2 episodes. Approx. 150 minutes. Written by: Lance Parkin. Directed by: Gary Russell. Produced by: Gary Russell.
THE PLOT
Arnold Baynes (Bernard Horsfall), head of TransAllied, Inc. (TAI), has come into possession of a new asset: Davros (Terry Molloy), the long-reviled scientist responsible for the creation of the Daleks. Baynes believes that Davros' genius will give his company the spark it needs to expand outside our galaxy. His wife, historian and Dalek apologist Lorraine Baynes (Wendy Padbury), thirsts to interview Davros for a "definitive biography." Neither realizes just how dangerous their newest employee truly is.
The Doctor is at TAI on completely unrelated business. He is determined to look into the corporation in a smart, careful fashion. Then he sees Davros, and all thoughts of caution evaporate. He stalks into the company, demanding to know what Baynes thinks he's doing. Within minutes, he finds himself agreeing to work with Davros on TAI's projects - to keep himself in a position to thwart any plot Davros might hatch.
But the brilliant Kaled scientist is already several steps ahead of him...
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: You can hear the relish in Colin Baker's voice as he dives into this high-quality script. Writer Lance Parkin makes sure to emphasize the Doctor's compassion, his value for life. He agrees to continue working with Davros to cure the galaxy's famine problem, simply because he cannot turn his back on such a situation. You can hear the sincerity in his voice as he warns Baynes that Davros will destroy him. When Davros is subjecting innocents to high doses of radiation, the Doctor waits to stop him until after he acts to save those lives. And yet this is still the prickly Sixth Doctor, who can't resist baiting Davros with childish behavior or with remarks about the chair-bound scientist being a "stand-up comedian."
Davros: As good as Colin Baker is, this story truly belongs to Terry Molloy's Davros. Though we're never fooled into thinking that he has changed, the first half of the serial does seduce us into empathizing with him, if only a little. In flashbacks, we hear the "human" Davros, before the explosion that crippled him. He seems to be a very normal man. In another flashback, we hear his horror just after the explosion as he views his savagely burned face. Meanwhile, in the story's present, he is contemplative. He insists to the Doctor that he believes he can change, and he may even be sincere in his desire to change.
Then the second half reminds us of his evil. The flashbacks become darker, and we see that he was a monster long before his exterior was burned and scarred to make his nature visible. We get as much of a look into his psyche as a Doctor Who adventure story can allow, and what we see is pathetic. Davros is a "spoiled child" who cannot stand the idea of competition, who only feels powerful when he uses his genius to destroy. "There can never be too much destruction!" he declares. As we hear him giggling even while listening to the dying moans of his latest victims, we realize that he means it.
THOUGHTS
Davros is a genuinely great audio story, one of the best of Big Finish Production's entire Doctor Who range. It's a long story, taking up the entire length of the two cd's it occupies. A full 150 minutes. But it's compelling. It would be a disservice to say that the story goes by in an eyeblink while listening. Time actually stops while listening to this story, a story which envelopes the listener in its world and its narrative.
Lance Parkin was one of the best writers of the Doctor Who book range, which makes it surprising that he's only written a couple of stories for Big Finish. He's done superb work here. Given the assignment to write a story for Davros without the Daleks, he draws on the background given the character in his televised stories and fills in the blanks. Flashbacks show us the war-torn Skaro that was the only home Davros ever knew, the harsh conditions of which molded him into the man he became.
Credit must be given to Jim Mortimore's sound design. A story which mixes past and present must always take particular care to differentiate the two. That's even true of visual works, let alone on audio. The production team use the Dalek "strobe" to identify the flashbacks. Every time Davros recalls his time on Skaro, that sound plays constantly in the background. That and a faint echo lend a feeling of unreality to the scenes in the past, while transitions between the flashbacks and the present are extremely well-judged.
Though superb, Davros is not flawless. There's a subplot involving Willis (Eddie de Oliveira), an investigative journalist following up on information about TAI. Willis is a weak character, effortlessly outclassed by the heavyweight cast surrounding him. He exists to provide an excuse for the Doctor's presence at TAI when Davros arrives. Better if the Doctor had just been there by chance; I can't really picture him being concerned with the petty day-to-day skullduggery of corporations.
Despite the misjudged Willis subplot, Davros is one of Big Finish's masterpieces. Wonderfully acted, particularly by Colin Baker and Terry Molloy, and boasting a compelling script, this is one of a handful of audio Who stories I'd comfortably refer to as "a classic."
Rating: 10/10.
6th Doctor Television Review Index
6th Doctor Audio Review Index
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