Doctor Who: Genesis of the Daleks

Genesis of the Daleks was one of the first Doctor Who stories I remember watching when I first started watching the program on PBS. Genesis was actually the first Dalek story I had ever seen, and it remains my overall favorite today, as well as one of my overall favorite Doctor Who stories. After years of thrilling stories with the Doctor's oldest archenemies, The DW production staff, along with writer/Dalek creator Terry Nation, decided to explain the origins of the psychotic, megalomaniacal pepperpots in Genesis of the Daleks.

The Doctor (Tom Baker) and his companions Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter) and Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) are brought to Skaro, the Daleks' homeworld, by the Time Lords at a time before the Dalek race existed. The Time Lords want the Doctor to either prevent the Daleks from having ever existed, or alter their development so that they evolve into less aggressive creatures.

The Doctor, Harry and Sarah find themselves in the middle of a long-running war of attrition between two humanoid races - the Kaleds and the Thals. They discover that the nuclear bombardments have caused people on both sides to mutate. The Kaleds, who cherish racial purity, have expelled their mutants (called Mutos) into the wastelands outside their city. One exception is Davros (Michael Wisher), their chief scientist. Davros, believing these mutations are speeding up the evolution of the Kaleds, is performing experiments which lead to the creation of the first Daleks. But Davros' experiments cause the Daleks to lose their sense of emotion - love, hate, pity, compassion. They are driven by one thing - the need for power over the Thals and other "lesser" races.

Davros betrays the Kaleds by helping the Thals nuke the Kaled city and destroy his own race. He then turns on the Thals by sending an army of Daleks into their city to exterminate them, sending the survivors running into the wastelands. In addition to Baker, Marter, Sladen and Wisher, some other great performances come from Peter Miles as Nyder, Harriet Philpin as Bettan and James Garbutt as Ronson.

Director David Maloney joins actors Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen and Peter Miles on the commentary track. Some other noteworthy bonus features include the featurette Genesis of a Classic, The Dalek Tapes - a documentary on the villains who have become cultural icons over the last forty-plus years - a photo gallery and the ever-popular "pop-up production notes."

Although Resurrection of the Daleks was a very good story, Genesis of the Daleks is probably the last Dalek story from the original series that could truly be considered a classic, and I am thrilled that it is finally available on DVD.