123 The War Machines: Episode One

EPISODE: The War Machines: Episode One
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 123
STORY NUMBER: 027
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 25 June 1966
WRITER: Ian Stuart Black & Kit Pedler
DIRECTOR: Michael Ferguson
SCRIPT EDITOR: Gerry Davis
PRODUCER: Innes Lloyd
RATINGS: 5.4 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who: The War Machines

"DOCTOR WHO IS REQUIRED - BRING HIM HERE!"

We're back on DVD! When I started writing this Blog there were two Hartnell stories I was really looking forward to doing. This is the first of them.

The Tardis lands in Bedford Square in Central London with the Doctor hanging an "Out of Order" sign on the door to prevent Policemen trying to gain entry. The Doctor & Dodo go to The Post Office Tower where the Doctor feels an alien presence, which he describes as similar to the pricking sensation he gets when Daleks are near. The Doctor & Dodo are taken to Professor Brett by Major Green and are shown Brett's new computer WOTAN which will be announced at a press conference later that day. The Doctor & Dodo test WOTAN, who tells Dodo via teleprinter what the word TARDIS means. While in the room with WOTAN Dodo starts to feel a little odd and can hear an odd electronic buzzing noise. Brett's secretary Polly looks after her and takes her to the Inferno nightclub. Bar lady Kitty introduces Polly to sailor Ben Jackson. He's miserable because his hip has sailed for the West Indies leaving him behind on a shore posting. Ben saves Polly from a man in the club giving her hustle. Doctor takes a taxi to the Scientific club for the press conference announcing C-day, when all computers will be linked to WOTAN via telephone. The Doctor is worried by some of the things he's hearing. Sir Charles Summer, giving the press conference, is concerned that Professor Brett has not arrived. He is still in the office at the Post Office Tower with WOTAN. Brett tells Major Green that he thinks he's being watched. When Green leaves Brett hears a hypnotic electric tone and falls under the control of an unseen force. In the club Dodo has headache again and feels she can hear a high pitched hum. Brett arrives at the Press conference speaking very stiffly and demands to speak with his colleague Professor Krimpton. Green, checking on the security for WOTAN, hears the same hypnotic tone and falls under the same influence as Brett. He calls Dodo at the Inferno Club and she too is hypnotised. Brett brings Krimpton to WOTAN who explains that he now serves WOTAN who is going to take over the world. Green enters and Krimpton, after resisting, falls under the influence revealed to be coming from WOTAN. Ben & Polly realise Dodo is missing as the Doctor arrives at the Nightclub. Brett explains a special human brain is needed to serve WOTAN. Dodo enters and WOTAN explains that DOCTOR WHO IS REQUIRED - BRING HIM HERE!

Wow. That was fantastic stuff.

We've spent three years worth of episodes wandering time and the universe with the Doctor and finally, as we near the end of the Hartnell era, do we come back to the London of now for a prolonged visit. We've had one story set in contemporary England, but the Tardis crew were miniaturised for that, and a couple of brief visits during The Dalek Masterplan & The Massacre. We've dealt with a menace in London before, but that was two hundred years into the future. Here in 1960's London, the Doctor slots straight in, making you wonder if he spent some time meeting people during his previous stay in 1963, prior to An Unearthly Child, and also making you think how long was he here for then? Certainly long enough to register his Granddaughter at the local school.

Yet it looks so odd and alien to see Hartnell wandering round London, very much emphasised by the scene where he enters the Inferno Club, with him descending the stairs be-caped, while everyone else in the club looks about a third of Hartnell's age.

The Doctor is then mistaken for "that disc jockey", presumably Jimmy Savile!

Straight from the off this story is a bit different. Instead of the usual captions over the pictures we've got some groovy computer like serial name graphics after the titles.

Then we're straight into the largest location shoot the series has attempted so far starting with a lovely tracking shot of London, taken from the top of Centre Point Tower in central London located over Tottenham Court Road Tube station. If you're a science fiction fan you'll have been there because most of London's comic and science fiction book shops are located in it's vicinity. The tracking shot's a great little touch as it's reminiscent of the shot used in An Unearthly Child when the Tardis leaves London. We start looking east, down High Holborn and pan clockwiswe over the British Museum to finally pan down to Bedford Square where the Tardis materialises.

I had great problems with the above screen captures: I wanted to put the High Holborn shot on the left, because you saw it first. Yet the pan shot is too the left so I had to swap them so they made geographical sense!

We then see the Doctor walking down Conway Street where he catches sight of The Post Office Tower, like Centerpoint newly completed in 1966 when this story is filmed & set. The Post Office Tower is the one location they would like to have filmed at for this story and couldn't: at the time it came under the auspices of the Official Secrets Act which prevented filming there.

