The Doctor is trapped and alone at the heart of the Dalek Empire on the planet Skaro, surrounded by Daleks from throughout the ages. Having witnessed Clara, Missy, and even the TARDIS suffer maximum extermination at the orders of the Supreme Dalek, the Doctor now faces Davros simultaneously on the eve of his death, and via an uncanny twist of destiny, on a pivotal moment from when Davros was a child. Will the Doctor now kill this child, or will mercy prevail, as the Time Lord endeavours to risk everything to save his friend?
The Witch’s Familiar continues the two-part opening story of Series 9, with an even darker episode, written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Hettie Macdonald (The director of 2007’s Blink). The cliff-hanger “Exterminate” ending of the Magician’s Apprentice left us all on the edge of our seats, when the Doctor appeared on the battlefield strewn with Hand-mines in Skaro’s distant past to exterminate the young Davros with a Dalek gun-stick. Now in The Witch’s Familiar, the story builds from this crucial moment as fate, compassion, and evil collides with far flung consequences as the Doctor confronts Davros on Skaro.
With the loss of Clara, Missy, the TARDIS, and without even the Sonic Screwdriver to help him, the Doctor must faces his ultimate challenge on Skaro as he wrestles with his conscience at the gates of Davros’ beginnings. The heart-stopping quandary of the cliff-hanger with the young Davros (brilliantly played by Joey Price) holds this episode on a constant knifes edge, while in the future, protracted, almost heart-felt exchanges unfold between the Doctor and Davros as the old enemies debate the Daleks ultimate defect and the fate of Gallifrey. This really plays to the strengths of Peter Capaldi’s Doctor, his performance is totally compelling, especially when the Doctor realises the Life Support / Hyperspace Relay in Davros’ chamber can touch the beating heart of every single Dalek on Skaro – once again presenting the Time Lord with the temptation of inflicting genocide on the Dalek race. Julian Bleach brings a cold, rasping, cocktail of evil and emotion to this ancient version of Davros, as the Daleks creator’s heinous scheme finally become apparent. Indeed, The Witch’s Familiar shows sides to the Doctor and Davros unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.
Naturally enough Clara (Jenna Coleman) and Missy (Michelle Gomez) were not killed during the climatic moments of The Magician’s Apprentice. Missy’s gleefully casual explanation quickly alters Clara’s perspective on their escape from extermination, with a gloriously psychedelic classic Doctor story / energy manipulating / teleporting just-in-the-nick-of-time solution. Clara’s uneasy alliance with Missy continues as they find a way into the Dalek city, where the Time Lord has gone AWOL from the Infirmary in Davros’ own chair, but his audience with the Supreme Dalek is cut short as the coils of Davros’ grand design ensnare him once more!
Much of The Witch’s Familiar revolves around the epic face-off between the Doctor and Davros, there are several moments here that revisit classic elements from Genesis of the Daleks (1975), and every scene between Capaldi and Bleach in the infirmary crackles with tension as the Time Lord confronts his arch-enemy. Peter Capaldi is excellent, he brings so much gravitas to his role as the Doctor, but it is Julian Bleach as the wizened Davros who makes for the most riveting viewing in this episode with a outstanding turn as the Daleks creator that is almost on a par with Michael Wisher’s magnificent original performance as Davros from Genesis of the Daleks. Indeed, when Davros asks the Doctor “Are you ready to be a God?” there are echoes of a similar debate that Davros once had with the 4th Doctor (Tom Baker) in Genesis of the Daleks – about unleashing a virus that could destroy all life in the universe – and the Dalek creator even eschews the 12th Doctor’s own mission statement from Series 8 when he asks the Time Lord “Am I a good man?”
The Daleks are at their ruthless best once more, cold, calculating, and extremely protective of Davros. We also get to see a lot more of the Dalek city in this episode, a glorious re-imagining of the original 1963 sets and city model designed by the late Raymond Cusick, where Daleks now fly amongst its gleaming futuristic spires and towers. Scenes in these eerie corridors also resonate powerfully with the Daleks classic debut story. Putting Daleks from different eras of Doctor Who together on screen was an inspired move for these episodes, the Supreme Dalek and his new & classic Dalek minions make a formidable sight, and director Hettie Macdonald ramps up the horror as Clara and Missy descend into the grungy Dalek sewers where we discover even more disturbing qualities about these mad Skarosian tanks of bubbling hatred.
Jenna Coleman is exceptionally good here as Clara. Missy’s plan, to hijack a Dalek and then get into the city with Clara hiding inside the Dalek’s casing, is also reminiscent of the very first Dalek story, when Ian (William Russell) hid inside a Dalek, and we really get a sense of Clara’s fear as the casing closes around her – chillingly echoing the soufflé girls fate in Asylum of the Daleks (2012). Michelle Gomez is brilliant as the evil Missy, her incarnation of the renegade Time Lord is wickedly enchanting, and Missy’s summation of the genetically hard-wired Dalek remains condemned to rot in the sewers leads to a startling lesson in Dalek vocabulary for the Impossible Girl. Perhaps most unexpected of all is the comparison Missy makes with the Cybermen to explain how the Daleks reload, which like much said here in the Dalek sewers, certainly offers us plenty to dwell over…
After their ploy to reach Dalek control succeeds, Missy treacherously begins to bargain with the Daleks, and offers Clara “gift wrapped” inside the Dalek casing. Meanwhile, it seems the Doctor has been foolish enough to look into his enemy’s eyes, and believing him sincere, he willing uses a fraction of his regeneration energy to power the Hyperspace Relay and grant Davros his dying wish – to live long enough to see the sunrise on Skaro. But to the Doctor’s horror his regeneration energy is suddenly leeched away by Colony Sarff (disguised as the coils of the machine) where it is transferred into every Dalek on Skaro, making them into Dalek / Time Lord Hybrids, while also simultaneously revitalising Davros during the process! Perhaps inevitably Colony Sarff (Jami Reid-Quarell), the serpentine henchman of Davros, does get a little overshadowed by everything happening in this episode, but his menacing presence is still used to great effect.
