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Hmmm. I never know what icon to use for these reviews. I need one of those with lots of Doctors on. Or a generic 'Classic Who' one, or something! :-)
The serial starts with a few scenes inside the TARDIS, and they've obviously played around a bit with the set because while the console is still there in the middle, on the right there's a desk area and a food machine, and on the left a sort of engineering/monitoring area behind a perspex window. Presumably the doors at this point were supposed to be where the audience were!
(Note: the set changes again in the final scene, where it becomes just two blocks of TARDIS wall behind the console – presumably either because they were short of time in setting it, or because it needed to be like that for the next serial, which follows immediately.)
Also, wow, we see not only the companions but the Doctor as well actually *eating*!!! Space-type food - it looks like tofu in a packet but it apparently tastes like bacon and eggs! (And again, at the end, the Doctor says, "Come on, I'm hungry!" Wow!!!)
There's still lots of lovely posturing between the two males! Ian Chesterton is definitely giving the Doctor a run for his money in the fight for leadership. Also, the Doctor is very much himself already - he pretends he needs some mercury to make the TARDIS go so they have to let him explore the city, when in fact the TARDIS would have worked perfectly well!
The history of the Daleks obviously suffered a bit of a revision later - in this serial, they came about because there was a big war on the planet and a neutron bomb and the two races survived the best they could - the Daleks' armour was to protect them from radiation. Also, they were called the Dals before rather than Kaleds, and of course there's no mention of Davros creating them. However, the planet is called Skaro.
Interesting characterisation of the two 'tribes' - the Daleks had been peaceful philosophers and the Thals warriors, but after the bomb, the Thals turned to farming to survive and the Daleks became warriors. Which is quite thoughtful, really.
There's lovely humour and playfulness amongst the Thals, and actually several of them develop pretty interesting characters. (Though there's also the annoying one who's all scared in the expedition and wants to keep turning back, but who sacrifices himself in the end to save everyone else.) Also, several of them are rather gorgeous! :-)
Amazingly, barely two episodes after we meet the Daleks for the first time, we have the Doctor and Ian opening a Dalek up, scooping up whatever's inside in a cloak (so we don't see it, though there is a hint of tentacle) and Ian climbing into the shell and pretending to be a Dalek! Bet he had fun!
Then Ian gets some great chances to show off his manliness in an expedition across a swamp and through some caves, complete with falling down holes (not Ian), edging along narrow ledges, and leaping across a chasm. It's all done with very cheap 1960s BBC sets, and it's actually really gripping, exciting stuff! A testament to what good actors can do. Ian manages incredibly well for a quiet teacher type. Barbara does pretty well too. I'm coming to like her more and more.
There's actually relatively little of the Doctor and Susan in these couple of episodes, because they're with the other half of the expedition, whose journey isn't so exciting. They do get captured by the Daleks, though. (Again. The whole team got captured in the second episode.) Mind you, I still want to know how the Daleks got them all chained up when they don't have hands to do it with. Though they make quite inventive use of the plunger in other scenes – to carry trays and to suck pieces of paper to. According to the documentary on the DVD, they were originally going to be claw-type things, but the budget ran out so they went with plungers and history was made.
There's a fun little fight scene with the Daleks. These are not the Daleks of New Who, whom bullets just bounce off. Here they are fought by people who don't have any weapons above clubs and sticks, but those people win by jumping on them and clinging to them, bashing them with rocks etc. etc. Ah, the good old days. :-)
Other stuff: Susan gets a little crush on the Thal leader, and Barbara definitely has a thing going with his brother. In fact, when they have to say goodbye at the end, he seizes her hand and kisses it rather passionately, and she gives him a very decent peck on the lips!!!
Aaaaand… that's all I can think of right now. I've still got three commentaries to watch, so there may be a few more notes later!
Anyway, in summary, I really, really enjoyed this serial. It's well-written, well-acted and a great story!
The serial starts with a few scenes inside the TARDIS, and they've obviously played around a bit with the set because while the console is still there in the middle, on the right there's a desk area and a food machine, and on the left a sort of engineering/monitoring area behind a perspex window. Presumably the doors at this point were supposed to be where the audience were!
(Note: the set changes again in the final scene, where it becomes just two blocks of TARDIS wall behind the console – presumably either because they were short of time in setting it, or because it needed to be like that for the next serial, which follows immediately.)
Also, wow, we see not only the companions but the Doctor as well actually *eating*!!! Space-type food - it looks like tofu in a packet but it apparently tastes like bacon and eggs! (And again, at the end, the Doctor says, "Come on, I'm hungry!" Wow!!!)
There's still lots of lovely posturing between the two males! Ian Chesterton is definitely giving the Doctor a run for his money in the fight for leadership. Also, the Doctor is very much himself already - he pretends he needs some mercury to make the TARDIS go so they have to let him explore the city, when in fact the TARDIS would have worked perfectly well!
The history of the Daleks obviously suffered a bit of a revision later - in this serial, they came about because there was a big war on the planet and a neutron bomb and the two races survived the best they could - the Daleks' armour was to protect them from radiation. Also, they were called the Dals before rather than Kaleds, and of course there's no mention of Davros creating them. However, the planet is called Skaro.
Interesting characterisation of the two 'tribes' - the Daleks had been peaceful philosophers and the Thals warriors, but after the bomb, the Thals turned to farming to survive and the Daleks became warriors. Which is quite thoughtful, really.
There's lovely humour and playfulness amongst the Thals, and actually several of them develop pretty interesting characters. (Though there's also the annoying one who's all scared in the expedition and wants to keep turning back, but who sacrifices himself in the end to save everyone else.) Also, several of them are rather gorgeous! :-)
Amazingly, barely two episodes after we meet the Daleks for the first time, we have the Doctor and Ian opening a Dalek up, scooping up whatever's inside in a cloak (so we don't see it, though there is a hint of tentacle) and Ian climbing into the shell and pretending to be a Dalek! Bet he had fun!
Then Ian gets some great chances to show off his manliness in an expedition across a swamp and through some caves, complete with falling down holes (not Ian), edging along narrow ledges, and leaping across a chasm. It's all done with very cheap 1960s BBC sets, and it's actually really gripping, exciting stuff! A testament to what good actors can do. Ian manages incredibly well for a quiet teacher type. Barbara does pretty well too. I'm coming to like her more and more.
There's actually relatively little of the Doctor and Susan in these couple of episodes, because they're with the other half of the expedition, whose journey isn't so exciting. They do get captured by the Daleks, though. (Again. The whole team got captured in the second episode.) Mind you, I still want to know how the Daleks got them all chained up when they don't have hands to do it with. Though they make quite inventive use of the plunger in other scenes – to carry trays and to suck pieces of paper to. According to the documentary on the DVD, they were originally going to be claw-type things, but the budget ran out so they went with plungers and history was made.
There's a fun little fight scene with the Daleks. These are not the Daleks of New Who, whom bullets just bounce off. Here they are fought by people who don't have any weapons above clubs and sticks, but those people win by jumping on them and clinging to them, bashing them with rocks etc. etc. Ah, the good old days. :-)
Other stuff: Susan gets a little crush on the Thal leader, and Barbara definitely has a thing going with his brother. In fact, when they have to say goodbye at the end, he seizes her hand and kisses it rather passionately, and she gives him a very decent peck on the lips!!!
Aaaaand… that's all I can think of right now. I've still got three commentaries to watch, so there may be a few more notes later!
Anyway, in summary, I really, really enjoyed this serial. It's well-written, well-acted and a great story!