Davros
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| Doctor Who character | |
|---|---|
 David Gooderson as Davros, from "Destiny of the Daleks" |
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| Davros | |
| Affiliated with | Daleks |
| Race | Kaled |
| Home planet | Skaro |
| Home era | Unspecified |
| First appearance | Genesis of the Daleks |
| Last appearance | Remembrance of the Daleks |
| Portrayed by | Michael Wisher (1975) David Gooderson (1979) Terry Molloy (1984-88) |
Davros is a character from the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, responsible for the genesis of the Doctor's deadliest enemies, the Daleks. He was created by screenwriter Terry Nation.
Davros is a scientist from the planet Skaro whose people, the Kaleds, were engaged in a bitter thousand-year war of attrition with their enemies, the Thals. Horribly scarred and crippled for reasons that are never explained on screen, with only one functioning arm and one cybernetic "eye" mounted on his forehead, for much of his existence he depended completely upon a self-designed mobile life-support chair which enclosed the lower half of his body. It would become an obvious inspiration for his eventual design of the Dalek.
Davros is a megalomaniac who believes that through his creations, the Daleks, he can become the supreme being and ruler of the universe. He is a brilliant scientist who has demonstrated mastery of robotics, metallurgy, chemistry, artificial intelligence, cloning, genetic engineering, biology, military tactics, and cybernetics.
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Character history
When he first encountered the Fourth Doctor in the 1975 serial Genesis of the Daleks[1], Davros (played by Michael Wisher who based his performance on the philosopher Bertrand Russell[2]) was the chief scientist of the Kaleds, heading the Elite Scientific Division. Davros realised that contamination from the nuclear and biological weapons used in the war was mutating the Kaled race, and artificially accelerated the process to examine the ultimate evolutionary end product. The mutations were weak and crippled: no more than brains with tentacular appendages and with no hope of survival on their own. His solution was to remove all emotions pertaining to weakness, a category in which he grouped such emotions as compassion, mercy and kindness, and place the mutants in tank-like "Mark III travel machines" that were partly based on the design of his wheelchair. He later named these creatures Daleks, an anagram of Kaleds.
Davros quickly became obsessed with his creations, considering them to be the ultimate form of life, superior to all others. To stop his own people from shutting down his Dalek project, he arranged for them to be wiped out by the Thals. The Daleks then almost exterminated the Thal victors, but ultimately turned on Davros and apparently killed him at the conclusion of the serial.
He proved too effective a character to be kept dead and was resurrected four years later in 1979's Destiny of the Daleks[3] (played by David Gooderson using Wisher's mask, which did not fit his face properly). The Daleks unearthed their creator — who had apparently been in suspended animation since his "death" in Genesis — to help them break a logical impasse in their war against the android Movellans. However, the Dalek force was destroyed by the Doctor, and Davros was captured and imprisoned by the humans.
In the Fifth Doctor story Resurrection of the Daleks[4], a small Dalek force aided by human mercenaries and Dalek duplicates liberated Davros (now played by Terry Molloy with a differently designed mask that, this time, properly fitted the actor's face) from his space station prison, needing his expertise to find an antidote for a Movellan-created virus that had all but wiped them out. Believing his creations to be treacherous, Davros began using mind control on Daleks and humans, ultimately releasing the virus to kill off the Daleks before they could exterminate him. However, at the end of the story, he apparently succumbed to the virus himself before he could escape, his physiology being close enough to that of the Daleks for the virus to affect him. Ironically, the hypothetical creation of a viral weapon was the subject of a discussion between the Fourth Doctor and Davros in Genesis of the Daleks.
Davros emerged as "The Great Healer" of the funeral and cryogenic preservation centre Tranquil Repose on the planet Necros in the Sixth Doctor story Revelation of the Daleks[5], where he used frozen bodies to engineer a new variety of Daleks loyal to him, distinguished from the original Daleks by their white and gold livery and slightly changed design. In this story there appeared to be two Davroses: one was a head in a tank and apparently a decoy for assassins; the other was in his usual chair (which could now hover), emerging from hiding when the decoy was indeed assassinated. Davros could now move his neck and fire electric bolts from his hand, although the hand was shot off shortly before his original creations arrived to defeat the new Daleks and transport Davros to face trial on Skaro.
