January 9: "The Wall of Lies" / "Rider from Shang-Tu"

(Marco Polo episodes 4 & 5)

"The Wall of Lies" was directed by John Crockett instead of Waris Hussein.  Why does this matter?  Because as a result Waris Hussein had no reason to have the telesnaps for this episode: thus this is the earliest episode for which no visual record exists (unless that rumored recovery announcement of the entire story for its 50th anniversary next month is true; the words "yeah" and "right" spring to mind...).  But as noted before, we still have an off-air audio recording to enjoy.

The Radio Times cover for "The Roof of the
World" (from Partners in Time: 50 years of Doctor
Who Radio Times covers ©Immediate Media
Company Limited)

This seems to be a turning point for this particular story: before the travellers were free to accompany Marco Polo, and only his possession of the TARDIS prevented them from leaving.  But now Tegana has managed to turn Polo against them.  It's dramatic, yet still with the same relaxed confidence that permeates this serial.  The central problem has evolved from simply "how to get the TARDIS back" to "how to convince Marco that Tegana is plotting against him and Kublai Khan".

(Incidentally, do you suppose Tegana always intended to betray Kublai Khan, or that it was when he saw the TARDIS that the possibility of claiming it for Noghai came to mind, and that's when he set his plan into motion?)

In any event, "The Wall of Lies" sees the TARDIS crew at their lowest.  It's particularly interesting how, when they decide to kidnap Marco and force him to give the TARDIS key back, how black the Doctor's intentions seem: "I think by the time I've finished with that gentleman, he'll only be too glad to let us go."  It's a surprisingly dark comment, especially as it's about a man that the story has so far encouraged us to view in sympathetic light.

Fortunately for Marco, "Rider from Shang-Tu" (hooray! the telesnaps are back!) opens with a far different situation that results in a change of plans, as the caravan is attacked by bandits.  Continuing the educational theme, here we learn that bamboo explodes when thrown on a fire.  It's difficult to tell from the telesnaps how well the bamboo forest was realized, but the battle itself sounds exciting.  It also leads to an improvement in Polo's estimation of the travellers: he's not as trusting as he was initially, but he's relented somewhat from the treatment given last episode.

Other than the initial fight, this episode is more about treading water than advancing the plot much: there's no new treachery from Tegana and the titular rider only appears for maybe five minutes.  This episode then is actually set up to look like an escape for the Doctor and company, a chance to finally get to the TARDIS.  (Or just "TARDIS", as it's referred to again this episode -- I wonder if this happens in any other story?)  But like the last time they did this ("The Ambush", episode 4 of The Daleks), there's a sense of unfinished business -- Marco Polo hasn't arrived in Peking yet, and Tegana has yet to be unmasked.  Which is why it's not a total surprise when, just as it looks like they're all about to escape (with a scene inside the TARDIS, even!), Susan is grabbed by Tegana, just in time for the end of the episode.

January 8: "The Singing Sands" / "Five Hundred Eyes"

(Marco Polo episodes 2 & 3)

An Unearthly Child is in a bit of an odd position: in some ways it's a journey back in time, but it's to a place that virtually nothing is known about, and the people we encounter there seem more alien than like us.  This means that Marco Polo is the series' first real journey into history.  And so far it's a very entertaining tale: although "The Roof of the World" played with expectations a bit, "The Singing Sands" is filled with suspense, first with the sandstorm whirling through the camp (memorably brought alive, even on audio), and then with the sabotage of the caravan's water supply.  Meanwhile, the characterization of Susan is interesting, as she seems resolutely in teenage-girl-of-the-60s mode, with slang like "fab" and "dig it", yet the script has her reminiscing about metal seas on Venus and describing her language as how people talk "on Earth", as if she's used to being somewhere else. The chess game that Ian and Marco play is also good fun, with what seems to be foreshadowing from Tegana: "Marco, can you save your king?"  Oh! and an occurrence of the word "TARDIS" as a bare noun, when Barbara talks about how "TARDIS is the only home we have".  And it ends on a good cliffhanger, with Tegana taunting Marco Polo from the oasis.

"Five Hundred Eyes" is a curious episode: there's always been a remit for the show to be educational along the way, and this feels like the first real flexing of those muscles.  We learn about condensation, the Hashashins from the point-of-view of the Mongols (with a brief etymological detour about the word "assassin"), and even a little bit about quartz.  That part about the Hashashins is told by Ping-Cho, who spends a sizable portion of the episode in the telling, yet it remains engaging the whole way -- one can only imagine how it would be with the pictures intact.  It's interesting: there's a relaxed pace about the way John Lucarotti allows his tale to unfold, yet it never feels slow or dull.  Even when there's danger afoot, as with Barbara in the cave, it still seems quite content.  It's a sign of the confidence the production team has in the script, without a need to spice things up unduly.  The word is "self-assured".

