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strange_complexMore Who notched up, as follows:
First Doctor: The Daleks
Continuing sequentially onwards from An Unearthly Child, my next stop was The Daleks (watched partly with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
big_daz, and partly at home after he lent me the video). This is a whopping seven-parter, meaning that the story as a whole clocks in at nearly three hours long - but I thought it carried it pretty well. Apart from anything else, the series is still so new at this stage that it's useful to have the spare time available for getting to know the Doctor, his companions and the TARDIS better, to say nothing of the new planet and alien races they're encountering.
The story is, of course, the very first to feature the Daleks: here seen on their home planet, five hundred years after it's been all but destroyed in a nuclear holocaust as a result of a war between them and the Thals. The Daleks are mutant survivors, and the Thals are so traumatised by what has happened that they would prefer to die than ever fight again - all very relevant themes for late '63 / early '64. There's even quite a protracted debate between Ian and his fellow travellers about whether it is or isn't right to try to persuade the Thals to help them fight against the Daleks. It's muddied a bit by the fact that the travellers are only really motivated by their need to retrieve a vital part of the TARDIS in order to escape, but gets points for at least trying to explore the issue of pacifism nonetheless.
The Daleks are rather different in this story from their later incarnations. In fact, early on, they come across as quite reasonable beings, who have simply been driven to hostile behaviour by centuries of war. It's only later in the story that they start deliberately double-crossing the Thals, and their ambitions at this stage have certainly not extended beyond Skaro into the total megalomania they develop later. They're also physically more vulnerable in this story than they became later. They can only move around on metal floors, from which they pick up static electricity; they need a high level of atmospheric radiation to survive; they can be blinded with a lump of mud; and they can be over-powered and immobilised by two or three human beings grabbing them from behind. There is no way this lot could levitate, travel in time, remain impervious to bullets, or any of the many other things we've seen them doing lately in New Who. But that's fine, because the Daleks are near the beginnings of their own history at this stage, so it's perfectly logical that they would enhance their capabilities and defences later on.
Our Fab Four undergo plenty of continuing character development as the story unfolds. The Doctor's nasty streak, seen in the previous story when he was ready to smash in an injured caveman's skull so that the four of them could escape, surfaces once or twice - for example, when he tries to persuade the rest of the team to scarper rather than endangering themselves by hanging around the warn the Thals that the Daleks are luring them into a trap. This Doctor is definitely no hero, and indeed his behaviour could be seen as closer to the Gallifreyan ideal of observing alien species while remaining uninvolved than that of any of his later incarnations. Actually, that's a retcon, since Who writers included no details at all about the Time Lords or their values until long after Hartnell's day, so they probably didn't have any such ideals in mind. But it works rather nicely, given that he does seem to be only a recent exile, and so would quite plausibly still be behaving more like a typical Time Lord at this stage than later on. Even if getting too involved with other species was the reason for his exile, it still works, on the grounds that he got too involved by Time Lord standards, but still doesn't want to get as involved as his human companions do.
As for the companions, interestingly Ian spends quite a lot of this story in a 'leader' role, to the extent that he's even going round successfully telling the Doctor what to do. I'm not sure I can imagine any of the later Doctors putting up with this, but it does fit quite well with One's non-heroic, recent exile persona. He just hasn't formulated the basic assumption that he should always be in control yet - although of course he's still perfectly capable of taking the lead when it suits him. Barbara and Susan, meanwhile, certainly follow quite defined gender roles, as would be expected for the time. But in Susan's case, quite a lot of stress is placed on her being a 'child', so that it is hard to tell whether she is portrayed as scared and uncertain because she is female or because she is young. And I was pleasantly surprised to see Barbara getting a couple of moments of serious awesomeness in this story! It's her idea, for example, to scrape mud off everyone's shoes to blind their Dalek captor, and she also insists on going on a dangerous mission led by Ian, during which she shows herself far more game to jump over a dangerous chasm than one of the male Thals. Good for her.
