Personally I never thought and I've never met anyone who saw davros being in a chair as something offensive and the chair always (at least to me) shown his clear connection to the daleks and how obsessed with purity they are
I think you’re missing the point a bit. Nobody has an issue with Davros, but we do have a disproportionate amount of villains in fictions with disabilities because of old tropes that associate missing limbs, prosthetics, and scars with villainous characters. It did get quite a bit tiring seeing every other baddie back in the day have some kind of ‘bad guy scar’ or a hook hand in some forms of fiction. But that’s the Doyalist explanation. The Watsonian one is that Davros’s injuries were due to an explosion during a Thal attack wasn’t it? So stands to reason he didn’t need it when he was younger
@@cameronpearce5943 I don't have a problem with younger pre-explosion davros but changing future appearances to fix a problem that doesn't exist until you make it that's the issue I have
For the past version of davros it makes sense to see him like this but for this to be his diffinitive version moving forward I am worried about. Mainly for the reason that Davros has had this iconic look for years to do away with this look is simplifying him and making him generic looking, also who from the disabled community (if thats not what they wish to be referred to as I apologize) said they felt insulted by davros or felt that he was representing them? I feel people getting worried about stuff like this should at least check with people from a community they feel they might be offending before making changes like this that drastically alter the look of a character that has been around since 1975.
I agree. This idea of representation is so full of shit. Saying that disabled people can't be evil characters isn't representation/inclusivity. At best, it's a *patronising* positive discrimination by non-disabled people. If they REALLY cared about representing disabled people on 'Doctor Who' while respecting the franchise, they would have a disabled, heroic character instead of cancelling Davros, maybe have the two characters get a brief discussion over their parallels. This brings to mind a quote by J.R.R. Tolkien, about how you can tell evil apart from good because evil can't ever create, only destroy or pervert what others have made.
@@darlig.ulv.bakhjerne I think you're forgetting that Davros created the Daleks by manipulating his people's pre-existing mutations to permanently lock them into a squiddy, deranged mockery of their former self that never cycled back to their original forms like the Thals did.
@@ecthox-1mork909 Tolkien was the guy who classified working-class dialects as 'black speech' and likened lower-class people as literal orcs, his books are great but I won't be taking any moral advice from him thanks, especially where representation is concerned
Yes, Doctor Who survives because of change, but Davros is a very recognisable villain, and it seems strange to change that. It would be like taking the handles from Cybermen, completely redesigning the Daleks, or making the TARDIS not a police box.
The original Cybermen did not have the handles, and the Daleks and Cybermen have been redesigned many times. They aren't going to change the police box because it's the logo of the show.
@@seanhall6317 The Daleks have only been redesigned 3 times, all in New Who. The other changes were just aesthetics. The original Cybermen did have handles, they just had a great big light on top as well.
I may be fine with this change, because all things are temporary, but I always think that it's a fascinating that the Doctor's enemies never really change fundamentally which is why they always deserve defeat. Where as the Doctor changes all the time, and therefor always finds a new reason to go on.
@@nickthepick8043This doesn't seem to make sense. It's not like the characters redesign affects how the character is going to behave. At that point you're just changing the character completely. It's just a different character with the same name. Most of the doctor's villains don't follow that rule because they aren't time lords. They aren't the same character with a different personality. There's no re Davros personality would be different unless we're talking about a different version of him from a different point in time, which is what people thought this was going to be. But if this is the same character that we all know, but he just looks different. But he's from the same point in time than he should act exactly the same which means he'll get defeated just the same as if he wasn't redesigned. My point is redesigning. The character doesn't do anything to the character unless there are time. Lord, so your reasoning of the character is not changing me. They deserve defeat. Well, the characters will never change even with a redesign because that's not a fundamental part of those characters. A redesigned Cyberman is still a cyberman. The same thing goes for Davros A redesigned doctor is an entirely different personality. The reasoning for changing his design had nothing to do with changing who the character is on a personality level. They did it because they personally politically disagreed with something or wanted to push a specific ideal. He literally says it in the video.
As someone who might need support to walk from time to time, I find it fairly idiotic of the removal of the Life support system. He's meant to be half Dalek, we see a wheelchair user being a hero (Dalek Invasion of earth) and that's in the 1960s! Anyone can be a hero or villain no matter what's wrong with them, it's all about the character itself!
Surely that's exactly the point? Davros isn't defined by his chair. In the audio story 'Davros', the Sixth Doctor expresses this sentiment perfectly, implying that Davros doesn't even need the chair to survive - he can survive on his own through sheer force of will. This has since been depicted in both 'The Davros Mission' (the coda to I, Davros) and the Series 9 opening two-parter. And regardless - Davros can be just as sinister and evil out of his chair as he was when he was in it. As you say, it's all about the character itself.
@@dalekbumps If he isn't defined by his chair, then don't change it. He was evil before his injuries, not because of them. His chair made him unique and recognisable, now he's just a guy who's evil.
@@dalekbumps I agree with @10thdoctor15 . Saying that people in wheelchair can't be villains *because* they're in wheelchairs isn't being inclusive at all - it's a very patronising and unintelligent form of Positive Bigotry by non-disabled writers. If they REALLY cared about representing disabled people on 'Doctor Who' while respecting the franchise and being concerned about too much negative representation, they would pour their energies into making a disabled, heroic character instead of cancelling Davros, maybe have this new hero and Davros get a brief face-to-face and a chat over their parallels and what they think of their disabilities.
@@10thdoctor15Davros' chair is not the only thing unique about the character. That's an insult to the character of Davros. This is exactly why taking him out of the chair is good for the character - Davros is far more than just his chair
I still think that Davros’ design as a character is still a far more iconic appearance than him just being a creepy looking guy. It’s like if you made the Emperor just look like another generic Empire officer. That simple cloak is what you think about everytime you think of Palpatine. Everytime you think of Davros, you think of him and his Dalek life support system, it’s trying to fix something that isn’t broken.
They excuse that Davros is offensive to disabled people is stupid. When my father had to get surgery a few years ago, he occasionally had to use a scooter or a wheelchair and he has never thought that Davros was offensive. Does that mean that Darth Vader is offensive to people who use life support machines, or Emperor Palpatine is offensive to people who use canes, or the Borg are offensive to people with implants?
therevenger259. That's only one person. That doesn't represent everyone. Others may have a different view. In a way the chair is am attempt to dehumanise him. I'm not sure if many disabled people are offended by it but I would understand if they were
@@chrismonks592 The only person who I have heard say that Davros is offensive to disabled people is the screen writer who isn't even in a wheelchair. In the Dalek Invasion of Earth, there was a man in a wheelchair who led a resistance force against the Daleks and that episode was made years before Davros' first appearance. In the case of Davros, his wheel chair and artificial eye were done to make him seem more Dalek-like in his appearance. In fact, in the show Davros designed the Daleks after his own chair. Even though he created an alien race that went on to kill millions of species, he managed to create a massive empire while not being able to walk.
@therevenger259 Well you may be right. I was responding to your point though that just because you dad doesn't find it offensive doesn't mean other wheelchair users don't. I've never heard of davros's chair being offensive either. So as I said you may be right. But I haven't spoke to other wheelchairs users so I don't know.
Disappointing that in an attempt to 'avoid' discrimination, they removed one of the few disabled characters on TV. It shouldn't matter that he was a 'baddy'.
It doesn't make sense! Davros was in his life support while creating/working on The Travel Machine, it's even mentioned in The Target Novelization. RTD is also enabling Ableism, he's basically saying only abled bodied people can be evil and only disabled people can be good.
My point is that the Time War (or any other universe-altering event you can mention - Big Bang II, the Flux, etc) created divergent timelines in which Davros' origin story is different. This, coupled with the implications from Big Finish audios like Palindrome and Restoration of the Daleks, implies that any changes to the backstory of Davros from the New Who era hold no bearing on the original backstory of the 'Prime' Davros from Classic Who, that was detailed in Davros, I,Davros, and the Genesis of the Daleks novelisation. As for the point on ableism, I am not qualified to answer that. But my interpretation is that Russell wants to distance Davros from ableism. I've seen first-hand that references to Davros can be used by hateful-minded people to perpetuate ableism, so while I can't comment on the rationale behind Russell's decision in any meaningful capacity, I 100% support it
“He’s basically saying only able bodied people can be evil and only disabled people can be good” that is a REACH What he’s actually saying is that the disfigured and disabled villain is an old trope that Davros as a character doesn’t need to be an excellent villain and that we shouldn’t play into old stereotypes and harmful fictional tropes about disabled people especially on a night like children in need simply for the sake of canon.
@@Jackthefilmfanatic I think the point that RTD is trying to make is that times have changed, even since 2008. If you've been following his work since he left Doctor Who you can tell he's changed a lot as a person since the 2000s, and his writing has matured a lot as a result. Another point to take into account is this - Russell isn't just thinking about how modern-day adult wheelchair users view Davros, he's thinking long-term. As in, how will wheelchair users in 10, 20, 30 years time view Davros when they look back on the show. And not just wheelchair users either - everyone. It proves that he values Doctor Who's longevity, in that he's willing to make a controversial change to a classic character in order to facilitate his survival and development in the decades to come. I'd much rather hear that the showrunner has decided to alter aspects of Davros than hear that the showrunner has decided that Davros simply won't appear anymore
Davros isn't his to fix. John Lumic and Max Capricorn two Davros knock offs are. Davros is clearly evil before his injuries. Lumic seems to be inspired by his disability to be evil and inflict his solution to it on everyone else. Davies' take on the Master is driven insane (and therefore evil because invisibly disabled people can still be evil presumably) by tinnitus (a hearing disability). Terry Nation didnt write Davros that way but RTD did write those characters that way.
It's possible that the 12th Doctor going back in time and saving young Davros may have caused the timeline to change and thus why Davros in the Children in Need special isn't the Davros we used to know.
danielwilliamson6180 Could be. It's certainly possible to change things when time travel is involved. One good example was in series 5 when the cracks in time explained why no one remembered the cyberman invasion
As someone who is disabled I never got the idea that Davros being an evil man in a wheelchair was harmful to me and others like me, I always found it ironic that someone who made the Daleks a race based on the Nazis would be disabled. While I do take some issue with later Dalek stories like the Doctor falling for the oldest trick in the Book and feeling Sorry for Davros thus leading to what happened. I do like your theory that Davros regenerated or maybe this is Davros after he went back in time to save himself from being crippled by the Thal attack, given the amount of time travel headaches the Daleks have done to their Lore i could see Davros doing that just to avoid being stuck in the wheelchair. I just hope they use it right and make it work in the story than doing it to try and score points. Oh also might be a bit grim but I always assumed Davros stole those eyes and had them implanted into him so he could add to the "poor me i wanna see the sunrise with my own eyes before I die"
While this change was brought on by behind the scenes discussions on representation, it doesn’t mean they can’t write it into the plot and have it make sense. For one, the change to the “Genesis of the Daleks” can be explained away by either timeline shenanigans or by just saying the Daleks were based on common Kaled life support units and not the other way around. The one in “Destination Skaro” seems to just be the Dalek armour with no Mutant inside so we’re still a ways away from the actual “Genesis of the Daleks” story. Two, with having healed Davros being the design of the character going forward. As you said, last time we saw him he got his hands on the Doctors regeneration energy. And that wasn’t a last minute trick by the doctor either. That’s a huge event that hasn’t paid off at all since that episode. It hasn’t affected the Daleks one bit outside that story. So having that come back and having a big change to Davros can help that story hold more weight. Also, it would make sense for why Davros would want this change. In that last story, the Doctor forced him out of his life support unit, leaving him immobile, helpless and begging for assistance. And with him dying and using that to trick the Doctor into truly helping him, would make sense that he would never want to be caught in that situation again. I think people are mainly upset that Russell is making a big change to a character without giving us any context behind it. Of course there’s gonna be people upset when they take this character who’s been depicted consistently over 40 years and change him with the only explanation given boiling down to “it’s 2023, we know better now, get used to it”. He obviously doesn’t want to spoil a plot point that probably won’t show up for a few years but I think people wanted some safe comfort after Chibnall introduced his own changes to the lore of the show. I’m just gonna wait until we either do or don’t get an explanation in the show for this change to really make a decision about it but so far I do like it.
> can be explained away by either timeline shenanigans or by just saying the Daleks were based on common Kaled life support units Nope. "Timeline shenanigans" don't work because unlike the much better novels before the new series, Davies made the big opponents of the Time War the Daleks and Davros. If one side of a Time War can be affected by "timeline shenanigans", then they are VICTIMS of a Time War, not one of the fighting sides. And the Kaled life support units were built to support the ultimate evolutionary result of conditions on Skaro, the blobby lump. Can't even claim it would be the Thals because the Thals turned out to practically thrive in Skaro's post-war conditions.
I think you can split the difference with the two designs. Have him walking, but keep his metallic hand, the shiny clothing and the facial prosthetics (but less so on the latter so Julian can emote more).
The one thing I have an issue with in this special is how comedic it treats the Dalek's history. Throughout "I, Davros," you see the things that inspired him to create the Daleks. Their protective shells, motivation through anger, even "Exterminate" and the word "Dalek" all had basis during his journey. Now it's the Doctor happened to show up and give his assistant some of those things. I get this was a comedic charity special, but maybe the (grotesque) creation of the Daleks wasn't the best angle. Also, if you haven't heard "I, Davros," I would highly recommend it.
The Daleks were always my favourite villains in DW but I always felt that the Nu Who era had a tendency to build their threat up only to more often than not, have them defeated in stupid & humiliating ways all for the purpose of a gag.
