The Kaled and Thal races are at war. No one really remembers why, or when it started. A young Davros takes his first step towards his dark destiny.
The Kaled and Thal races are at war. No one really remembers why, or when it started. A young Davros takes his first step towards his dark destiny.
I, DAVROS: INNOCENCE
Right from the start of “Innocence,” the first part of Big Finish’s I, Davros spinoff series, it’s obvious you’re in for something new and something intriguing. Davros (Terry Molloy) is put to a Dalek trial in the framing sequence — but it’s not a trial in the criminal sense but rather in the commercial: an attempt to determine his usefulness. Expectations are thus subverted from the beginning, an effect which carries right into the flashback which comprises the body of the play. Skaro in wartime is a terrifying place: a place where paranoia runs rampant through the population, where a faceless enemy seems to counter every move the Kaleds make, and where death is such an expected occurrence that old soldiers who survive military campaigns are expected to commit honorable suicide. Nobody can remember why the war is being fought, but Gary Hopkins’ script is not a statement against the pointless nature of war. This society is past that: so devoted is it to the extermination of the Thals, it’s implied Kaled society would disintegrate were it ever to claim victory. Yet victory is the only goal left to the Kaleds — apart from the need to survive long enough to claim it.
Two characters are representative of this society: Colonel Nasgard (Richard Franklin), an old soldier, denied his honorable death, who thinks nothing of baselessly executing his men, and Lady Calcula (Carolyn Jones), a scheming member of the Kaled Council who stops at nothing to get her way. They have two children: Yarvell (Lizzie Hopley), an unremarkable young woman destined to follow her father’s path into the military, and Davros (Rory Jennings), a child prodigy and the apple of his mother’s eye. Neither child’s path is surprising — while Yarvell is an idealistic youth, that optimism is already being drained from her by the play’s conclusion, and one senses that, like her father, her career prospects are based on competence and reliability, not upon genius. Davros, meanwhile, shares his mother’s pragmatism. He is disturbed by senseless killing, but also believes strongly that the ends justify the means. These beliefs, coupled with his genius, rapidly lead him to educate Magrantine (Peter Sowerbutts) rather than the other way around: it is Davros who convinces Magrantine to experiment on human subjects, it is Davros who justifies his survival through his usefulness, and it is Davros who disposes of Magrantine — all the while using him as an experimental subject — when the tutor’s usefulness runs out. Cruel, merciless killing, without a doubt, but also a necessary step towards a “greater” goal, just like his mother’s schemes against his family, Major Brogan (Richard Grieve), and Councillor Quested (Sean Connolly). He’s not there yet, but it’s easy to see how this child can transform into the amoral monster of Doctor Who legend.
The performances in “Innocence” are excellent across the board. Jennings may seem wooden at the outset, but it quickly becomes clear that he’s giving a clever portrayal of a troubled, emotionless youth. Jones is brilliant — her Calcula is utterly dislikable and chillingly (sorry for this:) calculating. Franklin is almost unrecognizable as the same actor who portrayed Mike Yates, so weary and ruthless is his performance. Hopley and Grieve add much-needed sparks of humanity to an otherwise grim, unforgiving setting. And Sowerbutts is excellent as a desperate man swamped under by his prodigy. Steve Foxon’s production is first-rate as well. The I, Davros series was Gary Russell’s final bow as Big Finish producer, and it’s off to a great start with his usual high standard of directing.
Overall, there’s very little wrong with “Innocence.” Apart from some occasional melodrama, it’s consistently praiseworthy, and bodes very well for the upcoming parts. Quite possibly the best miniseries intro Big Finish has done.
8/10