Howling:If the Fourth Doctor hadn't gone back in time in "Genesis of the Daleks"...

How would the early days of the Daleks have gone if the Time Lords hadn't sent the Doctor back to ancient Skaro in "Genesis of the Daleks"? I think it's highly likely things would've gone a lot differently. The Kaled City may not have been destroyed then and there, as it was the Doctor who warned the Kaled government about Davros' experiments, which in turn led to Davros helping the Thals destroy his own people in order to prevent his creations being destroyed. Would the Daleks have still rebelled and slaughtered their creators at the same time though, or would they have been integrated further into Kaled society, and gradually replaced the pure Kaleds entirely (as "The Daleks" seemed to imply was the case)? I'm working on the assumption here that the Fourth Doctor's presense in "Genesis" does indeed drastically alter Dalek history, and what we saw in all prior Dalek stories was their original, un-altered history. EJA 19:11, April 21, 2011 (UTC) The best clue as to what Dalek history would have been like if the Doctor hadn't been sent back in Genesis of the Daleks is probably the original Dalek episode, where all of the Kaleds(who are called Dals for some reason) have become Daleks, but the Thals are still alive on Skaro, and know little about the Daleks. The Kaled dome may or may not have been destroyed, because even though the Doctor was partially responsible for those events, the other Kaled scientists were able to discover the problems with the Daleks on their own, and it is possible they would have rebelled even if the Doctor hadn't arrived.Icecreamdif 21:44, April 21, 2011 (UTC)

My personal theory is that in the original timeline, the Kaled Dome and its thousands of inhabitants were not destroyed by the Thals' rocket, as without Davros' help, it wouldn't have been powerful enough to cause sufficient damage. The Daleks in the bunker proceeded to kill Davros and his staff, but maybe the other Kaleds in the Dome were able to destroy them. Then, at some point, the Thals caused serious damage to the Kaled Dome which led to the surviving Kaleds evacuating and eventually settling in the city of a race of people who'd largely kept out of the war - the Dals. Genetic mutation from radioactive fallout was degenerating both races, so the Kaleds dug up Davros' old design specs for the Daleks, and with the materials that were available, rebuilt his travel machines as best as they could. Meanwhile, the Thals, sickened by the carnage of the war, abandoned their own city (perhaps even destroying it to further separate themselves from their warlike past) and sought a new existence as rustic farmers in the wilderness. I'd like some feedback on this. EJA 17:22, April 22, 2011 (UTC)

Actually, other than the beginnings, the original history and the post-Genesis history look pretty similar. The Doctor thinks that, at best, he's set them back 1000 years--but it seems like he didn't even do that. Both histories have the Daleks invading Earth at the same time in the 22nd century, with the same results, and even the same minor details. And the galactic Dalek War seen in Master Plan seems to be completely unchanged (especially in the EDAs). And if you accept the BFAs as canon, Davros and the I, Davros series imply pretty strongly that things wouldn't have gone that much differently overall.

Anyway, I don't think it's really possible to write a coherent story where history alluded to in The Daleks was rewritten by Genesis of the Daleks. The only way those stories can be fit together is the retcon that the novels mostly followed--The Daleks takes place later, and concerns a small group of Daleks who had been trapped in the city and lost track of their history (which was the one shown in Genesis--originally without the Doctor's interference, but again, that ultimately had little effect).

Of course if you want to fit in the details in Genesis of Evil, or the completely different origin story of We Are the Daleks, that doesn't work, but then neither does any kind of single history rewrite, even one much more dramatic than the 4th Doctor's. (If I remember correctly, War of the Daleks had brief nods to each of these alternate origins, but didn't actually attempt to fit them into history--not that it would have helped if it had, because that book wasn't even consistent with itself....)

Still, it's an interesting idea that maybe, by sending the Doctor to interfere, the Time Lords somehow caused exactly the events they were trying to stop, or at least fulfilled some predestined role in creating those events. And it ties in with the tragic idea that the Time Lords seeded their own destruction in Genesis (without it, there would have been no Last Great Time War). --99.35.132.17 22:04, May 20, 2011 (UTC)