I don't really mind it. the show has always had contradicting lore, including the erasure of yarvelling (RIP). Not too hard to just ignore this, unlike a CERTAIN OTHER recent major change to the backstory of an important existing character... side note, I'm listening to "I, Davros" and yeah it's great
The canon urks me a little but I understand Russell's reasoning and I respect it. No, my concerns are with giving future Davros his legs and arms back, a lot of kids have the deal with life long disabilities and so did Davros, so to me it feels off to turn Davros from a character with a disability into a fully able bodied one
For me personally, if they go the regen energy healed him route i would be absolutely fine. The children in need special can easily be writen off as non-canon fun which i personally enjoyed. My issue isnt the change in his apearence, its the "this is how we see davros" and "this is how he has always looked" angle theyre trying to push. In the "unleashed" episode Russell basically states that this is how davros has always looked, comparing it to how films used to be in black and white. Which is a stupid retcon cause it destroys alot of plot points (especially in Genesis and Remberance)
That isn't what Russell is saying. He openly acknowledges that Davros used to look one way and now looks a different way, and uses the transition of black-and-white to colour as a metaphor for that change. (Granted, it's a bit of a weak metaphor, but still)
@@dalekbumps just to clarify further, my interpretation with him comparing it to black and white film was that films used to be in black and white, but that doesn't mean the world they represent was. The first dalek story was in black and white but the Daleks were never black and grey (at least in that story) they were always grey and blue. By comparing it to black and white film I interpreted it as "previous appearances of davros didn't represent what he now has always looked like"
Of course Davros hasn't always looked like this. He's used the controls on his chair frequently. The first time we see him, he controls the Dalek and Ronson deactivates it.
@@dalekbumps You mean like when Moffat wrote novelisations of his story, he wrote that the reason the first two Doctors' eras were in black and white was because THE FIRST TWO DOCTORS WERE COLOUR-BLIND? Which of course is revealed to be not just stupid but insane and completely shot as an explanation thanks to the episodes called "The Three Doctors", "The Five Doctors", "The Two Doctors" and "Twice Upon A Time"? Russell Davies and Steven Moffat are idiots and also more incompetent and incapable than anybody who wrote episodes in even the 1980s. Don't forget Moffat is the stupid moron who had the Tennant and Smith Doctors laugh hysterically at not knowing what the round things in the walls were for. Moffat and now Davies have bought wholesale into cutesy things like paradoxes being cute and fun parts of a story as opposed to something either hinting at how terribly wrong things were, or a disaster to specifically present. Stop looking up to Moffat and Davies. They have proven that they're incompetent and can't even write a coherent story anymore.
I've always disliked when the phrase, "there is no continuity." That's nothing more than an excuse for a writer to be lazy and not do research. Take "End of the World" for example where the date for Earth's destruction is in conflict with "The Ark," would it have been too hard to watch the old story and get the date right? Would it be wrong for the Doctor to ask why nobody remembers the Daleks after multiple invasions? Blatant errors like this are in my opinion unacceptable. Maintaining continuity is not some impossible science, it's basic research and adding a couple lines here and there. If fans can do it, they can do it.
I agree with you when it comes to franchises like Star Trek, who take a more hard-sci-fi approach and tell a grounded continuous story involving politics and science, but Doctor Who is a very different beast. It's been contradicting itself intensely since the earliest days, to the point where by the time the Fourth Doctor comes along we've had at least two contradictory explanations for how the Doctor got the TARDIS, three Atlantises, the inconsistent dates of the UNIT stories, and goodness knows how many other minor continuity errors. And in a universe where time is described as 'wibbly-wobbly' and can be rewritten, it stands to reason that these so-called 'continuity errors' are in fact in-universe manifestations of the fluctuating timeline of the universe. I've often wondered why people in New Who don't remember the Dalek invasions, but then I remember that this kind of consistency has never been a part of Doctor Who, especially not spanning multiple eras. Why does nobody remember the various high-profile alien invasions that happened in the 70s/80s? Shouldn't Autons be common knowledge by the late 2000s, as they've done two major public invasions? It's like when the Seventh Doctor queries Ace on her lack of knowledge of the Zygon Gambit or the Yetis in the Underground, and simply concludes that Humanity has a keen talent for self-deception. The bitter truth is that it simply isn't worth a writer's time or effort researching each and every line they write to search for possible canon inconsistencies from previous eras of Doctor Who, it would be as pointless as trying to polish a sponge. Doctor Who shouldn't be bound by its past anyway, there's an infinite universe out there with infinite possibilities
@@dalekbumps I suppose that's fair. Even Genesis has the famous error of the grey Daleks instead of silver. Still, if a writer is doing a story with similar elements to a previous one. It would make sense to research what came before. I've written my own Doctor Who stories before, and it's always something I do.
Terrance Dicks said that continuity is what the writer can remember (since there was no way of checking previous episodes back then). I kind of agree, but then Moffat contradicted himself within the same series. It's less about continuity, and more that is how the general public know Davros, as the design is so iconic.
@@10thdoctor15 I'm not sure that's true. Terry Molloy said in the commentary track for "I, Davros" that he was brought in see the tapes of "Genesis of the Daleks" so he could copy Michael Wisher. While impractical, writers could see the previous episodes, or just read the scripts. There was just less emphasis on continuity. I think there is potential in seeing a "healed" version of Davros. It could even be the step to final move the Dalek story forward.
I would have zero issue with a redesigned Davros if it is explained in a story. What I have an issue with would be if the next time Davros appears he just magically looks completelly different with no mention to the fact that he used to be in life support system. I dislike the idea that you can't have a person with injuries portrayed as a villain in 2023 out of fear of offending someone. Like seriously you think that someone who has to deal with being in a wheelchair has that thin skin to be offended by Davros as a design?
If they are to make this change, regardless of whatever is going on during production, I hope this always gives Davros the chance to change. Free of his damage and no longer confined in a weakened body, he starts to see things differently. This is not a fast change over a single season, but perhaps this may free him of his desire of unlimited power in and of itself.
Weird thing to bring up but I think the short explains something odd about the Dalek casing. I always thought it was strange that the casing has enough room inside to fit a full size humanoid when Daleks themselves are the size of a small dog, the short shows that the term "Dalek" hasn't been invented yet. What if Davros created the MKIII travel machine as a small personal tank for Kaled soldiers before he was disfigured, then later on when he created the Dalek mutants themselves he made them the pilots of the casings?
I'm fine with this being the new davros design going forward, but I don't think they should try and retcon it to say that this is what Davros has always looked like since it feels a bit disingenuous. That was Davros for many years and they should adress that in some way, whether in a dedicated story or in a snippit of dialogue. An angle I think could be fun is if Davros has decided that the Daleks have failed his grand vision for them, so he creates a new strain of humanoid daleks that resembles the Kalads, with him as their emperor, and they all wear silly dalek hats like the troops from resurrection do. Make these humanoid daleks and the more standard daleks get into some sort of civil war or something.
I think a past incarnation of Davros as able-bodied and unscarred is an interesting approach, but must be defined as his ‘prequel’ status. It would be poor if his iconic appearance is simply retconned and thrown away as if it never happened… what made Davros truly Davros is his god complex with the Daleks and his roots as a Kaled fascist, not his life-support system. What I would like to see is a Davros story that has no Daleks, like the Big Finish audio, to showcase his strengths as a villain.
I personally like how the short featured a younger version of Davros before he got injured, but RTD’s reasoning wasn’t that, it was because he doesn’t want to make people think wheelchair users are evil.
Reading through some of the Destination: Skaro comments about Davros’ change I was surprised that people weren’t particularly excited. I was thrilled to see Davros “pre accident” (as I’d initially inferred him to be) as I’d always wondered about how this era would be televised.
As long as the reasoning is explained in-universe, I have no problem with an able-bodied version of Davros being "canon" moving forward, personally, I think your theory that the stolen Regeneration energy slowly healed his injuries is a plausible one and I'd be more than happy to accept it as fact
It's Russell T. Davies, he leaves no stone unturned. Literally. Even running multiple shows he finds ways to tie them all together brilliantly. Pretty much everything from Season 1 to Season 4 of the reboot has an explanation.
Lemme just paraphrase something I wrote below... Are we talking about the regeneration energy he stole from Capaldi's Doctor, somehow going back in time to a point before Davros made the Daleks? Or was it that he was never ever caught in the Thal attacks? Because one requires the regeneration energy to go backwards in time AND FOR DAVROS TO HAVE BEEN INJURED AND MIRACULOUSLY HEALED and Kaled science should have torn him to pieces trying to understand what happened. And the other means that regeneration energy went back in time and prevented Davros being near the site of a missile attack and I'd love to see how that works.
@@zocialix You have got to be kidding. He completely contradicted his own final-Eccleston episode in saying the Doctor can't give up power. He contradicted HIS OWN SCRIPT when female Donna complained that she gave up the money under the influence of the memory of the male Doctor. He doesn't tie anything together brilliantly. He's too insane and stupid to write a single episode coherently.
The problem is that the changes are being explicitly justified without reference to any internal plot reason at all, but for reasons of representation, even though as numerous other people have pointed out this serves to erase a high profile figure with numerous physical disabilities whose agency was equal to the Doctor.
Two things I just wanna say. 1 we haven’t gotten to a story that requires an explanation yet and 2 I don’t really want my representation being Space H!tler. Just as many people with disabilities are extremely happy with this change because we’ve been dealing with this trope for decades.
@@digbystrawbridge6161 The canon that’s always changing? I couldn’t care less. I’m done with the Cybermen they can be retired for a while because they’ve been done to death recently and have fallen into a similar role of the Daleks. The Daleks have been around longer than Davros and can exist without him or with a new variant of him. Look anyone who believes Canon is fixed in Doctor Who is just wrong.
To be fair seeing Davros healed would be interesting. As for his wheel chair what could be interesting is if since he doesn't need the life support system he turns it into a full set of Dalek casing designed for him that he uses as Battle armor or like a mech suit. Like he can open it up sit inside and then move it around and join the Daleks on the frontline as some form of super commander
I'd defenitely like to see more of healed davros. I hate to say it but he was admittedly getting a bit stale, and more positively, this allows more interesting use of his willingness to interfere with his own apperance with equipment other than the chair- perhaps some more unique cybernetics or maybye even just the blue eye could make for some interesting gimmicks. I also think that seeing davros without his usual appearance is a fun change and his healed look really well matches the usual scarred design, which isn't something I ever expected to see.
I liked seeing this different take on Davros but I cannot understand why the change was made. Nobody and I mean literally nobody was saying Davros was evil just because he was in a wheelchair/life support system. It is such a bizarre change for RTD to make and his reasonings make me worried for other things in the future of the show. If RTD always had this stance then why did he not make the change in series 4 when he brought Davros back? No...this feels like the higher ups at the BBC said to him "Hey...people might not like that Davros is in a wheelchair so change that" Pretty soon you won't see Darth Vader in Star wars because that will offend Burn victims and those on ventilators....
Great...now Davros, the most recognizable, ominous, horrifyingly evil villain in all of Who lore has been "modernized" into nothing more than Colonel Klink from HOGAN'S HEROES, just another Nazi without the swastika. No. Absolutely no.
If you think the only thing that makes Davros is unique is his chair then you've clearly been focusing far too much on the chair and not enough on the man who sits in it. Shame on you.
All I really want now is a canon reason why this is happening, even if it is a couple pieces of dialogue by himself and The Daleks. Thanks for the video Mr Bumps get better soon 🙏😷
I'm assuming they will present some kind of explanation for why Davros won't have his chair in future appearances, but even if they don't, there's always the regeneration energy he absorbed in Series 9 to fall back on. Maybe after the Doctor left the Dalek city, Davros slowly began to heal as the regeneration energy repaired his body, so the next time we see him he'll be completely restored to how he looks in the Children in Need short
@@dalekbumps It would have been cool to see Juilen regenerate back into Terry Molly for this new iteration of Davros. I think that would have helped tremendously.
I mean… he didn’t always need his travel machine. He was a kid and as far as we can tell didn’t have any disabilities until he sustained injuries later in life? I’m a bit tired right now but I’m unsure why people were upset by showing a younger Davros
It's not a "younger Davros". They've retconned Davros so that he wasn't injured, set in a life support system whose design he used to build the Daleks. Now he's "not injured". People are upset because there's a zero-explanation of the history change of a character they've known and respected since the 1970s. Russell Davies, like Steven Moffat, are trying to tell you that we've always been at war with Eastasia.
@@troffle the very existence of Davros in the first place is a retcon. Daleks evolved from Dals, the Thal leader says so in 'The Daleks', the first Dalek episode. The Dalek comics have an entire arc detailing their origin, which got thrown out when Genesis of the Daleks came out a decade later. Doctor Who's canon is fluid, it always has been.
I don't really mind Davros being out of the chair, but RTD's reason behind it did sound pretty ableist. I wouldn't be surprised if he simply mispoke, however, as RTD is famously terrible at explaining himself.
@@dalekbumpsdoesn't matter I know kids in wheelchairs that were upset by this change And if he's doing all this so certain people aren't victimized I'd love to know when he's gonna tackle people that lack empathy Oh he can't, because the vast amount of them are psychopaths/sociopaths/megalomaniacs/etc and a large amount of them appear in doctor who including zaroff, salamander, solon, John lumic (one of his tenures story creations) Just to name a few, so those that border on psychopathy have to just be cast as the villains Good to know I can be associated with davros either way and best of all he's a straight white man, the thing every villain seems to be
@@snakedaemongaming6590 as far as I know, Davros' sexuality has never been elaborated on. The closest we get is passing references to Shan in the Davros audio, but it's clear what he felt for her was possessiveness and obsession with her ideas, not romantic attraction. And I'm not sure what you mean when you say every villain seems to be a straight white man. Kovarian, Missy, the Spy Master, Daniel Barton and Tecteun are all significant villains in recent Doctor Who, none of whom are straight white men.
@@dalekbumps I haven't been sober for the longest time so most TV part 2010 pretty much a blur or unwatched so I wouldn't know half of these Personal problems Insomnia that last days, anything up to 10 nights and days at any one time means I hallucinate quite a bit and that's considering I border on psychopathy before these periods of insanity If I don't drink, I don't sleep
@@dalekbumps you could of used a character I might of known like the rani or adrasta from creature from the pit or Cassandra Or how about cessair of diplos or Helen a or queen xanxia I can play that game too But hey, they remain forgotten
If your gonna change Davros for some overly sensitive political reason, the least you can do is make it equally as interesting. This is why I find Russell so much more tolerable, more recent show runners would have gone way too far.
I dont even mind him walking again if it's done right in the story. (Maybe the regeneration the doctor gave him in The Witches Familiar magically gave him his legs and arms back.) But he should still have kept the face the same. Hes like thousands of years old, of course he's gonna look all moldy.
