We've heard some people say that any story that can be edited down and condensed into a long-playing record album must be overly padded and therefore undeserving of its classic status. On the other hand, if the boiled-down essential story is worth releasing on a long-playing record, there must be a good reason for it. Genesis of the Daleks casts a long shadow over all of the Dalek episodes that follow it - hell, given that Russell T. Davies has said the Doctor's mission for the Time Lords was the primary act that led to the Time War, it casts that long shadow over the entire series since. True, we could have done without the giant clam, and the Nazi parallels are a little too on-the-nose all of a sudden. There are also relatively few Daleks until the end - but in their place, we get Davros, the original, you might say, played by the late Michael Wisher. While we're very big fans of Terry Molloy, Wisher's interpretation is beautifully nuanced by comparison. Then there are the Daleks, looking both brand-new and entirely primitive at the same time, who are still a menace only to one planet so far as in their first appearance - but just as in that first appearance, there's a hint that the Doctor's very presence alerts them to the existence of the rest of the universe, which they see as an even bigger canvas to conquer. Oops. Just what is it with that giant clam, though?
Tony Whitt has previously written TV, DVD, and comic reviews for CINESCAPE, NOW PLAYING, and iF MAGAZINE. His weekly COMICSCAPE columns from the early 2000s can still be found archived on Mania.com. He has also written a book of gay-themed short stories titled CRESCENT CITY CONNECTIONS, available on Amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle format. Whitt currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.
