It's Boxing Day - and we've got Daleks at Christmas again! This time, of
course, Dalekmania is in full swing. Look at those ratings: 12.4
million, the joint highest to date. And this is a bit different from the
last Dalek climax, The Rescue, which fell apart for so many
reasons. This time, the team attempt an epic conclusion and succeed,
which is probably why this story is so highly regarded despite such a
weak middle section.
Of course, it's an episode of two parts, and the conclusion to the main
conflict only takes up the first two thirds; so I'm going to split up
the review.
V.E. Day: Victory in England
Let's get this clear: I don't believe blowing up the mine and saucer is
the end of the conflict. Daleks are the masters of India, after all, and
they're not going to manage that with one ship based halfway around the
world! The humans have a long struggle ahead of them. Which isn't to
diminish the scale of the victory here.
So, hyperbolic claims apart, how was the story? We open with Ian in the
bomb capsule, using his brains to escape (though it admittedly looks
more like pulling out random wires); then we switch to the control room
and some good shots of well-choreographed Daleks. Barbara's hilarious
(in a good way) history-based distraction is brilliant, and she gets to
come up with the plan that will eventually defeat the Daleks. It should
have been Susan, of course, but Jacqueline Hill deserves the moment too,
and she was the most sidelined of the regulars in the last Dalek story.
This is followed by a nice pan and cut to the Doctor's group, and even
if the task he gives David and Susan isn't well explained the scene
works well - mostly.
Its the sets and props that let this part down, at least a little. The
returning appearance of the offscreen shaft, the wobbly rock as the
Doctor climbs down, the magnetic neck clamps that have to be held in
place - these take the edge off. Still, it's not a big deal, and there's
a decent helping of character-based material even in the midst of the
action; this is, in fact, what makes the scene with the Doctor's group
worthwhile. It's interesting how Tyler has taken centre stage from the
guest cast when one might expect that role to go to David, but the
latter has been set up as a "nice kid", and that gives both writer and
actor less to work with than the more ambiguous and intense Tyler.
Jenny, meanwhile, has fallen off the radar. She was initially given an
interesting background but this was never developed further, leaving her
as Barbara's grumpy sidekick.
Back in the mine, Ian's falling and blocking the shaft scenes are fun
(and this is the most ruffled we've seen him for a long time). The way
he straightens his tie and looks pleased with himself as he walks away
in a suit ripped right down the back is a nice touch. In fact, this
episode gets the balance just right between urgent action, humour and
quiet moments. Even at the climax we have Iananbarbara's reunion.
Speaking of the climax, it's certainly full of action. Much of this is
made up of prefilmed sequences, and again it's impressive just how many
extras they've hired. The quarry shots are very effective, and the
studio-based aftermath with the escapees looking past the camera doesn't
bother me at all. Perhaps it's because we do see what they are looking
at for once, with the stock footage used to show the explosion working
surprisingly well. And the stillness after the thunder leads us nicely
into the second part...
A Farewell to Susan
The final section of the story is directed in a very different style to
that which has come before. Earlier we were treated to a variety of
tricks like tilted cameras and Dalek viewpoint shots, along with lots of
noise; here it is very quiet, and very simply done. There's nothing
more complicated than slow pans and zooms, and this is a good decision:
the contrast changes the tone completely. Indeed, the first shot of
Susan is so framed and static that it looks like she is posing for an
oil painting. The actors' movements are stagelike, and combined with the
lack of background music (until the final moments) this focuses our
attention on the matter at hand: whether Susan will stay or go. I
complained about lack of eye contact in an earlier episode, but here
it's put to good use.
The writing is spot on, with one small piece of humour (Ian chatting to
David while Barbara tries to get Susan some space) used for pacing, and
to get everyone where they need to be for the final scene. William
Hartnell's speech is famous, of course, but all the dialogue works
together.
The first few times I watched this story I was shocked by the Doctor's high-handedness. This time, having read The Time Travellers
(and also having spaced out the episodes), I was able to see it
slightly differently. It's still a fairly dodgy decision, but I can see
more what he was thinking.
It's a shame Susan is in "throw herself around in despair" mode, but
it's also appropriate (for once); and Carole Ann Ford gets as good a
send-off as could be hoped for.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 26th December 1964
Viewers: 12.4 million
Chart Position: 12
Appreciation Index: 60
Rating:
7/10.
Next Time:
At last! Serial K as a whole.
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