Christopher Morley returns from 'The Cloven Hoof' and attempts to unravel the timeline of the Daleks.
Come with us now as we enter the study of the vicarage at Devil's End- the Reverend Magister having kindly agreed to see us at short notice. We've come to talk to him about a certain book he has in his collection, stowed away within the bowels of his extensive library. Its not one he chooses to advertise to his congregation at Sunday services though, for reasons which should quickly become apparent to the learned reader.
Come with us now as we enter the study of the vicarage at Devil's End- the Reverend Magister having kindly agreed to see us at short notice. We've come to talk to him about a certain book he has in his collection, stowed away within the bowels of his extensive library. Its not one he chooses to advertise to his congregation at Sunday services though, for reasons which should quickly become apparent to the learned reader.
What could it be, you ask? Why, its the Book of
Genesis Of The Daleks! An
attempt by scholars to make sense of the often complicated time-line
of the Doctor's greatest foes ( though we'd advise any visitors not
to mention the Doctor too many times, seems to make him bristle), it
stands as one of the greatest relics in universal theology. Sensibly
it opens at their point of creation- ' in the beginning there was
Davros, & all was good'. Until of course they exterminated him,
went off & did their own thing.
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This time he
seemed to be some sort of geriatric retired teacher! They would soon
return to the site of the First Dalek Crusade in greater number,
bolstered by the secret of invisibility gleaned from the heathen
Spiridons! This time the Doctor had changed once more.....& there
was to be no glorious victory.
Gallifrey's
answer to Methuselah was now a curly-haired action man, proving
himself the Oncoming Storm. In other words that which the Daleks
feared most, if indeed they could be said to feel anything
approaching fear. Didn't stop them trying for a Second Dalek Crusade
in what came to be known as Death To The Daleks at
least in part due to the fact an uneasy alliance was forcibly reached
with the Doctor against the greater threat of the Exxilons. Heresy
indeed!
It had long been
stated in the recorded history of the former Kaleds that ' Davros
giveth & taketh away'. Just what he gave them is impossible to
understate. Having been responsible for their accelerated ascension
into an ultimate form before they turned on him, the time was come to
repent. To that end the Third Dalek Crusade began after they had had
their day across a mess of time periods, causing a massive paradox
which even Magister is slightly foggy on the exact details of
But where did the quest to find their messiah take them? Fittingly Destiny led the way back to Skaro- home, & indeed a sort of Holy Land for the Daleks. All a long way from the colonies of space in which the Reverend encountered them on what he claims to have been missionary work of sorts. But it was not a happy homecoming, engaged as they were in war with the Movellans. An utterly ruinous conflict for the Dalek race. But a second chance would come, requiring a Fourth Crusade after escaping the clutches of a certain scarf-clad enemy.
Once again
Davros's resurrection was required, the mission simple- a jailbreak.
But he who gave the Daleks much of their strength had quite another
plan up his sleeve. He needed more loyal followers, the whole thing
stopped by the presence of another changed Doctor. This one seemed
younger, with a certain fondness for cricket. ' The funny thing is'
laughs the Reverend ' I never understood the appeal of leather on
willow. Test Match Special
is all Greek to me! Though I'm told by the Squire our village team is
doing rather well of late'.
Its getting a bit
stuffy in the library, so Magister suggests we retire to the village
pub after he has a quick change of clothes. Catching us up on the
walk to the pub, careful not to spoil his robes, he settles himself
into a chair by the fire upon arrival- greeting the regulars after
strolling in humming what sounds like Mary Had A Little
Lamb, only backwards. Strange
fellow. Ordering himself a glass of ' the blood of Christ' ( a fine
vintage apparently) he resumes his study of Genesis.
Logically what could follow it but Revelation?
After all a creator must create, & so Davros came to experiment
on dying humans. All very unethical, snorts the Reverend. 'And that
coat...'. Sins against fashion are outside his jurisdiction though,
he tells us. It was shortly afterward that the great Dalek Empire
came to crumble.
