Doctor Who: Genesis of the Daleks and Exploration Earth

Doctor Who: BBC Radio Collection

by Terry Nation, Bernard Venables

Genesis of the Daleks sees the Doctor sent on a mission to Skaro, where the crippled scientist Davros is engaged in the creation of protective cassings for the ravaged Kaled race. Exploration Earth sees the Tardis travel 4500 years into the earth's past, and the Doctor and Sarah witness the beginning of the planet.

Genres: Doctor Who, Audiobook, Science Fiction, Fiction

Audio CD

First published July 2, 2001

About the author

Terry Nation was a Welsh screenwriter and novelist. After briefly joining his father's furniture-making business and attempting stand-up comedy, Nation turned his hand to writing and worked on radio scripts for The Goon Show and a range of TV dramas such as The Saint, The Avengers, Z Cars, The Baron, The Champions, Department S and The Persuaders. He went on to write about 100 episodes of Doctor Who and wrote scripts for the American TV series MacGyver (1985) and A Fine Romance (1989).

He is probably best known for creating iconic villains the Daleks in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who. Nation also created two science-fiction shows - Survivors and Blake's 7.

Terry Nation moved to Los Angeles, California, United States in 1980. He died from emphysema on 9 March 1997, aged 66.

Reviews

[Electroclan17 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genesis Of The Daleks - 5⭐
Exploration Earth - 3⭐

[michelle+8 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great. This isn't really an audio play. It's more like they took the audio track from the TV episodes, having Tom Baker narrate the scenes they had to truncate for time. There's an obvious difference in audio quality between the dialogue/sound effects and Baker's narration. Most of the action scenes are incomprehensible because they relied on being able to see what's happening. While the dialogue in audio plays can be a little clunky, having characters explain what's happening to the audience, that's a lot better than simply having no idea what's going on. Too bad, because the story is a good one, and Baker is wonderful as always.

[David Layton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fans have a love/hate relationship with "Genesis Of The Daleks." It is often considered a classic, yet, close analysis shows that it has the usual weaknesses of Terry Nation scripts. One of those weaknesses was padding in the middle, such as Sarah's pointless breakout attempt, which goes on too long, ends in nothing, and advances the story only to the extent that it allows Harry and the Doctor to figure out where Sarah is so that they can rescue her. This audio version, released on LP some time in the '70s, cuts away large amounts of the deadwood to the betterment of the story as a whole. Some of the better aspects are the performances of Michael Wisher (still the best Davros) and Peter Miles, and the premise of the story. The thousand year war with two sides nearing total social collapse is a marvelous idea. Another one is having Dr. Strangelove (aka Davros) running the whole show. Nation does a brilliant job of showing how totally paranoid and haywire any such situation would be.

The children's radio special "Exploration Earth" is there mainly for curiosity appeal. Designed to teach children about the formation of the Earth, the story gives silly lines to Sarah and presents us with the very silly and not at all frightening bad-guy, the Migron Just what it does and what makes it so bad are never quite explained, but any monster put out by a few flowers is not really deserving of the name "monster."

[Dr. Lillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened as Audiobook, narrated by the “full cast.”

Genesis of the Daleks - A condensed version of the episode with Tom Baker narration added (very obviously) after edits. Although I’ve managed to find the original episode to watch, I enjoyed the story since the TV episode has some less interesting bits in it and this audio version cuts to the chase more often than not. The origin story of the daleks is quite chilling to me. Truly one of the most feared villains in Doctor Who (as they should be). As others have said, sound mixing is rough in this one.

Exploration Earth - Short story about Earth’s evolution that was entertaining but not as exciting to me as the dalek origins.


Tropes: Doctor Who, sci-fi

SCFP (safe for childless people)

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this and could see the scenes unfold as the characters spoke. It was very helpful in letting me know exactly what happened in the episode.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two fun stories, but the sound mixing on Genesis of the Daleks is ABYSMAL. Logistically, I understand why it’s how it is, but I don’t think I would recommend listening to it on headphones.

[Candyce Sweet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Baker as the Doctor is always a win!

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tom Baker provides the narration for this audio abridgement of the BBC television serial by the Daleks’ creator Terry Nation. The narration is minimal compared with other radio adaptations of the science fiction TV show. Interestingly enough, this allows the dialog to flow smoothly, and the result is an above average radio drama. This audio edition of Genesis of the Daleks was first published in 1980.

“’Exploration Earth: The Time Machine’ was recorded and broadcast in 1976” as an educational audio program to dramatize earth science for school children. It may be enjoyed by only the hardest of hard-core Doctor Who fans.

Cast:
Tom Baker The Doctor
Elizabeth Sladen Sarah Jane Smith
Ian Marter Harry Sullivan
Michael Wisher Davros
Bernard Venables Megron

[Melenia · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story line is decent. The audio is horrible.