I want to start by mentioning Ian's "dislike of the unlike" speech. When I wrote the section on disability last time, I hadn't seen The Ambush for a couple of years so it's pure chance that this comes up now. Ian accuses the Daleks of just the sort of attitude I was talking about, but with the direction reversed. It's a good message, but it must be said that it isn't backed up by the rest of the program.
Still, I don't watch Doctor Who for moral instruction (an idea that is explored in more detail in one of my favourite Eighth Doctor audios, and who knows if I'll ever get that far in this marathon). The important thing is that this episode was - for the most part - highly entertaining. The opening section with the regulars escaping the city was particularly good: well-acted, well-paced, and with Susan using her brains to save everyone. I also enjoyed the Daleks' repeated use of the word "exterminated", so close to their future catchphrase, and the effective and imaginative cutting torch. Not all the effects are so special, with a Dalek having trouble operating controls and an obviously polystyrene statue, but these are not enough to spoil the sequence.
Unfortunately the same can't be said of the following scene between Temmosus and Alydon. They are given some heavy exposition to remind viewers of the situation on Skaro (now that the immediate crisis is resolved), and it kills the tension. The titular ambush that follows isn't bad, but it is too slow to regain the momentum.
So, this second four-part story winds down towards its conclusion - and it's a fairly downbeat end. The Thals' future looks anything but rosy and the TARDIS crew are still divided, arguing about leaving them to their fate. It's notable that the Doctor's appeal to self-preservation wins everyone over, and the travellers head off on another adventure...
Only they don't, of course, because this is a seven-part story, and Terry Nation is just playing a little trick on us. Again I wonder if people knew at the time that the story was due to continue, because it certainly makes a difference to how I watch it. This really does feel like the last part - though not, admittedly, a particularly satifying conclusion. The last few seconds as Ian realises the Daleks still have the fluid link lead us into possibly the best cliffhanger since the plunger.
People have called Nation a hack writer. We know that he didn't pour his heart and soul into this story, which was simply a way to keep his family fed when he was fired by Tony Hancock, but what is evident to me is the craftsmanship. Remember, too, that this was written in something of a hurry. The second story kept changing, and for a long time was going to be The Masters of Luxor by Anthony Coburn, but it wasn't working out. Nation effectively stepped into the breach with the only script that was usable in time (a narrow squeak for the Daleks, who Sydney Newman disliked but was forced to accept). The fact that it works so well in the circumstances is impressive; if this is hackwork, I'd love to see what happens when Nation actually tries his best!
And this is where I need to thank El Sandifer for making me do this episode by episode. You can't see the quality of Nation's script so clearly when watching the story en masse, because you're trying to view it as a film and it is written as a serial - the only way the creators thought it would ever be seen. I don't agree with the erudite Dr. Sandifer on everything, though. Take William Russell, for instance. Russell gets to play a man who suppresses his emotions much of the time and to my mind puts in a fairly subtle performance, second only to Jacqueline Hill in the "reliable acting" stakes among the regulars. The closing moments of this episode are a case in point. Ian gets to stand around stiffly, emoting very little, but in the process Russell shows us quite a lot, particularly with his eyes - and when Ian does get the bigger moments (such as the final few seconds of the episode) he has real presence.
There was good news for all the regulars shortly before The Ambush was broadcast, as the BBC committed to a further 16 episodes on William Hartnell's birthday; and next week, Nation will be called upon to write another SF script at short notice. The show is going places, but the travel arrangements are still rocky...
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 11th January 1964
Viewers: 9.9 million
Chart Position: 29
Appreciation Index: 63
Rating:
8/10.
Next Time:
The Expedition.
Thursday, 30 June 2011
Monday, 27 June 2011
Episode 7: The Escape
Let's start by taking a glance at the broadcast figures below: 8.9 million viewers. That's two million higher than the previous record, two and a half more than the previous episode. Next week will add another million, with a further half million a couple of weeks after that. The chart position is also the highest it's been, and the trend over the next few weeks is again positive; while audience appreciation is consistently high, which is impressive when combined with such steeply rising viewing figures.
Many things can affect these ratings other than the quality of the programming - a warm, sunny evening, for example, can make people decide to go outside instead of watching TV - but it's only really the quality of the alternatives on other channels that affects all of them. When Sydney Newman joined the BBC his remit was to revamp the drama department. ITV, the network of commercial stations that started in the mid-50s, was eating into the BBC's share of the audience, and it was Newman's job to reverse the trend. Ironically he was partly responsible for it, having done much the same for independent broadcaster ABC! Part of his strategy at the BBC was to develop a program to bridge the Saturday evening gap between Grandstand and Jukebox Jury; Doctor Who was it.
When the show started, a rival children's SF series called Emerald Soup had been running for a couple of weeks and built up some viewer loyalty. Its final episode was broadcast on 21st December, opposite The Dead Planet, after which it was replaced by reruns of older shows. I can imagine people tuning in for another week to see what the repeats were like, then deciding to see what's on the other side. Some may have been swayed by the buzz that was building up, but I strongly doubt 2.5 million were. Still, whatever their original reasons for tuning in, the new viewers stayed for the Daleks.
On to this episode, then, which is the first directed by Richard Martin. Martin had done a little TV directing before, but was still fairly inexperienced. Later he was to return for two more Dalek serials and the surreal The Web Planet, and is not generally well regarded in fandom. Based on this episode I really can't see why - it's mostly effective and there are some particularly good moments, such as Susan stepping out into the light with Alydon and Temmosus standing up to reveal the TARDIS behind him just as he mentions "magical architecture."
What most stands out for me this week, though, is the script. Nobody behaves stupidly for the sake of the plot, a rarity not just in Doctor Who but in TV drama generally. Equally, nobody jumps straight to the correct solution; for example, we get to see the prisoners working out their plan of escape step by step, and this is done in such a way that it is kept interesting rather than killing time. The way the Thal cape is used is also impressive, with each step completely natural and ending up just where it needs to be.