Finally, this story also included a couple of marvellous fansquee moments. Turns out, it's not just Five and Ten who like wearing Smart Specs - One fishes them out at least twice in this episode, too. Also, the final episode includes Who's first ever screen kiss. Although Barbara and Ian have been quite friendly throughout the story (seizing opportunities to grab each other in terror, etc.), it is with one of the Thal men that she develops a more explicit chemistry. As Barbara prepares to leave in the TARDIS, they have a little romantic parting scene, in which he gives her some Thal fabric for a dress, before taking her hand and kissing it - to which her response is to kiss him back right on the mouth. Chastely and briefly, yes - but it's there all right. Barbara / Thal, OTP!
First Doctor: The Edge of Destruction
The first few minutes of this next story were at the very end of Daz's videotape, and by the time it ran out, I was hooked enough to track down the rest on YouTube. According to Wikipedia, its format was almost entirely determined by production issues: there were two spare episodes left after The Daleks in the 13-episode run that had originally been granted to the show, and most of the money had already been spent, so they needed to shoot something on a very low budget. The result is a two-parter set entirely on the TARDIS, which is hurtling back in time to the creation of the solar system.
There is a lot to be said in favour of this, though, whatever the reasons. Firstly, it results in what I usually call a 'cabin fever' story - i.e. one in which a small number of protagonists are trapped facing extreme peril in close quarters, bringing their personality clashes into sharp relief. No-one knows quite what's going on at first - in fact, they all begin the story unconscious. Once they wake up, and begin piecing their circumstances together, suspicions and accusations start flying around on all sides. The Doctor drugs Ian and Barbara, Susan goes crazy and starts trying to stab people, Ian tries to strangle the Doctor, Barbara screams at the Doctor and calls him a 'stupid old man' - in short, it's all total chaos. By the end of the story, though, this has all resolved nicely into reconciliation, and a better understanding of one another. In spite of the Doctor's hostility, Barbara's intuition about all the strange things happening around them allowed her to figure out what was going on - and he acknowledges this, apologises, and concludes that he has under-estimated her. The second episode ends with jokes, laughter, and excitement about their next adventure - all clear signs that they have grown closer as a team as a result of their experience.
The second good thing about the one-set format is that it provides an excellent opportunity to get better acquainted with the TARDIS. I wondered after watching An Unearthly Child when in Who history the TARDIS had first been shown as sentient, rather than just a machine, and the answer is in this story. As Barbara notices all the odd ways the TARDIS is behaving, she begins to personify it, asking what 'it' is doing. The Doctor's response to this is unequivocal - "'It'? 'It'? What do you mean? My machine can't think!" Gradually, though, they all realise that it is actively trying to communicate with them, in order to draw their attention to the fact that one of the controls is stuck in 'fast return' mode (the reason why they are plummeting backwards through time). It's another sign that the Doctor knows very little about his TARDIS at this stage. (Well - or, of course, that the writers don't, because they're making it up as though go along. But I prefer to interpret these things in story terms, rather than authorial terms).
Only two rooms have been shown in this or previous episodes - the main control room, and a living area, which includes a food / water / medicine machine and couches that can be pulled down for sleeping. Interestingly, Susan, Barbara and Ian all go to or are put to 'bed' at various times in this episode, granting the viewer a glimpse of TARDIS night-wear - black shroud-like robes for the women, and a dressing-gown for Ian (a model for Arthur Dent, perhaps?). The TARDIS' 'extensive wardrobe' is mentioned at the end of the story, too.
There are also a few more clues as to how long the Doctor and Susan had been travelling before they met Ian and Barbara. The TARDIS tries to communicate with the crew by showing them pictures on a scanner screen, and Susan recognises one as a planet she and the Doctor had visited 'four or five journeys back'. Of course, some of those journeys could have been made while they were still able to return to Gallifrey in between, but it certainly means they've been travelling together for a bit longer than Ian and Barbara have been involved - which is only two journeys, really, or three if you count the current one. Come to think of it, Susan was also surprised in An Unearthly Child that the TARDIS had not changed shape when they arrived on prehistoric Earth, and commented that it had previously been an Ionic column and a sedan chair - again pointing to previous journeys, probably into the Earth's past. And for that matter, the Doctor claims that he acquired a coat which he lends to Ian at the end of the story from Gilbert and Sullivan (what, both of them?), which suggests the same thing. So, I guess he's not quite as fresh to the travelling life as I thought when I saw An Unearthly Child - but still, pretty fresh to it, as his ignorance of the TARDIS, his initial hostility to Ian and Barbara, and his general uncertainty about what he's actually doing all show.
