Father of the Daleks

"An entire race and culture distilled into a single mechanical shriek spat in the face of the universe."

Writer: Dave Sudden

Format: Short Story

Released: October 2020

Printed in: The Wintertime Paradox 02

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor 

Synopsis 

Did you Davros and the Doctor met for three Christmases, on different planets, across time and space? Have you heard the one about the time the Plasmavores came to pay a festive visit? Or when Madame Vastra fought a cyborg?

The perfect collection of the bleakest – and sometimes brightest – time of the year, these are the tales to get you halfway out of the dark...

Verdict

Father of the Daleks was a sensational short story to continue my way through The Wintertime Paradox collection! I really enjoyed this adventure and I think the title is just tremendous as well. It gives us a long awaited and frankly well overdue encounter between the Eleventh Doctor and Davros. It really is a shame that Matt Smith’s incarnation never got to meet the Master nor the creator of the Daleks, but at least the latter was remedied here and it was fun for the Doctor to actually allude to not having encountered his old enemy in this incarnation. The very idea of the Doctor and Davros having secret meet-ups was quite incredible, especially when it was suggested that they would do so at several different Christmases! Of course, that fitted in well with the festive theme of the book, but that just didn’t seem like Davros! I thought it was amusing for Davros to not understand why an Earth holiday would be celebrated on other planets, but the later discussion from the Doctor regarding the power of Christmas and everything it meant and stood for was lovely. It was far from being religious and that’s exactly how I celebrate it. I’m an Atheist and I find the entire notion of religion quite ridiculous, but having Christmas every year is just a wonderful way of celebrating and bringing family together. It’s about Unity and seeing your son’s face at the likes of presents and illuminations. Davros wouldn’t get that, but the Doctor certainly did! The verbals between the Doctor and Davros are always incredible and this was no different here in prose. The way Davros referred to the Doctor’s different incarnations following regeneration as his casing was absolutely sublime. I really loved that and for Davros to try and imply Dalek physicalities on the Doctor was tremendous. I really liked hearing Davros react to the Eleventh Doctor’s young incarnation and it was clear that some time had passed by one of their later meetings with his eyes described as old. Of course, we know the journey that the Eleventh Doctor went on and he was a very different man at the end of his life compared to the start. The fact Davros was pondering over whether to change the Daleks was fascinating and I loved how the Doctor was almost appealing to their creator. The Doctor could defeat them time and time again, but only Davros could actually change them and that would be what would count. The inclusion of the Krillitanes in the story was not something I was expecting but I really enjoyed their appearance! The idea of them battling with the Daleks over invisibility cloaking capabilities was excellent and I loved the comparison between the two races. They couldn’t be more different with the Daleks believing themselves as pure and superior, whilst the Krillitanes pillaged and infiltrated every race they ever defeated, taking the best bits for themselves. Davros questioning the Doctor on siding with the Krillitanes was magnificent, but of course he was aiding a splinter faction. Having Davros alluded to as the titular father of the Daleks was superb and I loved the idea of him cherishing love from his creations, something he had ensured they were incapable of. Davros feeling almost saddened when the Daleks went to a stage of not requiring him anymore was spetacular, and I loved the ending with the Daleks once more returning to their creator for guidance and help now that the Time War had ensued. Of course he would accept the call. Overall, a sublime short story!

Rating: 10/10