I've been trying to figure out a way for this blog to keep going in the
face of a number of factors - chiefly that it's not my top writing
priority, and that I am also having increasing difficulty watching
television. I decided to write all the reviews for this serial before I
posted the first, to give me a head start; this turned out to be a good
idea. There was such an enormous gap between writing the first episode
entry and watching this one that we all decided to rewatch The Watcher
first, to remind ourselves of where we'd got to. Because of this I
noticed the reprise was different, in that this time it was accompanied
by dramatic music.
This episode starts out really emphasising the anachronisms, presumably
for the benefit of those who missed the previous week. There probably
weren't many who needed it - the viewing figures are pretty consistent,
down very slightly - but it's a sensible precaution. The modern kitchen
stuff (added after the final revision of the script, and looking so old
now!) makes a pretty bold statement. ("Nice dinner service", said May.
"I'd stay at Hotel Monk.") It's not long before we get the Monk using
binoculars, by which time the point is clearly made and the focus shifts
away from "where are we?" to "where are we going?" - a nice balance to
strike.
And speaking of balance, I'd like to praise Peter Butterworth for his
facial expressions in particular - they are priceless. He gets just the
right amount of comedy into the performance.
Peter Purves also does a fine job of showing off some more of Steven's
character: the space pilot has relaxed a bit and seems more cheerful
after a night's sleep away from Mechanus, but tenses up straight away
when they hear an unexplained noise. It's a small note, but adds a lot.
Later, Steven being suspicious of the monk's excuses in the same way he
was suspicious when the Doctor and Vicki were telling him about the
TARDIS reinforces this, even though he's right this time. Then he
believes he's tricked the monk with a fairly transparent ruse, which
shows us some of his naïvety while giving Maureen O'Brien a moment to
show off Vicki's cleverness.
The writing is very finely judged. The two time travellers struggling
with the manners of the time is another fine touch, as is the comedy
moment when the pair enter the monastery and head in opposite
directions, which helps to reduce the tension after a more horrific
scene. I also love the way that the end looks like being a repeat of the
previous episode's cliffhanger, this time with us seeing the monk
setting his trap; but then he gets called away, and we are given a
different cliffhanger instead.
(I may be wrong since I've now seen it so often, but I don't remember
noticing William Hartnell's absence on first viewing until this moment.
It's very cleverly done.)
The rest of the production is of a high standard as well. There's some
great camera direction and effective use of stock footage, and the
craggy vikings look good. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the
fight scene is pretty much the only thing that lets the episode down.
The era always had trouble with fight scenes, but unfortunately this is a
particularly poor example.
Violence Against Women, part 2: The Rape of Edith
There is, of course, an elephant in the room with any discussion of this
episode, and that is Edith's implied rape. Well, I say implied, but
this is about as close to portraying the actual event as you are going
to get in a pre-watershed program. We've had the threat of rape before -
usually involving Barbara, and most obviously with Vasor in The Snows of Terror, when this series of sidebars started - but this is the first time the threat has been carried through.
I recently read an interview with a crime writer in an issue of the
Radio Times in which he bemoans the way every new TV crime series has to
start with an episode in which a woman is kidnapped and raped or
otherwise tortured. I can see what he means: it does seem to have become
the first port of call when a show wants to establish its credentials
as edgy or hard-hitting, and unless handled very carefully it can become
a form of mysogynistic 'torture porn'. And then there's the trope of
'fridging', where a character (almost always a woman) is mistreated just
to give a more major character (almost always a man) some motivation, a
drive for revenge or similar, with the emphasis on the latter's
viewpoint rather than the former's.
At first glance, this certainly looks as if Edith has been fridged. We
see her husband Wulnoth's pain and anger, and indeed he and the other
men of the village go off and hunt down the vikings and kill them in
revenge. A classic case. And yet, by any reckoning, Edith is a more
prominent character than her husband - so it almost falls into
this trap, but not quite. The event is also handled seriously, not
treated lightly: we see the effect on Edith in multiple scenes. And
before the attack she is shown to be a strong, resourceful character,
hearing something wrong and reaching for her spear. The fact that she is
overpowered by three warriors doesn't make her an ineffective damsel!
So, my response is generally positive thus far - but I'll have a little more to say next time...
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 10th July 1965
Viewers: 8.8 million
Chart Position: 19
Appreciation Index: 49
Rating:
9.5/10.
Next Time:
A Battle of Wits.
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