Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks

Great Read....

A fabulous reading. Culshaw and Briggs brought Dicks alive. Exciting and fast paced. loved it.

3 people found this helpful

A classic novelisation of a classic story

This was a fantastic audiobook. The original television version of the story is already a classic and this audiobook is not a disappointment. John Culshaw does a brilliant job with the narration - with the possible exception of Sarah Jane. Your mileage on that may vary.

His Tom Baker in particular is almost perfect as it has been since the days of Dead Ringers. His version of Nyder sounds like he came straight out of the television version. On top of that Nicolas Briggs once again performs excellently as the Daleks. They just seem just as indimidating and horrifying as they always have at their best.

From what I could hear there were no moments cut from the television version in the novel version and the same applies to this audio version. The story is as perfectly morbid and intense as ever. I was particularly impressed by the opening scene and its wonderful scene setting. As well as the scene at the end with Davros and The Daleks in the Kaled bunker.

If you are collecting the Target novels in audio form or if you are any kind of Doctor Who fan I highly recommend you give this a try!

5 people found this helpful

Excellent, a great story

An excellent adaptation of one of the finest Doctor Who stories of all time, perfect narration by John Culshaw and Nicholas Briggs. The sound effects really add atmosphere.

1 person found this helpful

Superb

We all know the this classic Who story and Jon Culshaw definitely delivers. Cannot fault this storyteller. Well worth it !

1 person found this helpful

a fantastic reading

This is a brilliant book. a classic. 'out of evil comes good'. 'if you knew a child would become an evil ruthless dictator, should you kill the child' - the dilemma The Doctor is faced with when back on Skaro at the very point of the Daleks invention. Jon Colshaw is one of the very best readers. great pace. great characterisation. I would reccomend this a a quick listen even if you are not a hard core doctor who fan.

1 person found this helpful

takes me back!

brilliant story and well voiced would definitely recommend of you are a fan of doctor who

1 person found this helpful

Great adaptation

Love the TV version but this added some more depth to a great story.

Culshaw does an amazing job

I love Jon Culshaw’s impression of Tom Baker. He absolutely nails him. And the Daleks sound perfect too. I just want to find more narrated by Jon!

A Timeless Classic

Genesis of The Daleks, in my opinion, has to be perhaps the best Doctor Who story ever made. Alas, modern Doctor Who has descended into pushing identity politics, political correctness and progressive ideology. Genesis, on the other hand, is a truly dark, gritty, menacing, thought provoking and often frightening story that would likely never see the light of day in today's Who. The quality of this story is just superb and doesn't treat the audience as "merely" children or pull its punches in how it delivers its dark and often disturbing narrative.

Alright, that's enough of the comparisons with today's Who, on to the review itself :)

Terrance Dicks adaptation of this classic Doctor Who story is done superbly, as usual. Given the depth of this plot, it would've been nice for Dicks to have provided an apt prologue here, but that was not to be.

After listening to Jon Culshaw in "Death To The Daleks", I was amazed at his brilliant Tom Baker impression. There are times during this reading where Culshaw could very well be mistaken for the man himself, his rendition is so good. Culshaw also delivers superb impressions of other characters too. His Nider is freakishly accurate and imparts all the chilling menace of the original. When Culshaw delivers his Davros through the perfectly reproduced electronic voice, it is Michael Wisher incarnate! Culshaw has clearly studied the inflections, speech patterns and cadence of this most evil of characters so well that hearing him again here can send shivers down the spines of those, like me, who have witnessed the original television performances.. A suggestion I have for the BBC is to find an equally talented female voice impersonator to work on the voices of Sarah Jane and other female characters to really fully immerse one into these excellent audio adaptations.

Nicholas Briggs once more delivers the Dalek voices as he did all those years ago in the episode itself, so retaining total authenticity.

Suitable sound effects are present further adding to the immersion, but do not get in the way of the narrative.

The quality of this story lends it a timeless feel and therefore makes this audio version easily enjoyed time and again.

As a parting piece of advice to those not familiar with classic Doctor Who and have, perhaps, only recently hopped aboard the current version of Doctor Who, I'd urge you to go listen or watch this story to find out what real science fiction and Doctor Who really look like.

Perfection of the Daleks.

Now I'm on record in other reviews stating that Power of the Daleks, closely followed by Evil of the Daleks, is for me the best Dalek tale aboutin the complete history of Dr Who. That hasn't changed. Genesis comes a close third. A brilliant origins tale from the pen of master story teller Terry Nation during Tom Bakers excellent debut season. (Pity they got the Dalek design wrong though during production). So then why the headline "Perfection of the Daleks"?. Well, there are 3 reasons. 1. It is one of the best tales in the history of the show (faithfully translated onto the written page). 2. The characters are believable with excellent speeches and dialogue. 3. Jon Culshaw. Jon (a great fan of the series) totally brings this written word to life. He breathes personality into practically all the characters. However, his Tour De Force is in his recreation of Tom Bakers Doctor. Now many people know that Jon has been mimicking Bakers voice for decades now, but what perhaps some people may know is that the timbre of his (Bakers) voice altered over the 7 years he played the Doctor in TV. Jon very skilfully voices the Doctor as Baker sounded in 1974/5 and not as he sounded in 1980/1. A masterclass in vocal characterisation. Ark in Space (from 1975) audiobook is another fine example of his talents. Hope he does many more (his Jon Pertwee is uncanny). Cannot fault this product. A must for fans of sci-fi, gritty drama, Dr Who in general, and Daleks in paticular. This is audiobook perfection!