Revenge of the Cybermen

Four episodes
Aired between 19th April 1975 and 10th May 1975

Written by Gerry Davis
Produced by Phillip Hinchcliffe
Directed by Michael Bryant

Synopsis

The TARDIS Crew "drift" through time and space as they hold onto the Time Ring back to Space Station Nerva.  It teleports them into the stations control room but for some reason, the TARDIS is gone.  The Doctor doesn't seem too bothered though.  He says it's drifting through time as they speak to catch up with the coordinates of the Time Ring and will show up eventually.

They leave the Time Ring on the console and it dematerialises back to the Time Lords (much to Harry's surprise).

The Doctor suggests they go to find Vira and see how they're getting on reviving the human race.  When he opens the door however, a dead man's body slumps into the room. There's even more of them littering the outer ring corridor of the station,

None of them are dressed like the crew of the Nerva beacon, more like army uniforms.  The Doctor begins to suspect that they're not quite in the time they left.

In the communications room, a member of the station staff called Warner, warns an approaching ship away from the beacon, claiming they're in quarantine.  Warner is only one of the surviving crew.  The Commander, Stevenson, is still alive, as is his second in command, Lester, and Professor Kellman, a Planetary Surveyor.  Kellman acts scornful of their predicament, saying its impossible to keep the fifty man station going with three officers, but Stevenson and Lester disagree, their assignment is only three years to warn people off the new asteroid that's entered and is orbiting their solar system, at least until all the star charts are updated.

Down on the asteroid, in a deep, dark, cavern, an alien humanoid dressed in golden robes tries to use a radio to contact Nerva Beacon. He is captured by more of his own kind and the transmission is cut off.

Back on the beacon,   Warner is puzzled.  Professor Kellman enquires what's wrong and Warner explains.  Kellman is sceptical that the signal could have come from the asteroid as he set up the transmat circle on the asteroid itself and has spent six months cataloguing all the caves there.  There's no life.

Back in the corridors, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to open a locked bulkhead door.  as soon as he does so, a silent alarm is tripped and Stevenson ans Lester go to investigate, taking guns with them.

Meanwhile, on the asteroid, it becomes clear that the place is full of deep caverns and is home to a species of golden aliens called Vogans (the asteroid being called Voga).  One of their leaders, Vorus, is speaking with his aide, Magrik, about the Vogan that tried to contact Nerva Beacon.  Magrik explains that the Vogan was frightened of Vorus' plan.  Vorus defends his plan and says it's brilliant.

 He's clearly relying on a member of the Nerva Beacon crew to help them out in return for gold, something that is fantastically abundant on Voga.  it seems that they are involved in something that is against the wishes of Cybermen which Vorus believes could have been listening in to the transmission the Vogan made.

Back on Nerva, Warner is attacked by a long metal snake and bitten.  He falls to the floor ill, his veins throbbing with light. Shortly afterwards, Kellman enters and destroys the log Warner made of the contact from Voga.

Stevenson and Lester eventually catch up with the Doctor, Harry and Sarah as the explore and are astonished to find them as EVERYONE in that section of the station is dead.  They obviously suspect them as saboteurs and hold them under arrest.

They take them back to the communications desk and find Warner infected by their "plague".  Stevenson is prepared to shoot Warner but the Doctor thinks fast and lies, getting them to believe that they're a medical team that've been sent from Earth.  He gets permission to look at Warner and see what he can do.

Kellman goes back to his quarters and spies on the party through an elaborate monitoring system hidden in a brush and other household objects.  He watches as Stevenson explains the situation to the Doctor about a mysterious plague coming they believe from the asteroid - Voga.  The Doctor remembers the name and it turns him on the right track.

He explains that Voga isn't an asteroid, it's a planet - a planet of gold, a place that played a significant part in the Cyber Wars.  He investigates Warner and finds bite marks on him indicating that the Cybermen could be causing this virus.

Stevenson scoffs saying that the Cybermen all disappeared ages ago, but the Doctor is quick to point out that they're not extinct, and given their hatred of gold, revenge on Voga seems like a plausible goal.

Hearing all of this, Kellman makes contact with a Cyber-ship and explains that the crew are onto them.

Warner eventually succumbs to the infection and he dies.  The Doctor says it's a shame he was too late spotting the bite, or he could've got him on the transmat to Voga and the gold flaked air might've affected the poison in some way.

There's only one lead left for him, and he goes to Kellman's quarters to find it.  Kellman has left by this time, but the Doctor doesn't take long to find the brush device and a bag of gold dust.  He hears Kellman returning and hides under the bed.  Kellman enters and sees the brush out of place.  He guesses the Doctor is somewhere inside the room and so sets a booby trap to electrocute the floor and leaves the room again.

Whilst the Doctor swings on cupboards and uses his scarf as a filter from the smoke, Sarah Jane is attacked by the silver mechanical snake.

The Doctor makes it out of the room and hears Sarah Jane screaming.

He rushes to her and pulls the snake off her, killing it with some of the gold dust found in Kellman's room.  He's too late though, Sarah's neck is pulsing with light from the venom coursing through her.

