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Doctor Who: Genesis Of The Daleks
01/04/2007 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
DVD Region 2. Pub: BBC DVD 1813. 2 DVD 6 episodes 142 minutes plus extras. Price: £19.99 although can be got for less than £ 8.00 if you know where to look (UK). stars: Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Ian Marter and assorted guests. Buy Doctor Who Genesis Of The Daleks in the USA - or Buy Doctor Who Genesis Of The Daleks in the UK  check out website: www.bbcshop.com
'Genesis Of The Daleks' is regarded as a perennial favourite story for 'Doctor Who' fans for various reasons. Dalek stories always do well but this is their origin and one is always interested in seeing how the bad guys come about. It's also a story that features Tom Baker as the Doctor, another firm favourite.
The story is also strong in deliberate purpose than accidental arrival because the Doctor is sent back in time by his own people to prevent the Daleks becoming the menace that will engulf the galaxy. After a discussion of philosophy with Davros, the Daleks creator, the Doctor questions whether he has the right to commit genocide himself after considering the counter-argument that the Daleks' existence has also ensured that otherwise warring races become friends instead.
If you're a fan of 'Doctor Who' then I'm probably talking to the converted here. If you've only discovered the latest regenerations and want to see a good example of one of the earlier Doctors, then this is the one with the most highest regard.
Writer Terry Nation has the Times Lords send the Doctor, Sarah-Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan into the past to the planet Skaro as the Kaleds and the Thals prepare for their final war. Scheming scientist Davros has already seen the mutation that his people, the Kaleds, will become and has prepared a war machine for them to use which he calls a Dalek.
Realising that through the intervention of the Doctor, his own people are turning against him, he arranges for the Thals to break through his people's defences to destroy them. He, in turn, sends the Daleks to destroy the Thals. There are few survivors. Even more remarkable how the bastions of more people are so close to each other on the same planet.
Much of the time, the Doctor and his companions are invariably split up and captured, as well as trying to recover the time ring so they can return to the present. They see much of this past unfold and sometimes are helpless to prevent anything happening. Saying that, it does puzzle me why the scientists in the bunker who helped design the Daleks couldn't rig up some sort of counter-measure to the Dalek weapon but desperate times often meant people didn't think straight.
Likewise, there is also a puzzle when the Doctor is forced to tell the future history of the Daleks lost battles that he didn't lie a little so they would be misinformed about their fate. It wouldn't have changed what would happen but at least ensure the Daleks would not win all the time and actually fulfil history. Then again, 1975 is a long way back now and it won't change anything unless you have a working TARDIS available.
Watching it again now, I've even worked out how this origin isn't in conflict with the origin depicted in the 1965 comic 'TV Century 21' as Zolfian and Yarvelling were part of the next generation of mutations after Davros' time, having blue skin, bringing the Daleks back to life and getting their manufacture factory working. It makes a lot more sense that there had to be some restoration or where would the Petrified Forest have came from in time for when the first Doctor (played by William Hartnell).
The extras with this story are also very interesting. There's an audio commentary from Tom Baker, Lis Slader, director David Maloney with a little from Peter Miles (who played Nyder). I didn't realise that actor Ian Marter had been a diabetic but can sympathise with his panic when he would need to get something to eat during filming.
On the second DVD there are two features, one looking behind the scenes of the story and the other reviewing the real creation of the Daleks. Most enlightening and well worth watching. The only odd thing is the continuity announcements for the story from the different viewings which had me raising my eyebrow as to why but if that's the only fault then it's a minor one. If you're in withdrawal before the latest season starts up, get this one to keep you going.
GF Willmetts
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