Destination: Skaro (TV story)

Destination: Skaro

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Destination: Skaro
Novelised as:	Destination: Skaro
Script release:	online here
Doctor:	Fourteenth Doctor
Featuring:	Davros, First Dalek, Nyder
Main setting:	Skaro, the "genesis of the Daleks"
Key crew
Writer:	Russell T Davies
Director:	Jamie Donoughue
Release details
Genre:	Science fiction
Premiere broadcast:	17 November 2023
Premiere network:	BBC One
Format:	1x5 minute mini-episode
Unleashed:	Children in Need
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Destination: Skaro — also simply titled Doctor Who Children in Need Special 2023 — was a televised minisode broadcast on 17 November 2023 on BBC One for Children in Need, written by Russell T Davies in celebration of the 60th anniversary.

Much like the 2005 Children in Need special Born Again ^[+]Loading...["Born Again (TV story)"] had done with the Tenth Doctor, Destination: Skaro marked the first full appearance of the Fourteenth Doctor on-screen, following his debut in The Power of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"]. In the interim, he saw multiple appearances in other media, including the comic story Liberation of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"], which lead directly into Destination: Skaro by bringing the Doctor to Skaro during its epilogue.

While mainly comedic in tone, Destination: Skaro was notable for bringing the Doctor back to the genesis of the Daleks, where he ended up unintentionally becoming part of a Bootstrap paradox by inspiring key elements of their development, such as accidentally giving away the name "Dalek" for the Mark III Travel Machine, as well as their battle cry, "Exterminate", and inspiring the suction arm by replacing the multi-dextrous claw with a plunger after having accidentally destroyed it. However, dialogue in the minisode indicates that it is not meant to wholly fit in with the version of history seen in Genesis of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)"], with the Doctor realising that his interference coincides with "the timelines and canon rupturing". Destination: Skaro also marked the first time an adult Davros was shown before his disfigurement in a visual medium, and the second time he had been seen on-screen without the need for his life support chair, coming after his appearance as a child in The Magician's Apprentice ^[+]Loading...["The Magician's Apprentice (TV story)"] and The Witch's Familiar ^[+]Loading...["The Witch's Familiar (TV story)"].

This story would be novelised in the form of Doctor Who The Official Annual 2025 short story Destination: Skaro ^[+]Loading...["Destination: Skaro (short story)"].

Publisher's summary

In this special Children in Need episode, the Doctor hurtles through space and time to a crucial point in the Daleks' history.

Plot

Davros and his assistant, Castavillian, are building the first iteration of a mutant-housing Mark III Travel Machine. Castavillian tries coming up with a new name for the Machine, using different anagrams of Kaled, though none of which Davros approves of. Hearing a request from Nyder over an intercom, Davros leaves, telling Castavillian not to touch anything. As Castavillian laments his inability to come up with a good anagram, he hears an inexplicable wheezing and groaning.

Suddenly, the Doctor's TARDIS crashes into the room, smashing into a wall. The Fourteenth Doctor opens the door and, after greeting the bewildered Castavillian, starts rambling about regenerating from a "really brilliant woman" into an old face, until he realises his violent landing has accidentally smashed the multi-dextrous claw off the Machine, and apologises. Then he sees the Machine, and realises that it's a Dalek, which Castavillian picks up on approvingly. As the Doctor notes that he was lucky that he wasn't "exterminated", he realises that he has accidentally travelled to the "genesis of the Daleks", with Castavillian noting down everything he says. Hurriedly, he legs it back to the TARDIS, retrieves a plunger, and throws it to Castavillian. The Doctor runs back into the TARDIS and tells Castavillian he "was never [t]here" as the TARDIS dematerialises.

Panicking, Castavillian sticks the plunger on to the Dalek in place of the claw. Davros re-enters and sees the plunger stuck on to the Dalek. Castavillian looks at him nervously, yet Davros, after a pause, only says, "I like it."

Cast

• The Doctor - David Tennant
• Castavillian - Mawaan Rizwan
• Davros - Julian Bleach
• Voice of the Dalek - Nicholas Briggs
• Nyder - Nicholas Briggs
• Dalek Operator - Barnaby Edwards

Worldbuilding

• Davros mentions that the war caused the Kaleds to mutate.
• Davros identifies the bonded polycarbide shell, multi-dextrous claw and ruby ray blaster as part of the Travel Machine's arsenal.
• The anagrams Castavillian proposes for the Travel Machine's name are "Lekad", "Adlek", "Klade", and "Edlak".
• When the Doctor realises that he is inspiring the development of the Daleks by saying his future knowledge with Castavillian in earshot writing it down, creating a bootstrap paradox, he fears it will result in the timelines and canon "rupturing."

