Doctor Who: Genesis of the Daleks (Part 2)

"Do you have any inkling of the theory of space dimension correlated to relative time?"

- The Doctor

"Genesis of the Daleks (Part 2)" is the second chapter in the "Genesis of the Daleks" serial, which ran through episodes 11-16 in series 12 of the television series Doctor Who. The episodes originally aired in six parts on BBC1 from March 8th to April 12th, 1975. The serial was directed by David Maloney and written by veteran Doctor Who screenplay writer Terry Nation.

Synopsis
Sarah Jane Smith hides and watches as Davros and his lieutenant, Gharman test out their new Dalek robot. As she backs away from the exterior of the bunker, she finds herself in even more trouble as several Mutos surround her in a threatening manner.

Meanwhile, Security Commander Nyder brings the captive Doctor and Harry Sullivan to a checkpoint within the main Kaled facility. He hands them over to an officer named Tane, with instructions to deliver them to a senior researcher named Ronson. First however, they must be put through a security scan. Harry steps through the x-ray scan and emerges without incident. When the Doctor steps through the portal however, an alarm sounds and Tane finds the Time Ring that the Time Lord had given him when he first arrived on Skaro. He confiscates the ring and sends the two of them to Ronson.

Outside, the Mutos pull the unconscious Sarah away from the bunker. One of the men, Gerrill, wants to kill her for being a "norm", but the other, a Muto named Sevrin, is more compassionate and cannot understand his people's natural desire to destroy everything beautiful. Gerrill is undeterred by his comrade's pleas of compassion and withdraws a knife, ready to kill Sarah. Sevrin stops him and the two begin grappling with one another. Two Thal soldiers come upon the scene and order them to stop. Gerrill panics and tries to run away, but one of the soldiers shoots him dead. They decide that Sevrin and Sarah could be used for slave labor on their rocket construction project and take them away. Inside the Kaled base, Doctor Ronson goes through the Doctor's belongings. After doing a cursory examination of the Time Ring and the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, he alludes to the idea that these items must have been created by an alien intelligence. However, he does not believe that life exists on any world other than Skaro. After analyzing the scan of the Doctor, Ronson's eyes grow wide and the Doctor smiles. An alarm sounds and a voice comes over the public address system, announcing the arrival of Davros at the Elite Science Corps laboratory.

Davros and his assistant Gharman enter the laboratory and Davros presents his latest creation - the Mark III Travel Machine. The Doctor however, recognizes it as a primitive form of Dalek. Davros shows how the Mark III has voice activated control systems and can function independently. He has Nyder fit it with a laser attachment for self defense. The Dalek spins about and identifies the Doctor as an alien threat. It prepares to fire its laser, but Ronson intercedes and turns the machine off. He defends his actions by declaring that the Doctor and Harry may hold important, valuable information. He would like to interrogate them further. Davros is furious at Ronson's insubordination, and tells him that he will be punished at some future date. However, he allows him to continue with his work with the prisoners. Harry and the Doctor are taken back to their cells.

Back at the Thal dome, Sarah and Sevrin are in a guarded cell accompanied by a Kaled prisoner. The prisoner tells them that they will used as manual labor to aid in the construction of a rocket which the Thals believe will penetrate the Kaled dome. He tells them that the nose cone of the rocket is being packed with Distronic explosives. To reduce weight, they are using no protective shielding, so every load the slaves carry exposes them to deadly Distronic Toxaemia. The guard then brings them out to the launch pad and puts them to work. Back at the Kaled bunker, Harry waits in his cell while the Elite Scientific Core continues to interrogate the Doctor. When they bring him back to his cell, the Doctor tells Harry how he confounded their inquiry by rattling off a preponderance of scientific "gobbledygook", some of which even the Doctor himself couldn't understand. A few minutes pass and Ronson comes into the room. Though he is one of the Kaleds, he takes a liking to the Doctor. He recalls hearing the Doctor earlier refer to the Mark III as a Dalek, but confesses that no one had ever heard the term before. Now he reports news that Davros is now identifying his creation as Daleks and wants to know how the Doctor knew of this. The Doctor tells Ronson that he has a special relationship with time and that he has come to Skaro because of concerns about the future development of the Daleks. Ronson confesses that there are several within the Elite Scientific Corps who disagree with Davros' initiatives and believe that his work is being twisted towards evil purposes. He goes on to explain how the genetic mutation that created the Mutos is irreversible and represents the ultimate evolution of all Kaleds. He brings them to an adjoining cell and shows them examples of Davros' attempts to create the ultimate creature. He says that the Mark III Travel Machines are designed to house this new form.

At the Thal launch base, Sarah, Sevrin and the Kaled slave are given a rest period after doing several hours of work. Sarah wants to try to escape from the Thals and recommends climbing the scaffolding surrounding the rocket until they reach the top of the dome. Sevrin thinks the plan is extremely risky, but the Kaled would rather die taking the risk than die of Distronic Toxaemia. Sarah begins spreading word of her plan to the other slaves.

At the Kaled bunker, Doctor Ronson embraces the notion of rebelling against Davros, but confesses that he doesn't have the courage to attempt it himself. He says that there are members of the Kaled government who still hold some power, even over that of the Elite Scientific Corps, who would stop Davros' plans if they knew the truth. The Doctor and Harry ask Ronson to help them escape and to give them the names of government officials they could contact at the Kaled dome. Ronson tells them that there is a secondary ventilation duct that leads out into the wasteland. He warns them that some of Davros' early experiments were with animals, and that these creatures still exist in the caves along their escape route. The Doctor and Harry crawl through the ducts, but as they get closer to the outside, they take note of some of the mutated animal life forms that Ronson had warned them about.

Meanwhile, Sarah bides her time until it is late into the evening. With several of the slaves behind her, she punches the Thal guard and they escape from their cell. They make their way to the launch pad and begin scaling the scaffolding. An alarm goes off and Thal troops enter the area. They begin shooting at them, but Sarah and the others continue climbing. The Kaled slave is shot in the back and falls to his death. Amidst the gunfire, Sevrin urges Sarah to continue climbing, but she loses her grip and falls.

Notes & Trivia

 * Episode was included in the Doctor Who: Genesis of the Daleks DVD collection.


 * Is episode 392 in the entire series; serial number 4E.


 * The TARDIS does not appear in this episode.

The scenes involving Sarah's attempt to scale the rocket scaffolding are filmed in Kinescope, a process by which a program is filmed using a video monitor.