Doctor Who - The Sontaran Experiment/The Genesis of the Daleks [VHS]

Doctor Who - The Sontaran Experiment/The Genesis of the Daleks [VHS] | The series at its very best...

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	Doctor Who - The Sontaran Experiment/The Genesis of the Daleks [VHS] 20th Century Fox, 1995 average customer review:based on 29 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Best Episode[s] Ever?

This set might be the very best Dr Who adventure of all, certainly the most significant of the Tom Baker/Liz Sladen period. Significant in terms of how the story deals with very grown up ideas [war, genocide, race hatred and the Doctor's moral responsibility to the future] in a way that even a 13 year old can make sense of. Characters are richly drawn and believable, even when they only appear for a scene or two and then are killed off. This was also the episode that introduced me and my American pals to the Daleks when Dr. Who was exported to American Public Television in the late 1970's, and I can still remember waking up from Dalek nightmares in a panic; none of the Doctor's other adversaries produced such a reaction from me. They are like R2D2's sadistic, amoral bretheren and amongst the best villains ever concieved of. Going back and watching the story as an adult I am struck by how grim this sequence of episodes actually is -- we get everything from trench warefare [including attack by poison gas shells] to Daleks gunning down the Kaled Elite en masse and even a weapon of mass destruction that wipes out an entire race. Nice. Add to all the carnage the story of the Doctor trying to stem the Dalek menace before it even starts and then having to come to grips with the moral consequences of how his actions will effect the future and we have Sci Fi worthy of Kubrick or Lucas. The special effects shots look kind of phony at times, but the unremittingly bleak picture painted by the story tones their effect down. Even the traditional Dr Who camp has a droll, fatalistic air to it. Coupled with the 2 parter "Sontaran Experiment" quickie this is a must-have for any serious Dr. Who afficianado and a great starter for a collection. Higly recommended.

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The series at its very best...

Being an American fan of this long-running, tongue-in-cheek, notoriously low-budgeted British TV series is akin to being a member of the French underground. You take pride in it, but at the same time you ain't exactly running around yelling about your membership. Unlike with other films and TV shows I like, I've never tried to convert anyone to this particular faith and don't even talk about watching it to my best friends. The concept -- a hero who is not Hollywood handsome and who thinks, rather than shoots, his way out of trouble -- is so foreign to most Yanks (who are also snobs about special effects) that upon seeing episodes of this show, they often gag or burst out laughing. Where's the Han Solo swagger? Where's James T. Kirk's harem of space babes? Where are the dogfights, lightsaber duels, and Scottish engineers yelling about how the engines canna take it, captain? And who budgeted this goddamn thing, Scooge? Well, it's true you won't find any of that (admittedly cool) stuff in "Doctor Who" but what the series seems to lack in those departments it makes up for with its chemistry, imagination, and energy. Though the show has had more than half a dozen actors playing the Doctor, I grew up on Tom Baker and this episode is, if not the best outing of his seven year run as the lead, then certainly among the top two or three. For a "Who" episode it has very respectable scope and effects (all things being relative) and an extremely imaginative storyline, in which the Doctor goes back in time (what else?) to avert the creation of his worst enemy, the Daleks, but then has to grapple with the morality of genocide, even on such unregenerate villains as they. Strong performances all around, but the most props go to the actor, whose name unfortunately escapes me, who played Davros, the blind, wheelchair-bound genius who creates the Daleks and is equal parts Joesef Mengele and Adolf Hitler. Thirty seconds of hearing him rant and rave in his awful I'm-speaking-into-a-fan-belt voice charming missives like: "A little surgery on the brain will remove these stupid emotions and still allow us to make use of his effective skills" will put him swiftly on your all-time worst villains list. "Genesis of the Daleks" is twenty-five years old or more, but classy, morality-probing stuff like this never gets tired. A must-have for fans. Even fans who don't admit they are fans.

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An Excellent Video

The Doctor Who two-pack, The Sontaran Experiment and The Genesis of The Daleks is a great buy. Peter Miles is chillingly realistic as Davros' Nazi-esque aide Security Commander Nyder, and Michael Wisher does a wonderful Davros, totaly amoral and perfectly willing to destroy his own race to further his mad experiment. The final scene when Davros confronts his rebellious creations is an excellent and memorable scene, as he finally realizes he built them too well.
The Sontaran Experiment was also a good, if short, show. I highly recommend this video for Doctor Who fans.

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A trip and a triumph.

Two for the price of one so to speak. A pairing of the shortest and one of the finest episodes of the entire run of Dr. Who.

As fans know the Sontarian Experement was shortened due to an injury to Tom Baker, this of course led to some changes in editing. It seems at times to be an uneven story but Baker pulls it off. It makes a fine lead in to the introduction of the BEST villian since the Master.

Davros is the perfect villian. He, as the creator of the Daleks brings a measure of controled evil to the entire concept of the greatest foe of Dr. Who.

There are those who might say that the introduction of the character cheepens the Daleks. I disagree, Davros is such a compelling character and he is played so well in this episode that he becomes the foil that Tom Baker has been waiting for. It is a shame we will see him only one more time in his seven years, but it will again be a special moment in the series.

The episode itself is acted well and the moral decision placed upon the doctor adds to it. A fine supporting cast makes it shine aided by one of the best scripts turned out for the series.

Clearly the best of the first year of Baker. In the top three of the best "Sarah" episodes. Buy it.

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Hmmm...

Well, I'm not necessarily a fan of the Daleks unless the overall production makes them either truly frightening or campily funny. "Genesis" tries to do the former and fails miserably...at least for the tastes of someone my age. Children might be impressed, though. The Daleks are slow and stupid and none of the actors do a really good job except for Baker and the ones who play Nyder and Davros. The plot is well-paced, though, even for six episodes.

I think the real treat here is "Sontaran Experiment", a grim run through the heath that used to be London and is now a wilderness with not even an animal alive and a sinister alien skulking among the rocks and abducting hapless castaways. Very eerie and well-acted by all, but only two episodes long, so it can't raise the rating.

Overall, not bad and not great.

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reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6

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