Doctor Who - Genesis of the Daleks revisted - "YOU WILL TELL ME!!"

Alrighty then, time for another revisitation post and this one is again one of my earlier posts on this blog and the post in question is my review for the classic Tom Baker story: Genesis of the Daleks.

The story itself is now as old as I am (well actually a little older as I was born in June 1975 and this story was broadcast in March/April that year!) but is it really a true classic???

Well let's take a look.....

And yes, the usual warning is coming at you's....

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So the story starts with the Doctor being intercepted by the Time Lords while he is travelling to space station Nerva (from the earlier story in the same season "The Ark in Space").  The Doctor meets with a Time Lord (John Franklyn-Robbins) who tells him that he is on the planet Skaro, and gives him the mission to either stop the development of the daleks, or change their genetic make-up to ensure they don't become evil creatures to which the Doctor accepts.   

The Doctor is soon joined by his companions, Sarah (Elisabeth Sladen) and Harry (Ian Marter) as they look at their surroundings, which is a barren desolate warground, as the two warring races on the planet, the Thals and Kaleds, have been engaged in a thousand year war.  The Doctor, Sarah and Harry arrive in a trench and soon attacked by a group of Thals, but the Kaleds soon come to their rescue, however Sarah is left for dead in the trenches, and is soon found by a group of Mutos (Kaleds who are mutated and were banished from the kaled dome).  Sarah is later captured by a group of Thal soldiers who take her and one of the mutos, Severin (Stephen Yardley) for slave labour in the Thal dome.    

Inside the Kaled dome, the Doctor and Harry are taken for interrogation, and the Doctor has his belongings confiscated, which includes the time ring, given to him by the Time Lord, which let them return to the TARDIS.  The Doctor and Harry soon stand witness to the unveiling of the first prototype dalek at a presentation given by the scientific elite's leader, Davros (Michael Wisher).  The Dalek armed with its weapon is about to kill the Doctor and Harry, but one of the scientists, Ronson (James Garbutt) intervenes in time to stop it.

Later Ronson meets with The Doctor and Harry in the prison cells, where he admits his concerns over the dalek project, and how Davros has created a monster with no morals or conscience.  The Doctor and Harry escape from their cell with Ronson's help, as they agree to reach the Kaled councillors and express their concerns and insist they shut down Davros's research.

However Davros's personal guard and security commander, Nyder (Peter Miles) has his spies discover of Ronson's treachery and also of the council's decision to investigate his work with the daleks.  On this basis, Davros decides there is no alternative but to destroy the Kaled race and the dome, as he makes a journey to the Thal dome with Nyder and gives them a formula to destroy the Kaled dome.

The Thals agree to use the formula and the Doctor along with Harry arrives in time to free Sarah from the labour prison before the rocket is launched, but he is too late to stop the countdown, as the Thals launch their rocket and Kaled dome is destroyed.

Meanwhile Davros exposes Ronson as a spy and has one of his daleks exterminate him, and with 20 new daleks in place, Davros uses them to infiltrate the Thals dome and exterminate them.  Back in the Kaled bunker the Doctor and his companions are captured by Nyder and Davros interrogates the Doctor, realising that he is from another planet and time, he forces the Doctor to reveal his knowledge of the Daleks defeats and how they can be avoided, which is recorded on tape.

And from here the Doctor must try and find a way to stop Davros, destroy the dalek force and prevent them from evolving into the most evil dominant species in the universe, if he can....

THOUGHTS 

There are no two ways about the fact Genesis of the Daleks stands easily as one of the very best Doctor Who stories of all time.  The script is brilliantly written by Terry Nation, and the setting is great, a thousand year war between two warring races, and from this war the daleks are born.  And with the new hard hitting style of the show under the producer at the time, Philip Hinchcliffe, Genesis here shows the perfect mix of suspense and drama.

Terry Nation shows his affinity for fascism in Genesis as well, as the Kaleds are dressed in very Nazi-esque uniforms, and the Elite, lead by Nyder, are dressed in almost SS type clothing.  And he would later on use similar themes in Blake's 7 where the human population are controlled by the Federation, a fascist regime, who show ruthlessness to those who opposed them.

The daleks themselve are brilliantly introduced into this story and the concept of their creation is really well devised, with the daleks having been born out of mutations, and in one scene Ronson shows the Doctor and Harry a screen room where the dalek embryos are grown, and Ronson grimly tells them that is the future for the Kaled race. 

