Genesis of the Daleks (TV story): Difference between revisions

{{Infobox Story SMW

|season number          = Season 12 (Doctor Who 1963)

|writer                = Terry Nation

|director              = [[David Maloney]]

|broadcast date        = 8 March - 12 April 1975

|network                = BBC1

'''''Genesis of the Daleks''''' was the fourth and penultimate serial of [[Season 12 (Doctor Who 1963)|season 12]] of ''[[Doctor Who]]''. It introduced [[Davros]], creator of the [[Dalek]]s, and showed the story of their origins. Davros later played a prominent role in every following Dalek serial up to ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'' in 1988.

''Genesis of the Daleks'' is also notable for being the second in a run marking the only time in the classic television series that [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] does not appear whatsoever for two consecutive serials.

Also notable is the fact that this is one of the only two Dalek serials in all seven years of [[Tom Baker]]'s run on the show, the other being 1979's ''[[Destiny of the Daleks (TV story)|Destiny of the Daleks]]''. This became the start of a practice throughout the classic series where most recurring enemies would see a significant reduction in the amount of encounters between them and [[the Doctor]]; the Daleks, to name an example, only starred in one televised serial during each succeeding Doctor's tenure for the remainder of the 1963-1989 run.

In a 1998 poll conducted by ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'',{{note|Polls by DWM are statistically invalid, as they do not feature a random sample of people. Respondents choose to participate on their own initiative, and are made aware of the poll because they subscribe to or at least frequently buy DWM. Thus, the poll is clearly weighted towards ''Doctor Who'' fans who are also residents of the United Kingdom. The views reflected almost certainly do not represent the "casual" viewer of ''Doctor Who'', non-English speaking fans, or other groups of fans who simply don't read or have access to DWM.}} ''Genesis of the Daleks'' was praised by fans as their favourite ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story of all time.<ref name="dwm 265">[[DWM 265]]</ref> In 2023, despite ''Genesis of the Daleks'' ranking as the second most popular [[Fourth Doctor]] TV story behind ''[[City of Death (TV story)|City of Death]]'' in a poll by ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'',<ref name="dwm 590">[[DWM 590]]</ref> a later ''DWM'' poll that year with a shortlist of 37 finalists including the two aforementioned stories declared ''Genesis of the Daleks'' the third most popular TV story of the first 60 years of ''Doctor Who'', followed by ''City of Death'' in eighth place.<ref name="dwm 597">[[DWM 597]]</ref>

 

In 2020, ''Genesis of the Daleks'' became part of the ''[[Time Lord Victorious (series)|Time Lord Victorious]]'' multimedia event.

The [[Fourth Doctor]] walks through the cold mist, wondering why he hasn't arrived on [[Nerva Beacon|Space Ark Nerva]]. Suddenly, a [[Time Lord messenger (Genesis of the Daleks)|Time Lord messenger]] appears in front of him. The Doctor realises that they intercepted the [[transmat]] beam he and his companions were riding to Nerva, and points out to the Time Lord how dangerous that is. The Time Lord tells him "We Time Lords transcended such simple mechanical devices when the Universe was less than half its present size." The Doctor is angry that the Time Lords are still interfering in his life, but the Time Lord explains that for the freedom they allow him they will occasionally ask for something in return. The Doctor refuses until he is told his mission involves the [[Dalek]]s. The Time Lord tells the Doctor that they have foreseen that the Daleks will eventually exterminate all other life in the [[universe]] unless they're stopped. They want the Doctor to travel back to the time of their beginning to avert their creation, make them less aggressive, or find some inherent weakness in their makeup. The Doctor agrees — "All right. Just one more time!" — and asks the Time Lord for the coordinates for [[Skaro]], the Dalek homeworld. The Time Lord tells the Doctor that he is <u>already</u> on Skaro, saying "We thought it would save time if we assumed your agreement." The Time Lord gives the Doctor a [[Time Ring]] that will return him to [[the TARDIS]] when his mission is complete, warning "Be careful not to lose it. That Time Ring is your lifeline." The Time Lord wishes the Doctor good luck and then vanishes, leaving the Doctor calling "Don't just disappear! What about Sarah and Harry?"

