Day 39: A Change of Identity

Given that the first series of Doctor Who lasts for around 40 weeks, and that that means that the cast have to work pretty much non-stop for 40 weeks, it is not unreasonable to suggest that the cast members might get a holiday once in a while. William Hartnell, the Doctor, got one in The Keys of Marinus, Jacqueline Hill, Barbara, got one in The Sensorites and Carole Ann Ford, Susan, got one in The Aztecs. This time, it's the turn of William Russell who plays Ian to get a holiday. And what's interesting about this is that Ian still plays a part in the episode, despite not being entirely present, as he filmed his scenes in advance, without most of the other cast members. And this shows that even a year into the the series, Ian is still the main protagonist, despite his name not being in the title of the show, he is still the traditional action hero, and he is the one that the kids can look up to. The Doctor, whilst he has evolved into more or less the Doctor that we will see for the rest of Hartnell's tenure, is not quite the hero yet. And as we stand on the last day of 2013, looking ahead to the next year, so we look ahead too, to how the Doctor becomes a hero for all ages.

Day 38: Guests of Madame Guillotine

It is nice to see how var these characters have come in their travels. In this episode, Barbara and Susan are captured and put in a gaol cell. Barbara casually remarks about being captured by the cavemen in the first serial, but in this case it's remarkably different. There, Barbara was having a nervous breakdown, unable to cope with being out of her time period, and it was up to the other travellers, mainly Ian, to get them out of their predicament. Here, she's busy formulating an escape plan, and taking charge of the situation, as if being captured by revolutionary Frenchmen was just another Monday for her, which given all she's been through, is not too far from the truth. Susan on the other hand, is reduced to a gibbering wreck, crying about rats, and how they'll never get out of the cell, and they'll be killed. It's truly disappointing to see this happen, because Susan was so well written in the last serial, and to see hew reduced to this is showing that maybe it is time that we moved on from her character.

Day 37: A Land of Fear

The TARDIS has now landed in a different place, and so we begin a new adventure. It's quite interesting, particularly in these modern times with faster pacing, to see how long it is before the TARDIS crew actually finds out where/when they are, indeed it's about a third of the way through the episode before they learn that they are in France and halfway before the figure out that they're in the middle of the French Revolution. This is nice to see because it allows for a sense of discovery, as to where you are. One of the things that should be noted about this is that the audience finds out these things at the same time as the characters, and so we are able to bond with the crew as they discover, and learn about their surroundings.

Another thing that's interesting is how quickly people start to be killed off. The TARDIS crew soon finds some Royalists who, whilst being a little bit untrustworthy, would appear to be the allies for the rest of the story. And 5 minutes before the episode ends, they're both killed off. And this helps to show the horrors of the French Revolution, where anyone can die at any time. This truly is a Reign of Terror.

Day 36: A Desperate Venture

One of the plot threads that has driven this story has been the poisoning of the water of the Sensorites, and this story features the realisation of it. It has in fact been done by a group of humans, who were driven mad and went to war with the Sensorites, without the Sensorites actually realising that they were at war with them, and thus they kept on being poisoned without any idea why. The thing that is most noticeable when we first meet these men is that their leader has a very strong upper-class accent, bringing to mind the days of Empire, when we went out and taught the natives a thing or two, had a few minor wars, and at the end of it all, gained a country for the commonwealth. And that is one of the most interesting things about this story, that at the end of the day, we're the bad guys. There is an attempt at hand-waving away the reasoning for this by saying that their minds were warped, but there is no denying that the intention is still there. There exists a concept known as 'race memory' where subconsciously you are able to remember key memories, ideas and thoughts from your ancestors, as part of some hypothetical 'collective unconscious'. And so these concepts of Empire are still, according to this thinking, a part of us, and there is still the concept that it may cone back. It's a horrible thought and one of the reasons why interstellar travel and meeting other races may be a bad idea, because how long will it be before The Empire Strikes Back?

Day 35: Kidnap

One of the lovely things about Doctor Who is its tendency to reuse actors that they got on with at the time. Such is the case (presumably, I'm not familiar with the making of the story), with Stephen Dartnell, who plays John, the terrified spaceman, in this story, but only a couple of weeks ago, played Yartek, leader of the alien Voord. It's nice to see his range, he is instantly believable in both roles and is actually quite powerful as John, a man who has had the mental capacity to stop being afraid turned off, thus he wanders around in a constant state of fear, always untrustworthy, and looking for support, but finding none. If there's one thing to recommend 'The Sensorites' for, it's his performance.

Fear is indeed a prevalent theme in this story, featuring mostly as a fear of outsiders, something that is instantly recognisable, even today, almost 50 years after this was first broadcast, with our fears of migrants coming over here, taking over the country and removing all sense of the way things used to be. And acting out of this sort of fear is seen to be a bad thing, especially when considering the City Administrator of the Sensorite race, who is so untrusting and afraid of the outsiders that he conspires to be rid of them and kills one of the Sensorites who is perhaps more open to them, half by accident, but also it turns into a way to get more power. And all of this is due to fear, death has now occurred and is a possibility to occur at any moment. We have no idea who will survive come the end of the story (indeed after the last adventure, we're not even guaranteed a happy ending), and so we're drawn to watch the programme again. Out of fear, mostly.

Day 34: A Race Against Death

The 'monsters' for this serial are the Sensorites, and they're a curious beast. On the one hand, they represent the first time that we see proper 'aliens' in Doctor Who, all of the other villains have just been presumably people who look extremely like humans who are for the purposes of this story inhabiting a suit. Their design is quite nice, and whilst with our 21st century high quality decices where we can see every tiny little join in their costumes, to someone in the 1960s, they must have looked quite impressive. They're telepathic as well, which is a nice concept to have, however they are all quite stupid. Some of them are quick to jump to conclusions and shun outsiders like the plague, others when faced with an actual plague, have no idea how it came about, and no idea how to solve it. It should be noted that when the Doctor does find the cure for the plague, it's not with the sonic screwdriver, it's with the scientific method. It's a shame that they are so flawed, and we'll have a look at some more of their flaws later, because they, much like the Daleks, are unlike anything we have seen before.

Day 33: Hidden Danger

One of the remarkable things about this episode is how well written Susan is. The cliff-hanger to the last instalment is Susan agreeing to go down to the alien planet with the Sensorites, this week's menace, essentially as a willing hostage, her doing this as a sign of trust. The major problem with this is that no-one actually likes this idea, and so they fight to go against it. It's interesting that this is done, because previously Susan has done not much more besides scream and wait for Ian, Barbara or the Doctor to sort things out. Thus, when she actually does do things by herself, I find myself on her side, as she moves towards peace with these creatures. The Doctor disagrees, claiming that her actions are rash, and that she should not do such a thing without knowing that they are to be trusted, however she does not think this and believes that in order to gain trust, you must have a degree of faith in the other party. It'd the first time that Susan and the Doctor, her grandfather, have had an argument but it's commented that this is probably just her growing up. Not just physically as the character gets older, but mentally as well, as her character develops before our very eyes.