Cast your eyes back to a time when the Daleks were still scary! The notorious genocidal pepperpot monsters return to bring the Doctor more grief - and this time they have their madman of a creator in tow. Guns! Mutants! Climbing rockets! A Bohemian looking hero with a long scarf! Just add a few more pithy remarks and the usual wise-ass intro is finished. But have I the right... to review Genesis of the Daleks?
What can really be said about Genesis of the Daleks at this point? It often wins fan polls as the greatest Doctor Who television story of all-time (or at least ranks somewhere in the top five) and has been discussed ad nauseum over the decades as arguably the most important Dalek story since their introduction in the 1960's. Terry Nation's story is dark, exciting, and shocking even on repeat viewings. It's filmed like a high production action movie by David Maloney on an extremely limited BBC budget. And Tom Baker, still early in his long run as the Doctor, truly settles into the role and finds an extra layer of gravitas to add to his characterization. All things considered, Genesis is one of those lightning in a bottle moments in the show's history. So when it came time to do the novelization of this story, could any of the on-screen magic truly be captured by the written word or would it simply be a pale imitation?
Intercepted from a transmat beam at the end of his last adventure, a baffled Doctor emerges onto a fog-covered battlefield and meets with a shadowy emissary of the Time Lords who tasks the Doctor with a dangerous mission of utmost importance: travel back in time to a point in Skaro's past before the Daleks become a dominant force and either subvert their development or thwart their creation entirely. Upon accepting the mission, the Doctor finds his companions Harry Sullivan and Sarah Jane Smith have been sent along with him by the Time Lords. The three friends quickly become embroiled in the seemingly never-ending conflict between the Thals and the Kaleds - and also run afoul of the unfortunate 'Mutos' - the wasteland dwellers who are descended from the first wave of unfortunate souls mutated by chemical weapons at the outset of the war. However, nothing can prepare the Doctor for his first encounter with a scarred, wheelchair-bound Kaled scientist who has invented a seemingly indestructible living tank that will surely end the war with the Thals decisively...
For this read I went with the Pinnacle Books edition. In case you're unfamiliar, in the 1970's there was an attempt to bring the Doctor Who novelizations to an American audience shortly after the television show first started making appearances on various US based TV stations. Only ten novelizations were produced before Pinnacle canned the project, but the resulting books have nonetheless lived on as fun curios for Who enthusiasts and collectors. They are almost identical to the original Target Books novelizations, barring three things: one - new cover art and a new, unique Doctor Who logo that never appeared on any other merchandise throughout the show's history, two - a text introduction from science-fiction luminary Harlon Ellison in all of the books essentially introducing what might otherwise be an unfamiliar audience to the concept of Doctor Who and what the character entails (while also gleefully offending Star Wars and Star Trek fans like only a top-tier troll could), and three - various Americanizations of words or turns of phrase throughout the texts. The word 'trousers' becoming 'pants' is often cited as one such example, but the most infamous of these text alterations are the Doctor's bag of Jelly Babies becoming 'jelly beans' because American kids wouldn't know anything about Bassetts confectionary foods. It does kind of fascinate me to think that somewhere out there is a tiny subset of older American Doctor Who fans who's first exposure to the show was actually through these books.
Regardless of which version you're reading, Terrance Dicks is at the helm for this novelization, and his writing style is simply perfect for a fast-paced and action-oriented story like Genesis. In years past I used to eschew Terrance Dicks novels because I was a youthful snob who thought Dicks' writing was too basic and simple to offer anything of substance. Now older (but probably only slightly wiser), I understand why Terrance Dicks was so prolific in his day. Dare I say, Dicks is like the Elmore Leonard of science-fiction writers: he'll never use ten words in a sentence when only three or four will do. Brevity and pace are the cornerstones of his writing style. And that's what makes his novelization of Genesis of the Daleks a joy to read. You could easily blast through it in a long afternoon if you really wanted to. Even if you're like me and you've seen the television serial dozens of times and generally know what's going to happen, you may still find yourself rapidly turning pages to get to the climax.
Like many of the Who novelizations, there are some small deviations from the televised material: some longer fight scenes, some altered lines of dialogue, a brief glimpse at rejected Dalek designs, a scene between two of the supporting characters that was never filmed, and perhaps most tantalizingly, the incident which crippled Davros (a Thal nuclear strike) is given a brief mention here. Davros is arguably the main attraction of this book. Yes, he would later become something of a butt-monkey in the series (and apparently the current skinwalker version of the show that I refuse to acknowledge as legitimate won't even use him anymore because showing a villain in a wheelchair might upset a disabled person... or something? Excuse me while my eyes roll into the back of my skull...) but in his introductory adventure Davros is one mean, deranged, and obsessed son of a bitch. I particularly love the dialogue exchanges between Davros and the Doctor where their differences as both scientists and men are brought to the fore. And the Doctor inadvertently giving Davros knowledge of future events adds a brilliant wrinkle into an already well-layered story with unbelievably high stakes.
I haven't read all of the Target novelizations yet, but of the ones I've read so far, this one rates fairly high on the list. iIf you're only ever going to dip into a few of them, I would definitely recommend Genesis of the Daleks to be in that pile.
