Fourteenth Doctor Era
2023 Children in Need Special
60th Anniversary Specials: "The Star Beast" | "Wild Blue Yonder" | "The Giggle"
Do not adjust your screen: you're not seeing a rerun of the Tenth Doctor. You're actually seeing a throwback to that Doctor. Meet Fourteen!
Original air date: November 17th, 2023
The one where the Doctor returns to the genesis of the... Lekads? Adleks? Klaeds? Edlaks? No, that's not right...
A short for the 2023 Children in Need telethon, giving viewers a small taste of David Tennant as the next incarnation of the Doctor... for a second time.
Can be viewed on The BBC's YouTube channel
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Somewhere on Skaro during the Thousand Year War, the Kaled scientist Davros (Julian Bleach) is showing off his Mark III Travel Machine to his assistant, Castavillian (Mawaan Rizwan). It's built to ensure the survival of the Kaled race after years of warfare, complete with polycarbide armour, a ruby ray gun, and one powerful mechanical claw. Davros is briefly called away by Nyder, leaving Castavillian on his own... just in time for the TARDIS to rather violently materialize and jam itself into a wall. From it emerges the Fourteenth Doctor, still rather confused about having been "this really brilliant woman" just sixty minutes ago, only to suddenly be wearing an old face once more.
The Doctor inspects the damage, and discovers that the TARDIS broke the claw off of what he now realizes is the First Dalek. After accidentally giving Castavillian the idea of what to call these creations, as well as their catchphrase, the Doctor realizes he's accidentally interfering with the Daleks' timeline (again) and decides to leave before he causes any more paradoxes. Before heading off, however, he tosses Castavillian a plunger to replace the damaged claw. When Davros returns, he decides that he likes the new look better.
Tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: After a few tense moments of contemplation, Davros admits to liking the Dalek toilet plunger arm design.
- Bathos: The earliest origins of the Daleks — an entire species of Space Nazis — as well as their insane creator Davros and the Fourteenth Doctor's inadvertent interference with the timeline, is played entirely for absurdist Black Comedy. It being a charity skit softens the juxtaposition just enough the tonal whiplash
remains fun and not in poor taste. - Blunt "No": Davros shoots down all of Mr. Castavillian's proposed Significant Anagram names for his creations with a flat, "No."
- Breather Episode: On-screen, this serves as one between the Thirteenth Doctor's regeneration and the Fourteenth Doctor's trilogy of specials. Bonus points for those who had just finished reading "Liberation of the Daleks" and its Bittersweet Ending.
- Buffy Speak: The Doctor attempts to leave with the claw arm he broke off the prototype Dalek, having previously referred to it as a "multi-claw, adaptable..." Castavillian sputters in protest, pointing out that the Doctor broke the "multi-claw adaptable thingamajig".
- Call-Back: The Doctor says he was a "really brilliant woman sixty minutes ago" just like when his predecessor said that "half an hour ago, (she) was a white-haired Scotsman".
- The Cameo: Nyder makes a vocal appearance, calling Davros away over a tannoy.
- Character Catchphrase: Adding to his similarities with the Tenth Doctor, Fourteen breaks out Ten's, "I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry," in response to discovering he's broken a piece of the prototype Dalek. Before he realizes what he broke, that is.
- The Comically Serious: Davros remains as Davros as ever, but his attitude is played off against the surprisingly earnest Castavillain's attempts to name the Kaled mutant, making Davros come across as a grumpy killjoy rather than his usual screaming lunatic.
- Continuity Nod:
- The story has quite a few nods to "Genesis of the Daleks", right down to the Doctor name-dropping the story's title.
- The Doctor's mention of having been a woman sixty minutes ago is a nod to the Doctor Who Magazine story "Liberation of the Daleks", which takes place immediately after the end of "The Power of the Doctor" over the span of an hour, slotting it neatly between this short and the previous episode. Said comic even ended with the TARDIS damaged and the Doctor hoping the Fast Return switch didn't send him back to Skaro.
- Inside the TARDIS you can see the interior is still that of the Thirteenth Doctor's console room (which Fourteen retained throughout "Liberation of the Daleks"), setting up for how the "desktop theme" won't be changed until late into the next episode.