[[Sarah Jane Smith]] and [[Harry Sullivan]] find the Doctor. As they explore the battlefield, they come across bodies equipped with a curious mix of ancient and modern equipment. The Doctor theorises that the war has been going on for a long time, perhaps a thousand years, with technology regressing as resources get more scarce.

The first load over, Sarah and the other slaves return to their cell, exhausted. She tells them they must act before they are too weak from distronic exposure to do anything. She proposes they try to escape through the dome's exit at the top of the rocket. Overpowering their guard, the slaves rush out to the silo and start climbing, as Thal troops fire up at them. Several slaves are shot, falling to their deaths. Sarah gets into difficulties, and Sevrin urges her on. Suddenly, she loses her grip and falls, screaming...

Sarah lands on a lower part of the scaffolding, and is unharmed. She and Sevrin make it to the nose cone of the rocket but are caught before they can escape. Meanwhile, Ronson has helped Harry and the Doctor escape, and they make their way to the Kaled dome. Back in the bunker, Davros orders further improvements to the Dalek shell's systems.

As Davros increases the power of the torture devices, the Doctor reluctantly answers Davros's questions. Over the course of the next few hours, he gives a litany of the Daleks' defeats and why they were defeated. The first session over, Sarah and Harry are taken to the detention area, while Davros asks the Doctor to stay: "Let us talk — not as prisoner and captor, but as men of science. There is so much I wish to know."

Searching through the lockers, the Doctor finds a chunk of plastic explosive and detonators. There is one option left to him to stop the Daleks: [[genocide]]. He enters the incubator room to set up the explosives, intending to destroy the Daleks forever. As Sarah and Harry wait, the Doctor staggers out, with several embryonic Dalek mutants wrapped around his throat.

With Harry and Sarah's assistance, the Doctor frees himself from the baby Dalek's suffocating embrace. Throwing the mutants back into the room, the Time Lord picks up the wires connected to the explosive charges. All he has to do now is touch the two wires together and that is it; the Daleks will be no more. Yet at this crucial moment however, the Doctor finds himself confronted with a moral dilemma. Despite Sarah's urging, the full gravity of what he is about to do causes the Doctor to wonder if he has the right to do this?

 

 

 

Before he can decide what to do however, Gharman arrives. He tells the group happily that Davros has agreed to their ultimatum. Hearing this, the Doctor is grateful and relieved that he does not have to make that decision after all. As Sarah and Harry follow Gharman, the Doctor disconnects the wires and then follows. The few surviving Kaled's gather in the main conference, where Davros and Gharman make their respective cases. Whilst the Kaled's are talking, the Doctor spots their confiscated gear upon one of the tables. Moving carefully, he, Sarah and Harry subtly gather it all up, including the Time Ring. Slipping the device onto his wrist, the Doctor then says that all they need to do now is to destroy the tape recording.

Meanwhile, the two Kaled leaders discuss their options. Davros goes first stating that everything he has done was for the benefit of their kind. With the rest of their species now gone, the Daleks are both the Kaleds' future and legacy. When Gharman insists that his genetic modifications have created a totally hostile creature, Davros uses Skaro's history to validate the necessity of these changes. He then tells his detractors that if they feel so strongly about it, he has set up a solution for them. On the main terminal is a large red button, which if pressed will destroy the entire bunker, save for the room that they are currently all standing in. As he points out however, if they do this, then the Kaleds will destroy everything that they have worked for. When nobody, not even Gharman, accepts the invitation, Davros labels them all cowards.

With that Gharman takes his turn. He declares that despite his many flaws, Davros is right about one thing; the Daleks are the future of the Kaled race. He insists however that their successors should not be genetically modified creatures conditioned to hate everything. Thus, he offers an alternative solution and a compromise to Davros's original plan. They can destroy the modified specimens and then restart the Dalek project from scratch. Although the Kaleds themselves are doomed, the Daleks can continue to exist, not as an immoral creatures of hatred, but as a creature with a conscience, emotion and the freedom to do both good and evil.