Well I mean if you believe what is said that the doctor lost his leg during the siege of trenzalor and got a wooden one In it’s place. Before getting his old one back when he got his regeneration reset. Yes regeneration works on lost limbs
Well if you want to fit it into the "canon", you can always say this is Davros before his confinement to a wheelchair. Don't forget that in "Genesis of the Daleks", Davros mentions he was working on "modifications to the Mark Three Travel project". So presumably the work was delayed for some time while Davros recovered from his injuries (either through accident or artillery bombardment as in Terrance Dicks' novelisation). Personally I enjoyed "Destination Skaro". In the end it was a comedy sketch not to be taken seriously (?!!), and it was nice to see Julian Bleach without the mask on. I liked the shading in the hollows of his eyes, and was that Peter Miles' voice that was heard on the tannoy?
Lowkey, if Davros wasn’t name dropped, I’d of thought the Doctor flew into a Star Wars scene making a coincidental looking drone Edit: this isn’t a negative comment, I enjoyed the Children in Need episode
Change in the story is fine, so long as it's not about forcing political agendas down the unwilling viewer's necks. *Having disabled villains is not casting shade on disabled people in general.*
What if davros made the dalek as a tank for people to sit in since Clara was in the dalek at one point, with the plan for the mutant way later then the injury happens and the plans are used to make his chair
The Celestial Toymaker can also be used as an explanation as it was heavily implied in “The Giggle” that he’s the reason the Doctor has so many conflicting origins like being half-human, being a reincarnation of the Other, being the Timeless Child, and being a normal Gallifreyen.
Whilst I personally disagree with the idea that a villain can't be a wheelchair user (I think disabilities should be treated completely equal in fiction like race and gender), the explanation you gave here I actually really like. The regeneration plot line in The Witch's Familiar felt really vague and unfinished, so this idea that it was all to completely regenerate Davros himself really strengthens that story and creates a great bit of continuity for the character. I hope this turns out to be the case, because it's a really nice idea.
I just hope they give him some more interesting features. Doctor Who has many awesome designs that have become iconic. For the past it makes sense for Davros to look like any other Kaled. But I would prefer if they give him a more distinctive look in the future.
…I’m sorry but with all due respect regardless of any in universe explanation, changing a design so iconic as Davros’s is incredibly stupid. I would honestly rather they retire the character outright rather than forcibly change him into something that he isn’t
My issue with it is that it misses the point of Davros. His whole deal was that he was turning into one of his monsters, with his appearance in Remembrance really driving that home. It was never about disability. It's pretty typical RTD though, displaying his superficial understanding of both the character of Davros and of representation of people with disabilities.
Davros was a human. He was a scientist of the Kaled’s trying to come up with the most powerful weapon to win their war. He created his own”chair” as a transportation device. Then realised that he could make it a weapons platform that would cover and entire soldier. It eventually moved to the squid like creature over time. It is also why you get the name Dalek, he swapped the first and last letter.
This is a bit of a tricky one. On the one hand, there is - as Russel says - a long history of villians being linked with disability. On the other hand, there are many problems with just taking away a large part of a character. Regardless of whether it can be explained in-universe, it still feels quite lazy to just remove that aspect of Daveros' life, replacing it with... nothing. Id also like to point out The Daleks themselves are also born of the same issue, so if they want to fix Daveros they should also fix the Daleks. Heres what I think. Acknowledge it (bringing Daveros with legs back for the special was a brilliant move, i just dont like idea of the future changing), but move on. Considering Daveros really wasnt offending anyone and i have seen many disabled people say its fine, it really wasnt somerhing that needed to be changed
In 1963, the Daleks were people damaged and mutated by nuclear radiation. They adapted by living as cyborgs inside Dalek casings. Technically, every Dalek is a disabled person. Russell T Davies is now in a tight corner. If the retcon of Davros is to be applied consistently, then the Daleks would have to become evil robots, following on from "Destiny of the Daleks", where Terry Nation had retconned the Daleks into robots to borrow a plot idea from Isaac Asimov, to pit them against the Movellan robot race. As an aside, the Daleks could be given legs, thus converting them into fudged, low rent Cybermen. The Cybermen are disabled people with augmented cybernetic appliances. The principle is exactly the same as with Davros, the Daleks and the Cybermen. A bird breaking a snail's shell with a stone is using a tool. Tool usage predates humanity. A bird is an advanced form of dinosaur. Davros' chair, the Tardis and a smartphone are all applied technology. If this principle is to be applied consistently, then we would have to live as less than animals who have used simple tools for millions of years. The HG Wells "War of the Worlds" Martians would be forced to relinquish their tripod war machines in the service of political correctness and the song thrush would starve through want of a stone to obtain vital food. It is vital to apply an idea consistently. Making Davros into a goose-stepping Twinkletoes can be seen as politically correct cherrypicking. No Davros chair. No Daleks. No Cybermen. If the Daleks had not appeared in 1963, NO DR WHO!!! The show would have been axed due to declining viewer ratings, a trend dramatically reversed by the success of the disabled Dalek creatures, who found a way of surviving by resourceful, technological adaptation to an altered and hostile environment. Davros was the architect of this. "NuHu" is a towering edifice of retrospective continuity. It will be forced to remain so in order to retrieve the vital cornerstones and pillars of the show. The relationship of living beings to technology and survival is part of life and the implications raised by the future possibilities of this is huge. This goes way beyond Dr Who. It is a vital ingredient of Science Fiction itself. More importantly still. Science Fact!!!
Far as I’m concerned, “I, Davros” is still canon and this stupid shit can go straight in the bin with Chibnall’s entire run. Same goes for Star Eater by the way, episode was a complete waste.
I, Davros is still 'canon' for the backstory of the Davros we see in Classic Who, but the timelines have been shifting incessantly since the Time War and, as Big Finish's Time War 4 series shows us, the Davros from New Who is technically a distinct individual from the Davros from Classic Who, albeit one who has all of his memories and experiences
I actually like this idea; since you brought up the doctor’s Regeneration situation in The magicians apprentice/The witches familiar healing him and his deformities. Imagine him having cybernetic Legs and his arms are no longer stiff and crippled with his humanoid/Kaled original appearance as seen in destination Skaro; but keep his mechanical electricity hand that’s a cool thing. And have a nazi/Dalek uniform and boom! New cool look for Davros. Ever heard of the infamous “Angel of death” Nazi scientist from the WW2? They could make Davros the chief/head scientist of the Daleks to create radioactive weapons, deadly technology for the Daleks and be a sort of interrogator too who tortures the captives and hostages to get vital information out of them for the Daleks plans. Love that idea; a Nazi Dalek scientist rank specifically for Davros and a new iconic look to the character with cybernetic limbs, mechanical electric hand and restored Kaled form underneath the Dalek Nazi inspired uniform
I feel like this retcon of Davros implies that if you're disabled, you can never be bad or a villain, or that if you're disabled, you're always good or a hero, and my issue with that is that it easily dismisses depth of an individual, and removes any multi-dimensional aspects of their personality. I get that Davros is and is supposed to be a cartoonish villain, I do, but genericizing him like this only makes him seem more cartoonish and less believable.
Bear in mind that Russell has written many disabled villains for Doctor Who in the past, like John Lumic and Max Capricorn, and is likely acutely aware of the contribution he has made to the pantheon of villains whose defining physical traits are their disabilities. Taking Davros out of that group is a step forward for the show, and could lead to interesting developments in Davros' character in the future. We have an established lore explanation for how Davros can leave his chair in the future (12's regeneration energy from Series 9), and personally I'm looking forward to seeing where Davros ends up in his next episode
The necessity to occasionally re-evaluate these kind of things is of importance these days. It's no different than how lots of other long-running stories occasionally re-evaluate themselves and create a new iteration (Comic-canons especially do this a lot). Or how folklore and fairy tales change over time as the people telling the story change and etc. It doesn't bother me personally as much, but I haven't been actively watching for awhile at this point (Since the end of Capaldi's era), But I can appreciate people getting invested in the story/lore to a certain degree and being averse to large changes that alter the feeling of a character or invalidate previous motivations. Especially after a certain Timeless Child debacle, Lol.
Given the fact correct me if I’m wrong but we haven’t seen Davros post witches familiar and the doctor willingly gives up some regeneration energy at first to Davros who’s to say after that episode Davros doesn’t regain his body fully just a theory I’m throwing out it would be interesting to see a Davros who can actually walk around and stuff
my biggest complaint is that the new davros simply doesn't have an interesting enough design. you can make changes that make representation better, sure, but make those changes cool!
Personally i think that regardless of the appearance if Julian Bleech is playing davros the character will be fantastic. However DW seems to be going through a long phase of fixing something that noone complained was broken. End of the day if you thought davros was evil because he was disabled you're wrong, its because he was bloody insane. The last christmas special had a wheelchair bound character played very well by a skilled actress who came across as pretty badass so shows even further thats not the case. But in several of interviews there is some half arsed reasons for why they change things and its getting frustrating because if you cant give a good enough reason for it then why change it? Change in a story is good but its even better if there is logic behind it. But im happy to give the show a chance as well as this version of davros, as long as they have logic and explain and not just have another (this happened because it did) moment like davros magically surviving the crucible.
I had an idea similar to yours of how Davros changed. So in Magician's apprentice, Davros infuses timelord regeneration energy into his daleks, and what if he infused himself with the regeneration energy as well, and when the skaro city was destroyed, Davros was fatally injured and regenerated into his new form.
I’m afraid I have to disagree with russel t Davies. I understand what he is trying to do. However part of what makes davros is the accident which made him chair bound. He pushed science far more than he could or should of and it had a bad impact. However rather that wallow it self pity, he created a system so he could see and interact with each other. Yes later on his paranoias became outright delusion and let to his experiments on kales tissue but he was also shaped by the thousand year war. In a sense the kaled mutants encased in the mk3 travel machines are a lot like him. Driven or indeed genetically up engineered to survive but outside of the machine ineffective. I’m ts all asum part of the development of davros. What I would like to see in doctor who is what he is trying to do here but with the companions. We have never had a deaf companion or a blind companion. We have barely had companions with any form of physical ailment. We did have Ryan for barely two seasons but it felt like the show forgot his issues at times. This is where I would like to see representation. The Davros look is as iconic as the dalek look. I’ll be blunt this davros looks more like the genesis Nyder did! my biggest concern is the current creators of doctor who trying to remove all the confrontation out of doctor who. The scene where Lytton gets his arms crushed by the two cybermen for not talking and is then converted. The professor Stengos as the conditioned glas dalek. I feel at times modern doctor is being turned into event television, it’s scifi edges being dulled in favour of something for the kids to watch New Year’s Day. It can and should be able to tell stories that challenge people’s preconceptions and truths. To turn a lens on ourselves. To depict a crazed scientist who was impaired because of his people’s hatred of another for no apparent reason. Davros should make you feel uncomfortable. His glowing blue eye sensor lighting up in the dark ready to rant about his daleks. He is much more than his wheelchair and disability. He’s ten times more deadly then any able bodied person
2:45 Could an alternative method be Davros attempting to create a clone body for himself like one of the elements from Terror Firma (with something similar being referenced in the Davros audio)?
The stolen regeneration energy explanation is the one I hope they go with. It makes perfect sense without the need to change numerous parts of his backstory.
Can I just be clear about something; are we talking about the regeneration energy he stole from Capaldi's Doctor, *somehow going back in time to a point before Davros made the Daleks* or was it that he was never ever caught in the Thal attacks? Because one requires the regeneration energy to go backwards in time AND FOR DAVROS TO HAVE BEEN INJURED AND MIRACULOUSLY HEALED and Kaled science should have torn him to pieces trying to understand what happened.
@@troffle No, but the scene in the children in need special is before Davros’s accident, if it’s even canon at all. If they intend to have present day Davros looking like this, I would expect a convincing on-screen explanation for why he’s able to walk again.
@@andrewfradley7876 I am led to believe it's been explicitly said by Davies to be absolutely canon. I absolutely do not believe that any on-screen explanation will be even slightly believable unless they introduce him inventing something new. Then the question is why he wouldn't have done it earlier. Remember in the time of the Seventh Doctor, he was almost entirely embedded in the Imperial-side Emperor's shell.
This is stupid! RTD is basically taking Davros, a unique character in many ways, especially his former appearance, and turning him into a generic Nazi-type with no uniqueness whatsoever!
There is far, far more to the character of Davros than just his chair. The fact that so many people seem to think that taking Davros out of chair will remove everything that makes the character unique is, to me, the primary reason why Russell should take him out of his chair. Davros isn't just 'that guy whose bottom half is a Dalek', he's a twisted, self-hating, paranoid genius who both loves and hates his children. I'd recommend checking out the audio stories Davros and I, Davros. Both of these stories deal with Davros' backstory and explore his character in-depth, both in and out of his chair, and prove that even in a story without Daleks, without Davros' chair, and without the Doctor, Davros still shines as a complete and unique character in his own right.
@@dalekbumpsi think the biggest issue with taking him out of his chair removes such a defining thing about davros' identity. Not that he's *in* a chair, but rather what the visual of Davros being housed in a lower half of a Dalek tells us about him. It was a brilliant visual way to show us the thin line between humanity and Daleks. I think throwing that out in favour of a generic looking Nazi style bad guy is just such a disservice to not only the character, but the Daleks awell.
@@codaboi138 on the surface I agree it seems strange. But consider - Davros has always been somewhat of an exaggerated character. Larger than life, almost, and I mean that both in terms of his in-universe characterisation and his out-of-universe depiction. Taking him out of the chair gives the character a chance to shine on his own merits, not propped up by Dalek tech or his creepy eye, giving us a chance to sit down with Davros and talk about who he is, why he does the things that he does, and what he hopes to gain from it. Taking Davros out of the chair could, in theory, thematically link to the idea of separating Davros from his Daleks, and who knows where that could take the character? There's a lot of potential that can be explored here, I just hope RTD gets it right.
