Doctor Who/Recap/S12/E04 Genesis of the Daleks: Difference between revisions

''Genesis'' begins with the Doctor and companions being hijacked on their way back to Nerva Beacon and deposited instead on Skaro, home planet of the Daleks. The planet is at an early stage in its history, with a long war of attrition currently ongoing between its two human-like native races, the Kaleds and the Thals. The ultimate result of this war is that the Kaleds will mutate and build themselves travel casings to remain mobile - and become the Daleks. The Time Lords instruct the Doctor to either prevent this entirely, or at least divert the Daleks' development into a more peaceful form. They give him a "Time Ring" to allow him to return to the TARDIS once this is done.

 

 

The Doctor makes his way back into the bunker and sets explosives on the Dalek breeding tanks, needing only to touch two wires together to prevent the Daleks from ever existing. However, he can't bring himself to commit genocide, and reasons that much good will come out of the undoubted evil of the Daleks, and who is he to play god like this [[Contemplate Our Navels|and so on]]. This fascinating debate is then interrupted by the arrival of a Dalek, forcing the doctor to drop the wires and leg it. As the Dalek pursues it runs over the wires, blowing up the tank anyway.

 

 

 

 

* [[Absolute Xenophobe]]: [[Captain Obvious|Take a wild guess.]]

* [[Bizarre Alien Biology]]: although we don't get specifics for another eighteen seasons.

* [[Black and Gray Morality]]: Both Davros and the Daleks are portrayed as utterly evil with the Thals and Kaleds paling in comparison. However the war between the two races is [[Gray and Gray Morality]] at best and comes very close to being [[Black and Black Morality]]. The Kaleds are Nazi allegories who desire the destruction of the Thals, while the Thals use disposable slave labor to build weapons and murder the vast majority of the Kaleds to bring about peace, a sentiment Davros himself echoes later in the story.

* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: The Thals have blonde hair and are warriors, the Kaleds have brown hair and are scientists. Now consider what the Daleks were inspired by, and their combined legacy is the Daleks...

* [[Domed Hometown]]: The Thal Dome and the Kaled Dome.

* [[Improbable Age]]: [[Lampshaded]] with General Ravon, who would owe his rank to both his fanatical dedication to the Kaled cause and the fact that he started as a [[Child Soldier]].

* [[Irrevocable Order]]: The Doctor '''almost''' gets Davros to do this. The Doctor has control of Davros' life support system and tells him to give the order to destroy the proto-Daleks or else he'll turn it off.

'''Davros:''' This is Davros, this is Davros. My last order is cancelled, repeat, cancelled. No action is to be taken. }}

* [[Joker Immunity]]: The ''real'' reason the Doctor couldn't bring himself to wipe out the Daleks.

* [[Land Mine Goes Click]]: "Harry. I'm standing on a mine."

* [[Mad Scientist]]: Davros. Duh.

* [[Nuclear Weapons Taboo]]: Despite claims in much earlier and later ''Doctor Who'' canon, and the assumptions made in some of the individual trope write-ups on this page, the word "nuclear" is never mentioned in "Genesis of the Daleks", and problems that are usually associated with radiation are ascribed to mysterious "chemicals".

* [[Oh Crap]]: See [[Land Mine Goes Click]] above and [[Villainous Breakdown]] below.

* [[Putting on the Reich]]: Kaled dress, propaganda, medals, and salutes. As if the very nature of what Davros was [[Omnicidal Maniac|creating]] wasn't enough to clue you in.

* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: Most of the surviving Kaleds try to oust Davros from his position of authority at the end. Davros proposes a vote, so he knows who to shoot.

* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: The line the Doctor uses to distract some Thal guards while breaking in to their city to rescue Sarah Jane

(knocked out by Harry) }}

* [[Retcon]]: In previous episodes the Kaleds were called the Dals, and the war between them and the Thals lasted just one day (i.e., implied to be a nuclear war). Here the war has been going on for a thousand years.

* [[Start of Darkness]]

* [[Thrown From the Zeppelin]]: When Davros confronts [[Minion with an F In Evil|dissenter]] Gharman and his scientists and guards and asks who is with him and who is against him, a few step over to join him and [[The Dragon|Nyder]]. No prizes for guessing [[The Purge|what happens]] to Gharman and the others.

* [[Undying Loyalty]]: Nyder to Davros.

* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: Kavell, the Kaled scientist who frees Harry, Sarah and Gharman, disappears between Parts Five and Six. He's last seen midway through Part Five leaving with Gharman, but isn't with him and the other Kaleds when they're confronting Davros in Part Six. Unlike other MIA Kaleds (Ravon and Tane especially) it can't be argued he died in the Kaled dome when the Thals blew it up since that happened a couple of episodes earlier.

* [[The X of Y]]