“We'd better keep an eye on him. He seems to have a knack of getting himself into trouble.” – Ian Chesterton
Ep. 005: The Dead Planet
(Production B/Story #002: "The Daleks" - Part 1 of 7)
Purchase this DVD at Amazon.com (US)
Purchase this DVD at Amazon.com (US)
As the time travellers step into frame, the picture looks almost embossed. I assume it’s not bad archiving, but rather an attempt to make the show's first alien landscape look odder. Mercifully, the effect ceases, and the picture snaps back to normal as Ian looks around curiously. It's clear that he’s not yet taking travel across dimensions for granted. I love these first stories, where travel through time and space is still treated as a fresh (albeit scary) idea. As they wander through the petrified forest, Barbara and Ian discuss how unlikely it is they will ever get back home. Ian admits he’s just as afraid as Barbara, but accepts the situation as nothing can be done about it.
Susan has interesting moment with a delicate petrified flower, which... doesn't last long. Barbara screams as she finds a creature entirely made of metal, luckily dormant. The Doctor theorizes that it was held together by inner magnetic fields, and able to “attract” similar animals as prey. Cool. It becomes clear to the characters (and audience) they are definitely not on Earth.
The Doctor concludes that all life on this planet has been extinguished. Ian discovers a marvelous city in the distance. The Doctor becomes excited about exploring it; on his own, if necessary. Ian puts his foot down, and won’t allow the old man’s solo reconnaissance. The Doctor is the only one who has any hope of operating the TARDIS, and Ian almost threatens him: “I can’t let you do that, Doctor.” They table the argument for later, as it is almost nightfall. On the way back, Susan gets separated. When she rejoins the others, she has a hard time convincing anyone that someone grabbed her in the darkness on what is otherwise a dead planet. Susan whines about being treated as a child, just as children often do.
Ian and the Doctor look over instruments in the TARDIS, with Ian not having any idea about any of them. He has a question about what they’re supposed to eat, now that he and Barbara are “unwilling travelers.” The Doctor produces food out of a machine you might see on the Jetsons...
***
As a twenty-first century viewer, the food seems at the same time both magical and unappetizing. For the first time (and I guess I’m a bit slow, as I’ve been watching the show for over twenty years now), I really think about how the Doctor’s costume is incongruent with the technology surrounding him. Until now, I just always took it for granted that of course the gentleman scientist with the Edwardian frock coat would have in his possession a machine that can break all temporal and spatial barriers. Doesn’t everyone with a frock coat have one? After all, that’s why I want a frock coat.
If I use the mindset of someone watching Doctor Who for the first time in the 60s, I have to remember that I know nothing yet about the Doctor’s people, or even the name of his planet. Taking this information away, I can’t help but visualize the members of his civilization all in shiny Space Jumpsuits, sitting in the Space Chairs of tiny apartments, eating their Space Jam* on Space Toast, drinking Space Coffee, and reading their Space Newspapers, all before heading off in their flying cars to go work in outer space. I guess my uneducated vision of proto-Gallifrey are a bit Space: 1999, actually. H.G. Wells and the 1960 film version of The Time Machine aside, the frock coat look must not have been the obvious choice in 1963…
Our heroes hear someone knocking at the front door. Susan has her “I told you so” moment, and everyone's jolly conversation about breakfast is cut short.
The group is spooked by someone outside. Suddenly, they realize not only are they not on Earth, but they are not alone. They pressure the Doctor into taking them somewhere else, and he seems to comply. As their heads are turned watching the monitor, the Doctor removes something from the TARDIS control console and the ship begins to malfunction. They are pulled back to the dead planet.
The Doctor reveals a fluid link that needs to be filled with mercury - in order for the ship to work again. After finding that the Doctor carries no spare mercury, Ian suggests they should be able to find some in the city. The Doctor quickly agrees in such a way that it’s clear to Ian he’s been manipulated into making the suggestion. Trapped on the planet by the Doctor, the crew is committed to staying. Remaining angrily polite, Ian and Barbara see it’s no use challenging the Doctor on the ship’s sudden convenient unwillingness to leave. They can’t operate the ship on their own, so they’ll just have to let the situation play out the Doctor’s way.
The next morning, they apologize to Susan, as they find a small metal box outside the TARDIS. Clearly, this was left by the stranger knocking on the door earlier. They set out for the city, with Susan carrying more provisions than Ian thinks necessary for a surgical strike. Once there, each of them seem more tired than normal. Ian and the Doctor aren’t feeling well, and come to think of it - Susan and Barbara were not quite right the day before. Wanting to finish quickly, they split up to look for the mercury. When Barbara doesn’t return, Ian and the others decide to look for her. The BBC desginers must have had a precognitive dream about Pac-Man, because we see his image on a few of the doors...
Barbara has lost herself in a maze of corridors. Director Christopher Barry turns up the creepiness a notch, as Barbara wanders around testing the strength of translucent walls. She needs to get out, even if she has to beat through. Many times we only see her silouette, which really works well with the black and white image. Barbara's fear increases when a few doors close unexpectedly. Suddenly, she is cornered by a strange shape moving toward her. We have no idea what it might be. She screams!
Cut.