January 7: "The Brink of Disaster" / "The Roof of the World"

(The Edge of Destruction episode 2 & Marco Polo episode 1)

"We have ten minutes to survive." ("The Brink of

Disaster") ©BBC

And so all the paranoia and danger was because of...a stuck button.  Not exactly the most thrilling revelation ever, is it? You can see what David Whitaker was going for, trying to subvert expectations and all, but still: a stuck button?

All right, so Whitaker might not have the most satisfying plot going, but to his credit, his characterization is very good.  He refashions their relationships under our nose, almost without our noticing.  By forcing the Doctor to have it out with the two schoolteachers, Whitaker makes them reevaluate each other's positions: the schoolteachers are going to have to rely on the Doctor, and he is going to have to trust them.  If they had stopped and worked together instead of giving in to fear and paranoia, they might have solved things more quickly.  And it's a nice touch how Barbara won't easily accept the Doctor's apology: he has to go and sweet-talk her to prove that he's sincere before she gives in.

But that's not the only relationship Whitaker has refashioned: he's also cannily changed the Doctor's relationship with the TARDIS.  Before the TARDIS was a machine, a fantastical machine that could take them anywhere, but still a machine.  But now there's a suggestion that the TARDIS may be alive in some way; the Doctor dismisses the notion, but the clues left by the TARDIS (which presumably include the way it's affecting the crew, given how out of character they were last episode) seem to suggest otherwise.  Obviously this notion will culminate 47 years later with "The Doctor's Wife", but the first hint starts here.

Next up is "The Roof of the World", the first episode of Marco Polo and, alas, the first of Doctor Who's missing episodes.  Fortunately off-air soundtracks exist for every episode, so I'll be listening to those while squinting at the telesnaps³ (as published in Doctor Who Magazine: The Missing Episodes - The First Doctor) for the next seven episodes.

Obviously we can't actually see how it looked, but given Waris Hussein's work on An Unearthly Child we can probably safely assume it was thoughtfully directed.  Certainly the telesnaps offer tantalizing glimpses of what it looked like: the waystation at Lop looks fairly lush in design, and the narration device of the map also looks wonderful -- you can't tell from what we've got here, but it seems like the sort of thing that would have an animated line showing the journey of Polo's caravan.

It's an interesting episode in terms of the script as well: it looks like it will be fraught with danger, but at just about every step this expectation is thwarted: the large footprint is really a man's footprint which has melted a bit; the travelers are in danger of freezing to death on the mountain, but they encounter people; it looks like they're going to be killed by said people, but Marco Polo intervenes...as an episode it looks like "The Roof of the World" will be full of action, but it's actually quite sedate.  We're meant to distrust the warlord Tegana, but his motivation appears to be that he believes that the Doctor and his friends are evil spirits.  But not only that, but Marco Polo has also denied them access to the TARDIS (leading to a very curious yet entertaining outburst of laughter from the Doctor) -- so it looks like even their potential allies are working against them.








³ People didn't have the ability to show people film copies of their television work back then, so if they wanted to keep a record of it they'd hire a man named John Cura, who would take photographs of the show as it was broadcast.  These photographs, called "telesnaps", are for many episodes of Doctor Who the only visual representation remaining.

January 6: "The Rescue" / "The Edge of Destruction"

(The Daleks episode 7 & The Edge of Destruction episode 1)

The end of the Daleks. ("The Rescue") ©BBC

And so with "The Rescue" (like The Mutants, a potentially confusing title), we come to the end of the adventure on Skaro.  It's a decent ending, but it must be said, the actual defeat of the Daleks is rather perfunctory.  One of them is pushed into what turns out to be the power supply for the Daleks, and so they all perish.  It's not exactly the most thrilling conclusion ever, but at least what we do get is competent, with some nice touches (there's a Thal climbing down a rope, in the studio!).  But before the Daleks meet their end, there are some interesting moments, such as the Doctor bargaining with the Daleks for his life and Susan's, in exchange for which he'll tell the Daleks how to build their own TARDIS.  With 50 years of hindsight it's incredibly odd, but even in context it still seems out of character, given his concerns with letting Ian and Barbara go free at the end of "An Unearthly Child" -- we have to conclude that this is a bluff to get free rather than a serious bargain.