Having made their cases, Davros and Gharman tell the others to decide the future of their kind. As the others talk amongst themselves, they fail to notice Davros whispering something to Nyder. The chief scientist secretly tells his loyal enforcer to wait a few minutes and then make sure everything is ready.

As the Kaleds deliberate, Davros' Daleks re-enter the bunker ''en masse''. Bettan and her Thal rebels successfully follow them all the way back to the hidden entrance, accompanied by Sevrin. The Kaled mutant assures the Thals that with the Kaled dome destroyed this bunker is the only remaining stronghold left and it only has one entrance. Knowing that she might not get another chance, Bettan immediately sets her forces to work, telling them to set their own explosive charges on each of the support beams. The Thals plan to cave in the entrance, letting the subsequent rockfall entomb the Daleks within their own base.

 

Sevrin however realises that doing so will also leave the TARDIS crew trapped as well. Bettan acknowledges this, but declares that she has no choice, as this may be their only opportunity to stop the Daleks forever. Despite the risks, Sevrin decides to go into the bunker to try and warn the Doctor and the others. Bettan tells him that she will buy the group what time she can, but that she will act if necessary.

Back in the control room, the Kaleds finally vote. Five scientists and security officers move to Davros's side, but the rest stay next to Gharman. As Davros tries to blackmail [[Kravos]] into siding with him, reminding the young Kaled that he saved his life by creating a device to keep his heart beating, The Doctor notices Nyder slip out of the room. Suspicious, the TARDIS crew follows him. They corner the Kaled off in the hallway, with Nyder refusing to give up quietly. A small struggle ensues, during which the Time Ring is knocked from the Doctor's wrist.

Nyder is swiftly overpowered and the Doctor asks where he's going? Nyder tries to play innocent, stating that he is getting out whilst he still can. The group don't believe him, pointing out that he simply could have joined Gharman. With his lie exposed, the Doctor forces Nyder to take them to where the tape recording is kept. Meanwhile, Sevrin continues to search the bunker, hiding from the Daleks who seem to be heading somewhere.

In Davros's office, Nyder shows the TARDIS crew the safe where the tape is stored. He insists that only Davros knows the combination, but Harry and the Doctor quickly realise this is another attempt at deception. The Time Lord points out that Davros cannot possibly open the safe due to his condition, and therefore singles out Nyder as the only one who has to do this. Begrudgingly, Nyder fetches the recording, which the Doctor then destroys with a prototype Dalek gun Sarah finds. Unfortunately, whilst the group is distracted, Nyder escapes and seals the door, locking them inside the room. The Doctor is not concerned, however; they have completed their mission. The tape is destroyed, Davros' power is ended and Gharman will soon destroy the active Daleks. It is only then that they realise that the Time Ring is missing. The team searches for a way to escape, not knowing how severe their situation really is. At the front of the bunker, the Thals have nearly completed their preparations and it won't be long until they detonate the explosives.

As the Doctor and Harry try working on the door, Sarah tries fiddling with one of the control terminals. Instead of opening the door, however, she manages to access the Kaled security systems, giving the group a view of the main control room. To their surprise, they find that meeting is still going on even though Davros has been outvoted. Despite his apparent defeat, Davros makes one final plea to the remaining rebels, imploring them to join his side. When the "victorious" Gharman states that it is over, however, the chief scientist declares that he has no intention of submitting and that he will not let his life's work be ended by their interference or cowardice. As Gharman declares him insane, Davros springs his trap!

Flicking a switch on his chariot, Davros opens the doors to the control room revealing each and every entrance to be blocked by Daleks. With his enemies identified, Davros has his Daleks exterminate Gharman and his supporters ''en masse''. The only one of Davros's followers to offer any objection is Kravos, who tries to intervene on his now dead comrades' behalf. He lunges for the controls on Davros's chair, but Nyder grabs him and throws Kravos towards his deceased comrades, resulting in the young Kaled being gunned down as well. In one move, Davros has eliminated the last remaining threat to his power, whilst showing his remaining followers what will happen to anyone that opposes him and the Daleks.

