According to the Associated Press story...
NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated
Let there be no doubt now: The greatest murderer in the history of the universe is back.
Credit Planet Gallifrey for the find. They also have a pic of the new Red Dalek over there.
Click the image to magnify the evil...
These seem to be leaked (unintentionally or not) press photos made by the BBC. This one of Davros matches up well with the still from the mid-season trailer a few weeks ago, particularly the indentation on the front near the top of the chair.
Yeah I know, this blog has been going a little crazy lately about the return of Davros to Doctor Who. But ever since news came out almost five years ago that the show was returning after a sixteen-year hiatus, this has been the single bad guy that fans have been wanting to see back the most. And Davros isn't your average insane evil genius hellbent on universal domination, either. From the very beginning he's had one very clear motive for everything he has done: perpetuate himself through his creations. This is how Davros wants to achieve a kind of immortality for himself. That his creations happen to be the most xenocidal lifeform to ever exist is inconsequential to him.
Davros last wrecked havoc in the 1988 story Remembrance of the Daleks. So what does Davros for the new millennium look like? Pretty darn sweet! I love how they've tweaked the original chair design: very modern but still classic Davros.
So now that we've concrete proof that he's returning, let's celebrate with this excellently-produced video that I found on YouTube called "Davros Vs. The Universe"...
Speaking of Doctor Who, I haven't watched this past weekend's new episode but I might get a chance to in the next day or so :-)
EDIT 7:39 a.m. EST: Surrey Dave in the comments passed along The Sun's reporting that the BBC has FINALLY officially confirmed that Davros is back, and is being portrayed this time by Shakespearean actor Julian Bleach. Previously there had been speculation that everyone from Sir Ben Kingsley to Patrick Stewart was going to be in the chair.
If you were around then, you'll no doubt remember those famous "infomercials" that Perot ran simultaneously across most of the networks, where he'd look into the camera while showing charts that depicted the state of the economy, while using down-home lingo and cornpone humor to get his point across: "This deficit's like the crazy aunt the family keeps in the basement. Everyone knows she's there but nobody wants to talk about her." Well, the man himself has just launched Perot Charts (at perotcharts.com) and he's bringing his flip charts into Web 2.0's realm.
Have to wonder what this country would have been like had he won the election that year. Would it have been any worse than what we've had from sixteen years of Bill Clinton and then George W. Bush? I doubt it.
Stan Winston was the special effects and makeup genius responsible for some of the most iconic images to burst out of the movie screen of the past thirty years. Winston was the man who made the Terminator function across three films, unleashed the Aliens (and then Predator), brought dinosaurs back to life in Jurassic Park and its sequels, made us believe the mecha of A.I., and scores of other films over the years. Most recently he created the armor and other effects for the hit movie Iron Man.
Along with Aliens, you wanna know what my personal favorite example of Stan Winston's work is? It's The Thing from 1982. It could only have been Stan Winston who could turn someone like Wilford Brimley into one of the most sickeningly horrific creatures ever shown in a film. Or the scene where Norris has his heart attack (as in: his heart attacks and bites right through Copper's arms).
Think I'll pop The Thing in the DVD player tonight after our rehearsal for Children of Eden, and toast Winston's memory.