Still, even with the ending, you can see why the Daleks caught on.  They're not only a masterpiece of design, but as I said earlier, here they're allowed to be characters, to have conversations with each other and experiment with anti-radiation drugs.  When they're going to flood the planet with more radiation, it's because they're concerned with their own self-interest rather than out of any sort of malice.  They simply consider themselves to be superior beings, and everything else as pests: consider the word they use, "extermination" (not "exterminate" quite yet).  It's now so associated with the Daleks that we've stopped thinking about what it actually means when they say it.  It brings to mind not just the Nazis (who aren't really as overt an influence on the Daleks here as they will later become, but there's still a hint), but the treatment of things less than them.  You exterminate bugs, not people.  It's a nice subtle touch, illustrating the mindset of the Daleks: killing the Thals to them is no different than stepping on a spider.

So they look great, they're written with care, and they sound amazing.  No wonder the public wanted them back.

The next episode, the start of The Edge of Destruction (aka Inside the Spaceship), is surprisingly paranoid.  We're now into episode (and thus week) 12 of Doctor Who, so we've had a chance to get to know the regular characters and how they behave, so to see them acting so oddly gives the episode an unusual sense of tension.  The suggestion that some sort of intelligence has entered the Ship and could be inhabiting Our Heroes is compelling, and the cast seem to play this angle up with relish -- watch William Russell at the beginning, in an unnatural daze as he tries to remember what's happened, or Carole Ann Ford's deep mistrust of Ian and Barbara throughout the episode.  Meanwhile, Barbara gets to lash out at the Doctor after he accuses the two schoolteachers (without any real evidence) of sabotaging the Ship.  "Accuse us? You ought to go down on your hands and knees and thank us!" she cries.  It's marvelous, especially since the Doctor refuses to be swayed by her outburst.  And while the music may be from stock, it's well chosen, adding effectively to the sense of foreboding.  The whole episode is thus very compelling, especially since we're not quite sure: is there something controlling the travellers, jumping from person to person to throw suspicion on all of them?  Or is something else going on?

January 5: "The Expedition" / "The Ordeal"

(The Daleks episodes 5 & 6)

(Before we begin, a quick note to say how marvelous Chrissie's Doctor Who Transcripts is.  It's invaluable for double-checking lines and such.)

"The Expedition" starts with an interesting debate among the time-travellers: what right do they have to convince the Thals to abandon their pacifism?  It's actually Ian who's the most against trying, arguing that the fluid link isn't worth the Thals getting killed over, while Barbara is adamant that she wants to leave, no matter what would happen to the Thals.  Yet it's Ian who actually argues with them, taunting them into fighting for themselves, not just the TARDIS crew.  "All you're doing is playing with words!" Barbara exclaims bitterly, when Ian says that the Thals have to be willing to defend themselves, yet for Ian it's not just a matter of semantics: in his eyes, for the Thals to sacrifice themselves so that four strangers can leave would be immoral, but if they were to do it to secure their future from the Daleks, then that would be acceptable.  It's a surprisingly complex argument, and it makes this a lot more nuanced than a simple "let's go fight because we should" position.

The Daleks in their control room.  Note the unfortunate angle

on the photographic blow-ups. ("The Expedition") ©BBC

Good thing the Thals are ready to fight, because the Daleks have learned they need radiation to survive, so they're going to nuke the planet again.  There's some more great direction by Christopher Barry in this sequence -- the point-of-view of the sick Dalek, with the unfocused, swirling shot, is really effective.  The use of photo blow-ups, on the other hand, is rather less effective.  They juuust about get away with it when shot head-on, but then they switch cameras and catch them from the side, rather spoiling things.  Still, can't blame them for trying.

The actual expedition, into the swamps and mountains behind the Dalek city, runs the risk of dragging (and in that context, naming an episode "The Ordeal" leaves them wide open), but there's enough going on, both through action and suspense, that you don't really notice -- at least not when viewed episodically.  The bit where Ian gets each person over the chasm seems like it should be interminable, yet it works because we know that Antodus (previously established as the cowardly one) is going to have to make the jump too, and we don't know how he's going to manage it.  (And can I just say how much I love the part where, after Ian tosses the rope to him and he makes no move to catch it, Ian assumes the blame for a "bad throw" but then chucks the rope straight at Antodus's face?)  It's quite thrilling, and the fact that he misses, threatening to pull Ian down with him, makes for a literal cliffhanger.

January 4: "The Escape" / "The Ambush"

(The Daleks episodes 3 & 4)

Hey, look, it's another actor!  Before we've just had the four regulars and a bunch of people in not-obviously-human-looking costumes, but now John Lee appears as Alydon, one of the Thals.  He speaks with Susan a bit, but then later on we get most of the Thals as they discuss what they're going to do regarding approaching the Daleks.

