The Tiger Who Came To Tea: Genesis of the Daleks

"One day, son, all this will be yours..."

"I stepped from the TARDIS..." Hang on a minute...

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 I loved that LP version, played it to death as a kid. So edited but still works, shows what a good story it is.

Lee Mahon@Lee_JM75 Still got my cassette tape of Genesis from childhood days. One of my most favourite items of Doctor Who merchandise ever.

It's a pretty grim start, those soldiers mown down by machine gun fire.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 A scene like nothing previous in the show, must've been quite a shock for the audience.

Out of the mist...

This beginning scene with the Time Lord is one of those absolutely magical scenes in the show's history.

It's right up there with An Unearthly Child & the end of the War Games.

John Mark Frankland@JMFrankland I wish the Time Lords remained that mysterious and enigmatic.

Yes! All downhill after the War Games...!

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 I prefer the Robert Holmes version myself, pompous and stilted!

"Daleks? Tell me more..."

I've always thought the Time-Lord's voice is just that little bit like Anthony Ainley's. Something about the delivery.

Lee Mahon@Lee_JM75 You mean with both teeth and buttocks firmly clenched?

I see this as the 1st proactive strike by the Time-Lords but consider that it all starts at the end of Frontier in Space. The Doctor alerts them to the Daleks, and they send him on to Spiridon. From then on in, the Time-Lords know something has to be done about them.

If you want to go really fanwanky you can tie in the TV Movie along the lines that in a lull in the war, the Daleks are "allowed" to put the Master on trial for the events of Frontier in Space; but really he's there to spy on the Daleks and the Time-Lords gave him the morphant snake thing, and the Doctor would recover the remains and bring it back to Gallifrey for the Time-Lords to get the info they need but the Master's will for revenge is too strong and he gets out and crashes the TARDIS etc.

After that it has to be something like they retrieve him from the eye of harmony & resurrect him with the YANA body, by which time major hostilities have kicked off again. It's a neat idea that it was the 8th doctor that tried to save Davros in the 1st year of the time war as mentioned in Journey's End, and that incident took place before Night of the Doctor.

Definitely don't lose this time ring, wink wink! Well done, Tez.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 It's the fluid link all over again, got to hand it to old Terry, never afraid of recycling

This is definitely David Maloney's favourite quarry. The Deadly Assassin & half of Blake's 7 was also shot here.

No sooner have Sarah and Harry arrived...

...than someone tries to blow them up. Rude.

The dead soldiers have incongrous kit, some outdated and make-do, some futuristic...

It's a great story for Sarah & Harry too. What a team they were.

Real tension in this minefield scene.

Harry Sullivan is not such an "imbecile" this time round...

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 Such a shame Ian Marter didn't stick around, he would've slotted in quite brilliantly in stories like Pyramids of Mars.

Ever get the feeling you're being watched...?

The friends make their way through the wasteland and see a domed city in the distance. The Time-Lord couldn't possibly have set them down any nearer, oh no.

Back in the studio for these ghoulish trenches. This has atmosphere in spades.

Isn't it just a forward war of attrition?

And suddenly it stops being a typical Nation episode 1 with just the regulars wandering round a quarry.

"They don't look like Thals..."

'Allo, 'allo - it's General Ravon!

"Instead of being shot they'll be hung!" Robert Holmes' fingerprints are very visible on this already.

"Turn out your pockets!"

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 What's a Corgi Batmobile doing in the Doctor's pockets? Obviously a fan of Adam West!

Only Tom's 4th story (5th filmed); you forget that because he's so completely inhabiting the role already.

Lee Mahon@Lee_JM75 Just perfect casting.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 The serendipity of casting! Only happened 3 other times IMO, Jon, David & Matt!

The Doctor gets the drop on Ravon...

...and realizes that "Kaled" is an anagram of... something.

Sarah wakes but is locked out of the bunker and has to go back to the wasteland to find another way.

No idea why Sarah takes her mask off. Other than so we can hear her lines, I mean.

Nyder!

This little bit of escape and recapture is padding...

...but at least we get some more outdoor scenes.

Sarah's not alone...

Nyder interrogates the Doctor about his bric a brac.

Nyder doesn't believe the Doctor is an alien because Chief Scientist Davros says there's no life on other worlds. Let's remember that.

"Davros is never wrong about anything."
"Even I am occasionally wrong about some things. Who is this Davros?"

"Mutos are the scarred relics of ourselves. Monsters created by the chemical weapons used in the first century of this war. They were banished into the wastelands where they live and scavenge like animals." Think we've just identified Sarah's stalkers.