Story notes

• The title "Destination: Skaro" was only given by Russell T Davies on a post on his Instagram.
• Destination: Skaro was the first time an adult Davros was seen prior to his disfigurement in live action, though this time of his life had previously been depicted in Big Finish Productions' I, Davros audio dramas Davros ^[+]Loading...["Davros (audio story)"], Purity ^[+]Loading...["Purity (audio story)"] and Corruption ^[+]Loading...["Corruption (audio story)"]. He had also previously been shown as a child in The Magician's Apprentice ^[+]Loading...["The Magician's Apprentice (TV story)"] and The Witch's Familiar ^[+]Loading...["The Witch's Familiar (TV story)"]. Russell T Davies stated on Doctor Who: Unleashed that he did not want to depict Davros as he looked in the past to avoid associating a disfigured wheelchair user with "evil", particularly during Children in Need, where those with physical disabilities and mobility issues are among those who are helped by the charity.
• According to Doctor Who: Unleashed, Destination: Skaro was filmed on David Tennant's birthday, almost a year after he had wrapped production on the 60th anniversary specials. This would place the date of filming as 18 April 2023.
• Destination: Skaro contradicts elements of the audio dramas Davros ^[+]Loading...["Davros (audio story)"] and I, Davros, such as the scene where Davros constructs the Mark I Travel Machine, which was done after he was confined to his wheelchair, and Davros is already shown acquainted with Nyder, despite the audio releases depicting their first meeting as happening when Nyder rescued Davros from the attack that disfigured him.
• In addition to voicing the Daleks, Nicholas Briggs performed the voice of Nyder, doing an impression of actor Peter Miles, who portrayed Nyder in Genesis of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)"].
• The TARDIS's "Crystal" desktop theme, used mainly by the Thirteenth Doctor, can be seen through the doors when the Doctor is about to leave Skaro, as the next story to feature the Fourteenth Doctor, The Star Beast ^[+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"], would debut a new desktop theme. However, while the Thirteenth Doctor's TARDIS desktop theme could be seen briefly, the actual set had been dismantled prior to the filming of the 2023 specials, which were filmed a year prior to Destination: Skaro.

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

to be added

Continuity

• Destination: Skaro is a prequel to TV: Genesis of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)"], positing that several parts of Dalek culture were introduced by the Doctor via a bootstrap paradox. It also refers to the creation of the Daleks as the "genesis of the Daleks", a name for the event that had previously been used in various spin-offs, such as the webcast Who Are The Daleks? ^[+]Loading...["Who Are The Daleks? (webcast)"], the book The Time Traveller's Almanac ^[+]Loading...["The Time Traveller's Almanac (reference book)"], and the short story Sevrin ^[+]Loading...["Sevrin (short story)"].
• The view of Skaro from space closely resembles its appearance in TV: Doctor Who ^[+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"].
• Dalek casings being created from polycarbide was established in TV: Remembrance of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)"]
• Davros identifies the Dalek's gunstick as a "ruby ray blaster", harkening back to the Doctor Who Annual 2006 game TARDIS Teaser ^[+]Loading...["TARDIS Teaser (game)"], which established that some Dalek flying saucers are equipped with ruby ray lasers.
• One of the anagrams Castavillian proposes for the Mark III Travel Machine is "Klade"; the Klade, as seen in several BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures novels, such as PROSE: Father Time ^[+]Loading...["Father Time (novel)"], were often hinted at being the future evolutions of the Daleks.
• An hour has passed for the Doctor since his regeneration; this aligns with Davies' intent that COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"], set immediately after TV: The Power of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"], takes places over the course of a single hour.
• The Doctor saying, "Sixty minutes ago, I was this really brilliant woman", draws a parallel back to Twice Upon a Time ^[+]Loading...["Twice Upon a Time (TV story)"], where the Doctor's first reaction to her new face was, "Oh, brilliant!", and The Woman Who Fell to Earth ^[+]Loading...["The Woman Who Fell to Earth (TV story)"], where the Thirteenth Doctor told Yaz Khan and Ryan Sinclair that "half an hour ago, [she] was a white-haired Scotsman."
• The Doctor calling the time period the "genesis of the Daleks" in dialogue acts as a nod to TV: World Enough and Time ^[+]Loading...["World Enough and Time (TV story)"], in which the Saxon Master similarly dubbed his Cyber-Foundries as the "genesis of the Cybermen".
• The Doctor mentions the concept of canonicity as a concept similar to a timeline; many sources have also referenced canonicity in this way, such as PROSE: The Blue Angel ^[+]Loading...["The Blue Angel (novel)"] establishing that the Time Lords have a Tower of Canonicity. Furthermore, the Doctor's exclamation that "the timelines and canon are rupturing" is very similar to a line in GAME: Double Danger ^[+]Loading...{"page":"44","1":"Double Danger (game)"}, where it is stated that "there's been a rupture in time and the Doctor needs to know [...] what's changed between two realities."

Home media releases

Digital releases

Following its broadcast on television, Destination: Skaro was added to BBC iPlayer's Whoniverse catalog of Doctor Who content as a title separate from Doctor Who (2023-), under the name Doctor Who Children in Need Special 2023. It was also released on YouTube under the title, Fourteenth Doctor is Here! | BBC Children in Need 2023 | Doctor Who, around the same time.

External links

• BBC - Doctor Who - Episode Guide - Doctor Who Children in Need Special 2023