- "We are Kaleds! We are more than a match for weak, tattered, crippled relics of the war."
This episode is the second part of the I, Davros origin story arc, the events of which more or less directly precede "Genesis of the Daleks".
Now approaching his 30th year, Davros is trying to get out of the Kaled Military and into the Scientific Corps, determined to use his mind to create new ways to let the Kaled race survive the never-ending war with the Thals. But first, he must undertake a mission into Thal territory. A mission that will introduce him to technology and hardware he could only dream of. And it just might teach him a few life lessons too.
But however dangerous the Thal City might be, that is nothing compared to the scarred relics that inhabit the Wastelands... Wastelands he and his team have to cross twice.
Tropes
- Call-Forward: The Varga plants were introduced in "Mission to the Unknown".
- Dirty Coward: Rather than staying with his comrades and fighting their way back to the Kaled city, Mission commander Brint abandons the squad and runs away when it becomes clear to all that he's a General Failure and his command is usurped by Davros.
- Although he does attack the Thal factory and rescues Davros and Reston when they're about to be shot as spies, even though he'd earlier said he'd blow up the factory with them in it if they were late. It's not that he's a coward but that he lacks Davros's drive and ability to think clearly under pressure.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Thals have poured a disproportionate amount of resources into a flying bomb
that they hope will win the war. - Dressing as the Enemy: At Davros' suggestion the Kaled group steal Thal uniforms. This backfires on Reston later when he blunders into firing range of the Kaled automatic weapons system that is designed to recognise Thal uniforms.
- First Time in the Sun: After climbing a mountain above the smog of chemical clouds that blanket Skaro, Reston muses that he's never seen the stars before.
- Final Solution: Turns out there have been past genocides, and the Kaleds and Thals are apparently the last two nation-states standing on what was a once well-populated planet.
- Foreshadowing: Magrantine hopes that one day Davros will know what he feels like. Yarvel says if Davros gets into the Scientific Corp he'll create better weapons and destroy the planet.
- Futureshadowing: Davros thinks that with genetic manipulation even a mollusk might become a weapon, a reference to the killer clams from "Genesis of the Daleks". Another reference is his interest in the automated factory, a method he later uses to built his Daleks in secret. He also notes the Power Of Hate in aiding survival.
- Human Resources: Unknown even to his mother, Davros doesn't cremate his sister's body but instead keeps it for his experiments so he can harvest her genetic material.
- Mad Science: Davros steals his sister's corpse and at the end of the episode is combining her genetic material with that of a Varga plant, to develop a strain that can be used as a weapon of war.
- Man-Eating Plant: The Varga plants on Skaro have been mutated by the radiation from being stationary to mobile monsters that inject their spores into unwilling hosts. These hosts slowly get eaten from the inside out and become new mobile Varga plants.
- Master of All: Davros proves himself to be this. Not only is he a genius at designing weapons (and genetic modifications later in his life), he is also a naturally brilliant leader and tactician on the battlefield. He literally could achieve anything he applied himself to.
- Mercy Kill: Reston asks Davros for this after he's crippled, but Davros can't understand why someone would want it, regarding suicide as cowardice. Even though Reston is his Only Friend, Davros gives him a "Reason You Suck" Speech before shooting him.
- The Mole: Davros is surprised to find himself greeted by name during his brief capture. Yarvel passed word to the Thals via the Peace Party about Davros's mission, believing him to be a dangerous psychopath who'd endanger them all if he got into a position of power.
- The Neidermeyer: Mission commander Brint who leads Davros's infiltration team is a hopeless tactician and terrible leader. He has the right kind of attitude, acting with the kind of straight-laced stoicism that a Kaled soldier should expect from a commanding officer, but it's his first field command and he's far more concerned with his orders being followed than giving the right ones. He can't even handle the fact that the enemy altered the terrain so that their maps are useless. He gets so many of the squad killed that Davros eventually gets fed up with his incompetence and usurps command towards the end of the mission. Brint has become a blubbering mess by this stage and abandons the squad entirely, only to be found later consumed by Varga plants.
- "Not So Different" Remark: After being told they'll be tried as spies, found guilty and executed, Reston notes the irony that they're getting Kaled justice from a Thal.
- Offing the Offspring: Calcula drowns her daughter Yarvel after finding out her actions nearly killed Davros.
- The Power of Hate: Magrantine has kept himself alive with his hatred for Davros. Unfortunately by the time he does meet Davros again he's been fatally wounded and is too weak to do anything.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: From Davros point-of-view; thanks to the machinations of his late father, who wanted him to join the military instead of becoming a scientist, he's stuck testing Awesome, but Impractical weapons instead of having the resources and influence to develop better weapons himself.
- Rock Beats Laser: Downplayed; the squad gets swarmed by scavengers armed with crude spears who kill everyone except Davros and Reston, who drain the power packs on their energy weapons but do succeed in killing them all.
- Secret Weapon: Which turns out to be an automated factory churning out self-guided flying bombs that are sophisticated enough to evade ground and air defenses.
- Sole Survivor: Davros returns from his Suicide Mission alone, the rest of his squad having been killed along the way.
- Suicide Mission: Davros and Reston are assigned to a commando squad sent behind enemy lines, on a mission which is Davros is expected to complete successfully in order to get a place in the Scientific Corps. Reston isn't happy that Davros volunteered him for the mission without knowing what it entailed.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Davros destroys the Thal secret weapons facility by shoving a bomb inside a warhead and running like hell.
- Testing Range Mishap: The beginning of the episode sees Davros and Reston testing out a targeting helmet's tracking capabilities. They try heat-seeking mode which causes the helmet's electronics to overheat so much that it targets itself before blowing apart. Davros complains that it must have been designed by a moron lacking even a child's mastery of basic science.
- Try and Follow: Davros takes the commando squad into the Wastelands because no-one would be crazy enough to follow them. He's right as their pursuers turn back, but finds out why that's the case.