  The others turn up and the Doctor points to the snake telling them that's the cause of their plague.  He takes Sarah to the transmat chamber and gives her to Harry.  He tries to beam them down to Voga so that the surrounding gold will neutralise the toxin, but it turns out Kellman's taken the Pentallium drive from the beam machine.

As the Doctor works furiously to bypass the sabotage, Stevenson and Lester go to find Kellman.

Meanwhile, on Voga, Vorus sees a Cybership approaching Nerva beacon. He orders that his secret weapon, the Sky Striker missile, be armed in four hours.

The Doctor eventually succeeds in reparing the transmat and sends Harry down with Sarah who very quickly makes a remarkable recovery once the poison is filtered from her body.

Harry is delighted to find the cavern that they're standing in is littered with gold, but his joy is short-lived as they're soon captured by the Vogans.

They take the pair of them to Vorus who questions them about who is on board Nerva.  Their brief interrogation is interrupted however by Councillor Tyrum who requests a meeting with Vorus.

Until he returns, Sarah and Harry are taken away to be locked up.

Lester and Stevenson eventually capture Kellman and bring him to the Doctor.  The Doctor explains that he knows whats going on.  He says that Kellman is working for the Cybermen to help them destroy Voga, because gold is the perfect non-corrosive metal that clogs up the Cybermen's breathing units and kills them.  He suspects that the silver snake is a Cybermat and Kellman used it to kill everyone.  He asks Kellman for the pentallium drive, as he can't retrieve Sarah and Harry without it.  Kellman acts aloof and defiant until the Doctor uses a control found in Kellman's room to steer the re-activated Cybermat towards his prisoner.  Kellman eventually cracks and gives the Doctor the drive.

Now imprisoned on Voga, Harry points out that the chains are solid gold - therefore soft metal.  He and Sarah get to work smashing them open.

Elsewhere, Vorus meets with Tyrum.  The Councillor explains that he knows aliens are on Voga, and he suspects that Vorus has a hand in it, given that the impetuous man has long desired to emerge from hiding and become a trading society once again.  Vorus admits it and refuses to back down.  Tyrum says he doesn't trust Vorus or the Vogans appointed to guard the planet anymore.  He sends his own guards down to the mines to take control with orders to kill anyone who resists.

Vorus returns to his men.  He tells Magrik to keep Tyrum from finding out about the Sky Striker missile and he orders Harry and Sarah to be killed.

Back in the jail cavern, Harry and Sarah break out of their gold chains and rush off, just before the guards come to get them.  They're chased through caverns and tunnels until opposing Vogan troops arrive and force the execution squad to surrender.

On Nerva, the Doctor gets the transmat fully functioning again, but sees that Harry and Sarah Jane have left the transmat circle.

Lester sees a ship on their scanners but it refuses to answer their calls.  The Doctor knows its a Cybership.  He rushes to the airlock to try and find a way to stop them but can't.  Lester and Stevenson fire at the Cybermen as they enter the ship, but are gunned down.

The Doctor is also shot in the back as he tries to sneak away.  The Cyberleader (the guy in the black helmet) exclaims that the beacon is finally theirs.

Kellman comes face to face with the Cybermen.  The Cyberleader tells him that he's only stunned the Doctor and the officers because he needs them as part of the plan to destroy Voga.

He instructs Kellman to re-calibrate the transmat to beam just short of a shaft that goes to the core of Voga.  Kellman insists on going down to the planet to check the beam works properly.  The Cyberleader agrees and beams Kellman down.

Little does the Cyberleader realise, but Kellman is actually a double agent.  Once on Voga, he goes to find someone to try and get an audience with Vorus.  Unfortunately, he didn't anticipate the civil war that's currently being waged between Vorus' guardians and Tyrum's militia.  Kellman is captured by the Militia and is taken away as he tries to warn them of the Cyber-threat.

Now they're re-captured, Harry and Sarah are taken to Tyrum to explain Vorus' plan.  Whilst they don't know his plan, they do explain about the Cybermat on Nerva.  Tyrum understands that this means the Cybermen are coming.

Back on Nerva, the Doctor, Stevenson and Lester have revived.  The Doctor tries to aggravate the Cyberleader in order to reveal his plans.

He questions what Kellman is getting out of it if Voga's gold is going to be destroyed and also points out that there's barely any of the Cybermen left following their near extinction in the "Cyberwars".  The Cyberleader explains that there's enough parts on their ship to build an army of Cybermen, and Kellman asks only to rule this solar system when the Cybermen conquor it.

Given how dangerous all that gold on Voga is to the Cybermen, they strap Cyber-bombs onto the Doctor, Stevenson and Lester's backs.  The Cyberleader explains that they're going to go down the shaft and plant the bombs.  They're sensitive enough to explode if they're tampered with unless the code is entered to temporarily disarm them.  Once the bombs are planted, they will have fourteen minutes or so to get out via the transmat before the planet blows.  Their progress will be followed via radar.