Sarah evades the Mutos and comes across a secret testing range.

We get our first glimpse of Davros...

...and what his creature is capable of.

So well lit that scene; Davros' dark blue eye burning out of that Halloween atmosphere...

"The weaponry is perfect! Now... we can begin!" How chilling is Davros right from the get go!

I think the 60 minute album version does a good job of conflating the important bits of part one.

And an odd lack of recap as we go into part 2!

That 1st Davros scene is a glaring omission from the 60 minute compilation version.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 Probably excised because it relies on visuals more than sound.

The Mutos catch up with Sarah and surround her...

Nyder hands the Doctor and Harry over for scanning and cataloging.

"Good, well, now he's gone, any chance of a cup of tea?"

"Haven't we had a trying experience, Harry?"

"Very trying, Doctor."

"What, no tea?"

Harry passes the headache inducing scan.

The Doctor's ring is alarming.

Take him to Ronson!

The Mutos examine Sarah.

John Mark Frankland@JMFrankland "She is a Norm. All Norms must die". Other Norms include him from Cheers and the petty criminal Norman Stanley Fletcher.

Fletch and Godber were amongst the first casualties of the war, having been caught stealing Davros' tin of pineapple.

John Mark Frankland@JMFrankland And they thought they had problems with Harry Grout.

I've always thought the body language when Sevrin restrains the other muto is glaringly "On stage".

Friendly Muto Sevrin helps Sarah when his cowardly mate scarpers straight into a Thal patrol.

A great little speaking part for Pat Gorman here. Just reward for such a great servant of the show!

Lovely performance from James Garbutt as Ronson.

Ronson is sceptical of the Doctor's claim to come from another planet in another time...

...but then he gets the scan results.

Love how Davros sweeps into this scene and we get to share the Doctor's reaction.

For the 1st time in absolutely yonks, you're actually scared that the Dalek could do something terrible.

Their new paint job helps, though my favourite is still the original silver and blue!

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 Wisher finally gets his Dalek voice spot on for this story, that scream of "Aliens..." is chilling.

Yes! Not so hot in the last 2 stories; gets it here but only to be replaced by Roy Skelton later in the story!

The Doctor and Harry are saved from extermination by Ronson's intervention.

Davros permits Ronson to stay up all night to get Harry.

Sarah and Sevrin the Muto are prisoners of the Thals, as is the boy soldier who hauled them from the trenches.

They're to load the Thal rocket with a radioactive warhead whose payload will slowly kill them...

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 What is it about Terry Nation and radiation? Makes it such a threat then conveniently forgets about it later in the story!!

The Doctor gives Harry an expositry.

Ronson has his reservations about the direction of Davros' experiments.

Love Tom's delivery here...
"That is our future."

"You've got troubles."

Sarah's decided not to wait for the Doctor and Harry and rescues herself. Go on, Sarah!

Ronson helps Harry and the Doctor leave the bunker to take his concerns to the Kaled leaders in the city.

Urgh! It's a slimy mutant half-an-ice-warrior-costume thing!

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 Almost as good a cameo as that Sea Devil that turns up in Blakes 7

Climb for victory!

Keep going Sarah!

The Kaled boy soldier bites the dust giving Sarah a helping hand.

One of Maloney's cheaty freezeframe cliffhangers here. Or to be more charitable - action cliffhanger!

This race to the roof climbing scene looks really effective on film. Bet it would have looked crap on video.

Sarah's only fallen to a ledge below; phew!

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 What a cheat! Reminds me of the old Republic serial cliffhangers that were shown during school holidays

Sarah has to jump across to the rocket before they can make it out of the opening at the top of the dome. Can she make it?

Caught by the Thals! Nasty.

These Thals aren't the wet lot Hartnell met, are they?

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 Always thought it was clever of Nation to make the Ayrian looking Thals peace loving, nice reversal.

Attack of the clams!

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 Never been a fan of seafood, I put it down to this story.

Omega@my_omega - mmm, that would make a lot of clam chowder. Davros, you missed your true calling!

"Why is it always me that puts my foot in it?" Harry goes all Balotelli. Like Mario, it's because you're an "imbecile"!

Is that the same technique leg-healing the 7th Doctor applies to Ace in Remembrance of the Daleks?

Time for Tom to get to work in, sorry on, some bars!

Ronson has an ally - baby Tom Georgson!

But Nyder's earwigging.

Strange little stage of the story here; the Doctor seems to be having some success.

He can't win... can he?

You want him to win, but you kind of know he can't wipe out the Daleks (and can't fiddle history!).

But this is where Nyder's character really starts to have an impact & Davros's diabolical scheming comes to the fore.

