The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: Genesis Of The Daleks
Genesis Of The Daleks: Part One (08/03/15)
The improvement in the series continues (again, largely thanks to some excellent location work) despite this being a Dalek story by Terry Nation! An obvious WWII/Nazi allegory from the offset with gas-masked soldiers being cut down in a hail of bullets crossing a barren wasteland.
The Time Lords have intercepted the transmat beam and brought the Doctor, Sarah and Harry to Skaro to interfere with the creation of the Daleks during an endless war between the Kaleds and the Thals. They also appear to have stolen Sarah's waterproof trousers (and wellies?) which I'm sure she was wearing at the end of last week's story!
After crossing the wasteland (Harry rescuing the Doctor from a nasty landmine accident), they found a Kaled bunker. Thals attacked but were gassed (the Doctor et al. donning masks from some corpses to survive) and the Doctor and Harry were taken inside. Introduced to and interrogated by the young General Raven, the Doctor found lout about the history of the conflict - the remnants of the two races living under defensive domes oddly in the same part of the planet while trying to destroy each other, while 'Mutoes' roam the wasteland in between. These Mutoes, the genetically impure cast out by the Kaleds (and the Thals?) eke out an existence here and have spent most of the episode tracking (and scaring) Sarah after she woke up among the slaughtered Thal soldiers.
The Doctor and Harry overpowered Raven and got him to take them to the wasteland, but they encountered a rather nasty piece of work called Nyder who works for the Kaled chief scientist, Davros. Immediately suspecting the Doctor and Harry, Nyder and his soldiers embarked on a chase through a lot of corridors and a lift to the wasteland before recapturing them, no doubt to pad things out while Sarah stumbled across Davros, apparently a decrepit, wizened old man sat in the bottom half of a Dalek with a glowing blue eye in his forehead, testing a prototype Dalek with an aide in some ruins.
Obviously the cliffhanger was the revelation of the Dalek - this is a Terry Nation script after all! Nevertheless, it was a very good episode; the darkest for a long time in both theme and direction. A promising start. Let's hope Mr Nation doesn't fuck it up like he normally does!
Genesis Of The Daleks: Part Two (15/03/15)
Bit of a slow episode this week. After witnessing Davros testing his Dalek, Sarah was captured by some Mutoes who in turn were captured by some Thals who were all taken to the Thal Dome to load toxic stuff into the nosecone of a rocket which the Thals plan to fire at the Kaled Dome. Obviously, Sarah took it upon herself to devise an escape attempt climbing the scaffold around the rocket and out through the roof. Near the top, though, and fired upon by Thal guards, Sarah slipped and fell (into a freeze-frame cliffhanger shot!).
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Harry were processed and scanned and sent to Chief Scientist Ronson for interrogation. Looking at their alien belongings and readouts of their alien biology he was easily won over, but Davros and Nyder rule the Scientists and turned up to show the advances on the Mark III Travel Machine; the Dalek. Given a gun and self control, the Dalek tried to kill the Doctor and Harry as they weren't Kaleds, but Ronson intervened and later came to the Doctor and Harry in their cell to ask for their help. Apparently, not all the scientists approve of Davros' experiments, believing he's perverted the natural mutation of the Kaled race by removing their emotions and denying them any morality (the Mark III Travel Machine being built to house the mutated Kaleds Davros discovered the race would ultimately evolve into). Giving them a list of names to contact in the Kaled Dome, Ronson sent the Doctor and Harry off to get Davros' experiments shut down and the Elite in the bunker disbanded. But they've got to traverse the wasteland first, and a cave full of Davros' earlier experiments.
So, still quite dark and creepy, not terrible and a vast improvement on Terry Nation's previous endeavours. Not much fun, though, the Doctor and Harry's dry wit being the only humour present.
Genesis Of The Daleks: Part Three (22/03/15)
It's all very serious and political this week. Sarah and her Muto chum were the only two to reach the top of the scaffolding, but were caught and taken prisoner again. Needless-to-say, Sarah didn't fall far.
The Doctor and Harry made it to the Kaled Dome, Harry getting savaged by a giant Clam along the way (!), and convinced the Kaled politicians to put a halt to Davros' experiments while an investigation into proceedings in the Elite Bunker takes place. Young General Raven made another appearance to let the Doctor know that the Thal rocket wouldn't penetrate the reinforced Dome, that his spies had reported Sarah's presence and escape attempt, and to send the Doctor and Harry off to rescue her.