With little option, the men are beamed down along with two Cybermen.  Once down, they soon encounter the Vogan militia, but the Cybermen are more than a match for them. As the fighting rages, the Doctor and co. escape further into the tunnel.  The Doctor explains to Stevenson and Lester that the Cyberleader in no way intends to let them live, but they've got to keep going as their progress is being monitored and the Cyberleader could remote detonate the bombs at any moment.

Tyrum hears of Kellman's capture and decides to speak to him.  Kellman explains how he and Volrus came up with a plan to lure the Cybermen to the beacon and then blow it up with a rocket, thus wiping all the remaining Cybermen out and Voga could once again emerge from hiding.

Kellman urges them to use the Sky Striker.  Believing the Doctor to still be on Nerva, Harry tells Sarah to get back up there and warn the Doctor whilst he tries to stop the rocket being fired.

Tyrum visits Vorus and arranges a ceasefire whilst they speak. Tyrum tells Vorus off for such a reckless plan to kill the Cybermen, but Vorus is convinced it can work.  He shows them the Sky Striker rocket.  Tyrum disagrees considering that the Cybermen are already on Voga.  Harry says that they'll have to find another shaft down to the core of Voga and find a way to stop the Cybermen.  Kellman agrees to help.

Sarah Jane transmats back to the Nerva beacon and overhears the Cybermen monitoring the Doctor's progress.  The deeper the bomb group go into Voga, the more the radar signal is interrupted.

Back on Voga, the Doctor, Stevenson and Lester go deeper into the shaft but come across a wall of fallen rock.  Harry and Kellman reach the same place from another shaft and begin messing with the rocks, causing a rockslide.  Kellman is killed and the Doctor is knocked unconscious.  Harry finds a way through and sees the Doctor lying unconscious on the floor.  Not being aware of the consequence of removing the bomb harness, Harry begins doing just that!  Luckily, Lester revives and stops him.  When the Doctor comes to and realises what's happened he yells out amidst laughter that Harry is an imbecile.

Once he's fully recovered, the Doctor hypothesises that the gold on Voga will be interfering considerably with the Cybermen's radar.  He makes a plan for Stevenson to continue so that a trace of the radar trail is shown, but the Doctor, Harry and Lester will go into the other shaft and lay an ambush for the approaching Cybermen.

As the silver monsters approach, the Doctor and Harry jump on them, trying to rub a handful of gold dust onto the Cybermen breathing units.  In reality, the Cybermen are just too strong and force the Doctor and Harry to run for it.  Lester drops down between the two Cybermen and releases his harness, thus detonating his Cyber-bomb taking out the Cybermen and killing himself in the process.

On Nerva, the Cyberleader gets concerned when the Cybermen fall out of contact.  He orders the bombs to be detonated but Sarah Jane rushes in to stop them.  All she accomplishes however is getting captured herself.  The Cybermen push the button but there's no detonation.

Back on Voga, the Doctor has managed to get the detonation device from the dead Cybermen and stop the remote signal.

With this out of the way, they're able to unclip the bombs from themselves.

Knowing his plan has failed, the Cyberleader goes to a backup.  He orders Sarah tied up on the station and loads it with more Cyber-bombs, with the intent to crash Nerva beacon into Voga.

The Doctor, Stevenson and Harry return to the Vogans just as Magrik announces to Vorus that the Sky Striker missile is ready.

The Doctor begs for 15 minutes to save Sarah.  Vorus reluctantly agrees.

The Doctor gets back to Nerva, takes the Cybermat and loads it with gold dust.   He sends it out to attack the Cybermen.  it works on one of them but they're ultimately re-captured by the Cyberleader.

On Voga, Vorus grows too impatient as he sees the station begin to approach and orders the rocket fired.  Tyrum stands against him and is forced to shoot Vorus.

Unfortunately, Vorus manages to launch it before he dies.

On Nerva, the Cyberleader orders the Doctor to tie himself and Sarah Jane up.  The Cybermen finish loading the station with bombs and abandon it to its fate.  Once they're gone, the Doctor reveals that he's tied the knots so they'll be easy to get undone (another trick learned from Harry Houdini).  The Doctor uses the station controls to contact Voga and order them to steer the missile toward the escaping Cybership instead.  They try their best and only just manage to pull it up in time.  The missile hits the Cybership and blows the Cybermen to pieces.

There's still the small matter of Nerva being on a collision course with Voga however.

As the station drops nearer and nearer to the surface, the Doctor unlocks the gyro controls and pulls up just in time.  The world is safe.

Harry is beamed on board the beacon and the TARDIS finally arrives, catching up in their space and time.  The Doctor nips inside to make sure the controls don't cause the ship to dematerialise again as the companions catch their breaths.  He comes back out a moment later and tells them to hurry up.  He left a device with the Brigadier on Earth only to be used in emergencies and needless to say, it's sending out a distress from the Brigadier asking them to come back at once.

The Doctor leads his companions into the TARDIS and they set off once more, for Earth.