DOCTOR: So that's it!
DODO: What? Oh, the tower. It's finished!
DOCTOR: Isn't that interesting. Very interesting.
DODO: It's great, isn't it. Stephen would have liked it here.
DOCTOR: You know there's something alien about that tower. I can sense it.
DODO: Smells okay to me. Good old London smoke.
DOCTOR: I can feel it's got something sort of powerful. It's. Look at my skin. Look at that. I've got that pricking sensation again, the same. Just as I had when I saw the Daleks, those Daleks were near.

So how come he's never mentioned the prickling sensation when the Daleks are near before ????

Actually it might not be the Post Office Tower causing this. As we'll learn in a year's time there is an occasional Dalek presence in London at this time!

DODO: Daleks? Who are they?
DOCTOR: Oh, er, yes, of course, you, er, you didn't meet them, did you, child? No. No, and I pray that you never will. I really must investigate it.

Almost a tiny bit of foreshadowing there! Dodo leaves this story and becomes the first Doctor Who companion NOT to meet the Daleks. The others who don't are Zoe, Liz Shaw, Leela, K-9, Romana 1, Adric, Nyssa and Mel.

Once we get to the tower the Doctor & Dodo are taken to Professor Brett by Major Green

GREEN: Professor Brett.
BRETT: Ah, Doctor! I understand from Major Green you're a specialist in computer development.

So three options here: The first is The Doctor has just bluffed his way past Major Green who is either providing security or being some sort of government liaison. It's not clear which but either role should have prevented a stranger turning up on the doorstep and demanding access to a project like this! Another is that The Doctor has some sort of scientific credentials in this era that would allow Green to let him past. Possible, but Brett hasn't previously heard of him and neither, bar the introduction he receives from Brett, has Sir Charles. The third, and most intriguing, option is that the Doctor has met Major Green before and is trusted by him. So what was the Doctor getting up to in London in 1963?

It's in the Post Office tower that we meet the computer which will form the heart of this story's problem and a young lady destined to be one of the Doctor's next companions:

BRETT: Look, this is my secretary, Polly.
DODO: Hello, Polly.
POLLY: How do you do.
BRETT: Now Polly's pretty smart, a cracking typist, right? (Polly pulls a face) Also rather a cheeky one at times. Well now this machine, which I call WOTAN.
DOCTOR: You call what?
BRETT: "Vo tan." Spelt W O T A N. Will Operating Thought ANalogue.
DOCTOR: Oh, yes, yes, quite so.
BRETT: Well now, WOTAN can not only think faster than Polly or myself, it can also type faster.
DODO: True?
POLLY: Afraid so, and it never makes mistakes, wretched thing!
DOCTOR: Are you seriously telling me, sir, that you have invented a machine that can think?
BRETT: Yes.
DOCTOR: And never makes mistakes?
BRETT: Never.

Of course it then promptly makes a mistake:

DOCTOR: I take it that I speak into here.
BRETT: Yes, that's right, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Er, what is the square route of 17422?
BRETT: Correct?
DOCTOR: One moment please. 131 point 993. Yes, that's near enough. Yes, it's truly remarkable.

The square route of 17422 is 131.9924 to four decimal places. Rounding up to 3, as the number is given by WOTAN, would give 131.992!

DODO: May I try it now?
BRETT: Certainly, go ahead.
DODO: Now let's see, you funny looking contraption. Here's one you'll never get. What does the word Tardis mean? Doctor?
DOCTOR: Well, what did it say my dear?
DODO: Got it right. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space.
DOCTOR: Good heavens! Let me see. Well now, how would it know that?

Can of worms, open. When Susan defined the acronym TARDIS in An Unearthly Child it stood for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Dimension singular. From here on it's almost always plural!

The walk to the Post Office Tower has obviously tired the Doctor out because he takes a cab back to Bedford Square, where the Tardis landed, to attend the conference at The Royal Scientific club.

If you look on Doctor Who: The War Machines DVD there's an excellent Then & Now feature on the locations in this story! DoctorWhoLocations.net also has a good pictorial guide.

SUMMER: Gentleman, ladies, may I have your attention please? Well, you're heard the backroom boys, now it's about time you my turn. C Day, that is Computer Day, will be next Monday, July the 16th, that is in four days time. Now on that date all the computer systems in this country, and subsequently in the whole world will come under the control of this central computer which we call WOTAN. Now, as you've heard, that will have both peaceful and military implications. I need hardly tell you that this is a great step forward for Britain, and indeed I may say, for the whole world. Now, have you got any questions?
STONE: Roy Stone, New York Sketch.
SUMMER: Fire away.
STONE: Sir, doesn't this put a great deal of power into the hands of whoever operates WOTAN?
SUMMER: No one operates WOTAN. WOTAN operates itself. The computer is merely a brain which thinks logically without any political or private ends. It is pure thought. It makes calculations, it supplies only the truth. It has no imaginative powers.
STONE: Is there no way of fixing it so it can give the wrong answers?
SUMMER: There would be no point. Now don't forget that a computer like WOTAN is not a human being.
STONE: Oh, but surely, sir
SUMMER: It has no reason to suppress the truth, it has no emotions. It is our soul.
STONE: It seems to me by the way you're talking, sir, that this machine can think for itself like a human being.
SUMMER: It can. Only much more accurately.
STONE: But sir, I mean, isn't this kinda risky? I mean, suppose it decides it can do without people, what then?
SUMMER: I hardly think it'll come to that. I'm sure that Professor Brett and his team will have the machine well under control.

