Genesis of the Daleks

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 among the gods. And through the Daleks, I shall have that power!

Genesis of the Daleks is generally regarded as the best Dalek story ever written by Terry Nation. Some go so far as to proclaim it the best Dalek story but you can usually get a good discussion going regarding The Power of the Daleks and The Evil of the Daleks. Genesis of the Daleks is actually so highly regarded as a story, that there remains constant debate as to whether Terry Nation actually wrote most of it or whether Robert Holmes filled in Terry Nation's outline.

I'm a little more inclined to think that Terry Nation is responsible for at least 95% of the story. It contains all his usual tropes and unlike some of his other scripts, he was forced to take time and go back to rework it after Barry Letts sent it back to him. I wouldn't be shocked if Robert Holmes did punch up a couple of scenes, especially the scenes between the Doctor and Davros, but I'm still willing to give Terry Nation the credit (or blame depending on your point of view) for the quality of this story.

Plot Summary
The Doctor's transmat beam from Earth is intercepted by the Time Lords who take him, Sarah and Harry to Skaro. There he is tasked with either destroying or altering the development of the Daleks in their nascent state. The Doctor reluctantly agrees and is given a time dial as his only means of returning to the TARDIS once his mission is complete.

Having arrived in the middle of a wasteland between the two principle cities, the Doctor and his companions maneuver through a minefield and arrive outside the Kaled city defenses. They are caught in a Thal attack but a squad of Kaleds kill the attackers and take Harry and the Doctor prisoner. Sarah is knocked unconscious in the attack and assumed dead by the Kaleds.

In the bunker, General Ravon threatens to torture them for information but the Doctor gets the drop on him. He and Harry manage to escape to the surface but are recaptured by a patrol and taken by Security Chief Nyder. He is interested by the advanced technology found in the Doctor's pockets and decides they should see Davros, the chief scientist and leader of the Kaled elites.

Sarah wakes and ventures back into the wasteland when she cannot find a way into the bunker. Sensing that she is being shadowed, she hides in an abandoned bunker. There she observes Davros and his assistant Gharman testing a Mark III travel machine, the standard format of a Dalek. Pleased with the test, Davros and Gharman leave but Sarah is set upon by a pack of Mutos, the genetic casualties of the chemical and radiological warfare between the Kaleds and the Thals. Some want to kill her but another objects. However before they can decide, the entire group is captured by a Thal patrol and taken back to their city.

The Doctor and Harry are taken to see the senior scientist Ronson after being stripped of the time dial bracelet. Ronson is skeptical but after seeing their scans, he becomes convinced that they are alien. His interrogation is interrupted by Davros introducing the Dalek to his science team. Davros permits the Dalek to operate independently and it means to kill the Doctor and Harry but Ronson stops it. Davros is angry at the interference but concedes that Ronson's interrogation would provide useful information. He permits Ronson to continue.

While Ronson's team extracts information from the Doctor, he gathers information from them. After it's over Ronson comes and apologizes. He has seen the Daleks that Davros is breeding and wishes to stop the Kaled people from becoming that. He agrees to help the Doctor escape if the Doctor can inform the Kaled government what Davros has been developing. The Doctor agrees and he takes the Doctor to an airshaft that leads outside the bunker.

In the Thal city, Sarah, the Mutos and a few Kaled prisoners are put to work loading a rocket with explosives. The explosives are unshielded and expose the workers to toxic radiation. Knowing that it will kill them, Sarah and the rest of the prisoners plan an escape. They knock out the guard and climb up the scaffolding to escape through the top of the dome. The guard wakes as they near the top and sounds the alarm. Most of the prisoners are shot down as they try to climb. Sarah slips and nearly falls to her death but hits a landing a few feet down. The Muto Sevrin helps her back to the top but are recaptured before they climb out the top.

The Doctor and Harry emerge from the airshaft in a cave with mutated animals, experimented on by Davros. They manage to get through and up to the city where the Doctor informs the Kaled leaders of what Davros is doing and the long term effects the Daleks will have on the universe. The Kaled leaders decide to investigate for themselves and will order a suspension of Davros' work while they do so. If they find the Doctor's claims correct, they will destroy the work.

