Day 26 - The Savages

It was another very busy day today, but extremely productive. I am now 80% done with packing for the big trip to India, and feel most accomplished. The workout routines are also getting easier, and I feel so much better for them. People have even commented that I am looking in better shape, which is nice to hear!

Emotionally things have calmed down a lot as well, as I concentrate on the future, and all the opportunities that I hope are out there. It’s started snowing outside. It seems like it’s a constant companion these days, but in India it will be different!

                

Episode 1

The transition to this story was very peculiar. One moment we were wrapping up the Wild West story, and then after a harsh cut we are suddenly in the far future. We also say goodbye to the individual episode titles at this moment in the show’s run. I am sorry to see them go. Sometimes they bore little relevance to the episode that lay ahead, but they added some fun to several stories.

This is all rather unsettling. The Doctor seems to know exactly where he is but he isn’t letting on to his friends, which is unlike him. I do hope we’re not back in the Stone Age. These people do look rather like the cavemen from the first story. The Doctor thinks differently though. It’s odd how he seems to have heard Steven’s early dialogue, despite Steven and Dodo being by the TARDIS and the Doctor seeming to have wandered off somewhere else.

Oh good, some more advanced people. Good. Not the Stone Age again then. Based on the reports of these guards this planet is inhabited by some very advanced scientists, if they are able to track the TARDIS.

The unsettling nature of this story continues. There seem to be several factions at work; the savages, the elders, and some disgruntled guards. As we discover more about the advanced civilization there appears to be some sort of secret behind it; something that no one talks about; along with places that the TARDIS crew cannot go. Steven is very accepting of it all, while Dodo is more suspicious. She has grown more than I expected in her time in the TARDIS. It was she who realized the nature of the Toymaker’s puppets, remember, while Steven was unconvinced. I may need to revise my opinion on Jackie Lane.

Nanina seems to be dressed much as Leela will be! But this 10 years earlier! It seems quite a daring outfit for 1966! Were there complaints back then about this outfit? This vitality they speak of, is that what they are doing to the savage woman? I have a lot of questions and am most curious about what the answers will be.

Episode 2

Dodo’s getting very feisty again, and she gives as good as she gets. As this episode develops we find that this paradise is absolutely not what it appears, as Avon and Flower are punished for letting Dodo see anything at all.

This life-force concept is very interesting. It appears that the Doctor has had his suspicions all along, despite all of his apparent interest in the science of this civilization.

Frederick Jaeger’s Jano has a fascinating role in this story and his debate with the Doctor is full of power. It’s a moral debate; science against humanity, and the value of a person. The Doctor puts his personal creed on full display here. He values the life of a single person, no matter how small, above anything else, and will fight for their rights with all that he is worth. It’s a Doctor that we clearly recognize to this day. Hartnell is once again getting to play a strong and confident Doctor, and I love it.

Until, that is, he is rendered almost speechless by the revelation that his own lifeforce is to be drained. As the experiment begins, the Doctor looks helpless, strapped down and motionless. It’s a very disturbing sight.

Episode 3

This script has been very well thought out and is a lot deeper than I expected. I appreciate the discussion of the cultural effects of the life-essence removal on the Savages. It is this process that keeps them savage and that their lifestyle and culture deteriorates with every passing generation due to the processing that consumes them.

Unfortunately it seems like we’re in yet another episode without the Doctor. There have been too many of those in recent stories. But in his absence Steven gets to demonstrate his growth as a character as he comes up with a way to help the Savages escape the guards who have invaded their cave homes. He has learned to think outside the box in his time with the Doctor, even if he does sometimes show naivety, and is too willing to believe the best in people. It’s an admirable quality, even if in his adventures he should have learned that that is not always the case.

I’m not sure I trust Jano’s motives here. He sounds altruistic enough, but I suspect he wants to keep the Doctor’s life essence for himself, suspecting it will increase his power. But it would seem it backfires. Frederick Jaeger’s performance seems totally different once he comes out of the transference machine. He is doing an excellent impression of Hartnell, but also seems to realize that all is not well. It would be wonderful to have this episode back in the archive, just to see if it was as effective in moving pictures, and it is on pure vocals alone.

As we get our only glimpse of the Doctor in this episode, I am disturbed again. He looks dreadful, even worse than his helpless situation at the end of the previous episode. Hartnell is such a good actor, and deserved to be able to do more of this stuff.

Episode 4

Did the Doctor know what would happen all the time, and how his essence would affect Jano? He seems to recover at just the right moment to prevent anyone harming the leader of the Elders. And as he recovers he demonstrates, once again, his intention to do the right thing, and cleanse this civilization of the evil that has infested it. He seems sure that Jano will be the one who helps him to accomplish that goal. And he is, of course, right. For those fans who see the manipulative all-knowing Doctor of the New Adventures, and the New Series as something new for the character, I would urge them to watch this. The seeds of that are right here at the beginning!

So I, along with the Doctor, and Dodo, bid farewell to Steven Taylor. He has earned this opportunity. He is a good man, and he will do the right thing. I have enjoyed getting to know Steve, and Peter Purves has been a pleasure to watch in the part. I wish him well in his attempts to bring these divided people together. It’s a lovely leaving scene. The Doctor shows his great confidence and pride in this young man, whom he has inspired and made a better man than when they first met.