The acting is also up to scratch (except for a couple of moments with the Thals), and I particularly enjoyed Ian's reaction upon first seeing the Dalek creature. Which brings me nicely on to my next subject:
Playing on our Fears, Part 1: Disability
The Thals are physically-perfect aryan humanoids. The Daleks are so hideously mutated that they need huge amounts of mechanical help just to move about their city. Guess which ones are the bad guys?
I have recently been thinking more about fear of disability and the prejudice it engenders because of my own experiences. A couple of years ago I suffered a severely prolapsed disc. It wasn't just my mobility that was impaired: the constant pain (possibly along with the drugs I was taking to manage it) meant that my thinking was also unclear. I felt as if I couldn't do anything. Being unable to wash or dress myself, let alone work, brought me up short against this most common of fears. A determination to get well helped me to avoid an operation (against the advice of my surgeon, though he acquiesced so long as I agreed to get myself up A&E at the first sign of nerve damage), and I am recovering well; but I will never manage the long commute and long hours of work I was doing before. I am currently figuring out what I can do instead but it's not easy, particularly in the current economic climate.
Anyway, it seems to me that our society really pushes independence and self-reliance to a ridiculous, unrealistic extent. We are all dependent upon others, but those links are hidden and can generally be ignored by most of the population. Visibly disabled people demonstrate to the rest of us how fragile that illusion is, and bring our fears of losing "independence" close to the surface. Unfortunately what sometimes happens is that we decide to "kill the messenger," and turn our fear into anger or even hatred against the person or thing that reminds us of our fragility. We also project our fears, imagining how bitter and twisted a disabled person must be.
It's not a pretty picture but it is full of potential as a source of emotional "hooks" to grab viewers, and all credit to Nation and the team for making such good use of these. The Daleks are the ultimate symbol of disability warping the victim into something terrible. Or at least they are for the next twelve years, until they are supplanted by their own creator.
This episode ends, appropriately enough, not on a cliffhanger but with a moment of disgust for the viewers as we see the Dalek creature's claw reaching out from beneath the cape. 'Nuff said.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 4th January 1964
Viewers: 8.9 million
Chart Position: 45
Appreciation Index: 62
Rating:
7.5/10.
Next Time:
The Ambush.
Many things can affect these ratings other than the quality of the programming - a warm, sunny evening, for example, can make people decide to go outside instead of watching TV - but it's only really the quality of the alternatives on other channels that affects all of them. When Sydney Newman joined the BBC his remit was to revamp the drama department. ITV, the network of commercial stations that started in the mid-50s, was eating into the BBC's share of the audience, and it was Newman's job to reverse the trend. Ironically he was partly responsible for it, having done much the same for independent broadcaster ABC! Part of his strategy at the BBC was to develop a program to bridge the Saturday evening gap between Grandstand and Jukebox Jury; Doctor Who was it.
When the show started, a rival children's SF series called Emerald Soup had been running for a couple of weeks and built up some viewer loyalty. Its final episode was broadcast on 21st December, opposite The Dead Planet, after which it was replaced by reruns of older shows. I can imagine people tuning in for another week to see what the repeats were like, then deciding to see what's on the other side. Some may have been swayed by the buzz that was building up, but I strongly doubt 2.5 million were. Still, whatever their original reasons for tuning in, the new viewers stayed for the Daleks.
On to this episode, then, which is the first directed by Richard Martin. Martin had done a little TV directing before, but was still fairly inexperienced. Later he was to return for two more Dalek serials and the surreal The Web Planet, and is not generally well regarded in fandom. Based on this episode I really can't see why - it's mostly effective and there are some particularly good moments, such as Susan stepping out into the light with Alydon and Temmosus standing up to reveal the TARDIS behind him just as he mentions "magical architecture."
What most stands out for me this week, though, is the script. Nobody behaves stupidly for the sake of the plot, a rarity not just in Doctor Who but in TV drama generally. Equally, nobody jumps straight to the correct solution; for example, we get to see the prisoners working out their plan of escape step by step, and this is done in such a way that it is kept interesting rather than killing time. The way the Thal cape is used is also impressive, with each step completely natural and ending up just where it needs to be.
The acting is also up to scratch (except for a couple of moments with the Thals), and I particularly enjoyed Ian's reaction upon first seeing the Dalek creature. Which brings me nicely on to my next subject:
Playing on our Fears, Part 1: Disability
The Thals are physically-perfect aryan humanoids. The Daleks are so hideously mutated that they need huge amounts of mechanical help just to move about their city. Guess which ones are the bad guys?
I have recently been thinking more about fear of disability and the prejudice it engenders because of my own experiences. A couple of years ago I suffered a severely prolapsed disc. It wasn't just my mobility that was impaired: the constant pain (possibly along with the drugs I was taking to manage it) meant that my thinking was also unclear. I felt as if I couldn't do anything. Being unable to wash or dress myself, let alone work, brought me up short against this most common of fears. A determination to get well helped me to avoid an operation (against the advice of my surgeon, though he acquiesced so long as I agreed to get myself up A&E at the first sign of nerve damage), and I am recovering well; but I will never manage the long commute and long hours of work I was doing before. I am currently figuring out what I can do instead but it's not easy, particularly in the current economic climate.
Anyway, it seems to me that our society really pushes independence and self-reliance to a ridiculous, unrealistic extent. We are all dependent upon others, but those links are hidden and can generally be ignored by most of the population. Visibly disabled people demonstrate to the rest of us how fragile that illusion is, and bring our fears of losing "independence" close to the surface. Unfortunately what sometimes happens is that we decide to "kill the messenger," and turn our fear into anger or even hatred against the person or thing that reminds us of our fragility. We also project our fears, imagining how bitter and twisted a disabled person must be.
It's not a pretty picture but it is full of potential as a source of emotional "hooks" to grab viewers, and all credit to Nation and the team for making such good use of these. The Daleks are the ultimate symbol of disability warping the victim into something terrible. Or at least they are for the next twelve years, until they are supplanted by their own creator.
This episode ends, appropriately enough, not on a cliffhanger but with a moment of disgust for the viewers as we see the Dalek creature's claw reaching out from beneath the cape. 'Nuff said.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 4th January 1964
Viewers: 8.9 million
Chart Position: 45
Appreciation Index: 62
Rating:
7.5/10.