The exciting finale has Missy arriving in the Infirmary to assist the Doctor at a critical moment, the Doctor reveals that he knew what Davros was planning, and soon generations of decaying mutant Dalek hatred – revitalised by the Doctor’s regeneration energy – is bubbling up from the bowls of Skaro to wreak havoc on the Dalek Empire! If that wasn’t exciting enough, everything is rounded of with a magnificent scene where the Doctor has to see through Missy’s deceptions to save Clara from her Dalek casing. A showdown with the Supreme Dalek follows just as the revolt of mutant sludge strikes the Dalek city, while Missy also has a really good idea at an opportune moment, and the Doctor and Clara are finally reunited with the TARDIS thanks to the Hostile Action Dispersal System – first used in the 2nd Doctor story The Krotons (1968/9) and more recently in 2013’s 11th Doctor story Cold War – and a very nifty pair of sonic shades. Soon the Doctor and Clara are ready to leave Davros and the Daleks to their fate. The contents of the confession dial remain a secret for now. But the question of how a tiny sliver of mercy managed to find its way into the DNA of Clara’s Dalek remains, and it is this startling moment of realisation that provides the Doctor with the impetus to complete one life-changing task before they set off on their adventures in time and space…
The Witch’s Familiar saves an exciting time-twisting surprise for the last moments of this opening two-part adventure. Steven Moffat ushers in some big timey-wimey developments in this episode. Some will admire the scale and ambition of Moffat’s vision, others will no doubt balk at his playing fast and loose with the rich tapestry of the series’ mythology, but this is still probably one of Moffat’s most ingenious storylines, and the pay-off is all the more powerful because of the Doctor’s unwavering sense of compassion and mercy.
The Witch’s Familiar certainly lives up to the expectations of this first half of this new season opener. I found this episode to be just as exciting, if not more so because of the face-off between the Doctor and Davros, there were moments here that seemed like a natural extension of classic scenes from Genesis of the Daleks, the Daleks were well served by the story, and the conclusion was outstanding! Series 9 is already shaping up to be one of the best yet, I really like the dynamic between the Doctor and Clara now, they make a great team, Missy was also excellent in these episodes, and the return of the two-part stories make for most a welcome – and long overdue – addition to the programmes format. Roll on the rest of Series Nine!
Doctor Who series 9 begins with the blockbusting premier episode The Magician’s Apprentice, where the skies of Earth have succumbed to a strange alien power as a desperate cry for help echoes from the past, and Clara Oswald needs to find her old friend the Doctor. But the Time Lord has gone missing, is this really the Doctor’s final night, and what terrible event could have driven the Doctor into hiding? Clara must join forces with the most unlikely ally of all if she is to find the Doctor, dark secrets from the past return, old foes will be confronted, and soon the Doctor will have to face the most impossible challenge of all …
The Magician’s Apprentice is about as epic and cinematic a series premier as Doctor Who has ever had, written by Steven Moffat and directed by Hettie Macdonald (director of the highly acclaimed 2007 episode Blink), the opening moments alone quickly establish what we can expect from this the dark and ominous two-part story – and indeed the new series itself.
A blanket of fog swirls over a battlefield on a distant world as a child of fate runs though a mud-strewn land covered in Hand Mines… But what is the secret shame of this awful place that has made the Doctor take to the shadows, and who is the mysterious cloaked figure – Colony Sarff – that has been searching for the Doctor? When a bizarre alien force strikes the Earth, freezing passenger jets in the skies, not even Clara, Kate Stewart, and UNIT can locate the Doctor. So, when the Doctor’s old enemy Missy inexplicably reappears in a foreign locale, with a Confession Dial that holds the Doctor’s last will and testament, Clara must form an uneasy alliance with Missy to find the missing Time Lord. Their journey will take them across space and time, but the Doctor is already proceeding along a dark path of destiny, one that will soon lead him into the most terrible danger of all and a confrontation with his deadliest foes – the Daleks!
Peter Capaldi’s performance in the Magician’s Apprentice is little sort of superb, Capaldi seems completely at ease now in his role as the 12th Doctor, and his commanding presence permeates though every aspect of the episode. His incarnation of the Doctor is clearly not afraid of making difficult decisions either – or accepting the consequences of his actions. Jenna Coleman is also on fine form as Clara Oswald, and the erstwhile Impossible Girl once again proves she is as confident and resourceful as ever. Michelle Gomez returns as the new gender-swapped incarnation of the Master, Missy, to meddle in the Doctor’s and Clara’s lives again – while gleefully glossing over her apparent demise in the Series 8 finale Death in Heaven (2014) – and Gomez excels herself here as the Doctor’s wickedly evil nemesis. It’s also good to see Jemma Redgrave returning as Kate Stewart, along with UNIT, to deal with the crisis Missy has engineered to get their attention.
The Magician’s Apprentice is a big, bold adventure, set on a grand scale, and the pace doesn’t slow for a moment as time ladies Clara and Missy team-up to find the Doctor just as he is about to face his greatest moral dilemma and most ruthless adversary. The story travels between numerous locations in time and space: including a grim battlefield in the past, an alien bar, the grand fortress of the Shadow Proclamation, the planet Karn, an outlandish medieval tournament in Essex 1138 AD, and a very familiar looking city on the Daleks original home planet of Skaro…
The character of Ohila (Claire Higgins) from The Night of the Doctor (2013) also returns along with the Sisterhood of Karn (Last seen in the 1976 story The Brain of Morbius), and Ohila’s tense scenes with Colony Sarff (Jami Reid-Quarell) resonate powerfully with her appearance in the 1st online prequel for Series 9. Jami Reid-Quarell is also very menacing as the snake-like Colony Sarff, a strange creature with a message for the Doctor, whose quest has taken him to the Maldovarium, the planet Karn to address the Sisterhood of Karn, and even the mighty Shadow Proclamation, but nobody seems to know where the Doctor is. The Magician’s Apprentice weaves a complex path through Doctor Who’s mythology – past and present – juggling extensive nods to the past and a wealth of continuity references, with some perhaps far more pertinent than others, along with a few surprise voices from the Doctor’s own past as well!
It seems the mad man in the blue box has really disappeared this time, because even the Daleks are looking for him! Yes, the Daleks are back with a vengeance in The Magician’s Apprentice. Daleks from throughout all of time have assembled to wreak havoc on the Doctor in a story that harkens right back to their origins. Nearly every type of Dalek that you can think of is here for this ultimate Dalek team-up! Seeing the original classic 1963/64 slivery-grey Dead Planet style Daleks, a black domed guard from Evil of the Daleks (1967), along with a grey Renegade and the Special Weapons Dales from Remembrance of the Daleks (1988), in the same scenes as gold / bronze modern era Daleks, a Dalek Sec style Black Dalek, overseen by the gleaming red and gold Supreme Dalek from The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End (2008) and its like all our fan-boy dreams have leapt from the pages of the old TV Century 21 comics to unleash maximum extermination on TV!
