The Curse of Davros

Main Range #156

Released: January 2012

Listened: 8/9/20

Welcome, Flip! And she gets to start out with a Dalek story, no less. You can see a lot of new-series influence in the start of this story. Flip and slightly-useless boyfriend Jared aren’t particularly phased by a spaceship falling on London, but they are split between “go help” and “alert the authorities, maybe make a buck.” Of course, they both had one adventure with the Doctor already, but Flip definitely wants to be involved as much as possible. She’s even angling for a companion spot right from the start. Unfortunately, the Doctor isn’t exactly what he seems in this story, and neither is Davros, in ways that are pretty obvious from the get-go, so it’s not really a spoiler. More interesting is that it seems the Daleks want to interfere with the battle of Waterloo, which gives Flip and Jared a chance to meet Napoleon and then the Duke of Wellington, and they’re both appropriately impressed. Jared gets over his uselessness, and is actually pretty effective, but Flip seems to be over him, and leaves him behind to run off with the Doctor. This really feels like a fresh start for the Sixth Doctor, with a new, enthusiastic companion, faster-paced storytelling, and a reset from the loneliness he’s had recently.