Trivia

• This is the first Doctor Who story to feature the Cybermen as the bad guys since 1968.  

• This was filmed before Genesis of the Daleks.  Michael Wisher was cast as Davros because he was readily available, playing Vogan's in this story

• Carey Blyton did a lot of the music for this story and got the tone totally wrong.

• Wookey Hole was used for Voga.  When the crew went down there they made fun of a local superstition of a stalagmite known as the "Witch of Wookey Hole".  Shortly afterwards, a number of the crew became ill and Liz Sladen almost met a very bad accident

• That accident being that one of the mini speedboats they used went totally out of control and was about to go down a tunnel with a low ceiling.  She dove off luckily.

• The guy who played Vorus also did the British dubbed voice for the irrepressible Monkey!

• Another Vogan (Tyrum) was Kevin Stoney aka, Tobias Vaughn and Mavic Chen!  This was his final appearance in Doctor Who unfortunately

• Pay attention to the symbol on Vorus' costume.  It will be popping up again somewhere very important 

• This was the first ever Doctor Who story to be released by the BBC on VHS video

What worked

• The Cybermen looked better than they have done in the past, although the head guns were a bit daft

• Both Liz and Ian Marter play really good parts in this story and act it fairly well

• Tom Baker's line "who's the homicidal maniac" when the Doctor first meets Kellman is better than any other line in this story

• I liked the fact that was a number of crisis to deal with at the end, it kept the tension going

• Oh, and the throbbing veins were very well done

• The creation of the Cyberleader is the best thing about this story

What didn't work

• The Cybermat

• The entire scene with Kellmans room 

• The Vogans looked awful

• The rolling asteroid ground looked awful too

• The Cybermen voice weren't so great.  I preferred the more robotic versions

• The neck massage the Cyberleader gives the Doctor in Part 4

Overall feelings
So, everyone knows I'm not above liking a Doctor Who story with weak plot (Sea Devils being one of them).  The Revenge of the Cybermen for me however, was just a step too far.

On one hand, there's the fact that the Cybermen go after destroying Voga (a travelling asteroid of gold) because...well we hate it and it's got gold on it.  Fair enough, but it's not the only place in the universe to have gold, and there's people who are still alive that fought in the Cyberwars, so they know how devastating a "glitter gun" can be to a Cyberman.  Even if they destroy the planet, there's no way they're ever going to rebuild an empire of Cybermen.

And that's just the silver ones.  Look at the Vogans.  How can Vorus not only hide a huge rocket on a relatively small asteroid for two years, and how can the rest of them fail to notice Kellman turning up to negotiate his plan?  Rubbish.

There's a lot to dislike and not a lot to like on this one, but I guess ultimately, the reason why many would go against the Revenge of the Cybermen is because it's an epitomy of how far the Cybermen have strayed from their original purpose.  Look back at the Tenth Planet.  Ok it was crap, but the Cybermen were interesting!  Now they don't even know what they are anymore to the point where Gerry Davis is inventing quirky flaws for the sake of it and that's a massive disappointment when one of the original writers put this together.  They've lost their appeal and won't be back again for a few years and based on this story, that's a good thing.

Rating

3 out of 10

Rewatchability Factor

3 out of 10

Watch this if you liked...

• The Invasion

• The Tomb of the Cybermen

• The Wheel in Space

• The Moonbase

• Earthshock

• Closing Time (Doctor Who, Series 6)

Consulting the Matrix

Do you think that the Cybermats have a place in the Cybermen's arsenal?

Genesis of the Daleks

Six Episodes
Aired between 8th March 1975 and 12th April 1975

Written by Terry Nation
Produced by Phillip Hinchcliffe
Directed by David Maloney

Synopsis

Instead of finding himself back on Nerva Station, the Doctor appears on a fog enshrouded rocky landscape.  In front of him is a man dressed in strange robes.  The Doctor knows instantly who it is - a Time Lord.

The Time Lord proposes a top secret mission for the Doctor to go on, one that could change the universe - his old enemy, the Daleks have caused far too much destruction over the centuries and the Time Lords want them dealt with.  The Doctor will be sent back in time to their creation and he can either destroy them so they never rise in power, alter their development so they become more peaceful, or find their definitive weakness.

The Doctor agrees and is given a time ring, a bronze bracelet that is the only means of getting back to his own time zone and his own TARDIS when this is done.  He asks for the coordinates to Skaro, but the Time Lord smiles and says he's already here.

The Time Lord disappears and not long after, Sarah Jane and Harry wander out of the wastes to meet up with their friend.

 The Doctor leads them through the rocky wastes.

They pass dead soldiers dressed in WWI regalia but carrying radiation detectors and other anachronistic items. The Doctor supposes that there is a terrible war ongoing here, one that started with advanced technology and ground down to more primitive weapons as time went on.  They move on to their next challenge - a minefield.  The Doctor steps on one but luckily, his foot only hit the base plate, not the firing mechanism.

They carry on until they see a large dome in the distance, big enough to cover a city.  They enter a trench network and find dummies and dead bodies propped up to make it look like the enemy have a larger force.