The Dalek city in The Magician’s Apprentice has been beautifully realised on screen in this episode, a clear homage to the original 1963 Dalek city on Skaro designed by the late Raymond Cusick, and its been reimagined here in exquisite detail. The design of the Daleks control room in this episode – whilst containing nods to Cusick’s designs – also provides a delightful throwback to the Peter Cushing Doctor Who films, Dr Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks’ Invasion of Earth 2550 AD (1966). Even the 12th Doctor’s revised costume has a hint of 60’s era of Doctor Who about it, especially the Hartnell style check trousers.
Ok, here we go. BIG SPOILER ALERT! The Daleks are back, Missy is back, but there’s one more old adversary vying for the title of the Doctor’s arch-enemy – much to Missy’s consternation – in this episode, Davros! Yes, the creator of the Daleks, the Dark Lord of Skaro, is dying, and he has sent Colony Sarff to bring the Doctor to his chamber on board a medical space station. Julian Bleach reprises his role from 2008’s The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End, giving a blood-chilling performance, and the malevolent creator of the Daleks certainly has a few nasty surprises for the Doctor! The lines between past and present blur constantly as the young boy Davros, played by Joey Price, cries for help ring out across time to haunt the Doctor, and I can’t think of one instance in the history of Doctor Who where sound of the TARDIS dematerialising has ever sounded so cruel…
The Magician’s Apprentice is a great start to the new series. In fact, there’s so much going on in this first episode of the opening two-part series premier that it actually feels more like a series finale! Steven Moffat has gone for big spectacle, high drama, and full timey-wimey overload for The Magician’s Apprentice. Drawing heavily on the programmes past, the intricate plot is dark, intense, and even the 4th Doctor’s iconic “If someone who knew the future, pointed out a child to you, and told you that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives… could you then kill that child?” speech from 1975’s Genesis of the Daleks takes on a whole new perspective in the context of the Doctor’s actions in The Magician‘s Apprentice – setting up some interesting themes that will no doubt impact on the ongoing narrative of new series. There are moments of wry humour too, particularly when Missy and Clara are working together, the way Missy compares the Daleks plan to destroy the TARDIS with a certain part of a Dalek casing is another standout moment, and it’s clear that the Doctor’s bond with Clara is now even stronger than ever.
Exciting, if initially a little bewildering, The Magician’s Apprentice, while somewhat grim at times, also has a great sense of adventure and fun – especially when the Doctor makes a surprise – if somewhat superfluous – rock and roll entrance with an electric guitar! It’s a story that probably needs multiple viewing to fully appreciate every nuance of the storyline, even the Sonic Screwdriver has an unexpectedly significant role to play, but despite the slight overloading of the script there is still a lot to enjoy here. Once all the characters have been drawn together, a space station that isn‘t quite what it seems leads to a fittingly epic face-off between the Doctor and Davros, and the build up to that first glimpse of the Dalek city and then the Daleks themselves are both breathtaking moments.
Minor quibbles aside, I really enjoyed this first episode, and thought it got the new series off to a fantastic start. The Magician’s Apprentice races towards an incredibly exciting cliff-hanger, the stakes get raised impossibly high as the full horror of the Daleks plan actually sends the Doctor to his knees, and you will be left wondering how those nerve-jangling final moments can possibly be resolved in the conclusion of this two-part story – The Witch’s Familiar.
The Doctor (Colin Baker) and Peri (Nicola Bryant) arrive at Tranquil Repose on the planet Necros, where a facility run by Mr Jobel (Clive Swift) is used by some of the wealthiest people in the galaxy to cryogenically freeze their remains, until a time where the aliments that caused their deaths can be cured. The Doctor wants to pay his last respects to his old friend, Professor Stengos (Hugh Walters). However, when they are attacked by a horrific mutant (Ken Barker), the Doctor’s suspicions about Stengos’ death are confirmed.
When they arrive at Tranquil Repose the Doctor is almost crushed by a huge memorial that has been fashioned in his own likeness. Once inside Tranquil Repose the Doctor is captured by a new breed of white and gold Daleks that have been created by Davros (Terry Molloy). The creator of the Daleks has adopted the identity of the Great Healer so he can use the frozen bodies stored at Tranquil Repose to secretly build a new Dalek army.
Davros runs his operation from deep in the catacombs. His head is stored in a tank, which now acts as his life support system, and he can monitor everything that happens on a sophisticated bank of computer screens. When Jobel openly challenges his authority, Davros has the chief embalmers assistant, Tasambeker (Jenny Tomasin), brought to him. Davros manipulates Tasambeker into helping him, using her infatuation with Jobel get her to kill him.
Peri manages to avoid Jobel’s lecherous advances by making friends with the facilities resident DJ (Alexi Sayle). The Doctor finds himself imprisoned with Stengos’ daughter, Natasha (Bridget Lynch Blosse), and her friend Gregory (Stephen Flynn), who broke into Tranquil Repose so Natasha could find out what really happened to her fathers body. After finding his cryogenic chamber was empty, they later discovered his severed head growing inside a transparent Dalek casing. In a moment of lucidity, Stengos begs his daughter to kill him, rather than let himself become a Dalek. Natasha used her gun to vaporise her fathers head, but afterwards she was captured along with Gregory, and tortured by Takis (Trevor Cooper) and Lilt (Colin Spaull).
It would seem that Davros has made some great enemies during his stay on Necros. Having invented a food substitute to eliminate famine throughout the galaxy, by processing the corpses frozen in Tranquil Repose, the Great Healer forged an alliance with Kara (Eleanor Bron) and her assistant Vogel (Hugh Walters) to manufacture the food paste in her factory complex. But she has grown tired of Davros’ demands, and decides to kill him. Kara hires an assassin from The Grand Order of Oberon, Orcini (William Gaunt), and his squire Bostock (John Ogwen), and gives him a bomb to destroy the Great Healer and Tranquil Repose.
Kara’s plan is quickly discovered by Davros, he sends a squad of Dales to bring her to him, killing Vogel when he resists. After defeating a patrolling Dalek Orcini breaks into the facility, freeing the Doctor, who leaves Natasha and Gregory to destroy the incubation room – but they become trapped and are killed by a Dalek. Peri and the DJ try and hold off the attacking Daleks, but the DJ is killed and Peri is captured by the Daleks.
