I just watched this sick F*** of a story over the weekend. I've NEVER liked it, not since the first time I saw it in mid-1979. And I've seen it so many times since then, it's been permanently burned into my brain. From the moment I started my current run of watching my entire DOCTOR WHO collection, I've been dreading getting to this one. It's so nasty, vicious, brutal, violent, hopeless, downbeat, etc., it must be the single most unpleasant DW story to watch in the entire history of the show. The fact that it's won at least 2 completely unrelated fan polls for "best DW story ever" just shows there's a lot wrong with the world, and a lot of sci-fi fans in general (in my opinion).
GENESIS... always reminded me of a DW version of the "origin of Barnabas" from DARK SHADOWS. In both cases, time-travel is involved, and we get to look back at the events that led to the creation of something horrible. The difference is, on DS, it took 6 months to tell the story. On DW, 6 weeks. In both cases, you find yourself somehow desperately hoping that somehow, some way, things MIGHT change for the better... but they don't. They just get worse and worse and worse, right up to the horrible, inevitable ending.
I think there's only 2 likable characters in this entire story who don't get killed by the end-- Severn (the "muto") and Bettan (the slender girl with short red hair). This time around, it struck me that Bettan reminded me of what a very young Mary Morris might have looked like. (I've long suspected she must have been a really hot number when she was young.)
I seem to recall not long ago someone suggesting that this story may have featured DW's first gay couple. How else might one "explain" the actions of Nyder in reference to Davros, who "never makes mistakes". (Would he have changed his tune had he been able to see the story's final 5 minutes in advance??) Nyder is probably Peter Miles' most memorable character, and yet compared to the 2 scientists he played earlier (in THE SILURIANS and INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS), Nyder is actually rather low-key-- while at the same time being 10 times more dangerous.
Something that crossed my mind this time was, The Doctor convinces the dissidents within the Kaled government to look into Davros' experiments-- which, according to Davros' plans, will mean the destruction of the Kaled people, replacing them with Daleks! Had The Doctor not done this, would Davros have destroyed the Kaled city the way he did, or would he merely have done it later, anyway?
I have to wonder about someone like Gharman. Did he-- or anybody at all-- in the bunker-- have a clue that Davros was the one responsible for the destruction of the Kaled city?? Right to the very end, he and the rebelling faction continue their wish to work WITH Davros to rebuild the planet. Doesn't it seem that if they had known (and if they didn't, WHY didn't The Doctor TELL them??) they would have EXECUTED the guy on the spot, as soon as they got their hands on automatic weapons and had him in their sites? But at the very end, Gharman finally says-- "Davros, you are INSANE!" What the HELL took him so long to figure this out? A minute later, he and nearly everyone else in the room were dead.
I'm also reminded that in at least one later story, The Time Lords were said to have imprisoned an entire planet that was a menace to the universe in a time loop. Are we to believe that there was some reason they were unable to this with Skaro? Not really doing their "job" of protecting the universe, are they? After all these years, there is still endless details about Time Lord society and history that we're in the dark about. One thing seems clear from this story. Thanks to the Time Lords sending The Doctor to Skaro, Davros learned of his existence-- and that of his people. This single failed incident was probably what led, in the long run, to the "Time War" talked about so much on the new series that was responsible for the destruction of Gallifrey and the Time Lords themselves.
There's no doubt Davros was Michael Wisher's most memorable part, having previously done Dalek voices in several serials. These days, I much prefer him as the corrupt bureaucrat in CARNIVAL OF MONSTERS. It's a tragedy that schedule conflicts prevented him from returning in the 4 sequels. NOBODY should have ever played Davros but him!
After this, I can look forward to watching the rest of my DW collection with relief, safe in the knowledge that there is virtually nothing this unpleasant awaiting me for the remainder of the run. The only stories even vaguely this nasty to sit thru would have to be WARRIORS OF THE DEEP, Resurrection OF THE DALEKS, THE CAVES OF ANDROZANI, ATTACK OF THE CYBERMEN, VENGEANCE ON VAROS, TIMELASH, and MINDWARP. Note that these were all done under story editor Eric Saward, who seemed to revel in excessive nastiness, violence, and wholesale slaughter.
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