THE Doctor Who The season 15 trailer brings back Skaro at the height of his power, promising to show the Daleks what's most dangerous. Ncuti Gatwa is expected to return in Doctor Who season 15, now joined by newcomer Varada Sethu as her new companion. The trailer promises plenty of excitement and excitement as the Doctor tries to get his companion home – “the longest way,” a very familiar phrase from the 50th anniversary.
As exciting as it is, the trailer promises something even better. There is a glimpse of a golden city, with dome-shaped towers reaching into the sky and spaceships shaped like flying saucers. The design will be very familiar to those familiar with the 21st Century TV Comic books “Daleks” – this is Skaro, the home world of the Daleks.
We've never seen Skaro like this in Doctor Who before
This is Skaro at the height of his power
The legendary homeworld of the Daleks, Skaro made its debut in 1963's “The Daleks.” Turned into a radioactive wasteland after generations of war between the Thals and the Kaleds, this inhospitable planet is a cruel world in which few can survive. The Kaleds evolved into monstrous new forms, surviving inside traveling machines, and were renamed “Daleks”. Genetic engineering has eliminated all of the Daleks' most vile and evil emotions.
The Doctor has visited Skaro many times, but the planet has rarely been seen at the height of its power. Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor visited him in the 1967 story “The Evil of the Daleks”, where he reintroduced human emotions into some Daleks, causing a civil war. But this version of Skaro was created using older, cheaper special effects, long before the days of CGI. We've seen more impressive versions of Skaro in the modern episodes “Asylum of the Daleks” and “The Witch's Familiar”, but nothing like this.
Why is the doctor visiting Skaro?
What does the return of the Daleks mean?
Why would the Doctor visit Skaro? More to the point… why would he visit this version of Skaroat a time when he and his companions would be in the greatest danger? Even stranger, though, is the fact that the Dalek saucers appear to be engaged in battle – with some apparently shooting at their own home world. Is it possible Doctor Who season 15 is revisiting the classic Troughton-era civil war storyline.
Alternatively, the similarities between this version of Skaro and those seen in the comics could be intentional. Doctor Who has never been known for its continuity, but there are many differences between these comics and Tom Baker's unforgettable story, “Genesis of the Daleks.” This glimpse of Skaro is accompanied by dialogue that teases a continuation of the Toymaker plot – an arc featuring quasi-mystical entities from outside the universe that can rewrite reality. Is it possible that a creature similar to Toymaker created his own version of Skaro, based on the comics?
This is, of course, the purpose of any good trailer; raise many more questions than answers. Given that this is the case, it is no surprise that the Doctor Who The season 15 trailer shows this admirably. Only one thing can be said with certainty; Skaro is back and the Doctor will wish he wasn't.