"I'm too old to be a pioneer, though I was amongst my own people, once."
So says the Doctor at the end of this long adventure, and what an adventure. Many stylish and intense scenes again here; I wonder what the tv audience of late 1963, early 1964 truly made of it. Where poor dear Antodus, who didn't want to come anyway, cuts the rope that threatens to pull Ian and Gannotus to their deaths and falls, screaming, into the chasm. Where our venturers afterwards sit broken, dirty (a feature I love of these realistic early episodes) and despondent until the lamp fails and new light is literally shone on their situation. Where there's a marvellous (Richard Martin again) almost 360 degrees shot that takes in a recently murdered Thal, the Doctor and Susan quaking in their corner cell and a long corridor shot with Ian, Barbara and the Thals moving towards Dalek Control that is then itself interrupted by a Dalek cutting across it. That scene would be hard to achieve today, but must have been a triumph of choreography between camera, actor and wayward prop in those days. Bravo!
The Thals final triumph over the Daleks is philosophically portrayed and few feel for the loss of the evil pepper pots, here uniquely seen upended rather than exploded.
Ian at this time was by no certainty the love interest for Barbara that he might become and so I love the gradual and touching scenes between Barbara and Gannatus that culminate in a farewell kiss.
All in all a fantastic adventure, but for a brand new television series in the sixties an astonishing achievement. Small wonder that this programme not only survives, but still commands today. The old battles are still being fought. C'est la vie.
I love this story yet I'm pleased to be moving on. Perhaps the first two stories are just a little too familiar to me from over-viewing, and certainly because of 'Dr Who and the Daleks', over-reading. Already the next episode looks intriguing: our travellers thrown to the floor in darkness as the Ship wheezes and groans in obvious distress - a sound that resonates with us all now, but must still have been disconcerting way back when.
This is an opportune moment to speak of platforms, as I realise that I failed to make clear at the outset of this project that I intend to explore Watching Dr Who on as many different platforms as possible. So far I've used the DVDs, on both my large screen television (not bragging, just interested to see how the picture quality stood up) and my PC. I've watched episodes on YouTube and also the BBC4 repeat of 'The Dead Planet'. I expect that by the time I finish I'll be having holographic versions of episodes beamed directly into my head. Or is that old-fashioned?
Next episode: The Edge of Destruction
