Because, of course, no list of Top Doctor Who Stories is complete without Genesis of the Daleks. Much like the Daleks themselves when it comes to messing with fixed points in time, not even I’m crazy enough to miss this one off. Some laws are sacred, and that Genesis of the Daleks is one of the best – if not the best – Doctor Who stories of all time is one of them. So what is it about this story that makes it so great?
Working through this list there have been some stories that are generally considered great, and some that are the complete opposite – they are uniquely loved by me. For the most part I’ve found it easier to talk about these stories than the popular ones: when not much has been said in favour of, say, Underworld, it’s a lot easier to go into bat for it than find something new to say about something like Genesis, which has been talked about to death. There’s also the weight of expectation, the pressure of wanting to do the story justice. But, obviously, I’m going to give it a try.
There’s a number of reasons that Genesis is so good, but the thing that makes this story stand out is how well they all work together. Firstly there’s the plot. Terry Nation was famously contracted to provide a script by Barry Letts & Terrance Dicks for their successor’s first season, and was then asked to provide it again, because the pair thought it was all to similar to his previous submissions – anyone who’s ever played the Terry Nation Part One Drinking Game knows where they’re coming from. Nation, much like Dicks, is a hack; a good one, but if you want something special from him you have to push him. And that’s what happens here: when Letts & Dicks force him to come up with something new, he goes back to basics & comes up with the Daleks’ origin story – and it’s brilliant. Nation gives us the Thals and the Dals – now the Kaleds – towards the end of their war and shows us what the horrors of Total War looks like. Rather than have The Daleks evolve naturally, he now has them created as a result of that war (and one man’s obsession, but we’ll come to him). He really focusses on the racial purity element of the Dalek psyche and makes the obvious comparison to the Nazis, who – at just 30 years defeated – would be a reasonably fresh and recognisable analogy.
Nation’s Nazi’s are the Kaleds, are it’s unmistakable: from the sense of superiority in the way they are portrayed, but much less subtly in the design of their costumes, which are virtually SS cosplay, and the fact they’re stuck in bunkers. The salute with his heels Peter Miles gives Nyder totally adds to this: everyone is on the same page as the writer here (costume, actor, director…) Interestingly though Nation doesn’t then make the Thals the Allies: although there’s a bit of GI green in their design, they are just as driven to win the war as the Kaleds, going as far as to use expendable slave labour to build their rocket. Both sides are as bad as each other in this conflict; there is no good side, the closest being the Mutos that live in the wastelands and are innocent parties caught in the crossfire.
We’ll never really know how much of this script is Nation and how much is Bob Holmes; it would be easy to say Holmes scripted the best of the scenes in the second half of the story, but that would be a disservice to Nation. Certainly there’s traces of Holmes throughout, like the world building that goes into the casual mention of dystronic toxaemia (Holmes loves him a toxaemia, see Caves of Androzani) and some cutting barbs from the Doctor, but there’s two scenes here that are burned into the retinas of every Doctor Who fan: the Doctor having a quandary over whether or not he should blow up the Dalek incubation chamber, and the discussion with Davros after he’s been interrogated. Both are phenomenally good: both in terms of scripting and performance. It’s the quieter, more thoughtful moments like these – moments that do nothing for the plot but add so much in terms of atmosphere, characterisation and drama – that makes the Hinchcliffe era stand out so much; and keep us Doctor Who fans coming back for more.
I’ve mentioned him twice now, it’s time to talk Davros, in many ways the MVP of Genesis – because if anything typifies the idea of everything coming together so seamlessly in this story it’s Davros. And thanks to Friday’s Children In Need special Destination: Skaro, Davros is very much in the public (or fan) eye at the moment. Russell has made the decision that Davros is no longer going to be portrayed as disabled, and for good reason: the disfigured, disabled villain is a trope; it has been since Richard III and continues to be into the most recent film version of The Witches. It’s there in Sharaz Jek and Magnus Greel and The Borad, and kudos to RTD for saying No More. This initial vision of Davros is as iconic as the Daleks in some respects – certainly I know who Davros was when I first watched Doctor Who – and we will always have this version; it’s just that times change, so do we, and if we want to be inclusive to all we need to bear that in mind. We may be reading too much into what is essentially a 5 minute skit, we may need to see if RTD has any plans to bring Davros back before we decide how hard to complain; but ultimately, as an able bodied man I feel we should listen to the people affected by this issue before we start shouting “woke agenda” and waving the picthforks.
All that said, the concept of Davros is a memorable one. Making the creator of the Daleks being one man, and then making that man a crippled scientist; the characterisation of that scientist as a megalomaniac but also a shrewd political player; the design of half-man-half-Dalek but keeping with that Nazi aesthetic; all of these would be enough to create something iconic and lasting, but you really need to give Michael Wisher all the awards going for truly bringing Davros to life. Stuck behind a mask, unable to move his body, Wisher still manages to pack so much emotion and depth ito Davros. With his stock still body, ramrod straight, only moving his one hand, he still manages to be terrifying. If every Master lives in the shadow of Delgado, then so to every Davros in the shadow of Wisher, yet more so; as good as Terry Molloy, as much as he’s made the role his own in the 80s and now in Big Finish, Wisher’s portrayal is the definitive one. He’s that good.
It’s not just Wisher who’s knocking it out the park here though. Tom Baker is also dazzling as The Doctor; at various turns sombre & despondent when he thinks Harry & Sarah have been killed, flippant and caustic in the face of the Kaled military… This is Tom before the ego/boredom set in, when he was still trying to impress – and impress he does. He’s very rarely better than he is here. The aforementioned Peter Miles is stunningly good as Nyder, the Goebbels to Davros’ Hitler. He has very little physical presence but is utterly menacing and terrifying nonetheless. It’s a masterclass in playing the cold, calculating villain. Final shout outs to Ian Marter & Lis Sladen, who capture the experience of being dragged through the war (and clams) backwards perfectly.
It’s telling that I’ve gotten this far without actually mentioning the Daleks themselves, but that’s something else that that works in this story’s favour. Much like Power, the Daleks start off as a very muted threat, but one that grows and grows as the story proceeds. And that just adds to the tension, as we know what the Daleks are and what they will become and what they are capable of, and we have to watch that come true in front of our characters who just don’t understand. Director David Maloney, another stand out contributor here, shoots them in shadows and from below to add to that sense of creeping menace.
There seems to be a slight sea change in the way fans look at this story now; whereas once it was the all conquering classic, remaining the most repeated classic story of all time, it has started to slow a little in various polls, and more people are willing to speak out about it. Part of me suspects that it due to “The Hipster Effect” of thinking your cool for disliking popular things (see also: The Tenth Doctor & Coldplay), but either way you’re on shaky ground attacking this if you ask me. Don’t @ me about the Clams unless you’re 100% sure you’re favourite story is shit effect free (spoilers: it’s not) and if you’re going to complain about the pacing or the fact it’s too long then please bear in mind the two best scenes come in the two last episodes and are basically padding. Do you really want to lose those…?
Once again we have the perfect example of a story that is more than deserving of it’s reputation. Because of the way everyone was on the same page and at the top of their game when making this story, it becomes so much more than the sum of its parts. But when those parts were solid 24 carat gold to start with, then blimey – doesn’t this one just dazzle?!?
COMING TOMORROW: “There comes a time, Time Lord, when every lonely little boy must learn how to dance….”
Skies Full of Diamonds 