Day 32: The Unwilling Warriors

The original aim of the programme Doctor Who was to educate and entertain. This was held up for about two minutes until it was realised that entertainment is far more interesting for kids than education. It's a fact that's gleefully mentioned in one of this episode's laugh out loud moments when Ian goes to explain spectroscopy to Susan, who offhandedly remarks that she actually does know this already, and so the lesson is stopped. It's funny because it shows the inner silliness in having the educational aspect, in that the child who should be taught things is actually smarter than her teachers, and her teachers already know the things that would be relevant for school curriculums so there is often no need to explain things, except for the other-worldly business that they often come across. And yet, the episode also is able to throw in little facts here and there, to keep you learning, such as the uses for Molybdenum, and how cats can see better in the dark than we humans. This is most likely due to Peter R Newman, the writer, sticking to the original concepts of the programme, showing us that the ideas that went into at first still can work, it's just that the show moved on from its original remit to move towards entertain and terrify.