Next Time:
The Ambush.
Saturday, 25 June 2011
Episode 6: The Survivors
Before I start talking about the episode proper, it's worth noting that this was the last episode recorded before An Unearthly Child was broadcast. At this point the cast and crew still had no idea how the show would pan out, and had been busy with publicity as well as rehearsals (including a press launch the previous evening). It was only on the day of shooting - 22nd November - that BBC TV Controller Donald Baverstock finally agreed to a second batch of 13 episodes. Of course this was also a day with a different kind of shooting, and Kennedy's assassination was announced between rehearsals and recording; so it must have been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for everyone.
I'd also like to mention the title. It was at one point a draft name for the story as a whole, and Terry Nation must have liked it because he used it for a TV series in the 1970s about the survivors of a devastating plague. I remember it, a little, from my childhood; I was ten when it started and I thought it was pretty grim. I lapped it up.
Anyway, what of this show? Again there's a lot to like. The radiation plot continues to build tension, and even though we do get another Billy-fluff ("anti-radiation gloves"), Hartnell manages to turn it around and it feels a bit like an effect of the Doctor's deteriorating health. He benefits from fine characterisation this week, nervously contrite when confessing his mercury link trick but turning angry to cover any feelings of guilt, then managing to keep thinking even when sick. His finest moment is when he's on his knees but still fighting in the only way he knows - with his cunning.
The others don't get so much to do this time, and their performances are slightly disappointing at times. Russell doesn't quite manage to convince with his physical "paralysed leg" acting, although Ian's desperation to recover comes through strongly; and Ford is stuck with more panic and close-up running action, along with an unconvincing technobabble speech about the TARDIS door lock. Finishing the episode with Susan frightened to step outside the ship because of a storm, even though everyone else's lives are depending on her, means that Ford didn't really stand a chance.
But why am I talking about all this? There's an elephant in the room, even if it's not a problem...
Monsters!, Part 2: Introduction of the Daleks
Here we are then, with the first true monsters of the show. Sydney Newman famously said that he wanted "no bug-eyed monsters," and made it clear what he meant - the Daleks were definitely part of that category. Verity Lambert managed to slip them in, though, helped by horrendous production problems and a lack of usable scripts. (To give Newman credit, he later admitted that he was wrong on this - and he did a lot of other, good things for both the show and British TV in general.)
I've got quite a few episodes to talk about the Daleks, so for now I'm just going to concentrate on their introduction. It began in last week's cliffhanger with Barbara menaced by a sink plunger, which instantly grabbed people's attention. Terry Nation hadn't thinking much about the show after submitting his script as he was concentrating on his comedy work, but with friends calling him up straight away he couldn't ignore it. Two days later, a pair of Daleks went out in London to drum up some publicity during the Christmas holidays.
The in-story introduction continues this week as the others are looking for Barbara. What surprises me now is how chilling the pepperpots are in these scenes - they are mostly just standing about wiggling their plungers and shouting, but the actors really sell their terror to the audience. Ian isn't yet the über-hero he becomes in later stories, and the scene where he makes a hesitant escape bid only to be shot in the legs (with a much more successful use of negative images than last episode's forest opening) is startling.
Another thing that I really enjoyed was the first scene of the Dalek control room, for one main reason: the background "thrum". That constant "BEEP-beep, BEEP-beep, BEEP-beep" is hotwired into my brain now; I feel an immediate frisson whenever it first plays in a story. I noticed it immediately in Bad Wolf, having not heard it for many years.
This reaction brings home to me just how strange it is to watch these stories out of order: I'm effectively feeling nostalgia for later Dalek stories while watching the original.
Which, given the parachronological nature of the show, is entirely appropriate.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 28th December 1963
Viewers: 6.4 million
Chart Position: 78
Appreciation Index: 58
Rating:
7/10. A great start, but it tails off towards a limp cliffhanger.
Next Time:
The Escape.
I'd also like to mention the title. It was at one point a draft name for the story as a whole, and Terry Nation must have liked it because he used it for a TV series in the 1970s about the survivors of a devastating plague. I remember it, a little, from my childhood; I was ten when it started and I thought it was pretty grim. I lapped it up.
Anyway, what of this show? Again there's a lot to like. The radiation plot continues to build tension, and even though we do get another Billy-fluff ("anti-radiation gloves"), Hartnell manages to turn it around and it feels a bit like an effect of the Doctor's deteriorating health. He benefits from fine characterisation this week, nervously contrite when confessing his mercury link trick but turning angry to cover any feelings of guilt, then managing to keep thinking even when sick. His finest moment is when he's on his knees but still fighting in the only way he knows - with his cunning.
The others don't get so much to do this time, and their performances are slightly disappointing at times. Russell doesn't quite manage to convince with his physical "paralysed leg" acting, although Ian's desperation to recover comes through strongly; and Ford is stuck with more panic and close-up running action, along with an unconvincing technobabble speech about the TARDIS door lock. Finishing the episode with Susan frightened to step outside the ship because of a storm, even though everyone else's lives are depending on her, means that Ford didn't really stand a chance.
But why am I talking about all this? There's an elephant in the room, even if it's not a problem...
Monsters!, Part 2: Introduction of the Daleks
Here we are then, with the first true monsters of the show. Sydney Newman famously said that he wanted "no bug-eyed monsters," and made it clear what he meant - the Daleks were definitely part of that category. Verity Lambert managed to slip them in, though, helped by horrendous production problems and a lack of usable scripts. (To give Newman credit, he later admitted that he was wrong on this - and he did a lot of other, good things for both the show and British TV in general.)
I've got quite a few episodes to talk about the Daleks, so for now I'm just going to concentrate on their introduction. It began in last week's cliffhanger with Barbara menaced by a sink plunger, which instantly grabbed people's attention. Terry Nation hadn't thinking much about the show after submitting his script as he was concentrating on his comedy work, but with friends calling him up straight away he couldn't ignore it. Two days later, a pair of Daleks went out in London to drum up some publicity during the Christmas holidays.
