Line #82 Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho048Davros


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/davros_1.jpg]]
2	The second part of the "Villains Trilogy": three standalone episodes that explore how the Doctor and his arch-enemies are no different in the end. The other two parts are [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho047Omega "Omega"]] and [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho049Master "Master"]]. The trilogy also thematically paved the road for the next episode, "Zagreus", although that episode is not standalone and is instead part of the Eighth Doctor's StoryArc. This episode also features the first appearances of characters expanded in ''[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoSpecialsIDavrosInnocence I, Davros]]''.
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6	[[MadScientist Davros]]. [[InsufferableGenius The Sixth Doctor]]. No Daleks. Two men enter, one man leaves.
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8	The premise is simple -- after being found drifting in the cold of space by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Arnold Baynes]] and his wife Lorraine, head of [[MegaCorp TAI Industries]], Davros is revived and... [[CutLexLuthorACheck hired to work as the new head of their R&D Division]]. The Doctor, having been summoned by an old friend, is displeased with this arrangement. And after abruptly introducing himself, he hires himself out to Mr Baynes, so he can be present when Davros inevitably flips.
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10	Despite Davros' protests, the Doctor knows it's not a matter of ''if'', it's just a matter of ''when''.
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12	While Davros and the Doctor bicker and snark at each other, we're treated to snippets of Davros' life on Skaro. Flashbacks show him in AnachronicOrder as a simple Kaled scientist; working on projects together with his friend Shan; his accident, his recovery, and becoming used to his horribly disfigured body; Shan coming up with the concept of Daleks in order to save the Kaled race.
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14	It turns out that Davros has (of course) spent his time at TAI Industries making a nuclear bomb to throw on top of the Doctor, since he solved all of TAI Industries' actual problems during his first few hours there. The Doctor neutralises the bomb, but by that time Davros has already taken over the company and manipulated Lorraine Baynes into handing him full executive power. While pretty much every single minor character in the story rapidly dies, Davros and the Sixth Doctor get a chance to talk in full detail about how they feel about each other. Davros makes a good show of insisting that he ''has. no. emotions.'', but is tripped by the painful memory of Shan and his homesickness for a life of war and battle. When the question comes up of whether he might have loved Shan, Davros reveals that he simply took the credit for her concept of Daleks and damned her to death.
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16	Davros escapes in the end, as he always does, and Six glumly notes that his JokerImmunity is yet another way in which he and Davros are the same. Lorraine thinks she'll get away as well, but the Doctor stays by her side until the interstellar police arrive.
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18	!!Davros includes examples of:
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20	* ADayInTheLimelight: This is an adventure ''without'' Daleks, so Davros carries the whole story.
21	%%* AdmiringTheAbomination
22	* AnachronicOrder: Davros' flashbacks are all over his timeline.
23	* AndIMustScream: Davros' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW2xxxaplz0 time in stasis]].
24	* AwesomeByAnalysis: By reading up on economics (the concept of EVERYTHING because the entire concept was alien to Davros when the story started) Davros has come up with an equation that is able to predict the stock market exchange, thus destroying the economy.
25	%%* BigNo
26	%%* BlatantLies
27	* BodyHorror: One of the Flashbacks details the moments after Davros having narrowly survived a Thal attack, but suffered horrific injuries because of it, including having most of his flesh ''cooked off''.
28	-->'''Davros''': ...what...what is that ''smell?''
29	-->'''Ral''': ''[hesitantly]''...it's ''you'', Davros. ''[{{Beat}}, then Davros lets out a anguished scream of horror]''
30	%%* BottomlessPits
31	* BrainUploading: Mentioned as a possibility in the future. Baynes notes that, despite the technology for cloning oneself and transferring the consciousness having been around for a while and the procedure reportedly not even being hugely expensive, almost no one is actually willing to go through with it. It's supposed that this is also why Davros hasn't done it to himself despite clearly being capable and despite his body being in the state it's in.
32	%%* BreakThemByTalking: The Doctor, on Davros in the end.
33	%%* CrapSackWorld: Skaro.
34	* CreatorThumbprint: Not so much for writer Lance Parkin, but it features a number of Creator/TerryNation's trademarks, including an amoral, galaxy-spanning MegaCorp, something randomly prefixed with "space" ("space medicine" this time) and a colossal dome city. If it had someone named Tarrant, it'd be a Terry Nation bingo.
35	%%* CyanidePill
36	* DeathSeeker: Davros dares the Doctor to kill him.
37	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Lorraine Baynes has made an academic career of "re-examining" the motivations, context, and impact of Davros and the Daleks, which has seen more than one libel suit against someone who accused her of "Dalek apologism." Shades of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Irving David Irving]] abound.
38	* DragonWithAnAgenda: Davros to Arnold Baynes.
39	* DullSurprise: Arnold Baynes.
40	* DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Once Davros learns about capitalism and is tasked with devising solutions for interplanetary famine [[spoiler: he decides to deliberately destroy the entire galactic economic system and replace it with a state of endless war with each planet dedicating its own economic resources toward military production and survival, with the only surviving interplanetary order being controlled by Davros himself.]]
41	* ElaborateUndergroundBase
42	* EvilLaugh: Davros when he thinks he's blown the Doctor up with a nuclear blast.
43	* FauxAffablyEvil: Davros.
44	* {{Flashback}}: A few, dotted around the story, show Davros back on Skaro, both prior and the days immediately after his crippling injury.
45	* ForTheEvulz
46	* FriendlyEnemy: Davros thinks he and the Doctor could've been this.
47	* TheGrotesque: Davros flashbacks to when he was considered this.
