Genesis of the Daleks Part Three

The one where Harry is attacked by a giant clam..

Exactly how does Sarah Jane land on a platform when she fell from the outside of the scaffolding? It's the fault of director David Maloney, as it should have been clear from Terry Nation's scripts what the cliffhanger resolution was. Maloney misinterpreted the scene, and as a result the cliffhanger comes across as an almighty cheat.

Anyway, Sarah's entire bid for freedom is in vain as she and Sevrin are easily caught by the Thal soldiers and taken prisoner again, making the whole subplot superfluous, and highlighting the fact that Nation has got nothing productive for Sarah to do right now. In fact, Nation isn't really giving either companion much to do, as Harry is pretty much just following the Doctor around like a lost lamb. That is when he's not getting his foot stuck in a giant clam...

The giant clam is often maligned for being a bit rubbish, but while it's certainly not the strongest piece of prop design I've seen, it's certainly passable, and the low lighting succeeds in masking any major problems (although why Nation thought a giant clam would be the most terrifying mutation to be found in the caves is a mystery). The worst thing about it all is the obvious falseness of the props, with the Doctor using a polystyrene rock to ineffectually bash the clam, and then a polystyrene stalactite to lever the creature's maw apart. And let's not even bother with how flimsy the "corroded" iron bars are...

There's a lot of politicking in this episode, with Davros and Nyder coming to the realisation that Ronson is plotting against them and is responsible for the Doctor and Harry's escape. Like a true villain, Davros waits to give Ronson his comeuppance.

The Doctor manages to convince the Kaled Council that Davros and his scientific experiments are up to no good, and leader Mogran agrees to suspend experiments in the bunker until a thorough inquiry into Davros's activities has been completed. I have to say it's a bit unrealistic that the Kaleds would so readily believe the word of a complete stranger from another world who claims to have travelled from the future and have unique insight into events yet to play out. At the very least he'd have been seen as a fruit loop, but luckily for the Doctor, Mogran is prepared to believe it all.

Davros acquiesces to Mogran's demands, but he's got a trick up his leathery sleeve: he and Nyder meet with the opposition in the Thal city, claiming to appeal to them as a last ditch attempt for peace on Skaro. Davros says his Kaled brethren refuse to heed his pleas for peace, so instead he offers the Thals a chemical formula which will help their distronic rocket penetrate the Kaled dome, which is as thick as 30ft reinforced concrete. The nameless Thal politician is just as gullible as Mogran, and believes Davros is trying to help, rather than trick them.

It's rather chilling that Davros is willing to sacrifice his entire race in pursuit of his scientific ambitions, and even more chilling that right-hand man Nyder is happy to go along with it. The scene where Nyder checks that Davros is "willing to go that far", and is then perfectly happy with it all, says an awful lot about Nyder's ambition too: as long as he's loyal to Davros, he'll survive...

Harry and the Doctor then find Sarah near the rocket silo, tricking the Thal soldiers by dressing up as Thal soldiers, then clobbering them (years before Han and Luke did similar in Star Wars). The Doctor sends Harry, Sarah and Sevrin back to the Kaled city to tell the Kaleds everything they have learned, while he tries to sabotage the Thal rocket. Little does he know that the Thals wire all of their rocket silos with electric fencing, and the titles crash in as we watch him get brutally electrocuted.

After two really strong episodes, part 3 is something of a dull runaround in comparison.

First broadcast: March 22nd, 1975

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: I like how Terry Nation is completely subverting our established opinion of what a Thal is. We're used to them being rather wimpy pacifists, but here they're just as brutal and violent as the Kaleds. The scene where the Thal soldier dangles Sarah over the side of the rocket scaffold just for shits and giggles is chilling.
The Bad: The polystyrene clam, polystyrene rock and polystyrene stalactite. Oh, and the wobbly iron bars.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

"Would you like a jelly baby?" tally: 05

NEXT TIME: Part Four...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Two; Part Four; Part Five; Part Six

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/06/genesis-of-daleks.html

Genesis of the Daleks is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Genesis-Daleks-DVD/dp/B000EGCD5A