Orcini and Bostock attack Davros in his lair, but the head in the tank is actually a decoy, and the real Davros is hovering behind him. The Daleks attack Bostock and shoots off Orcini’s artificial leg, leaving Davros to swoop in and blast Orcini with bolts of energy from his hand. The Doctor and Peri are brought before Davros, who gloats about his imminent victory, Kara’s treachery is also revealed and Orcini stabs her in the heart. Bostock manages to shoot off Davros’ hand before he can activate his Dalek army. The Daleks kill Bostock and rush to protect Davros. Chaos ensues as a squad of Daleks arrive from Skaro, having been called by Takis and Lilt, and it transpires that the Dalek Supreme wants Davros taken alive so he can be punished for his crimes.
The Daleks from Skaro overpower Davros’ new Dalek force and capture their creator. As the Daleks escort Davros back to their ship, Orcini stays with Bostock’s body in the catacombs, giving the others just enough time to get away before he uses the bomb to destroy Davros’ Daleks. Although they were unable to prevent the Dalek ship leaving with Davros, the Doctor and Peri manage to escape. Before he leaves the Doctor suggests that the survivors cultivate one of the planets flowers, which are rich in protein, and process it as a replacement for The Great Healers gruesome food supplement. As they leave the Doctor decides it time he took Peri on a holiday, and he knows just the place to go…
Season Twenty Two was Colin Baker’s first full season as the 6th Doctor. His new Doctor was initially quite unstable, and constantly at odds with his travelling companion Peri, but by the time of Revelation of the Daleks (1985) they are getting along much better. Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant give terrific performances here, there is a touching moment where the Doctor is confronted by his own gravestone, and Peri proves to be just as resourceful as the Doctor when they are separated at Tranquil Repose. The Doctor also has a great confrontation with Davros, where the Time Lord is visibly disgusted by what lengths Davros has gone to build his new Dalek Empire.
Eric Saward’s script for Revelation of the Daleks contains elements of Evelyn Waugh’s The Loved One, a satirical novel about a funeral business. Revelation of the Daleks is also bleak and full of graphic horror. The scene where Natasha and Gregory discover Stegnos’ head growing inside the transparent Dalek are some of the most horrific in the shows history. Add to this the morbid setting of Tranquil Repose, the unsettling way Jobel behaves towards his staff, and the horrific practice of corpses being used to create Dalek mutants and processed food in Kara’s factory, it becomes clear why Season Twenty Two was heavily criticised for its excessive levels of violence. Much as I enjoy the grittier stories in Doctor Who, sadly this trend of increasingly dark stories also led to the show being put on hiatus by the BBC at the end of the season, so we lost the stories already in development for Season Twenty Three – they were replaced by The Trail of a Time Lord when Doctor Who returned in 1986.
Revelation of the Daleks has an impressive guest cast, many of whom play a pivotal role in the action. Tassambeker’s unrequited love for the slimy Jobel is quite unsettling, and Jenny Tomasin and Clive Swift really hold our attention as their macabre relationship is manipulated like a plaything by Davros in his lair. Elanore Bron is supremely elegant as the scheming Kara, whose plan to kill Davros takes up most of the story, and ultimately leads to her being killed by the very assassin she hired to do her dirty work for her. William Gaunt steals the show from everyone as Orcini, a Knight of the Grand Order of Oberon, who, along with John Ogwen as his faithful squire Bostock, accept Kara’s mission for the honour of killing Davros.
Terry Molloy is simply magnificent as Davros in Revelation of the Daleks. When we first see the decoy in the tank, it would appear that this is all that remains of the Daleks creator. It’s quite chilling to observe him as he watches events unfold around him, with Davros sitting in the middle of events like a great spider in a web, slowly drawing his victims to their doom. Admittedly, his plan to lure the Doctor into his trap does seem somewhat extravagant, but having worked in secret for so long it would seem that Davros has become even more deranged. He cackles maniacally, spitting orders as his head swivels in its tank, manipulating everyone around him. Of course this is all a ruse, the head is just a decoy for the assassins bullet, and when Davros is revealed his chair can now float and he can shoot bolts of energy from his hands and sensor array. Molloy exudes pure evil as Davros, especially in his exchanges with the Doctor, and it seems he has been monitoring the Time Lord for some time. Even after he loses his remaining hand, Davros refuses to give up, ranting at the Daleks loyal to the Supreme Dalek, telling them that he can make them all supreme Daleks if he so desires.
The forty five minute formant adopted for this season really plays to the strengths of Revelation of the Daleks, there is virtually no padding in this story, and the plot thunders towards its epic climax in the second episode. A sudden snowfall meant that the location scenes were filmed in the snow, which really helps build an eerie atmosphere, and it makes the Doctor and Peri’s encounter with the Mutant even more terrifying. The Doctor and Peri also wear striking blue cloaks for the early stages of the story. Once we reach tranquil repose the interior sets are also impressive, especially Davros’ lair deep in the lower levels of the catacombs. The action set-pieces where both factions of Daleks are fighting are brilliantly choreographed by director Graeme Harper; you really get the sense that you are in the thick of the action, and the body count it shockingly high.
Although it takes a whole episode for the Doctor and Peri to get involved in the story, this is still one of their best adventures, and it really gives Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant a chance to shine as they battle against the Daleks. Eric Saward’s story is full of fantastic characters, all trying to outwit and deceive each other, yet ironically nearly all of them end up being killed. The new white and gold Daleks look really good as well, although their voices are strangely muffled. Graeme Harper often films them close up, making them seem even more menacing, especially when they glide around inside Davros lair.
Revelation of the Daleks is my favourite 6th Doctor story, it’s an incredibly dark and violent adventure, and it should have paved the way for another great season. As it is we will never know what could have been. Soon the show would face a long hiatus, production difficulties would disrupt The Trial of a Time Lord, ultimately leading to the recasting of the Doctor. I think it’s a real shame that Colin Baker’s tenure ended so abruptly, as it would have been great to see the 6th Doctor battling the Celestial Toymaker and the Ice Warriors. Fortunately the Big Finish audio adventures have given us the chance to enjoy Colin Baker’s Doctor once more, with scores of memorable stories; they have helped create the legacy that the 6th Doctor so rightly deserves.
