You know what I love about Doctor Who? Smack in the middle of a very serious and intense story about the brutality of war and the horror of genocide, you get a scene in which Harry Sullivan is very nearly eaten by a giant carnivorous cave clam. Fortunately the Doctor was able to rescue him with a belaying pin. In other news, I once again went over four miles today on the treadmill - that's two days running, and feeling good.

Anyway, let's talk about the non-clam-related aspects of today's viewing.

Genesis of the Daleks - Parts 3 & 4

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

The middle third of the story largely concerns Sarah Jane's ongoing escape attempt on the Thal side of the war (it fails, and later succeeds), the Doctor and Harry's escape from the Kaled side of the war (it succeeds, and later fails), and Davros' sociopathic determination to bring the Daleks into existence even at the cost of the entire Kaled and Thal races. 

There is a harrowing sequence in which Davros has given the Thal leaders the formula for an acid that will sufficiently weaken the dome over the Kaled city, at which point the doomsday missile is launched and slaughters virtually the entire population of Kaleds in one blow. This, because the Kaled leadership had the temerity to order an investigation into the ethics of the Dalek program (HINT: there are no ethics in the Dalek program). The Doctor tries desperately to prevent the massacre, and fails terribly. For the first time we glimpse the true range of Tom Baker's acting skills, and he is masterful. His expression of pure horror at the Kaled massacre is palpable, particularly because he believes that Sarah Jane and Harry were in the Kaled dome at the time of the attack (HINT: they weren't).

Not surprisingly, Davros follows up the slaughter of his own people by sending a squadron of his newly-activated Daleks to exterminate the Thals. Seriously, this entire story is just unrelentingly brutal.

By the end of the fourth part, the Doctor (along with Sarah Jane and Harry) is captured by Davros, and the two companions are placed under threat of horrifying torture unless the Doctor shares with Davros everything he knows about how the Daleks fail in any future battle. Davros has launched a genetic engineering program to wipe all morality and feeling from the brains of the Daleks, and he is determined to ensure that his progeny will go on to rule the entire universe.

I am telling you, there is not an ounce of fat to be found in this story. Sure, I might joke about the killer clams, but even they serve a legitimate dramatic purpose beyond just providing a few cheap scares. This is just such a great story.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Fourth
Companion(s): Sarah Jane Smith, Harry Sullivan
Episode(s): Genesis of the Daleks - Parts 3 & 4
Steps Walked: 7,413 today, 1,352,713 total
Distance Walked: 4.03 miles today, 670.61 miles total
Weight: 260.40 lbs (five day moving average), net change -46.90 lbs