The in-story introduction continues this week as the others are looking for Barbara. What surprises me now is how chilling the pepperpots are in these scenes - they are mostly just standing about wiggling their plungers and shouting, but the actors really sell their terror to the audience. Ian isn't yet the über-hero he becomes in later stories, and the scene where he makes a hesitant escape bid only to be shot in the legs (with a much more successful use of negative images than last episode's forest opening) is startling.
Another thing that I really enjoyed was the first scene of the Dalek control room, for one main reason: the background "thrum". That constant "BEEP-beep, BEEP-beep, BEEP-beep" is hotwired into my brain now; I feel an immediate frisson whenever it first plays in a story. I noticed it immediately in Bad Wolf, having not heard it for many years.
This reaction brings home to me just how strange it is to watch these stories out of order: I'm effectively feeling nostalgia for later Dalek stories while watching the original.
Which, given the parachronological nature of the show, is entirely appropriate.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 28th December 1963
Viewers: 6.4 million
Chart Position: 78
Appreciation Index: 58
Rating:
7/10. A great start, but it tails off towards a limp cliffhanger.
Next Time:
The Escape.
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Episode 5: The Dead Planet
On to serial B, then - but not to the next episode shot. There was a technical problem with the recording first time around, and the whole episode had to be remounted three weeks later. You can certainly see the effect on William Hartnell - he's suddenly looking tired and we get the first errors in his delivery, the so-called "Billy fluffs" for which the First Doctor became well known. In fact he starts with a classic, getting Ian's name wrong ("Chesterfield"). My guess is that this will happen less in episode 6, but I can't remember from previous viewings so I'll have to wait and see.
The Dead Planet is my favourite episode since An Unearthly Child, and I've realised that this isn't just because Doctor Who writers are better at beginning stories than ending them (although I suspect that it plays a part, too). This is another one centred on a mystery, as openings naturally tend to be, and I think these resonate with me more than the action-based ones. There's also a lot that's new - we're visiting an alien world for the first time and we get to see other rooms in the ship - so our interest is held throughout.
Speaking of the other rooms, we get introduced to the food machine - and is there anyone who first saw this after hearing The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that didn't immediately think of Douglas Adams' nutrimat? Which is, quite possibly, the reverse of cause and effect, since Adams was certainly influenced by Doctor Who in other areas. Personally I can't imagine enjoying eating those bars instead of a proper meal, no matter how tasty they were. Anyway, five weeks from the start of the show we have already seen more of the TARDIS than we saw in five years following the revival. It may all be bland roundels, but it still helps to create a sense of scale.
Also inside the ship, we get a lovely little discussion between Iananbarbara wherein they effectively outline the premise of the series. It's a good, unobtrusive way to bring new viewers up to speed (and there probably are new viewers - this episode has the joint highest viewing figures so far, matched only by The Forest of Fear, though that situation will change very soon). I'd rewatched the movie Serenity the day before, and Ian's speech about believing reminded me so much of Shepherd Book's that it brought a lump to my throat. As a viewer, while I'm willing Iananbarbara to get home, I'm also hoping they don't for a good long time.
Moving outside, we have the forest - and what was with that weird negative effect at the start? I think Christopher Barry (who generally does a good job here) misjudged that. It was probably meant to make things look alien, but all it did for me was draw attention to the fact that I'm watching a TV program. I found the forest sets to be the most stagelike so far, and this wasn't helped by being taken out of the story just before we saw them properly for the first time. Still, almost everything else about this sequence keeps it alive for me, the exception being the joke about crushing petrified flowers. And then we get the alien city which looks fantastic, but the illusion is spoilt slightly by the long shot with the characters standing in the foreground against a rock wall. Overall the outside scenes are a mixture of the effective and the not so convincing, with the balance fortunately towards the former.
Inside the city the sets are impressive, and well shot. The fact that Barbara has to duck increases the alienness and shows that the city wasn't built for regular humans, an impression supported by the strange-shaped doorways. As the final few minutes of the episode pass we get some very interesting shots - with Barbara's hand against the camera, through walls and doors - leading up to the best cliffhanger so far: that plunger. About which, more next time.
It occurs to me that I've not actually said much about the story. The radiation subplot is nicely handled, in a surprisingly understated way - you can tell the travellers are in for a shock soon. The implied duplicity of the Doctor is alarming, though it certainly fits with his character as we have seen it so far. And there are a lot of nice little touches in this episode, such as the Doctor suddenly producing a pair of binoculars with spectacle-like arms (which made me think of the fourth Doctor's pockets), or the classic horror serial way the regulars separate to explore the city. But really, the story's just there to let us explore the world and the cast's reactions to it. Which it does well.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 21st December 1963
Viewers: 6.9 million
Chart Position: 67
Appreciation Index: 59
Rating:
8/10.
Next Time:
The Survivors.
The Dead Planet is my favourite episode since An Unearthly Child, and I've realised that this isn't just because Doctor Who writers are better at beginning stories than ending them (although I suspect that it plays a part, too). This is another one centred on a mystery, as openings naturally tend to be, and I think these resonate with me more than the action-based ones. There's also a lot that's new - we're visiting an alien world for the first time and we get to see other rooms in the ship - so our interest is held throughout.
Speaking of the other rooms, we get introduced to the food machine - and is there anyone who first saw this after hearing The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that didn't immediately think of Douglas Adams' nutrimat? Which is, quite possibly, the reverse of cause and effect, since Adams was certainly influenced by Doctor Who in other areas. Personally I can't imagine enjoying eating those bars instead of a proper meal, no matter how tasty they were. Anyway, five weeks from the start of the show we have already seen more of the TARDIS than we saw in five years following the revival. It may all be bland roundels, but it still helps to create a sense of scale.
Also inside the ship, we get a lovely little discussion between Iananbarbara wherein they effectively outline the premise of the series. It's a good, unobtrusive way to bring new viewers up to speed (and there probably are new viewers - this episode has the joint highest viewing figures so far, matched only by The Forest of Fear, though that situation will change very soon). I'd rewatched the movie Serenity the day before, and Ian's speech about believing reminded me so much of Shepherd Book's that it brought a lump to my throat. As a viewer, while I'm willing Iananbarbara to get home, I'm also hoping they don't for a good long time.
