Classic Doctor Who 1x11 "The Daleks: The Rescue" full reaction
Added 2021-07-18 18:17:05 +0000 UTC"Where do you get your knowledge, Doctor? You know, there never seems to have been time to ask, but we don't really know where you come from, or why..."
Comments
Its a good solid conclusion to the story this one, all the characters get their pay off. The coward redeems himself by self- sacrificing for others, reinforcing the stories message of wilful chosen alliances in the cause of good fighting against tyranny. Appealing again to that post WW2 audience whose optimism in peace from war through cooperation was growing through institutions like the UN and the embryonic European Union. This was the sweet spot for the war in Britain as it were, those who fought and survived it were considered heroes, if not well treated by government services in matters like ptsd or pensions, and were now becoming Britain's pensioners with time and reflection and for many a desire to pass on their experiences so they were not forgotten. Their children had grown up, got married and had children of there own. And many families still lived generationally together in one house. The war as the Doctor might say had all become stories in the end. There is a plethora of British war films and television from across this era. And something about the Daleks, their Nazi salutes, their desire to exterminate anything not Dalek and their willingness to commit genocide. Combined with their unique look, the somehow alien manner in which they glided about without legs, and the happy fluke of being something children could easily imitate with two outstretched hands and a Dalek voice impression, struck a cord in the British audience across all those watching generations at once. What followed has been compared to Beatle mania of the era, and with good reason. Daleks were everywhere for a time, and it was at the height of this the two spin-off Doctor Who movies starring Peter Cushing came about. There wasn't a chance they were going to be left to die. From the very first appearance they were a smash hit. Talking Daleks the simple reason you see so few in pursuit of our heroes is the BBC hardly had any at the time. This was being made on a shoestring budget and a hope and a prayer, I believe they only made six originally, as they were not intended to be reused after this episode when aired. These are also early Daleks. They may be as keen on killing everything not them as any other era Daleks, but they haven't actually had anyone to do it to for a very long time, they have had no need to upgrade or improve their weaponry or defences, as they thought there was no one left outside to attack them. In the same manner they never bothered developing a means to individually power a Dalek casing because they cant leave the city anyway so there has been no need. Early Daleks seem to need strong motivation before they will expend resources. Another thing I love about this episode are the scenes where the Doctor captured and immobile is reacting to his growing understanding of just how bad, uncaring, cruel and xenophobic the Daleks are, to the point they will casually commit genocide to suit their own ends. One thing however is that it made me think of something the 12th Doctor said about this very moment. If you were watching this as broadcast you would assume that the Doctor's name of Doctor had been acquired by accident – when Ian and Barbara mistake him for Doctor Foreman and he replies,”Doctor Who?” And that given his secretive nature about his past or who he is combined with simple convenience, had simply decided to let them keep calling him that rather than give his real name. No other explanation has been offered and as Susan always refers to him as grandfather there is no reason to think anything otherwise. I always liked this idea of how he acquired his name, this simple mistaken exchange. But it was somewhat ret-conned in the RTD era when the impression is given he choose his name after the looking into the Untempered Schism for Academy entry, as seen in 10's era. Which never sat well with me. 12's words however, whilst Moffat is careful enough not to outright contradict the RTD version, fits for me much better with this original concept of the Doctor getting the name by accident then it coming to mean something to him because of something that changes his outlook in a fundamental way. Even if it would take years and years for him to fully understand how fundamental. 12's view on the events of this episode were- “See, all those years ago, when I began I was just running. I called myself the Doctor, but it was just a name. And then I went to Skaro. And then I met you lot and I understood who I was. The Doctor was not the Daleks.” And I think it fits perfectly with the 1st Doctor's genuine outrage and disgust at what the Daleks are trying to do as piece by piece they reveal their plan and philosophy to him. It fits that this would be the moment he takes hold and ownership of the name he has acquired by accident and kept for simple convenience and make it mean something. It's also evident the Doctor still only has a shaky idea of how to fly the TARDIS. With lore since added to the show and reinforced in NuWho the TARDIS is a living thing and psychically linked to the Doctor in some mysterious Time Lord fashion as well as having a psychic interface. But its safe to assume, both because the idea didn't exist yet in the stories, and in ret-conning that its not been long enough since the Doctor stole/ got stolen by the TARDIS to form that link yet. Under normal conditions a TARDIS had a pilot at each console face, as seen in the 10 episode where they