I've repeatedly said that producer Innes Lloyd and script editor Gerry Davis were saddled with several stories which began life under the previous regime. This is the first story 100% down to them. An early decision was to set more stories on contemporary Earth. Wanting to ground the series more in reality and scientific fact they tried to recruit a scientific advisor for the show. The man they settled on was Doctor Christopher "Kit" Peddler. A medical doctor by training Pedler had become interested in the eye and was at this point was the head of the electron microscopy department at the Institute of Ophthalmology of the University of London. He'd appeared on Tomorrow's World and as a result had become a "go to" for scientific opinion. For more on Pedler read Michael Seeley's superb The Quest for Pedler.

Amoung the questions Davies asked his candidates was "What would happen if the Post Office Tower took over?", the Tower being newly completed and in the news. Peddler came up with the idea of the computer in the tower controlling Robotic agents, and the concept of it being linked to other computers by Telephone. Wiklipedia's History of the Internet confirms work was in progress at the time into connecting computers by telephone making this aspect of the story reflect contemporary cutting edge research and predating the Green Death's Boss by seven years and the Terminator's Skynet by eighteen years. At the time of writing no computer connected to the internet has yet attempted to take over the world.

But while the Doctor is at the news conference we're busy meeting the Doctor's other forthcoming companion, able seaman Ben Jackson. I like the idea that this isn't the first time he and Polly have met and that he took a shine to her on a previous visit to the Inferno and has been lurking there since in the hope of meeting her again.

It's while she's in the Inferno that Dodo receives the phone call that completes her take over by WOTAN. Unlike Brett, Green & Krimpton we don't get to hear Eric Siday's Musique Electronique: Hypnotic when she's possessed.

We know that something's wrong with WOTAN but threat isn't made 100% obvious till the closing moments of the episode when WOTAN speaks for the first time giving some suspense to proceedings.

BRETT: There is one special human brain that WOTAN needs. The task of leading this brain here to serve WOTAN will be an extremely delicate matter. It has been arranged.
GREEN: Someone is coming.
BRETT: The fourth member called here to receive orders.
BRETT: The Doctor's secretary.

DODO: What are my instructions?
WOTAN: Doctor Who is required. Bring him here.

One of the other things this story has that sets it apart is the shear number of people who are in it: In addition to the regular cast, both existing and new, over 70 individuals appear onscreen, some in more than one role, and there's a large number of extras in episodes 1, 3 & 4! So it makes sense to look at the main cast and the new companions during episode 2.

There's a couple of cast credited members only in this episode. One of them is a first Doctor Who appearance for Ric Felgate who's credited as American Journalist but named as Roy Stone of the New York Sketch. He returns as Brent in The Seeds of Death Episodes One to Four and The Ambassadors of Death where he plays both Astronaut Van Lyden and his alien counterpart. All three of his Doctor Who appearances were directed by Michael Ferguson who is directing his first story here. Ric Felgate was married to Cynthia Felgate one of the creative forces behind Play School. Fergusson went on to be a producer on both The Bill, at the height of it's popularity, and Eastenders, where he was responsible for introducing the Mitchell brothers to the show.

On the right is the only other member of the press corps with a speaking role so I'm assuming that's John Doye as the Interviewer. He was an uncredited cowboy in Don't Shoot the Pianist, Johnny Ringo & The O.K. Corral, the second, third and fourth episodes of The Gunfighters. To his left is Sam Mansary, an uncredited Journalist. He was an Alien Delegate in Mission to the Unknown and m'learned colleagues are reasonably certain that that delegate is Beaus. He'll be back as an uncredited African Diplomat in Day of the Daleks: Episode Four. Mansary was in one of the earliest pieces of television science fiction when he appeared in the A for Andromeda episode The Murderer as Fitter and he later appears in Kit Pedler & Gerry Davies' creation Doomwatch as a Man the episode Public Enemy. Amongst the rest of the journalists we have Jack Rowlands, also down on IMDB as Interviewer, who was an extra in The Myth Makers episode 2: Small Prophet, Quick Return and Graham Tonbridge who was in The Massacre episode 3: Priest of Death as a Council Member. The Massacre also had a large number of extras and you'll see episodes of that keep popping up on supporting artist's resumes in this story!