Moving outside, we have the forest - and what was with that weird negative effect at the start? I think Christopher Barry (who generally does a good job here) misjudged that. It was probably meant to make things look alien, but all it did for me was draw attention to the fact that I'm watching a TV program. I found the forest sets to be the most stagelike so far, and this wasn't helped by being taken out of the story just before we saw them properly for the first time. Still, almost everything else about this sequence keeps it alive for me, the exception being the joke about crushing petrified flowers. And then we get the alien city which looks fantastic, but the illusion is spoilt slightly by the long shot with the characters standing in the foreground against a rock wall. Overall the outside scenes are a mixture of the effective and the not so convincing, with the balance fortunately towards the former.
Inside the city the sets are impressive, and well shot. The fact that Barbara has to duck increases the alienness and shows that the city wasn't built for regular humans, an impression supported by the strange-shaped doorways. As the final few minutes of the episode pass we get some very interesting shots - with Barbara's hand against the camera, through walls and doors - leading up to the best cliffhanger so far: that plunger. About which, more next time.
It occurs to me that I've not actually said much about the story. The radiation subplot is nicely handled, in a surprisingly understated way - you can tell the travellers are in for a shock soon. The implied duplicity of the Doctor is alarming, though it certainly fits with his character as we have seen it so far. And there are a lot of nice little touches in this episode, such as the Doctor suddenly producing a pair of binoculars with spectacle-like arms (which made me think of the fourth Doctor's pockets), or the classic horror serial way the regulars separate to explore the city. But really, the story's just there to let us explore the world and the cast's reactions to it. Which it does well.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 21st December 1963
Viewers: 6.9 million
Chart Position: 67
Appreciation Index: 59
Rating:
8/10.
Next Time:
The Survivors.
Monday, 20 June 2011
Serial A: The Tribe of Gum? 100,000 BC? How Many Episodes?
So that was the first story. Or was it? Perhaps the first episode was a story on it's own, followed by a three-parter? There's nothing on screen to tell us, so who decides?
There's been a lot of debate over the years about names for the stories up to The Gunfighters, and not much about story boundaries. I think that's mostly due to production codes; it seems pretty straightforward, after all. Every serial was given a code by the production team - in this case, simply "A". So surely that must indicate the creators' intended story boundaries? Mostly that's true, and they certainly provide a good estimate, but to see why they are not completely reliable we must fast-forward to Colin Baker's time, and 1986's The Trial of a Time Lord. There's plenty of documented evidence that this was intended to be a single season-long story and the episodes are even numbered 1 to 14, but for many people it doesn't feel like that. Instead they break it down into four stories: The Mysterious Planet, Mindwarp, Terror of the Vervoids, and The Ultimate Foe. Debates still occasionally spring up between these two positions - one story or four? - but production codes provide another answer: three. Terror of the Vervoids and The Ultimate Foe share the same code. Now, I've never seen anyone seriously claim that the season should be divided like this, so I treat a production code like the pirate code: as more of a guideline.
Therefore we need to look at other things as well. The first four episodes share the same director, but then so do Delta and the Bannermen and Dragonfire. They have the same author, too - Anthony Coburn. Or do they? On-screen, yes; but C.E. "Bunny" Webber is credited as co-author for the first episode on BBC documents. This is because he was originally going to provide the opening story, with The Tribe of Gum coming second, and when things changed several aspects of the original opening episode were carried over.
So, the prehistory part was originally conceived separately from the introductory episode, and indeed there's less time spent in episode one after time-travelling than there is spent on Skaro in episode four. That's not conclusive, but it does help explain the different tone. To me, it just feels like two stories and that's all that matters. The conventional answer is perfectly valid too; make up your own mind.
I mentioned the naming controversies above, but I'm going to leave that subject until the end of the next serial. Suffice to say that this story has been most commonly referred to as An Unearthly Child (at least since 1973) with 100,000 BC the only rival candidate, used mostly by Doctor Who Magazine. Other names included The Tribe of Gum, Coburn's original title; The Paleolithic Age; and The Stone Age. Phew!
What about the story/stories as a whole, then? I find I've nothing much to say that I haven't already covered. It was written, directed and performed well for the most part, with good-enough sets, costumes and effects. While episode 1 is the standout the rest provide better entertainment than they are sometimes given credit for - including by me. All in all, the show is off to a good start.
Rating:
Mine: 8/10 for all four episodes, 5.5/10 for just the final three.
DWM Mighty 200: 74.64%, 61st.
2010 Gallifrey Base Non-Dynamic Rankings: 7.44, 74th out of 211.
Since this is a short entry, I'll take a bit of time to explain my ratings. First of all, they are based purely on how much I enjoyed each episode or story. I can admire something and still not enjoy it much, in which case I would give it a poor rating; and conversely, something fairly naff can entertain me and win higher marks than it "deserves". I don't try to filter out the effects of nostalgia, chilhood memories, or other bias. In short, I accept that my ratings will be subjective and that there's not much I can do about it.
For stories I have a fairly solid marking scheme. Prompted by the DWM Mighty 200, I have ranked all the stories I've seen and rated them after doing so. This means new ones can be slotted in fairly efficiently. My median score is currently 6.5, but I have seen and rated far more of the most popular stories than the least (48 of the top 50, but only 27 of the bottom 50 - and only 5 of the bottom 20). If my tastes are similar to DWM readers', adding the rest should bring the median down to a low 6 - which by my calculation actually matches the magazine poll.
I've never rated individual episodes before, so I am going much more by gut feeling here. They should be treated with more caution.
Next Time:
The Dead Planet.
There's been a lot of debate over the years about names for the stories up to The Gunfighters, and not much about story boundaries. I think that's mostly due to production codes; it seems pretty straightforward, after all. Every serial was given a code by the production team - in this case, simply "A". So surely that must indicate the creators' intended story boundaries? Mostly that's true, and they certainly provide a good estimate, but to see why they are not completely reliable we must fast-forward to Colin Baker's time, and 1986's The Trial of a Time Lord. There's plenty of documented evidence that this was intended to be a single season-long story and the episodes are even numbered 1 to 14, but for many people it doesn't feel like that. Instead they break it down into four stories: The Mysterious Planet, Mindwarp, Terror of the Vervoids, and The Ultimate Foe. Debates still occasionally spring up between these two positions - one story or four? - but production codes provide another answer: three. Terror of the Vervoids and The Ultimate Foe share the same code. Now, I've never seen anyone seriously claim that the season should be divided like this, so I treat a production code like the pirate code: as more of a guideline.
