Genesis of the Daleks

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Region 1

DVD PAL
Region 2
VHS Video
NTSC PAL
(Doctor Who Story No. 78, starring Tom Baker)
  • written by Terry Nation
  • directed by David Maloney
  • produced by Philip Hinchcliffe
  • music by Dudley Simpson
  • 6 episodes @ 25 minutes each
Story: Attempting to beam back up to the Ark in Space and the TARDIS, the Doctor, Sarah, and Harry instead find themselves in the midst of the ancient war between the Kaleds and the Thals on the planet Skaro. The Timelord who intervened in their travels gets the Doctor to agree to alter the development of the emerging Dalek race, hoping to make them less of a threat to the universe in the future. But the Doctor will have to both wrestle his conscience and pit his wits against the brilliant and cunning crippled chief Kaled scientist Davros, who has no end of tricks up his sleeve.

DVD Extras include:

Buyers' Guide Review

by Martin Izsak

(A more in-depth analysis, containing "SPOILERS" and intended for those who have already seen the program, can be accessed here.)


At first, I scoffed at the notion that this might be the greatest Doctor Who story ever. After all, it does nothing on screen in any capacity to demonstrate that key element of the series known as the TARDIS, which does not feature at all beyond the title graphics. But as the stories get ranked, and one compares the merits of the best of the best across the various years and eras, "Genesis of the Daleks" continues to come out on top again and again. It is just so packed with a healthy variety of really good elements. Perhaps this is the best Doctor Who story ever. It has its imperfections, but what Doctor Who story doesn't? In the end, the sheer strengths in the content of the writing, combined with all the mythology, performances, and audio/visual cinematic style that the production manages to imbue it with, make a compelling case for awarding this story the top position. It is certainly at the top of season twelve!


Andrew Pixley's archive feature on this story indicates that writer Terry Nation was at first going to use his commission for another Dalek story to write yet another formulaic sequel. God no! Who needs that? Fortunately, he got encouraged both by the outgoing producer/script editor team of Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks, and by incoming producer/ script editor team of Philip Hinchcliffe and Robert Holmes to do something grander, until Nation himself was able to cite this story as his favourite amongst all his Doctor Who works.

Entrances....

Originally, the TARDIS was to have appeared at the beginning of this story, in some sort of limbo garden for the meeting with the Timelord messenger. I'm still unsure whether or not I would have liked this better. Decent visual materalization(s) with proper sound? Scenes in the TARDIS interior, juxtaposed with exterior scenes as the characters go through the TARDIS doors? Using the TARDIS to go from garden to Skaro instead of the far less interesting time-ring? One would probably need it all to outdo the excellent opening sequence that eventually got filmed:

We open immediately on Skaro, setting the scene with memorable imagery. The location footage in the first episode is really nicely done, an essential element for establishing the setting. Tom Baker's Doctor then gets a beautiful and unusual entrance as he emerges from the fog, unsure of where or when he is, and more importantly why, just like Sam Beckett at the beginning of any good Quantum Leap episode. The audience is allowed to clue in to the situation along with the Doctor, as a Timelord fills everyone in on what is going on. Not unlike Al the hologram from Quantum Leap either.

The two best stories of season one have now merged in this one: We have a time-travel conundrum reminiscent of "The Aztecs" (story No. 6), only this time the Doctor has taken Barbara's place as the one aiming to fashion a new history, and his mission will pit him against "The Daleks" (story No. 2) on their home turf once more. Wisely, his original position on time travel and becoming involved with history from "The Aztecs" has caved in after all, and he's learned to go with his heroic impulses instead. Barbara has at last won her argument, but good. A new history? "That's feasible," he reasons.

The first two episodes feature a lot of formulaic Terry Nation plot elements, with Sevrin taking one of Nation's typical archetype roles. We've also got a lot of capture and escape routines, and some travel through menacing environments with primitive creatures waiting to prey on our main characters. But "Genesis" keeps the pace up on these segments, and already begins laying the groundwork and background for the political thriller with heavy moral overtones that it will soon become. As usual, we have to wait for the end of the first episode for our first view of a Dalek, but this works quite well considering that the Daleks are only prototypical at this stage, and also that we get an additional entrance by the great half-dalek Davros as well.

"Perfect! The Weaponry Is Perfect! Now We Can Begin...."

