Day 9: The Expeditition

This episode has two incredibly interesting things to note. Firstly, the plan of the Daleks, which has varying degrees of evilness. After we see, in a very effective scene, a Dalek react to the anti radiation drug as if it were another sort of drug altogether, the Daleks realise that radiation is imperative to their survival, and thus to increase their chances of survival, they must activate a neutron bomb to unleash radiation, and thus give them the advantage in the survival of the fittest. It's odd, then, that their major plan in their first episode is not one of exterminating all that is unlike them, or trying to take over the universe, but instead it's a simple case of trying to survive, and it would make for an interesting moral dilemna, had it not already been established that these are evil, heartless creatures that want to destroy everything, even pacifists.

Speaking of pacifists and moral dilemnas, we get an interesting one here as the Doctor and his companions must convince the Thals to fight the Daleks, however they are opposed to fighting, on the grounds that it did horrible things to their culture. Ian convinces them to fight by showing them something worth fighting for, the other members of their race, who they would be consigning to die. It's an interesting concept, and one that is particularly interesting considering that this was written in the 1960s, when conscientious objectors for various wars were still remembered, and feathers were sent out by the dozen to show people's cowardice. We should therefore give Terry Nation credit, for actually showing that maybe this pacifism thing actually does have a point, but as was said in the previous episode, pacifism only works when everyone is a pacifist. It's an ideal to strive for, and one that probably most people want to happen, it's just seen as unrealistic. But all of that said, it's just a bit pro-war, and it feels at times that, whilst they are showing both viewpoints in reasonably flattering ways, there is still a clear victor, on the side of violence to protect your people. Flashing forward to about a year when we cover Planet Of The Daleks (mostly because I'll possibly forget this when we come to it, so let's just get it out of the way now), and the Doctor ends it by saying that war, whilst it may seem like it's fun, isn't actually, and that people die. It's not a glorious moment to be celebrated, it's an inevitable and depressing necessity of life. Which is nice to note, that Terry Nation still shows both sides to the war argument, and that he's still willing to tell both sides of the story. Unless of course it's trying to get us to sympathise with the Dalek cause, which would probably not be in the best interests of anyone.