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DOCTOR WHO
GENESIS OF THE DALEKS
Written by
Terry Nation
Part One
[EXT. Skaro]
(A wind-whipped, craggy landscape greets us. Through the mist, a figure with a helmet and bright gas mask appears. Similar figures pop up. The scene could have come from the First World War. One of the men gestures with his head, stands, and moves forward. The others follow. They do not get far before automatic weapons fire begins. All of them, as far as we can see, are killed, dropping their rifles and falling back into the dust.
Other military figures advance through the scene.
The DOCTOR emerges from mist elsewhere. He is not warm. He looks around the barren landscape.)
TIME LORD: Ah. Welcome, Doctor.
DOCTOR: (to the black-robed figure) What's going on? Don't you realise how dangerous it is to intercept a transmat beam?
TIME LORD: Oh come, Doctor, not with our techniques. We Time Lords transcended such simple mechanical devices when the universe was less than half its present size.
DOCTOR: Look, whatever I've done for you in the past, I've more than made up for. I will not tolerate this continual interference in my life.
TIME LORD: Continual? We pride ourselves- we seldom interfere in the affairs of others.
DOCTOR: Except mine.
TIME LORD: You, Doctor, are a special case. You enjoy the freedom we allow you. In return, occasionally, not continually, we ask you to do something for us.
DOCTOR: I won't do it. Whatever it is, I refuse.
TIME LORD: Daleks.
DOCTOR: Daleks? Tell me more.
TIME LORD: We foresee a time when they will have destroyed all other life forms and become the dominant creature in the universe.
DOCTOR: That's possible. Tell on.
TIME LORD: We'd like you to return to Skaro at a point in time before the Daleks evolved.
DOCTOR: Do you mean avert their creation?
TIME LORD: Or affect their genetic development so that they evolve into less aggressive creatures.
DOCTOR: Hmm. That's feasible.
TIME LORD: Alternatively, if you learn enough about their very beginnings, you might discover some inherent weakness.
DOCTOR: All right, just one more time.
TIME LORD: You'll do it?
DOCTOR: Yes. If you'll let me have the space-time co-ordinates, I'll set the TARDIS for Skaro.
TIME LORD: There's no need for that, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Hmm?
TIME LORD: You're here. This is Skaro.
DOCTOR: What?
TIME LORD: We thought it would save time if we assumed your agreement.
(The TIME LORD holds a copper-coloured bracelet with a three-stroke swirl pattern up for the DOCTOR.)
DOCTOR: What's this?
TIME LORD: A time ring. It will return you to the TARDIS when you've finished here. There's just one thing.
DOCTOR: What's that?
TIME LORD: Be careful not to lose it. That time ring is your lifeline. Good luck, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Just a moment.
(He is speaking to thin air.)
DOCTOR: Don't just disappear! (shouting) What about Sarah and Harry?
(The DOCTOR puts the time ring on his left wrist and starts walking forward resolutely.)
SARAH: (across some rocks nearby, with HARRY) Doctor! Doctor!
DOCTOR: Ah, there you are, Sarah.
HARRY: I say, Doctor, that was a pretty rough landing. What happened?
SARAH: Yes, where are we? This isn't the beacon.
DOCTOR: No, there's been a slight change of plan.
(There is an explosion relatively close by.)
DOCTOR: This is Skaro.
(Now there is a whistling sound.)
HARRY: I say, that's gunfire.
DOCTOR: Heavy artillery.
(There is another explosion and more whistling.)
SARAH: Doctor, it's getting closer!
DOCTOR: It's a creeping barrage. Get down!
(They all jump into the bomb crater behind them. There are impacts and flashes all around. With each of these, SARAH screams and flinches.)
DOCTOR: (hands over his ears) Something's annoyed them.
(The attack stops, and they all wait a moment to be sure before sitting up.)
SARAH: Doctor. Doctor, look.
(She refers to the gas-mask-wearing man on the ground nearby.)