Davros' last television appearance (played again by Molloy) was as the Dalek Emperor in Remembrance of the Daleks[6], with his white and gold Daleks now based on Skaro and termed "Imperial Daleks", fighting against the grey "Renegade Dalek" faction. By this time, Davros was physically reduced to a head in a customised Dalek casing. Both Skaro and the Imperial Dalek mothership were apparently destroyed when the Seventh Doctor tricked Davros into using the Time Lord artifact known as the Hand of Omega. However, a Dalek on the bridge of Davros' ship reported that the Emperor's escape pod was being launched and a white light was seen speeding away from the ship moments before its destruction, leaving a clear route to bring Davros back in the future.
In the 2005 series, it was revealed that the Daleks and the Time Lords had engaged in a mutually destructive Time War. An article by Russell T. Davies in the Doctor Who Annual 2006 states that one of the "Dalek Puppet Emperors" openly declared his hostilities towards the Time Lords and their planet, Gallifrey. Although the Dalek Emperor survived to build a new race of Daleks,[7] it was a Dalek mutant floating in a tank of fluid connected to a giant Dalek shell, not Davros himself. Davros has been referred to (albeit not by name) twice: first in the episode "Dalek" by the Ninth Doctor, who explains that the Daleks were created by "a man who was king of his own little world", and again by the Tenth Doctor in the episode "Evolution of the Daleks", where he referred to the Daleks' creator as believing that "removing emotions made a race stronger".
In 2007, a survey in Doctor Who Magazine asked readers which element from the show's past they most wanted to return. Davros topped the poll with 9.34% of the vote.[8] Character Options, the manufacturers of modern Doctor Who toys, has also announced a Series 4 radio-controlled Davros figure available in 5" and 12".[9]
Other appearances
Comic strips
Doctor Who Magazine printed several comics stories involving Davros. The first, "Nemesis of the Daleks" (#152-155), with the Seventh Doctor, features an appearance of a Dalek Emperor. Speaking with the Emperor, the Doctor addresses him as Davros, but the Emperor responds "Who is Davros?" The Doctor initially assumes Davros's personality has been totally subsumed, but in the later strip "Emperor of the Daleks" (#197-202) this Emperor is shown as a different entity from Davros. Set prior to Remembrance of the Daleks in Davros' timeline, but after in the timeline of the Doctor, the latter, accompanied by Bernice Summerfield, together with help from the Sixth Doctor, ensures that Davros will survive the wrath of the Daleks so that he can assume the title of Emperor, allowing history to take its course. "Up Above the Gods" (#227), a vignette following up on this, features the Sixth Doctor and Davros having a conversation in the TARDIS.
Audio plays
Terry Molloy has reprised his role as Davros in the spin-off audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions, mostly notably Davros (taking place during the Sixth Doctor's era), which, through flashbacks, explored the scientist's life prior to his crippling injury, which is attributed to a Thal nuclear attack(an idea that first appeared in Terrance Dicks' novelisation of Genesis of the Daleks).
Davros, which does not feature the Daleks, fills in the gaps between Resurrection of the Daleks and Revelation of the Daleks, and has the scientist trying to manipulate the galaxy's economy into a war footing similar to Skaro's. The Sixth Doctor manages to defeat his plans, and Davros is last heard when his ship explodes, an event obliquely mentioned in Revelation.
The Big Finish miniseries I, Davros, (set before Davros' trial after Revelation) also starring Molloy, further explores Davros' early life.
The subsequent play The Juggernauts similarly takes place between Revelation and Remembrance. There, Davros adds human nervous tissue to robotic Mechanoids to create the Juggernauts of the play's title; he hopes to use these as an army to destroy the Daleks. At the end of the story, the self-destruct mechanism of Davros' life-support chair explodes, destroying an entire human colony. It is not clear how Davros survives to become the Dalek Emperor as seen in Remembrance.
By the time of the Eighth Doctor audio play Terror Firma (set after Remembrance), Davros is commanding a Dalek army which has successfully conquered the Earth. His mental instability has grown to the point where "Davros" and "the Emperor" exist within him as different personalities. His Daleks recognize this instability and rebel against Davros. By the story's end the Emperor personality is dominant, and the Daleks agree to follow him and leave Earth.
Novels
Terror Firma seemed to contradict the events of the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel War of the Daleks by John Peel, in which an unmerged Davros was placed on trial by the Dalek Prime, a combination of the Dalek Emperor and the Dalek Supreme. The novel also revealed that the planet Antalin had been terraformed to resemble Skaro and destroyed in its place. It was also revealed the Dalek/Movellan war (and indeed most of Dalek history before the destruction of "Skaro") was actually faked for Davros' benefit; the Daleks discovered records of Skaro's destruction during their conquest of Earth, but, unable to change history, developed an elaborate plot to bring the recorded events about while ensuring Skaro's survival.