tow the Earth back in place, but one would be a sort of captain and would be the one who would grow a bond with the TARDIS. The Doctor is trying to fly a ship he doesn't really know how to fly, and he's trying to do it five pilots short and without a properly formed bond with the ship yet. Who is full of such ret-cons adding to or explaining things from past stories, which is why there is nothing wrong in principle with Chibnal choosing to make ret-cons of his own. The Doctor being able to regenerate into a different sex is itself a ret-con. Where the difference lies between changing sex and the Timeless Child however is whilst there has been no indication the Doctor can change sex, or colour for that matter, nor had there ever been anything which said he couldn't. You can fit it into the lore just fine and its doesn't ruffle a feather. What Chibnal seems to have done is to ret-con something very big and controversial which seems to contradict an awful lot of what we have not only heard, but seen over the decades in the show. And potentially agree with only one short scene from a classic episode and a single line form another Doctor for its justification. It seems to ruffle a lot of feathers. Including making the Doctor you are watching just another in a long line of forgotten ones preceding him. And I wonder if as your time with the 1st Doctor grows so may your appreciation for why some feel so strongly about the idea of this not being the true 1st Doctor. It would be interesting to know how you yourself feel about it when you finish 1st Doctor stories. I should also mention, 60's feminism. It would have been more common even at this time in British TV for the leading action man to get the girl in such a story line. Ian gets the heroics and manly stuff to do, but its Barbara who not only gets the romance line but who turns his modest hand kiss at their parting into a full on moving in for a proper kiss. This is progressiveness of its time, the 60's feminist movement that was slowly getting representation in television, from serious drama like Cathy Come Home about a young mother living in poverty fighting against an uncaring bureaucratic government system as it tries to take her baby from her and into care, to sitcoms like the Liver Birds about two young single women sharing a flat together in Liverpool and trying to take hold of life and all it offers in the new era of womanhood with a wry eye, a woman's perspective was finally starting to get air time. And Who was on the forefront of it here and in a show aimed at a family audience. This must have been a nerve-wracking story to broadcast as it was a big gamble, that the Daleks would appeal, that people could understand their cutting edge electronic voices, and yet they still weren't afraid to give the female lead the romance and the front foot in it and to push the progressive peace through cooperation viewpoint of its time. On the surface this is a story about evil aliens that try to kill the Thalls by radiation so they alone will survive. And our heroes in a classic adventure story travelling strange lands against strange creatures to stop the evil aliens before the literal countdown ends Under that staright forward premise is quite a bit of politics, a lot of direct post war appeal (I say direct as just having a row of Daleks salute like a Nazi is about as direct as you can get) and progressive social views. But its so well built into the narrative of the surface story and characters that it all seems naturally occuring from what's going on, rather than the story feeling contrived just to point out the politics and social points. Which is sadly how current Chibnal era Who too often feels to me and why I am enjoying seeing these classic early episodes again through your eyes. I don't know if the moment in Mark Gatiss' Adventure in Space and Time docudrama when Verity Lambert defends this story to Sydney Newman actually happened, but it feels it has truth behind the sentiment at least. And her belief that it was good strong stuff which she really believed in and was worth fighting for to get on air. And it is. Happy you are doing the next two episodes, very much looking forward to them. I cant remember if you said you were reacting to the Space Museum or not, but if not I would recommend it. Who has certain formats of story telling it will come to rely on, the most common is 'base under siege' and you have seen many in NuWho – arrive somewhere, something bad happening, stuck somehow in that place unable to get out. The Space Museum is the fullest earliest example of another type of episode you have seen many of, especially in Moffat era. And whilst many might not consider it the greatest of 1st Doctor episodes (though I really like it personally) I think its worth the watch for marking being among the first of a type of story that Who will come back to over and over down the years.
BobBob
2021-07-25 00:17:32 +0000 UTCSo much fun watching your reaction to this serial and definitely look forward to more! One thing I do like about Classic Who is because there's several episodes per serial, the stories often get more time to breathe and you get more of a sense of the characters (like, in contrast, you have the Peter Cushing film based on this serial and while I think it's fun, a lot of emotional beats are cut from it due to it being shortened). Yes, sometimes that also means there's more filler, but I like that stories take their time. But anyway, yeah, can't wait to watch more reactions from you. 'Edge of Destruction' is actually one of my personal faves and I'm excited to see what you think about it. :)
Nicole Mazza
2021-07-18 21:53:59 +0000 UTC
