Now we really are on the second episode directed by Richard Martin. (I checked on Wikipedia beforehand, which is sort of like cheating, but after last week's mess I just wanted to know. So nyer.) It certainly starts off better with a quick resolution to the journey through the swamp - and the shot of water bags swirling away, while held slightly too long, is the most effective since the expedition's initial steps into the mire. After that, the action divides into the journey through the caves and the Doctor's infiltration of the city. Martin contrasts the two nicely with the former underlit and the latter bright, a technique I found effective.
In the early 80s, the show was (with some honourable exceptions) consistently overlit. There's a story that this was to stop the grannies worrying about something being wrong with their TV sets; quite apart from being insulting to elders this makes little sense, so I don't know if it's true or not. If it is true, either the grannies of the 1960s were more intelligent or else the picture quality on the old 405-line sets was so poor that nobody worried about it anyway.
My mum and dad had got a TV before I was born, but were not among the first by whom the new is tried. Like many in Britain, a good chunk of Jon Pertwee's run was in Black and White for our family. I used to love the TV at my granny's house in Coventry - there was certainly nothing suspect about that one - which was much better than ours. (I also loved discovering Fireball XL5, which wasn't broadcast in our ITV region.) I say "ours," but like a lot of people we didn't own a TV - we rented it. This has several advantages, not least being a predictable outlay which covered repairs and replacement. As time went on it got more expensive and the price of consumer electronics (including TVs) plummeted, until it ceased to be viable. It's something I'm sorry to see go, though. I'm currently writing these reviews on paper because my computer's died and I need to sort out another - which will set me back at least £350, not good in our current circumstances. A rental agreement would have cost as much, but it feels better when spread out. A bit like the episodes of this story, in fact, to get back on topic.
So, as I was saying before I rudely interrupted myself, we have the highly atmospheric cave sequences where it's really hard to see people - but it's still made very clear what's going on through dialogue and the actor's movements. Contrasted with this we have the scenes of the Doctor and Susan, which feel blander but work because that's not all there is, unlike (say) Warriors of the Deep. Throughout, Martin mixes long shots and closeups to provide variety. So, it's thumbs up from me for the directing.
The acting is competent throughout, though nothing really stands out. That leaves the plot, and I have mostly positive things to say about this too. We get another scene with Susan using her brains as well as more realistic scenes of people figuring things out. This last feature also provides my main criticism of the script, though, since there's not enough happening to support this level of 'um'ing and 'er'ing and the pace suffers. Still, I'm mostly satisfied and don't want to end on a negative note so I'll point out one little piece of realism that enhances the scene, which is Ian aborting his first attempt at a jump across the chasm. That hesitation really enhances the action.
What is at the back of my mind as I'm heaping praise on this episode is that when I watched the story all together - or at least in two sittings on consecutive days - I considered it a low point. It lived up to its name, in fact, feeling like an ordeal to watch; just a lot of padding following on from the padding of The Expedition until my brain started running out of my ears. I honestly couldn't notice its good points because the whole thing felt so tedious and I just wanted to get to the end of the story. None of which is true when I space it out over a couple of weeks. I've seen this story three times before, the last two for the benefit of my son, but I've never been able to appreciate it like this. I'm actually looking forward to the next episode for its own sake, rather than simply because it's the last.
To end, I'll just tip my cap to Terry Nation for making this cliffhanger exactly what it says on the tin...
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 25th January 1964
Viewers: 10.4 million
Chart Position: 29
Appreciation Index: 63
Rating:
8/10.
Next Time:
The Rescue.
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