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Doctor Who retrospective: The Complete Davros Collection – Looking back at a unique box set of TV and audios

By James Aggas

Davros has faced many Doctors over the years, including the Tenth and Twelfth incarnations. But is it possible that he's met other Doctors from the New Series?(Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)
Davros has faced many Doctors over the years, including the Tenth and Twelfth incarnations. But is it possible that he's met other Doctors from the New Series?(Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images) /
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The Complete Davros Collection was a unique release that featured all of the Doctor Who villain’s TV stories – and beyond…

In 2007, a very special box set was released by 2 Entertain – the publisher of Doctor Who on DVD at the time. More than that, it had a surprisingly large amount of input from Big Finish Productions. The box set was The Complete Davros Collection, and it was a release that lived up to its title – in more ways than one.

As you can probably guess, it included all of the appearances of the Daleks’ creator from the Classic Series, including Genesis of the Daleks, Destiny of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks, and Remembrance of the Daleks.

Almost all of these had been released individually on DVD before, with the exception of Destiny, which was given its own individual release at the same time. It’s also worth noting that Remembrance was given a brand new two-disc special edition, featuring improved picture and sound restoration and several brand new special features.

The collection of all of Davros’s TV stories in one box set would certainly be quite the draw for many fans, especially those who hadn’t bought any or at least most of his stories already. But there was something else that was appealing about this box set – the audio stories that it included, too…

The Complete Davros Collection didn’t just include all of his TV stories – it included many of his audio stories, too.

Image courtesy Big Finish Productions

Audios old and new

This was something that really stood out about The Complete Davros Collection. It wasn’t just one or two audio stories featuring Davros that it included. Like the TV stories it collected, it was all of them – or at least, all the stories that had been released in 2007. Davros, The Juggernauts, Terror Firma, and even the entire spin-off series of I, Davros was on one bonus disc.

Back in 2007, this was a pretty exciting release. Seeing all of Davros’s stories collected together for one box set was pretty handy for Classic Series fans. More than that, it was a chance for even many die-hard fans of the original show to check out Big Finish for the first time. While I had checked out some of their stories in the past, it was exciting to have so many audio stories on one single disc.

However, it wasn’t just Davros’s previous audio stories that the collection featured. It also had The Davros Mission – a completely original story from Big Finish, exclusive to the DVD box set. This was quite the highlight for the box set, and certainly something extra that would entice a few fans.

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Too high a price?

However, I’m not sure that it was enticing enough – at least, not at the box set’s original price. The RRP for the set was £99.99, and considering that many collectors would have had at least most of the TV stories already when this came out, a new audio story wouldn’t have been enough to justify the cost for many of them. Or, for that matter, all of his previous audio stories together. So as great as this set was, I’m not surprised that nothing similar has been done since.

Still, The Complete Davros Collection was an interesting and bold mix of both the Classic Series and the expanded universe in one box set. While I doubt something like it will happen again, (although I would like to see something like The Sixth Doctor Regenerates on a Blu-ray box set of Season 24), it was a nice way of not only bringing most of Davros’s stories together, but also introducing the vast world of Big Finish to a new audience.

dark. Next. Classic era Tardis teams and Davros at Wizard World!

Did you get The Complete Davros Collection? Do you think there should be more box sets that combine the TV series with the worlds of Big Finish, or even other media? Or do you think these worlds should be kept separate? Let us know in the comments below.

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