Therefore we need to look at other things as well. The first four episodes share the same director, but then so do Delta and the Bannermen and Dragonfire. They have the same author, too - Anthony Coburn. Or do they? On-screen, yes; but C.E. "Bunny" Webber is credited as co-author for the first episode on BBC documents. This is because he was originally going to provide the opening story, with The Tribe of Gum coming second, and when things changed several aspects of the original opening episode were carried over.
So, the prehistory part was originally conceived separately from the introductory episode, and indeed there's less time spent in episode one after time-travelling than there is spent on Skaro in episode four. That's not conclusive, but it does help explain the different tone. To me, it just feels like two stories and that's all that matters. The conventional answer is perfectly valid too; make up your own mind.
I mentioned the naming controversies above, but I'm going to leave that subject until the end of the next serial. Suffice to say that this story has been most commonly referred to as An Unearthly Child (at least since 1973) with 100,000 BC the only rival candidate, used mostly by Doctor Who Magazine. Other names included The Tribe of Gum, Coburn's original title; The Paleolithic Age; and The Stone Age. Phew!
What about the story/stories as a whole, then? I find I've nothing much to say that I haven't already covered. It was written, directed and performed well for the most part, with good-enough sets, costumes and effects. While episode 1 is the standout the rest provide better entertainment than they are sometimes given credit for - including by me. All in all, the show is off to a good start.
Rating:
Mine: 8/10 for all four episodes, 5.5/10 for just the final three.
DWM Mighty 200: 74.64%, 61st.
2010 Gallifrey Base Non-Dynamic Rankings: 7.44, 74th out of 211.
Since this is a short entry, I'll take a bit of time to explain my ratings. First of all, they are based purely on how much I enjoyed each episode or story. I can admire something and still not enjoy it much, in which case I would give it a poor rating; and conversely, something fairly naff can entertain me and win higher marks than it "deserves". I don't try to filter out the effects of nostalgia, chilhood memories, or other bias. In short, I accept that my ratings will be subjective and that there's not much I can do about it.
For stories I have a fairly solid marking scheme. Prompted by the DWM Mighty 200, I have ranked all the stories I've seen and rated them after doing so. This means new ones can be slotted in fairly efficiently. My median score is currently 6.5, but I have seen and rated far more of the most popular stories than the least (48 of the top 50, but only 27 of the bottom 50 - and only 5 of the bottom 20). If my tastes are similar to DWM readers', adding the rest should bring the median down to a low 6 - which by my calculation actually matches the magazine poll.
I've never rated individual episodes before, so I am going much more by gut feeling here. They should be treated with more caution.
Next Time:
The Dead Planet.
Saturday, 18 June 2011
Episode 4: The Firemaker
The fact that this was the final episode of the story was not shown on screen or in the Radio Times, so most viewers in 1963 wouldn't have known it in advance - unless some continuity announcement revealed this. I'd be grateful if someone could clear this up for me, as I find it hard to imagine these days what it would have been like to know so little.
I've not got a lot to say about the story itself. It's generally a satisfying conclusion, though the trick with the flaming skulls requires some suspension of disbelief. The violence level continues to be high, Za crushing Kal's head with a rock and the Doctor instigating a stoning. The final fight between the rival cavemen was less extreme, though, and worked fairly well as the centrepiece of the action. The accompanying music was not the best, and I kept imagining Kirk's fight theme from the original Star Trek in my head as I was watching - when the fight was shown on Junior Points of View they apparently had someone commentating as if it were a wrestling match, so I wasn't the only one thinking along these lines!
The characterisation and interpersonal relations continue to be a strength; this time the Doctor gets to contribute effectively, and the rivalry with Ian settles down into something more manageable. I'm not sure about Susan since you could read her discovery of the flaming skull effect in two ways: as a scatty child suddenly getting unrealistically interested in something irrelevant in the midst of danger, or a bright mind looking for anything that could help. This episode was Barbara's turn to take a back seat, which is fair enough as she's been at the centre for most of the show so far. As for the tribe, Za took the focus this time and I liked his decisions - he surprised me in betraying the travellers, but when it was revealed that he didn't remember much of what happened while he was ill it felt right.
Waris Hussein's direction was quite different in this episode, more experimental; sometimes it worked well and sometimes it took me out of the story. I liked the closeups in the caves and the face-to-camera scenes with the tribe gathered around the fire (which put me in mind of the Bohemian Rhapsody video), but the face shots of the regulars running for the ship didn't look real enough. I'm generally glad when directors don't play it safe, but this went perhaps a little too far.
So, I've finally got to an entry that hasn't grown bloated with the things I've wanted to say, and reading it back it sounds more like a bullet-point list. Still, I'll let it stand. There's only one more thing I want to discuss: the ending.
Let's start with effects. This is the first time we get to see the TARDIS dematerialise, and that dread phrase springs to mind, "good considering when it was done." It would have worked better without the spear-throwing, to be honest, but if I can just discard my memories of later dematerialisations, it's not bad - and it does show that the ship is actually moving.
Then, of course, we get the interplay between the travellers. There's not been a messed-up line in the show so far, and the almost-live nature of the recording has not been apparent at all. There's a bit of conflict thrown in to show that not everything's hunky-dory after the teamwork shown while escaping their prehistoric prison, which feels natural; and we get an explanation of why the Doctor can't take Iananbarbara straight home - which implies that he can do so given some breathing space. Wearing my future hat I know that he's either wrong or lying. At this stage I'm inclined to believe he's deluding himself, thinking he can do more with the ship than he actually can. Or maybe he could do it if it weren't for something else going wrong in the TARDIS.
