AUDIO DRAMA
I, Davros
2 - Purity

Starring: Terry Molloy
Big Finish Productions
RRP: £10.99
ISBN-13: 978 1 84435 232 6
ISBN-10: 1 84435 232 3
Available 03 November 2006


Now approaching his 30th year, Davros is trying to get out of the Kaled Military and into the Scientific Corps, determined to use his mind to create new ways to allow the Kaled race to survive its never-ending war with the Thals. First, though, he must undertake a mission into Thal territory - a mission that will introduce him to technology and hardware he could only dream of. It just might teach him a few life lessons too. But how ever dangerous the Thal City might be, it is nothing compared to the scarred relics that inhabit the Wastelands, which he and his team must cross...

Though at first glance it seems like nothing more than a synonym of Innocence (the title of the previous chapter in this series), in fact Purity has a neat double meaning. As well as its more pleasant associations, the word also refers to the Kaleds' obsession with racial purity and all the horrific connotations of ethnic cleansing and extermination that this entails.

Talking of racial issues, we also learn that, in addition to the familiar Kaleds and Thals, two other intelligent races once inhabited the planet Skaro, one of which was known as the Dals. This seems to be an attempt to explain a reference made in the very first Doctor Who Dalek story, The Daleks, which indicated that the mutants' ancestors were called Dals rather than Kaleds. Presumably scriptwriters James Parsons and Andrew Stirling-Brown's idea is that the Thals' historical records in that early serial were inaccurate and had erroneously transposed or mingled characteristics of the Kaleds and the Dals. If that's the case, wouldn't it be simpler to just assume that the name "Dalek" had been corrupted over the centuries to sound more like "Thal", thus becoming the word "Dal"? That's what I've always assumed until now.

Other than that unnecessary complication, this chapter is every bit as enjoyable and intriguing as its predecessor. Sound designer/musician Steve Foxon continues to evoke the sounds of Genesis of the Daleks. Listen out for the familiar control panel, countdown and door effects, not to mention Dudley Simpson style cymbals.

Terry Molloy reprises his portrayal of a younger, able-bodied version of the Kaled scientist, as previously depicted in the Colin Baker Doctor Who audio drama Davros. And Carolyn Jones is as diabolical as before in her role as Davros's mother, Calcula - though I do find it hard not to think of the robot Calculon from All My Circuits, the spoof soap opera in Futurama!

Pure entertainment.

Richard McGinlay

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