As a countdown to the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who I and my wife will be watching an episode a day until we are caught up to whatever the Beeb has planned. This is a record of my initial reaction to each day's episode published with minimal editing and crappy synopsis.
"Don't you realize what I've done? A few simple tools. A superior brain."
The stage is being set for the final confrontation with the Daleks in the next episode. Ian, Barbara and a small group of Thals are making their way through the bowels of the mountains behind the Dalek city while the Doctor, Susan and the main force of the Thals are performing guerilla attacks on the Dalek sensory and communications systems.
The team in the mountain can be summed up as the story of two brothers, Ganatus and Antodus.
Ganatus is the confident, thoughtful brother who is obviously crushing pretty heavily on Barbara who must seem very exotic from a Thal point of view. Ganatus is brave, resourceful and rock steady.
Antodus isn't.
He's been on the edge of a nervous breakdown since we first laid eyes on him and being in a dark, damp cave has been pushing him closer and closer to a full breakdown. At one point he is so convinced that they are going to be trapped underground that he tries to convince Ganatus to abandon the others and tell everyone else that the Daleks killed them.
There is some good stuff in these cave scenes. The scene where Antodus purposefully doesn't try to grab the rope thrown to him by Ian is sold beautifully by both actors. The interplay between Barbara and Ganatus almost makes me wish that he had been made a companion.
While this is going on the Doctor is going after the Dalek tech with a relish. They have messed with him and he's going to make them regret it. This is a far cry from The Coming Storm that he becomes in the New Adventures, but it may be it's genesis.
Unfortunately the Doctor is too busy gloating after his latest techno f#(& you to the Daleks that he and Susan end up getting captured.
There are three things I would have changed in the script. 1.) I wouldn't have shown everybody jumping the gorge in the cave; it's just padding. 2.) I would have come up with a better excuse for the Doctor to send Alydon back to base camp than what was given; Alydon needs to lead the assault in the next episode, but sending him back like this screams "the Doctor and Susan are going to get captured. 3.) I wouldn't have the Daleks reveal their plans to the captured Doctor; they go from very clever to Republic Serial Villain in the span of a couple episodes.
It does give the Doctor the opportunity to show some of the qualities that he will later be known for. Almost as if his encounter with the Daleks helps define him. I'm not the biggest fan of the Daleks and I don't want to turn the Doctor-Dalek relationship into some sort of Holmes-Moriarty thing. The Daleks, for all their faults represent one of the most extreme viewpoints in Doctor Who; everything not us should not continue. They are the gods of xenophobia and proud of it.
Personally I like the Cybermen better. They are the exact opposite; they want everybody to live, as one of them.
Next up: The Rescue (no not that one)
It will be interesting to see the later Dalek stories again, because I think there's something odd and complex going on here in turning the reasoning scientists and teachers into the murdering, xenophobic baddies. Especially once you had pointed out the "beautiful good" vs "ugly bad" thing. Hmmmm.
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