The Daleks will play a major role in Doctor Who season 9. The time-traveling Doctor (Peter Capaldi) encounters a younger version of Davros, the creator of the genocidal cyborgs. Young Davros is likely the boy featured in the first trailer for season premiere episode “The Magician’s Apprentice.”
The Doctor is presented with an ethical dilemma along the lines of asking if you would kill Hitler as baby before he’s actually done anything wrong. The difference is that there seems to be an impending attack.
“Maximum extermination!” declares a red Dalek.
The redundant threat sounds like something Superboy Prime would say. “I’ll kill you to death!” the super brat ranted in Countdown to Final Crisis #13. However, in this case, it probably means exterminate everyone. Either way…RUN!
It seems highly unlikely that the hero in children’s show would kill a child but he may not have to. The boy in the trailer appears to be in peril. Perhaps the Doctor indirectly causes his death by refusing to save him. If Davros dies, don’t expect that to solve everything. Changing the past often has disastrous consequences worse than the original problem.
Davros created the Daleks from his own race, known as the Kaleds. They were a means to defeat the Thals, a separate race at war with the Kaleds. Without Davros, the Thals may create their own Daleks or something worse. BBC teased images of a new monster that looks reminiscent of the Big Daddy cyborgs from BioShock. They will appear alongside guest star Maisie Williams in the two-part story “The Girl Who Died” and “The Woman Who Lived.”
What if Williams is a Thal scientist, a female Davros. The episode titles seem to suggest that she is brought back to life perhaps through time-travel shenanigans. Her character has been described as “cosmic” by Capaldi.
“She’s not quite what she seems,” he added.
The Doctor is lost in time and space. His companion Clara (Jenna Coleman) teams up with his archenemy formerly known as the Master. Missy (Michelle Gomez) insists that she is only one capable of locating him. She is in possession of his Confession Dial. The Gallifreyan artifact contains “the last will and testament of the Doctor.” The dial’s marking are similar to the Doctor’s fob, which temporarily contained his Time Lord essence. Perhaps this one will a Star Wars hologram of the Doctor but knowing him it’ll probably be interactive with appropriate cheekiness,
The trailer should provide plenty of inspiration for Whovians wanting to enter the Doctor Who fan fiction contest, which ends September 9.
Doctor Who season 9 premieres September 19, Saturday 9PM on BBC America.