Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Paul McGann, Rakhee Thakrar, Terry Malloy, Adèle Anderson, Isla Blair, Ken Bones, Nicholas Briggs, Chris Jarman, Julia McKenzie, Suzanne Proctor, Jemima Rooper.
The Daleks may well be the ultimate embodiment of what it means to think of an enemy that is relentless, unfeeling, without emotion, and whilst you know that they will never understand compassion or empathy, they are but dust when the fan comes to think of their creator, when Davros enters the narrative, for in just one being you have a fictional character that can be seen in the most evil of men that have ever walked the Earth; that this creature who first locked intellect with the Doctor in Genesis of the Daleks, is in every way the master of genocide, of propaganda and lies, and to whom the viewer associates completely with the malevolent wickedness of Fascism.
Yet for all that, the character itself will inevitably bring a level of drama to any Doctor Who story that utilises the sense of fear that deals with the thought of the possibility of manipulation of the mind, of breaking down a good man, and that which can be seen as a separation of spirit over every possible version of the one in question.
Davros is an absolute, he is what we could all be of that which drives us turns ugly, turns to fear and desolation. We must not deny we are capable of such evil if the situation arises where we believe with all our might and reason, we are the one who can save our species if we are faced with extermination, and even in a symbolic moment of hate, we set our path down to a place of inevitable destruction.
Arguably nobody frames the creator of the Daleks more than Terry Malloy, there is not an actor who with just a voice can make the soul freeze over, and rightly as a listener, as fans, we adore the man for giving us the ability to be scared. However, he also can show, as he did with marvellous effect in the limited four part run of I, Davros, just how the evil can lurk in the shadows of even the most reasonable and kindliest of men, and as the two part opener of the fourth box set of the eighth Doctor’s Time War series is unleashed, so Terry Malloy, so Davros is rightly elevated once more in the minds of those whose understanding of Skaro is based on horror.
John Dorney’s two-part story Palindrome is one of the great mixes of psychological dread and science fiction/time travel melds. For the listener it might remind some of a certain age of the first time they found the terror of what occurred in World War Two to determine them to say never again, never again must we allow such an ego to be leader of a country of the world; and whilst we have failed on many occasions to stop those who will lurch their nation towards the toxic nature of fascism, we can at least spot the signs of a person’s mind that has cracked under the severity of their unjust thoughts.
Along with Lisa McMullin’s Dreadshade and Matt Fitton’s Restoration of The Daleks, the fourth instalment of the Time War series is arguably the finest of the entire arc so far, and with Paul McGann revelling in his time working alongside Terry Malloy, with Ken Bones reprising his superb role as The General, and Nicholas Briggs in fine menacing mood as the Daleks and The Time Controller, how the listener responds will be immersed in the beauty of internal panic and distress as they come to understand that when a good man is pushed towards war, sometimes they will embrace it with all their heart.
One of the great Big Finish audio drama boxsets, not only passionate, but compelling in every department.
Ian D. Hall