Future Echoes
In Utopia, we see a distinct contrast to the look of the successful Edwardian gentleman scientist (described above). According to Russell T Davies in a Doctor Who Magazine interview, the producer intentionally wanted to "Hartnell up" the look of Professor Yana, played by Sir Derek Jacobi. Until the moment Yana is revealed to be someone else, he is portrayed as a scientist who means well and is desperately trying to fulfill his promises, but is clearly out of the league of technology surrounding him. The Doctor (during the Hartnell years) sets a precedent for Yana's image later, but (though bumbling) can handle technology well beyond that which appears to be contemporary.
If I use the mindset of someone watching Doctor Who for the first time in the 60s, I have to remember that I know nothing yet about the Doctor’s people, or even the name of his planet. Taking this information away, I can’t help but visualize the members of his civilization all in shiny Space Jumpsuits, sitting in the Space Chairs of tiny apartments, eating their Space Jam* on Space Toast, drinking Space Coffee, and reading their Space Newspapers, all before heading off in their flying cars to go work in outer space. I guess my uneducated vision of proto-Gallifrey are a bit Space: 1999, actually. H.G. Wells and the 1960 film version of The Time Machine aside, the frock coat look must not have been the obvious choice in 1963…
Our heroes hear someone knocking at the front door. Susan has her “I told you so” moment, and everyone's jolly conversation about breakfast is cut short.
The group is spooked by someone outside. Suddenly, they realize not only are they not on Earth, but they are not alone. They pressure the Doctor into taking them somewhere else, and he seems to comply. As their heads are turned watching the monitor, the Doctor removes something from the TARDIS control console and the ship begins to malfunction. They are pulled back to the dead planet.
The Doctor reveals a fluid link that needs to be filled with mercury - in order for the ship to work again. After finding that the Doctor carries no spare mercury, Ian suggests they should be able to find some in the city. The Doctor quickly agrees in such a way that it’s clear to Ian he’s been manipulated into making the suggestion. Trapped on the planet by the Doctor, the crew is committed to staying. Remaining angrily polite, Ian and Barbara see it’s no use challenging the Doctor on the ship’s sudden convenient unwillingness to leave. They can’t operate the ship on their own, so they’ll just have to let the situation play out the Doctor’s way.
The next morning, they apologize to Susan, as they find a small metal box outside the TARDIS. Clearly, this was left by the stranger knocking on the door earlier. They set out for the city, with Susan carrying more provisions than Ian thinks necessary for a surgical strike. Once there, each of them seem more tired than normal. Ian and the Doctor aren’t feeling well, and come to think of it - Susan and Barbara were not quite right the day before. Wanting to finish quickly, they split up to look for the mercury. When Barbara doesn’t return, Ian and the others decide to look for her. The BBC desginers must have had a precognitive dream about Pac-Man, because we see his image on a few of the doors...
Barbara has lost herself in a maze of corridors. Director Christopher Barry turns up the creepiness a notch, as Barbara wanders around testing the strength of translucent walls. She needs to get out, even if she has to beat through. Many times we only see her silouette, which really works well with the black and white image. Barbara's fear increases when a few doors close unexpectedly. Suddenly, she is cornered by a strange shape moving toward her. We have no idea what it might be. She screams!
Cut.
Future Echoes
In Utopia, we see a distinct contrast to the look of the successful Edwardian gentleman scientist (described above). According to Russell T Davies in a Doctor Who Magazine interview, the producer intentionally wanted to "Hartnell up" the look of Professor Yana, played by Sir Derek Jacobi. Until the moment Yana is revealed to be someone else, he is portrayed as a scientist who means well and is desperately trying to fulfill his promises, but is clearly out of the league of technology surrounding him. The Doctor (during the Hartnell years) sets a precedent for Yana's image later, but (though bumbling) can handle technology well beyond that which appears to be contemporary.
***
Now... imagine being a Doctor Who fan, but not knowing what a Dalek is. Try as I might, I know what's coming at Barbara; but hats off to Terry Nation for not actually debuting these strange alien creatures until the next episode. Nation also really cranked up the creepiness for this episode. I love the dead landscape and the fact that we know throughout the episode that the characters are not alone, but we don't actually see them. The device of not seeing anyone other than the series regulars evokes the flavor of a bottle show, but without the claustrophobia later felt in The Edge of Destruction.
***
As to the design, though we barely see anything in this episode - we know something truly unique is coming. The oft-ridiculed Dalek plunger is a stroke of genius, at least in this first episode - simply because the original audience had no idea what they were looking at as it menaced Barbara. The design is brilliant, especially when you consider the only real help from Terry Nation was that the Daleks had no legs, could not look like a man in a suit, and glided across the stage like the Georgian State Dancers. Go Raymond Cusick!
***
Still, I sometimes wonder what (unavailable) Ridley Scott's Daleks would have looked like...)
Next episode: The Survivors
(* not to be confused with Space Jam)
1 comment:
Yeah! A new entry!
Historically speaking, I love that the Darleks were introduced so soon into the Dr. Who show. Those things have creeped me out for 25 years.
I saw the Hartnel series long after meeting the Darleks, I loved what to me then was their backstory.
I remember that while I had kind of feared them as a child, it was these episodes that made them revolting. (I also have a vague memory of revolting involving a coat, a gooey blob, and someone hidden inside a Darlek shell-good times ahead)
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