Russell T Davies Dismantles Davros

[@theweirdofengland]

Davros is supposed to be half humanoid half Dalek. It’s symbolism even a child could understand.

[@abras2cents]

Not RTD apparently.

[@glenwaldrop8166]

That's lame. The villain probably was injured, that's the reason he's in a chair. No one thinks cripples in chairs are evil.

[@abras2cents]

Exactly

[@Grim2]

Ever since the start of new Dr Who era I've been saying RTD is a hack. But noooooo. He's bestest ewah... And now his true nature become so blatant that it's impossible to deny.

[@machineguncrally7020]

Oh man the writing really was great tho for its time, That’s just me and what I think tho. This? Idek wtf this is anymore?…

[@abras2cents]

I think RTD could be hit or miss. I did enjoy some of his stories. I get the impression that “the message” was always the most important thing to him. It’s just that it wasn’t popular to shove it down the audience’s throats then. Times have changed and now RTD has free rein…the fans be damned.

[@abras2cents]

“The Message” is now more important than the story unfortunately.

[@benholroyd5221]

@@abras2cents star trek very much had an agenda. First cross racial kiss. TNG dealt with trans themes etc. The problem is, they actually wove it into a story rather than than writing such things as "male presenting time lord". I don't mind a message as part of a story. When it turns into that thing at the end of he man, that isn't really a story anymore.

[@stevenmcnicoll5060]

He’s working for Disney. His explanation is like watching a hostage video. “This is how “we” see Davros now.” He’s brilliant but the Mouse has hamstrung him.

[@abras2cents]

It's certainly possible/likely that Disney is mandating that certain messaging be included in the show now. However, having listened to Davies in other interviews, it sounds like he is a willing participant with a lot of the message. He specifically states that he's targeting children too.

[@davidgraham8299]

No one can ALWAYS make good decisions, if this is how davros is going to be presented from now on, not a good decision. The image of davros is as iconic as any of the Doctors, changing it isn't going to work in the show's favour.

[@abras2cents]

I agree.

[@henkman00]

the reason Davos is in that chair is because his species mutated (caused by the radiation from their war) his entire species (the Kaleds) needs these types of machines to interact with the world after the mutation is completed. yes, they became the Daleks. Davos is an ''in-between Dalek'' not even recognized by his own creation as one of them. he isn't a Kaled anymore and not really a Dalek either. what is interesting is that before Davros was even invented there was a hero character fighting the Daleks in the classic story ''The Daleks Invasion Of Earth'' and he was in a wheelchair. meaning a ''person in a wheelchair'' isn't automatically a hero or a villain. they can be both.

[@abras2cents]

Very true.

[@videogameguy1988]

Here’s the thing, Russell, T. Davies……. He says that showing disabled people as villains is a bad thing……. He did 3 villains that were disabled….. obviously Davos in season four is the one people think of because of what he said about Davros and how he’s going to change him now….. then there was John lumic in series 2 with the the cyber men…… and not forgetting voyage of the Damned with the titanic with Max, whatever his surname was in the life-support thing……

[@abras2cents]

It was odd hearing RTD explain his reasoning for doing this. I wonder if a lot of this was dictated by Disney?

[@videogameguy1988]

@abras2cents maybe....Russell could be being pressured to do stuff like that.... who knows really

[@videogameguy1988]

But I bet he's also kinda wanting to do it aswell.....

[@mrspeigel3593]

This isnt Russel , Russell.showed us what he thought of Davros. This is the Mouse and its money. I'm getting tired of finding rat droppings on everything I love.

[@quantumvideoscz2052]

Russel says it himself, "Davros was a wheelchair user that was evil. I have problems with it." When people expose themselves like that, I tend to believe them.

[@Nerdexotic]

@@quantumvideoscz2052 imainge being so bigoted that to see one evil person in a wheelchairs means RTD thinks all wheelchair users are like that.

[@abras2cents]

Yeah, I found RTD's comments to be not only disturbing but very telling.

[@mrspeigel3593]

@@abras2cents remember and it was "some people involved with producing the show, and me "

[@TheOrionOrestes]

They will probably bring it back pretty soon, plus lore wise he wasnt always so deformed it was due to a bombing campaign during the war which is mentioned in the short they released

[@TheOrionOrestes]

Second the Daleks are very not ambiguously Nazis / race supremacists

[@ian-flanagan]

It’s usually hard for people to back down after a Twitter fight

[@ZDProds-c8p]

" he wasnt always so deformed" - That's fine with the minisode since it was set pre-genesis of the daleks, but its the fact that Davros will look like a normal guy going forwards as mentioned in Doctor Who Unleashed

[@abras2cents]

Or in real life these days.

[@neilhanda6522]

He has zero clue

[@abras2cents]

Hard to believe that the man responsible for reviving the show, is the very one who is killing it.

[@paulhiscock6790]

Russell Davis seems like a bad move for the future of doctor who. Davros is a disabled character and it is what makes him work. The daleks are all disabled too, do they get legs and arms now and mental health counselling for their anger issues. People criticise chibnel but I personally think he did some good stuff. Perhaps doctor who needs a completely new person to drive it forward

[@abras2cents]

It probably needs another hiatus for a while.

[@davidgraham8299]

​@@abras2cents Never.

[@Delogros]

Sooo. If your villains inherently represent every group they are a part of (even when literally aliens) then what does this numpty have against Germans?