- Davros refers to the Dalek's ranged weapon as a ruby ray blaster, a type of weapon established to be fitted to Dalek saucers in the "TARDIS Teaser" game printed in "Doctor Who Annual 2006".
- Delayed "Oh, Crap!": Once the Doctor regains his bearings, he apologizes to Castavillian for crashing the TARDIS into the lab and ripping the arm off what he was working on. It takes him a few more seconds to realize that the arm came from a prototype Dalek casing and he's unwittingly gatecrashed the genesis of the Daleks.The Doctor: I am so, so sorry. I think I broke this. Multi-claw, adaptable... what is it? Oh. [camera pans to the Dalek] That's a Dalek.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: Castavillian is played by a South Asian actor, whereas, in earlier stories, all Kaleds were apparently strictly Caucasian. This also seems a bit peculiar given Davros's constant A Nazi by Any Other Name subtexts. Then again, the Kaleds likely don't care what skin color you are as long as you aren't a Thal.
- Fake Shemp: Due to Peter Miles' death in 2018, Nyder's vocal appearance here is provided by Nicholas Briggs.
- Giver of Lame Names: Castavillian suggests that the evolution of the Kaleds should have a Significant Anagram for a name, but his choices are... less than stellar.Castavillian: Like... "Lekad". "Adlek"? "Klade"? ..."Edlak".
- I Was Never Here: Before leaving, the Doctor insists to Castavillian that he was never here to protect the timeline.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The Doctor says that the "timelines and canon are rupturing" as the result of his presence at the "genesis of the Daleks".
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: This is the in-universe explanation for why the Doctor's (additional) role in the genesis of the Daleks has never been revealed or known before now. The Doctor made it clear to Castavillian that he was never there, and both Castavillian and the prototype Dalek keep shtum to Davros.
- Mythology Gag:
- One of the names Castavillian suggests for the mutant Kaleds is the Klade, which are a far-future race depicted in the Eighth Doctor Adventures novels and implied to be the descendants of the Daleks. However, while the name is spelled "Klade" on BBC iPlayer's subtitles, the YouTube subtitles instead spell it "Klaed".
- According to behind-the-scenes tidbits, a never-seen easter egg of the 1996 TV Movie's TARDIS was that a Dalek plunger was hidden in the drawers where the Master procures the bag of gold dust. Though it may not be the same plunger after centuries of changes to the interior, it may be in recollection of this that the Doctor has had Dalek plungers on hand (and accidentally make a Bootstrap Paradox out of, at that).
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Doctor flies the TARDIS right across the prototype Dalek's multi-dexterous claw, breaking it off and forcing him to toss Castavillian a plunger arm as a replacement.
- Now I Know What to Name Him: The Doctor names the prototype Dalek as such.
- Pet the Dog: Despite his possessiveness over his creation, the nature of the paradox means that Davros will end up taking Castavillian's suggestions for the Dalek name and Battle Cry, after already adopting the plunger design that he believes Castavillian is responsible for.
- Punny Name: Davros' associate has the surname Castavillian (say it by syllable).Still don't get it?
- Series Continuity Error: If you go by the novelisation of "Genesis of the Daleks", Davros was already disfigured and wheelchair-using when he first started working on the Daleks. Although the Doctor's reference to canon being broken potentially means this short is Loose Canon or set in an alternate timeline rather than a Retcon.
- Significant Anagram: Castavillian suggests Davros's new creations have an anagram of "Kaled" as a name. He picks out several that Davros immediately rejects, though he does give Klade some thought before deciding against it. The Doctor accidentally gives him the word "Dalek".
- Stable Time Loop: The Doctor turns out to have provided the inspiration for the Daleks' name, their catchphrase of "Exterminate!", and responsible for them having the plunger instead of the prototype's multi-dexterous claw.
- You Don't Look Like You: It's not immediately apparent that Davros is involved with the plot until Castavillian calls him by name, as this is the first time Davros has been depicted on TV as an adult prior to the accident that scarred him and made him dependent on his chair. This also contradicts various Expanded Universe works, such as Big Finish audios that portrayed Davros as having already been injured when he created the Daleks. According to Word of God, this was deliberately done to avoid associating disability with villainy during Children in Need.
