Doctor Who classic moments: “Do I have the right?” (Genesis of the Daleks)
By James Aggas
We look back at a moral dilemma in Genesis of the Daleks – a pivotal moment that would shape Doctor Who history in a big way…
Genesis of the Daleks is absolutely filled with golden moments. Davros imagining the power of a single virus. The Doctor being attacked by a Dalek mutant. The Daleks’ inevitable rise to power at the end of the story.
But perhaps one of the greatest moments – not just in Genesis of the Daleks, but in Doctor Who history – is when the Doctor is forced to ask himself one question:
"Do I have the right?"
If you’ve seen the story, you’ll know the exact moment that I’m referring to. It’s a huge moment that’s been referred to several times in Doctor Who history. Both from that exact quote and to the key choice that the Doctor is referring to: the choice of whether to wipe the Daleks from history or let them survive. You can watch the exact moment for yourself in the clip below.
The Time War
There are several reasons why this moment is so iconic. For one thing, there’s what this single moment leads to. The Doctor had a chance to wipe out the Daleks from history itself. He failed due to pure hesitation at wiping out an entire race – even a race as evil as the Daleks.
We all know what happens next. It takes a long time, but the Daleks eventually find out about the Time Lords trying to wipe them out from history, and they’re not happy. Essentially, the Doctor’s moment of hesitation leads to a full-on Time War between the Time Lords and the Daleks, with the whole of history caught in the middle.
As well as the Time War, the moment is referred to even more directly in the two-part story The Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar. When the Doctor encounters Davros himself as a child, he’s faced with a similar predicament. In fact, the clip of this exact moment is used in the story to highlight this dilemma.
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Excellent drama
However, there is a simpler reason why this moment is so brilliant. It’s the moral choice that the Doctor faces. He knows he has a chance to wipe out evil from the universe for good. But he also knows that if he wipes them out – before they’ve committed half the evil in the universe that he’s knows they’ll do – he will become as bad as they are. At the very least, he’ll sacrifice so much of what it means to be the Doctor in one single moment.
The moment is portrayed perfectly. It’s strange to think that this story is from Tom Baker’s first year as the Fourth Doctor, as his performance is simply incredible to watch. He treats this scene with the same amount of pathos as he would if he were playing Hamlet, with “Do I have the right?” having exactly the same amount of impact as, “To be or not to be?”
As such, we’re given an amazing example of what happens when the Doctor is pushed to his limit. When he’s forced to question just how far he’ll go to fight evil in the universe. It’s an incredibly powerful exploration of the Doctor’s strong sense of morality. More importantly, it’s a fantastic little piece of drama, and it’s just one more example of why Genesis of the Daleks is so loved to this day.
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What’s your favorite moment from Genesis of the Daleks? Is it this moment of the Doctor debating the Daleks’ genocide, or is there another? Let us know in the comments below.