Season Twelve would prove to be a time of great change for Doctor Who. After the gradual fragmentation of the UNIT family during the Eleventh Season it fell to the incoming creative team of Robert Holmes and Philip Hinchcliffe to take the helm and usher in their gothic vision of Doctor Who, a regeneration of sorts; which would go on to be regarded as one of the most successful periods in the programmes history.
With the transitional comedy of Robot out of the way, Hinchcliffe and Holmes could at last cast away the trappings of Season Eleven and finally get to work on developing scripts more akin to their new direction for the programme. Coming in at only twenty episodes, Season Twelve was shaping up to be, up to that point, one of the shortest seasons of Doctor Who ever produced. This led to some extremely clever budget saving ideas; allowing sets to be re-cycled for two of the stories as they were set in the same location, albeit in different time zones, as well some extensive location shooting. Another unique feature was the linking theme which ran from The Ark In Space to Revenge Of The Cybermen, which created an intriguing, and tightly plotted, narrative between episodes. However, there is one story which rests firmly at the heart of this aforementioned mini-trilogy that has become as synonymous with Doctor Who as the TARDIS itself – Genesis Of The Daleks.
Genesis Of The Daleks sees the Doctor (Tom Baker) and his companions, intrepid reporter Sarah Jane Smith (Elizabeth Sladen) and the dependable Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter), whisked off by the Time Lords on a mission to prevent the creation of the Daleks – having foreseen a time where the Daleks might one day become a threat to the entire universe. The Doctor is given a Time Ring to transport them back to the TARDIS once their mission is complete, then they are cast back through time to the planet Skaro, arriving in the barren wastelands at the most critical juncture in the Thal/Kaled War of attrition.
With the war falling into an unyielding stalemate, and natural resources on both sides almost exhausted, the Kaled’s turn to their revered scientist Davros (Michael Wisher) to turn the tide of the conflict in their favour. Entrusted with developing a weapon which will help the Kaled’s achieve victory over the Thals, Davros begins his heinous work. After decades of radioactive fallout from the nuclear war many Kaled’s have begun to exhibit horrific mutations; providing perfect fodder for Davros’ experiments to accelerate the Kaled race into it’s final mutated form. Where his own people to know the full extent of his work, they would probably have looked on Davros as a butcher rather than a saviour. Until now the reasoning behind the atrocities breeding in Davros’ underground bunker have gone unchallenged, with any threat of descent quickly quelled by Davros’ ruthless right-hand man Nyder (Peter Miles). This stringent regime is suddenly threatened when the Doctor manages to convince senior ranking Kaled officials to investigate the experiments being carried out in the bunker.
Furious that his research has been halted by his own people’s reluctance to accept their destiny, Davros conspires with the Thals to bring about the demise of the spineless officials who conspire against him, leading to the Thals launching a devastating nuclear strike on the Kaled dome. Only those chosen by Davros survive, taking shelter in the bunker beneath the city. With no one left to oppose him Davros unleashes the Daleks on the unsuspecting Thals. The ensuing massacre inside the Thal dome decimates the Thal population almost to the point of extinction.
Having found himself unable to complete his mission for the Time Lords, and commit genocide by destroying the Daleks incubating chamber, the Doctor and his companions join forces with a small band of Thal survivors and manage to blow up the entrance to Davros’ bunker. Entombed beneath the ruins of the Kaled city, the Daleks turn on the Kaled scientists and exterminate them. Too his horror, Davros realizes he is no longer able to control his creations, and is powerless to save himself from their wrath.
As Davros’ screams are drowned out by the sound of Daleks extermination rays, the Doctor, Sarah and Harry use the Time Ring to re-join the TARDIS back on the Nerva Beacon. The Doctor solemnly reflects that their actions may not have stopped the creation of the Daleks, but it would have perhaps slowed their development by at least a thousand years.
With such a rich storyline and memorable characters, there are few who could dispute that Genesis Of The Daleks is one of Terry Nation’s finest Dalek stories. Some of his scripts for his creations in previous seasons had adhered to a more familiar format: Planet Of The Daleks (1973) plays like a virtual re-enactment of the Daleks debut story in 1963, although the enticingly titled Death To The Daleks (1974) did provide a highly enjoyable Dalek story with a neat twist – making their weaponry as powerless as the humans and the native savages on Exxilon.
Like many of Terry Nation’s scripts, Genesis Of The Daleks is heavily imbued with the writer’s fascination of the more horrific aspects of warfare – in particular themes dealing with nuclear Armageddon and military dictatorships. While previous Dalek stories drowned under the weight of such heavy-handed moralizing; here these keynotes serve only as a disquieting backdrop, allowing a far greater story to play out. Terry Nation successfully uses Genesis Of The Daleks to ram home the horrific fate of the Kaled’s and Thals, a fate that is wholly of their own making; fermented from all the worst qualities the Kaled race has to offer.
The war which shaped Skaro’s destiny has only barely been touched upon in the past; few could have imagined the terrible price paid by the people of Skaro when the TARDIS first materialised there in The Daleks (1963). When the Doctor returns to the planet in Genesis Of The Daleks he finds a world entrenched in the squalid turmoil of trench warfare. Each race has fortified themselves in the relative safety of huge domed cities, both facing each other across a barren wasteland shrouded in the bleak haze of a nuclear winter. Nothing can survive on the surface of Skaro for long, and those who are forced to live in this hellish place are horribly mutated by the radiation; pathetic shambling things who were once human – now outcasts from their own people. With the planets natural resources running low and civilization suffering a retrogressive decline, the Kaled’s and the Thals have found themselves locked in an uneasy stalemate.
Much has been made of the Nazi undertones associated with the depiction of the Kaled people in Genesis Of The Daleks, so much so that it seems almost trite to indulge in such well evaluated territory – suffice it to say that the Kaled people seem to be an innate fascist society like no other ever seen before in the annuls of Doctor Who. For all their sadistic ways, the Kaled’s are, after all, not the only participants in this conflict. The Thals, it would seem, are not as whiter than white as previous continuity might have led us to believe. Those captured by the Thals are forced into slave labour on the Thals enormous rocket, working with hardly any rest or food, until they either collapse or die from the radiation leaking from the missiles warhead.
