The first thing of interest about this serial is the lack of
individual episode titles, which is both a good and bad thing – whilst it
ensures the audience know exactly what they are watching throughout, and it
saves confusion arisen from naming crises such as “which one is The Mutants?”, I can’t help but feel
that it takes a dash of the fun out of the thing in future episodes, where we
are consciously aware that it’s “a Dalek story!” well in advance of the tin-pot
terrors ever turning up. Having said
that, the rise in popularity since the show started pretty much guaranteed to
ruin any shock factor anyhow, with the Radio Times often featuring them anyhow,
and destroying spoilers. But more on
that in the future – yes, I’m talking about you, dinosaurs!
The incidental music for this serial is simply magnificent,
and the use of strings is wonderful – at times majestic, and often contrasted
with a fuller, more melodious tune, it is at its most effective during the
Savage attack in episode 1. Throughout,
though, Raymond Jones’ score complements the serial beautifully.
The stark contrasts are not just on the score, though, and
from what we can tell the differences between Savages and Elders is rather
striking – against the quarry backdrop which will become such a trademark of Doctor Who in the future, with some
wonderful location filming, the Savages look positively horrific, brandishing
their spears with gusto and dressed in their finest cloth bags. To juxtapose this, the Elders are dressed
wonderfully in magnificently luxurious tunics.
The Elders themselves are fascinating, and bring a new
dimension to the mythos of Doctor Who. These days, we take it for granted too
readily that the Doctor is a known entity, the oncoming storm, the predator, or
whatever the new series decide to obscurely call him. Here, though, for the first time, the Doctor
and his team arrive somewhere new, and they are known. Well, the Doctor is, at least. And far superior to any of his new names, the
title bestowed upon him by the elders could not be more fitting – “the
Traveller from Beyond Time”. It is
grandiose, mightily powerful. The scenes
of Hartnell’s flattery is wonderfully played, too, with Hartnell playing the
coy object of desire wonderfully – of course, it’s all an act, but he plays it
with a great deal of conviction, and the audience are genuinely wrong-footed.
My only issue with this serial, really, is the bizarre
decision to have Frederick Jaeger black-up for the role. As far as I can tell, none of the other
Elders are wearing black-face – although the photos are grainy and some
impossible to interpret, so I may be wrong – and, whilst the working title of the
serial was “The White Savages”, and the xenophobia on display here is far more
unnerving than that seen in serials like The
Daleks and The Ark, there doesn’t
seem to be any real reason for it. The
precise reason that this serial works is that, whilst in earlier stories the
victims of the racism of others have always ‘looked different’ (whether they be
humanoid in contrast with the Daleks or have only one eye and no natural voice
box), here, instead, we are faced with racism far more specific – they look
exactly the same, save for their clothing.
They hate each other for no reason other than one group lives indoors,
with technology, whilst the others are outside, dirty and living in caves. It’s a far more stark reflection of the sort
of persecution seen in World War II than a bunch of Daleks waving their arms
around, and far more subtle too.
The cliffhanger at the end of episode 2 is wonderfully
chilling – as “The life force is drawn out of him” – but sadly it brings us
back to that issue I have with Season 3;
Hartnell’s relegation. Finally,
last serial, he was back in the foreground, actively leading the serial and
shining. Here, though, as with The Celestial Toymaker and a number of
earlier serials, he has been put to one side.
Unlike earlier serials, though, where at least he was treated to a
holiday, the poor man is forced to still be present for all rehearsals, and
forced to endure the long day of filming – despite not being given one line of
dialogue. Instead, he is rendered
catatonic for much of it, occasionally uttering an unnerving moan or
groan.
It does lead into an interesting moment, though – Jaeger’s Jano has Hartnell’s life-force imbued upon him, and within moments, he is impersonating Hartnell’s Doctor, all “hmm”s and “eh”s. It is an interesting performance – a caricature of the character which we have all come to love. It is an interesting experiment, too, to see how the production team are able to replace Hartnell. Whilst we are near the end of the third season, Troughton does not enter until the third serial of the fourth, so Hartnell’s tenure remains, but due to his worsening illness and grouchiness on set, the crew were constantly looking for ways to replace him. In The Celestial toymaker, they had toyed with the idea of replacing him with another actor once he rematerialised. Here, though, we are seeing the Doctor’s conscience and soul being transferred into another body. Fortunately, it was the former idea which stuck, and his regeneration in season 4 is far more tolerable. Indeed, had they stuck with the idea of having a new actor simply impersonating Hartnell, the series would never have run for nearly 50 years. It is the very different take which each actor has as the Doctor which keeps the show feeling so fresh and original. Having said that, it would be lovely to be able to see just how Jaeger changes his posture and mannerisms once Hartnell’s life force has been transferred – allegedly, Hartnell himself spent hours tutoring Jaeger.
The final episode is wonderful – Hartnell returns to form,
and is excellent as he is proactive; first, stopping the group from murdering
Jano on a hunch (one which is later proved correct), he shows his intelligence
by reasoning that if they took some of his life force, his very essence, then
it stands to reason that he will also have absorbed some of the Doctor’s
conscience. What I love most about this
idea is that it cements what we have witnessed over the last 3 seasons; Hartnell’s
character has grown, thanks for the most part to his companions. He has matured, mellowed, and is now far more
conscientious than he ever was when we first met him trying to brain a caveman
with a rock. It is this very kindness
which saves the outsiders, and brings the culture of the Elders to its knees,
although not alone.
It isn’t just this conscience within Jano – the Doctor and
his companions force the Elders to
stop the experiments by using brute force, destroying the technology which
allows the dreadful experiments to occur at all. It is magnificent – usually looking for
peaceful solutions, hearing Hartnell swinging into computer monitors and vats
of bubbling liquids is great, and then the others join in too!
Ultimately, though, we reach the end – not only of this
serial, but of the Doctor’s acquaintance with one of his finest companions,
Steven. It is a fitting end for Purves,
though – after months of proving his versatility as a performer, he has also
shown a wide variety of nuances of his character too. From slapstick comedy to singing, from
well-meaning moraliser to angry wanton destruction, Steven covers every trope a
companion should with great aplomb, and for him to be left here, on this
nameless planet, helping to create a truce between the two factions, seems
fitting. The farewell is emotional, as Jackie
Lane again shows the potential of her character as she bids a fond farewell to
him. But it is Hartnell who once again
steals the scene – firstly assuring him that he is “ready for this task”, and
then soon after uttering the touching accolade “I’m very proud of you”. It is a moving, and bittersweet moment, and
Steven’s character arc is brought to a close wonderfully – from his origins in The Chase as prisoner of the Mechonoids,
he was rescued from a desolate planet, and he has now been returned to one,
this time with the power to change it for the better using all he has learnt
from the Doctor.
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