Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Davros finest 2 hours, 25 Jan 2005
Having dominated the Daleks in every TV story since he was introduced Big Finish had ignored the character of Davros to concentrate on the Daleks themselves for several audio releases. For this play Davros finally returns - without the Daleks for the first time - as he is revived from suspended animation to work for a the unscrupulous TAI corporation, where he is partnered by the extremely reluctant 6th Doctor, who is entirely unconvinced by Davros' claim to have reformed his character.The basic plot of this story is fairly basic and predictable - like the Doctor we know full well that Davros will hatch some plan to kill everyone and take over - but what makes it is the execution and the concentration on Davros' character. Terry Molloy returns to give his best ever performance as Davros, utterly dominating the story and upstaging even the magnificent Colin Baker. Thanks to numerous flashback we also learn masses of backstory on Davros, including before he was crippled and the true story behind the creation of the Daleks. At first these background details, complete with an almost romance with another Kaled scientist seem to be humanising Davros, but the final twist as to the nature of his past actions only serve to end up making the character seeming even more evil than before. The supporting cast are excellent, particularly Bernard Horsfall as the morally ambiguous corporate executive trying to gain from Davros' knowledge, and ex-companion Wendy Padbury, here playing a historian apologist for Davros past actions, who is ultimately confronted with the true horror of his evil. One could be picky about a few less than convincing moments, such as the odd overly melodramatic line ("He'll take out you eyeballs and then come back for the sockets!"), the unconvincing all-encompassing genius everyone expects of Davros, the fact that despite sharing only a few minutes screentime in their previous TV stories Davros seems to think he has a massive backstory with the Doctor, and a production gaff that means the Doctor surviving a nuclear bomb that goes off about 2 seconds after he drops it into a mine shaft, but against the sheer force of Davros' personality these are minor quibbles, and despite the odd flaw this is still one of the best plays Big Finish have produced. Essential.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Davros...IS...BRILLIANT! , 4 Aug 2006
People say that he always got in the way of the daleks on tv, and thus their stories ended up being more about him than them. So here Davros gets a story to himself, forced to match wits the doctor. The latter is companionless, so the story can focus on just the pair of them. And it works superbly as a result.
There's some wonderful acting here, terry molloy presenting us with a davros who is given the chance to change. But will he take it? Colin Baker provides us with a doctor who is the intellectual equal to his foe, and there's excellent support from former doctor who guest star bernard horsfall and companion wendy padbury as a couple of business people who are giving davros this opportunity.
Will it all end in tears?
Will you find out more about davros than you expected?
Buy this audio and find out. You won't regret it.
Instead of the usual four episodes it's two long ones, but they're so gripping time will pass when listening very quickly
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terry Molloy returns to grapple with Colin Baker in this tour de force, 4 Feb 2007
"TAI stock has shot up by over fifteen percent on news that galaxy-famous scientist Davros, controversial creator of the Daleks, has been hired to work on unspecified technological projects.
"Davros has been given a chance to redeem himself.
"Humanity stands on the verge of a new era, but it needs the help of the galaxy's greatest ever scientist. But Davros is dead... isn't he?
"From the bunkers and shelters of ancient Skaro to to the gleaming Domes of the Future Earth Empire, Davros has always been a man of destiny. Now he's working for mankind's benefit. But how much do we really know about Davros?
"Has Davros really turned over a new leaf? The Doctor certainly doesn't think so. But is the Doctor always right?"
"Davros", by Lance Parkin, is the second of Big Finish's "Villains" trilogy released in 2003 to mark the 40th anniversary of Doctor Who and the run-up to Big Finish's 50th regular release, "Zagreus". Like the other "Villains" stories, "Omega" and "Master", "Davros" is a companionless story. Although supposedly taking place during Season 22 after "The Two Doctors", Peri's absence from the story is adequately explained, avoiding any glaring continuity issues.
Like the other "Villains" stories, "Davros" is a character-based story that really seeks to get inside the head of its villainous protagonist and understand what makes them tick. As such, the story is interlaced with Davros' flashbacks to his time as a Kaled scientist before the terrible accident that robbed him of his sight and his mobility and left him deformed. Both incarnations of Davros are played by a returning Terry Molloy, who puts in a fantastic performance. The character is well served by the removal of the Daleks that normally surround him, and Molloy is able to explore the more nuanced side of his character.
In continuity terms, "Davros" neatly plugs the gap between "Resurrection of the Daleks" and "Revelation of the Daleks", helping to explain how the character survived his previous encounter with his creations. And, perhaps as a result of his long confinement after the aforementioned story, we see a much more introspective and reserved version of the character (no ranting here), who almost seems ready to reform and make amends for his past crimes. The Doctor, of course, is deeply suspicious of Davros' motivations and keeps an eye on his every move. Whether or not Davros succeeds in reforming is something best left for the listener to discover.
As well as powerhouse performances from Colin Baker and Terry Molloy, the story benefits from faultless performances by guest stars Bernard Horsfall and Wendy Padbury as Arnold Baynes, the moderately shady the chief executive officer of TAI, and his wife Lorraine, a historian with a particular interest in Davros. Adding to the "special" feel of the story is its format, which at two episodes each in excess of an hour in length, allows the listener to get really involved with the questionable motivations of the character that is "Davros".
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