TV Review: Doctor Who: Genesis of the Daleks (1975)

Doctor Who: Genesis of the Daleks (1975) written by Terry Nation and directed by David Maloney

Third Doctor Tom Baker gets stranded by the Time Lords on Skaro, the home world of the Daleks. A Time Lord is there to explain their plan: they want the Doctor to alter the evolution of the Daleks, to find some weakness in them (yeah, good luck with that!), or to eliminate them. Skaro is at the end of their cataclysmic civil war, when mad scientist Davros created the Daleks so that his race, the Kaleds, would overcome the Thals, the other humanoid race on the planet. Companions Sarah Jane and Harry are also stranded with the Doctor. They find their way to the Kaled scientific base (an underground bunker, naturally) where they confront the Kaled military leaders, scientists, and Davros himself. Davros is in charge and has made a great deal of scientific progress but he's tipping over into the shouty madness of a megalomaniacal mass murderer, a perfect father figure/creator for the Daleks.

While the Daleks are their usual evil selves and Davros is his usual evil scheming self, the other characters have more depth. Many of the Kaled scientists and military have doubts about the Dalek project and are willing to overthrow Davros. As options start vanishing, the Doctor has to confront whether he will destroy the Daleks, essentially committing the sort of genocide that the Daleks themselves are bent on achieving. The show has some interesting moral reflections to go along with the well-paced plot and action. Davros' schemes are interesting and the make-up job is respectable if not perfect. This six-part show is very satisfying and well worth a watch.

Highly recommended.