Genesis of the Daleks

[classicwhoblog]

Comments

[nentari]

Uh, Four's standing on a LANDMINE. Don't those usually, you know, go off when you step on them?
Luckily for Four, it's usually the way they depicted in this - you trigger it when you step on them, but it only goes off once you release it.

Sarah Jane Smith is blowing my mind right now. She's scaling that scaffolding like nobody's business. AND IN A SKIRT. AND HEELS.
And suffering from vertigo, which makes it even braver.

"Excuse me, could you help me? I'm a spy!"
Four, I love you.

"YOU! WILL! TELL! ME! YOU! WILL! TELL! ME!" Guys, Davros' screaming is drowning out the CREDIT SCREAM. THAT IS HOW HARDCORE THIS MAN IS.
Michael Wisher nailed the character in this one, and made the job of succeeding him in the role a very difficult task indeed. (Of course, all the menace vanishes the minute I'm reminded of what he was wearing underneath that life-supporting chair. :P)

OH GOD ONE OF THE BABIES IS STRANGLING HIM I CAN'T EVEN WHATThis was a last-minute addition, as the speech was meant to be the cliffhanger. You can imagine the outraged

[classicwhoblog]

Vertigo? Was the scaffolding really that high up?

Okay, now you've made me curious: what was he wearing?

Ah yes, that would explain why the speech came at the beginning of the episode. I was wondering what was up with that. It really didn't seem like a beginning-of-the-episode speech.

[nentari]

It might have been - she had trouble carrying on after some point, and Von Klinkerhoffen the Thal who caught her used her vertigo to torment her afterwards.

A kilt - I remember Lis and Tom talking about it and saying he claimed trousers shafed and were just too uncomfortable after spending hours inside that thing. He also wore a bag on his head (and the kilt!) during rehearsals.

[classicwhoblog]

I heard about the bag on his head, but not about the kilt (YOUR ICON). Although, considering the part of the Dalek he uses as a wheelchair is sometimes called a "skirt" anyway, it's actually not that hard for me to picture.

...*giggle* Davros in a kilt...

[anonymous]

A good story, and more importantly a good Dalek story. Not just 'hey, we're trotting out the Daleks, again." For Hartnell, that worked. For Eccleston and Tennant, it didn't. One of the things the Tom Baker era got right was only having the Daleks twice. In seven years. You listening, Moffat?

I still think The Deadly Assassin is better, but this is pretty damn good.

Nyder is a real ****, isn't he?

-Arcalian

[classicwhoblog]

Now that I think about it, I'm ashamed of myself for not thinking of it that way before. Yes, this story really does take great advantage of its premise and setting. Unlike some other Dalek stories I could name (I still don't quite understand what was up with Victory of the Daleks).

[anonymous]

I've heard different things about Victory. Some say that using the Daleks was forced on the Moff by the BBC, some say the Moff wanted to redesign them. Maybe both are true. I don't hate on that ep the way some do.

*looking over other posts* yes, the Imperial/Renegade Dalek split does first manifest in Colin's Dalek story.

[classicwhoblog]

I don't hate it either, but it is my least favorite episode of the last season. There were a lot of things that pushed my suspension of disbelief a little too far (although the Doctor threatening the Daleks with a cookie was pretty awesome).

[tbsavafob6]

Last time I saw Davros, it was with the sixth Doctor. Won't give anything away on that. This episode, epic win.

I love Harry. I wish he stayed on longer as well. (He fell down a hole the episode before. That's probably where the foot term comes from.)

Hardcore Davros people. New favorite term.

I love the obvious labels they have for the buttons.

Tom Baker was just great in this episode.

[classicwhoblog]

Ah, Revelation of the Daleks. Isn't that where they start building the Imperial Daleks that feature in Remembrance of the Daleks?

I think they make fun of the button labels in The Age of Steel, but I don't remember the specifics (it's been a while since I've seen that episode).

He blew me away in this story, no question. Although, I'm glad I'm mostly done with his final season. I'm not sure how easily I'll be able to watch the rest of it after reading some of the horror stories of how insanely difficult he was to work with in those final months.

[tbsavafob6]

I haven't seen Remembrance of the Daleks yet, so I really wouldn't know. I loved Revelation though.

I haven't seen Age of Steel in a while either. I think I need to re-watch some of the new Who. Watching the old one changes your perspective on it.

Tom Baker himself admitted that he was being difficult at the time. I really try not to think about that when watching the episodes. It would take away from them.

[classicwhoblog]

What I definitely need to re-watch is Eccleston's season, since the first time I watched it I was watching the version from iTunes, which I found out later is really the edited-for-time version they air on BBC America. Also, I watched it before I REALLY got into the series, so I'd probably appreciate it better now.

Good approach to the whole Tom thing. I'll try to do that.

[kurozukin_a]

Before watching this story, I had vague knowledge of Davros as the creator of the Daleks, and I'd seen him in Destiny of... and of course Journey's End. I wasn't particularly impressed with him as a villain; to me he was that shrivelled little mummy who shouted a lot, basically a Dalek with a slightly more sophisticated vocabulary. So when I finally watched Genesis of..., I was shocked at what a devious bastard he was; playing the Kaleds and Thals against each other, and that scene where he's all "Now that the nasty torture is done, let's have a friendly chat about science! :)" and he sincerely doesn't see anything weird about it. Needless to say, I now definitely see why he's up there among the greats.

[classicwhoblog]

What had impressed me about Davros in Stolen Earth/Journey's End was that he was able to make the Doctor look like a villain. That was a very interesting moral quandary. But yes, he was definitely a much stronger character in this story. I just did Favorite Villain for 30 Days of Who and I was going to do some runner-ups that would've included him, but I was way too tired.

[kurozukin_a]

I kind of want to rewatch Stolen Earth/Journey's End (though I'd hate having to go through Donna's thing again). I could probably appreciate his character there better now, without being colored by my impression of him as "that Dalek guy who shouts a lot".

[classicwhoblog]

Also, despite his prosthetic face in Genesis actually looking pretty decent for the time, I'd still like to re-see his newer face.

[sharaz_jek]

The one problem with this story is seeing the Daleks, the most feared killing machines in the universe, have their Mark 3 Travel Machines based on a Kaled wheelchair. It's like in Dad's Army when Corporal Jones was driving a "tank" consisting of some sheets of iron attached to a bicycle.