Meanwhile amongst the hip young things boogying the night away in The Inferno Club we have Alan Norburn was previously a Guardian in The Ark 3 & 4, The Return and The Bomb, as was Victor Munt who'll return as a UNIT Soldier in Doctor Who and the Silurians: Episode 3. He's got a Adam Adamant Lives! to his name as a Partygoer/Tourist in Death Has a Thousand Faces and a Doomwatch as a Man in In the Dark. Barry Noble, another Inferno Customer, was an Egyptian Warrior in Dalek Masterplan 9: Escape Switch, a Parisian Man in The Massacre 3: Priest of Death and will return as a Cyberman in The Moonbase episode 4. Also previously participating in the same The Massacre episode are Nigel James, who was a guard, and Peter Stewart a Parisian in Rue des Fosses St. Germain who here plays the Policeman who approaches the Tardis!

Amongst the Inferno customers with no other Doctor Who appearances we find Tina Simmons, who's got a woman in Doomwatch: By the Pricking of My Thumbs... on her CV and Valerie Shelton, a Person in Beauty Salon in Adam Adamant Lives!: The Resurrectionists. Chris Reck MIGHT be an Inferno Customer or "Man in News Room" according to IMDB. Does that mean a journalist at the press conference or is IMDB confusing his appearance in episode 4 as a Reporter? He was also in Adam Adamant Lives!: Death Has a Thousand Faces as another Partygoer/Tourist. Finally George Wilder, who can be seen in the back of some scenes as Kennedy, Sir Charles Summers chauffeur, was in Quatermass and the Pit: The Wild Hunt as a Civil Servant. It's worth pointing this out because, as Evil of the Daleks will show us, at the very same time another man named Kennedy is under instructions to steal the Tardis!

122 The Savages: Episode Four

EPISODE: The Savages: Episode Four
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 122
STORY NUMBER: 026
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 18 June 1966
WRITER: Ian Stuart Black
DIRECTOR: Christopher Barry
SCRIPT EDITOR: Gerry Davis
PRODUCER: Innes Lloyd
RATINGS: 4.5 million viewers
FORMAT: CD: Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Collection: No. 2
TELESNAPS: The Savages: Episode Four

" I am going to destroy the power that they hold over you!"

The Doctor, Steven & Dodo are trapped in the gas filled corridor by the guards who demand the light guns back. Jano observes from the control room. A door opens allowing them to escape. Edal believes Jano has freed them.

Jano decides to lead the patrol pursuing them. Chal finds the travellers and helps Dodo & the Doctor to safety in the caves while Steven stays behind to hold the guards off and engages Edal & Jano with the light gun. Back at the caves Tor wishes to kill Exorse but Nanina defends him as Chal, the Doctor and Dodo arrive, followed by Steven who is pursued by the guards. Given a clear shot Jano refuses to take it. The give the Doctor the medicine they gave the Savage earlier, and he tells them not to harm Jano. The Doctor vows to destroy the Elders' laboratory and equipment. Edal returns to the city and tells Senta that Jano has been left behind and they think he has betrayed them. Jano enters the caves and speaks to the Doctor. The Doctor explains that he has acquired a conscience due to his exposure to the Doctor's life force. Exorse escapes the caves and runs towards the city but Nanina runs after him to persuade him not to give them up. Senta reveals what Jano has done and Edal assumes command. Exorse arrives back at the city but denies having seen Jano. The Savages and Time Travellers arrive at the city seemingly herded by Jano. Jano is angry to find his place usurped and has Edal arrested. Jano and the Savages destroy the transference equipment.

Edal enters with guards, attempts to kill Jano but is shot down with Steven. Jano and Chal realise they need a new leader to mediate between them: they ask Steven to stay and fill this role and he accepts bidding farewell to Dodo and the Doctor. The Doctor tells Steven how proud of him he is, as he leaves for the Elders council chamber and The Doctor & Dodo for the Tardis.

The story takes an interesting turn this episode: Jano appears genuinely changed by absorbing the Doctor's life force and it's the leader of the elders that drives this episode and leads the destruction of the equipment that has enabled the elders to dominate the savages. In the aftermath it's Jano who recognises a change in leadership is needed:

JANO: This is only the beginning, Chal. After this destruction, our people must learn to build a world that they can both live in.
CHAL: And both sides must learn to trust each other.
JANO: We may need a new leader. Somebody who can unite us.

DOCTOR: Jano, since you have destroyed the power you held over Chal and his people, you realise now of course, you've got to learn to live together.
JANO: Yes, but the fear and hatred of the past will only die slowly. We need someone like yourself as a mediator until we have become one people.
DOCTOR: I see. But in my case I'm afraid that is utterly impossible.
JANO: The man we need must inspire trust. His judgements must come from his heart, even more than his head.
CHAL: Here is the leader we want, Jano.
JANO: This is what I thought.
STEVEN: Just a minute. I couldn't.
DOCTOR: A great honour, dear boy.
STEVEN: But I can't walk out on you and Dodo!
DOCTOR: Just think of the challenge to be able to set up the people of this planet for a new life. You're quite ready for this task.
STEVEN: You think I can do it?
DOCTOR: Yes, I do. And you're the only man who can, my boy.
STEVEN: Has the offer come from both sides?
CHAL: You would give us new hope. Our people will become great again. We will learn to live as equals without bitterness.
STEVEN: What about Tor?
TOR: I should accept your decisions.
STEVEN: Very well. I will stay.