Meanwhile, Nyder became suspicious of Ronson and another scientist working against Davros, and learnt of the Doctor and Harry's escape and meeting. Agreeing to halt the experiments within twelve hours (shouldn't that be Rells?), Davros and Nyder then travelled to the Thal Dome under a flag of peace, gave the Thals the formula to break down the Kaled Dome and let all the Kaleds except the Elite die! The Doctor and Harry overheard this, rescued Sarah and Sevrin the Muto, and Harry, Sarah and Sevrin went off to warn the Kaled politicians of what Davros had done.
The Doctor stayed behind to sabotage the rocket, but the guard he knocked out woke up and electrified the surrounding fence, electrocuting the Doctor.
Not bad and more engaging than last week but still a bit bleak. The Doctor and Harry work well together, and Sarah is less annoying than she used to be. And for a Dalek story, there are surprisingly few Daleks, but since it's all about their creation I guess that should be expected. And Davros ordered twenty of them to be prepared for his return from the Thal Dome with a computer programme of instructions, so that's hopeful. Well, I doubt we'll see twenty, but maybe we'll see them doing something!
Genesis Of The Daleks: Part Four (29/03/15)
The Doctor ended up unconscious and woke in the Thal control room as they were bombing the Kaled Dome. Unable to stop them massacring the Kaleds, he was then set free as part of the Thals' victory celebrations.
Meanwhile, Davros declared war and vengeance on the Thals using the Daleks and had Ronson exterminated as a traitor. Then Nyder overheard two of the other scientists plotting against Davros and fooled one of them into giving away the names of Davros' enemies amongst the Elite.
Over in the Thal Dome, the Daleks turned up and started massacring everyone, but the Doctor teamed up with The Only Woman On Skaro, a Thal called Bettan, and got her to form a resistance. Then he went off to deal with Davros, returning via the cave of mutants where he bumped into Sarah and Harry who had got waylaid and not been killed in the Kaled Dome. They crawled back into the Bunker but were caught by Davros and Nyder and interrogated. Learning why the Doctor was there, Davros strapped Harry and Sarah to a torture machine and began causing them pain so that the Doctor would tell him all the reasons for the Daleks' defeats in the future so that he could prevent them. Cue cliffhanger.
Not bad this week with a bit more humour. The Clams made a return appearance but nobody had paid for a puppeteer so they didn't move; Sarah just had to run around and scream a bit.
Sevrin was sent back to find some Mutoes and team up with Bettan. It's odd that she's the only woman. There aren't even any female extras in this one! And so far, since leaving Earth, she's only the second woman we've encountered. Outer Space must be a very gay place!
I don't think the Doctor will let Davros torture Sarah and Harry. Be interesting to see what happens, though.
Genesis Of The Daleks: Part Five (05/04/15)
Fairly slow and talky this week. The first ten minutes were taken up by a discussion between the Doctor and Davros underlining how unhinged the latter is; well written but a bit long-winded. Harry and Sarah were taken and locked up with Gharman who they told that Davros hadn't arrested any of the people whose names Gharman had been fooled into handing Nyder. Then Scientist Kavell turned up and freed them, but they waited around for the Doctor to be brought back to the cell before they did anything. Gharman and Kavell went off to rally those opposing Davros and issued an ultimatum that Davros leaves the Daleks with a conscience or no more Daleks.
Meanwhile, the Doctor decided to take matters one step further and blow up the incubation room. They found some explosives and some army gear for Sarah to change into (possibly the best outfit she's ever had!) and headed off to set the bombs. However, whilst doing so, the Doctor managed to get one of the mutants wrapped around his neck. Clumsy!
Oh, and having witnessed the slaughter of most of the Thal race, Bettan and Sevrin followed the Daleks back to the bunker with the survivors.
It's not a bad story, with an interesting plot, but it's SO GRIM! I like things dark, but Jesus! crack a smile occasionally! I think my problem with it is it's like an old War Movie (which I can't stand) and, whilst it's very clever and makes utter sense, the Nazi analogy is very tired and overused. Still, next week should see the conclusion. Unless it goes all Invasion. Or War Games. Or Master Plan!
Genesis Of The Daleks: Part Six (12/04/15)
Well, that story must feature some of the best dialogue Terry Nation has ever written. I wonder if that has anything to do with Robert Holmes' script editing!
After much angsty argument , Gharman saved the Doctor from having to blow up the Incubation Room by turning up and telling him that Davros had been defeated and a unanimous vote was likely to result in only continuing with the Daleks if they were left with a conscience, etc. The Doctor, Sarah and Harry stayed around to witness the debate and retrieve the Doctor's belongings from the main science lab including the Time Ring the Time Lord gave them in Part One, then followed Nyder when he left to make sure the Daleks had got into the bunker okay. Accosting him, they got him to retrieve the disc with all the Daleks' defeats listed on it and destroyed it with a Dalek gun, but Nyder escaped and returned to Davros.