Nyder informs Davros of what the leadership is planning and that he suspects Ronson of allowing the prisoners to escape. Davros takes it in and plays along with the Kaled leadership that he will agree to suspend all work, though he asks for 24-hours before shut down. The leadership gives him 12. After they have left, Davros and Nyder take a secret shuttle to the Thal city where Davros claims to be exhausted and willing to sue for peace. He gives the Thals a chemical formula which will destroy the protective dome of the Kaled city, allowing their rocket to penetrate and destroy the city. He and Nyder then return to their bunker.

Harry and the Doctor leave the Kaled city and sneak into the Thal city using underground tunnels. They overhear part of Davros' plan but not the part about the Thals being able to destroy the Kaled city. He and Harry knock out two guards, steal their suits and sneak into the rocket bay. There, they knock out the other guard and free the prisoners, who had been left to be incinerated in the rocket discharge. The Doctor sends Harry, Sarah and Sevrin out to warn the Kaleds of Davros' treachery while he tries to sabotage the rocket. However, the guard comes to and electrifies the metal the Doctor is examining, knocking him out.

The Thals bombard the Kaled dome with the chemicals Davros told them about and upon seeing them work, they launch the rocket. The Doctor tries to stop them but he is restrained by the Thal guards. The rocket lands, destroying the Kaled city. The Doctor despairs, thinking that Harry and Sarah were killed in the attack. The Thal governor declares a day of celebration and an amnesty on all prisoners. The Doctor is released and he plans to head back to the bunker to try and destroy the Daleks, whom he is sure have survived.

In the bunker, Davros and his scientific team watch and feel the city being destroyed above them. Davros declares that he will avenge their people using the Daleks and points out Ronson's treachery. Ronson tries to protest but the summoned Daleks kill him. Davros then orders the Daleks to invade the Thal city and destroy everyone inside.

As the Doctor prepares to leave, he hears the familiar sound of Dalek weaponry. He and a Thal woman named Bettan escape the city. The Doctor tells her to gather as many survivors as she can and then meet him outside the Kaled bunker for an attack. The Doctor reenters the cave to get into the bunker airshafts when he attacked by Mutos. They are driven off by Harry, Sarah and Sevrin. Harry informs the Doctor that they were attacked by the Mutos which delayed them until after the city was attacked. Seeing it destroyed, they hid in the cave, guessing that the Doctor would try to get back into bunker. The Doctor sends Sevrin to Bettan, suggesting that he try and bring as many Mutos willing to fight as possible. He, Harry and Sarah then enter the shafts.

In the bunker, Gharman begins organizing a resistance when Davros orders new Daleks to be altered to remove any conscious they may have. Nyder overhears this and tricks Gharman into thinking he supports him. He lures Gharman into the lower levels where Davros overhears his plans and the fellow conspirators. Nyder knocks Gharman out and they plan to operate on his mind to make him servile once more.

In the lower levels, Nyder overhears the Doctor and his companions crawling through the ducts and arrest them upon entering. Davros interrogates the Doctor where he learns of the future success of the Daleks. He threatens to torture Harry and Sarah and forces the Doctor to reveal all the times the Doctor is aware of the Daleks failure in battle. He records this information and then dismisses Nyder with the prisoners, leaving the Doctor and himself to talk as scientists. The Doctor goads Davros into admitting that that he would destroy all life just to create a superior life form and seizes control of Davros' chair while distracted. He forces Davros to order the destruction of the incubating Daleks but Nyder knocks the Doctor out and Davros countermands the order. Davros orders the Doctor taken to a cell.

Harry and Sarah are placed in the same cell as Gharman and the three plot against Davros. One of the scientists loyal to Gharman knocks out the guard and Harry disguises him as the guard. When Nyder brings the Doctor, Harry surprises him, although Nyder gets away. Free, Gharman and the other scientists work through the lab, convincing most to join their side, locking up those that won't. Harry, Sarah and the Doctor find some explosives and the Doctor sets them up in the incubation room to destroy the Daleks.

Davros, aware that rebellion is fomenting, plots to destroy all of them. He convinces Gharman to assemble the whole team where each will present their case and then let a vote be taken on the course of action. While Gharman assembles the people, Davros sends a signal recalling the Daleks from the Thal city. Gharman informs the Doctor, who had been hesitating about whether the destroy the Daleks and he leaves the explosives in the room.