When Sarah Jane and her Muto friend Sevrin are captured by the Thals, they too find themselves forced to work on the deadly super-weapon. Sarah rallies the prisoners to try to escape, but their flight to freedom proves to be short lived. As they frantically climb the scaffolding around the missile the Thal soldiers pick them off one by one with sniper fire. For all their efforts, Sevrin and Sarah are re-captured before they can reach the summit of the dome, where a Thal soldier callously threatens to drop Sarah to her death from the top of the rocket gantry for little more, it would seem, than his own twisted amusement. Even when they obtain the secret formulae to breach the impervious Kaled dome from the treacherous Davros, the Thals make no attempt at negotiating a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Instead the Thal government seize their opportunity to decisively win the war, and fire their missile at the weakened Kaled dome, blasting their enemies from the surface of Skaro forever… Terry Nation’s previous Dalek stories may have painted the Thals as peacemakers, but here we see that they would seem to have been cut from the same cloth as the Daleks themselves; their actions in Genesis Of The Daleks casting them in a very different light indeed.
With the multiple threads weaving throughout the plot of its six episodes, Genesis Of The Daleks could easily have swamped Tom Baker’s fledgling presence beneath the sheer weight of its epic narrative. Right from the fog-bound opening with his fellow Time Lord, Tom Baker’s indomitable persona is already beginning to make it’s presence felt: with Baker’s trademark thundering inflections; passionate speeches, pockets filled with useless clutter, and manic surges of action all clearly defined here, giving us a tantalizing glimpse of the bohemian eccentric that the fourth Doctor would soon become.
His mission for the Time Lords may seem to have the Doctor working more independently than usual, yet his first priority is always the safety of his companions. Even though he skilfully manages to play the political game of cat and mouse – an unusual feat for this most anti-establishment of all the Doctor’s incarnations – with each of Skaro’s opposing factions, the Doctor doesn’t hesitate to attempt to rescue Sarah from the Thal dome or help Harry escape the jaws of a giant clam, even though it may mean jeopardising their mission. Such selfless acts, though, are perceived by Davros as a weakness he can exploit. He lures the Doctor and his companions into a trap, where he demands that the Doctor disclose his secrets or he will be forced to witness Sarah and Harry subjected to agonising torture. Torn between his mission for the Time Lords and watching his friends suffer, the Doctor makes the only choice he can…
Following this dramatic cliff-hanger the Doctor divulges the reason for every future Dalek defeat to Davros, giving the Kaled scientist everything he needs to know to change the course of their destiny. With Sarah and Harry carried back to their cells, Davros decides to continue his deliberations with the Doctor – alone. Here we are treated to probably one of the most riveting confrontations ever filmed in Doctor Who; the celebrated ‘glass vial’ scene, where the Doctor offers a sinister point of conjecture to Davros by comparing the Daleks to a deadly virus that will kill any life-form exposed to it. For a moment, social and political analogies aside, you could almost forget you were watching a children’s programme. Michael Wisher and Tom Baker both deliver a totally captivating performance, creating one of Doctor Who’s rare moments of flawless brilliance where you can blissfully forget the programmes minor flaws and bask in the glory of the scenes grand sublimity.
Genesis Of The Daleks is also one of the unique instances where little seems to come of the Doctor’s actions; because he doesn’t actually achieve any real sense of victory. Long time viewers would by now be all too familiar with the fact that travelling with the Doctor can sometimes be fraught with risks; some that even the Doctor himself is powerless to prevent: The Massacre (1966), The Dalek Master Plan (1965-1966), Power Of The Daleks (1966), and Inferno (1970) have all placed the Doctor in impossible no-win scenarios, some of which have even cost the lives of his travelling companions.
In many ways we hold a highly idealized view of the Doctor’s adventures, so that when he does fail it hits home all the more because we know the reverence he holds for all forms of life. This passionate zeal makes any loss, however insignificant it may seem, almost impossible for him to bear. For all his extraordinary power and technology even the Doctor has his limits, there are some things that are beyond even his influence, and Genesis Of The Daleks serves to clarify this most frustratingly cruel aspect of time travel.
The first Doctor once stated in The Aztecs (1964): “But you can’t rewrite history! Not one line!” a case in point which often proves to be a bitter pill to swallow. In Genesis of the Daleks the 4th Doctor is forced to comply with his own omniscient mandate. Just as in many of the early William Hartnell historical stories, the Doctor and his companions are simply swept along with the tide of events which occur in Genesis Of The Daleks; unable to make any real headway against the raging torrent of fate that is Skaro’s inevitable destiny.
With much of Genesis Of The Daleks centred around the Doctor and Davros it is perhaps inevitable that some characters are pushed to the sidelines, unfortunately one such person to suffer this fate is the newest member of the TARDIS crew – Harry Sullivan. It’s a great pity that the early potential Ian Marter displayed as Harry in the seasons second story – The Ark In Space – is almost completely overlooked by the frenetic pace of the plot; with little time really given to developing the character, which seems strange given Harry’s military background. It is painfully clear, even at this early stage, that the casting of the ardent Tom Baker has made the role of Harry Sullivan’s bumbling medical officer fundamentally obsolete.
Fortunately Sarah Jane Smith does not suffer the supernumerary fate that befalls poor Harry. In fact she positively blossoms in this story; recovering from the rapid dilution her spirited character suffered towards the end of Season Eleven, allowing Elizabeth Sladen to really shine in her role as companion.
True, Sarah does spend most of her time in Genesis Of The Daleks flailing from one peril to another, but it is because of the newfound camaraderie she now shares with the Doctor and Harry that makes her plight all the more genuine. This story shows Sarah like we have never really seen her before: hopelessly lost in the wastelands of Skaro, witnessing firsthand the horrific realities of war, and forced to overcome her own initial revulsion of Sevrin’s physical deformities if she is to stand any chance of surviving the nightmare she has suddenly been forced to live through.
Even when Sarah and Sevrin are captured by the Thals and forced to work on the highly radioactive rocket warhead, Sarah Jane refuses to accept her fate, bravely rallying her fellow prisoners to mount a bold escape attempt.
More than anything, though, it is Sarah’s blossoming relationship with the new Doctor that will go on to make their partnership one of the most endearing of all. With the Fourth Doctor prone to bemoaning his quintessential alien qualities to justify his behaviour, it often falls to Sarah’s stubborn reasoning to question the Doctor’s actions, tempering his infinite wisdom with her common sense and compassion. In spite of the moral carte blanche the Time Lords have bequeathed him, when the Doctor finally has the chance to destroy the Dalek Incubating Room, he turns to Sarah for help when he finds himself unable to make such a monumental decision. When the Doctor asks her: “Do I have the right?” she of course agrees that he does, but the Doctor is finally able to see the bigger picture. Comparing the opportunity to commit genesis against the Daleks to the foreknowledge of the child who would become Hitler, he asks her: “…could you then kill that child?”