Finally finally, we get the cliffhanger introduction to the next story. This is just like the 1001 Nights, making sure that people want to come back even though this adventure's over, and is an interesting approach. The new series actually does something a little bit similar with the "Next Time" trailers, but I like the continuing saga feel of the original - and the way the radiation gauge ties in with the smashed geiger counter is neat, too. The stories aren't neatly packaged like they became later. But more on that in the next entry...
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 14th December 1963
Viewers: 6.4 million
Chart Position: 70
Appreciation Index: 55
Rating:
6/10.
Next Time:
Confusion abounds as I think about the first story as a whole. Or perhaps the first two stories?
I've not got a lot to say about the story itself. It's generally a satisfying conclusion, though the trick with the flaming skulls requires some suspension of disbelief. The violence level continues to be high, Za crushing Kal's head with a rock and the Doctor instigating a stoning. The final fight between the rival cavemen was less extreme, though, and worked fairly well as the centrepiece of the action. The accompanying music was not the best, and I kept imagining Kirk's fight theme from the original Star Trek in my head as I was watching - when the fight was shown on Junior Points of View they apparently had someone commentating as if it were a wrestling match, so I wasn't the only one thinking along these lines!
The characterisation and interpersonal relations continue to be a strength; this time the Doctor gets to contribute effectively, and the rivalry with Ian settles down into something more manageable. I'm not sure about Susan since you could read her discovery of the flaming skull effect in two ways: as a scatty child suddenly getting unrealistically interested in something irrelevant in the midst of danger, or a bright mind looking for anything that could help. This episode was Barbara's turn to take a back seat, which is fair enough as she's been at the centre for most of the show so far. As for the tribe, Za took the focus this time and I liked his decisions - he surprised me in betraying the travellers, but when it was revealed that he didn't remember much of what happened while he was ill it felt right.
Waris Hussein's direction was quite different in this episode, more experimental; sometimes it worked well and sometimes it took me out of the story. I liked the closeups in the caves and the face-to-camera scenes with the tribe gathered around the fire (which put me in mind of the Bohemian Rhapsody video), but the face shots of the regulars running for the ship didn't look real enough. I'm generally glad when directors don't play it safe, but this went perhaps a little too far.
So, I've finally got to an entry that hasn't grown bloated with the things I've wanted to say, and reading it back it sounds more like a bullet-point list. Still, I'll let it stand. There's only one more thing I want to discuss: the ending.
Let's start with effects. This is the first time we get to see the TARDIS dematerialise, and that dread phrase springs to mind, "good considering when it was done." It would have worked better without the spear-throwing, to be honest, but if I can just discard my memories of later dematerialisations, it's not bad - and it does show that the ship is actually moving.
Then, of course, we get the interplay between the travellers. There's not been a messed-up line in the show so far, and the almost-live nature of the recording has not been apparent at all. There's a bit of conflict thrown in to show that not everything's hunky-dory after the teamwork shown while escaping their prehistoric prison, which feels natural; and we get an explanation of why the Doctor can't take Iananbarbara straight home - which implies that he can do so given some breathing space. Wearing my future hat I know that he's either wrong or lying. At this stage I'm inclined to believe he's deluding himself, thinking he can do more with the ship than he actually can. Or maybe he could do it if it weren't for something else going wrong in the TARDIS.
Finally finally, we get the cliffhanger introduction to the next story. This is just like the 1001 Nights, making sure that people want to come back even though this adventure's over, and is an interesting approach. The new series actually does something a little bit similar with the "Next Time" trailers, but I like the continuing saga feel of the original - and the way the radiation gauge ties in with the smashed geiger counter is neat, too. The stories aren't neatly packaged like they became later. But more on that in the next entry...
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 14th December 1963
Viewers: 6.4 million
Chart Position: 70
Appreciation Index: 55
Rating:
6/10.
Next Time:
Confusion abounds as I think about the first story as a whole. Or perhaps the first two stories?
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Episode 3: The Forest of Fear
OK, so I got a bit silly toward the end of my last entry. This is likely to happen now and again, particularly when reviewing things that don't impress me. I'll even apologise to both cavemen and regulars for doubting their intelligence, since we see here that the former have mastered the art of tying knots that are impossible to untie.
But enough with the snide comments already! On with episode 3, which is a cracking good adventure story. I was gripped, even though I've seen it several times before, and the time flew by. The opening momentarily confused me - I'd forgotten that recaps were often filmed at the beginning of the next episode, rather than reusing the cliffhanger. I imagine this was due to the limited number of edits allowed per episode, in turn because of the expense of video tape - something I'll probably talk about in more detail in a later entry. Anyhow, an interesting thing with this episode is that it appears at first glance to be a classic escape-recapture scenario, with the regulars starting off imprisoned, getting out, running around for a bit, and then being caught again - something to fill time rather than significantly advance the plot. I say "classic", but of course there is no Who formula yet; everything is new. And actually that first glance is misleading. If you look at the intangibles - the politics of the tribe, relationships between characters - there have been huge changes.
And that's what makes this action story entertaining - the characters and their interaction. For the cave people the primary focus is definitely on Hur, who proves herself to be the smartest of her tribe and pretty much tells Za what to do (as she did with her father last episode), while back at home Kal ruthlessly takes advantage of the events instigated by the Old Mother. The Doctor is frightened and out of his depth, to the extent that he considers smashing an injured man's skull to ease their escape. Ian is frightened too - there's a nice moment with him and Barbara where William Russell does an excellent job portraying a man who is scared and won't admit it - but he spots the Doctor's weakness and uses it to come off the back foot at last, trying to take charge. As usual, though, it's Barbara who makes the key decision.
Despite this, the sharp-eyed among you will notice that in all this talk of characterisation I've hardly mentioned Barbara's, and Susan's not at all. This is because I've saved that pleasure for the Thorny Topic of the Week, which this time around is
Sexism, Part 1: A Place for Everyone
I suppose it might seem odd to talk about sexism in an episode where the action is driven largely by the Old Mother, Hur and Barbara, with Kal the only male to significantly move events along. Even Susan remembers the way back to the ship better than the others, so this is obviously not the sort of sexism that says women can't do anything well; but let's take a look at the gender roles.