@@dalekbumps I like that idea, however i think the change was far, far too hamfisted and thus far doesn't seem to be for character reasons. There was an audio story (i forget the name) where davros cloned a new body for himself and he wanted the doctor to take him to a peacful place so that he can redeem himself. I'd love to see something along those lines, a character driven, lore focused change that gives us something fresh and un expected, that also gives us a deeper look into the character. A character change is totally welcome, however, this was the wrong way to go about it imo.
In my opinion, he should *definitely* rock that new jacket with the Dalek insignia on the collar. If anything they could have the chair as an option- and he can use both arms. Something almost akin to the Cyber-Controller from Tennant's run.
No matter what someone does with doctor who, or anything on that has been going on for 10+ years, there will always be someone on the internet that thinks it is the worse thing happened to the franchise ever
So what signs do you have to see in order to diagnose if something IS the worst thing that happened to the franchise ever? If you're saying that everybody screams every day that the sky is falling, what sign is actually going to indicate that the sky IS falling? Retroactive continuity changes for the purpose of contemporary social sensibilities sure doesn't sound like something good or normal. Especially in a show that's not only about time travel, but also about alien societies. Remember when even the Doctor was telling humans to stop being so limited and think about the bigger picture? I'm not American, but maybe you have to be Pepperidge Farms or something in order to remember as far back as Eccleston's "The Unquiet Dead" episode. Congratulations, you're Rose being worried about dead bodies, whereas the Doctor is trying to take unused material and put it to what at the time seems like a positive useful use.
@@troffle Personally, I would argue that a diagnosis of such an occurrence is a subjective one. I would also argue that due to the nature of the show, that of it containing time travel, any ret-con could be perceived as a change to the "timeline" as it were. At the end of the day you, nor I can change anything that goes into the production of Doctor Who.
Meaning that everything you've said is diagnostically unhelpful and where are we at now? Because I'll tell you now after watching and reading this show every year of my life since 1978, this show is almost purely unadulterated garbage from the hind end of an elephant and for the first time I WISH it were dead rather than the garbage it's presenting now.
@@troffle I am not stating whether you are correct or incorrect. I am just stating the fact, through my original comment due to the fact that this show is now 60 years old, it would be foolish to view the community as small, where everyone would agree with one another. Since this show is the age that it is at, any point could be nit-picked by anyone else due to the way that they were introduced to the show, hence me saying, "No matter what someone does with doctor who, or anything on that has been going on for 10+ years, there will always be someone on the internet that thinks it is the worse thing happened to the franchise ever". What I am trying to reason with this point is that even if they changed it to your personal preferences and your totally unique tastes, there would be others out there that would disagree with what you think should be happen with Doctor Who. That being said, I would be truly delighted to listen to your opinion of the show as it could change my view of certain changes. Doctor Who, in my opinion, is also a show that has been through many experimental changes thus leading to such a diverse amount of views. In addition to this, I would wish to make a point that I am staying neutral on the subject of the change of Davros' design for the reason of lack information. For, if we were just to prejudice against these changes we may miss out on, surprisingly ideal new episodes. Furthermore, should we not applaud Russel T Davis' attempt to become more progressive. Personally, I wish to remain neutral on this topic until further notice.
@@cattercakethesecond6534 ... I have a response to this. But CZcams is bad at dealing with the amount of text I've written. I'll try splitting it... Oh yeah, it completely barfed on accepting the whole post, damnit.
I always thought Davros was just half Dalek, without his iconic appearance it just lessens the idea that his accident is the natural catalyst for his creation of the Daleks. Russell's explanation just seemed a little half-baked to be honest, and it's such a shame to get rid of the classic design based on that.
It's canon, the point I'm making is that it doesn't matter if it's canon or not, it doesn't interfere with the Classic Who Davros backstory from the audios
Eh who knows, maybe the event in Destination: Skaro takes place in an alternate timeline where Darvos never had his little accident and was able to make a Mark III Travel Machine with a claw. In other words, “Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey”.
The entire show is an alternate timeline now. Chibnall tore up all canon and RTD cheered and declared that canon only holds writers back. Its all multiverse fanfiction now. Enjoy it if you can, because none of it means anything anymore.
@@lesigh1749to be fair though, this has been happening since the 60s with the original Dalek origin story (Apparently, it became fact during the Time War, but it eventually fixed it.).
@@rogersstinson4019 The 60s never really explained the Daleks origins other than they had a war with the Thals eaons before and both civilizations were destroyed. Genesis of the Daleks was the first origin story for them, and written by Terry Nation, so its canon. RTD is not on the same level as a writer, and frankly, he is just flailing around trying to score identity politics' virtue points with EVERYTHING since he came back. Remember that for decades this show brought people from all backgrounds and worldviews and religions and sexualities and everything else together in a shared geek love of a nerdy scifi. Activist hacks like RTD and Chibnall have poisoned it with their politics and declared anyone that who doesn't agree with them should LEAVE. These aren't good people, they are the baddies. They made this show divisive and incoherent with their activist hack writing.
It being based on his chair is thematically appropriate though. He thought so much of himself that he remade the Kaled race in his image. Backing this change, if they do double-down on it, isn’t something we should support. It’s lame and not done with good intentions. I’d rather not see it and I can’t agree with just accepting any trash people throw at us.
He's done it to divorce Davros from the unfortunate and prevalent history of villains being associated with disability. If Doctor Who existed in a vacuum, there would be no need for the change. But it doesn't - there is a lot of context from the wider world, particularly in film and TV, which places Davros in an unfortunate category of poor representation that Russell wants to distance him from. At the end of the day, the wheelchair does not define the character. Davros can still be just as evil, sinister and scary out of his chair as he was when he was in it - for all we know, Russell has some fantastic stories planned for the future that feature a healed Davros. Judging the concept based on this smattering of early information would be premature. Cynics complained when the Master became a woman back in 2014, and that turned out to be one of the best things done with the character in decades. Changes like this can bring great opportunities for storytelling, provided the one doing the change is also capable of exploring the narrative implications of that change in their writing
@@dalekbumps this is all nonsense. Do we stop having pirates with peg legs, eye patches or hooks? Davros is not in an ‘unfortunate category’. He is Davros, the creators of the Daleks. His design is iconic. It is supreme. You don’t need a big finish story to tell you that the Daleks were made in the image of his damaged self. The cybermen were partly created from a fear over the advance of prosthetic limbs. What do we do with them in this brave new chapter of doctor who? Make them goodies? Erase them from the series? Aren’t Daleks also disabled baddies? Genetically wounded humanoids who rely on their mobility chairs to function? I’m sure you’d love an empire of Dalek Secs, but you won’t find me tuning in to see it. RTD’s last Davros story, before that rubbish sketch last week, was a bit of a wet fart so I don’t expect anything.
I think thats so stupid, his lower dalek half is cool and if anyone actually got offended by that they need to shut up already. Im sick of this tissue generation always getting uptight and triggered by everything
He doesn’t even need to be in his life support chair just a tank Dalek to ride on if it’s before his accident but at the very least got to give him the wrinkled face and eyes everyone gets that eventually
If Davros returns un mutilated, the whole series deals with Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Whimey, change the past, effects the now, changes the future. So how and why it happened, does it matter?
I mean, so long as they explain it then I'm fine with the change Time's change, that's just life Besides I've heard the same people complaining about Shirley Anne Bingham's mere presence in the show so it's almost like they're not happy unless the disabled character is portrayed as evil
I have mixed feelings .I personally think that disabled people can be seen as villains it’s not like it’s not possible.on the other hand if they have to have able bodied Davros I’m happy with it I hop they least explain like his cloned himself if they just try to say he never was in a chair it will be just dumb😊
The only real issue I have with the change is that I’ve seen quite a few wheelchair users feeling patronised by it. But I’ve also seen wheelchair users who are praising the change. Regardless, I think RTD’s heart is in the right place, and there aren’t any real so-called ‘canon’ issues. In addition to the regeneration energy, Davros previously built an uninjured clone body to transfer his mind into in _Terror Firma_ Also, the funny thing is that _I, Davros_ and _Davros_ contradict each other. _Davros_ has Shan create the word ‘Dalek’, and Davros betrays her because he’s afraid she’ll usurp his position as Skaro’s greatest scientist. _I, Davros_ shows Davros betray Shan because he sees her pro-peace beliefs and revulsion at the Daleks he creates as a threat to his ‘children’, and has *him* come up with the name ‘Dalek’, basing it on old Dal writings (‘Dalek’ roughly translates to ‘man-god’). So those two stories aren’t exactly an example of consistent canon lol
I don’t know…with every passing day I feel like Davies is trying to destroy Dr. Who rather than build it up again. I mean, the musical number in the 15th Doctor special? Apparently a drag Queen as the new Master? Now we gotta fuck with Davros? I am honestly trying to keep an open mind because Davies delivered the goods when he brought the shoe back in 2005, but man he makes it hard! I’m trying not to smell John Nathan Turner’s awful 2nd act in old Who.
Doctor Grandad Wopa saved Davros from hand mines . Later on , Davros said his life was extended and had regeneration energy flown into him and all Daleks on Skaro . Daleks sewers destroyed Skaro once more but Davros is alive and not in a wheel chair because he tricked the Doctor into giving him regeneration energy. Brief as it was he now has legs and arms.
I'm fine with Doctor Who making changes like this because it's a setting based around time travel. Grand changes like this can be retconned and changed. I won't lie though, it is appealing to see Davros in Humanoid form, and his actor's mannerisms and poster is genuinely creepy to look at. He reminds me of Ben Mendelson in Rogue One, where he portrays what a sociopath is like in that way. I do have one question, however. Is it now considered wrong to portray disabled characters as evil? For "Children in Need", I can understand that and why they go with it, but I am genuinely curious.
There's a trope of depicting disabled people as evil, and people are worried that such depictions can subconsciously influence people's views and/or also be disheartening to see if you are disabled. That being said, I'm of the opinion that individual cases of disabled villains aren't wrong or problematic, and the majority of people seem to think the same. Other tropes often seen alongside disabled villains could be, like maybe having the character become a villain as a result of the accident that gave them a disability (which might be the reason why many people are glad that the special shows Davros being evil before he became disabled), or the disabled character being evil because they are envious of able-bodied people, but I think that's different than a character just being disabled and a villain. Many people think a better solution, rather than changing disabled villains or avoiding making anymore of those characters, is to instead make a wider variety of disabled characters, including heroes, and Doctor Who is doing this. People also worry that, by avoiding disabled villains, you limit the amount of roles available to disabled people (although I don't think this applies to Davros, at least not right now, because, disability or no disability, he likely would've continued to be played by Julian Bleach). And some people also like villainous representation and don't like that there is less of it. I do hope that RTD discussed this change with some disabled people before going through with it, because I know some people are upset about the change and feel that RTD isn't listening to them. I like the old Davros design, so I hope they don't get rid of it both entirely and forever, but I also liked Bleach's performance in the minisode, so I'm intrigued and look forward to seeing more of that version of Davros.
@@withallduerespect3001 Thank you very much for the breakdown! I feel more informed on the subject now. For me, I love disabled characters like Darth Vader. No matter how you felt about the guy, we can't help but be in awe when you learn what he had to go through to regains his skills, at least in the expanded universe. It was like when Beethoven lost his hearing, and yet he became an influential composer afterwards. Your best years aren't behind you, they are ahead. In this case, I find it kinda shallow or presumptuous to think that people will become that disillusioned by seeing a disabled character portrayed as evil, because they themselves don't have enough self-esteem to push past it. But I see what they mean, and this doesn't conflict with me regarding this change in Davros. The Doctor Who Universe is one that works in Time Travel. Everything is subject to change. Another commenter here said they envisioned this Davros getting into a Dalek chair or mech suit to better command or engage with his Daleks in battle, so I'm all here for that if it happens.
No...just no. Leave davros alone. Russel didn’t invent the character. Its not your place to decimate his appearance and alter his very identity. This is just empty virtue signalling.
Personally I never thought and I've never met anyone who saw davros being in a chair as something offensive and the chair always (at least to me) shown his clear connection to the daleks and how obsessed with purity they are
Most people didn't even think of that thing he was in as a wheelchair so I don't even know why he made that connection.
@@Grimjr7 I think it's just people being too safe like remove the problem before it becomes a problem
just victim mentality if they thought davros is mocking them
I think you’re missing the point a bit. Nobody has an issue with Davros, but we do have a disproportionate amount of villains in fictions with disabilities because of old tropes that associate missing limbs, prosthetics, and scars with villainous characters.
It did get quite a bit tiring seeing every other baddie back in the day have some kind of ‘bad guy scar’ or a hook hand in some forms of fiction.
But that’s the Doyalist explanation. The Watsonian one is that Davros’s injuries were due to an explosion during a Thal attack wasn’t it? So stands to reason he didn’t need it when he was younger
@@cameronpearce5943 I don't have a problem with younger pre-explosion davros but changing future appearances to fix a problem that doesn't exist until you make it that's the issue I have
For the past version of davros it makes sense to see him like this but for this to be his diffinitive version moving forward I am worried about. Mainly for the reason that Davros has had this iconic look for years to do away with this look is simplifying him and making him generic looking, also who from the disabled community (if thats not what they wish to be referred to as I apologize) said they felt insulted by davros or felt that he was representing them? I feel people getting worried about stuff like this should at least check with people from a community they feel they might be offending before making changes like this that drastically alter the look of a character that has been around since 1975.
I agree.
This idea of representation is so full of shit. Saying that disabled people can't be evil characters isn't representation/inclusivity. At best, it's a *patronising* positive discrimination by non-disabled people. If they REALLY cared about representing disabled people on 'Doctor Who' while respecting the franchise, they would have a disabled, heroic character instead of cancelling Davros, maybe have the two characters get a brief discussion over their parallels.
This brings to mind a quote by J.R.R. Tolkien, about how you can tell evil apart from good because evil can't ever create, only destroy or pervert what others have made.
@@ecthox-1mork909 that quote is contradicted by Davros himself lol. He's evil, and yet he creates the Daleks.
@@darlig.ulv.bakhjerne I think you're forgetting that Davros created the Daleks by manipulating his people's pre-existing mutations to permanently lock them into a squiddy, deranged mockery of their former self that never cycled back to their original forms like the Thals did.
@@ecthox-1mork909 Most of what you said is right but that Tolkien quote isn't real. Ironically its a perverted version of a quote.