More congratulations are due the production team with this story. Although the traditional full-screen negative-image effect is still applied to the targets of Dalek weapons fire, neatly maintaining a nostalgic continuity, this is now finally at long last augmented by a decent visual beam effect, in a nice cyan colour too. In fact, this is practically the first decent visual beam effect ever produced on Doctor Who thus far. The only notable exception that comes to mind is Morris Barry's "The Moonbase" (story No. 33) in which visual beams were necessary to show the gravitron deflect the weapons fire of some heavy outdoor cyber-artillery. Now, major Doctor Who monster-characters can use a decent effect in their everyday walk-and-stalk shoot-em-ups. To paraphrase Davros, this was a moment that lived long in history. ;-)

Avoiding the Usual Writing Pitfalls

By episodes three and four, the ante has been upped, and the political aspects of the story reach their height. Beginning with Ronson, the Doctor is very forthcoming and truthful about his origins, his opinions, his reasoning, and his intentions - practically the opposite of many a David Whitaker script. Also, just when you might think he'll be stuck wrestling fake clams in the cave for most of an episode to formulaicly pad the scripts, no, he instead convinces others over to his side with a refreshing swiftness and believability, practically the opposite of the endless philosophical head-butting of the typical Malcolm Hulke script. Now the story proceeds from this more interesting place to a form of political stake-raising and .... (hmmm, don't want to give too much away for those who haven't seen it; those who have can read the spoilers here.)

"A fascinating idea!"

Of all the confrontations between the Doctor and Davros in this story and the sequels, the one that develops in this story is by far the most civil, as both are keen to explore each other's character, and both make genuine attempts to convince the other of their point of view. Wonderfully refreshing!

The Doctor does miss a good opportunity though. (Ah, but that's another spoiler. If you've seen the program, read my In-depth Analysis version here, and I'll tell all.)

The moral arguments that mount throughout the story are a bit on the simplistic side, but carry with them an air of truth both in the way they are delivered, and in the varying degree of importance the characters are placing in them. And it all builds to a powerful and disturbing climax.

The Doctor is still given quite a bit to do in the final episode. As with "The Aztecs", there's enough action and energy to make the concluding episode very satisfying, philosophical, and unforgettable.

Although Dudley Simpson's music for season twelve has been vastly superior to his efforts during the previous two years, his score for "Genesis of the Daleks" still manages to disappoint me, most specifically that it is a lost opportunity for Simpson to create more definitive new themes, and one for the Daleks in particular. Many of the action sequences give Simpson's music centre stage, and he comes up with a good style for the music: appropriately harsh instrumentation (very reminiscent of Malcolm Clarke's later Dalek music) and a bit of beat and rythm.... but where's the thematic hook, the melody, the unforgettable anthem? Even the Grainer-esque pulses from "The Evil of the Daleks" (story No. 36), curiously enough never used in any further Simpson Dalek scores, would have worked better, but that too was lacking a memorable melodic voice.

Heathcliff Blair's re-recordings of Simpson's music help me to further appreciate Simpson's work, especially on "Genesis". There is more underlying thematic versatility in the score than casual viewing of the tv story usually reveals, but that's part of the trouble - it's too sophisticatedly subtle, and the various ever-changing themes never quite state themselves boldly enough to stand out and be easily remembered.

I do enjoy three particular cues from "Genesis", and they are all near the end of the final episode. One is a wonderful juxtaposition of the fourth Doctor's theme with Dalek style music (sadly not included on Blair's CD), and then the final two cues, the last of which ends on an absolutely perfect note. Awesome! :-)

Music by Dudley Simpson
Eight re-recorded tracks feature on:
Audio CD - Pyramids of Mars
Classic Music from the Tom Baker Era
Heathcliffe Blair
More info & buying options
David Maloney has worked his usual magic on this one. Looking at the elements separately, it is hard to say exactly what the director has done to make it so special, but put everything together as a whole, and the story carries a power and weight unique in the series. Mysteriously beautiful.


What more should one say? No one can truly tell you how classic "Genesis of the Daleks" is. You just have to see it for yourself.


This story has become available on DVD and VHS video. Click on the Amazon symbol for the location nearest you for pricing and availability:
DVD NTSC
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Region 2
for the U.K.		 VHS Video
NTSC for North America
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Read the Buyers' Guide Review for the next story: "Revenge of the Cybermen"



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