Offering the leadership to Steven comes a bit out of left field. I suppose he did strike the crucial blow in the previous episode by obtaining the light gun. He also showed mercy for Exorse, preventing Tor from killing him so has done things that would earn him credit from both sides here. But up until this point he's very much taken a back seat in this episode.

Dodo is upset to see him go. Steven has travelled with the Doctor for longer than anyone, bar his initial set of companions, and Steven leaving is severing his last link to Ian and Barbara who encountered Steven in the episode where they departed:

DODO: Oh, Steven.
STEVEN: I shall miss you both, Dodo.
DODO: I shall miss you.
JANO: Doctor, for many light years we looked forward to your arrival on this planet. We always knew of your wisdom, but we never dreamed of the miracle that it would bring us.
DOCTOR: Thank you, Jano. And if ever you need the benefit of my wisdom again, I trust and hope you will allow me to express myself with my own free will, rather than place me in an oven, and try and cook it out of me.
JANO: Come, Chal, we must summon our people. There is much work to be done. We shall await you in our Council Chamber.
DOCTOR: Well, I must say, young man, I'm very proud of you.
STEVEN: Doctor, I don't know if I
DOCTOR: I know, I know, my boy. Well, go on, you mustn't keep them waiting.
STEVEN: Goodbye, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Goodbye, Steven, and good luck.

DODO: Doctor, do you think we'll ever see him again?
DOCTOR: Well, who knows, my dear. In this strange complex of time and space, anything can happen. Come along, little one. We must go. We mustn't look back.

If the Savages is known for anything it is "The one where Steven leaves". But there's much more to it than that with the almost vampiric existence of the elders and something genuinely nasty happening to one of the regulars. With this and the climax of Dalek Masterplan you can see where the series gets it's reputation for being scary from. You kind of get the feeling as well that the Doctor almost knew what would happen to Jago before he drained the Doctor's life force. Good stuff.

Speaking of which this is the second time this season the Doctor has been subjected to a major trauma: he was exposed to the Time Destructor in Dalek Masterplan and then has his life force drained here. It's almost as if the program is setting up what is to come in a few stories time.

And yes, it is the last story with Steven, who is probably my favourite Hartnell companion. It was the production team's decision to get rid of him. There's very much the feeling that they're looking for a fresh approach as the entire main cast changes over this and the next three stories. As we've recounted earlier Peter Purves was unemployed for some while after leaving Doctor Who. He blamed his bad luck on holding onto the Trilogic game prop from The Celestial Toymaker. The week after he binned it, he got the Blue Peter gig which changed his life. With the production team having changed already this season this departure marks the start of significant changes in front of the camera.

This story marks another important last: It's the last alien planet the first Doctor is seen to visit. His three remaining stories are all set on Earth. Hartnell's been to (deep breath) Skaro, Marinus, The Sensesphere, Dodo, Vortis, Xeros, Aridus, Mechanus, Galaxy 4's unnamed planet, Kembel, (Stroud, Stonehouse, Gloucester, Cheltenham Spa.... sorry, I can't help giggling when I hear the planet name Kembel and I didn't get to use that joke when talking about Dalek Masterplan), Desperus, Mira, Tigus, Refusis 2, The Toymaker's Domain and finally the unnamed world of the Elders & Savages. The only planet other than Earth he's visited more than once is Kembel which he materialises on at the start of Masterplan, leaves and returns by Spaceship, leaves in the Tardis and then returns after several other stops. Bet you can't guess which is the first planet, other than Earth, that he visits in two separate stories? And which the first planet, other than Earth & Kembel, that the Tardis takes him to twice? (Yes the Tardis took him to The Ark twice in the same story but that's no planet) Oddly the first story in which the Tardis returns the Doctor to another planet is immediately followed by another story where he returns to another planet he's visited before. No prizes on offer but if you can identify the planets and stories in question reply bellow or on Facebook!

This episode does hold an unwanted distinction: it's the lowest rated episode of Doctor Who since the first. The 4.4 million viewers who watches an Unearthly Child was at this point still the lowest number of viewers the show had had, but the series had dipped under 5 million for the first time since then with the opening episode of this story, which was seen by 4.8 million people, and having recovered slightly in between this episode plunges further to 4.5 million people. Obviously this isn't the whole story: we're looking at a Saturday afternoon in June and who knows what was on the other side. But there's been a distinct decline in viewers this season from the 11.3 million viewers who saw Galaxy 4 Episode 3: Airlock and the 10.3 million who saw Daleks' Master Plan Episode 3: Devil's Planet:

The difference between Galaxy 4 Episode 3: Airlock' 11.3 million viewers and this episode's 4.5 million is 6.8 million which is the second highest of any season of Doctor Who. The biggest difference occurs in season 17, but there the highest viewing figures are artificially inflated by ITV being off air due to a strike!