Safe within the office, the horrified TARDIS crew are distracted by a commotion at the door. Fortunately, it turns out to be Sevrin, who notifies them about the Thals' intentions. Exiting the office, the Doctor quickly recovers the Time Ring. Following a close encounter with a couple of Daleks, the Time Lord gives the ring to Sarah and tells the others to get out of the bunker. The Doctor meanwhile says that he is heading back to the incubator room. With Gharman and his forces dead, he has no choice now but to finish what he started. As the others flee in one direction, he heads off in the other direction, managing to recover his hat and coat along the way.

Unfortunately for the TARDIS crew, their situation is not favourable. As Davros makes plans for his loyalist to continue with their work, he promotes the Daleks to the position of their new security and military force. When Nyder informs him about the prisoners have escaped, Davros orders a full search to be carried out for them, to which the Daleks comply. Even more frighteningly, back at the entrance, the Thals have finished with their preparations. Fortunately, Sevrin, Sarah and Harry manage to make it safely out of the bunker. There, despite the Thals' reluctance, they manage to convince Bettan to delay the detonation by a few minutes until the Doctor is clear.

Back at the incubator room, the Doctor manages to reset his own explosives without issue. Before he can activate them, however, a Dalek spots him and opens fire, forcing the Time Lord to take cover. He tries to reach for the wires again, but a second shot forces him back. Then as the Dalek advances, the Doctor notices the position of the wires and, realising that he doesn't need to do anything else, he flees. As the Dalek glides forward, it unknowingly and unintentionally brushes against the wires. This causes its metal body to act like a conductor, triggering the the detonation. Therefore, both the incubator room and the Dalek are destroyed in a way that leaves the Doctor's hands clean.

At the main entrance, the Doctor's companions and the Thal rebels hear the explosion, but have no way of knowing what has happened. At that moment, one of Thals manages to hack the Kaleds' security system, allowing them to view the main conference room. When they see Davros order the Daleks to secure the main entrance, Bettan declares that their time is up. With their enemies on the way, she orders the main doors to be sealed and despite Harry's plea, reluctantly orders that the final preparations be made for detonation.

 

To his astonishment, however, the three Daleks do not acknowledge him or move to comply. Davros repeats his instructions twice, but on both occasions, the Daleks just stare at him, silently. Furious, Davros orders Nyder to shut down the production, but as his loyal henchman moves to comply, one the Daleks open fire without provocation. As Nyder's body slumps lifelessly to the floor, the Dalek who ordered the activation of the line states firmly "Production will continue." With that, three Daleks advance threateningly upon their creator.

Back at the entrance, the Thals have almost finished closing the doors. Bettan, to Sarah and Harry's distress, finally gives the order to detonate the explosives. A split-second before the Thal soldier can depress the plunger, however, Sarah spots movement and shouts for them to stop; the Doctor has finally arrived. Unfortunately, he brought company. With two Thals holding them open, Sarah and Harry barely manage to help the Doctor squeeze through the gap in the doors, causing him to narrowly avoid a fatal shot from one of the Daleks' ray guns.

With everybody now accounted for, the Thals slam the doors shut, trapping the Dalek patrol on the other side with the explosives. Bettan once again give the order and this time the plunger is pressed. The earth shakes violently, as the Thals, Humans, Time Lord and Kaled mutant crouch down for safety. Yet even so, they hear the ceiling on the other side of the doors collapse, sealing the bunker and leaving the surviving Daleks and their creators trapped inside.

Noticing the video screens, the Doctor heads over to them, swiftly followed by the others. There they see that the Daleks have turned upon Davros and can only watch as the scientist tries to reason with his creations. He insists that the Daleks were created to serve him and that they cannot survive without his help or guidance. However, as the Doctor and Gharman had anticipated, Davros' earlier arrogance and instructions have finally come back to haunt him. The Daleks tell their creator flat out that in accordance to their own programming, they do not acknowledge any non-Dalek creature as their superior. Despite Davros's declarations, the Daleks' new leader assures him that contrary to what he thinks, they can maintain themselves under their own power and have the ability to think of new ways to survive without any outside help.

