"I can't take you back, Susan, I can't."
I've put the RT article at the top of this post to help you try to make sense of this episode (you'll need all the help you can get!)
Well, what did you think? I thought it was odd. Very odd. It's so early on in the series and so experimental. While I was watching I thought that perhaps they got away with it because the programme was brand new and so most people didn't have a clue what was going on anyway.
Good points? A fantastic opportunity to see the beautifully detailed TARDIS set with all of its nooks and crannies and control banks and strange suspended cylinders. This episode is fabulously lit, notably towards the end when the Doctor is sitting in his chair illuminated by a knave of light. I've never seen the set lit like that before or since and it's so evocative of a church. Talking of churches, after Susan gets changed into that flat black smock and then has to have a lie down with a cooling cloth on her head after attacking Barbara with the scissors (bit strong, those scissor sister scenes) she looks like a medieval French Nun.
They all behave very oddly until the Doctor has a pop at Barbara. What a mistake-a to make-a. And then the whole thing gets very, very good. I do feel that David Whitaker's strength was in dialogue rather than plotting. Consequently Barbara's row with the Doctor is sensational and, in my opinion, crucial to the development of the series. For this is the point where everything changes and all the fear and doubt and suspicion between the two pairs of characters comes to a head and then is gradually replaced by trust and understanding and eventually love. I may be wrong, but from memory this is the pivot.
And how utterly bloody marvellous is Jacqueline Hill? This will be a recurring theme on these pages, but with good reason. Long one of my favourite companions and actors, I can't take my eyes off her. She is mesmerising, and the character of Barbara such a perfect foil for the Doctor. It's a wonderful moment after the row when the Doctor appears with a tray of drinks and is utterly charming. I'm still not convinced he hasn't slipped something in them to knock them all out. He's still manipulative to get his own way and skips about the console room when they're all unconscious. It's a genuine surprise when he finds himself with unknown hands around his throat.
However odd this episode is , and it is very odd (did I mention that?), it's again strikingly directed by Richard Martin. Ian's new favourite director.
And I meant to tell you that I'm about to be born. No really I am. Next Thursday. At midday. Keep an eye out. As a child I was stupidly proud when I found out I had been born between the two episodes of a rare two part Dr Who story. I mentioned this to my Dad a few years ago when the video first came out. He was singularly unimpressed!]
Next episode: The Brink of Disaster (I would like to make clear that this refers to the next episode of Dr Who that we will be watching and not to my impending entre into the world)