The tribe of Gum is certainly patriarchal, with the men making all the decisions (including who their daughters marry). Women's roles are not even mentioned - if this is a hunter-gatherer society the gatherers are pretty much invisible. The only way Hur can use her undoubted intelligence is to influence the men around her. The travellers are slightly different, but it is still Ian and the Doctor who clash over who is to lead, and it is they who take on the protective roles (one at the front, one at the back, the "girls" in between). Similarly, it is the men who try to handle the dangers in a calm way, leaving the screaming to Barbara and Susan. Barbara's hysterics are less OTT than Susan's last week - and even justifiable, given the situation she and Ian have been dropped into - but in context, they are reinforcing gender stereotypes; as is her decision to help Za (quickly supported by Susan), which emphasises the female caring role. The only one not fitting this pattern is the Old Mother, who is instead a stereotypical elder and could as easily have been an Old Father.
So, the impression we are given is that men are the rulers, decision-makers and fighters, ideally strong and fearless; women are supportive, nurturing and weak. This comes over so strongly in this episode that it made me wince quite a bit.
Hm, I was going to add some political theorising here as well as some comments about growing up in the 60s and 70s, but it's getting late and this entry is already quite long, so I'll stop there and just let the observation stand. I'm sure there will be other opportunities later. Which leaves me one more thing to discuss...
Monsters!, Part 1
This is the episode where we first encounter a non-human "monster". It's an animal rather than an alien, but the threat it represents is no less real for all that. The need for special effects is avoided by keeping it off-screen, but this is done in an effective way, and we certainly get to see the consequences of the encounter. Za's wounds are gruesome, saved from being truly sickening only by being filmed in black and white; and with some of the other violent moments in the story I wonder about attitudes to child-friendly programming at the time. Eric Saward would fit right in.
One more episode to go in this story, and I'm still writing twice as much as I expected. We'll just have to see if this continues...
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 7th December 1963
Viewers: 6.9 million
Chart Position: 61
Appreciation Index: 56
Rating:
7/10. It loses a mark or two for the level of sexism displayed, but not more because the "product of its time" defence does (partially) work for me.
Next Time:
The Firemaker.
But enough with the snide comments already! On with episode 3, which is a cracking good adventure story. I was gripped, even though I've seen it several times before, and the time flew by. The opening momentarily confused me - I'd forgotten that recaps were often filmed at the beginning of the next episode, rather than reusing the cliffhanger. I imagine this was due to the limited number of edits allowed per episode, in turn because of the expense of video tape - something I'll probably talk about in more detail in a later entry. Anyhow, an interesting thing with this episode is that it appears at first glance to be a classic escape-recapture scenario, with the regulars starting off imprisoned, getting out, running around for a bit, and then being caught again - something to fill time rather than significantly advance the plot. I say "classic", but of course there is no Who formula yet; everything is new. And actually that first glance is misleading. If you look at the intangibles - the politics of the tribe, relationships between characters - there have been huge changes.
And that's what makes this action story entertaining - the characters and their interaction. For the cave people the primary focus is definitely on Hur, who proves herself to be the smartest of her tribe and pretty much tells Za what to do (as she did with her father last episode), while back at home Kal ruthlessly takes advantage of the events instigated by the Old Mother. The Doctor is frightened and out of his depth, to the extent that he considers smashing an injured man's skull to ease their escape. Ian is frightened too - there's a nice moment with him and Barbara where William Russell does an excellent job portraying a man who is scared and won't admit it - but he spots the Doctor's weakness and uses it to come off the back foot at last, trying to take charge. As usual, though, it's Barbara who makes the key decision.
Despite this, the sharp-eyed among you will notice that in all this talk of characterisation I've hardly mentioned Barbara's, and Susan's not at all. This is because I've saved that pleasure for the Thorny Topic of the Week, which this time around is
Sexism, Part 1: A Place for Everyone
I suppose it might seem odd to talk about sexism in an episode where the action is driven largely by the Old Mother, Hur and Barbara, with Kal the only male to significantly move events along. Even Susan remembers the way back to the ship better than the others, so this is obviously not the sort of sexism that says women can't do anything well; but let's take a look at the gender roles.
The tribe of Gum is certainly patriarchal, with the men making all the decisions (including who their daughters marry). Women's roles are not even mentioned - if this is a hunter-gatherer society the gatherers are pretty much invisible. The only way Hur can use her undoubted intelligence is to influence the men around her. The travellers are slightly different, but it is still Ian and the Doctor who clash over who is to lead, and it is they who take on the protective roles (one at the front, one at the back, the "girls" in between). Similarly, it is the men who try to handle the dangers in a calm way, leaving the screaming to Barbara and Susan. Barbara's hysterics are less OTT than Susan's last week - and even justifiable, given the situation she and Ian have been dropped into - but in context, they are reinforcing gender stereotypes; as is her decision to help Za (quickly supported by Susan), which emphasises the female caring role. The only one not fitting this pattern is the Old Mother, who is instead a stereotypical elder and could as easily have been an Old Father.
So, the impression we are given is that men are the rulers, decision-makers and fighters, ideally strong and fearless; women are supportive, nurturing and weak. This comes over so strongly in this episode that it made me wince quite a bit.
Hm, I was going to add some political theorising here as well as some comments about growing up in the 60s and 70s, but it's getting late and this entry is already quite long, so I'll stop there and just let the observation stand. I'm sure there will be other opportunities later. Which leaves me one more thing to discuss...
Monsters!, Part 1
This is the episode where we first encounter a non-human "monster". It's an animal rather than an alien, but the threat it represents is no less real for all that. The need for special effects is avoided by keeping it off-screen, but this is done in an effective way, and we certainly get to see the consequences of the encounter. Za's wounds are gruesome, saved from being truly sickening only by being filmed in black and white; and with some of the other violent moments in the story I wonder about attitudes to child-friendly programming at the time. Eric Saward would fit right in.
One more episode to go in this story, and I'm still writing twice as much as I expected. We'll just have to see if this continues...
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 7th December 1963
Viewers: 6.9 million
Chart Position: 61
Appreciation Index: 56
Rating:
7/10. It loses a mark or two for the level of sexism displayed, but not more because the "product of its time" defence does (partially) work for me.
Next Time:
The Firemaker.
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