The Doctor and co. ponder this situation but are soon under attack by gas shells.  As they scramble to get gas masks from the dummies, the opposing army attack, dropping into the trench and fighting with Sarah, Harry and the Doctor.  Sarah is flung to the ground and knocked out, and the other two subdued.  Luckily, a door from a nearby bunker opens up and black-clad enemy soldiers come out, killing the attackers.  The black-clad soldiers check the bodies and realising the Doctor and Harry are alive, drag them inside the bunker, totally missing the unconscious Sarah.

The Doctor and Harry are taken for interrogation, believed to be Thals (see The Daleks), enemies of the self-identified Kaleds.  The Doctor immediately grasps the fact that the humanoid Kaleds must be ancestors of the Daleks because Kaled is an anagram of his hated enemy's name.

The Doctor and Harry bumble their way through the initial questions, buying time enough for the Doctor to surprise Ravon, his interrogator and snatch the pistol from his hand.  They force Ravon to take them back to the surface so they can find Sarah, but on their way, they meet Security Chief Nyder.

They try to bluff their way past Nyder but he suspects Ravon is being coerced and orders his men to open fire.  The Doctor and Harry leg it through a maze of corridors but are eventually captured once again.

Back on the surface, Sarah awakens to find that it's night.  She sees the bunker door and tries to get in but can't, so she wanders back out into the wasteland.  She is followed by someone wearing grey rags.

She wanders to an old crumbling building where she sees a terrible sight - a hideously deformed man confined to a futuristic wheelchair (that suspiciously looks like the bottom half of a Dalek). He has one functional arm and a third blazing blue eye in the middle of his forehead.

He's wired up to some form of life support system and is accompanied by a more human companion, dressed in Kaled military uniform.  To Sarah Jane's shock, the deformed man orders a stationary Dalek to perform basic movement actions and then to destroy some human shaped targets.  The deformed man seems pleased with the result and casually says "we can begin".

Once their experiment is over, the disabled man, Gharman and the Dalek leave.  Sarah is about to follow them when she's attacked by the men in tattered grey clothing.  They are muto's and they intend to mug her and kill her.  One of the muto's called Sevrin challenges their law of killing norms and ends up fighting with his colleague.  The fight is interrupted as a Thal patrol enters the ruined building.

Sevrin's colleague tries to make a run for it and gets shot, leaving Sevrin and Sarah Jane to be taken prisoner.

Back in the Kaled bunker, the Doctor and Harry are checked for weapons and the Doctor's belongings are confiscated including his Sonic Screwdriver and the Time Ring.  They are sent to Senior researcher Ronson for further interrogation.  Ronson is an elite scientist, yet, he can't wrap his head around the Doctor's puzzling biological scan and their claims to be aliens from another world.

He holds it true that Davros is right - no life exists beyond the seven galaxies, The Doctor quips that there's more than seven galaxies and asks who Davros is.  Before Ronson can answer, all the scientists are called to attention ready for the arrival of Davros himself.

Davros turns out to be the disfigured man.  He announces that his experiments with the Kaled Mark III travel machine have been a success.

The Doctor is astonished to discover that the travel machine is a Dalek.  Davros activates the Dalek's weapon and it immediately hones in on the Doctor and Harry shouting "Exterminate!"

Ronson dives in the way and stops the Dalek to which Davros is furious.  Ronson pleads that the prisoners could be very valuable and he would like to finish interrogating them before they die.  Davros agrees but claims Ronson will be punished at a later point.

Sarah meanwhile is taken with Sevrin to the Thal dome where they are used as slave labour to fill a giant rocket with explosives that will be launched against the Kaled city.  One of the Kaled prisoners is certain it will fail though as the dome is super tough and cannot be damaged (another Davros invention).

The only downside is that the missile uses distronic explosives, a substance that will poison the slaves as they load it.

Back in the Kaled bunker, Ronson visits the Doctor and Harry in their cell.  He explains that the bunker is a few miles from the Kaled dome and was built to house the best scientific minds of the Kaled people.  Davros is in charge of the elite.  When hope of the war ending became redundant, Davros turned his attention to the mutations from the chemical (and nuclear) warfare.  He developed a programme to determine the final creature that the Kaled people will end up looking like and therefore wanted a machine for them to move around in. Ronson confirms that Davros just announced that the Mk III machine will now be called a Dalek and can't get over how the Doctor knew.

The Doctor re-iterates that they're aliens and can sense that Ronson is not happy with Davros.  Ronson confirms that he is sure if the main Kaled government were to discover what Davros was doing, they would shut down the experiment, but Ronson and the rest of the elite are confined to the bunker.  The Doctor agrees to help contact the government in return for Ronson helping them escape.  Ronson takes them out of their cell and leads them to an air vent.

Back in the Thal dome, Sarah Jane and Sevrin are getting sick.  in desperation, they decide to try and overpower the guard at the start of their next shift.  Luckily this works and the prisoners are out of their cells.  They are deep in the Thal dome however and so the only way out is by climbing the great rocket and getting out the top.