Alas, the next First Doctor story, Marco Polo, exists only in soundtrack form, so I can't carry the continuity I've maintained throughout his first three adventures any further. It's a pity, because I've really enjoyed these stories - there's far more to them than I'd ever realised before, and although they certainly show their age, they're definitely worth watching all the same. Still, there are plenty more First Doctor stories which do survive, and now I've got the hang of his era, I'm keen to watch them. Next stop - The Rescue followed by The Romans.
Fourth Doctor: The Sontaran Experiment
Finally, this week's UKTV Drama offering was The Sontaran Experiment. Like The Edge of Destruction, this is a two-parter, but I'm afraid I found it pretty weak by comparison with the above. The plot consisted mainly of the Doctor, Sarah and Harry running around on a supposedly-deserted Earth, getting lost, captured and occasionally tortured or beaten up by the stranded astronauts and hostile Sontaran who are inevitably there. It was OK, but felt like filler material, there to plug an awkward gap before they could get back to the space-station they'd come from and on to the next story. I never expected to find myself saying this, because I'm a big Four fan - but of the three stories I've written about here, I definitely enjoyed the Hartnell ones far more than this. That said, it was interesting to meet a Sontaran properly, given their impending reappearance in New Who series 4. I'm sure it isn't their most impressive appearance, but at least I'll have a clear point of reference now.
First Doctor: The Daleks
Continuing sequentially onwards from An Unearthly Child, my next stop was The Daleks (watched partly with
big_daz, and partly at home after he lent me the video). This is a whopping seven-parter, meaning that the story as a whole clocks in at nearly three hours long - but I thought it carried it pretty well. Apart from anything else, the series is still so new at this stage that it's useful to have the spare time available for getting to know the Doctor, his companions and the TARDIS better, to say nothing of the new planet and alien races they're encountering.The story is, of course, the very first to feature the Daleks: here seen on their home planet, five hundred years after it's been all but destroyed in a nuclear holocaust as a result of a war between them and the Thals. The Daleks are mutant survivors, and the Thals are so traumatised by what has happened that they would prefer to die than ever fight again - all very relevant themes for late '63 / early '64. There's even quite a protracted debate between Ian and his fellow travellers about whether it is or isn't right to try to persuade the Thals to help them fight against the Daleks. It's muddied a bit by the fact that the travellers are only really motivated by their need to retrieve a vital part of the TARDIS in order to escape, but gets points for at least trying to explore the issue of pacifism nonetheless.
The Daleks are rather different in this story from their later incarnations. In fact, early on, they come across as quite reasonable beings, who have simply been driven to hostile behaviour by centuries of war. It's only later in the story that they start deliberately double-crossing the Thals, and their ambitions at this stage have certainly not extended beyond Skaro into the total megalomania they develop later. They're also physically more vulnerable in this story than they became later. They can only move around on metal floors, from which they pick up static electricity; they need a high level of atmospheric radiation to survive; they can be blinded with a lump of mud; and they can be over-powered and immobilised by two or three human beings grabbing them from behind. There is no way this lot could levitate, travel in time, remain impervious to bullets, or any of the many other things we've seen them doing lately in New Who. But that's fine, because the Daleks are near the beginnings of their own history at this stage, so it's perfectly logical that they would enhance their capabilities and defences later on.