@@ecthox-1mork909 Tolkien was the guy who classified working-class dialects as 'black speech' and likened lower-class people as literal orcs, his books are great but I won't be taking any moral advice from him thanks, especially where representation is concerned
Yes, Doctor Who survives because of change, but Davros is a very recognisable villain, and it seems strange to change that. It would be like taking the handles from Cybermen, completely redesigning the Daleks, or making the TARDIS not a police box.
The original Cybermen did not have the handles, and the Daleks and Cybermen have been redesigned many times. They aren't going to change the police box because it's the logo of the show.
@@seanhall6317 The Daleks have only been redesigned 3 times, all in New Who. The other changes were just aesthetics.
The original Cybermen did have handles, they just had a great big light on top as well.
I may be fine with this change, because all things are temporary, but I always think that it's a fascinating that the Doctor's enemies never really change fundamentally which is why they always deserve defeat. Where as the Doctor changes all the time, and therefor always finds a new reason to go on.
Or making Silurians look like Jem'Hadar...oh,wait....
@@nickthepick8043This doesn't seem to make sense. It's not like the characters redesign affects how the character is going to behave. At that point you're just changing the character completely. It's just a different character with the same name.
Most of the doctor's villains don't follow that rule because they aren't time lords. They aren't the same character with a different personality. There's no re Davros personality would be different unless we're talking about a different version of him from a different point in time, which is what people thought this was going to be. But if this is the same character that we all know, but he just looks different. But he's from the same point in time than he should act exactly the same which means he'll get defeated just the same as if he wasn't redesigned. My point is redesigning. The character doesn't do anything to the character unless there are time. Lord, so your reasoning of the character is not changing me. They deserve defeat. Well, the characters will never change even with a redesign because that's not a fundamental part of those characters.
A redesigned Cyberman is still a cyberman. The same thing goes for Davros A redesigned doctor is an entirely different personality.
The reasoning for changing his design had nothing to do with changing who the character is on a personality level. They did it because they personally politically disagreed with something or wanted to push a specific ideal. He literally says it in the video.
As someone who might need support to walk from time to time, I find it fairly idiotic of the removal of the Life support system.
He's meant to be half Dalek, we see a wheelchair user being a hero (Dalek Invasion of earth) and that's in the 1960s!
Anyone can be a hero or villain no matter what's wrong with them, it's all about the character itself!
Surely that's exactly the point? Davros isn't defined by his chair. In the audio story 'Davros', the Sixth Doctor expresses this sentiment perfectly, implying that Davros doesn't even need the chair to survive - he can survive on his own through sheer force of will. This has since been depicted in both 'The Davros Mission' (the coda to I, Davros) and the Series 9 opening two-parter. And regardless - Davros can be just as sinister and evil out of his chair as he was when he was in it. As you say, it's all about the character itself.
@@dalekbumps If he isn't defined by his chair, then don't change it. He was evil before his injuries, not because of them. His chair made him unique and recognisable, now he's just a guy who's evil.
@@10thdoctor15 Ironclad response.
@@dalekbumps I agree with @10thdoctor15 .
Saying that people in wheelchair can't be villains *because* they're in wheelchairs isn't being inclusive at all - it's a very patronising and unintelligent form of Positive Bigotry by non-disabled writers.
If they REALLY cared about representing disabled people on 'Doctor Who' while respecting the franchise and being concerned about too much negative representation, they would pour their energies into making a disabled, heroic character instead of cancelling Davros, maybe have this new hero and Davros get a brief face-to-face and a chat over their parallels and what they think of their disabilities.
@@10thdoctor15Davros' chair is not the only thing unique about the character. That's an insult to the character of Davros. This is exactly why taking him out of the chair is good for the character - Davros is far more than just his chair
I still think that Davros’ design as a character is still a far more iconic appearance than him just being a creepy looking guy. It’s like if you made the Emperor just look like another generic Empire officer. That simple cloak is what you think about everytime you think of Palpatine. Everytime you think of Davros, you think of him and his Dalek life support system, it’s trying to fix something that isn’t broken.
It's breaking something that worked.
Chinballs and Scavies ruined DW
They excuse that Davros is offensive to disabled people is stupid. When my father had to get surgery a few years ago, he occasionally had to use a scooter or a wheelchair and he has never thought that Davros was offensive. Does that mean that Darth Vader is offensive to people who use life support machines, or Emperor Palpatine is offensive to people who use canes, or the Borg are offensive to people with implants?
therevenger259. That's only one person. That doesn't represent everyone. Others may have a different view. In a way the chair is am attempt to dehumanise him. I'm not sure if many disabled people are offended by it but I would understand if they were
@@chrismonks592 The only person who I have heard say that Davros is offensive to disabled people is the screen writer who isn't even in a wheelchair. In the Dalek Invasion of Earth, there was a man in a wheelchair who led a resistance force against the Daleks and that episode was made years before Davros' first appearance. In the case of Davros, his wheel chair and artificial eye were done to make him seem more Dalek-like in his appearance. In fact, in the show Davros designed the Daleks after his own chair. Even though he created an alien race that went on to kill millions of species, he managed to create a massive empire while not being able to walk.
@therevenger259 Well you may be right. I was responding to your point though that just because you dad doesn't find it offensive doesn't mean other wheelchair users don't. I've never heard of davros's chair being offensive either. So as I said you may be right. But I haven't spoke to other wheelchairs users so I don't know.
"If i can't imagine a problem then that means it's impossible for the problem to be real." Classic white people argument.
Disappointing that in an attempt to 'avoid' discrimination, they removed one of the few disabled characters on TV. It shouldn't matter that he was a 'baddy'.
…🤦🏼
It doesn't make sense! Davros was in his life support while creating/working on The Travel Machine, it's even mentioned in The Target Novelization.
RTD is also enabling Ableism, he's basically saying only abled bodied people can be evil and only disabled people can be good.
My point is that the Time War (or any other universe-altering event you can mention - Big Bang II, the Flux, etc) created divergent timelines in which Davros' origin story is different. This, coupled with the implications from Big Finish audios like Palindrome and Restoration of the Daleks, implies that any changes to the backstory of Davros from the New Who era hold no bearing on the original backstory of the 'Prime' Davros from Classic Who, that was detailed in Davros, I,Davros, and the Genesis of the Daleks novelisation.
As for the point on ableism, I am not qualified to answer that. But my interpretation is that Russell wants to distance Davros from ableism. I've seen first-hand that references to Davros can be used by hateful-minded people to perpetuate ableism, so while I can't comment on the rationale behind Russell's decision in any meaningful capacity, I 100% support it
“He’s basically saying only able bodied people can be evil and only disabled people can be good” that is a REACH
What he’s actually saying is that the disfigured and disabled villain is an old trope that Davros as a character doesn’t need to be an excellent villain and that we shouldn’t play into old stereotypes and harmful fictional tropes about disabled people especially on a night like children in need simply for the sake of canon.
@@lewischerry3552 Not even that. He's saying that disabled people *aren't allowed* to be evil anymore.
@@lewischerry3552 Charles xavier was created in 1963. That trope hasn't been a trope in so long most people don't even remember it was a trope
Why can’t Davros be in a life support wheelchair? Is this supposed to imply that evil people can’t be in a wheelchair?
As someone who is able-bodied, and who has done no research on how wheelchair users view Davros, I am not qualified to answer that question
@@Jackthefilmfanatic I think the point that RTD is trying to make is that times have changed, even since 2008. If you've been following his work since he left Doctor Who you can tell he's changed a lot as a person since the 2000s, and his writing has matured a lot as a result. Another point to take into account is this - Russell isn't just thinking about how modern-day adult wheelchair users view Davros, he's thinking long-term. As in, how will wheelchair users in 10, 20, 30 years time view Davros when they look back on the show. And not just wheelchair users either - everyone. It proves that he values Doctor Who's longevity, in that he's willing to make a controversial change to a classic character in order to facilitate his survival and development in the decades to come. I'd much rather hear that the showrunner has decided to alter aspects of Davros than hear that the showrunner has decided that Davros simply won't appear anymore
Because it’s a prequel
Davros isn't his to fix. John Lumic and Max Capricorn two Davros knock offs are. Davros is clearly evil before his injuries. Lumic seems to be inspired by his disability to be evil and inflict his solution to it on everyone else. Davies' take on the Master is driven insane (and therefore evil because invisibly disabled people can still be evil presumably) by tinnitus (a hearing disability). Terry Nation didnt write Davros that way but RTD did write those characters that way.
This is prior to Davros' disfigurement
It's possible that the 12th Doctor going back in time and saving young Davros may have caused the timeline to change and thus why Davros in the Children in Need special isn't the Davros we used to know.
danielwilliamson6180 Could be. It's certainly possible to change things when time travel is involved. One good example was in series 5 when the cracks in time explained why no one remembered the cyberman invasion
As someone who is disabled I never got the idea that Davros being an evil man in a wheelchair was harmful to me and others like me, I always found it ironic that someone who made the Daleks a race based on the Nazis would be disabled. While I do take some issue with later Dalek stories like the Doctor falling for the oldest trick in the Book and feeling Sorry for Davros thus leading to what happened. I do like your theory that Davros regenerated or maybe this is Davros after he went back in time to save himself from being crippled by the Thal attack, given the amount of time travel headaches the Daleks have done to their Lore i could see Davros doing that just to avoid being stuck in the wheelchair. I just hope they use it right and make it work in the story than doing it to try and score points.
Oh also might be a bit grim but I always assumed Davros stole those eyes and had them implanted into him so he could add to the "poor me i wanna see the sunrise with my own eyes before I die"
While this change was brought on by behind the scenes discussions on representation, it doesn’t mean they can’t write it into the plot and have it make sense. For one, the change to the “Genesis of the Daleks” can be explained away by either timeline shenanigans or by just saying the Daleks were based on common Kaled life support units and not the other way around. The one in “Destination Skaro” seems to just be the Dalek armour with no Mutant inside so we’re still a ways away from the actual “Genesis of the Daleks” story.
Two, with having healed Davros being the design of the character going forward. As you said, last time we saw him he got his hands on the Doctors regeneration energy. And that wasn’t a last minute trick by the doctor either. That’s a huge event that hasn’t paid off at all since that episode. It hasn’t affected the Daleks one bit outside that story. So having that come back and having a big change to Davros can help that story hold more weight. Also, it would make sense for why Davros would want this change. In that last story, the Doctor forced him out of his life support unit, leaving him immobile, helpless and begging for assistance. And with him dying and using that to trick the Doctor into truly helping him, would make sense that he would never want to be caught in that situation again.
I think people are mainly upset that Russell is making a big change to a character without giving us any context behind it. Of course there’s gonna be people upset when they take this character who’s been depicted consistently over 40 years and change him with the only explanation given boiling down to “it’s 2023, we know better now, get used to it”. He obviously doesn’t want to spoil a plot point that probably won’t show up for a few years but I think people wanted some safe comfort after Chibnall introduced his own changes to the lore of the show. I’m just gonna wait until we either do or don’t get an explanation in the show for this change to really make a decision about it but so far I do like it.
> can be explained away by either timeline shenanigans or by just saying the Daleks were based on common Kaled life support units
Nope.
"Timeline shenanigans" don't work because unlike the much better novels before the new series, Davies made the big opponents of the Time War the Daleks and Davros. If one side of a Time War can be affected by "timeline shenanigans", then they are VICTIMS of a Time War, not one of the fighting sides.
And the Kaled life support units were built to support the ultimate evolutionary result of conditions on Skaro, the blobby lump. Can't even claim it would be the Thals because the Thals turned out to practically thrive in Skaro's post-war conditions.
I think you can split the difference with the two designs. Have him walking, but keep his metallic hand, the shiny clothing and the facial prosthetics (but less so on the latter so Julian can emote more).
I would hate it if Davros becomes a normal humanoid again. Part of the reason he’s so cool is because he’s depicted as half man half Dalek
The one thing I have an issue with in this special is how comedic it treats the Dalek's history. Throughout "I, Davros," you see the things that inspired him to create the Daleks. Their protective shells, motivation through anger, even "Exterminate" and the word "Dalek" all had basis during his journey.
Now it's the Doctor happened to show up and give his assistant some of those things. I get this was a comedic charity special, but maybe the (grotesque) creation of the Daleks wasn't the best angle.
Also, if you haven't heard "I, Davros," I would highly recommend it.
The Daleks were always my favourite villains in DW but I always felt that the Nu Who era had a tendency to build their threat up only to more often than not, have them defeated in stupid & humiliating ways all for the purpose of a gag.
I don't really mind it. the show has always had contradicting lore, including the erasure of yarvelling (RIP). Not too hard to just ignore this, unlike a CERTAIN OTHER recent major change to the backstory of an important existing character...
side note, I'm listening to "I, Davros" and yeah it's great
The canon urks me a little but I understand Russell's reasoning and I respect it. No, my concerns are with giving future Davros his legs and arms back, a lot of kids have the deal with life long disabilities and so did Davros, so to me it feels off to turn Davros from a character with a disability into a fully able bodied one
Maybe the limbs could be robotic/more practical than the chair?
For me personally, if they go the regen energy healed him route i would be absolutely fine. The children in need special can easily be writen off as non-canon fun which i personally enjoyed.
My issue isnt the change in his apearence, its the "this is how we see davros" and "this is how he has always looked" angle theyre trying to push. In the "unleashed" episode Russell basically states that this is how davros has always looked, comparing it to how films used to be in black and white. Which is a stupid retcon cause it destroys alot of plot points (especially in Genesis and Remberance)
That isn't what Russell is saying. He openly acknowledges that Davros used to look one way and now looks a different way, and uses the transition of black-and-white to colour as a metaphor for that change. (Granted, it's a bit of a weak metaphor, but still)
@@dalekbumps in the interview he says "this is how we see him now" implying that this is, in our modern lens how he has always looked.
@@dalekbumps just to clarify further, my interpretation with him comparing it to black and white film was that films used to be in black and white, but that doesn't mean the world they represent was. The first dalek story was in black and white but the Daleks were never black and grey (at least in that story) they were always grey and blue. By comparing it to black and white film I interpreted it as "previous appearances of davros didn't represent what he now has always looked like"
Of course Davros hasn't always looked like this. He's used the controls on his chair frequently. The first time we see him, he controls the Dalek and Ronson deactivates it.
