Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start... 

Day 415: Genesis of the Daleks, Episode Five 

Dear diary,

Genesis of the Daleks marks a turning point for Dalek stories in the classic series - there’ll be four more before the Doctor and Ace walk off towards new adventures, and they’ll all feature Davros. I’ve already mentioned that I quite like the 1980’s version of Davros, and I like Julian Bleech’s version as seen in the revived series, but the more I watch through this story, the more I wish that the character had simply never returned.

There’s several problems that arise by having Davros around for the rest of the ‘classic’ Dalek stories. Firstly, the Daleks themselves are suddenly that bit less wonderful. Oh, I know I’ve made fun of Death to the Daleks a bit lately (and the further away from it that I move, the more I think of it as being a bit silly!), but when you think back past that story, to the Daleks of the 1960s... they were clever! They were cunning! Remember that scene right back in The Daleks, where they lure the Thals into their city and then all glide back into the shadows in unison, ready to attack? That was glorious! Even past that, when they’re trying to drill out the Earth’s magnetic core (lovely to hear a reference to that in today’s episode), or building their own time machines to pursue the Doctor through all of time and space... The Daleks used to be rather magnificent in their own right, without having their dad around to cramp their style.

Russell T Davies sums it up best in The Writer’s Tale: “I simply can’t bear it when Davros is in charge of the Daleks. They wouldn’t let him; it reduces them to soldiers.” It works for this story, because the Daleks are brand new. We’re watching on as Davros orders the alterations to their brains which will go on to make them ruthless and independent, and while I’ve never seen this story before, I know that it ends with them breaking free of his control and deciding that they don’t need their creator any more... so it feels like a shame to then bring him back time and time again.

After this story, the Daleks disappear from Doctor Who again for another long stretch. They won’t be back again until Season Seventeen, which feels a million miles away from here and now. I’m interested to see how I feel about all of this by the time I get there, though. Will I have reached a kind of nostalgic time where I’m pleased to see Davros again? Once this story isn’t so fresh in my mind, it may be that I rather enjoy him coming back. It’s certainly one for me to look out for, and another reason that watching through like this is such good fun.

As I’ve said above, the Daleks being controlled by Davros really does work in this story, because - really - this isn’t a Dalek story at all. This is a story about their creator, and about the world into whichthey were born. I’m now five episodes in, which means that I’ve watched about two hours of the story, and the Daleks have barely featured. As is traditional, they appear only for the cliffhanger to Episode One, and then they’ve been appearing in ever increasing numbers since (two Daleks in Episode Two, three in Episode Three and so on), but only ever really to glide in-and-out of a room. The most Dalek action we’ve had is the attack on the Thal dome, but even then we only get to see bits and pieces of it.

Maybe that’s why I’m so unsure about bringing Davros back again? This is very much his story, and it feels complete enough for me. I don’t have any urge to seek out the prequel series Big Finish made which led him to this point, and I’d not be sorry to never see the character again once the next episode is over. Genesis of the Daleks feels like a nice, self-contained story, and it would be a shame for anything to lessen its impact...