You simply could not imagine the Third Doctor allowing one of his companions to question his judgment in such a direct fashion, Pertwee’s Doctor would have either just dismissed or belittled them into submission. It quickly becomes apparent that the Fourth Doctor is not afraid to learn from his companions, moreover trusting his own perspicacity to let them use their own individual strengths and acumen to help them achieve their full potential.
Any Dalek story is in itself a special event for Doctor Who, none more so than this one. Up until now there had only ever been thee distinct hierarchies controlling the fate of the Dalek race, the all powerful Emperor Dalek, the tyrannical Black Daleks, and the many countenances (Or should that be successors?) of the Supreme Dalek. Terry Nation changed everything we had so far discovered about Dalek hierarchy when he introduced a character who would go on to enjoy nearly as much popularity as the Daleks themselves, their creator Davros.
On his many travels the Doctor has faced countless horrors that lurk in the darkest regions of the universe, but in Davros he encounters a being with probably the blackest soul of all. Although Davros’ past is never explained in Genesis Of The Daleks, it is clear from his physical deformities that he was either a victim of a terrible accident, or a tragic mutation sired in the contaminated twilight of Skaro’s nuclear winter.
Whatever his origins, his crippled body belies his awesome intellect. In fact, the life support systems of his wheelchair are so sophisticated it would lead us to believe that Davros was no mere conscript to the Kaled war machine. Later we learn of a Kaled scientist who was implanted with an artificial heart manufactured by Davros, indicating that perhaps Davros began his career in medicine. His brilliant mind would have pushed forward with anything that would have helped the Kaled race survive the ravages of radioactive contamination, no matter what the cost – ethical or otherwise. This ruthless dedication would have brought Davros to the attention of the Kaled government, the potential his genius could offer the Kaled military would have seemed almost limitless.
Once recruited to the Kaled military Davros found a new ally to his cause, the ruthless Nyder. Both men share the same twisted aim to lead the people of Sakro towards their insidious design for a new, superior, breed of Kaled. The Dalek is much more than a means to exterminate the Thals; it is the pure embodiment of their faith in the Dalek as the ultimate expression of the Kaled’s racial superiority. Whatever the origin behind their sinister alliance it is obvious Davros has a great respect for Nyder, for without him Davros would probably have never achieved his eminent status – granting him unparallel political influence disguised under the banner of the feared agents of Nyder’s Elite.
Indeed they complement each other perfectly, and Peter Miles makes Nyder a truly loathsome character, but it is Michael Wisher’s chilling portrayal of Davros that really makes Genesis Of The Daleks so memorable. The fact that Michael Wisher’s features are totally obscured by the latex mask and his movements are severely restricted by the wheelchair; only able to make the smallest of gestures with one hand, it is all the more remarkable how Wisher manages to convey such an evil presence using only the power of his voice.
Just as Mary Shelley’s Dr Frankenstein is consumed by the ramifications of his heinous work, Davros is also driven to create life; sculpting the horrific Kaled mutations in his laboratory until their humanity is all but erased. Having imbued his monstrous creations with all the qualities he deems necessary for the purity of the Kaled race, all that remained was for Davros to build an armoured war machine in which to house his bubbling seeds of hate. The Dalek is the perfect synthesis of a dream gone mad, blood, flesh and metal dubiously crafted in it’s creators own image.
Davros is initially sceptical about the Doctor’s sudden arrival, quickly sensing there is more behind the Time Lords jovial façade, his every instinct strangely drawing Davros to the Doctor like a moth to flame. This is probably the first time Davros has ever encountered anyone with sufficient intellect to challenge him, and he seems to positively relish every chance he has to intellectually spar with the Doctor. As egos go, the Fourth Doctor’s takes some beating, but even this is almost eclipsed when Davros states that he believes the Doctor’s intellect may almost rival his own! For one so deformed it seems all the more ironic that it is Davros’ own vanity that provides the chink in his armour the Doctor needs to complete his mission.
Though Davros may be a dictator in waiting, even his influence is not without limits. When the Doctor convinces the Kaled government to suspend the Dalek production line, until the full nature of Davros’ experiments can be evaluated, Davros has little choice but to comply with his superiors wishes. Unable to except defeat, Davros sets about a new course of action which will see him forge an alliance with the Thals, one that will effectively sign the death warrant for his own people. It could be argued that it is at this point that the Doctor fails in his mission, as his interference causes Davros to instigate a new course of action that will ultimately assure the Daleks ascension to power. Instead it is this precise moment, pushed by the apparent betrayal of his own people that Davros’ pride in his ghoulish scheme causes his sanity to topple into the bottomless abyss of megalomania.
With their mass extermination of the Thals complete, the Daleks return to the bunker beneath the ruins of the Kaled city. As soon as they are inside the Daleks assume complete control of the facility, initiating the complete automation of the Dalek production line and shepherding all personnel into Davros’ laboratory. Though Davros tries to reason with his creations, he is powerless to stop the Daleks exterminating his entire staff. Too late, Davros realises that by creating the Daleks in his own image, as well as imbuing their very DNA with his own twisted morality, he has also inadvertently made himself surplus to requirements. Unable to reason with the Daleks, Davros makes one last desperate bid to reach the controls of the production line, but his crippled body is too slow and the Daleks exterminate him. After sacrificing his own world to the flames of Armageddon just to insure his egotistical criterion ambitions, it seems ironic that, because of the providence of the Daleks; Davros ultimately suffers the same fate he dealt his own people by the very weapons of the creatures he had fought so hard to conceive.
With the Daleks entombed beneath the ruins of the Kaled dome the Doctor and his companions use the Time Ring to sail off through time to be reunited with the TARDIS. As they dematerialise and begin their journey, the Doctor concedes to Sarah and Harry that he may have failed in his mission to end the Dalek menace once and for all, but he hopes their intervention may have had some significant effect on future events when he solemnly states: “I know that although the Daleks will create havoc and destruction for millions of years. I know also, that out of their evil, must come something good.”