48	* HereWeGoAgain: Half way through the story the Doctor gets another earpiece installed.
49	* HistoryRepeats
50	* HoldYourHippogriffs:
51	--> "He's an asteroid-hugging hippie."
52	* [[HumanResources Kaled Resources]]
53	* HypocriticalHumour: After painstakingly sneaking his way into TAI's hangar-bay, avoiding the guards and reminding his compainions ''repeatedly'' to be ''absolutely quiet'', the Doctor's reaction upon spotting Baynes and his men wheeling out the body of his old foe?
54	-->'''Doctor''': '''''DAVROS?!''''' ''[dashes out from cover]'' OI! YOU THERE! YOU! THERE!
55	* InTheStyleOf: Season 22 - the episode is two 45-minute episodes, rather than four shorter ones.[[note]]This was not intentional - it was meant to be a four-parter, but it was then found that the story was slightly too long to fit on a CD, and the episodes had to be re-edited into two double-length episodes to make them fit.[[/note]] Chronologically, it fits in before "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E5Timelash Timelash]]".
56	* JokerImmunity: InvokedTrope.
57	-->'''Lorraine''': You really think Davros is alive?
58	-->'''Doctor''': Oh yes, he survived. People like him [[Main/InvincibleHero and me]] don't know any different.
59	* JumpScare: '''DOC-TOR!'''
60	* KitschyLocalCommercial
61	* [[KlingonsLoveShakespeare Davros Loves Shakespeare]]
62	* KlingonPromotion
63	* LargeHam: Oh, go on. Guess.
64	* LastOfHisKind
65	* LastSecondChance: Initially, Davros takes to solving non-Dalek type problems, like the economic crisis and galactic famine, like a fish to water. [[ForegoneConclusion It doesn't last]].
66	* LeaveBehindAPistol: Or poison in Davros's case (see MotiveRant).
67	* LivingLieDetector: Davros can tell by heartbeats, and body temperatures, whether or not somebody gets nervous from lying.
68	* ManipulativeBastard: All by his lonesome, Davros still manages to be an impressive threat. He goes from being ''dead'', to have practically fully taken over [[MegaCorp a powerful multi-systems corporation]].
69	* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident
70	* MechaMooks
71	* MotiveRant: The story starts off with a flashback of Davros on Skaro, after suffering his horrific injuries. His people, who are [[ScaryDogmaticAliens big on "purity"]] want him to kill himself. After a few minutes of contemplation... he decides ''no''.
72	* NoNonsenseNemesis
73	* NotSoDifferentRemark: A key element of this trilogy (with the other parts comparing Five to Omega and Seven to the Master). Davros tries this with the Doctor, noting that, [[FriendlyEnemy if things had been different, they could have gotten along famously]]. The Doctor is less than impressed.
74	-->'''Doctor''': ''[ice cold]'' We're not friends, Davros.
75	* NotQuiteDead
76	* NukeEm: Davros tries to end it all here.
77	* OriginsEpisode: A certain FlashBack shows how Davros had come up with the concept of the Daleks.
78	* {{Pride}}: It's pointed out that someone of Davros' genius could easily clone himself a new, undamaged body to transfer his consciousness into, but as that wouldn't be "him" as he perceives it, he stays with his old, damaged near-corpse.
79	%%* PsychologicalHorror
80	* RedHerring: Two of them. The first concerns Shan, whom everyone assumes to be a love interest for Davros. She's not. The second RedHerring is about the mass-produced robots. They're just regular robots.
81	* ReplacementGoldfish: Davros treats Mrs. Baynes as one for Shan.
82	%%* TheRival
83	* ScareChord: A rare example of one being on the Doctor himself, when he first appears, scaring two secondary characters.
84	%%* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney
85	%%* ShellShockedVeteran: Davros has glimpses of this.
86	* ShoutOut: ...[[Franchise/BackToTheFuture Lorraine Baynes?]]
87	** Davros paraphrases {{Theatre/Hamlet}} while describing the experience of his imprisonment, as lampshaded by the Doctor:
88	--->'''Davros''': That there was more in Heaven and on Skaro than was ever dreamt of in your philosophy, Doctor!\
89	'''Doctor''': ''[laughs]'' Eternity, and the best you can manage is to misquote Shakespeare? (...) Goodnight, sweet prince. I'm off to get that cup of tea.
90	%%* SmokingGun
91	%%* SocialDarwinist: ''Davros''.
92	%%* StartOfDarkness: Davros shows how he became what he is today.
93	%%* SuperSenses
94	* SwissCheeseSecurity: The Doctor manages to get past three separate security doors in a robot testing ground where he's not supposed to be.
95	* TakingYouWithMe: Kimberly Todd.
96	* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Davros, having learnt his lesson from previous encounters, tries to kill the Doctor by ''dropping a '''nuke''' on him''. Doesn't work, naturally, but gotta give points for effort.
97	* VillainWithGoodPublicity
98	* VisionsOfAnotherSelf: Davros Flashbacks very vividly sometimes.
99	* VolleyingInsults: When forced to work together, the Doctor and Davros simply ''do not stop'' sniping at each other (for obvious reasons). It's hilarious.
100	* WrittenInAbsence: Peri is off on a botany congress.
101	* YearOutsideHourInside: Davros describes stasis like this. He describes centuries of torture, GroundhogDayLoop memories. The total destruction of his psyche, shattered into insanity. Depleted of all thoughts he could muster, every memory, every theory, every book. Then darkness. [[spoiler:Only a second had passed]].

Context Recap / BigFinishDoctorWho048Davros