Ep. 11 The Rescue

As a countdown to the 50^th 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.

"If only there's been some other way."

   This is a capsule review of the final episode of the the second Doctor Who Serial, "The Daleks," not the serial of the same name that introduces Vicky to the TARDIS.
   Ang was going over my blog the other day and pointed out the fact that I do a crappy job of synopsis.  I agree.  I'm doing this to keep track of my initial thoughts just after the fact.  I've been using recaps to put my thoughts in some semblance of order.
   Antodus' death in the caves, while cool, leaves me split.  On one hand it's a heroic sacrifice, on the other hand it's still suicide.  His sacrifice wouldn't have been needed if he hadn't given up last episode.
   The assault on the Dalek city is soon under way.  It's obvious that the Daleks haven't had to deal with any real security issues for 500 years and don't have a clue how to manage a secure lock down of their facilities.  That is the only way I can explain a bunch of guys with clubs and rocks making their way into the command center of a hypertech city.  There was a moment when Ian looked at Alydon just before the fan said howdy to the shit where I realized that the leaders of this special ops force were a physics teacher and a farmer.  And not the kind of farmer who listens to Hank Williams Jr and drives a pick-up with a hunting rifle in the gun rack.
   The fight with the Daleks is fun to watch.  These aren't the Daleks who traded body blows with the Time Lords, these Daleks have weaknesses; the rabble can over power them.  There's one berserk Thal who gets shot, jumps back up and pushes the Dalek who shot him into a bank of machines killing them both.
   There is a moment towards the end of the fight that has me thinking.  The Daleks are dying.  One turns to the Doctor and begs him for help.  The Doctor tells him that even if he wanted to he didn't know how.  There's something in Hartnell's delivery that makes me wonder who true that last part is.  The Doctor has demonstrated some ability with Dalek tech earlier in the serial.  He was even able to identify Dalek design tech later in the episode.
   We have one last scene between Ganatus and Barbara before the TARDIS leaves.  It's well acted and features the first kiss of the series.  Ganatus kisses Barbara's hand, the expression on his face saying how much he wants her to stay and Barbara kisses his lips and goes.

Next Up: The Edge of Destruction