What if?

[Tumble Lord]

As Doctor Who Unbound audios concentrated on major effects to the established history what then might the TV series have been like if something might have happened if the incident was minor. Like for example- if the third Doctor had not gone back to try and appeal to the Great One and thus his regeneration might have happened and thus someone other than Tom might have taken over- Bernard Cribbins was considered- or Pertwee might have carried on with Robot? Thus we could have seen Florana or had Pertwee attacking the Galsec survivors and Stor!

Thus I have a first what if....;

What if... Patrick Troughton did Genesis of the Daleks instead of Evil?

Now then... how might it have seemed to instead of the final end that we shown the first beginning? Though the first thing that comes to mind is Victoria Waterfield- since she is a key to the plot we are presented with two possibilities that either Bettan could become the next possible companion or that Samantha Briggs stays on after the Faceless Ones?

So in this b&w story it would probably be best to have Jamie spying the unknown creature- Davros and the Dalek test, falling in with the Mutos, becoming friends with Sevrin and forced to work for the Thals. While Samantha stays close with the Doctor entering the Kaled Bunker... Would it be known as the greatest Doctor Who epic or would it be the most controversial of the series?

Would perhaps the violence turned down to suggestive rather than visual and Davros- would he truly go up as all the great villains of the sixties terrifying children to run out of the room provoking a dislike of disabled people in wheelchairs. With Philip Madoc making an instantly dislikable Nyder being so cold and as calculating as he would later appear in the War Games?

Thus there would be an extra thrilling edge to Season Five's start and the repercussions could supply what might happen it in its place with Evil of the Daleks having Tom Baker offering the humanised Daleks Jellybabies, Sarah falling in with Kemel and having Destiny of the Daleks appearing as a menace from the past.

Of course the Time ring/ TARDIS would have to be adapted and changed but that aside and shot in b&w would it still prove as successful as the original with Samantha being attacked by Davros' "pets" in the caves or Pat tangling with a mass of wires to the incubator room- not to mention his tangle with a Dalek mutant- possibly the disembodied hand from Power?

And the final moments would seem so chilling as the Daleks take control of their destiny so not much as an end to the viewers but a crucial opening and in b&w it would deliver plenty of shocks. Some of the characters might have to change sex- such as the cruel Thal Guard tthreatening Samantha and Sevrin becoming a fascistic female, machine gun raised.

What then does everyone else think?

[The Doctor]

This is interesting. I think that 'Genesis' would probably have worked better as a story in Patrick Troughton's era as it would have (maybe) the best Doctor (in my opinion) would probably not have some of the sillier aspects in that story. I'm not sure the violence would be toned down as 'Genesis' isn't really that violent and the 60s could be strangely violent and adult at times.

The problem would be that 'Evil' is arguably the best Dalek story, or at least one of the best, and I doubt it would work as a Tom Baker story (and not only because I dislike Tom Baker) as I think it would be too silly, not as silly as if it was made later in Tom Bakers era (the Williams years) but silly none-the-less.
For instance think of the "humanised" Daleks; their comedy elements would be played up, and I daresay Tom Baker would probably by being even more zany, trying to keep himself the centre of attention. I was actually surprised last time I watched/listened to a reconstructed form 'Evil of The Daleks' (AKA a slideshow with the soundtrack playing... I dislike reconstructions to be honest but they are all I could get not having the BBC audio versions... or the ACTUAL EPISODES as the BBC DESTROYED THEM DAMMIT! but I digress...) I was surprised how un-silly the humanised Daleks were. Yes they were humorous but they worked and didn't become inane like some of the later attempts at humour in 'Doctor Who'.

All in all I am glad 'Evil...' was the Troughton story out of the two, though I wouldn't have minded if both were Troughton stories. I think both could have worked for Troughton but only 'Genesis' for Baker.