Terror Firma

Welcome home, Doctor. Welcome to the home of eight billion Daleks!

Davros

Synopsis

“Welcome back, Doctor…”

Centuries ago on the war-torn planet Skaro a great scientist created the most evil creatures the Universe would ever know… Daleks. It was at their genesis that the scientist, Davros, first met and was defeated by the Doctor.

Over the years and throughout space, they fought, a fight that ended with the Doctor’s destruction of Skaro and the Daleks. Except…

Davros survived. Alone. In the dark. With only thoughts of revenge keeping him alive. The Doctor is back. Davros is waiting. Their destiny is now.

Review

The Doctor, Charley and C’rizz are barely back from the Divergent Universe when they are immediately thrown into a story against the Doctor’s oldest and deadliest foes in the Daleks and their creator, Davros. This story goes all the way back to the beginning of the Eighth Doctor’s time in Big Finish adventures, revealing that the Eighth Doctor had two companions immediately preceding Storm Warning that Davros had made him forget. If you thought that our central trio would get a bit of a break following their return, you’d be sadly mistaken.

Oh no, I don’t break that easily, Davros, there’s bound to be people still alive, and while there’s life…

…There’s hope? A ridiculous and flawed concept. I’m alive, is there hope for me?

The Eighth Doctor and Davros

A lot of this story focuses in on the relationship between the Doctor and Davros and their encounters through the centuries, going back to the creation of the Daleks in Genesis of the Daleks and dealing with the consequences of the Seventh Doctor using the Hand of Omega to destroy Skaro in Remembrance of the Daleks. Some of the best scenes in Doctor Who are shared between the Doctor and Davros, and these are no exception. Both Paul McGann and Terry Molloy bring their A-game to this story, with Davros angry with the Doctor for his role in the destruction of his home planet and the Eighth Doctor equally angry for the tampering of his memory and making him forget two companions, Gemma and Samson, and the resultant fates of both of them. Gemma and Samson are nicely played and seem like quite a lot of fun. It’s a shame that we will probably never get to see or hear more of their adventures with the Doctor. McGann and Molloy bounce off each perfectly, trading barbs and insults. Terror Firma is ultimately quite a bleak story, revealing that Davros has created the virus that he said in his meeting with the Fourth Doctor would set him up amongst the gods and has used it on the Earth, converting 8 billion humans to Daleks in revenge against the Doctor. Davros is attempting to break the Doctor, which is something that at points he certainly seems like he is achieving, especially in Part Two. The Doctor does later admit that he came close to breaking another capsule containing the virus to end it all if necessary.

You are ashamed of your own race?

Well, yes, a bit. Half of my lot are crazy or corrupt, and the other half, well, are duller than you can imagine.

Davros and the Eighth Doctor

Ultimately, Davros is in just as much torment as the Doctor is about the fates of Gemma and Samson. Davros has lost his mind due to his time lost in the darkness and seeks to transfer himself into a new form and then destroy the Daleks. His mind is tormented by his original personality and the personality of the Dalek Emperor. As per usual, the Daleks are plotting against their creator and seeking to replace him as Emperor. Davros and the Doctor are both outcasts of their respective races, something which they discuss at length, whilst Davros tries to convince the Doctor that he is capable of change, something which the Doctor refutes, stating that they will both revert to type.

You mean destroying Skaro? You reckon I should be wallowing in angst or something? Did I have the right ya da ya da ya da? I had the right. I’ve seen what the Daleks are capable of. I had the right to destroy them!

The Eighth Doctor

Joseph Lidster gives us a great story, which is certainly better than the Eighth Doctor’s first encounter with the Daleks in Time of the Daleks. As mentioned above, it is quite a bleak story with few moments of humour and not everything entirely works. For instance, the party scenes in the first part really disrupt the flow and make it feel a bit disjointed. Equally, the twist that Samson and Gemma’s mother Harriet is the leader of the anti-Dalek resistance is something that feels out of character, especially given her concerns about the vol-au-vents. It is perhaps intended to be comedic, but it doesn’t entirely work.

I’m a Time Lord and I finally have some time to lord it over.

The Eighth Doctor

The story seems to actually attempt to do something with C’rizz, and Conrad Westmaas has more to get his teeth into. In keeping with the grim tone of this story more generally, C’rizz finds himself haunted by those who he has killed and seems to regard this as saving people. This is an interesting development for his character, especially when coupled with the twist about Gemma right at the very end. I’ve found that C’rizz has been quite erratically written since his debut in the Divergent Universe, and with no knowledge about how much longer we have with him, I’m at the least intrigued by where Big Finish take his character. Like the majority of characters in this story, he goes through a pretty torrid time of it, being forced into the Dalek Emperor casing, but he seems to view the Doctor and Charley as in need of him saving too. Speaking of Charley, she doesn’t have much to do here, but perhaps the writers seem to have taken some of the rougher edges off. She certainly seems happier now she’s back in her own universe.

Verdict: Terror Firma is a grim story but it is utterly compelling and well told. There are lots of positives, and few missteps, and having McGann face off against Terry Molloy’s Davros is a joy. 8/10

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), India Fisher (Charley Pollard), Conrad Westmaas (C’rizz), Terry Molloy (Davros), Julia Deakin (Harriet Griffin), Lee Ingleby (Samson Griffin), Lizzie Hopley (Gemma Griffin) & Nicholas Briggs (Voice of the Daleks).

Writer: Joseph Lidster

Director: Gary Russell

Producers: Jason Haigh-Ellery and Gary Russell

Composer: Steve Foxon

Parts: 4

Monthly Range Release Number: 72

Release Date: August 2005

Behind the Scenes

• The first story released featuring Paul McGann as a former Doctor, following the debut of Christopher Eccleston in Series One of the revived television show in the Spring of the same year.
• This is the first story to depict events that occurred before Storm Warning and partially explains why the Eighth Doctor was alone at the beginning of that story.
• The last Main Range story to feature Davros until The Curse of Davros, released in January 2012.

Cast Notes

• Julia Deakin appeared in the Bernice Summerfield audio Burrowed Time.
• Lizzie Hopley also appeared in Night Thoughts and The Veiled Leopard.

Best Quote

You humiliated me. You took everything that I believed was good about me and twisted it, used it for your own ends. Look at me, Davros, Emperor, whichever aspect of your personality I’m addressing now. Look at me and consider what you’ve put me through. You’ve destroyed my friends, you’ve destroyed my identity, you’ve destroyed everything that that matters to me. And yet…And yet…I’m still choosing life.

The Eighth Doctor

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