Meanwhile, Bettan and her Thal army had reached the only remaining entrance to the bunker and set explosives to entomb the Daleks and Davros, and Sevrin had gone in to tell the Doctor et al. to get the hell out.
The Daleks arrived in the science lab and exterminated all Davros' opponents, while the Doctor headed off and blew up the Incubation Room. Then Davros found out the Daleks had started up the Dalek production line without his permission and told Nyder to switch it off. The Daleks told him they'd been programmed to see nobody as superior and exterminated Nyder, then Davros' supporters, and finally Davros himself.
The Doctor, Sarah and Harry got out (with Sevrin) before Bettan blew up the entrance and, saying goodbye, used the Time Ring to return to Nerva (Yay!). Apparently, the Doctor thinks he's only delayed the Daleks' development by 1,000 years. So what does that mean to the previous Dalek stories? Has it all changed, or had this already happened? Who knows?
Not a bad story, but relentlessly grim and not one I'd like to return to any time soon. Hopefully, things will take on a lighter tone next week with Vira back on Nerva. She can give the Doctor his jelly babies back!
The improvement in the series continues (again, largely thanks to some excellent location work) despite this being a Dalek story by Terry Nation! An obvious WWII/Nazi allegory from the offset with gas-masked soldiers being cut down in a hail of bullets crossing a barren wasteland.
The Time Lords have intercepted the transmat beam and brought the Doctor, Sarah and Harry to Skaro to interfere with the creation of the Daleks during an endless war between the Kaleds and the Thals. They also appear to have stolen Sarah's waterproof trousers (and wellies?) which I'm sure she was wearing at the end of last week's story!
After crossing the wasteland (Harry rescuing the Doctor from a nasty landmine accident), they found a Kaled bunker. Thals attacked but were gassed (the Doctor et al. donning masks from some corpses to survive) and the Doctor and Harry were taken inside. Introduced to and interrogated by the young General Raven, the Doctor found lout about the history of the conflict - the remnants of the two races living under defensive domes oddly in the same part of the planet while trying to destroy each other, while 'Mutoes' roam the wasteland in between. These Mutoes, the genetically impure cast out by the Kaleds (and the Thals?) eke out an existence here and have spent most of the episode tracking (and scaring) Sarah after she woke up among the slaughtered Thal soldiers.
The Doctor and Harry overpowered Raven and got him to take them to the wasteland, but they encountered a rather nasty piece of work called Nyder who works for the Kaled chief scientist, Davros. Immediately suspecting the Doctor and Harry, Nyder and his soldiers embarked on a chase through a lot of corridors and a lift to the wasteland before recapturing them, no doubt to pad things out while Sarah stumbled across Davros, apparently a decrepit, wizened old man sat in the bottom half of a Dalek with a glowing blue eye in his forehead, testing a prototype Dalek with an aide in some ruins.
Obviously the cliffhanger was the revelation of the Dalek - this is a Terry Nation script after all! Nevertheless, it was a very good episode; the darkest for a long time in both theme and direction. A promising start. Let's hope Mr Nation doesn't fuck it up like he normally does!
Genesis Of The Daleks: Part Two (15/03/15)
Bit of a slow episode this week. After witnessing Davros testing his Dalek, Sarah was captured by some Mutoes who in turn were captured by some Thals who were all taken to the Thal Dome to load toxic stuff into the nosecone of a rocket which the Thals plan to fire at the Kaled Dome. Obviously, Sarah took it upon herself to devise an escape attempt climbing the scaffold around the rocket and out through the roof. Near the top, though, and fired upon by Thal guards, Sarah slipped and fell (into a freeze-frame cliffhanger shot!).
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Harry were processed and scanned and sent to Chief Scientist Ronson for interrogation. Looking at their alien belongings and readouts of their alien biology he was easily won over, but Davros and Nyder rule the Scientists and turned up to show the advances on the Mark III Travel Machine; the Dalek. Given a gun and self control, the Dalek tried to kill the Doctor and Harry as they weren't Kaleds, but Ronson intervened and later came to the Doctor and Harry in their cell to ask for their help. Apparently, not all the scientists approve of Davros' experiments, believing he's perverted the natural mutation of the Kaled race by removing their emotions and denying them any morality (the Mark III Travel Machine being built to house the mutated Kaleds Davros discovered the race would ultimately evolve into). Giving them a list of names to contact in the Kaled Dome, Ronson sent the Doctor and Harry off to get Davros' experiments shut down and the Elite in the bunker disbanded. But they've got to traverse the wasteland first, and a cave full of Davros' earlier experiments.