 As they climb, the alarm is raised and Thal soldiers begin shooting up at them.

Sarah finds the climb difficult and eventually falls.  Sevrin helps her to her feet, but they are re-captured, just as they get to the nose cone of the rocket.

The Doctor and Harry make it through the cavernous tunnels under Skaro and eventually reach the Kaled Dome, contacting the Council.  News of this reaches Davros and he orders Nyder to find out how they escaped and the details of what they discussed.

Mogran, head of the Council hears what the Doctor has to say, and then decides to launch and independent inquiry into Davros' work.

Until the outcome, all work at the bunker will cease.  The Doctor and Harry are pleased, even more so when Ravon tells them that they've heard from Thal double agents about Sarah-Jane's breakout attempt.  Ravon knows about the Thal rocket but is unconcerned as the Kaled Dome has been reinforced by a material Davros himself designed.  He agrees to show them the way to the Thal dome so they can try to rescue Sarah.

When the Council confront Davros, he seems un-phased.  He agrees to the inquiry, but as soon as the Councillors have left, he orders Nyder to place the Dalek mutants into the travel machine shells.

Nyder protests as he fears they're still unstable but Davros is insistent.

Nyder asks what they will do next and Davros explains that he and Nyder are about to go on a journey.

By the time Harry and the Doctor get to the Thal Dome (they were delayed fighting a mutant oyster) they see Davros and Nyder talking to the Thal leaders.  Davros spins a tale that he is only bothered about ending the war and having peace.  As a gesture that he means it, he gives the Thals a formula for a chemical that will destroy the Kaled Dome defences if they load it into shells and fire it before they launch the rocket.  The Thals are not unduly skeptical, and ask Davros why he'd betray his own people.  He says they are consumed by the war and he just wants to play a part in the rebuilding of Skaro.

The Doctor and Harry leave the area as they are almost discovered and fail to see Davros announcing his ultimate triumph over both the Kaleds and the Thals.  They eventually find Sarah and sneak into the rocket loading bay dressed as guards.  They rescue Sarah and Sevrin, and the Doctor orders them all to get away back to the Kaled Dome whilst he destroys the rocket.  They agree but whilst he's messing with the control panel, one of the real Thal guards regains consciousness and electrocutes the controls, shocking the Doctor into unconsciousness.

When he comes round, the Doctor finds himself in the launch room with the rocket counting down and the Thal leaders watching it.  He tries to stop them but it's no good, the rocket is launched and thanks to Davros' formula, the dome is too weak to withstand it.  The Kaled city and everyone in it are destroyed.  The Thals celebrate and say that now the Kaleds are defeated, they can once again have peace.  As a gesture of this, they release all prisoners, including the Doctor.  But the Doctor is sad, seeing as how he sent Harry and Sarah back to the Kaled Dome before it was destroyed.

In the Kaled bunker, all the scientists are shocked by the Dome's destruction.

Davros pretends to be angered by it all and says whoever did it will pay, starting with the Thal spy - Ronson!  The scientist obviously protests that he's no spy but is exterminated by the Daleks.  Davros orders Gharman to implement some changes in the Dalek mutants genetic structures.  Gharman points out that these changes will stop the mutants from having a conscience and morality.  Davros calls it an improvement and insists the work be carried out, leaving Gharman most disturbed but without a choice.

Now rid of the potential danger of the Kaled Council, Davros begins eliminating loose ends by sending his Daleks to the Thal dome to kill everyone they encounter.  The Doctor flees when they arrive and manages to rescue a female Thal soldier called Brettan.  Once outside the Thal Dome, the Doctor tells Brettan to gather as many Thals as she can and form a fighting force to attack the Kaled bunker.

With this underway, the Doctor heads back towards the Kaled bunker to retrieve the time ring from Ronson's desk.  On his way, he's attacked by muto's who are in turn fought off by Sevrin, Harry and Sarah-Jane.  The Doctor is delighted to see them and they explain they didn't manage to reach the dome before it was destroyed.  Together, Harry, Sarah and the Doctor go back to the bunker, leaving Sevrin to find Brettan and help raise a militia.

In the bunker, Gharman begins talking to the other scientists about his unease. He's overheard by Nyder who pretends to also be concerned about Davros.  He convinces Gharman to reveal everyone who's part of the plan and then turns on him, knocking him unconscious.  This occurs just as the Doctor, Harry and Sarah come out of the underground tunnels right in front of them.

They are also subsequently arrested.

The group are all strapped to torture devices, and the Doctor is forced by Davros to explain the real reason he's here and recount his mission for the Time Lords.

Davros is fascinated and then under threat of harm to Harry and Sarah, forces the Doctor to reveal the details of every Dalek defeat.  That way, Davros aims to programme these details into the Dalek subconscious and thus, they will never be defeated.

The Doctor has little choice and complies.

When the interrogation is over, Nyder takes the recording of the confession away, and Harry and Sarah are taken to cells, leaving the Doctor to speak with Davros, Scientist to Scientist.