This was a bit of a surprise to me, honestly; I'd forgotten the Thals (other than Alydon) made an appearance in "The Escape" (which actually aired fifty years ago today!).  But that's probably because, even though the Thals have been introduced, the focus of this episode is still firmly on the Doctor, Ian, Susan, and Barbara, and how they're going to escape (it's the title of the episode, so no spoilers there).  In some ways their escape is one of the most memorable parts of this story, as they trick a Dalek into entering their cell and then overpower it.  The script gives each person a significant part to play in their escape.  It's nice, thoughtful writing that shows that the characters haven't descended into stereotypes yet -- because no stereotypes have been codified yet.

The Daleks cutting their way in. ("The Ambush") ©BBC.

Their escape continues in the next episode (after the cliffhanger showed a glimpse of the Dalek mutant!), but here the Thals are given more development too.  I'm not actually convinced that it works that well, since we only get broad brushstrokes for most of the characters: Alydon is the strong one, Temmosus the naïve leader, and Dyoni the woman.  But really, they're only there to react to the TARDIS crew -- except that doesn't happen until later.  It's actually surprising how long it takes the Doctor and company to escape the city, yet it never feels like just marking time -- a tribute to the show's creative team.  (And while we're bringing them up, a moment to note just how fabulous the blistering of that wall next to Ian under Dalek fire is.)

The end of the episode is interesting: when the Thals do interact with the TARDIS crew, there's a bit of an argument against unyielding pacifism and an examination of racism (in Ian's words, "a dislike for the unlike"), but it all feels rather half-hearted.  There's a sense of "well, we tried" from Ian, but he's just as ready to leave as the Doctor is.  One could almost believe that this was the end of this adventure—after all, the previous locale only lasted about four episodes—until the cliffhanger.  But I wonder if any viewers were in fact momentarily fooled, since there's a distinct sense of unresolved business at the end of "The Ambush" -- the Daleks haven't been dealt with, just left in their city, and the Thals' future is still very uncertain.  Which means that, even before the revelation about the fluid link, it's fairly clear that our time on Skaro isn't over yet.

January 3: "The Dead Planet" / "The Survivors"

(The Daleks episodes 1 & 2)

As I sort of implied last time, episodes 2-4 of An Unearthly Child often get a bad rap, with the claim being that they're dull and uninteresting.  I wonder if that's because people are -- subconsciously or otherwise -- impatient to get to this story.  Because as good as An Unearthly Child is, The Daleks (or The Mutants, if you really must¹) is even better.

The first episode is an exercise in mood.  Other than a hand there's no one present besides the four travellers.  Consequently there's a real sense of character at work as they explore this strange (and utterly fabulous-looking) petrified jungle.  We're starting to get a greater sense of who these people are -- and this may be where the idea of the "selfish Doctor" comes from, rather than An Unearthly Child, as here he's completely determined to get his way and see the city, no matter what.  It's a strange, eerie place that the TARDIS has arrived at, with the design and the soundscape contributing to something special.  There are also some nice directorial touches from Christopher Barry -- everyone mentions the shot of Barbara putting her hand on the camera, making us the silent observers, but the use of angles and different props inside the TARDIS is also very well done, giving the Ship a sense of space even greater than in the first episode.  And then there's the cliffhanger, where something comes at Barbara.  I assume it was composer Tristram Cary who pitched that musical sting as the same as Barbara's scream, but regardless of who it was, it's a stroke of brilliance.

THAT cliffhanger. ("The Dead Planet") © BBC.

It's the next episode, "The Survivors", that introduces the Daleks, and what an introduction!  Totally alien-looking, not even recognizably a man in a costume, you can see why they made such a visual impact -- Terry Nation may have thought them up, but Ray Cusick came up trumps in designing them.  But in some ways, The Daleks may be the best Dalek story ever, and that's because they're allowed to be characters, rather than just an unstoppable force.  The galaxy-conquering race are nowhere to be found here; instead we get a race of survivors (as the title says) who are simply concerned with trying to leave the city they've been trapped in, at the cost of all others.  They'll kill if they have to, but they don't yet derive pleasure from killing for its own sake -- note the way they merely paralyze Ian, rather than just exterminate him (one of only two times we see this happen²).  Their motivation is simple and understandable, and that's what makes them compelling: the idea that they were once people like us who were forced into desperate measures to survive.  Meanwhile, the radiation sickness afflicting our heroes works to sustain the tension, adding to a sense of desperation: will Susan make it to the TARDIS and back before it's too late?  And will the Daleks let her keep any of the drugs?

Oh, but then some lightning flashes as Susan's about to leave the TARDIS.  I guess all the cliffhangers can't be winners.







¹ 100,000 BC is enough of a losing battle, but using The Mutants as the "real" name of serial B has the extra problem of also being the name of a Pertwee serial. In case you haven't noticed, I've elected to go with the most commonly used title (and the one these things are known as commercially). Don't worry, this argument basically dies down after the next serial.

² Planet of the Daleks (in many ways a color remake of this story) being the other time.