Was the Doctor right in saving Davros?

[Gingerbread Demon]

I think this would make for a very interesting discussion.

"Was the Doctor right saving Davros in the minefield as a kid?"

I'll get this right out of the way and say I think he acted in the right way, or at least in a way I would have acted. I'm a huge fan of mercy and doing the right thing even in the middle of bad circumstances.

Now having said that I do wonder how different Dr Who history would be had he just left him standing there to die and flown off in the TARDIS and not made that decision to save him. However I do think it wasn't an easy decision and he must have wrestled with it for some time because I think he does fly off and come back, but we have no idea of how much actual time had passed between those two moments onboard the TARDIS, he might have been gone for hundreds of years for all we know.

Had he died would we still have had the Daleks, I'm not sure, but we would likely have had something similar be created I am sure, just not with that name, and maybe they would have looked a lot different to the things we now know as Daleks.

But having said that I think he did the right thing and saved him anyway regardless of the evil he had created and unleashed across the universe.

 

[Steven P Bastien]

I found it interesting what the Doctor said when he went to save him. He said, "I'm going to save my friend the only way I can". Does "only" mean in a physical sense or in an emotional sense. I interpreted his meaning to be that is the only way physically because of time paradoxes and other physical laws that come into play. In other words, if he were to try to kill the child Davros, it would backfire and cause other types of harm and might not even save Clara. I personally don't think he would hesitate to kill child Davros if it was the only way to save her. I also don't think that the harm Davros caused was ever a factor in his choice. He would have the ability to kill child Davros at other times in his life, if this were an act he wanted to commit. He has a Tardis after all, and apparently does not want to do that or can't do it because of "rules" for Time Lords, or possibilities of paradoxes and greater harm.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I found it interesting what the Doctor said when he went to save him. He said, "I'm going to save my friend the only way I can". Does "only" mean in a physical sense or in an emotional sense. I interpreted his meaning to be that is the only way physically because of time paradoxes and other physical laws that come into play. In other words, if he were to try to kill the child Davros, it would backfire and cause other types of harm and might not even save Clara. I personally don't think he would hesitate to kill child Davros if it was the only way to save her. I also don't think that the harm Davros caused was ever a factor in his choice. He would have the ability to kill child Davros at other times in his life, if this were an act he wanted to commit. He has a Tardis after all, and apparently does not want to do that or can't do it because of "rules" for Time Lords, or possibilities of paradoxes and greater harm.

See I think I'd have still saved child Davros regardless. Time machine hell he could have moved him to another world that wasn't a war torn shithole and he would have had a better life, maybe turned out better, but this being Doctor Who the timeline would have self corrected and some other nutter would likely have created the Daleks so there are no snafus or such, at least that's how I looked at it.

 

[Skellington]

Presumably the Time Lords could have tried to whack or abduct a pre-Dalek Davros but knew that the attempt would fail, backfire, or actually result in the very problem they were trying to correct (c/f the Silents’ abduction and manipulation of River to retroactively prevent the Doctor getting to Trenzalore, which actions he later credits with enabling him to get that far).

So presumably the TARDIS took him to that place and time in order to influence his later meeting with Davros in a certain direction.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

See I think I'd have still saved child Davros regardless. Time machine hell he could have moved him to another world that wasn't a war torn shithole and he would have had a better life, maybe turned out better, but this being Doctor Who the timeline would have self corrected and some other nutter would likely have created the Daleks so there are no snafus or such, at least that's how I looked at it.

What if the Doctor (somehow) accidentally moved young Davros to Mondas? Cyber-Daleks? Something worse? Davros becomes a farmer?

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

What if the Doctor (somehow) accidentally moved young Davros to Mondas? Cyber-Daleks? Something worse? Davros becomes a farmer?

Then Davros goes on a Reality TV show called "The Farmer wants a Dalek"

 

[GNDN18]

Was he was right to save Davros? I think so. This is who the Doctor is.



