GENESIS OF THE DALEKS

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The Doctor’s speech, in part 6, as he wrestles with his conscience about destroying the embryo Daleks – arguing that it would make him no better than the Daleks – is one of the most frequently repeated clips from the entire history of Doctor Who. It serves to illustrate the moral stance that sets the Doctor apart from most other science-fiction heroes.

GENESIS OF THE DALEKS

8th March – 12th April 1975

Although the Daleks will create havoc and destruction for millions of years, I know also that out of their evil must come something good!

The Doctor to Sarah and Harry, episode 6

Tom as the Doctor holding the 2 wires that
could destroy the Daleks forever. Picture © BBC

The Daleks! The Doctor’s oldest and deadliest enemies. Against them, in all of his previous incarnations, he has won many battles, but never the war, until perhaps now…

Intercepted en route back to Space Station Nerva (see The Ark in Space synopsis), the Doctor is presented with a one-off opportunity by a member of his own race, the Time Lords. He is offered a single chance to destroy the Daleks at their point of creation, or amend their genetic development so that they evolve into less aggressive creatures.

Teleported to the planet Skaro, the Doctor arrives with Sarah and Harry during the closing stages of a long and terrible nuclear/chemical war between the Thals and the Kaleds. Davros (Michael Wisher), the Kaleds’ chief scientist, is in the process of constructing individually armed and armoured travelling machines that will house the form the Kaleds will eventually mutate into due to the effects of fall-out and chemical contamination. But Davros has a secret agenda of his own. Already he has genetically engineered a prototype race of mutants – termed Daleks – mentally conditioned not only to exterminate the Thals, but also his own weak and weary people, the Kaleds.

Cautious of altering so pivotal a moment in history in case it changes the future too drastically, the Doctor wins a victory of sorts, entombing these new Daleks for a few thousand years. But ultimately he knows they will grow stronger, and emerge to begin their campaign of universal conquest.

Video © BBC