I, Davros - Innocence

Davros is on trial. Betrayed by Takis on Necros, Davros is dragged back to Skaro by the Daleks, but it is not a trial for his life; the Daleks admit that they need him, although their programming does not undertand why. Dalek campaigns are failing, their empire is in retreat. Davros realizes his own errors in the creation of the Daleks all those years ago and begins to tell his story, going back to being a child as the war with the Thals began to dramatically change the face of Skaro.

They say that as well as similarity in title, I, Davros has some parallels to I, Claudius - but not having read that I am not sure of the validity of the claim. But if that story encompassed a flashback to the protagonist's early days and chronicled his rise to fame and power, then similar they are. For those who would like to think that Davros started his life as an innocent, though, he did not. The first time we meet the young Davros he is swimming in what would become The Lake of Mutations (the same one Ian and Barbara would lead a band of Thals across centuries later) and he is already calmly, coldly, observing the small creatures that are now living there. Davros' family is of some prominence within Kaled society; his mother an ambitious politician, his father a decorated war hero, although the mother's ambition is eroding her marriage and the war hero is in some doubt as he was not granted an honourable death on the battlefield. Davros also has a sister, but the girl is undervalued and written off to being in the Kaled army while Davros is groomed for greatness in the scientific corps. The enemy is not necessarily the Thals without, but the people within, as family will turn on itself and lines will be drawn between brother and sister, between mother and child, and between husband and wife.

Fascinating, as Davros himself would say. All those elements of Skaro's past are here just as they were alluded to in previous Doctor Who episodes before the war with the Thals reduced Skaro to the radioactive wasteland visited time and again by the Doctor and company. The Kaleds are rich in resources and culture at this point; there is still a measure of comfort in the quality of living, and there is no dome overhead to protect from the attacks of the Thals. Davros is already a lost cause, his mind switched off to emotion and totally devoted to observation and knowledge, and it is just a matter of time before he embarks down the path that will lead him to create the Daleks. His own first blood is drawn in the name of science, and much to the approval of his mother, who sees it as a first step towards his greatness.

I have no beefs with this tale at all. None. I listened with sheer joy and not for the first time remarked at not only the ingenuity of the people at Big Finish but also to their love of Doctor Who; going back to examine the genesis of one of the series' most complicated villains and not straying from what has already been established. There is even a clever reference to the forefathers of the Kaleds being known as Dals - something which was mentioned once in 1964 and then never again; until now it has been a continuity blooper but it has been resolved - retconned, as the case may be. The four volume series also gives some insight into what happened to Davros after his capture in the final moments of Revelation of the Daleks and his reappearance in the series a few seasons later. It was actually an effort to not press on into the second volume and see what happened next before going back to reading Doctor Who, but I did it.

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