10 Major Doctor Who Events That Changed Everything

4. The Genesis Of The Daleks

Maybe that whole 'Non-Interference' Policy was something that The Time Lords should've stuck to a little harder. A fresh-faced bohemian Fourth Doctor is suddenly plucked out of time and space and thrown into the war between the Thals and the Kaleds. Why? Well, because The Time Lords have seen a prophecy that tells them that The Daleks are destined to become the unrivalled superpower of the universe and they want The Doctor to go to their point of creation and stop them from every being able to reeking havoc.

So just the usual then?

1975's 'Genesis of the Daleks' takes The Doctor back to the creation of The Daleks and attempts to force them to alter pre-established history, a law of time travel that we've constantly been told is a big bad thing to do. It's no surprise then, that this mission from The Time Lords backfires horribly in the wider scope of events, with The Doctor finding themselves unable to prevent The Daleks creation when given the chance. Not only that, they're eventually brought before The Dalek's creator 'Davros' and tortured into revealing all key defeats of the Dalek's futures so that these faults in their ways can be corrected. In doing so, The Doctor is forced to reveal why they have travelled back to this point and tips The Daleks off about The Time Lords and their failed plans to assassinate them.

Russell T Davies himself has pinpointed this episode as the first act of The Time War, a larger conflict between The Daleks and Time Lords that causes devastation to both races as well as the wider universe. As a side note, if The Doctor had simply destroyed The Daleks whilst they had the option, there would never have been any sign of the mutated death tanks to be seen. All previous and future Dalek stories and their consequences on the universe would be erased. The lives that could've been saved are astronomical. Unfortunately, The Doctor had to go and have a bit of a conscience. How selfish of you.