The Doctor pleads for Davros to stop, stating that the creatures he's created are evil.  Davros refutes it and says they're merely conditioned to survive and to do so, they must be ruthless.  On the up side, he argues that once they've conquered everyone, there will be universal peace.

The Doctor tests Davros one final time, posing that if he'd invented a virus capable of destroying every living thing in the universe, and that virus was in his hands, would Davros use it?  Davros ponders the situation and falls in love with having such power on such a scale and the ability to decide the fate of everyone would be too good not to - the power would "set him up among the gods!"

The Doctor coyly states that now he knows Davros is mad.  Suddenly, he dives out of his imprisoned chair and grabs hold of Davros' hand, threatening to turn off his life support unless he orders the Daleks to be killed.

Davros seems genuinely afraid and reluctantly does as he's ordered, but luckily for him, is able to countermand that order as Nyder sneaks up and knocks the Doctor unconscious.

Elsewhere in the bunker, Gharman's friend, Kavell, overpowers the prison guard and frees Sarah and Harry.  As Nyder takes the Doctor to jail, Harry dressed as the guard tries to stop him but he gets away.  Gharman and Kavell now free, go to rally the other scientists to stop Davros, but the Doctor warns them that Davros is likely to know what they're planning. Gharman and Kavell go anyway but thank the Doctor.

Now free once more, the Doctor, Sarah and Harry discuss their mission, knowing that there's the complication of needing not only the time ring, but now, they must retrieve the recording.  First however, they must find a way to deal with the Daleks.

Back near the Thal Dome, Brettan and Sevrin are gathering people but there's far too few.  The Daleks have wiped out a lot and now there job is done, they begin heading back to the Kaled bunker.

In said bunker, Gharman and his crew grab the automatic weapons and confront Davros, giving him an ultimatum.  He can continue his work on the Daleks but they must have ethical standards or they will all be destroyed.  Seeing as Gharman wants to settle things by democracy, Davros asks for a meeting with everyone who opposes him to try and convince them.  At the end of this, if the majoriy of people still wish him to stop, then he will stop.  Gharman agrees and leaves.

After rummaging about in some lockers, the Doctor, Harry and Sarah find Sarah a new military style outfit, but also, some explosives and a detonator.

The Doctor says the Time Lords gave him three options and the only one that's left is genocide.  He takes the explosives and plants them in the Dalek incubator room but is viciously attacked by the green blobs as he finishes his preparations.

Thanks to Harry and Sarah, he manages to throw them back into the room.

The Doctor takes the wires and pauses, lamenting that by simply connecting both wires, the Daleks will be wiped out from the face of history.  Sarah questions why that's a bad thing, but the Doctor says that many alliances and friendships are forged in the face of oppression by the Daleks and if he wipes them out like this, is he any better than them?

Sarah doesn't care and encourages him to do it.  At that point however, Gharman turn up and tells the Doctor about Davros agreeing to his ultimatum.  The Doctor thanks Gharman, disconnects the explosives, and returns with them all to the main lab to confront Davros and Nyder.

Once in the main lab, they gather with all of Davros' opposers and listen to his case.  During this time, they find the Time Ring on Ronson's desk and sneak it back into their possession,

Outside the bunker, the Daleks return, and are followed inside by Brettan, Sevrin and the rest of the pitifully small band.  They begin setting up explosives themselves, intending the seal the bunker off like a tomb and trapping everyone inside forever.  Sevrin knows that Sarah is inside and negotiates with Brettan for him to go off and look for her.

Back in the main lab, everyone is so engrossed in the debate between Davros and Gharman that they fail to notice Nyder sneak off.  The Doctor, Harry and Sarah see him though and follow him.  They corner him and in the ensuing struggle, the Doctor doesn't see that the Time Ring falls onto the floor.  They subdue Nyder and force him to lead them to Davros' office.  Once there, they make him open his safe and take out the recording.  The Doctor destroys it with a prototype Dalek gun, but Nyder runs off, sealing the office behind a blast door.  The Doctor isn't too concerned as the Dalek progress has been altered for the better, thanks to Gharman, the recordings are destroyed and he has the...wait, no he doesn't have the Time Ring!

Back in the main lab, the scientists vote and it becomes clear that the majority is against Davros.  He is contemptible to them and says he will never surrender.  At that moment, the doors open and Daleks appear, exterminating all those who opposed Davros.

The Doctor, Sarah and Harry all see the massacre from a screen in Davros' office.

Sevrin unlocks the blast door, finding the TARDIS crew.  He explains what Brettan's plan is and they rush off, finding the Time Ring still lying in the corridor.  The Doctor forces Harry and Sarah to go with Sevrin to the entrance whilst he goes back to the incubator room to finish what he started.  He connects the explosives once more but before he can connect the wires, a Dalek turn up.  It completes the circuit as it rolls over the two wire ends and the Dalek mutants are destroyed, taking the offending Dalek with them.