DOCTOR: All right.
(He picks up the man's rifle. HARRY has a quick look at the man.)
HARRY: Nothing can be done for this chap.
DOCTOR: That's strange. There's centuries between these two weapons.
(He raises a more futuristic-looking weapon in his other hand.)
SARAH: What's that on his jacket?
HARRY: Radiation detector and a gas mask. The two things don't go together, do they?
SARAH: Part of his uniform is made of animal skins, and yet the combat jacket is a modern synthetic fibre.
DOCTOR: It's like finding the remains of a Stone Age man with a transistor radio.
HARRY: Playing rock music?
DOCTOR: A thousand-year war? Civilisation on the point of collapse.
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: Nothing. Just theorising, that's all. (he sets both weapons on the ground) Come along.
HARRY: Where are we going?
DOCTOR: Uh, forward.
(His gesture shows that he has no real idea. The party walk past bodies on the ground and many rocks.)
DOCTOR: Halt! Don't move.
SARAH: What is it?
DOCTOR: I see a land mine. We're in the middle of a minefield. Follow me and tread in my footsteps.
SARAH: Good King Wenceslas.
(The DOCTOR starts over some boulders. He looks at the cliffs above.)
HARRY: What?
DOCTOR: I thought I saw something move. I have a feeling we're being watched.
SARAH: I get that feeling too.
HARRY: I can't see anything.
DOCTOR: Let's hope it's imagination.
(The DOCTOR stops walking.)
HARRY: What is it?
DOCTOR: Harry, I'm standing on a land mine. I felt it shift.
(Sure enough, something round and metal is amongst the chips of rock under his left foot.)
DOCTOR: If I move my foot, it might detonate it.
HARRY: Don't move your foot.
DOCTOR: I won't.
(HARRY bends down and touches the land mine.)
HARRY: It's rocking.
SARAH: Wedge something under it. Make it firm.
HARRY: Yes, I'm trying to, Sarah. Back up, Sarah.
DOCTOR: You back up too, Harry. No point in risking both our lives.
HARRY: No, Doctor, you'll have a better chance if I hold it firm.
DOCTOR: Please, Harry, don't be difficult.
HARRY: Don't you argue, Doctor. Now, just lift your foot very, very gently.
(He does. There is no explosion.)
DOCTOR: Thank you, Harry.
HARRY: My pleasure.
DOCTOR: Let's go.
(They are being viewed from the cliffs.)
DOCTOR: (stopping at some barbed wire) Hey, look. What do you think?
(He refers to a slightly pointed but fairly squat dome ahead.)
SARAH: It's like a big bubble.
DOCTOR: Protective dome, hmm.
SARAH: What, large enough to cover an entire city?
DOCTOR: Yes.
HARRY: Why are they fighting with old-fashioned things like barbed wire and land mines if they can build something like that?
[EXT. Trenches]
(The party emerge from the other side of piled sandbags and find corpses of soldiers at the entrance.)
DOCTOR: Even the dead have a part to play. Propped up to make the trenches appear fully manned.
HARRY: A different sort of uniform from that other chap's.
DOCTOR: Yes, we may have crossed the lines.
SARAH: Same mixture of ancient and modern, though.
DOCTOR: Yes. That's why I think this war's been going on for a very long time. They probably started out with the most modern equipment but no longer have the resources. Have to make do.
HARRY: War of attrition, eh, only backwards. At this rate, they're going to finish up with bows and arrows.
DOCTOR: Hmm. Well, it would explain the mixture of equipment.
SARAH: (at a door) Psst. Here.
HARRY: Careful, Sarah.
SARAH: It's all right. It's locked.
HARRY: It's pretty solid, isn't it? Some kind of service tunnel, I suppose. It might even lead into the dome.
DOCTOR: Let's see where the trench leads.
(They walk off, and eyes peer out through a slit in the door. The party hear a noise and duck as a flash occurs a short distance away.)