@@dalekbumps You mean like when Moffat wrote novelisations of his story, he wrote that the reason the first two Doctors' eras were in black and white was because THE FIRST TWO DOCTORS WERE COLOUR-BLIND?
Which of course is revealed to be not just stupid but insane and completely shot as an explanation thanks to the episodes called "The Three Doctors", "The Five Doctors", "The Two Doctors" and "Twice Upon A Time"?
Russell Davies and Steven Moffat are idiots and also more incompetent and incapable than anybody who wrote episodes in even the 1980s. Don't forget Moffat is the stupid moron who had the Tennant and Smith Doctors laugh hysterically at not knowing what the round things in the walls were for. Moffat and now Davies have bought wholesale into cutesy things like paradoxes being cute and fun parts of a story as opposed to something either hinting at how terribly wrong things were, or a disaster to specifically present.
Stop looking up to Moffat and Davies. They have proven that they're incompetent and can't even write a coherent story anymore.
I've always disliked when the phrase, "there is no continuity." That's nothing more than an excuse for a writer to be lazy and not do research.
Take "End of the World" for example where the date for Earth's destruction is in conflict with "The Ark," would it have been too hard to watch the old story and get the date right? Would it be wrong for the Doctor to ask why nobody remembers the Daleks after multiple invasions?
Blatant errors like this are in my opinion unacceptable. Maintaining continuity is not some impossible science, it's basic research and adding a couple lines here and there. If fans can do it, they can do it.
I agree with you when it comes to franchises like Star Trek, who take a more hard-sci-fi approach and tell a grounded continuous story involving politics and science, but Doctor Who is a very different beast. It's been contradicting itself intensely since the earliest days, to the point where by the time the Fourth Doctor comes along we've had at least two contradictory explanations for how the Doctor got the TARDIS, three Atlantises, the inconsistent dates of the UNIT stories, and goodness knows how many other minor continuity errors. And in a universe where time is described as 'wibbly-wobbly' and can be rewritten, it stands to reason that these so-called 'continuity errors' are in fact in-universe manifestations of the fluctuating timeline of the universe.
I've often wondered why people in New Who don't remember the Dalek invasions, but then I remember that this kind of consistency has never been a part of Doctor Who, especially not spanning multiple eras. Why does nobody remember the various high-profile alien invasions that happened in the 70s/80s? Shouldn't Autons be common knowledge by the late 2000s, as they've done two major public invasions? It's like when the Seventh Doctor queries Ace on her lack of knowledge of the Zygon Gambit or the Yetis in the Underground, and simply concludes that Humanity has a keen talent for self-deception. The bitter truth is that it simply isn't worth a writer's time or effort researching each and every line they write to search for possible canon inconsistencies from previous eras of Doctor Who, it would be as pointless as trying to polish a sponge. Doctor Who shouldn't be bound by its past anyway, there's an infinite universe out there with infinite possibilities
@@dalekbumps I suppose that's fair. Even Genesis has the famous error of the grey Daleks instead of silver.
Still, if a writer is doing a story with similar elements to a previous one. It would make sense to research what came before. I've written my own Doctor Who stories before, and it's always something I do.
Terrance Dicks said that continuity is what the writer can remember (since there was no way of checking previous episodes back then). I kind of agree, but then Moffat contradicted himself within the same series.
It's less about continuity, and more that is how the general public know Davros, as the design is so iconic.
@@10thdoctor15 I'm not sure that's true. Terry Molloy said in the commentary track for "I, Davros" that he was brought in see the tapes of "Genesis of the Daleks" so he could copy Michael Wisher. While impractical, writers could see the previous episodes, or just read the scripts. There was just less emphasis on continuity.
I think there is potential in seeing a "healed" version of Davros. It could even be the step to final move the Dalek story forward.
@@crimsong8068 That might have been in the early 70s, before Davros had appeared. By Molloy's time, there might have been more resources.
I would have zero issue with a redesigned Davros if it is explained in a story. What I have an issue with would be if the next time Davros appears he just magically looks completelly different with no mention to the fact that he used to be in life support system. I dislike the idea that you can't have a person with injuries portrayed as a villain in 2023 out of fear of offending someone. Like seriously you think that someone who has to deal with being in a wheelchair has that thin skin to be offended by Davros as a design?
If they are to make this change, regardless of whatever is going on during production, I hope this always gives Davros the chance to change. Free of his damage and no longer confined in a weakened body, he starts to see things differently. This is not a fast change over a single season, but perhaps this may free him of his desire of unlimited power in and of itself.
Where are the heroes in wheelchairs?
Weird thing to bring up but I think the short explains something odd about the Dalek casing.
I always thought it was strange that the casing has enough room inside to fit a full size humanoid when Daleks themselves are the size of a small dog, the short shows that the term "Dalek" hasn't been invented yet. What if Davros created the MKIII travel machine as a small personal tank for Kaled soldiers before he was disfigured, then later on when he created the Dalek mutants themselves he made them the pilots of the casings?
I'm fine with this being the new davros design going forward, but I don't think they should try and retcon it to say that this is what Davros has always looked like since it feels a bit disingenuous. That was Davros for many years and they should adress that in some way, whether in a dedicated story or in a snippit of dialogue. An angle I think could be fun is if Davros has decided that the Daleks have failed his grand vision for them, so he creates a new strain of humanoid daleks that resembles the Kalads, with him as their emperor, and they all wear silly dalek hats like the troops from resurrection do. Make these humanoid daleks and the more standard daleks get into some sort of civil war or something.
I think a past incarnation of Davros as able-bodied and unscarred is an interesting approach, but must be defined as his ‘prequel’ status. It would be poor if his iconic appearance is simply retconned and thrown away as if it never happened… what made Davros truly Davros is his god complex with the Daleks and his roots as a Kaled fascist, not his life-support system. What I would like to see is a Davros story that has no Daleks, like the Big Finish audio, to showcase his strengths as a villain.
I personally like how the short featured a younger version of Davros before he got injured, but RTD’s reasoning wasn’t that, it was because he doesn’t want to make people think wheelchair users are evil.
Reading through some of the Destination: Skaro comments about Davros’ change I was surprised that people weren’t particularly excited. I was thrilled to see Davros “pre accident” (as I’d initially inferred him to be) as I’d always wondered about how this era would be televised.
As long as the reasoning is explained in-universe, I have no problem with an able-bodied version of Davros being "canon" moving forward, personally, I think your theory that the stolen Regeneration energy slowly healed his injuries is a plausible one and I'd be more than happy to accept it as fact
It's Russell T. Davies, he leaves no stone unturned. Literally. Even running multiple shows he finds ways to tie them all together brilliantly. Pretty much everything from Season 1 to Season 4 of the reboot has an explanation.
Lemme just paraphrase something I wrote below...
Are we talking about the regeneration energy he stole from Capaldi's Doctor, somehow going back in time to a point before Davros made the Daleks?
Or was it that he was never ever caught in the Thal attacks?
Because one requires the regeneration energy to go backwards in time AND FOR DAVROS TO HAVE BEEN INJURED AND MIRACULOUSLY HEALED and Kaled science should have torn him to pieces trying to understand what happened.
And the other means that regeneration energy went back in time and prevented Davros being near the site of a missile attack and I'd love to see how that works.
@@zocialix You have got to be kidding. He completely contradicted his own final-Eccleston episode in saying the Doctor can't give up power.
He contradicted HIS OWN SCRIPT when female Donna complained that she gave up the money under the influence of the memory of the male Doctor.
He doesn't tie anything together brilliantly. He's too insane and stupid to write a single episode coherently.
The problem is that the changes are being explicitly justified without reference to any internal plot reason at all, but for reasons of representation, even though as numerous other people have pointed out this serves to erase a high profile figure with numerous physical disabilities whose agency was equal to the Doctor.
Two things I just wanna say. 1 we haven’t gotten to a story that requires an explanation yet and 2 I don’t really want my representation being Space H!tler. Just as many people with disabilities are extremely happy with this change because we’ve been dealing with this trope for decades.
@edconnell8781 Would you then welcome the same change being made to the Cybermen or the Daleks?
@@digbystrawbridge6161 How is that a relevant point?
@@enurii It's a question, not a point. Is there any other part of the shows canon/lore that you think should change?
@@digbystrawbridge6161 The canon that’s always changing? I couldn’t care less. I’m done with the Cybermen they can be retired for a while because they’ve been done to death recently and have fallen into a similar role of the Daleks.
The Daleks have been around longer than Davros and can exist without him or with a new variant of him.
Look anyone who believes Canon is fixed in Doctor Who is just wrong.
To be fair seeing Davros healed would be interesting. As for his wheel chair what could be interesting is if since he doesn't need the life support system he turns it into a full set of Dalek casing designed for him that he uses as Battle armor or like a mech suit. Like he can open it up sit inside and then move it around and join the Daleks on the frontline as some form of super commander
You f*cking Genius 🤩
YOU LISTENING, BBC???
The travel machine Mark IV lol.
@omniversalnihilist yeah something like that.
I'd defenitely like to see more of healed davros. I hate to say it but he was admittedly getting a bit stale, and more positively, this allows more interesting use of his willingness to interfere with his own apperance with equipment other than the chair- perhaps some more unique cybernetics or maybye even just the blue eye could make for some interesting gimmicks.
I also think that seeing davros without his usual appearance is a fun change and his healed look really well matches the usual scarred design, which isn't something I ever expected to see.
I liked seeing this different take on Davros but I cannot understand why the change was made. Nobody and I mean literally nobody was saying Davros was evil just because he was in a wheelchair/life support system. It is such a bizarre change for RTD to make and his reasonings make me worried for other things in the future of the show. If RTD always had this stance then why did he not make the change in series 4 when he brought Davros back? No...this feels like the higher ups at the BBC said to him "Hey...people might not like that Davros is in a wheelchair so change that"
Pretty soon you won't see Darth Vader in Star wars because that will offend Burn victims and those on ventilators....
Great...now Davros, the most recognizable, ominous, horrifyingly evil villain in all of Who lore has been "modernized" into nothing more than Colonel Klink from HOGAN'S HEROES, just another Nazi without the swastika. No. Absolutely no.
If you think the only thing that makes Davros is unique is his chair then you've clearly been focusing far too much on the chair and not enough on the man who sits in it. Shame on you.
All I really want now is a canon reason why this is happening, even if it is a couple pieces of dialogue by himself and The Daleks.
Thanks for the video Mr Bumps get better soon 🙏😷
I'm assuming they will present some kind of explanation for why Davros won't have his chair in future appearances, but even if they don't, there's always the regeneration energy he absorbed in Series 9 to fall back on. Maybe after the Doctor left the Dalek city, Davros slowly began to heal as the regeneration energy repaired his body, so the next time we see him he'll be completely restored to how he looks in the Children in Need short
@@dalekbumps It would have been cool to see Juilen regenerate back into Terry Molly for this new iteration of Davros. I think that would have helped tremendously.
I mean… he didn’t always need his travel machine. He was a kid and as far as we can tell didn’t have any disabilities until he sustained injuries later in life?
I’m a bit tired right now but I’m unsure why people were upset by showing a younger Davros
It's not a "younger Davros". They've retconned Davros so that he wasn't injured, set in a life support system whose design he used to build the Daleks. Now he's "not injured".
People are upset because there's a zero-explanation of the history change of a character they've known and respected since the 1970s. Russell Davies, like Steven Moffat, are trying to tell you that we've always been at war with Eastasia.
@@troffle the very existence of Davros in the first place is a retcon. Daleks evolved from Dals, the Thal leader says so in 'The Daleks', the first Dalek episode. The Dalek comics have an entire arc detailing their origin, which got thrown out when Genesis of the Daleks came out a decade later. Doctor Who's canon is fluid, it always has been.
You’re not offending wheelchair bound people if you show a villain in a wheelchair.
I don't really mind Davros being out of the chair, but RTD's reason behind it did sound pretty ableist. I wouldn't be surprised if he simply mispoke, however, as RTD is famously terrible at explaining himself.
Not a wheelchair it's a life support system
John lumic
I use the term "wheelchair" as that's how Russell and the narrator refer to it in the Doctor Who Unleashed video being discussed
@@dalekbumpsdoesn't matter I know kids in wheelchairs that were upset by this change
And if he's doing all this so certain people aren't victimized I'd love to know when he's gonna tackle people that lack empathy
Oh he can't, because the vast amount of them are psychopaths/sociopaths/megalomaniacs/etc and a large amount of them appear in doctor who including zaroff, salamander, solon, John lumic (one of his tenures story creations)
Just to name a few, so those that border on psychopathy have to just be cast as the villains
Good to know I can be associated with davros either way and best of all he's a straight white man, the thing every villain seems to be
@@snakedaemongaming6590 as far as I know, Davros' sexuality has never been elaborated on. The closest we get is passing references to Shan in the Davros audio, but it's clear what he felt for her was possessiveness and obsession with her ideas, not romantic attraction.
And I'm not sure what you mean when you say every villain seems to be a straight white man. Kovarian, Missy, the Spy Master, Daniel Barton and Tecteun are all significant villains in recent Doctor Who, none of whom are straight white men.
@@dalekbumps I haven't been sober for the longest time so most TV part 2010 pretty much a blur or unwatched so I wouldn't know half of these
Personal problems
Insomnia that last days, anything up to 10 nights and days at any one time means I hallucinate quite a bit and that's considering I border on psychopathy before these periods of insanity
If I don't drink, I don't sleep
@@dalekbumps you could of used a character I might of known like the rani or adrasta from creature from the pit or Cassandra
Or how about cessair of diplos or Helen a or queen xanxia
I can play that game too
But hey, they remain forgotten
Knowing Davros he might have implanted some eyes purely for emotionally manipulating the doctor.
If your gonna change Davros for some overly sensitive political reason, the least you can do is make it equally as interesting.
This is why I find Russell so much more tolerable, more recent show runners would have gone way too far.
I dont even mind him walking again if it's done right in the story. (Maybe the regeneration the doctor gave him in The Witches Familiar magically gave him his legs and arms back.)