So, still quite dark and creepy, not terrible and a vast improvement on Terry Nation's previous endeavours. Not much fun, though, the Doctor and Harry's dry wit being the only humour present.
Genesis Of The Daleks: Part Three (22/03/15)
It's all very serious and political this week. Sarah and her Muto chum were the only two to reach the top of the scaffolding, but were caught and taken prisoner again. Needless-to-say, Sarah didn't fall far.
The Doctor and Harry made it to the Kaled Dome, Harry getting savaged by a giant Clam along the way (!), and convinced the Kaled politicians to put a halt to Davros' experiments while an investigation into proceedings in the Elite Bunker takes place. Young General Raven made another appearance to let the Doctor know that the Thal rocket wouldn't penetrate the reinforced Dome, that his spies had reported Sarah's presence and escape attempt, and to send the Doctor and Harry off to rescue her.
Meanwhile, Nyder became suspicious of Ronson and another scientist working against Davros, and learnt of the Doctor and Harry's escape and meeting. Agreeing to halt the experiments within twelve hours (shouldn't that be Rells?), Davros and Nyder then travelled to the Thal Dome under a flag of peace, gave the Thals the formula to break down the Kaled Dome and let all the Kaleds except the Elite die! The Doctor and Harry overheard this, rescued Sarah and Sevrin the Muto, and Harry, Sarah and Sevrin went off to warn the Kaled politicians of what Davros had done.
The Doctor stayed behind to sabotage the rocket, but the guard he knocked out woke up and electrified the surrounding fence, electrocuting the Doctor.
Not bad and more engaging than last week but still a bit bleak. The Doctor and Harry work well together, and Sarah is less annoying than she used to be. And for a Dalek story, there are surprisingly few Daleks, but since it's all about their creation I guess that should be expected. And Davros ordered twenty of them to be prepared for his return from the Thal Dome with a computer programme of instructions, so that's hopeful. Well, I doubt we'll see twenty, but maybe we'll see them doing something!
Genesis Of The Daleks: Part Four (29/03/15)
The Doctor ended up unconscious and woke in the Thal control room as they were bombing the Kaled Dome. Unable to stop them massacring the Kaleds, he was then set free as part of the Thals' victory celebrations.
Meanwhile, Davros declared war and vengeance on the Thals using the Daleks and had Ronson exterminated as a traitor. Then Nyder overheard two of the other scientists plotting against Davros and fooled one of them into giving away the names of Davros' enemies amongst the Elite.
Over in the Thal Dome, the Daleks turned up and started massacring everyone, but the Doctor teamed up with The Only Woman On Skaro, a Thal called Bettan, and got her to form a resistance. Then he went off to deal with Davros, returning via the cave of mutants where he bumped into Sarah and Harry who had got waylaid and not been killed in the Kaled Dome. They crawled back into the Bunker but were caught by Davros and Nyder and interrogated. Learning why the Doctor was there, Davros strapped Harry and Sarah to a torture machine and began causing them pain so that the Doctor would tell him all the reasons for the Daleks' defeats in the future so that he could prevent them. Cue cliffhanger.
Not bad this week with a bit more humour. The Clams made a return appearance but nobody had paid for a puppeteer so they didn't move; Sarah just had to run around and scream a bit.
Sevrin was sent back to find some Mutoes and team up with Bettan. It's odd that she's the only woman. There aren't even any female extras in this one! And so far, since leaving Earth, she's only the second woman we've encountered. Outer Space must be a very gay place!
I don't think the Doctor will let Davros torture Sarah and Harry. Be interesting to see what happens, though.
Genesis Of The Daleks: Part Five (05/04/15)
Fairly slow and talky this week. The first ten minutes were taken up by a discussion between the Doctor and Davros underlining how unhinged the latter is; well written but a bit long-winded. Harry and Sarah were taken and locked up with Gharman who they told that Davros hadn't arrested any of the people whose names Gharman had been fooled into handing Nyder. Then Scientist Kavell turned up and freed them, but they waited around for the Doctor to be brought back to the cell before they did anything. Gharman and Kavell went off to rally those opposing Davros and issued an ultimatum that Davros leaves the Daleks with a conscience or no more Daleks.
Meanwhile, the Doctor decided to take matters one step further and blow up the incubation room. They found some explosives and some army gear for Sarah to change into (possibly the best outfit she's ever had!) and headed off to set the bombs. However, whilst doing so, the Doctor managed to get one of the mutants wrapped around his neck. Clumsy!