1	The Daleks Episode 6: The Ordeal	10.4	An Unearthly Child Episode 1: An Unearthly Child	4.4	6
2	The Web Planet Episode 1: The Web Planet	13.5	The Time Meddler Episode 3: A Battle of Wits	7.7	5.8
3	Galaxy 4 Episode 3: Airlock	11.3	The Savages: Episode Four	4.5	6.8
4	The Moonbase: Episode Two	8.9	The Smugglers: Episode Three	4.2	4.7
5	The Wheel in Space: Episode Four	8.6	Fury from the Deep: Episode Five	5.9	2.7
6	The Krotons: Episode One	9	The War Games: Episode Eight	3.5	5.5
7	The Ambassadors of Death: Episode Four	9.3	Inferno: Episode Three	4.8	4.5
8	Colony in Space: Episode Three	9.5	The Mind of Evil: Episode One	6.1	3.4
9	The Curse of Peladon: Episode Two	11	The Time Monster: Episode Five	6	5
10	The Three Doctors: Episode Four	11.9	The Green Death: Episode Four	6.8	5.1
11	Invasion of the Dinosaurs: Part One	11	The Time Warrior: Part Three	6.6	4.4
12	The Ark in Space: Part Two	13.6	Revenge of the Cybermen: Part Two	8.3	5.3
13	The Android Invasion: Part Three	12.1	Terror of the Zygons: Part Two	6.1	6
14	The Robots of Death: Part Three	13.1	The Masque of Mandragora: Part One	8.3	4.8
15	Underworld: Part Four	11.7	Image of the Fendahl: Part One	6.7	5
16	The Power of Kroll: Part Two	12.4	The Power of Kroll: Part One	6.5	5.9
17	City of Death: Part Four	16.1	The Horns of Nimon: Part One	6	10.1
18	Warriors' Gate: Part Three	8.3	Full Circle: Part Two	3.7	4.6
19	Castrovalva: Part Four	10.5	Time-Flight: Part Four	8.3	2.2
20	Snakedance: Part Two	7.7	The King's Demons: Part One	5.8	1.9
21	Frontios: Part One	8	Frontios: Part Four	5.6	2.4
22	Attack of the Cybermen: Part One	8.9	The Two Doctors: Part Two	6	2.9
23	Trial a Timelord: Part Two	5.6	Trial a Timelord: Part Four	3.7	1.9
24	Dragonfire: Part One	5.5	Time and the Rani: Part Two	4.2	1.3
25	The Greatest Show in the Galaxy: Part Four	6.6	The Happiness Patrol: Part Two	4.6	2
26	Survival: Part One	5	Battlefield: Part One	3.1	1.9

The Savages was novelised for Target books by the author of it's screen version in 1986.

No episodes of The Savages currently exist in the BBC archives, though in recent years the possibility of a set surviving in Siera Leone, the last country to screen them, has been frequently mooted. While I don't think it will come top of any fan's "want returned to the BBC list", especially while there are Dalek & Cybermen episodes still AWOL, there is a certain something to this story and I'd love to have the opportunity to see it. A number of clips from this episode, and a couple from the previous episode wrongly identified as being from this, are in existence due to being recorded using an 8mm film camera. These include the Doctor in the caves, wrecking the transference machine and Steven's departure. You can see them on the Doctor Who - Lost In Time DVD. In addition a complete set of telesnaps exist as does the soundtrack which has been released individually (how much ????) and as part of Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Collection: (1965-1966) No. 2.

121 The Savages: Episode Three

EPISODE: The Savages: Episode Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 121
STORY NUMBER: 026
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 11 June 1966
WRITER: Ian Stuart Black
DIRECTOR: Christopher Barry
SCRIPT EDITOR: Gerry Davis
PRODUCER: Innes Lloyd
RATINGS: 5 million viewers
FORMAT: CD: Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Collection: No. 2
TELESNAPS: The Savages: Episode Three

"You can destroy the people of the city. They can destroy our enemies. The strangers must be gods!"

The Savages shelter Steven & Dodo in their caves. Jano proposes to absorb all the life force drained from the Doctor himself. Edal & Exorse follow them to the caves. Steven uses a mirror to reflect the ray from the light gun capturing Exorse. The drained unconscious Doctor is taken to the guest apartments as his energy is transferred to Jano. Tor attacks the captured Exorse but is stopped by Nanina. Chal takes Steven & Dodo to the city, where they overcome the guard and enter the city. Jano recovers after the process but seems to have taken on some of the Doctor's personality and mannerisms. Left alone he tries to destroy the transference equipment before Jano's true personality reasserts control. Steven & Dodo's progress is monitored by guard Edal & scientist Senta. They use the drained and disorientated Doctor to bait a trap. They find the Doctor but are trapped in a corridor and gassed.

