Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

How in the heck do I review Genesis of the Daleks? It's like trying to review the Mona Lisa (the one that doesn't have "This is a fake" written on the canvas in felt tip). Its a daunting prospect - everyone who's even remotely a Doctor Who fan has seen this episode, or at least heard of it. Ah well - best to just plunge in, I guess.

First the standard Who Primer for those of you just joining us:

From 1963 to 1989 (and a couple of false starts thereafter) the BBC ran an immensely popular family program called Doctor Who. The main character is called The Doctor, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. He travels the universe in the TARDIS, a wondrous spaceship that can go anywhere in time and space - provided that the Doctor can steer it correctly. During his adventures, he and his companion (usually a young human female with weak ankles and good lungs) combat evil and injustice wherever they find it. Key to the longevity of the series - Doctor Who can do what the James Bond movies have done several times. When fatally injured, Time Lords have the ability to regenerate, totally changing their faces and personalities, allowing the ability to swap out the lead roll when the actor wants to leave the series. So there have been several Doctors with different faces (ten, so far), but all of them the same character.

Oh, and the name of the show is Doctor Who. The main character is simply called The Doctor.

The story is fairly straight forward - the Doctor is sent back to early Skaro, home world of the Daleks, to prevent their creation or deflect their evolution into a less hostile race. It seems that the Time Lords have foreseen a time where the Daleks enslave, destroy or otherwise EX-TER-MIN-ATE all other life in the universe. They intend to prevent this from happening at any cost. Before long, the Doctor and his companions are caught up in the final days of the Thal/Kaled war, hunted by both sides, on the eve of the birth of the greatest evil the universe has ever known. . . .

Genesis of the Daleks was first broadcast back in 1975, during the first season of the most popular Doctor: Tom Baker, and featuring the series' most popular villains: The Daleks. Written by Terry Nation, Genesis came at a time where the series was beginning to fire on all pistons, coming into it's most popular and successful era (well, aside from the neo-golden era that we currently enjoy).

Commissioned by the previous production team of Producer Barry Letts and Script Editor Terrance Dicks and held over until the following year, Genesis started life as just another Dalek romp. It was a fine, solid story - until Letts and Dicks realized that they've commissioned this script twice before (in the form of Planet of the Daleks and Death to the Daleks). They instructed Nation to overhaul the script and stretch in a new direction. The end result was a story detailing the origins of the Bad Boys of Skaro.

Is it perfect? Not really. The cliffhanger (and subplot leading up to it) for episode three is a narrative dead end, conveniently forgotten about after the resolution of said cliffhanger. There is some padding - the encounter with the dreadful giant clam in the tunnels escaping the Kaled city instantly spring to mind. And then there nonsensical plot holes like why the Kaled and Thal city - at war for a thousand years - are within walking distance of each other. Oh, and the Daleks=Nazis imagery and motifs got a bit heavy handed at times. Yes, we get it - Nazis are bad, fascism is bad, Daleks are bad. Thanks.

However missteps aside, it's really a good episode.

First, the Doctor is in good form. At this point of his run, Tom Baker was still fresh in the roll and had not settled into the goofy caricature that was just going through the motions that undermined his performances towards the end of the 70's. Powerful and Charismatic, this was a Tom that was still hungry - and it showed. The other regular cast are just as strong. Elizabeth Sladen - well, there's a reason she's a fan favorite and is the only returning character in the new series. Ian Marter's Harry moves past bumbling stumbler (despite obviously putting his foot in the giant clam monster) into adept and useful companion. It’s a pity that it's right back to business as usual in the very next story.

The supporting cast is top shelf too. Michael Wisher pretty much steals the show as the horribly deformed Davros, the Evil Creator (TM) of the Daleks. No disrespect intended to Terry Malloy's portrayal of the character, this Davros is not the raving, over the top maniac that we get in Remembrance of the Daleks or Resurrection of the Daleks. Not to say that Davros doesn't get in a good rant or two in Genesis, but here he has a subtly about him, more layers than just a one note dictator.