In Davros' lab as he makes his case, the Doctor, Harry and Sarah recover the items taken from the Doctor, including his sonic screwdriver and the time bracelet. They also observe Nyder slipping out and they too slip out to follow him. Capturing him in the hallway, they force Nyder to unlock the safe in his office where the recording of the Doctor relaying the Dalek failures was kept. The Doctor destroys the tape but Nyder slips out of the room, locking them in. The Doctor isn't worried until he notices that the time bracelet slipped off in the struggle with Nyder.

Outside, the Thal force assembled by Bettan and Sevrin follows the Daleks as they enter the bunker. Bettan sets up explosives to destroy the entrance and seal the occupants in. Sevrin, concerned about the Doctor and his companions, goes in after them, although Bettan warns him that if they are not back by the time she is ready, she will seal them in too.

Sevrin releases the Doctor and his companions from the locked room. Over the monitors, they observe the Daleks surrounding those who continued to defy Davros and execute all of them. With Gharman's revolution over, the Doctor orders Sevrin to take Harry and Sarah out while he blows up the incubator room.

After the execution, Davros observes that Dalek production has commenced despite his orders not yet been given. He orders Nyder to stop it until they are ready. However, he is gunned down by a Dalek when he tries to stop it. They Daleks then turn and execute all the other scientists, despite Davros pleading for their survival.

The Doctor rewires the explosives but cannot set them off due to an approaching Dalek. However, the Dalek runs over the wires and detonates the explosives, killing all Daleks in the incubator room. He then flees down the tunnel just as Bettan and her men are about to close the doors. They pull him through and shut the doors in the face of several pursing Daleks. The Thals then detonate the explosives, sealing the Daleks into the bunker.

In the bunker, realizing the Daleks are turning on him, Davros pleads for pity but the Daleks do not recognize the word. He attempts to hit a button that would destroy the bunker except for that room, but he is gunned down before he can press it. The Daleks then vow to replicate themselves and extricate themselves from the bunker over the next thousand years.

With the Daleks neutralized, Sevrin and the Thals leave to rebuild a society while the Doctor and his companions activate the time bracelet to pull them back to the TARDIS. The Doctor muses that even though they did not fully accomplish their mission, a measure of good will come from their actions.

Analysis

As much as people might deny it, the hands of Terry Nation are all over this story. I think because Terry Nation reused so many of his ideas to the point that they became tropes causes us to forget that he was actually a pretty good writer. Some of his stories are slow but most stories with padding are slow. The first four-parter he wrote (Death to the Daleks) moved pretty well and it was let down mostly by production problems rather that story issues (although elements were heavily recycled again). As for Genesis of the Daleks, while I think Robert Holmes did do a few edits, I think this story is a good example of the quality that Nation was capable of when forced to actually put some extra thought into it.

I really enjoyed this one. The first time I saw this, I was a bit more aware of the padding, refusing to let myself get washed in the story. I found the scenes with Sarah and the rocket to be a bit dull. The second time around, I let go and just let the story come as it was and I found I liked it a lot better. While I was still aware there wasn't much point to the rocket scenes except to give Sarah something to do, I was able to appreciate the tension and the peril that Sarah found herself in. Even as padding, it was enjoyable and it did serve a small element story-wise in terms of giving texture to the nature of the conflict, including the fact that the Thals are not "good guys" as seen in The Daleks, only the other side in a war.

The Doctor was quite good here and I think it goes without saying that his "Do I have the right" speech will probably be shown in the montage at Tom Baker's funeral. He interacts well with everyone but I really enjoyed his banter with Harry in the first couple of episodes. I would also say that there is almost no scene that can top the interaction he has with Davros as they "talk as men of science." That is one of those scenes that you just wish would go on for so much longer you enjoy it so much. There is even some very nice subtle acting being done by Tom Baker as you can see him showing mock strain as he holds Davros' hand away from his control board. I don't know if Michael Wisher was actually pushing against him, but it made it look as though there was a real struggle going on there.

Both companions had good arcs in this story as well. With Sarah removed, Harry fell into the dominant companion role. He didn't have much dialogue, but he played off the Doctor well and they seemed to function as a proper team, stepping in for more physicality when the Doctor was unable to fulfill that role. Absent Sarah, I think Harry could have been remembered as good of a companion as Sarah is.

Sarah was excellent as usual. It was nice to see her not give in to any kind of typical feminine hopelessness and instead focus exclusively on how to escape the rocket silo. Although it didn't work, it was still a valiant effort and well within what we expect of her character. It was also nice to see her acting the voice of conviction when the Doctor hesitated in destroying the Daleks. She correctly points out the evil of the Daleks and how the Doctor would destroy them if they were a virus or a germ. Her interaction is as important as the Doctor's hesitancy as it points out what the stakes are and what each side looks at.