DOCTOR: It's a gas shell!
SARAH: Gas!
DOCTOR: Poison gas!
HARRY: Respirators, quick!
(They run to the dead bodies, whose gas masks they don.)
DOCTOR: (as men in camouflage and tatty helmets come at them) Get back!
(Another batch of men, these wearing black uniforms, advance through the door and fire at the other uniformed figures. The DOCTOR, who was thrown to the ground, makes a noise.)
SOLDIER: This one's alive. Get him inside. (they pick him up) There's another one here. Get him inside, quickly.
(He refers to HARRY. SARAH, unconscious, remains on the ground.)
[INT. Storeroom]
(The men in black remove the gas masks from the DOCTOR and HARRY. The DOCTOR is quiet and doesn't seem well.)
KALED: They don't look like Thals. I wonder... There've been rumours recently that the Thals were developing robots. Anyway, stick them on the transporter. I shall alert Command Headquarters with General Ravon.
(The other man sits on a trolley sort of affair on tracks. Next to him are the DOCTOR and HARRY.)
KALED: Count the ammunition, and clean your weapons.
[INT. War room]
(A man, RAVON, is at a large table occupied by a model of the area's terrain. Two domes are prominent, one on either side of the large ridge. The miniature is littered with markers, red or blue, with an 'O' or 'X', respectively. RAVON moves a red piece toward the other dome. RAVON steps over to the trolley.)
RAVON: Well?
KALED: Two prisoners, sir, captured Section One Oh One.
RAVON: For interrogation. Good. I enjoy interrogations.
DOCTOR Yes, you look the type.
(This earns him a hard punch in the side from the GUARD behind him.)
RAVON: You insolent muto.
KALED: Sir?
RAVON: What?
KALED: My section totally destroyed the Thal attackers except for these two, but our supply of ammunition is running low.
RAVON: Then conserve it! Ammunition is valuable and cannot be wasted.
KALED: Yes, sir.
RAVON: For instance, when I've finished with these two animals, they'll be hanged, not taken out and shot as in the past. And that will be all. Return to your unit.
(The SOLDIER clicks his heels and salutes, raising his right hand to head height. RAVON too salutes. The SOLDIER and GUARD leave. RAVON muses as he plays with his pistol.)
RAVON: So, the Thals have come down to recruiting mutos, have they? Turn out your pockets!
DOCTOR: Certainly.
(The DOCTOR steps up to the strategy table and produces his sonic screwdriver, a magnifying glass, a monocle, a yo-yo, and some bits of rock or crystal.)
DOCTOR: It might take some time.
RAVON: Take a good look. In a few weeks, we're going to change the shape of that map forever. We'll wipe the Thals from the face of Skaro.
DOCTOR: Yes, I've heard that before.
RAVON: What?
DOCTOR: I was just wondering how you propose to wipe the Thals from the face of Skaro with boy soldiers, no ammunition, and very young generals.
RAVON: You've had one warning about your insolence.
(A communication device rings, and the remaining GUARD steps away to deal with it.)
DOCTOR: I do beg your pardon.
RAVON: When victory is ours, we'll wipe every trace of the Thals and their city from the face of this land. We will avenge the deaths of all Kaleds who've fallen in the cause of right and justice, and build a peace which will be a monument to their sacrifice. Our battle cry will be 'Total extermination of the Thals'!
DOCTOR: That's very impressive. You mean you're going to sweep these wastelands absolutely?
(He gestures with the map pointer and uses it to attack RAVON's gun hand, sending the gun flying toward HARRY. HARRY scoops it up and covers the GUARD with it. The next thing the DOCTOR sends his way is a ring of keys.)
DOCTOR: Harry. (to RAVON, who is massaging his hand) Did I hurt your fingers?
RAVON: You'll never get out of here alive.
DOCTOR: Yes, so you said.
(HARRY is handcuffing the GUARD to a chair. The DOCTOR flips some switches on the old-fashioned partially wooden console that holds the telephony device.)
