Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks #4

The fourth Doctor, along with Sarah and Harry are presented with the opportunity to destroy the Dalek at the time of their creation. Are they up to the task? The Dalek have caused the death of millions, if not billions of lives. Surely their destruction would be one of the biggest victories for all of intelligent life everywhere. And yet, what of the good that is caused by their evil as long-time enemies band together against the ultimate threat that is the Daleks. You know the Doctor will have the opportunity to destroy the Daleks, the question is, will he take it? Another plot driven novelization of the long running (and recently revived) TV series. Not much in the way of insights into the characters thoughts, but as usual a well told, easy to read story. A quick read, provides a couple hours of fun entertainment.

Like many Doctor Who fans, I'm often sceptical about the writing abilities of the late Terry Nation. He tended to fill his story with stereotypes, and reuse set pieces from story to story. I'm not sure how he wrote 'Genesis of the Daleks'. I guess it proves that he was a good writer, but perhaps too lazy to give us his best all the time.Terrance Dicks' adaptation is not as good as the story deserves, but it is still quite good.The Doctor, Sarah and Harry are sent on a mission for the Time Lords - the Doctor is instructed to prevent the creation of the Daleks. This story lands the trio at the end of a thousand year war, which has dragged two civilisations back to almost primitive levels. But the atomic and biological weapons used earlier in the wars have caused mutations...Davros, the chief scientist of the Kaleds, is determined to make his race stronger through this mutation, and to this end he has designed a machine to house the ultimate mutated form of his race. Together, mutant and machine will be known as Daleks.Davros is one of the great supporting characters ever created for the show, rather sadly ruined by his subsequent appearances. The great portrayal by Michael Wisher cannot translate properly to the written page, but he is still great.An epic story worth a read by all Doctor Who fans.