h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Davros wouldn't head-bang. He would sit calmly and appreciate the detuned grimness.

It's obvious to the point of triteness, but be honest - you KNOW Davros would listen to Wagner all day long, nodding very slightly now and then and making subtle conducting movements with his withered little hand.

Obviously I'm referring to *proper* Davros, here. Which is to say, Michael Wisher Davros, or possibly Julian Bleach Davros.

Not David Gooderson Davros, who'd probably listen to "The Final Countdown" by Europe, and DEFINITELY NOT, Bod-help-up, Terry Molloy Davros, who'd probably listen to the Mike Flowers Pops cover version.

Poor Julian Bleach Davros. He tried so hard to save that episode. But the combined weight of Camille Corduri, Massive Ham Barrowman and a Spurious Sex-toy Regeneration of David Tennant dragged him to the dirt, screeching and gesticulating as he went.

I think Bleach nailed it.

Wisher Davros was absolutely chilling, a real one-off and IMO a strong contender for the best performance and best villain ever on Doctor Who. It's worth remembering that Wisher Davros WON - the Doctor didn't beat him, didn't talk him out of being bad, didn't frighten him AT ALL. The one and only thing the Doctor managed to do to Davros was to give him the assurance that his creations really were the greatest thing in the universe. He only "died" in the end of "Genesis" because what he'd created was, in the end, exactly what he'd wanted it to be.

One of the many things the show did wrong in its latter years was to keep bringing back Davros every time the Daleks turned up, and to turn him into a shouty pantomime villain instead of the mostly controlled, dangerous psychopath Wisher portrayed. Bleach *got* that psychopath back.

In particular, the makeup department did an incredible job. There's one particular shot, and I can't remember the line and can't be bothered watching it back, but I do remember vividly the visual - Bleach Davros on a video screen of some kind, in extreme close-up, addressing the Doctor, messing with his mind about something to do with turning his companions into weapons. And he looks into the camera with his sightless eye pits, and finishes his sentence with something "don't you... Doctor?"... and then just does a little facial twitch, just the slightest interrogative furrow of the forehead. It's the kind of thing Wisher could not have done in his 70s-era makeup, but modern techniques caught that nuance of Bleach's performance and didn't mask (!) it at all. It was beautiful.

Also, I'll have nothing said against Camille Coduri... she was hot in Nuns On the Run, she was hot in King Ralph, and I still absolutely definitely would.

Just saw this pic on FB and felt it needed to be attached here.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=684988998189707&set=a.400848103270466.90152.228543553834256&type=1

~jwf~