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section my contain spoilers!)

Getting on to the performances they are all top notch, starting with Tom Baker as the Doctor, who by this time had started to grow into his role.

In the early stories everything is still pretty dramatic, but Tom still allows for a few moments of humour here and there in the story and he has his share of great scenes and these include the one where the Doctor asks one of the elite Kaled officers, Tane for a cup of tea.  And in the scene as Nyder leaves, the Doctor says to Tane "Good. Well, now he's gone, any chance of a cup of tea? and Tane looks outraged and barks "WHAT??!!".  And the Doctor continues "Or coffee. My friend and I have had a very trying experience. Haven't we had a trying experience, Harry?" and Harry offers up "Very trying, Doctor!".  

And Tane sharply says to them "Step into the security scan!" and the Doctor says "What no tea?!" and Tane sternly says "Let me point out to you that you have no rights whatsoever. I have full authority to torture and kill any prisoner who does not comply absolutely with my orders. That is your first and last warning!" which leaves the Doctor with nothing else to say except "No tea, Harry!". 

Then there is the scene where the Doctor addresses the Kaled council members at a meeting as he warns them about the Daleks.  And the Doctor delivers a fine speech which goes "Some of what I will tell you relates to events in the future. Not only on this planet but also on others whose existence you don't even know of. But my knowledge is scientific fact. Now, Davros has created a machine creature, a monster which will terrorise and destroy millions and millions of lives and lands throughout all eternity. He has given this machine a name, a Dalek. It is a word new to you, but for a thousand generations it is a name that will bring fear and terror. Now undoubtedly Davros has one of the finest scientific minds in existence, but he has a fanatical desire to perpetuate himself in his machine. He works without conscience, without soul, without pity, and his machines are equally devoid of these qualities".

Then there is the amusing scene where the Doctor and Sarah along with Harry make their way back to the Kaled dome via the subteranean tunnels.  And Sarah says to the Doctor "Listen, I've been down tunnels before and I've just had a rather nasty thought" and the Doctor says "Really?" and Sarah says "Yes.  Suppose there is something waiting for us in there" and the Doctor says "That is nasty. Better not tell Harry, he's gone first".  And in a later scene, the Doctor, Sarah and Harry emerge out of the shafts into the same room where Davros and Nyder are and Davros greets them saying "Welcome back!" and the Doctor turns to Sarah and says "You were right, Sarah, about there being something nasty waiting for us!".

Another highlight from Tom is in his scene with Davros where he pleads with him to stop the development of the daleks, and as he realises he is looking at a madman, he grabs Davros's one hand.  And in the scene the Doctor says to Davros "Order the destruction of the incubation section!" and Davros says "Destroy the daleks?!  Never!" and the Doctor presses the button that turns off Davros's life support system, which causes him to wilt physically.  And the Doctor warns  Davros "I'm warning you, Davros, next time that switch stays pressed, now give the order!" and Davros says "Even if I do this, there will be no escape for you!" and the Doctor says "I'll take that chance, now give the ORDER!".

And lastly there is the scene where the Doctor is faced with dilemma of destroying the Daleks by detonating the incubator section and he asks Sarah if he is doing the right thing.  And the Doctor says to her "Do I have the right? Simply touch one wire against the other and that's it. The Daleks cease to exist. Hundreds of millions of people, thousands of generations can live without fear, in peace, and never even know the word Dalek!".  And Sarah tries to convince the Doctor that he should and if here were dealing with a disease of some kind he wouldn't hesitate, but the Doctor is still hesitant and he says to Sarah "But I kill, wipe out a whole intelligent lifeform, then I become like them. I'd be no better than the Daleks!". 

Next is Elisabeth Sladen, who is great again as Sarah Jane-Smith and she displays Sarah again as being a strong independent women, who in the scene where she is placed in the Thal labour camp, organises an escape attempt to climb up the rocket scaffolding.  Although later on the Thal soldiers capture her, and one of them takes a hold of her arm and kicks her feet away underneath, dangling her off the side of the rocket, and he says "I hear that people who fall from great heights are dead before they hit the ground.  I don't believe that.  Do you??".

And Lis has some great scenes aswell but I will for time restrict myself to the scene where Sarah pleads with the Doctor to destroy the Daleks in the incubator section but he is reluctant to.  And the Doctor says to Sarah "Listen, if someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives, could you then kill that child?!".