Cracking episode that. Quiet episode for Hartnell though: he spends most of him brief time on screen lying down then when he does get up at the end he gets to play punch drunk! For the rest of the cast the episode is a bit more action orientated than the first two episodes with the pursuit through the caves and trying to enter the city but it's still chucking some decent ideas around that are worth thinking about.

CHAL: A patrol is coming this way.
TOR: I have warned you. they are looking for you.
DODO: Will they come here?
CHAL: Possibly.
STEVEN: Where can we go?
TOR: There is no place where you are safe.
CHAL: Be silent! You will be safe in the caves.
TOR: No, Chal! You cannot take them into the caves. The guards would follow and then our last refuge would be gone.
CHAL: They have helped us. We must help them.
TOR: No! They are not our people. They must not be allowed in the caves.
CHAL: I am the leader and I say they may go.
TOR: Very well. Our destruction will be on your hands.
CHAL: You will remain here. Come with me, quickly.

It's interesting that up until now Tor's role in proceedings has been a little vague. Now he becomes the one who puts the tribe's safety above helping those who've helped them and disagrees with his leader's decision.

TOR: Where are they now?
WYLDA: They've gone into the rock.
TOR: And the guard?
NANINA: He has followed. He showed him the way.
TOR: Chal should not have brought the strangers here. They will punish all of us.
NANINA: But the strangers helped us.
TOR: What good is that if they make the leaders angry?

Ironically Tor ends up getting captured and, under torture from Exorse's light gun gives away the location of the travellers.

But that in turn allows Steven to capture Tor and take his light gun which is effectively the turning point of the story

STEVEN: Right, tie him up. Make him a prisoner.
TOR: You can destroy the people of the city. They can destroy our enemies. The strangers must be gods.

Meanwhile Jano has decided what to do with the life force obtained from the Doctor:

JANO: And now I wish you to prepare for an in-transference.
SENTA: So soon?
JANO: The sooner the better.
SENTA: You've nominated a number of people to receive part of his life force?
JANO: No. There will be only one person.
SENTA: That's most unusual.
JANO: This is a most unusual experiment, Senta. It would not be right to jeopardise the safety of any other members of the city. I will take full responsibility.
SENTA: You're going to take the in-transference yourself?
JANO: Yes.
SENTA: But Jano, is that wise? Anything might happen. We've never seen the results of such an in-transference before.
JANO: It is for that reason that I will take the risk. I shall be ready when you need me.

Unfortunately the effects are not quite what Jano was hoping for....

SENTA: In-transference completed. Pressure restored. Are you all right, Jano? Jano!
SENTA: Jano?
SENTA: Are you all right, Jano?
SENTA: For a moment I was afraid that...
JANO: Hmm? What's all the fuss about? I'm quite all right. The trouble with you people on this planet is that you don't
SENTA: What do you mean, Jano? You belong to this planet. You're one of us.
JANO: One of? Yes, yes of course. I'm afraid I'm not quite myself.
SENTA: I understand. You must rest, Jano. I shall give instructions that you're not to be disturbed.
JANO: Hmm! An excellent idea. After an experience like that, one takes time to become adjusted. I suppose my two young friends
SENTA: Avon and Flower?
JANO: Good gracious, no, no, no. Steven and Dodo, the child with the ridiculous name.
SENTA: The strangers?
JANO: Oh, strangers to you, perhaps, but I have known them both for.... Yes, yes, of course. The strangers.
SENTA: I will leave you, Jano.
JANO: Hmm! So, I'm in this dreadful place, am I? Well, I'll soon do something about their equipment.
JANO: What's happened to me? What's happened to me?

Jano has in effect become The Doctor!

The lead guest star for this serial is a first Doctor Who appearance for Frederick Jaeger who plays Jano. His Hartnell impersonation here, when Jano has imbibed the Doctor's life force is superb! He'll return to Doctor Who twice in the Tom Baker years as Professor Sorenson in Planet of Evil and Professor Marius, K-9's creator, in The Invisible Enemy. Outside of Doctor Who he appears in Out of the Unknown episodes The Naked Sun as Leebig, which is reconstructed in Out of the Unknown DVD Set. He's also in an episode Doomwatch, which was co-created by Doctor Who's script editor Gerry Davis, appearing in Waiting for a Knighthood as Richard Massingham, one of only two surviving episodes from that show's third season and you can see that in The Doomwatch DVD set.

Oddly enough Jaeger isn't the only actor from this story to reappear in Planet of Evil. Ewen Solon who plays Chal, on the left bellow, is Vishinsky in the later tale. I can't find any production connection between the two shows that might involve the same actors being reused.

Tor, in the above right photo, is played by Patrick Godfrey who returns as Major Cosworth in The Mind of Evil: Episodes Five & Six. He too has a Doomwatch to his name as Grant in The Human Time Bomb.

