Corruption

The third chapter of I, Davros finally sees Davros become the crippled, wheelchair bound maniac we all know and love from the TV series. Death paves Davros’ inevitable march towards insanity, be it his colleague, and potential love interest Sharn, or his own mother, Calcula, dying at the hands of the Kaleds themselves.

This chapter is fascinating as we see Davros’ amorality descend further and further into the realms of evil. When his mother becomes the first ‘Dalek’ mutant it is bad enough as, technically, that is by her own hand when she commits suicide to elevate Davros to the upper echelons of power within the Kaled elite. Davros’ visit, however, to the Kaled maternity ward is horrific and sees him injecting mothers-to-be with chemicals which, it is implied, will turn their unborn babies into Dalek mutants. Giving birth to these monstrosities then leads to the mothers dying in childbirth.

Terry Molloy cleverly shifts Davros’ voice from the younger, calmer version of the previous chapter into the harsher tones recognisable as the older Davros until, ultimately, he becomes the slightly more artificial voice of the crippled Davros.

Calcula has lost all perspective and, now the head of the Military Youth, condones showing the gruesome massacres of Thals to school children and the press ganging of young children with the murder of ten year olds occurring as a consequence of speaking out, innocently, against the current regime. Again, Carolyn Jones is wonderful and manages to portray the subtle shift of her character from scheming mother to the desperation of the second chapter to the borderline insane woman seen in this third instalment.

There is less world building in this episode and most of the action is restricted to the Kaled dome and Davros’ laboratory. This episode is more concerned with showing the terrible choices that Davros is willing to make to further his own desire to carry out his scientific research without interference from the Council and to ensure the Kaleds stay pure and defeat the Thals.

The racism angle, so evident in Dalek stories on TV, is not heavy-handed here, but is shown to drive many of the characters motivations. Any suggestion of peace between the two races – who are revealed to be completely different genetically – is seen as traitorous and even leads Davros to sentence his colleague Sharn to death by revealing her pacifist tendencies to the Supremo.

The reason for Davros’ condition in the TV series is finally revealed here and, to be honest, it fairly perfunctory. There is a missile attack and Davros’ laboratory is destroyed. One of the characters comments that they had to scrape Davros off the floor but the technology used to save him will, ironically, see him outlive all other Kaleds. Of course, the reason for Davros’ condition is probably the least interesting aspect of his background and it’s therefore understandable that little time is given to this. It’s the psychological evolution of Davros that makes this series so engrossing, not his physical.

This series is simply wonderful and I look forward to Nyder’s appearance in the final chapter, Guilt, bringing the story right up to the events of Genesis of the Daleks.