And Sarah firmly says to him "We're talking about the Daleks, the most evil creatures ever invented. You must destroy them. You must complete your mission for the Time Lords!".  However the Doctor still not sure says "Do I have the right? Simply touch one wire against the other and that's it" and Sarah pleads with him "Then why wait? If it was a disease or some sort of bacteria you were destroying, you wouldn't hesitate!".  But the Doctor still ponders "But I kill, wipe out a whole intelligent lifeform, then I become like them. I'd be no better than the Daleks!" and Sarah says to him "Think of all the suffering there'll be if you don't do it!". 

Ian Marter is also great once more as Harry and for once is actually shown to be a bit more adept at dealing with the action and situations, and less clumsy as he was before.  Although there is still that laughable scene where he get's his foot caught in one of the giant clams in the caves, and he later says "Why is it always me that puts a foot in it??!".

Other good moments from Ian include the scene where the Doctor, Sarah and Harry near the start of the story wander around the wastelands and find dead bodies and mixed equipment.  And Harry observes the equipment "Radiation detector and a gas mask. The two things don't go together, do they?" and the Doctor says "It's like finding the remains of a stone age man with a transistor radio" and Harry jokes "Playing rock music!". 

Then there is the tense scene where the Doctor stands on a landmine, which appears to be inactive but it is situated unsteadily and runs the risk that it could go off so Harry uses some rocks to prop up the mine so the Doctor lift his foot off.  And in the scene the Doctor says to Harry "Harry, I'm standing on a land mine.  If I move my foot, it might detonate it" and Harry says "Don't move your foot!" and the Doctor says "I won't!".

And the Doctor then tells Harry to back up once he has wedged some thin pieces of rock underneath the gap but Harry tells him "No, Doctor, you'll have a better chance if I hold it firm" and the Doctor says quietly "Come on, Harry, don't be difficult" and Harry firmly says "Don't you argue, Doctor!".  And Harry tells the Doctor "Now just lift your foot very, very gently" and the Doctor does so and nothing happens and the Doctor relaxes, smiles and looks to Harry and says "Thank you, Harry" and Harry says "My pleasure!". 

As for the guest cast members Peter Miles is great as the conniving and manipulative Nyder, Davros's right hand man, who remains loyal till the bitter end.  Miles has some good moments in his performance, particularly where he tells the Doctor what Mutos are "Mutos are the scarred relics of ourselves.  Monsters created by the chemical weapons used in the first century of this war. They were banished into the wastelands where they live and scavenge like animals".  And the Doctor says "In otherwords genetically wounded?" and Nyder says "Your views are not important". 

And later on in the scene where Nyder approaches Gharman (Dennis Chinnery) and pretends to be on his side by showing his concerns over Davros's ruthless ambitions with the Dalek project.  And Nyder says to Gharman "You know that I have served Davros faithfully for many years. I've never questioned anything he has ever done. But he has become a megalomaniac. He's ready to sacrifice everything and everyone, including us, just so that the Dalek project can be completed!". 

Then in the following scene Gharman meets with Nyder in private and he tells him his concerns in full and that he hopes to get some more men to back him up, which Nyder goes along with briefly.  And Nyder says to Gharman "Right, I'll try and get some of the military Elite on our side. Who can you count on?" and Gharman says "Kavell, Frenton, and Parran, but there'll be more soon, I'm sure of it!" and Nyder all of a sudden loudly says "Thank you!  That what I wanted to know!" and then out of nowhere Davros appears and says to a shocked Gharman "That information will prove most helpful!".

James Garbutt as the Kaled scientist Ronson is also very good and at times you feel sorry for his character as you realise he has good intentions but ultimately he is sure to be doomed.

And Garbutt has some good moments too that include the scene where Ronson expresses his concerns over the Dalek project to the Doctor and Harry.  And in the scene Ronson says "You see, we believe that Davros has changed the direction of our research into something which is immoral, evil. You see, the Elite was formed to produce weapons that would end this war. We soon saw that this was futile and changed the direction of our research into the survival of our race. But our chemical weapons had already started to produce genetic mutations".  

And Ronson continues saying "Now Davros, he believed that there was no way to reverse this trend and so he started experiments to establish our final mutational form. He took living cells, treated them with chemicals and produced the ultimate creature. Come with me!".  So Ronson leads the Doctor and Harry to the incubation unit where he shows them a screen door containing inside the Dalek embryos.  And Ronson says to the Doctor "Now this is what the Kaleds will become" and the Doctor and Harry look and see something green slithering and making growling noises and Ronson grimly says to them "That is our future!" and the Doctor quietly says "You've got troubles!". 