But he should still have kept the face the same. Hes like thousands of years old, of course he's gonna look all moldy.
Russel T. Davis never cared about stuff like this before. He clearly is being manipulated.
Regeneration energy from Series 9 heals Davros
I hadn't considered the Doctor's regeneration energy could have actually healed Davros, rather than just staving off death. Good reason.
Well I mean if you believe what is said that the doctor lost his leg during the siege of trenzalor and got a wooden one In it’s place. Before getting his old one back when he got his regeneration reset. Yes regeneration works on lost limbs
Despite being in a wheelchair Davros is very cruel, evil and dangerous villain
Well if you want to fit it into the "canon", you can always say this is Davros before his confinement to a wheelchair. Don't forget that in "Genesis of the Daleks", Davros mentions he was working on "modifications to the Mark Three Travel project". So presumably the work was delayed for some time while Davros recovered from his injuries (either through accident or artillery bombardment as in Terrance Dicks' novelisation).
Personally I enjoyed "Destination Skaro". In the end it was a comedy sketch not to be taken seriously (?!!), and it was nice to see Julian Bleach without the mask on. I liked the shading in the hollows of his eyes, and was that Peter Miles' voice that was heard on the tannoy?
Lowkey, if Davros wasn’t name dropped, I’d of thought the Doctor flew into a Star Wars scene making a coincidental looking drone
Edit: this isn’t a negative comment, I enjoyed the Children in Need episode
I thought that this was just a pre-aged Davros before needing his life support chair.
I hope you feel better soon!
Change in the story is fine, so long as it's not about forcing political agendas down the unwilling viewer's necks. *Having disabled villains is not casting shade on disabled people in general.*
And The Giggle gave us yet another possible explaination, with the Toymaker claiming to have played around with The Doctor's past
What if davros made the dalek as a tank for people to sit in since Clara was in the dalek at one point, with the plan for the mutant way later then the injury happens and the plans are used to make his chair
The Celestial Toymaker can also be used as an explanation as it was heavily implied in “The Giggle” that he’s the reason the Doctor has so many conflicting origins like being half-human, being a reincarnation of the Other, being the Timeless Child, and being a normal Gallifreyen.
I like the human look of him. He actually looks like a Disney villain
Whilst I personally disagree with the idea that a villain can't be a wheelchair user (I think disabilities should be treated completely equal in fiction like race and gender), the explanation you gave here I actually really like.
The regeneration plot line in The Witch's Familiar felt really vague and unfinished, so this idea that it was all to completely regenerate Davros himself really strengthens that story and creates a great bit of continuity for the character.
I hope this turns out to be the case, because it's a really nice idea.
I just hope they give him some more interesting features. Doctor Who has many awesome designs that have become iconic. For the past it makes sense for Davros to look like any other Kaled. But I would prefer if they give him a more distinctive look in the future.
…I’m sorry but with all due respect regardless of any in universe explanation, changing a design so iconic as Davros’s is incredibly stupid. I would honestly rather they retire the character outright rather than forcibly change him into something that he isn’t
It's ironic. Because of bumps' sick voice he sounds like davros in the special lmao
My issue with it is that it misses the point of Davros. His whole deal was that he was turning into one of his monsters, with his appearance in Remembrance really driving that home. It was never about disability.
It's pretty typical RTD though, displaying his superficial understanding of both the character of Davros and of representation of people with disabilities.
Davros was a human.
He was a scientist of the Kaled’s trying to come up with the most powerful weapon to win their war.
He created his own”chair” as a transportation device. Then realised that he could make it a weapons platform that would cover and entire soldier.
It eventually moved to the squid like creature over time.
It is also why you get the name Dalek, he swapped the first and last letter.
Well he's not human he's an alien a Kaled as you've just said.
There is so much drama that's coming from a few minute minisode. I'm almost impressed
This is a bit of a tricky one.
On the one hand, there is - as Russel says - a long history of villians being linked with disability.
On the other hand, there are many problems with just taking away a large part of a character. Regardless of whether it can be explained in-universe, it still feels quite lazy to just remove that aspect of Daveros' life, replacing it with... nothing.
Id also like to point out The Daleks themselves are also born of the same issue, so if they want to fix Daveros they should also fix the Daleks.
Heres what I think. Acknowledge it (bringing Daveros with legs back for the special was a brilliant move, i just dont like idea of the future changing), but move on. Considering Daveros really wasnt offending anyone and i have seen many disabled people say its fine, it really wasnt somerhing that needed to be changed
In 1963, the Daleks were people damaged and mutated by nuclear radiation. They adapted by living as cyborgs inside Dalek casings. Technically, every Dalek is a disabled person. Russell T Davies is now in a tight corner. If the retcon of Davros is to be applied consistently, then the Daleks would have to become evil robots, following on from "Destiny of the Daleks", where Terry Nation had retconned the Daleks into robots to borrow a plot idea from Isaac Asimov, to pit them against the Movellan robot race. As an aside, the Daleks could be given legs, thus converting them into fudged, low rent Cybermen. The Cybermen are disabled people with augmented cybernetic appliances. The principle is exactly the same as with Davros, the Daleks and the Cybermen. A bird breaking a snail's shell with a stone is using a tool. Tool usage predates humanity. A bird is an advanced form of dinosaur. Davros' chair, the Tardis and a smartphone are all applied technology. If this principle is to be applied consistently, then we would have to live as less than animals who have used simple tools for millions of years. The HG Wells "War of the Worlds" Martians would be forced to relinquish their tripod war machines in the service of political correctness and the song thrush would starve through want of a stone to obtain vital food. It is vital to apply an idea consistently. Making Davros into a goose-stepping Twinkletoes can be seen as politically correct cherrypicking. No Davros chair. No Daleks. No Cybermen. If the Daleks had not appeared in 1963, NO DR WHO!!! The show would have been axed due to declining viewer ratings, a trend dramatically reversed by the success of the disabled Dalek creatures, who found a way of surviving by resourceful, technological adaptation to an altered and hostile environment. Davros was the architect of this. "NuHu" is a towering edifice of retrospective continuity. It will be forced to remain so in order to retrieve the vital cornerstones and pillars of the show. The relationship of living beings to technology and survival is part of life and the implications raised by the future possibilities of this is huge. This goes way beyond Dr Who. It is a vital ingredient of Science Fiction itself. More importantly still. Science Fact!!!
Far as I’m concerned, “I, Davros” is still canon and this stupid shit can go straight in the bin with Chibnall’s entire run.
Same goes for Star Eater by the way, episode was a complete waste.
I, Davros is still 'canon' for the backstory of the Davros we see in Classic Who, but the timelines have been shifting incessantly since the Time War and, as Big Finish's Time War 4 series shows us, the Davros from New Who is technically a distinct individual from the Davros from Classic Who, albeit one who has all of his memories and experiences
I actually like this idea; since you brought up the doctor’s Regeneration situation in The magicians apprentice/The witches familiar healing him and his deformities. Imagine him having cybernetic Legs and his arms are no longer stiff and crippled with his humanoid/Kaled original appearance as seen in destination Skaro; but keep his mechanical electricity hand that’s a cool thing. And have a nazi/Dalek uniform and boom! New cool look for Davros. Ever heard of the infamous “Angel of death” Nazi scientist from the WW2? They could make Davros the chief/head scientist of the Daleks to create radioactive weapons, deadly technology for the Daleks and be a sort of interrogator too who tortures the captives and hostages to get vital information out of them for the Daleks plans. Love that idea; a Nazi Dalek scientist rank specifically for Davros and a new iconic look to the character with cybernetic limbs, mechanical electric hand and restored Kaled form underneath the Dalek Nazi inspired uniform
I feel like this retcon of Davros implies that if you're disabled, you can never be bad or a villain, or that if you're disabled, you're always good or a hero, and my issue with that is that it easily dismisses depth of an individual, and removes any multi-dimensional aspects of their personality.
I get that Davros is and is supposed to be a cartoonish villain, I do, but genericizing him like this only makes him seem more cartoonish and less believable.
Bear in mind that Russell has written many disabled villains for Doctor Who in the past, like John Lumic and Max Capricorn, and is likely acutely aware of the contribution he has made to the pantheon of villains whose defining physical traits are their disabilities. Taking Davros out of that group is a step forward for the show, and could lead to interesting developments in Davros' character in the future. We have an established lore explanation for how Davros can leave his chair in the future (12's regeneration energy from Series 9), and personally I'm looking forward to seeing where Davros ends up in his next episode
The necessity to occasionally re-evaluate these kind of things is of importance these days. It's no different than how lots of other long-running stories occasionally re-evaluate themselves and create a new iteration (Comic-canons especially do this a lot). Or how folklore and fairy tales change over time as the people telling the story change and etc. It doesn't bother me personally as much, but I haven't been actively watching for awhile at this point (Since the end of Capaldi's era), But I can appreciate people getting invested in the story/lore to a certain degree and being averse to large changes that alter the feeling of a character or invalidate previous motivations. Especially after a certain Timeless Child debacle, Lol.
Given the fact correct me if I’m wrong but we haven’t seen Davros post witches familiar and the doctor willingly gives up some regeneration energy at first to Davros who’s to say after that episode Davros doesn’t regain his body fully just a theory I’m throwing out it would be interesting to see a Davros who can actually walk around and stuff
my biggest complaint is that the new davros simply doesn't have an interesting enough design. you can make changes that make representation better, sure, but make those changes cool!
Personally i think that regardless of the appearance if Julian Bleech is playing davros the character will be fantastic.
However DW seems to be going through a long phase of fixing something that noone complained was broken.
End of the day if you thought davros was evil because he was disabled you're wrong, its because he was bloody insane.
The last christmas special had a wheelchair bound character played very well by a skilled actress who came across as pretty badass so shows even further thats not the case.
But in several of interviews there is some half arsed reasons for why they change things and its getting frustrating because if you cant give a good enough reason for it then why change it?
Change in a story is good but its even better if there is logic behind it.
But im happy to give the show a chance as well as this version of davros, as long as they have logic and explain and not just have another (this happened because it did) moment like davros magically surviving the crucible.
I liked the short, your explanation and the new Davros, simple as.
Brilliant. The flexible canon of Doctor Who has always been a strength.
So, are people in wheelchairs not allowed to be villians?
Is someone stopping you from creating such a character?
I had an idea similar to yours of how Davros changed. So in Magician's apprentice, Davros infuses timelord regeneration energy into his daleks, and what if he infused himself with the regeneration energy as well, and when the skaro city was destroyed, Davros was fatally injured and regenerated into his new form.
Davros: Mein Doctor! I can walk!
I’m afraid I have to disagree with russel t Davies. I understand what he is trying to do. However part of what makes davros is the accident which made him chair bound. He pushed science far more than he could or should of and it had a bad impact.
However rather that wallow it self pity, he created a system so he could see and interact with each other. Yes later on his paranoias became outright delusion and let to his experiments on kales tissue but he was also shaped by the thousand year war. In a sense the kaled mutants encased in the mk3 travel machines are a lot like him. Driven or indeed genetically up engineered to survive but outside of the machine ineffective. I’m ts all asum part of the development of davros.
What I would like to see in doctor who is what he is trying to do here but with the companions. We have never had a deaf companion or a blind companion. We have barely had companions with any form of physical ailment. We did have Ryan for barely two seasons but it felt like the show forgot his issues at times. This is where I would like to see representation.
The Davros look is as iconic as the dalek look. I’ll be blunt this davros looks more like the genesis Nyder did!
my biggest concern is the current creators of doctor who trying to remove all the confrontation out of doctor who. The scene where Lytton gets his arms crushed by the two cybermen for not talking and is then converted. The professor Stengos as the conditioned glas dalek. I feel at times modern doctor is being turned into event television, it’s scifi edges being dulled in favour of something for the kids to watch New Year’s Day.
It can and should be able to tell stories that challenge people’s preconceptions and truths. To turn a lens on ourselves. To depict a crazed scientist who was impaired because of his people’s hatred of another for no apparent reason.
Davros should make you feel uncomfortable. His glowing blue eye sensor lighting up in the dark ready to rant about his daleks. He is much more than his wheelchair and disability. He’s ten times more deadly then any able bodied person
2:45 Could an alternative method be Davros attempting to create a clone body for himself like one of the elements from Terror Firma (with something similar being referenced in the Davros audio)?
The stolen regeneration energy explanation is the one I hope they go with. It makes perfect sense without the need to change numerous parts of his backstory.
Can I just be clear about something; are we talking about the regeneration energy he stole from Capaldi's Doctor, *somehow going back in time to a point before Davros made the Daleks* or was it that he was never ever caught in the Thal attacks? Because one requires the regeneration energy to go backwards in time AND FOR DAVROS TO HAVE BEEN INJURED AND MIRACULOUSLY HEALED and Kaled science should have torn him to pieces trying to understand what happened.
@@troffle No, but the scene in the children in need special is before Davros’s accident, if it’s even canon at all.
If they intend to have present day Davros looking like this, I would expect a convincing on-screen explanation for why he’s able to walk again.
@@andrewfradley7876
I am led to believe it's been explicitly said by Davies to be absolutely canon.
I absolutely do not believe that any on-screen explanation will be even slightly believable unless they introduce him inventing something new. Then the question is why he wouldn't have done it earlier. Remember in the time of the Seventh Doctor, he was almost entirely embedded in the Imperial-side Emperor's shell.
This is stupid! RTD is basically taking Davros, a unique character in many ways, especially his former appearance, and turning him into a generic Nazi-type with no uniqueness whatsoever!
There is far, far more to the character of Davros than just his chair. The fact that so many people seem to think that taking Davros out of chair will remove everything that makes the character unique is, to me, the primary reason why Russell should take him out of his chair. Davros isn't just 'that guy whose bottom half is a Dalek', he's a twisted, self-hating, paranoid genius who both loves and hates his children. I'd recommend checking out the audio stories Davros and I, Davros. Both of these stories deal with Davros' backstory and explore his character in-depth, both in and out of his chair, and prove that even in a story without Daleks, without Davros' chair, and without the Doctor, Davros still shines as a complete and unique character in his own right.