The conversation is interrupted briefly by one of the other Daleks, who notifies everybody present about the cave-in. The Daleks are unconcerned by this, but back at the entrance Sarah asks about the incubator room. The Doctor confirms that it was destroyed, but that unfortunately this will not stop the Daleks. In the end, all the Doctor managed to do was to delay the Daleks' advance into the solar system by about a thousand years or so. Before he can say anything else, Harry directs his comrades attention back to the monitor.

Inside the bunker, the Daleks have now cornered all of Davros's loyalists — i.e. the last surviving remnants of the Kaled race. With nowhere to run, these unfortunate men realise too late that Gharman was right and now get to witness for themselves exactly what they have created. As one of the subordinate Daleks trains its weapon upon the terrified group, the Dalek leader proclaims that from this point onwards, the Daleks will consider all other species to be both inferior and their enemies. Enemies that they will destroy. Realising what they are about to do, Davros implores his creations to show some pity, pointing out that his men can use their scientific knowledge to aid and benefit the Daleks. Unfortunately in accordance with his own instructions, 'pity' is not in the Daleks' vocabulary banks. At its leaders command, the Dalek guard opens fire without a moment's hesitation, killing the very men who created them.

Now the last of his kind, Davros, the man who brought the Daleks into existence makes one last attempt to reason with his creations. Clearly terrified, he screams at the Daleks that they were created to serve him and to obey. Advancing slightly, the Dalek leader makes it clear that they will not follow him or anybody else ever again. From this point onwards, the Daleks are answerable to no-one. Upon hearing this, Davros finally appears to realise that the Doctor, Gharman (and the others) were right all along. Knowing that the Daleks are beyond reasoning with, he turns around and, in a last desperate act, reaches for the destruct button that he used to taunt Gharman and the rebels. Unfortunately for Davros, due to the nature of his injuries he simply cannot press the button in time.

Seeing what Davros is doing, the Dalek leader grates "Exterminate!" There is a flash of light and Davros's screams fade into silence. With that, the Kaleds are (apparently) no more, the first race to fall victim to the Daleks genocidal conquest.

 

Having done all that they can, the TARDIS crew and the Thal resistance say their goodbyes. Words of thanks and handshakes are exchanged, as the Thals and Sevrin take their leave. With that the Doctor, Harry and Sarah finally gather around and activate the Time Ring. As they are whisked away through [[time]] and [[space]] back to the TARDIS, Sarah asks the Doctor why he does not seem disappointed by his failure. As the group depart from Skaro, the Doctor tells his companions that although the Daleks will create havoc and destruction for millions of years, he is certain that out of their [[evil]] something [[good]] will also emerge.

* [[Thal soldier 1 (Genesis of the Daleks)|Thal Soldier]] - [[Pat Gorman]]

* [[Thal guard (Genesis of the Daleks)|Thal Guard]] - [[Max Faulkner]]

* [[Director (crew)|Director]] - [[David Maloney]]

== Worldbuilding ==

* After the encounter with the clam, Sarah declares that she'll never eat [[oyster]]s again.

* ''Genesis of the Daleks'' is the most-repeated ''Doctor Who'' story on [[BBC Television]]'s analogue services, having been re-shown in edited form in 1975 and 1982 (on BBC1) and again in its full form in 1993 and 2000 (both on BBC2). It has also been regularly transmitted on [[satellite]] [[television]] station [[UK Gold]] and was shown on the BBC's digital channel [[BBC Choice]] in 1998. In a 1998 poll of readers by ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'', over 2500 voters placed it top of a poll to find the greatest ''Doctor Who'' stories of all time,<ref name="dwm 265"/> and it has regularly featured in the top-tens of other similar polls down the years, ranking as the most popular Fourth Doctor story in 1998 and 2014, and the second most popular Fourth Doctor story in 2023's 60th anniversary poll.<ref name="dwm 590"/> The same set of polls, however, later in 2023 ranked the serial the readers' third favourite of the first 60 years in a list of 37 finalists, ahead of the other two Tom Baker serials that qualified.<ref name="dwm 597"/>