Guy Siner, who plays the young General Raven, gives a decent account of himself, although his main scene is a bit over the top when he angrily shouts about how they will defeat the Thals.  And Raven in the scene rants "When victory is ours, we'll wipe every trace of the Thals and their city from the face of this land!  We will avenge the deaths of all Kaleds who've fallen in the cause of right and justice, and build a peace which will be a monument to their sacrifice!  Our battle cry will be, "TOTAL EXTERMINATION OF THE THALS!".

Stephen Yardley also does well in his role as the sympathetic Muto, Sevrin, who helps out Sarah when they are captured.

Yardley's most notable scene is his first where Sevrin and one of his fellow Mutos, Gerrill find Sarah unconscious in the wastelands.  And Sevrin says to Gerrill "She's beautiful. No deformities, no imperfections" and Gerrill says "She is a norm!  All norms are our enemies!  Kill her for what she has done to her kind!".  However Sevrin refuses and says "No, why? Why must we always destroy beauty? Why kill another creature because it is not in our image?!" but Gerrill angrily says "Kill her!  It is the law. All norms must die!" and he produces a knife and says "And if you won't, I will!" and the two of them struggle but are interrupted by patrolling Thals who shoot Gerrill who tries to escape, leaving Sevrin and Sarah to be captured. 

As for Harriet Philpin as the Thal girl, Bettan, she does OK with the role although she really isn't given much to work with as her part is fairly small and her character isn't really that interesting (but this isn't really Harriet's fault as it probably boils down to Terry Nation underwriting her character).

Tom Georgeson is also very good in his role as the Kaled scientist, Kavell, who joins Gharman in his revolt against Davros's ruthless development of the Daleks.  And Tom has some good moments too that include the one where Kavell quietly tells Ronson he knows that he helped the Doctor and Harry to escape their cell.  

And in the scene Kavell says to Ronson "Does Davros know the prisoners have escaped?" and Ronson says to him "I don't know what you mean.  The prisoners are in their cell" but Kavell tells him "Well, I have news for you. They've reached the city and made contact with the leaders whose names you gave them".  And Ronson looks surprised and asks "How do you know?" and Kavell grins and says "There is some advantage in being in charge of the communication system. All we can hope for now is that they convince the leaders that Davros' work here must be ended" and Ronson hushes with desparation "They must!  They must!". 

And last but by no means least at all is Michael Wisher as Davros, who is simply magnificent as one of the show's most memorable villains.  And despite the physical limitations that Wisher had as Davros, as he was encased in a half Dalek chair, and he only had the use of one hand (with the other curled into a limp state) his vocal performance is sheer perfection, as he produces the perfect mix of megalomania, hysteria and controlled manipulation. 

Wisher has various great moments in the story and to start off there is the scene where Davros does a demonstration of his prototype Dalek, who is about to exterminate the Doctor and Harry but Ronson interrupts and turns off Davros's power switch for the Dalek, leaving the crippled scientist in a state of fury.

And Davros says to Ronson "You dare to interfere! You have the audacity to interrupt one of my experiments?!" and Ronson anxiously says "But it would have destroyed them!" but Davros with rising anger shouts "So you think the saving of a worthless life more important than the progress we have made? My creature showed a natural desire, an instinct to destroy, and YOU INTERCEDED!! YOU WILL BE PUNISHED FOR THIS!!".

And one of Wisher's best scenes is where Davros interrogates the Doctor on his knowledge of the Daleks, and he says to him "Now, you will tell me the reason for every Dalek defeat. With that knowledge I will program them, with that knowledge they will know their mistakes and how to avoid them, with that knowledge there will be no defeats! WE WILL BEGIN!".  And the Doctor pleads with Davros saying "Davros, if I tell you what you want to know I will betray millions of people in the future.  I can't do that!" but Davros angrily shouts at him "But you can!  You will tell me!!  You will tell me!!  YOU WILL TELL ME!!".    