[@abras2cents]

Makes you wonder. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@staceygram5555]

When were you gonna have Cecil and the other guys on? :)

[@abras2cents]

I’m definitely working on it! Cecil is a popular fella and I’ve been trying to pin down a time that works for him.

[@ThatElfNerd]

Davros wasn't always bound to his chair. And this short comes up BEFORE his first appearance. It's not a bad thing to show him in his non-cyborg form. And if they want to make future appearances of him non-cyborg, they can easily make that happen. Since he is a mad scientist with access to superior technology, he can probably find a way to restore himself to a non-disabled body. Considering last time, he was defeated by the Doctor stealing his chair, he'd want to make sure he wouldn't be defeated so easily the next time.

[@darrenkeady6570]

Also the Doctor took his child version away and to me that’s giving him the chance to go a different path but went pretty much the same way.

[@Nerdexotic]

The issue is the reason why they changed him because they did not want to associate disability with evil as if people other than themselves did that but they were perfectly happy to cast a white man in that role therefore the reason behind it is they did not mind associating white men with evil by their own reasoning if thats not telling the majority of fans what the show runner thinks of them i do not know what is and then when them same fans go ok not for me now they bitch and moan that they a bigots its actually insanity.

[@LucyInNightmares1]

Yeah I'm out, Doctor Who sucks and has for years now

[@SuperHitman55]

The only good writer is Steven Moffat

[@abras2cents]

The show began to lose me towards the end of Capaldi's run.

[@SuperHitman55]

@@abras2cents That's because of woke BBC But Moffat without a leash is hands down the best writer

[@SpencerCJ]

The issue isnt that people might assosiate being evil with disability its that people did, as a trope during the time of the 4th Doctor all the way up to today people used disability as a motivation that turns people evil or a short cut to show how evil someone was. Its called "Evil Cripple" and is in a lot of films and tv shows, even if conciously you dont think all people who are disfigured are evil the fact that a good chunk of these big name villians are in some wasy disable of disfigured does plant that idea into your mind, espially kids who are very suseptiable to this. When I was a kid I was scared of fat people becusae of the Slytheen episode. Either way its a lazy trope that im glad he is forcing people to stop doing and hopfully it leads to a new version of Davros with some new ideas from writers.

[@benholroyd5221]

1. Baddies in US films often have english accents, is that racist? 2. youre removing agency from people if you decide that they can't be 'evil'. Davros isn't defined by his disability, hes successful despite his disability, which is surely something we should be celebrating. should we expect all disabled people to not do anything with their lives? Contrast Davros with that unit agent which didn't do anything other than have a gun built into her wheel chair. if you removed her (sorry I'm assuming her/his/their personal pronouns) wheel chair, you wouldn't have a character, she was defined by the wheelchair. Davros on the other hand actually has something going on. hes an interesting character that just happens to be in a wheel chair. The issue is one of laziness. If you just insert $disability instead of actually building up a character, thats the problem. stories tend to focus on the hero, so you have less time to flesh out the other characters, so disability can end up being a crutch. but the unit woman shows that goes both ways, and a lazy 'good' character is just as bad as a lazy 'evil' one.

[@SpencerCJ]

Can't be racist against a nationality but it is very lazy writing and you probably shouldnt do it, even then accents change you cant just regain the use of your legs after they are blown off. Im not removing agency and im not saying he is defined by it, the issue is that its a lazy short cut to make people look evil and considering people in real life are like that it isnt exactly a good thing. Plus kids are dumb and impressionable. He is also space hitler partly due to his disabilty, nobody really should be celebrating him. Well she has been in an episode and Davros has been in the show for decades so thats hardly fair, she was defined by being UNIT CSO, her wheel chair isnt really a part of her character, but people in wheelchairs will see her and think its cool that she had weapons in her chair becuse thats some insane shit UNIT would do. Davros in the modern era great character, none of that has anything to do with him being in a wheel chair, the most recent episode he was in focused more on his being a victim of war from childhood but that doesnt change how in the past he built the Dalek and made them as they were after he was injured, the whole point is that he will protect the Kaleds so they cants get injured like he was. Exactly thats what Im saying, to shortcut Davros as a villian by making him disabled is lazy, to shortcut Shirley as a good guy by her wheelchair would also be lazy. Just think of the amount of villians who had a scar or a deforminty or some other disabilty, there are far more than there are heros. Im sure Shirley will get more development beyond her job role as UNIT CSO as she had maybe 5 minutes of screen time and 2 of those minutes was her firing missiles at shit. If she ends up like the previous Era's companions with 0 development then she would be a bad character. I do hope they keep aspects of his classic design with this new one, a throne that looks simialr to his old wheelchair would be cool, I can see why in a 5 minutes minisode they wouldnt have time for any extra bits and peices. @@benholroyd5221

[@benholroyd5221]

@@SpencerCJ > can't be racist against a nationality. Are you sure? So what is it if I describe people from Pakistan as pakis? What is it if I suggested that all Germans are Jew murdering Nazis? What is it if I put a 'no irish' sign on my b&b?

[@abras2cents]

I always found that a character's disfigurement gave them more depth and made them interesting.

[@rackroll4405]

I am so glad I never loved Doctor Who (except the 4th one).

[@abras2cents]

It broke my heart when Doctor Who went off the rails. Now I feel nothing but contempt for the show.