The Ordeal

"Do you always do what Ian says?"

I, of course, have a vested interest in the answer to this question being yes, but in this case it is aptly asked by Gannatus as he and Barbara find themselves thrown together quite literally as she gamely hangs on to his leather trousers.

So much is in this episode, another of Richard Martin's, who however much I adore Christopher Barry's work on Doctor Who, I feel does slightly have the edge.

Dark and claustrophobic and intense. Some great moments: where the Doctor and Susan think they have short-circuited the Dalek systems and immediately find themselves surrounded by clutching, grabbing Daleks and that lovely scene where they both are kneeling on the floor that makes the metal meanies seem enormous and indomitable.

And where poor dear Antodus tries to duck out, but is trapped and so makes the so unwilling and half-hearted jump that results in him (and us!) left dangling at the end of the episode with poor Ian clinging to the rock by his fingernails. What a delicious moment slightly earlier when Ian throws the rope to him which falls flacidly to the floor as he makes no attempt to catch it. Poor Antodus. I remember this trek vividly from the probably hundreds of times that I read David Whitaker's novelisation of this story.

"I stopped the car at last and let the fog close in around me..." That first line of the book rates for me as highly as "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" and Marc Platt's sublime "Time's roses are scented with memory."

What joy. And all that plus Nazi saluting Daleks and Doctors hiding behind rocks. This is bliss; and always will be.

Next episode: The Rescue

The Expedition

"We do not have to adapt to the environment; we will change the environment to suit us."

Powerful stuff from the Daleks there in an episode brimming with moral debate and logical conclusions.

The Doctor is quite happy to use the Thals to attack the Daleks so that he can recover the fluid link after admitting "I'm afraid my little trick has rather rebounded on me", but he is challenged by Ian who is the moral compass here. We're already used to Barbara fulfilling this role yet in this instance she argues for the attack. So early in the series these characters are rounded and three-dimensional.

The Daleks reach the conclusion that they must increase radiation levels on the planet to survive with chilling coldness after they have watched some of their own kind die after taking the anti-radiation drug. More great Dalek point-of view shots from Christopher Barry which really add to the other-wordly quality of these creatures.

He uses split screen effects again to show us the pipes leading to the city, the vortex in the lake at the end of the episode and a poor unfortunate creature that menaces Barbara and gets quickly bludgeoned by Ian!

The Thal chaps look fetching in their cut away leather trousers and tabbards, something I feel may not have gone unnoticed by Barbara as she gets closer to Gannatus. And I swear his brother has got a tattoo on his shoulder!

I enjoy the wobbly superimposed story title and writers credit at the start of these episodes. I appreciate what the Restoration Team are doing by replacing the end titles with shiny, steady, new ones, but they seem at odds with the age of the rest of the programme. As the Daleks and Thals are realising, we must all learn to put up with an imperfect world.

Next episode: The Ordeal