This version of 'Genesis of the Daleks' is not an audio edition of the novelization, nor is it the complete soundtrack to the six-part TV serial. Instead, it is a reissue on compact disc of the 1979 condensed long-playing vinyl record of the serial. As with the audio books of Doctor Who adventures for which only the soundtrack survives, a narrator explains what's going on when there is no dialog or the scene has changed. Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor, is the narrator.

The meat of the plot survives: the Doctor and companions Sarah Jane Smith and Dr. Harry Sullivan are sent by the Time Lords to Skaro, home planet of the fearsome Daleks, to head off their creation. We still meet the Kaleds and the Thals at the last gasp of their centuries-old war. I feel sorry for the Mutos, banished Kaleds mutated by the chemicals used in the first century of the war (hint: they did not get any cool X-Men powers).

We still get the moral dilemma the Doctor faces in the proposed genocide of the Daleks before they even get to be the Evil Menace they will become. There are still good Kaleds and bad Kaleds and Davros is still certifiably insane. The original serial had a considerable effect on me when I first saw it on my local PBS channel decades ago, so my mind supplied some of the climatic dialog snipped out.

If you want an interesting contrast, I would recommend comparing the 1975 'Genesis of the Daleks' with the 1967 classic 'Star Trek' episode about another long war, 'A Taste of Armageddon'. ( )