DOCTOR: So you're Kaleds, eh?
(With the sonic screwdriver, he makes the switchboard go bang.)
RAVON: Even you mutos know the difference between Thals and Kaleds.
DOCTOR: K-A-L-E-D-S, Ka- Why, that's an anagram of-. How interesting. Are you fit, Harry?
HARRY: Never felt fitter, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Good. Now, Alexander the Great, you're going to lead us out of here.
RAVON: Never!
DOCTOR: You won't get any medals for being stupid, General. In fact, you won't be getting any more medals for anything.
RAVON: Where do you want me to take you?
DOCTOR: Back to the wastelands?
RAVON: Yes, that's home to you mutos, isn't it? But you won't get that far, I promise you.
HARRY: Come on. We're wasting time.
[EXT. Trenches]
(SARAH wakes up, still surrounded by dead bodies.)
SARAH: Doctor? Doctor? Harry?
(She finds the door locked. She picks up a gun and cracks it - it isn't loaded. She throws it down with a sigh and starts out of the trench.)
[INT. Corridor]
HARRY: Where are we? This isn't leading to the surface.
RAVON: There's a platform lift at the end. You mutos must have seen it.
HARRY: You're still making the same mistake. We're not mutos, whatever they may be.
RAVON: Only mutos live in the wastelands.
DOCTOR: Come on.
(They have reached the lift.)
HARRY: I hope Sarah's all right.
DOCTOR: Yes.
RAVON: If you've a friend up there, they won't last much longer.
DOCTOR: What do you mean?
RAVON: Night's coming on. The mutos start moving at night.
(There is someone else in the corridors. HARRY makes sure the pistol is snug against RAVON's back.)
HARRY: Just remember we're your friends.
(The man who arrives has two GUARDS with him. This severe character in spectacles is NYDER.)
NYDER: General Ravon.
RAVON: Nyder.
NYDER: I wish to see you.
RAVON: If you'll wait in my office, Nyder, I'll be a few minutes.
DOCTOR: Perhaps you should introduce us, General.
RAVON: Security Commander Nyder.
NYDER: You're civilians, I see.
DOCTOR: Yes, but we're not staying long. Don't let us detain you.
NYDER: You won't.
(He walks away with his GUARDS.)
NYDER: Down, Ravon!
(The GUARDS fire and begin chasing the DOCTOR and HARRY, NYDER presses an intercom button on the wall.)
NYDER: Alert all guards. Two Thal intruders in the command complex.
DOCTOR: (running through more metal corridors and turning round as guards near HARRY's end) This way, Harry!
(GUARDS chase them from the side they've just come from.)
RAVON: (at the lift) They took me by surprise!
NYDER: Fool. What kind of soldier lets two unarmed prisoners overpower him in his own headquarters?
RAVON: There's something different about those two. They're not Thals, and they're not mutos.
NYDER: We'll find out what's different about them, by autopsy.
(The DOCTOR and HARRY skitter to a halt at the end of a corridor as the lift door there closes.)
HARRY: We're trapped.
DOCTOR: Yes.
(They start to walk away. They hear footfalls but also the reopening of the lift door behind them.)
DOCTOR: After you.
(They enter the lift. GUARDS fire at the closed door.)
NYDER: (arriving and speaking into the intercom) Alert surface patrols to watch for intruders in the area of Platform Lift 7.
[EXT. Skaro]
(The DOCTOR and HARRY emerge at the top of the metal platform.)
HARRY: Now what?
DOCTOR: Keep running.
HARRY: What?
DOCTOR: Keep running!
(Caped SOLDIERS on a cliff top shoot down at them as they run through the scrub. The DOCTOR sees a trip wire ahead.)
DOCTOR: Down, Harry!
(The DOCTOR throws himself to the side, and HARRY dives forward, crossing the trip wire as he does so. There is an explosion.)
DOCTOR: Are you all right?