Our Fab Four undergo plenty of continuing character development as the story unfolds. The Doctor's nasty streak, seen in the previous story when he was ready to smash in an injured caveman's skull so that the four of them could escape, surfaces once or twice - for example, when he tries to persuade the rest of the team to scarper rather than endangering themselves by hanging around the warn the Thals that the Daleks are luring them into a trap. This Doctor is definitely no hero, and indeed his behaviour could be seen as closer to the Gallifreyan ideal of observing alien species while remaining uninvolved than that of any of his later incarnations. Actually, that's a retcon, since Who writers included no details at all about the Time Lords or their values until long after Hartnell's day, so they probably didn't have any such ideals in mind. But it works rather nicely, given that he does seem to be only a recent exile, and so would quite plausibly still be behaving more like a typical Time Lord at this stage than later on. Even if getting too involved with other species was the reason for his exile, it still works, on the grounds that he got too involved by Time Lord standards, but still doesn't want to get as involved as his human companions do.
As for the companions, interestingly Ian spends quite a lot of this story in a 'leader' role, to the extent that he's even going round successfully telling the Doctor what to do. I'm not sure I can imagine any of the later Doctors putting up with this, but it does fit quite well with One's non-heroic, recent exile persona. He just hasn't formulated the basic assumption that he should always be in control yet - although of course he's still perfectly capable of taking the lead when it suits him. Barbara and Susan, meanwhile, certainly follow quite defined gender roles, as would be expected for the time. But in Susan's case, quite a lot of stress is placed on her being a 'child', so that it is hard to tell whether she is portrayed as scared and uncertain because she is female or because she is young. And I was pleasantly surprised to see Barbara getting a couple of moments of serious awesomeness in this story! It's her idea, for example, to scrape mud off everyone's shoes to blind their Dalek captor, and she also insists on going on a dangerous mission led by Ian, during which she shows herself far more game to jump over a dangerous chasm than one of the male Thals. Good for her.
Finally, this story also included a couple of marvellous fansquee moments. Turns out, it's not just Five and Ten who like wearing Smart Specs - One fishes them out at least twice in this episode, too. Also, the final episode includes Who's first ever screen kiss. Although Barbara and Ian have been quite friendly throughout the story (seizing opportunities to grab each other in terror, etc.), it is with one of the Thal men that she develops a more explicit chemistry. As Barbara prepares to leave in the TARDIS, they have a little romantic parting scene, in which he gives her some Thal fabric for a dress, before taking her hand and kissing it - to which her response is to kiss him back right on the mouth. Chastely and briefly, yes - but it's there all right. Barbara / Thal, OTP!
First Doctor: The Edge of Destruction
The first few minutes of this next story were at the very end of Daz's videotape, and by the time it ran out, I was hooked enough to track down the rest on YouTube. According to Wikipedia, its format was almost entirely determined by production issues: there were two spare episodes left after The Daleks in the 13-episode run that had originally been granted to the show, and most of the money had already been spent, so they needed to shoot something on a very low budget. The result is a two-parter set entirely on the TARDIS, which is hurtling back in time to the creation of the solar system.
There is a lot to be said in favour of this, though, whatever the reasons. Firstly, it results in what I usually call a 'cabin fever' story - i.e. one in which a small number of protagonists are trapped facing extreme peril in close quarters, bringing their personality clashes into sharp relief. No-one knows quite what's going on at first - in fact, they all begin the story unconscious. Once they wake up, and begin piecing their circumstances together, suspicions and accusations start flying around on all sides. The Doctor drugs Ian and Barbara, Susan goes crazy and starts trying to stab people, Ian tries to strangle the Doctor, Barbara screams at the Doctor and calls him a 'stupid old man' - in short, it's all total chaos. By the end of the story, though, this has all resolved nicely into reconciliation, and a better understanding of one another. In spite of the Doctor's hostility, Barbara's intuition about all the strange things happening around them allowed her to figure out what was going on - and he acknowledges this, apologises, and concludes that he has under-estimated her. The second episode ends with jokes, laughter, and excitement about their next adventure - all clear signs that they have grown closer as a team as a result of their experience.