His name is the Doctor and that’s the only name he needs; it tells us all we need to know about him. Or, to put it in Star Trek terms,

 

[Turtletrekker]

He did the only thing he could do and still be the Doctor.

 

[Qonundrum]

Was he was right to save Davros? I think so. This is who the Doctor is.
View attachment 5933
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His name is the Doctor and that’s the only name he needs; it tells us all we need to know about him. Or, to put it in Star Trek terms,
View attachment 5936

Thankfully other Doctors didn't mind blowing up various Daleks. And, best of all, the 7th Doctor had no qualms in obliterating Skaro.

The difference is, the Daleks go around killing and destroying innocent people. The 4th Doctor didn't care over how many deaths they would cause despite being witness to any number of them. His not connecting the wires made him no better than them.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Not quite. The Daleks caused implacable enemies to unite, brought together federations and alliances and discoveries that never would have been made without the Dalek threat. That's what held back the 4th Doctor. The real problem of the show was making the Daleks such a ridiculous uberthreat that even the Time Lords couldn't handle. At that point, having Davros hector lecture the Doctor into self doubt on his complicity in genocide for trying to stop the Daleks from killing everything in the universe was moronic.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Not quite. The Daleks caused implacable enemies to unite, brought together federations and alliances and discoveries that never would have been made without the Dalek threat. That's what held back the 4th Doctor. The real problem of the show was making the Daleks such a ridiculous uberthreat that even the Time Lords couldn't handle. At that point, having Davros hector lecture the Doctor into self doubt on his complicity in genocide for trying to stop the Daleks from killing everything in the universe was moronic.

Yeah there is that and Moffat always finding some way to bring them back, pardon me but I despise the whole time war story.

 

[jaime]

Yeah there is that and Moffat always finding some way to bring them back, pardon me but I despise the whole time war story.

Can’t blame Moff for that. He simply slowly retconned it into a blip.
The whole thing was borrowed by RTD from the books, and I wonder if leaving it vague as to whether it was the various Time Wars in the books would have been the way to go, especially as SO much, especially from the EDAs slowly got copied on screen anyway.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Can’t blame Moff for that. He simply slowly retconned it into a blip.
The whole thing was borrowed by RTD from the books, and I wonder if leaving it vague as to whether it was the various Time Wars in the books would have been the way to go, especially as SO much, especially from the EDAs slowly got copied on screen anyway.

Oh I'm not sure on that. I just never liked the whole concept of the time war.

 

[jaime]

Oh I'm not sure on that. I just never liked the whole concept of the time war.

It wa fun when it was the mental stuff in the books from Alien Bodies on. The War in Heaven and all that. The underlying idea that in some ways we will never see the actual war, because it’s likely end point was that it would never happen anyway, and all the things we see are like the leftovers from a war that already happened/didn’t happen at the same time. Sam Jones and Dark Sam, like some Uber Clara...the Doctor dealing with his own mortal remains/death...conscious humanoid tardis...the return of the Master, as an ally....it’s all in there.

 

[Gov Kodos]

I'll second it. The Time War was utter crap.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

I am still somewhat unsure of why the Daleks have not conquered time travel at this point seeing as they seem to be just insidious as to never have been beaten completly ever, so just how long before they actually do become totally overwhelmingly powerful and unbeatable simply due to attrition. lol

 

[Marc]

The 4th Doctor didn't care over how many deaths they would cause despite being witness to any number of them. His not connecting the wires made him no better than them.

The doctor was also concerned with that he was committing genoicde but then by the time Terror of the Vervoids rolls around the qualm doesn't seem to bother him as much.

 

[jaime]

The doctor was also concerned with that he was committing genoicde but then by the time Terror of the Vervoids rolls around the qualm doesn't seem to bother him as much.

Vervoids are different in many respects, an engineered species that was a clear immediate danger to life in their vicinity. Sentient Bioweapons. Even then he regretted it.

 

[Marc]

an engineered species that was a clear immediate danger to life in their vicinity

sound just like the daleks

 

[jaime]

sound just like the daleks

Very much so. Except the Daley’s are self-engineered.