We pause now in
remembrance of the events which led Skaro to implode, civil war
between Imperial & Renegade factions ( manipulated by a Doctorly
man of mystery in a pullover) proving they had learned nothing from
the efforts of their forefathers in what many of their kind regarded
as the ultimate evil. But what was the unspeakable deed?
In direct
violation of the credo of racial purity, they were to explore the
possibility of adding the human genome to their own ' pure' DNA.
Firstly though, they required power- thwarted by a Doctor of many
hats, who would later seemingly turn collaborator only to meddle &
render the whole thing a humiliating defeat.
Turning now to the New
Dalek Testament, a record of
their rescue by a new saviour- the ' God of all Daleks' indeed- the
time came for them to resurface, led by this new deity. 'WORSHIP HIM!'
appears scrawled in ancient lettering at regular intervals.
Of course there
was but one survivor of the catastrophic Time War ( covered in the
introduction to the New Testament)
whose good fortune angered the also-returning Doctor. Active service
in such a conflict had changed both, not that the Doctor was able to
recall much of it until later in his lifetime & indeed
time-stream.
The legend of the
War Doctor continues to strike a note of terror in the Skarosian
ranks, but Magister dismisses the whole thing as a fanciful
concoction. The Doctor was never one for a fight, according to our
clergyman host. Besides which, he was too busy interfering with yet
another Dalek-human hybridisation attempt according to accounts given
in the weighty tome he's showing us. Orthodoxy has it that the next
stage of their quest took a specially selected band of crusaders back
to Earth...
Where the Doctor
was waiting. Having at first been impressed by the transformation of
the leader, Sec, into a 'Dalek Human' & seemingly willing to help
this new race find its place in the universe, he quickly turned when
the others- Caan, Jast & Thay- took it upon themselves to wipe
him from the face of the planet, deeming him impure & guilty of
the highest blasphemy before also committing genocide against the '
Dalek Human' species. Not the smartest of moves in Magister's eyes.
Back into the abyss of the Time War Caan went!
The Reverend
shifts somewhat uneasily in his seat. It would appear he recalls
something of the War but is reluctant to discuss it, though he
recognises an illustration of a man with a fob watch as a kindred
spirit. Whether or not he has or will ever see active service he
doesn't know, or at least doesn't let on. He's here purely as a man
of God, albeit a slightly odd/sinister one as is becoming apparent.
Its hard not to believe, perhaps cynically, that his taking holy
orders wasn't simply a means of draft-dodging.
When we put this
to him he becomes furious. The façade of charm doesn't slip for a
moment, though- by way of an excuse to force us to leave he tells us
he has an urgent appointment down in the church catacombs. Odd place
for an ecclesiastical meeting, we point out to him. 'Perhaps to you
godless types.' he sneers. With that he leaves in a bit of a huff,
muttering something about ' Azal' under his breath. Perhaps its for
the best that we don't stick around to watch the archaeological dig
planned for later this evening...
Having sneaked a
look at selected appendices of the Book Of Genesis Of The
Daleks for ourselves while
Magister was in the gents though,we learn there are later marginal
quests of theirs- relocating the planets of the solar system, having
rescued Davros from certain death as a combatant in the War perhaps
the greatest among them, though he is later revealed to have
seemingly perished. Doesn't stop the few survivors from the ambitious
universal rearrangement from resurfacing in Blitz-torn London &
bringing about the birth of yet another race of Daleks- the New
Paradigm.
Deeming their
predecessors inferior, they later imprison the Doctor ( by now
looking younger than he has in a long while) in the mythical
Pandorica. Mention is made of a 'Church of the Silence' as well, but
as the Reverend has long since departed we can't ask him to help us
make sense of it all. Thanks to the Devil's End parish council for
allowing us to borrow their beloved pastor for a while!