HARRY: That was a lucky escape.
DOCTOR: I wouldn't say that, Harry.
(They look up. MEN with guns are all around them.
Meanwhile, SARAH is walking through the bleak landscape.)
SARAH: Doctor? Harry? Doctor. Harry.
(Something drags its foot near her. When SARAH passes the lift, this shambling creature in rags is not far behind.)
[INT. War room]
(NYDER holds the Doctor's magnifying glass. He is looking at a device that the Doctor had pulled from his pockets. The DOCTOR and HARRY stand by the wall. GUARDS move them further into the room.)
NYDER: This is yours?
DOCTOR: Yes.
NYDER: What is its function?
DOCTOR: Well, it's an etheric beam locator. It's also useful for detecting ion-charged emissions.
NYDER: Oh, really. It is not of Thal manufacture.
DOCTOR: Well, naturally not. My friend and I are not from your planet.
NYDER: Aliens?
HARRY: Humans. Well, I am, anyway.
NYDER: I've heard Davros say there is no intelligent life on other planets, so either he is wrong or you are lying.
DOCTOR: We are not lying.
NYDER: And Davros is never wrong about anything.
DOCTOR: Then he must be exceptional. Even I am occasionally wrong about some things. Who is this Davros?
NYDER: Our greatest scientist. He's in charge of all research at the bunker.
RAVON: They could be mutos, Nyder. Intelligent mutos who've developed a technology.
DOCTOR: Tell me, what exactly are mutos?
NYDER: Mutos are the scarred relics of ourselves. Monsters created by the chemical weapons used in the first century of this war. They were banished into the wastelands, where they live and scavenge like animals.
DOCTOR: In other words, genetically wounded.
NYDER: We must keep the Kaled race pure. Imperfects are rejected. Some of them survive out there.
DOCTOR: That's a very harsh policy.
HARRY: It's horrible.
NYDER: Your views are not important. General Ravon, I'll take these two back to the bunker for interrogation by the special unit.
RAVON: They're the army's prisoners.
NYDER: Then you will release them to me. The special unit will get more out of them than your crude methods ever would.
RAVON: Very well, if you insist.
NYDER: I do insist, General. And I have a list of requirements here. (he produces a bit of paper) All these items are to be sent to the bunker immediately.
RAVON: I can't spare this equipment. These spare parts alone would take more than half my supply.
NYDER: You'll notice the requisition is countersigned by Davros himself. If you would like to take the matter up with him.
RAVON: I'm expected to fight a war without equipment. Very well, I'll have these things out to the bunker by dawn.
NYDER: By midnight, General. The order specifies midnight.
RAVON: By midnight.
NYDER: Good.
(They give mutual salutes.)
NYDER: Bring the prisoners. (And the GUARDS do so.)
[EXT. Wastelands]
(SARAH turns and sees the figure following her. She starts to run through the branches, but another such figure appears. A third walks along a ridge above her. After tripping a couple of times, she ducks inside a brick building with some holes from shelling. Through one of these, she sees a wrinkled black-leather-clad figure in the dim lighting. The figure is seated in what appears to be the lower portion of a Dalek casing, with silver studs on grey-black. There are a few lights and buttons set in the casing in front of his hands. An artificial eye in the centre of his forehead makes up for empty eye sockets. Another KALED enters, setting up what look like targets.)
KALED 2: Ready, Davros.
DAVROS: (in a fairly deep and subdued, faintly mechanical voice) Observe the test closely, my friend. This will be a moment that will live in history.
(He moves a wizened hand over the switches in his casing and flicks a toggle. A Dalek moves forward. SARAH's eyes bug out.)
DAVROS: Halt. Turn right. Halt.
(The Dalek does as commanded.)
DAVROS: Now, exterminate!
(A blue beam destroys all three cardboard targets in short order with the trademark negative-image effect.)
DAVROS: Perfect. The weaponry is perfect. Now we can begin.
The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl
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