All the supporting cast was good too. It is almost unfortunate that their performances are somewhat lost when compared to Davros and Nyder. Not enough credit is given to Michael Wisher as he fully formed Davros in this story. Although other actors would play him, they all followed in the footsteps of the path he created. What's more, future versions of Davros would focus heavily on the meglomanical tendencies but they minimized his cunning. It is important to note that Davros outsmarted everyone in this story and did effectively win. It is only that the Daleks overrode his control of them in the end that he is seemingly finished at the end of the story.

Nyder is the other great character of this story: the ultimate sycophantic loyalist. Nyder is an obvious parallel to Joseph Goebbels and does an excellent portrayal along those lines. He is arguably more sadistic than Davros who simply uses strength and pain for control. Nyder enjoys it and on more than one occasion, attempts to persuade Davros to release him to purge the ranks of the disloyal. It is this loyalty that gives power to the performance when he actually pauses at Davros' actions of killing the Kaled people and how their whole destiny is simply to become Daleks. Even his death is impressive. Everyone else, including Davros, screamed horribly when killed by a Dalek. Nyder however, does not scream. He has a pained expression but makes no sound as he falls. It is somewhat fitting though that he is shot in the back.

Of all the other secondary characters, I think I enjoyed Gharman the most. Unlike Ronson or the rest of the Kaled leadership, he did not oppose the Dalek project, but saw it as taking advantage of an inevitable mutation that was a side effect of a thousand years of war. His only objection was the creation of the pure Dalek: the one without conscious or morality. In other words, he saw the form as inevitable but wanted to keep the nature that of a Kaled. It is an interesting take and given how the Daleks eventually turned on everyone, Gharman is ultimately proven correct in his concerns. His portrayal even outside of the interesting story arc is also quite enjoyable.

The direction in this story is quite good as well. There were some very well framed scenes. About the only part that was janky for me was towards the end of the first half of Episode One when the story shifted from film to tape. Film gave the story so much extra atmosphere that the story seemed to deflate a bit when they shifted to tape, though they tried to disguise it. I'm not sure what the logistics would have been, but I think the transition would have been a little bit better if the scene in the trench where Harry and the Doctor are captured were also done on film. That could have pushed the tape transition to when the story moved indoors. It's already a harsh change and it would have disguised the shift slightly better in my opinion. But that is a minor criticism in a well produced story.

Although the story did utilize several Terry Nation tropes, the only one that sits out blatantly is Sevrin, the friendly native. Nation would always use some local who would help out for very little reason except that the story said he was to. It is the same here where all other Mutos want to kill Sarah. But Sevrin intervenes and continues to help the Doctor and his companions with little outstanding gain for himself. Perhaps he sees hope in the Doctor's plan that will end the war, despite little evidence given for that as they are there to destroy the Daleks, which would have been mostly unknown to the Mutos. Arguably he stayed loyal to Sarah because of her loyalty to him during their imprisonment by the Thals but it is the one significant Nation trope that is not folded in to the story particularly well and sticks out like a lump in the gravy.

As far as the debate between what Nation did and what Holmes may have added, I can't honestly tell as I find the scenes move together rather fluidly. From experience, I would suggest that the scene between the Doctor and Davros was probably edited by Holmes, although I suspect that most of Davros' speech was written by Nation. I would also suspect that Holmes punched up the "Do I have a right" speech by the Doctor. Again, I would believe that Nation wrote the scene but that Holmes might have tweaked the dialogue so that it flowed either better or more epically. But aside from those two scenes. I'm not sure I could pick out any other point where the hand of Holmes could be overtly detected and I think that speaks well of Terry Nation in this case. This is his story and he should be credited for the work entailed therein.

Overall, this is a very good story. Is it the best Dalek story? No, but then again, it doesn't have many Daleks in it. That works in it's favor as the human drama between the Doctor and Davros drive a large amount of the enjoyment. It could be trimmed a bit and some of the characters curtailed in their involvement, but it is hard not to consider this story one of the best in the entire classic run. I think anyone could sit down and enjoy this at just about any time and I wouldn't hesitate pulling it down to watch again if the mood struck me.

Overall personal score: 5 out of 5