The second good thing about the one-set format is that it provides an excellent opportunity to get better acquainted with the TARDIS. I wondered after watching An Unearthly Child when in Who history the TARDIS had first been shown as sentient, rather than just a machine, and the answer is in this story. As Barbara notices all the odd ways the TARDIS is behaving, she begins to personify it, asking what 'it' is doing. The Doctor's response to this is unequivocal - "'It'? 'It'? What do you mean? My machine can't think!" Gradually, though, they all realise that it is actively trying to communicate with them, in order to draw their attention to the fact that one of the controls is stuck in 'fast return' mode (the reason why they are plummeting backwards through time). It's another sign that the Doctor knows very little about his TARDIS at this stage. (Well - or, of course, that the writers don't, because they're making it up as though go along. But I prefer to interpret these things in story terms, rather than authorial terms).
Only two rooms have been shown in this or previous episodes - the main control room, and a living area, which includes a food / water / medicine machine and couches that can be pulled down for sleeping. Interestingly, Susan, Barbara and Ian all go to or are put to 'bed' at various times in this episode, granting the viewer a glimpse of TARDIS night-wear - black shroud-like robes for the women, and a dressing-gown for Ian (a model for Arthur Dent, perhaps?). The TARDIS' 'extensive wardrobe' is mentioned at the end of the story, too.
There are also a few more clues as to how long the Doctor and Susan had been travelling before they met Ian and Barbara. The TARDIS tries to communicate with the crew by showing them pictures on a scanner screen, and Susan recognises one as a planet she and the Doctor had visited 'four or five journeys back'. Of course, some of those journeys could have been made while they were still able to return to Gallifrey in between, but it certainly means they've been travelling together for a bit longer than Ian and Barbara have been involved - which is only two journeys, really, or three if you count the current one. Come to think of it, Susan was also surprised in An Unearthly Child that the TARDIS had not changed shape when they arrived on prehistoric Earth, and commented that it had previously been an Ionic column and a sedan chair - again pointing to previous journeys, probably into the Earth's past. And for that matter, the Doctor claims that he acquired a coat which he lends to Ian at the end of the story from Gilbert and Sullivan (what, both of them?), which suggests the same thing. So, I guess he's not quite as fresh to the travelling life as I thought when I saw An Unearthly Child - but still, pretty fresh to it, as his ignorance of the TARDIS, his initial hostility to Ian and Barbara, and his general uncertainty about what he's actually doing all show.
Alas, the next First Doctor story, Marco Polo, exists only in soundtrack form, so I can't carry the continuity I've maintained throughout his first three adventures any further. It's a pity, because I've really enjoyed these stories - there's far more to them than I'd ever realised before, and although they certainly show their age, they're definitely worth watching all the same. Still, there are plenty more First Doctor stories which do survive, and now I've got the hang of his era, I'm keen to watch them. Next stop - The Rescue followed by The Romans.
Fourth Doctor: The Sontaran Experiment
Finally, this week's UKTV Drama offering was The Sontaran Experiment. Like The Edge of Destruction, this is a two-parter, but I'm afraid I found it pretty weak by comparison with the above. The plot consisted mainly of the Doctor, Sarah and Harry running around on a supposedly-deserted Earth, getting lost, captured and occasionally tortured or beaten up by the stranded astronauts and hostile Sontaran who are inevitably there. It was OK, but felt like filler material, there to plug an awkward gap before they could get back to the space-station they'd come from and on to the next story. I never expected to find myself saying this, because I'm a big Four fan - but of the three stories I've written about here, I definitely enjoyed the Hartnell ones far more than this. That said, it was interesting to meet a Sontaran properly, given their impending reappearance in New Who series 4. I'm sure it isn't their most impressive appearance, but at least I'll have a clear point of reference now.
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Date: Saturday, 19 January 2008 18:49 (UTC)-K
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Date: Saturday, 19 January 2008 18:53 (UTC)Which isn't to say I don't like Pertwee's Doctor - but then again I haven't really watched any of his stories for about 10 years or so, and maybe I'd find them less appealing now.