I, Davros - Purity

Davros is turning 30 now, and he's desperate to get out of the Kaled military and into the scientific corps where he knows he will be able to do more for the war effort. Depiste his mother's connections he finds it harder and harder to break out of the ranks until he takes a mission into Thal territory to prove himself, and he makes discoveries that will lead him farther down the path to the creation of the Daleks.

Again, the story of Davros is told with fantastic detail, Terry Molloy taking over now from the younger version of Davros, Rory Jennings. The war with the Thals is progressing and driving the Kaleds into more desperate measures to win, with a vocal anti-war faction demanding the hostilities stop and armistace be declared before Skaro is rendered incapable of supporting life. Davros discovers, though, that life is still flourishing in the wastelands, although it is life drastically and horrifically altered by the effects of chemical weapons and radiation; the Mutos, genetically wounded from both sides, scavenge a living, and the agressive Varga plants seen stalking the jungles of Kembel in The Dalek Master Plan are also evolving despite the radiation around them. Spurred on with these discoveries, Davros also realizes that the Kaleds and Thals are genetically different, despite similar outward appearances, but there was a time when they lived in harmony as depicted by heiroglyphs on old ruins. And on those heiroglyphs are inscriptions describing the lives of the ancient Dals as men became gods... or became Dal-ek.

The Kaled nation is slowly collapsing under the strain of the war with the Thals; those who wish for an end to the war are labelled as pacifists and then traitors, and Davros' own sister becomes a political liability when her role in the military comes into conflict with her desires for peace. The futility of the war drives Davros to look beyond the weapons they will fight the war with and to consider the effects that the survivors will have to deal with once it is finished, although his views are not immediately appreciated.

Brilliant. A fantastic chronicle of the fall of the race that will give rise to the Daleks; the momentum is still running high on this series and there are still two episodes of it left to enjoy... but for now, back to the Doctor...

NEXT EPISODE : CRYPTOBIOSIS