Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks

"We shall sweep the Thals from the face of Skaro!"

Writer: Terrance Dicks

Format: Novel

Released: July 1976

Series: Target 26

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane, Harry

Synopsis

The place: Skaro

Time: The Birth of the Daleks

After a thousand years of futile war against the Thals, Davros has perfected the physical form that will carry his race into eternity – the dreaded Dalek. 

Without feeling, conscience or pity, the Dalek is programmed to exterminate. 

At the command of the Time Lords, Doctor Who travels back through time in an effort to totally destroy this terrible menace of the future.

But even the Doctor cannot always win...

Verdict

Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks was an excellent novelisation of what is obviously a revered  and brilliant Classic serial! I didn't really expect anything different than what I got with this book and that was absolutely fine because it was an easy read that I actually sped through in around three hours which even for a Target is pretty quick for me. I liked how there was no messing around in setting the scene for the story to come with the Doctor being given a message from the Time Lords to prevent the Dalek race from ever being created, or at least to alter their genetic makeup in some way. The setting already being Skaro was fantastic and I loved the description of the war-ravaged planet. It set the scene so well and from there we were thrust into the action really well. I enjoyed the continuation on from The Sontaran Experiment with the trio trying to get back to the TARDIS and Space Station Nerva, but this was quite the sidetrack! The idea of a whole story depicting the creation of the Daleks is magnificent and the result here is quite spectacular. Davros is one of the best characters in all of Doctor Who and his debut is outstanding. Alongside Nyder, it's great that they are the villains instead of the Daleks. It was clear to see in the novelisation just how little the Daleks actually feature in their own genesis story but I think that's actually the beauty of it. They aren't needed and with Davros as the lead the focus can be on this brand new enemy that immediately has incredible prominence in the Doctor Who universe. The violence on show throughout was intriguing and I liked Harry and the Doctor were somewhat endorsing it which is perhaps uncharacteristic, along with Sarah Jane having no qualms when it came to the Doctor's famous line questioning if he had the right to commit genocide. She firmly sided on yes! I liked how her experiences in Death to the Daleks were fallen back on and it definitely helped that she had encountered them before so knew just how vital it would be to cease their creation. I thought the delivery of that famous moment was good and a little quick. Considering the televised serial is six parts, I thought the pace of this one was very good and it definitely felt quicker than the broadcast version. The situation on Skaro at this point in time was presented really well and I liked how it serves as a loose prequel to The Daleks. It was important to hold true on events in that serial and for the most part it does a stellar job. The war between the Kaleds and Thals was presented really well and I'd love for some more stories set during that period. Davros was maniacal and that's part of his brilliance as an enemy and his cunning in deducing who was loyal to his cause was fantastic. His providing the means to destroy the Kaled dome because the Government there were on the verge of cancelling his Dalek experiments told you everything you needed to know about him. The moment where the Doctor reveals all about future Dalek failures is superb and I loved how Davros played with the Doctor's compassion. I was a big fan of that. The way that tape was then destroyed and also the playing around with losing the time ring was good if not a little too quick. I thought the ending was presented marvellous well with the Dalek disobeying its creator's command and thus the Daleks were born. They had no pity and pleas of Kaled scientists to revert back to the creatures having a conscience was in vain, as the Daleks were here and they'd killed their creator along with Nyder. I thought that was sublime. I liked how the ending was a compromise of sorts as instead of preventing their creation, the Doctor just set the Daleks back by around a millennium. We knew he couldn't actually prevent their genesis! Overall, a terrific read. 

Rating: 9/10