Doctor Who spoilers: How the Time War resurrected Davros

How was Davros brought back for the Time War? A recent Doctor Who story with the Eighth Doctor provided a rather neat explanation…

For the past couple of months, I’ve been both watching and listening to Davros’s stories in chronological order. (Or at least, something as close to chronological order as I could get.) It’s been interesting getting to see how much the Doctor Who villain develops over time, ever since his first appearance in Genesis of the Daleks. Even when just taking into account his TV stories from the Classic Series, there was no question that the character changed a lot over the years.

In fact, it’s easy to forget just how much he had changed. When Russell T Davies decided to bring him back in the 2008 story The Stolen Earth, he gave us something that was as close to the classic Davros look as possible: a horrifically scarred top half that only survives thanks to his life support system – essentially, the bottom half of a black-and-silver Dalek.

However, this seemed to ignore what he looked like when he had last appeared on-screen. While we only saw Davros briefly in the Seventh Doctor story Remembrance of the Daleks, there hadn’t been much of him left. Declaring himself to be the new Dalek Emperor, Davros was entirely wired into a new white-and-gold casing, with very little of his original body surviving. Naturally, this leaves open a very big question: namely, how did Davros end up being restored to his former self?

Terry Molloy and Isla Blair play Davros and his wife Charn in Time War 4 – a happy couple soon torn apart by tragedy…

Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions

Another Davros

Big Finish’s answer is a surprisingly simple one. Palindrome – the opening story to The Eighth Doctor: Time War Volume 4 – focuses on Davros. But he’s certainly not the Davros we know. A brilliant scientist who’s enjoyed a long and happy marriage with his Thal wife Charn, the Davros we meet in Palindrome is a kind and peaceful man. A scientific genius, undoubtedly. But one who’s never felt compelled to use that genius towards evil purposes, thanks to living a life on Skaro that hasn’t known war in centuries.

So what changes? Well, the arrival of the Daleks (or in this case, one surviving Dalek) from the original universe, via a dimensional portal that Davros himself had created. Naturally, they have been looking for their creator. This particular Davros may not have been quite the creator they had been looking for. But that could change – especially with the use of the portal…

Over the course of Palindrome, the kind, peaceful Davros slowly changes by becoming combined with echoes of his parallel selves. Essentially, he changes entirely into a version of the Davros we know. One who doesn’t quite share all of the history of the original, but who is at least aware of it. For example, not only does he consider the Doctor to be one of his oldest enemies, but he’s at least aware of how another version of him became the Emperor of the Daleks.

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Resolving the gap

This explanation is a rather brilliant one. For one thing, it makes Davros’s story in Palindrome a tragedy, depicting a kind man who gradually loses his soul to something monstrous. It’s a great piece of drama, and needless to say, Terry Molloy is absolutely fantastic as both versions of Davros.

But, far more importantly, it fills in the gap between Remembrance of the Daleks and The Stolen Earth in a big way. More than that – it provides a mild “reset” for the character. It doesn’t completely reboot him, as it were – as I said, this version of Davros knows the Doctor extremely well.

But it does explain how Davros goes from being Emperor of the Daleks with very little of his original body left to something much closer to his original appearance when he eventually meets the Tenth Doctor. More than that – it takes into account Davros’s fate in the earlier Big Finish story Terror Firma and finds a way around that. (It could even take into account the novel War of the Daleks, where Davros was apparently executed by his own creations.)

The ending of Restoration of the Daleks – the last episode of Time War 4 – made it clear that Davros’s role in the Time War isn’t quite over just yet. Maybe we’ll learn more about “the Nightmare Child”. Maybe not. But it’s certainly great to have Davros back, for the first time in far too long. And here’s hoping we’ll get to hear more from Molloy as Davros in more stories soon.

What do you think of this explanation for Davros’s restoration in the Time War? Do you think it works at resolving the discrepancy between Remembrance of the Daleks and The Stolen Earth? Do you think another explanation could have been given? Let us know in the comments below.