* [[Michael Wisher]] wore a kilt and knee pads when he was in his Davros costume as he found wearing normal trousers made it difficult to move and steer his Dalek base. To prepare during rehearsals, he acted in a wheelchair with a paper bag over his head that only had slits cut out for his eyes so he would be used to the "disorienting" situation and be able to express himself without using his whole face. Wisher, a heavy smoker, put two holes in the top of the bag so he could smoke underneath it in rehearsals

* The ''Radio Times'' programme listing for the 85-minute compilation repeat broadcast on Saturday 27 December 1975 was accompanied by a black-and-white illustration by [[Frank Bellamy]] depicting the Doctor, Daleks and Davros with the accompanying caption "The most important mission The Doctor has ever faced — can he prevent Davros creating his Daleks? A complete ''Dr. Who'' adventure today: 3.00 p.m.". ''(original published text)''

* The Daleks and the Time Lords are later involved in a destructive [[Time War]], alluded to (and eventually seen) in the 2005 series. Executive producer [[Russell T Davies]] commented in an episode of ''[[Doctor Who Confidential]]''{{which}} that the origins of the Time War date back to this story, where the Time Lords struck first. Davies also made reference to this attempted genocide as a root of the Time War in a text piece in the Doctor ''[[Doctor Who Annual 2006|Who Annual 2006]]''. The 2013 comic strip ''[[Hunters of the Burning Stone (comic story)|Hunters of the Burning Stone]]'' recreates a scene from this story, and the [[Eleventh Doctor]] explicitly describes it as him firing "the first shot" in the Time War.

* Part three overran its 25-minute limit and rather than edit out material, the cliffhanger was changed from Davros's speech to the Doctor being electrocuted.

** A [[World War I|catastrophic war of attrition]] leads to the widespread embrace of {{w|eugenics}} and {{w|social Darwinism}} among the military and the intelligentsia.

** The conflict has degenerated into an {{w|trench warfare|entrenched front}} separated by a no-man's land of barbed wire and landmines. [[Chemical weapon]]s are widely used by both sides in desperate attempts to break the stalemate.

** The Kaled military elite uniforms strongly resemble German M1910 ''Ulanka'' tunics.[https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30095688] In the first two episodes Peter Miles even wears an apparently genuine {{w|Iron Cross}}, the medal eventually disappears, possibly due to fears of it being damaged in action sequences.

** The weapons used by both the Thals and Kaleds are mostly of First World War vintage; most troops are armed with British SMLE rifles. General Ravon's pistol is a Luger, the standard sidearm of the Imperial German Army during the First World War. Sarah attempts to arm herself with a .455 calibre Webley revolver she took from a dead Thal only to find the weapon empty. Some of the Kaleds are also later seen with Webleys. Ronson uses an Austrian {{w|Mannlicher M1905}} pistol.

** [[Peter Miles]] based his performance as Nyder on {{w|Heinrich Himmler}}. Miles later said he was always fascinated by the mentality of Hitler's henchmen deluding themselves into believing they were acting for the greater good despite being entirely corrupted by power.

* The Time Lords foresee a time when the Daleks destroy all other forms of life in the universe. As well as being foreshadowing for the Time War, the Daleks almost did exactly that in [[TV]]: ''[[Journey's End (TV story)|Journey's End]]''. The [[Tenth Doctor]]'s actions in the latter story can possibly be seen as further fulfilment of the [[Fourth Doctor]]'s mission from the Time Lords. [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Ascension (Gallifrey audio story)|Ascension]]'', however, will suggest the Time Lord rationale was in fact an exaggeration.