War of the Daleks, like the comic strips and audio plays, is of uncertain canonicity when it comes to the television series. At the conclusion of War, Davros was seemingly disintegrated by a Spider Dalek on the order of the Dalek Prime. However, Davros had previously recruited one of the Spider Daleks as a sleeper agent for just such an eventuality, and even he was not certain in the end if he was being disintegrated or being teleported away to safety, leaving the possibility open for his return.
How Terror Firma and War can be reconciled is not clear.
Short fiction
Paul Cornell's dark vignette in the Doctor Who Magazine Brief Encounters series, "An Incident Concerning the Bombardment of the Phobos Colony" occurs sometime between "Resurrection of the Daleks" and his assumption of the role of Emperor.
Theatre
In 1993, Michael Wisher, the original Davros, with Peter Miles, who had played his confederate, Nyder, reprised the role in a one-off amateur stage production, The Trial of Davros. The plot of the play involved the Time Lords putting Davros on trial, with Nyder as a witness. During the production, specially shot footage portrayed Dalek atrocities.
Terry Molloy played Davros in the remounting of the play, again with Peter Miles for another one-off production, mounted in 2005.
List of appearances
Television
- Genesis of the Daleks: March 8–April 12, 1975
- Destiny of the Daleks: September 1–September 22, 1979
- Resurrection of the Daleks: February 8–February 15, 1984
- Revelation of the Daleks: March 23–March 30, 1985
- Remembrance of the Daleks: October 5–October 26, 1988
Comic strips
- Nemesis of the Daleks, Doctor Who Magazine (suggested but later contradicted)
- Emperor of the Daleks, Doctor Who Magazine
- Up Above the Gods, Doctor Who Magazine
Audio plays
- Davros
- The Juggernauts
- Terror Firma
- I, Davros: Innocence
- I, Davros: Purity
- I, Davros: Corruption
- I, Davros: Guilt
- Engines Of Destruction (Doctor Who Unbound series, out of normal Doctor Who continuity)
Short fiction
- An Incident Concerning the Continual Bombardment of the Phobos Colony by Paul Cornell, Doctor Who Magazine #168
Original novels
Theatrical productions
- The Trial of Davros, mounted 1994, 2005
DVD/Big Finish box set
On the 26 November 2007, a Davros boxset was released featuring the following TV stories;
Genesis of the Daleks
Destiny of the Daleks
Resurrection of the Daleks
Revelation of the Daleks
Remembrance of the Daleks Two Disc Special Edition
And the following Big Finish audios;
Davros
The Juggernauts
Terror Firma
I, Davros: Innocence
I, Davros: Purity
I, Davros: Corruption
I, Davros: Guilt
The Davros Mission - An exclusive new audio written by Nicholas Briggs and starring Terry Molloy and Miranda Raison.
See also
References
- ^ Genesis of the Daleks. Writer Terry Nation, Director David Maloney, Producer Philip Hinchcliffe. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1, London. 1975-03-08-1975-04-12.
- ^ Michael Wisher. (1994). The Making of Shakedown & DreamWatch '94 Highlights [VHS]. London: Dreamwatch Media Ltd.
- ^ Destiny of the Daleks. Writer Terry Nation, Director Ken Grieve, Producer Graham Williams. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1, London. 1979-09-01-1979-09-22.
- ^ Resurrection of the Daleks. Writer Eric Saward, Director Matthew Robinson, Producer John Nathan-Turner. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1, London. 1984-02-08-1984-02-15.
- ^ Revelation of the Daleks. Writer Eric Saward, Director Graeme Harper, Producer John Nathan-Turner. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1, London. 1985-03-23-1985-03-30.
- ^ Remembrance of the Daleks. Writer Ben Aaronovitch, Directors Andrew Morgan, John Nathan-Turner (uncredited), Producer John Nathan-Turner. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1, London. 1988-10-05-1988-10-26.
- ^ "The Parting of the Ways". Writer Russell T. Davies, Director Joe Ahearne, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC One, Cardiff. 2005-06-18.
- ^ "Doctor Who Magazine" (389).
- ^ Davros Figure
External links
- Some quotes from Genesis of the Daleks.
- First History of the Daleks (and Second).
- Information on I, Davros on Big Finish's website
- BBC Norfolk - Watch interview with Terry Molloy discussing I Davros - November '06
- BBC Norfolk - Davros gallery with Terry Molloy interviews
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