@@dalekbumpsi think the biggest issue with taking him out of his chair removes such a defining thing about davros' identity. Not that he's *in* a chair, but rather what the visual of Davros being housed in a lower half of a Dalek tells us about him. It was a brilliant visual way to show us the thin line between humanity and Daleks. I think throwing that out in favour of a generic looking Nazi style bad guy is just such a disservice to not only the character, but the Daleks awell.
@@codaboi138 on the surface I agree it seems strange. But consider - Davros has always been somewhat of an exaggerated character. Larger than life, almost, and I mean that both in terms of his in-universe characterisation and his out-of-universe depiction. Taking him out of the chair gives the character a chance to shine on his own merits, not propped up by Dalek tech or his creepy eye, giving us a chance to sit down with Davros and talk about who he is, why he does the things that he does, and what he hopes to gain from it. Taking Davros out of the chair could, in theory, thematically link to the idea of separating Davros from his Daleks, and who knows where that could take the character? There's a lot of potential that can be explored here, I just hope RTD gets it right.
@@dalekbumps I like that idea, however i think the change was far, far too hamfisted and thus far doesn't seem to be for character reasons. There was an audio story (i forget the name) where davros cloned a new body for himself and he wanted the doctor to take him to a peacful place so that he can redeem himself. I'd love to see something along those lines, a character driven, lore focused change that gives us something fresh and un expected, that also gives us a deeper look into the character. A character change is totally welcome, however, this was the wrong way to go about it imo.
Davros is evil because he’s evil, not because he’s in a wheelchair. This was such a mistake
So why do you need to see him in a chair? You said it's not key to his character so there's nothing wrong with seeing him out of it.
Couldn't future appearances just also be pre-accident?
It isn't Big Finish that is supposedly being ignored, Genesis of the Daleks showed Davros already in his chair when he was developing the Mark III.
In my opinion, he should *definitely* rock that new jacket with the Dalek insignia on the collar. If anything they could have the chair as an option- and he can use both arms. Something almost akin to the Cyber-Controller from Tennant's run.
No matter what someone does with doctor who, or anything on that has been going on for 10+ years, there will always be someone on the internet that thinks it is the worse thing happened to the franchise ever
So what signs do you have to see in order to diagnose if something IS the worst thing that happened to the franchise ever?
If you're saying that everybody screams every day that the sky is falling, what sign is actually going to indicate that the sky IS falling?
Retroactive continuity changes for the purpose of contemporary social sensibilities sure doesn't sound like something good or normal. Especially in a show that's not only about time travel, but also about alien societies.
Remember when even the Doctor was telling humans to stop being so limited and think about the bigger picture? I'm not American, but maybe you have to be Pepperidge Farms or something in order to remember as far back as Eccleston's "The Unquiet Dead" episode. Congratulations, you're Rose being worried about dead bodies, whereas the Doctor is trying to take unused material and put it to what at the time seems like a positive useful use.
@@troffle Personally, I would argue that a diagnosis of such an occurrence is a subjective one. I would also argue that due to the nature of the show, that of it containing time travel, any ret-con could be perceived as a change to the "timeline" as it were. At the end of the day you, nor I can change anything that goes into the production of Doctor Who.
Meaning that everything you've said is diagnostically unhelpful and where are we at now? Because I'll tell you now after watching and reading this show every year of my life since 1978, this show is almost purely unadulterated garbage from the hind end of an elephant and for the first time I WISH it were dead rather than the garbage it's presenting now.
@@troffle I am not stating whether you are correct or incorrect. I am just stating the fact, through my original comment due to the fact that this show is now 60 years old, it would be foolish to view the community as small, where everyone would agree with one another. Since this show is the age that it is at, any point could be nit-picked by anyone else due to the way that they were introduced to the show, hence me saying, "No matter what someone does with doctor who, or anything on that has been going on for 10+ years, there will always be someone on the internet that thinks it is the worse thing happened to the franchise ever". What I am trying to reason with this point is that even if they changed it to your personal preferences and your totally unique tastes, there would be others out there that would disagree with what you think should be happen with Doctor Who. That being said, I would be truly delighted to listen to your opinion of the show as it could change my view of certain changes. Doctor Who, in my opinion, is also a show that has been through many experimental changes thus leading to such a diverse amount of views.
In addition to this, I would wish to make a point that I am staying neutral on the subject of the change of Davros' design for the reason of lack information. For, if we were just to prejudice against these changes we may miss out on, surprisingly ideal new episodes. Furthermore, should we not applaud Russel T Davis' attempt to become more progressive. Personally, I wish to remain neutral on this topic until further notice.
@@cattercakethesecond6534
... I have a response to this. But CZcams is bad at dealing with the amount of text I've written. I'll try splitting it...
Oh yeah, it completely barfed on accepting the whole post, damnit.
Ironically, discussing Davros, you sound like him Currently haha, hope you get well soon my friend. Seems like everyone's getting sick recently
I always thought Davros was just half Dalek, without his iconic appearance it just lessens the idea that his accident is the natural catalyst for his creation of the Daleks. Russell's explanation just seemed a little half-baked to be honest, and it's such a shame to get rid of the classic design based on that.
Could we just boil this down to this episode not being canon after it definitely happened before the witch’s familiar
It's canon, the point I'm making is that it doesn't matter if it's canon or not, it doesn't interfere with the Classic Who Davros backstory from the audios
@@dalekbumpsYup exactly.
Eh who knows, maybe the event in Destination: Skaro takes place in an alternate timeline where Darvos never had his little accident and was able to make a Mark III Travel Machine with a claw. In other words, “Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey”.
The entire show is an alternate timeline now. Chibnall tore up all canon and RTD cheered and declared that canon only holds writers back. Its all multiverse fanfiction now. Enjoy it if you can, because none of it means anything anymore.
@@lesigh1749to be fair though, this has been happening since the 60s with the original Dalek origin story (Apparently, it became fact during the Time War, but it eventually fixed it.).
@@rogersstinson4019 The 60s never really explained the Daleks origins other than they had a war with the Thals eaons before and both civilizations were destroyed.
Genesis of the Daleks was the first origin story for them, and written by Terry Nation, so its canon. RTD is not on the same level as a writer, and frankly, he is just flailing around trying to score identity politics' virtue points with EVERYTHING since he came back.
Remember that for decades this show brought people from all backgrounds and worldviews and religions and sexualities and everything else together in a shared geek love of a nerdy scifi. Activist hacks like RTD and Chibnall have poisoned it with their politics and declared anyone that who doesn't agree with them should LEAVE. These aren't good people, they are the baddies. They made this show divisive and incoherent with their activist hack writing.
@@lesigh1749I was actually referring to the comics.
@@rogersstinson4019 Cant say I ever read those, but they certainly dont seem to have ever been considered canon by the BBC.
Maybe RTD was just trolling the culture warriors
It being based on his chair is thematically appropriate though. He thought so much of himself that he remade the Kaled race in his image.
Backing this change, if they do double-down on it, isn’t something we should support. It’s lame and not done with good intentions. I’d rather not see it and I can’t agree with just accepting any trash people throw at us.
He's done it to divorce Davros from the unfortunate and prevalent history of villains being associated with disability. If Doctor Who existed in a vacuum, there would be no need for the change. But it doesn't - there is a lot of context from the wider world, particularly in film and TV, which places Davros in an unfortunate category of poor representation that Russell wants to distance him from. At the end of the day, the wheelchair does not define the character. Davros can still be just as evil, sinister and scary out of his chair as he was when he was in it - for all we know, Russell has some fantastic stories planned for the future that feature a healed Davros. Judging the concept based on this smattering of early information would be premature. Cynics complained when the Master became a woman back in 2014, and that turned out to be one of the best things done with the character in decades. Changes like this can bring great opportunities for storytelling, provided the one doing the change is also capable of exploring the narrative implications of that change in their writing
@@dalekbumps this is all nonsense. Do we stop having pirates with peg legs, eye patches or hooks? Davros is not in an ‘unfortunate category’. He is Davros, the creators of the Daleks. His design is iconic. It is supreme. You don’t need a big finish story to tell you that the Daleks were made in the image of his damaged self.
The cybermen were partly created from a fear over the advance of prosthetic limbs. What do we do with them in this brave new chapter of doctor who? Make them goodies? Erase them from the series? Aren’t Daleks also disabled baddies? Genetically wounded humanoids who rely on their mobility chairs to function? I’m sure you’d love an empire of Dalek Secs, but you won’t find me tuning in to see it.
RTD’s last Davros story, before that rubbish sketch last week, was a bit of a wet fart so I don’t expect anything.
@@theylivewesleep.5139 what exactly are you referring to when you say "an empire of Dalek Secs"?
@@theylivewesleep.5139 bruh
the one peddling nonsense here is you
@@dalekbumps humanoid Daleks.
I think thats so stupid, his lower dalek half is cool and if anyone actually got offended by that they need to shut up already. Im sick of this tissue generation always getting uptight and triggered by everything
🐙
The reasoning behind the change is unbelievably stupid.
He doesn’t even need to be in his life support chair just a tank Dalek to ride on if it’s before his accident but at the very least got to give him the wrinkled face and eyes everyone gets that eventually
If Davros returns un mutilated, the whole series deals with Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Whimey, change the past, effects the now, changes the future. So how and why it happened, does it matter?
I mean, so long as they explain it then I'm fine with the change
Time's change, that's just life
Besides I've heard the same people complaining about Shirley Anne Bingham's mere presence in the show so it's almost like they're not happy unless the disabled character is portrayed as evil
I have mixed feelings .I personally think that disabled people can be seen as villains it’s not like it’s not possible.on the other hand if they have to have able bodied Davros I’m happy with it I hop they least explain like his cloned himself if they just try to say he never was in a chair it will be just dumb😊
The only real issue I have with the change is that I’ve seen quite a few wheelchair users feeling patronised by it. But I’ve also seen wheelchair users who are praising the change.
Regardless, I think RTD’s heart is in the right place, and there aren’t any real so-called ‘canon’ issues. In addition to the regeneration energy, Davros previously built an uninjured clone body to transfer his mind into in _Terror Firma_
Also, the funny thing is that _I, Davros_ and _Davros_ contradict each other. _Davros_ has Shan create the word ‘Dalek’, and Davros betrays her because he’s afraid she’ll usurp his position as Skaro’s greatest scientist. _I, Davros_ shows Davros betray Shan because he sees her pro-peace beliefs and revulsion at the Daleks he creates as a threat to his ‘children’, and has *him* come up with the name ‘Dalek’, basing it on old Dal writings (‘Dalek’ roughly translates to ‘man-god’). So those two stories aren’t exactly an example of consistent canon lol
I don’t know…with every passing day I feel like Davies is trying to destroy Dr. Who rather than build it up again. I mean, the musical number in the 15th Doctor special? Apparently a drag Queen as the new Master? Now we gotta fuck with Davros? I am honestly trying to keep an open mind because Davies delivered the goods when he brought the shoe back in 2005, but man he makes it hard! I’m trying not to smell John Nathan Turner’s awful 2nd act in old Who.
Im cool with whatever they do. Julian Bleach in and out of the make up is a Fantastic Davros
Doctor Grandad Wopa saved Davros from hand mines . Later on , Davros said his life was extended and had regeneration energy flown into him and all Daleks on Skaro . Daleks sewers destroyed Skaro once more but Davros is alive and not in a wheel chair because he tricked the Doctor into giving him regeneration energy. Brief as it was he now has legs and arms.
I'm fine with Doctor Who making changes like this because it's a setting based around time travel. Grand changes like this can be retconned and changed. I won't lie though, it is appealing to see Davros in Humanoid form, and his actor's mannerisms and poster is genuinely creepy to look at. He reminds me of Ben Mendelson in Rogue One, where he portrays what a sociopath is like in that way. I do have one question, however. Is it now considered wrong to portray disabled characters as evil? For "Children in Need", I can understand that and why they go with it, but I am genuinely curious.
There's a trope of depicting disabled people as evil, and people are worried that such depictions can subconsciously influence people's views and/or also be disheartening to see if you are disabled.
That being said, I'm of the opinion that individual cases of disabled villains aren't wrong or problematic, and the majority of people seem to think the same. Other tropes often seen alongside disabled villains could be, like maybe having the character become a villain as a result of the accident that gave them a disability (which might be the reason why many people are glad that the special shows Davros being evil before he became disabled), or the disabled character being evil because they are envious of able-bodied people, but I think that's different than a character just being disabled and a villain.
Many people think a better solution, rather than changing disabled villains or avoiding making anymore of those characters, is to instead make a wider variety of disabled characters, including heroes, and Doctor Who is doing this. People also worry that, by avoiding disabled villains, you limit the amount of roles available to disabled people (although I don't think this applies to Davros, at least not right now, because, disability or no disability, he likely would've continued to be played by Julian Bleach). And some people also like villainous representation and don't like that there is less of it.
I do hope that RTD discussed this change with some disabled people before going through with it, because I know some people are upset about the change and feel that RTD isn't listening to them.
I like the old Davros design, so I hope they don't get rid of it both entirely and forever, but I also liked Bleach's performance in the minisode, so I'm intrigued and look forward to seeing more of that version of Davros.
@@withallduerespect3001 Thank you very much for the breakdown! I feel more informed on the subject now. For me, I love disabled characters like Darth Vader. No matter how you felt about the guy, we can't help but be in awe when you learn what he had to go through to regains his skills, at least in the expanded universe. It was like when Beethoven lost his hearing, and yet he became an influential composer afterwards. Your best years aren't behind you, they are ahead. In this case, I find it kinda shallow or presumptuous to think that people will become that disillusioned by seeing a disabled character portrayed as evil, because they themselves don't have enough self-esteem to push past it. But I see what they mean, and this doesn't conflict with me regarding this change in Davros. The Doctor Who Universe is one that works in Time Travel. Everything is subject to change. Another commenter here said they envisioned this Davros getting into a Dalek chair or mech suit to better command or engage with his Daleks in battle, so I'm all here for that if it happens.
should have created more disabled good guys rather than change iconic characters
No...just no. Leave davros alone. Russel didn’t invent the character. Its not your place to decimate his appearance and alter his very identity. This is just empty virtue signalling.