Davros' celebrations at victory are short lived when he discovers that the automated Dalek production line has been started without his order.  He commands that it is stopped again but the Daleks refuse.  Davros orders Nyder to stop it but the Daleks exterminate him as he reaches for the shut off button. The Daleks confidently announce that production will continue.

At the bunker entrance, Brettan is having a fit as everyone is telling her to wait, but the Daleks are almost upon them.

At the last second, the Doctor appears, diving through the doors just as the Daleks fire.

The militia seal the bunker and detonate the explosives, entombing the Daleks with their creator Davros.

Inside the bunker, Davros arrogantly tells them that he's their master as he created them.  They say that they are conditioned to obey no one and they will find a way to survive.  Seeing as Davros is not a Dalek and therefore inferior, they intend to begin their dominance of the universe by exterminating him.

He begs for pity but the Daleks refuse saying they don't understand the meaning of the word.  Davros reaches out for the production line self-destruct button but is exterminated by his own creations.

The lead Dalek proclaims that they've been trapped but this is only the beginning.  They will find a way out and they will become the supreme beings in all of the universe!

Sarah is quite happy that the Daleks are finished, but the Doctor soon changes his tune, saying that it's more likely he's only delayed them a few thousand years.  They say their goodbyes to Sevrin and Brettan and touch the time ring, being transported through space and time.

Sarah asks if the Doctor's disappointed that he failed.  He says he's not disappointed at all because out of all the evil, there must be some good also created.

Trivia

• Terry Nation was approached again as a way to fill up this season with familiar things so that the "new" Doctor would have a chance to find his feet.  Nation went away and came back with something along the lines of the Daleks, Skaro, Plague bomb, Pretending to be a Dalek etc.  Barry Letts who was still Producer as this was being planned, went back and told him it better change from the last five or six times he'd sold it to them.  

• Nobody can be sure, but it seems likely that Robert Holmes would have had a significant hand in crafting the story that we see today.  

• This is the last story Terry Nation wrote for Doctor Who with the Daleks in it.  

• If you look closely, the Thal energy weapons are the same ones used by the Dhravins in Galaxy 4

• The failed Davros experiment seen walking past an air vent is actually part of an Ice Warrior costume

• Before the advent of things like UK Gold and BBC Three, Genesis of the Daleks was the most shown Doctor Who on UK television, getting re-runs in 1975, 1982 (as part of the 5 faces of Dr Who), 1993 and again in 2000.

• Peter Miles (Nyder) somehow had in his possession an Iron Cross.  Although he was forbidden to wear it on set, he successfully did manage to sneak it in as they were filming some scenes (he wears it in the earlier episodes).

• Finally, everyone over the age of 30 will remember when the band KLF created a top ten single to a Gary Glitter backing track.  Genesis of the Daleks provided many of the sample lyrics for that song.  "Doctor Whooooo, hey! Doctor Who, Doctor Whooooooo, Hey! The TARDIS")

What worked

• The dark atmosphere 
• The fact that it doesn't shy away from killing and death which embeds the Nazi parallel even further.
• The acting is just 11 out of 10 for many of the people in this - so damn good!
• The effects for Davros are pretty fantastic as well, considering that less than a year ago, we were watching Alpha Centauri bobbing about
• The Daleks appear cold and ruthless and unstoppable, just like they should
• The music is pretty spot on too

What didn't work

• The fact that the Doctor is convinced that he'll destroy the daleks forever and then says oh well maybe not
• The mutant oyster
• The part when the Thals just let the Doctor go
• The part where the Thals capture the Doctor too for that matter - why would you put in a button that electrocutes your own control panel?

Overall Feelings
Amazing.  This is what happens when Terry Nation is called to task.  Given the regurgitated tripe that he's come up with the last few times (with the exception of Planet of the Daleks and the first half of the Dalek's Master Plan), this is a total breath of fresh air.

It's like the stars align.  Tom Baker is hilarious when he needs to be (what, no tea?), serious when he needs to be (do I have the right?) and by the way, philosophical in a way that we totally end up sympathizing with his dilemma. Sarah Jane is great, Harry is great, Davros is incredible, Nyder is chilling, even supporting characters like the Thal guy who grabs Sarah at the top of the rocket, Lt Grueber, or Ronson....everyone plays their parts with utter conviction and it leads us to feel far more immersed.  Doctor Who and the Daleks captivated us with a strange and devastated alien world, Genesis of the Daleks captivates us by the people within that world.

This is without doubt one of my top 10 Doctor Who stories of all time and I doubt many of you would disagree.

Rating

10 out of 10!

Re-watchability Factor

9 out of 10

Only marked down because 6 episodes feels just a tiny bit long.

Watch this if you liked...

• The Daleks
• Destiny of the Daleks
• Resurrection of the Daleks
• Remembrance of the Daleks 
• Revelation of the Daleks
• The Stolen Earth (Doctor Who Series 4)
• The Magician's Apprentice (Doctor Who, Series 9)
• The Witches Familiar (Doctor Who, Series 9)

Consulting the Matrix

Did the Doctor have the right?  Should he have blown the Daleks up or not?