If you tuned in to Saturday night's Season 9 premiere of Doctor Who, then you got a taste of classic Who villain Davros.
(If you didn't tune in to the must-see episode, watch it now. At very least, read the recap!)
Davros in The Magician's Apprentice (Credit: BBC America)
If that episode, titled The Magician's Apprentice, is the only taste of you've had of the man the Doctor calls his "arch-enemy," trust me, it's not nearly enough.
So, I've got a deal for you: I'll share my Davros trivia with you. And you, by reading it, will make me feel like I didn't waste my youth by obsessing about things like Davros trivia.
Deal?
(Please?)
Let's do this.
Get ready to fill up on everything you need to know about the man responsible for a creating an entire race of mechanized mutant space Nazis!
The Magician's Apprentice (Credit: BBC America)
Of course, you might know them better as the Daleks.
Yes, even the most casual Doctor Who viewers are familiar with the extermination-fixated, plunger-and-eggbeater-wielding baddies. After all, they've been part of the Whoniverse since 1963.
But it wasn't until 1975's Genesis of the Daleks, which was referenced in the most recent new-Who episode, that fans first learned how the self-proclaimed "superior race" got their start.
Davros, then (and now) a fascism-loving scientist with a particularly eye-catching wheelchair, served as the head of the Elite Scientific Division for the Kaled race of the planet Skaro.
Skaro played host to an almost-eternal war between the Kaleds and the Thals. It was up to Davros to develop tech to defeat the other side. So he put bits of this, scraps of that and loads of genetically mutated Kaleds together to make his monstrous army.
Genesis of the Daleks (Credit: BBC)
Eventually, even his fellow Nazi-stand-ins basically said, "Hey, we're evil, but Davros seems extra evil, right?"
They were really just splitting hairs at that point, but none of it mattered. Soon enough most of them were dead — even Davros, at the what-passes-for-hands of his own creations.
The en...
NOPE!
READ ON: 'Doctor Who' Recap Season 9 Premiere: 'The Magician's Apprentice' Kills (And Exterminates)
As the Doctor — who kind-of-sort-of slowed down the Daleks' long-term development in the episode — knows all too well, it's hard to keep Davros down. (Same for the Daleks, who've somehow survived total annihilation. And then some.)
The Doctor's Fourth face (Tom Baker) and Davos in younger days (Michael Wisher) (Credit: BBC)
That's why the Doctor is never really done with Davros.
The mad scientist is resurrected from what turned out to be suspended animation? No, problem. Imprison him in a deep freeze!
He gets thawed out? Not to worry. Davros uses a deadly virus as a weapon and it backfires on him.
He's somehow comes back again? That's OK, he'll be tried for his crimes.
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Not even a time-lock could hold him. Heck, the self-destruction of his flagship left him no worse for the wear.
Which is why you should keep a skeptical eye (or eyestalk or hand-with-eyeball) on Davros and whatever his final fate is when The Witch's Familiar, part 2 of the Season 9 premiere, airs Saturday, Sept. 26 on BBC America.
Until then, catch up on all of the Doctor's past encounters with Davros yourself by checking out these episodes:
- Genesis of the Daleks (1975), featuring the Fourth Doctor
- Destiny of the Daleks (1979), also featuring the Fourth Doctor
- Resurrection of the Daleks (1984), featuring the Fifth Doctor
- Revelation of the Daleks (1985), featuring the Sixth Doctor
- Remembrance of the Daleks (1988), featuring the Seventh Doctor
- The Stolen Earth and Journey's End (2008) featuring the Tenth Doctor