Also in the scene where the Doctor asks Davros if he would have created a virus that would kill all life, would he use it and Davros admits he would.  And Wisher here delivers a chilling speech as Davros says "Yes. Yes! To hold in my hand a capsule that contains such power, to know that life and death on such a scale was my choice. To know that the tiny pressure on my thumb, enough to break the glass, would end everything! Yes, I WOULD do it! That power would set me up above the gods. AND THROUGH THE DALEKS I SHALL HAVE THAT POWER!".

And in the next moment Nyder knocks out the Doctor and asks Davros "What do you want done with this?" and Davros says "For the moment he must be kept alive. He has knowledge that is vital to our future, and I will drain every last detail of it from his mind!  And then, he will learn the true meaning of pain!".  

And last of all there is the scene where Davros makes a final plea to the Kaled scientists and personnel who are against him.  And Davros angrily says "Do you believe that I would let a lifetime's work be ended by the will of spineless fools like you?!  You have won nothing!  I allowed this charade to be played out for one reason only. To find those men who were truly loyal to me and to discover those who would betray me!  We, I shall GO ON!!". 

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC 

In terms of the direction David Maloney, a regular director with the show, well he rarely puts a foot wrong here, as he keeps the mood of the story as intense and brooding as you could hope for.  And Maloney was no stranger to directing some of the show's best classics such as The Talons of Weng Chiang, The Mind Robber, The Deadly Assassin and of course this one.    

And as for the incidental music, by the regular composer, Dudley Simpson, again there are some great passages of music, especially in the scenes with the daleks being introduced and overall he produces here one of his best scores for the show.  And by this time Simpson had gotten away from the cheesier sounding incidental music he scored during the Pertwee era and in the early Baker era he started to introduce a far more intense and dramatic sound for the show, which works just great.

FLAWS (Warning: this section may also contain spoilers!)

As for Genesis of the Daleks flaws.... well the story has a few but nothing too glaring or serious but it does have to be said that one or two of the cliffhangers are a bit weak, such as in episode two where Sarah falls from the rocket scaffolding and the picture is freeze framed, it makes for a pretty duff one.  Then there is the one at the end of part three where the Doctor is zapped by electricity when he attempts to sabotage the Thals rocket but I think a better climax would be when the Doctor looks on in horror as the Kaled dome is bombed and he says "And I sent Sarah and Harry in there!". 

Also there are one or two cheesy inclusions, one of which is the uninentionally funny inclusion of Davros's "destruct button" which has the words "Total destruct" written on it in the scene where he dares the scientists to destroy his work.  And it serves as unintentionally funny moment in an otherwise pretty dramatic and intense scene.

The inclusion of the giant clam is also really daft, as it is yet another crappy looking prop in the show, where Harry get's his foot caught in it, and the Doctor feebly uses a big rock to hit the clam and force it to let go of its grip on Harry.  Its another laughable moment in the story that serves as an unintentional laugh and you even see later on the Doctor telling Sarah and Harry to be watch out for them as they head their way back to the Kaled dome, yet in the scene the clams aren't even moving!

Another issue with the plot was to do with Sarah being exposed to toxic radiation during her time being held captive by the Thals and as she is forced to do manual labour to load up the Thals rocket with explosives.  And clearly you see how weak Sarah looks as she is affected by radiation and it makes you wonder how she didn't actually end up dying from exposure to it!  And when the Doctor turns up to save her, she suddenly becomes animated and springs to life like the radiation effects on were never there!

You could also argue that by the end of the show that the Doctor really hasn't accomplished anything with trying to prevent the Daleks from turning into an evil race, as they still will grow into the evil scumbags that we have come to know in the series, so you could aruge from that point of view the story was a waste of time!  However that doesn't stop it from being a classic does it?!  Nah.

And last of all I find it a bit strange how Davros somehow did not find a way to encode or ensure that the Daleks would end up not obeying his commands as they (SPOILER!) turn on him at the end of the story.  And its here where Davros finally realises that he has made a dreadful mistake in creating them without a moral conscience but only just a little too late it has to be said!  So in the end, Davros, despite his genius intellect really is a prize numpty! 

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, Genesis of the Daleks remains one of the great classic stories in the show's history and its a story that has just about everything with a great script, a great villain and great performances particularly from Michael Wisher, who delivers the performance of a lifetime here as Davros.

And yes the story has its niggles of course, which I've already mentioned above but they are totally outweighed by the story's good points and this remains one of the very best stories the original series had to offer, which is still great after 42 years.

Right!  So that is it for me now and I'll be back once again soon when I can drum up another review.

Till then, ciao for now!