

Yes, there is the obvious Nazi and racial hatred subtext here, but for an example of what I mean look no further than the unstoppable disease scenario that The Doctor gives to Davros and how the tables are turned when he is asked to act out a very similar scenario by wiping out the Daleks before they have really begun. Obviously the story ends with the supreme irony of the Daleks destroying their creator, which was later undermined by having him in every Daleks story until the original series demise.

In the making of featurette for some stories, most notably the awful ones, you will hear how various things went wrong often in a calamity of errors. This is one of the few where everything seems to have gone right. The incidental music, lighting, sets, costumes and the story itself wrapped in some of the most scintillating dialogue the classic series ever produced are done with aplomb surely making this a stone cold classic by anyone’s metric. The performances are all brilliant but after reading that script how could anybody justify giving it less than their all. Both Nyder and not surprisingly Davros seem to take on a Dalek inflection when excitable and this is obvious for Davros but I wonder if this was incidental in the casting of Nyder. Either way it is a nice flourish.

Micheal Wisher really does steal the show and that is no mean feat considering the calibre of work that went into this production. A lot of credit must go to Nation for sculpting such an iconic yet ruthless, conniving, egotistical and sadistic despot, whilst adding a pivotal moment to both Dalek and Who history. This is all about Davros. 10

The Doctor is the one to start the time war, and is also the one to finish it.

tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Genesis_of_the_Daleks_(TV_story)

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 commented 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 2013 comic strip COMIC: Hunters of the Burning Stone recreates a scene from this story, and the Eleventh Doctor explicitly describes it as him firing "the first shot" in the Time War.

Davros having what appears to be an off button/suicide switch for his life support. Which needs to be held down by the doctor. So if Davros attempted to use it he wouldn't be able to hold it down but if he misplaced his mug of tea right on top of it he would be a goner ...

Although it can't be a suicide switch as it sets of an alarm for help, most life support systems don't have an on/off for obvious reasons hence the term "pulling the plug", I know BF tried to retcon this but it still strikes me as odd an impractical.