The Kaled leaders won't halt Davros' experimentation but they'll launch an investigation which will temporarily suspend them. Better than nothing.

Love Ian Marter's beleaguered "that'll be her..." when told about the "newly arrived girl prisoner who led an attempted breakout. Gave the Thals quite a bit of trouble."

There's only one thing for it, they'll have to go to the Thal dome to pick Sarah up!

Davros is somehow even creepier when he's being apparently reasonable. "An investigation? But of course!"

Got this far and haven't mentioned what a towering, monumental performance we have from Michael Wisher. What an impact. *That*, BBC, is an iconic character.

Just because we know it to death, much of the musical score on this one is emblazoned on the mind.

A real change of style for Deadly Dudley; some works brilliantly but occasional let-down moments of tweeness remain.

e.g. The silly little flourish as the Doctor & Harry peep through the door in the Thal dome is inappropriate.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 I always liked that bit of music lol but yes it is a bit too "wah wah wah" now that you mention it.

Such a shame they never kept the Dalek theme from this story, quite menacing as they glide along.

Quite odd when you consider how heavily they relied on this story for its' sequel, including preparing the LP round that time.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 But then Destiny benefits hugely by having hardly any score at all, helps build tension & atmosphere.

Davros seems to betray his own people, giving the Thals a formula to fire onto the Kaled dome to make it vulnerable to their rocket, but we know he's just paving the way for something terrible...

"Excuse me, could you help me? I'm a spy!"

Not keen on the Thals' bin-bag like radiation gear.

The Doctor and Harry free Sarah and the Mutos but as the Doctor looks for a way to sabotage the rocket...

One of the guards awakens and re-electrifies the metal fencing he's stepped too close to!

The electrocution effects on Tom's arms are the same as the guns on the Ark in Space.

Thanks to the audio version, I always thought the cliffhanger round this part came when Tom says "I sent Harry and Sarah in there!"

Everyone waits with bated breath as the Thal rocket launches...

The Doctor has one last try to stop the rocket.

"I sent Harry and Sarah in there!" Ah, there you go.

Davros has stitched Ronson up like a kipper.

John Mark Frankland@JMFrankland "Let the vengeance begin with the death of the arch traitor, the Thal spy Ronson! My wife's family are Ronsons. You can imagine the difficulties I have. I also have a colleague called Garman. It's hard, you know. I can't ask her anything.

At least you're guaranteed the, er, "response you required"...

Ronson rates three "exterminate"s on the Davros rant-o-meter.

The Thals want to be magnanimous in "victory" so they release the Doctor to mope at a young woman called Bettan.

Dinner-dinner-dinner-dinner, dinner-dinner-dinner-dinner, Ghar-man! Ghar-man! Ghar-man!

The VE Day / New Year's party style celebrations of the Thals is great but tragic because you know what's coming.

It really allows the Daleks gunning them down to appear that more brutal.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 Only let down slightly by the poor acting from the extras "Act like you've never seen a Dalek before!!"

Meanwhile back in The Cave of Clams...

The Doctor's joy at being reunited with Harry and Sarah is lovely.

They have to go back to the bunker for the Time Ring.

Baby Tom Georgeson is on Ghar-Man's side, like his lanky Robin.

Nyder's such an oily, evil character.

You don't believe his turn for a second but you can see how Gharman is taken in.

Oh, Ghar-Man, you chump...

James Cooray Smith@thejimsmith We sometimes used to ask Peter do that over lunch when making Kaldor City.

Ah, what a good sport! :-)

Gharman's weird squeak when Nyder hits him has always amused me.

"You were right, Sarah, about there being something nasty waiting for us..."

This is why Davros is so dangerous; while everyone else dismissed what the Doctor said, he has the imagination... despite what Nyder said in part 1!

Davros' "You Will Tell Me!"s go right off the top of the scale on the rant-o-meter!

"On Mars the Daleks were defeated by a virus that attacked the insulation on the cables in their electrical systems..."

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 Love the hints on unseen adventures, I guess the Doctor was involved in all these mentioned?

"Who knows..."

That tape of Dalek history is a humongous own goal from the Time Lords' point of view, isn't it?

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72The whole story is an own goal for the Time Lords, they fire the first shot in the Time War due to these actions!

The virus/up above the gods scene is absolutely riveting & rightly hailed as scene of colossal significance...

...but you'll have a hard time convincing me it was (completely) written by Terry Nation.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 I suspect Robert Holmes contributed quite a lot to this story's brilliance.

