Doctor Who – “…Up Above the Gods…”*
Issues: 227
Story: Richard Alan
Art: Lee Sullivan
Letters: Starkings/Comicraft
Editor: Gary Gillatt
*Contents page gives it without the punctuation
Doctor: Sixth
Companions: None
Episodes: 1
Summary:
The Doctor has taken Davros aboard the TARDIS ** and they discuss his future and that of the dalek race. The Doctor quizzes him over where the rage in the daleks came from but Davros claims it was already there. In return, Davros tries to convince the Doctor that the Time Lord only roams the Universe because he fears power and responsibility. The Doctor tells Davros of an army of frozen daleks. He’s willing to take the scientist there if he promises to genetically alter them so that they become a force for good. Davros agrees, though in reality has no intention of doing any such thing. He does not realize that this is all just part of the Doctor’s careful plan to ensnare him…
**See Emperor of the Daleks part one
Episode Endings:
One – The Doctor lies back and “reluctantly” agrees he has no choice but to trust Davros.
Continuity:
The story takes place in the TARDIS cloisters.
There’s reference to “Resurrection of the Daleks” (the time when the fifth Doctor pulled the gun on Davros but was unable to kill him) and the frozen dalek army is on Spiridon. Plus, coming as part of the plot of “Emperor of the Daleks” it’s pretty heavily tied in with that as well. Peri is presumably somewhere else in the TARDIS for the duration of the story.
The Doctor says that Davros was once a geneticist interested only in the survival of his people.
Davros tells us that the Kaleds were at war with the Thals for centuries.
Comments:
At the time I couldn’t see the point to “Up Above the Gods”… I still can’t. Tom Baker’s scenes with Davros in “Genesis of the Daleks” sprang to mind as I read it and will probably stick in my mind longer than this wannabe will! Given that this is the only sixth Doctor story in the past Doctor run it’s even more of a shame that it’s wasted on yet more of the Doctor tricking Davros story. “Emperor of the Daleks” worked perfectly well without this addition and there’s a part of me that would much rather the confrontation between the Doctor and Davros was left to the reader’s own imagination.
The art work is good though, the sixth Doctor’s eyes end up as dark as Davros’ in all the right places and the re-appearance of the cloister room is probably the best thing about this one.
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