In fact, the Doctor’s simplest wish is really the victory that the Time Lords were secretly hoping for all along. The members of the High Counsel would have instinctively known that the Doctor would be incapable of committing genocide against another sentient race – even one as evil as the Daleks – but they could be assured that the Doctor’s meddling at such a significant period in Skaro’s history would guarantee a major divergence to the Dalek time line – the survival of Davros.
If history had continued along its preordained path the Daleks would have been forced to become even more inventive and ruthless to escape the confines of their barren home world. Stripping Skaro of its natural resources to feed their military might, the Daleks would soon take to the stars and become one of the most feared forces of death and destruction throughout the universe. By the time of The Dalek Master Plan (1965) the Daleks have become so powerful they are on the verge of mastering control of time itself, the consequences of which – no doubt – would have proved the catalyst for the Time Lords intervention.
While the Doctor may feel he has failed his mission, the Time Lords have knowingly set in motion a chain of events that will effectively re-write Dalek history; resulting in far-reaching ramifications for the Daleks time line – simply because Davros survives. Either by fate or design, it seems that Davros’ chair holds his exterminated body in a state of suspended animation, perhaps employing some form of hitherto unknown nano-technology to regenerate his vital organs sufficiently enough to subsist until such a time when his body can be restored.
Whether this remarkable feat of engineering is just a contrivance from a writer desperate to recycle such a remarkable character, or a surreptitious arc planted by Nation to show Davros had simply been extra cautious considering he now has considerable knowledge of the Dalek time line – along with their penchant for treachery – allowing him the prescience to develop such contingency measures should his creations betray him, is difficult to evaluate.
Though the circumstances behind Davros’ miraculous resurrection provides a point for endless conjecture, yet survive he does, so when the Daleks return to Skaro to find their creator in Destiny Of The Daleks (1979) to enlist his help in their war with the Movellan’s his life-support systems revive Davros as the Daleks approach. The centuries spent in suspended animation have done little to dilute Davros’ thirst for power; his desire for universal domination now forever entwined with his creations; a destiny he envisions with himself as their absolute ruler. It is therefore not the Doctor’s interference that will forever condemn the Daleks to the ignominy of defeat, but rather Davros’ insane ambition which will become the oblique onus the Dalek race will be forced to bear.
Genesis Of The Daleks is a true Doctor Who classic. It is also one of those rare instances where hardly any padding is evident to bolster the plot, a common fault in most six part Doctor Who stories. This, aided by extremely high production values, allows David Maloney’s understated direction to captivate the viewer with the nightmarish scenario that the Doctor and his companions have found themselves in. Tom Baker and Elizabeth Sladen are in the early stages of creating what will probably become the most fondly remembered TARDIS crew of all time, while the Daleks make a triumphant return to ruthless form. If there is one fault to be found with the script, it has to be the constants use of that old Terry Nation plot contrivance; the loss of the vital component needed ensure the time travellers escape in the TARDIS – the ubiquitous Time Ring.
Some might say that Davros should never have been resurrected after Genesis Of The Daleks, as the character was gradually diluted with each successive appearance, until the Daleks creator was reduced to little more than a raving madman. There is some degree of truth to this, as many of the Dalek stories during the 80’s often tied themselves up in knots simply to accommodate the Daleks creator – although arguably Resurrection of the Daleks (1984), Revelation of the Daleks (1985), and Remembrance of the Daleks (1988) form a trilogy of superficially entertaining stories that allows Davros the chance to evolve like no other villain in Dr Who‘s history.
Big Finish audios have gone so far as to build on Davros’ immense popularity by delving into the mysteries of the characters origins in the superb audio play – Davros (2004). Here we learn some of the events which led to Davros being crippled during the Kaled/Thal war, and his subsequent descent into maniacal fanaticism. Davros has featured in many more Big Finish audio adventures, and still remains a popular reoccurring adversary for the range.
When the Daleks returned in Russell T Davies new series of Doctor Who in 2005 they were more popular than ever, but it would take the Cult of Skaro’s failed experiments to genetically manipulate their ailing species in Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks (2007) before circumstances would ultimately lead to the return of their creator, Davros, in The Stolen Earth/Journeys End (20008). Julian Bleach played Davros for his triumphant return to the new series. In some ways he is as much a refugee from the Time War as the lone Dalek in Van Statten’s Vault, but Davros is no fool, and there is no way he would ever remain subservient to the Supreme Dalek’s will for long. Although Davros and his Daleks are defeated in this story, the characters penchant for survival does however pose us with the tantalizing question of just how long will we have to wait for a certain Kaled scientist to return? Davros is now inexorably linked with his creations, indeed the Daleks return for the season premier of Doctor Who’s Seventh Season in Asylum of the Daleks was a spectacular episode. We got to see the stunning Dalek Parliament, a new caste of the Dalek hierarchy in the form of the Dalek Prime Minister, some classic Daleks appeared in the dank chambers of the Asylum, and even the surprise debut of new companion Jenna Louise Coleman – who has been transformed into a Dalek! Although the episode was incredibly exciting, offering a wealth of possibilities for the Doctor‘s future companion, as well was the all too brief glimpse of the Special Weapons Dalek, Steven Moffat has finally engineered the return of Davros (Julian Bleach) to do battle with the 12th Doctor (Peter Capaldi) in 2015’s The Magician’s Apprentice and The Witch’s Familiar – the two-part opener of Series 9. The Daleks have ensured that Doctor Who has never been far from the public’s imagination, they were instrumental in helping the new show achieve the many awards and accolades that it so rightly deserves after being abandoned in the wilderness of cancellation for so long. Indeed, with the Daleks return in the 50th Anniversary episode: The Day of the Doctor, the circle is now complete.
When Davros glided from the shadows to test his Mark Three Travel Machine on that fateful Saturday teatime in 1975 and changed the course of history with just a flick of a switch as Sarah Jane watched on in horror, the legacy of that moment redefined Dr Who for generations to come. There can be no doubt that Genesis Of The Daleks rightly deserves it’s “Classic” status as one of the all time greats of Doctor Who, and I still believe the reason for this stories enduring success lies squarely with Michael Wisher’s superb performance as Davros. When all is said and done, Genesis Of The Daleks is really Davros’ story, and for that reason alone we owe it a huge debt of thanks. So it is probably fitting that because of Terry Nation’s extraordinary revision of Dalek continuity, Davros has gone on to become one of the greatest adversaries the Doctor has ever known.