The writing, when its on the ball, is cracking good too. Everyone can point to the "Do I have the right" scene at the start of episode six, where the Doctor debates the morality of his mission, if wiping out the Daleks he would be no better than they are. That out of this evil, a greater good will come. And yes, this is a powerful scene that sums up the Doctor in just a few short words - but as good as that moment is, I think the Doctor's attempt to reason with Davros in episode five is far more powerful. He asks Davros that if he had a virus that was capable of wipe out all forms of life in the universe, would he unleash it. After considering for a moment, Davros decides that this power would set him amongst the gods - that the Daleks would grant him that power. It’s a wonderfully directed scene, totally defining Davros and showing that there is clearly no reasoning with him.

Minor aside - it's fascinating to wonder exactly what happened to the Doctor between the 'Now' of the Time War and the 'Then' of the 4th Doctor that would allow him to commit genocide on the Daleks (and on the Time Lords), when his fourth incarnation would not. Perhaps during the Time War, the Daleks could fight back and the Doctor was not striking down a defenseless race? Ah, but that's a discussion for the future.

I would be remiss in my duties as a reviewer if I didn't give at least a nod of the head to the lighting director of Genesis. Sheer brilliance! The lighting - for being a mostly studio bound shoot - was great, moody stuff indeed, Dark and oppressive corridors, shadows creeping into every corner, Daleks against a purple sky - it really brings the level of production up a notch.

THE VIDEO/AUDIO -
Really, what do I say here? The Restoration Team has done another fantastic job of cleaning up and restoring this classic. While there were some bits that they just couldn't do anything with. For example some of the scenes with automatic gunfire suffer from an affliction that plagues old video cameras of that era, where very loud noises causes actual distortion in the camera's tube, resulting in a kind of ripple image recorded on the master footage. Still, thousands of scratches and dropouts have been removed, and some video noise caused by the blue screen special effects has been cleaned up.

The sound was in much better condition, requiring relatively little work. Some synch problems were tidied up, and some of Davros' mike noise distortion was fixed or concealed wherever possible.

THE EXTRAS -
Again, Doctor Who gets more extras than a TV show has the right to expect. Out of the gate is the commentary with Tom Baker, Liz Sladen, Peter Milles (Davros' right hand man Nyder) and directory David Maloney. Even 35 years on, Tom and Liz have a chemistry second to none. The commentary track is a pleasure to listen to,

Following the commentary are the two documentaries: The Dalek Tapes and Genesis of a Classic. The Dalek Tapes (narrated by Terry Malloy) is an overview of the Daleks and their appearances in the classic series. A great perspective of the Doctor's best enemies from the last 40 years. Genesis is the weaker documentary of the two. While a wealth of information, it's got some fluff bits I could do without (That's right - I'm looking at YOU, "How to Speak Dalek"). Not bad, but could have been better.

From the ever bountiful vaults of Blue Peter comes a small section featuring a young viewer Doctor Who models. I got to hand it to the kid - he did some really nice work (although it is weird that Blue Peter would show his work and not have him on the set).

Also included are six minutes of continuity announcements and bumpers from the original run on the BBC and from the repeats on BBC2. And as always, there is a photo gallery and a production popup subtitle track. Rounding out the package are the PDF versions of the Radio Times from 1975 and the 1976 Doctor Who Annual.

THE BOTTOM LINE -
Do I think Genesis of the Daleks is the best episode ever committed to film? No, I still think City of Death, Caves of Androzoni and Bad Wolf/The Parting of Ways are stronger examples of Doctor Who stories. However, Genesis does have the stones to call itself a classic, a prime example of smart storytelling coming together just right. Bundle the episode into a nice package of extras and top off with a loving restoration and you've got a must buy for anyone remotely into Doctor Who.

OTHER DOCTOR WHO EPISODES ON DVD:
* The Beginning
* Doctor Who and the Daleks
* The Lost in Time Collection
* Tomb of the Cybermen
* Genesis of the Daleks
* The Pyramids of Mars
* Revelation of the Daleks
* Doctor Who - Series One
* Doctor Who - Series Two
* Torchwood - Series One
* Doctor Who - Series Three


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8