Friday, November 17, 2023

My Review of Doctor Who: "Destination: Skaro"

 


Written by Russell T. Davies 
Directed by Jamie O'Donoughue

The Doctor (to Mr Castavillian): "Look, I was never ever here. Never! The timeliness and canon are rupturing. I'm just gonna go and you're not gonna say a word, okay?"

With a week to go until the Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant) made his glorious return in The Star Beast, it was the chance for Children In Need to give us a taste of what was to come. This could've been a fun but frivolous little scene for charity. Instead it offered something of a game changer for a big bad.

It's been eight years since we've last seen Dalek creator Davros (Julian Bleach) and here he's looking very different. Instead of being horribly mutated and confined to a robotic wheelchair,  Davros was very much able bodied and moving about. I have to admit, it was a little jarring to see at first.

Anyways, this was a prequel to Genesis Of The Daleks, with Davros admiring his unnamed creation and an assistant named Mr Castavillian (Mawaan Rizwan) who ran through some different suggestions to call the destructive creature while Davros left the room. I mean, anagrams are fun, right?

Then the Doctor crash landed in the TARDIS and soon his mouth went away with him. Within seconds  it was the Doctor who gave Mr Castavillian the words "Dalek" and "Exterminate" to play around with. Then he realised the error of his ways and quietly disappeared before Davros entered the room again.

The end result was this - Davros will now be an able bodied man, the Fourteenth Doctor should come with a gag order and a plunger really does look better than a deadly iron claw. Even Davros approved of a design that he hadn't thought of for his iconic killing g machines. 

- There's a comic book called Liberation Of The Daleks that led into the events of this minisode. 
- Nice shout out to Davros's second in command, Nyder. The voice was spot on.
- The Doctor Who Unleashed that accompanied this minisode did give reason as to why Davros will now appear able bodied in future appearances.
- David Tennant filmed this during his birthday. 
- Edlak and Klade were among the suggestions Mr Castavillian had before he learned the name Dalek.
- Chronology: An hour since the events of The Power Of The Doctor.

Destination: Skaro certainly turned out to be a bigger deal than expected. I had hoped Davros would appear but this wasn't quite what I had in mind. Still though, I missed David Tennant and this was a nice prelude to the anniversary specials.

Rating: 8 out of 10

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