Oh, and having witnessed the slaughter of most of the Thal race, Bettan and Sevrin followed the Daleks back to the bunker with the survivors.
It's not a bad story, with an interesting plot, but it's SO GRIM! I like things dark, but Jesus! crack a smile occasionally! I think my problem with it is it's like an old War Movie (which I can't stand) and, whilst it's very clever and makes utter sense, the Nazi analogy is very tired and overused. Still, next week should see the conclusion. Unless it goes all Invasion. Or War Games. Or Master Plan!
Genesis Of The Daleks: Part Six (12/04/15)
Well, that story must feature some of the best dialogue Terry Nation has ever written. I wonder if that has anything to do with Robert Holmes' script editing!
After much angsty argument , Gharman saved the Doctor from having to blow up the Incubation Room by turning up and telling him that Davros had been defeated and a unanimous vote was likely to result in only continuing with the Daleks if they were left with a conscience, etc. The Doctor, Sarah and Harry stayed around to witness the debate and retrieve the Doctor's belongings from the main science lab including the Time Ring the Time Lord gave them in Part One, then followed Nyder when he left to make sure the Daleks had got into the bunker okay. Accosting him, they got him to retrieve the disc with all the Daleks' defeats listed on it and destroyed it with a Dalek gun, but Nyder escaped and returned to Davros.
Meanwhile, Bettan and her Thal army had reached the only remaining entrance to the bunker and set explosives to entomb the Daleks and Davros, and Sevrin had gone in to tell the Doctor et al. to get the hell out.
The Daleks arrived in the science lab and exterminated all Davros' opponents, while the Doctor headed off and blew up the Incubation Room. Then Davros found out the Daleks had started up the Dalek production line without his permission and told Nyder to switch it off. The Daleks told him they'd been programmed to see nobody as superior and exterminated Nyder, then Davros' supporters, and finally Davros himself.
The Doctor, Sarah and Harry got out (with Sevrin) before Bettan blew up the entrance and, saying goodbye, used the Time Ring to return to Nerva (Yay!). Apparently, the Doctor thinks he's only delayed the Daleks' development by 1,000 years. So what does that mean to the previous Dalek stories? Has it all changed, or had this already happened? Who knows?
Not a bad story, but relentlessly grim and not one I'd like to return to any time soon. Hopefully, things will take on a lighter tone next week with Vira back on Nerva. She can give the Doctor his jelly babies back!
Grim indeed, but stylishly grim. If you compare this to Death to the Daleks from only a year previously, you can see Mary Whitehouse and her ilk were clutching at their pearls.
ReplyDeleteRobert Holmes' fingerprints are all over the script, of course - credit where it's due. That said, he ought to have amended the ending, since the idea that it will take the Daleks a millennium to clear a blocked tunnel is laughable. (Even if the inference is that their development has been set back by the laboratory being blown up and/or Davros being 'killed', I still don't see why it would take them even a 100th of that time to get back on track.) Good cliffhangers, lots of nice dialogue and some superb performances - but also some hammy ones when it's time for the death throes - make this very memorable.
Also, the conceit of making the audience think for about 10 minutes that Sarah and Harry have copped it and that the Doctor's already found his next companion works so well that RTD would borrow it for Bad Wolf.
you can see *why Mary Whitehouse....
DeleteWhilst it's far from my favourite Dalek story, I can appreciate what Holmes and Nation did here. Nation's usual fare wouldn't have fitted in with the new house style at all (particularly at this point where he was just regurgitating the same ideas and plots he'd delivered a decade earlier), so the new twist requested by Holmes forced Nation to think and, whilst the repeated ideas are still there, they're approached from a slightly different angle which makes them look very different, and combined with some stylish direction and design, and augmented by Holmes' brilliant editing, we get something which really stands out in not only this series but amongst its Dalek-starring peers.
DeleteIt's clear by this point that the new Production team are aiming for a slightly different audience - primarily teenage boys rather than a family audience - so we end up with a different type of adventure series which is refreshing, if not necessarily everyone's cup of tea. And I do love the implication that Sarah and Harry have been killed in the Kaled Dome and that Bettan is the new companion, even if I didn't notice the first few times I saw the story (I had by the time I reached the story on my marathon and obliquely refer to it - had I been writing as I watched I may have made it more of a thing).
Genesis is a good story but I don't think it's as amazing as most fans seem to. It has drama and adventure in waves, but this marks the point for me where the show stepped up the 'serious sci fi' and cut down on the fun. There was better to come.