Genesis of the Daleks

Travelling back to Nerva via transmat beam, the Doctor, Sarah and Harry are diverted by the Time Lords and deposited on a wartorn no-man's land of a planet. The Time Lords have a mission for the Doctor; they forsee a time when the Daleks will have conquered all other life forms and become the dominant species of the universe, and they have brought the Doctor to Skaro at the dawn of their creation to avert their development. The people of Skaro are at war, and have been for centuries; the Thals and the Kaleds have been attacking each other with all forms of weapons and are almost reduced to using bows and arrows as their resources are diminished and their societies verge on collapse. Weakened by mutation, the Kaled scientific elite, lead by a crippled genius named Davros, have developed a travel machine for the creature their race will evolve into, and it has been called a Dalek. The creature is programmed to exterminate without pity or remorse, and factions of the scientific corps do not want to see their race go down this path and help the Doctor in his attempts to stop Davros and his Daleks, but as the Doctor has said time and again there is no way to change history, and the carnage that follows gives rise to the Daleks and their rise to power and dominion.

BRILLIANT. The Daleks have always been the most feared creatures in the universe of Doctor Who and a story of their origins was inevitible, telling the backstory that was hinted at in their first appearance back in 1963. The people of Skaro are still humanoid, and the two races hate each other to the core. There is also a third faction on Skaro; the Mutos, the genetically wounded outcasts of both races who have been banished into the wastelands between the two cities. My one big point of contention is the scale of this conflict; exactly how big are these cities? Can they really hold every member of each race? And why are they so close to each other? If they didn't like each other they could have just lived somewhere else unless Skaro is not a big planet.

Despite being the title characters, the Daleks are not in this story a lot. Oh sure they're around in the background while they are being developed, but they are not the key players in the story until the final moments of episode 6. One Dalek does make its appearance at the climax of episode 1, and Sarah, separated from Harry and the Doctor, witnesses its first weapons test under Davros' supervision. And the look of sheer horror on Sarah's face at seeing a Dalek again is incredible; I don't think any companion has shown such a genuine reaction to them since Barbara's encounter with one at the end of The Dead Planet. When the Dalek army makes its attack on the Thal city in episode 4 the slaughter is absolute; in fact, there are a lot of mass deaths at the hands (figuratively speaking) of the Daleks, with Davros maniacially looking on. Davros himself is a survivor of the war, crippled by a Thal shell attack and confined to a wheelchair, blind save for his enhanced vision equipment, and only having the use of one arm. The Dalek machines mirror his own life support system, and they too only have one appendage like their creator. Physically the Daleks we see in this adventure are small squid-like creatures and we only see them briefly as they attack the Doctor when he attempts to blow up their incubation chambers. What follows is the Doctor's greatest moral dilemma ever: he can destroy the Daleks and kill everything in the incubator room and save the lives of millions of people in the future (and he never says this part but he would also be saving the lives of Sara Kingdom and Katarina, as they would never be caught up in the Dalek plot of The Dalek Masterplan) but in turn he would also become as bad as them by wiping out an entire race. And this part is not brought up either but hos own life would no longer be hampered by them; his first landing on Skaro would not subject himself, Susan, Barbara and Ian to radiation sickness, he would never be pursued to Mechanus and meet Steven Taylor, the aforementioned Katarina and Sara Kingdom would still be alive and safe, and without the Daleks bullying Edward Waterfield, the Doctor would never meet Victoria.

And let's not forget the humanoid cast as well; the sly cold Nyder, Davros' chief lackey. The Thal girl Bettan leading a force against the Daleks. Sevrin the Muto who helps Sarah lead an escape from the Thal city. The Kaled scientists Gharman, Cavell and Ronson who all meet horrible deaths attempting to break Davros' power. The entire chain of events leading to the rise of the Daleks is full of heros who for the most part fail and die, but without the influence of the Doctor it is interesting to surmise what would have gone on otherwise. Would any of these people have worked against Davros anyways? When the Doctor succeeds in convincing the Kaled government in the city that Davros and his scientists in the bunker are up to no good, Davros betrays the entire Kaled race to the Thals and sees them all killed in a holocaust rather than have his Dalek project halted. Would that have happened without the Doctor's presence? Did the Doctor cause even more harm in his attempts to do good?

And why is Harry Sullivan not exploited like male companions in the past? Jay and I agree that he's a hunk. We see him disguised in nice form fitting uniforms a couple times in this adventure but alas never get to see the moments in between his wardrobe changes, not even a glimpse. Booo I say.

But the Daleks survive. The Doctor fails to stop them. But he may have changed things and delayed them, only time will tell.

NEXT EPISODE : REVENGE OF THE CYBERMEN