I'm perfectly willing to believe Nation invented Davros and the whole plot, but I definitely hear Holmes in the best dialogue.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 Plus Nation was renowned for underwriting scripts, Holmes influence is all over this.

James Cooray Smith@thejimsmith Structurally it's pure Nation. Holmes' hand in the dialogue? Probably.

Strong stuff as the Doctor genuinely threatens to kill Davros.

Nyder batters him with something a bit suspect looking, though.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 Nyder's been shopping at Ann Summers again!!

It's always the quiet ones...

The Daleks continue their massacre.

Sevrin meets up with Bettan, who's plan is to blow up the entrance to the Kaled bunker, sealing everyone in.

The Doctor is reunited with Harry, Sarah and Ghar-Man, then sets off to recover the spoiler tape.

Ghar-Man incorporated storm the armory...

...but find it hard to maintain the moral highground.

Nyder thinks Ghar-Man and co. have got the drop on them, but Davros is quietly confident.

"Here, Sarah, put this outfit on. It'll cause a huge paradox if you don't..."

Davros is actualy more chilling when he speaks quietly, in that clipped oh-so-reasonable tone.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 Davros' reasoning to his detractors is very chilling to the audience but you can see how the characters are fooled by his words.

They get the job done but those Dalek mutants do look rubbish.

It's the lighting, sound FX, and of course - Tom's acting - that sells them.

Makes for a bloody good cliffhanger though!

Dame Dr. Stip@drstip that was a lot of Saran Wrap! I loved him fighting with them. Hilarious.

Into part 6.

"Have I that right?" Magic.

It's Sarah urging him on...

John Mark Frankland@JMFrankland Ian Marter doesn't get any lines in this scene but he's acting furiously.

He's monumental; has a really 'sleeves rolled up, no questions asked' attitude throughout the story. He's particularly underrated in scenes such as saving the Doctor from the landmine in episode 1.

John Mark Frankland@JMFrankland He's always underrated, and should have been retained for Season 13.

The Doctor is extremely relieved when Ghar-man tells him it's a foregone conclusion that the vote will go against Davros.

Ah, yes, Davros' big red reset button, *that* was what the Time-Lords sent the Doctor to find.

I wouldn't have said this story was massively padded, not compared to some 6 parters any way...

...but the 60 minute audio version gets pretty much everything in, including all the significant 'greatest hits' speeches.

It does lose some valuable framing at the beginning and end, but 70 minutes would be fine, I reckon.

Bettan and the Thals get ready to play their hit "Boom Shake the Kaled Bunker".

'Ey up, where's Nyder off to...

They fail to notice that in the scuffle the pesky Time Ring has been dropped.

The Doctor catches Nyder telling porky pies about his safe word.

He destroys his spoiler-tape so Davros now has a bunch of missing episodes to reconstruct.

Nick Mellish@nickmellish I BET PHILIP MORRIS IS HOARDING THEM, RIGHT GUYS?!

I knew it...

#GenesisOfTheConspiracyTheories

Nyder is able to do a runner and locks them in, and it's only then they realize the Time Ring's gone.

Even the sonic screwdriver won't get him out of this one...

...but at least The Davros Show is on telly.

Bek Hobbes@Greebobek Fifty Shades of Davros

Horrible stuff as the Doctor, Sarah and Harry are powerless to stop the good Kaleds being murdered.

Even Ghar-Man's a gonner.

Sevrin arrives to release the TARDIS crew. (Oh yeah, the TARDIS - doesn't appear in this story apart from the credits.) The Doctor's going to have to revert to plan B for bomb, though...

I've really gone off Roy Skelton's Dalek voices over the years, even though they're the ones I grew up with.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 You can probably hear too much of Zippy if you're from a certain generation.

When it comes to it, it's a Dalek trundling over the wires that completes the connection and wipes out the incubators.

It's total arrogance that blinds Davros to the obvious inevitability that the Daleks will turn on him.

"I am the Master, not you: I! I! I!" That's 3 "I"s in one breath...

Davros is exterminated! And he's definitely dead, definitely won't return. (Should he have stayed dead...?)

"We are entombed but we live on! This is only the beginning! We would have got away with it if it wasn't for that pesky Doctor Who!"

Love this spacey last voiceover from Tom. Sudden (and less than convincing) end, but what a slice of history!

Nick Mellish@nickmellish Genesis of the Daleks: a rare Doctor Who story that's every bit as superb as legend brags.

So not over-long at 6 parts?

Nick Mellish@nickmellish Just this once? No. Music, editing, script editing, script, acting, direction, production: all sublime. Best of the best.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 Still hands down my favourite Doctor Who story of all time, Genesis has everything, dodgy clams aside!