* [[The Monk (The Book of Kells)|The Monk]] and [[Lucie Miller]] would later travel to [[Questus]] to kill a ruthless dictator from childhood, fulfilling the Fourth Doctor's hypothesis about killing a child who would grow up totally evil, a child who would become a ruthless dictator. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Resurrection of Mars (audio story)|The Resurrection of Mars]])''

* The [[Time Lord messenger (Genesis of the Daleks)|Time Lord messenger]], [[Valyes]], was sent by [[Narvin]] to tell the Doctor to avert the creation of the Daleks. This interference eventually led to the outbreak of the [[Last Great Time War]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Ascension (Gallifrey audio story)|Ascension]]'')

* Commentary by [[Tom Baker]] ([[Fourth Doctor|The Doctor]]), [[Elisabeth Sladen]] ([[Sarah Jane Smith]]), [[Peter Miles]] ([[Nyder]]) and [[David Maloney]] (Director)

* ''[[Genesis of a Classic (documentary)|Genesis of a Classic]]'' - A special 62-minute documentary, looking at the making of ''Genesis of the Daleks'' with contributions from many of the cast and crew of the story

* ''[[The Dalek Tapes (documentary)|The Dalek Tapes]]'' - A 55-minute feature, which tells the story of ''[[Doctor Who]]''{{'}}s most iconic villains, as well as providing a history of the 'classic series' [[Dalek]] stories

* Continuity Compilation - A selection of off-air continuity announcements

* ''[[Blue Peter (series)|Blue Peter]]'' - An item from [[1975]] looking at a collection of ''Doctor Who'' models built by a viewer

* ''[[Radio Times]]'' Billings - Illustrations, articles and listings from ''Radio Times'' (DVD-ROM PC/Mac)

* ''[[Doctor Who Annual 1976|The Doctor Who Annual 1976]]'' (DVD-ROM)

File:Genesis of the daleks.jpg|Region 1 US cover

* The story is available for streaming in Canada and the US through BritBox.

* First Release: October 1979 as an LP and cassette, ''Genesis of the Daleks'', from the [[BBC]], with narration by [[Tom Baker]] — told from the Doctor's point of view — written by Derek Goom, who is credited on the sleeve for "Narrative and Record Realisation". This was an edited-down soundtrack from the televised episodes, with additional narration by Baker. It is interesting to note that the Doctor clearly mentions the [[transmat beam]] in the dialogue, but in the opening narration he claims to have arrived on Skaro in the TARDIS. This was the second release of its kind for ''Doctor Who'', the first being a single episode of ''[[The Chase (TV story)|The Chase]]'' — namely the final instalment, "The Planet of Decision". Some 20 years later, [[AudioGo|BBC Audio]] would return to the idea of releasing narrated soundtracks of stories no longer existing in visual form.

** Early issues of ''[[Doctor Who Magazine|Doctor Who Weekly]]'' featured a half-page advertisement for the product, which was billed as "A complete Dr. Who adventure! With the voices of Tom Baker, Elizabeth Sladen [''sic''], Ian Marter & many others!" ''(original published text)''

* Second Release: As a cassette as ''Genesis of the Daleks & [[Slipback (audio story)|Slipback]]'', from the [[BBC Radio Collection]]; and as ''Genesis of the Daleks/[[Exploration Earth (audio story)|Exploration Earth]]'', also from the [[BBC Radio Collection]].

* Excerpts from [[Dudley Simpson]]'s score, arranged by [[Heathcliff Blair]], were released by Silva Screen in the early 1990s on their compilation CD ''Pyramids of Mars: Classic Music from the Tom Baker Era'' (FILMCD 134)

== Novelisation and its audiobook ==

:''Main article: [[Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks (novelisation)|Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks]]''

* This story was novelised as ''[[Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks (novelisation)|Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks]]'' by [[Terrance Dicks]] in 1976.

== External links ==

* {{bbcepguideclassic|genesisofdaleks/|Genesis of the Daleks}}

* {{radiotimes|2010-06-13/genesis-of-the-daleks|Genesis of the Daleks}}

[[Category:Television stories set on Skaro]]