Exorse, bellow left, is played by Geoffrey Frederick. He doesn't have any more Doctor Who to his name but is another who's been in Out of the Unknown where he plays Alex in Lambda 1. Lambda 1 is one of the few episodes of that series that's best avoided. Some nice effects though!

Clare Jenkins plays Nanina in this story. She'll return as Tanya Lernov in 1968's The Wheel In Space, a role she briefly reprises a year later in The War Games Episode Ten.

120 The Savages: Episode Two

EPISODE: The Savages: Episode Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 120
STORY NUMBER: 026
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 04 June 1966
WRITER: Ian Stuart Black
DIRECTOR: Christopher Barry
SCRIPT EDITOR: Gerry Davis
PRODUCER: Innes Lloyd
RATINGS: 5.6 million viewers
FORMAT: CD: Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Collection: No. 2
TELESNAPS: The Savages: Episode Two

"It's quite all right, Doctor. You will not be asked to witness this experiment. Instead you will have the pleasure of participating in it!"

The Savage doesn't want to hurt Dodo but moves on outside where he's found by other Savages. Dodo is seized by the scientist who believe she's here for the transference process that Nanina has undergone, but before she can be subjected to it she's rescued by Captain Edal. Nanina has been overexposed to the process and the scientists make a note on her files. Going to the Tardis on the pretext of fetching his notes on Time Travel the Doctor finds the injured Savage Dodo saw earlier: He has worked out the Elders are draining the life energy from the Savages. He's taken back to the city by Edal while Steven & Dodo fall into the hands of the Savages who tell them what is happening. They are afraid to oppose the Elders due to their light guns. Jano and the Doctor argue about what the Elders are doing. The Doctor vows to oppose the elders so Jano sends him to the scientists who subject him to the transference process to drain his life force.

This episode is all about revealing the dark secret at the heart of the Elders' civilisation

DODO: Doctor, why wouldn't you let me tell you what happened?
DOCTOR: Because I didn't want those gentlemen to overhear what you were saying, child.
STEVEN: Who? Jano and the Elders?
DOCTOR: Precisely.
STEVEN: Why, don't you trust them?
DOCTOR: Not altogether.
STEVEN: What have you discovered?
DOCTOR: Nothing really, but I sense that things aren't all together right here. Now I think we go this way, isn't it? Come along.
STEVEN: Hey, wait a minute.
DOCTOR: What?
STEVEN: What's that?
DODO: It's one of the savages.

DOCTOR: Really? But he's not moving. Yes, yes, let's take a look. Hold that. Here.
DODO: Why, that's him, the man in the corridor. The one I helped. But there were two others.
DOCTOR: Was he in this condition when you met him before?
DODO: Yes.
DOCTOR: Did he come out of that laboratory?
DODO: Yes, I think so. What's that matter with him, Doctor? Do you know?
DOCTOR: Yes, yes, yes, I think I do, yes. It's just as I feared.
DODO: Feared?
DOCTOR: Yes, their wonderful civilisation is based on this. They've discovered a way of extracting life's force from human beings, and absorbing it into themselves, leaving the victim, as you see, almost dead.

The Elders are effectively Vampires feasting on the Savages to sustain them.

The Doctor, having dispatched Steven & Dodo for medical supplies is then found by Edal:

EDAL: Do you require assistance, Doctor?
DOCTOR: What do you know of this?
EDAL: He's one of the savages. I shouldn't let him worry you. He's probably shamming. He should be back on the reserve. Come on, you lazy animal, get up, move! Get back to your sector.
DOCTOR: What are you doing, fellow? Leave the man alone. He'll probably die.
EDAL: I don't think there's much chance of that, Doctor. Come on, you, move.
DOCTOR: I insist that you leave him alone!
EDAL: I don't think you understand, Doctor.
DOCTOR: I think I understand only too well.
EDAL: You do? And you still waste time on this creature?
DOCTOR: This human being!
EDAL: Why the concern, Doctor? They are only savages.
DOCTOR: They are men. Human beings, like you and me. Although it appears at the moment that you're behaving in a rather sub-human fashion.
EDAL: They have not developed like we have. They are savages! Come on.
DOCTOR: I forbid you to touch him!
EDAL: You are obstructing me, Doctor.
DOCTOR: I am looking after this wretched fellow.
EDAL: You will come with me.
DOCTOR: I have already told you I'm busy. I'm going to take care of this poor man.
EDAL: I have warned you! You will do as I order you!
DOCTOR: Hmm?
EDAL: Or you'll know the alternative. You will come with me back to the city.

Various interpretations are available from the story being a parable on white ruled South Africa but it's interesting comparing the situation seen here to the recent treatment of the poor and disabled here. There's a distinct anti oppression message coming through to me here, beyond Doctor Who's usual scenario of Evil trying to dominate Good.

It's not just The Doctor's compassion that gets him into trouble: Avon & Flower, the tour guides who Dodo gave the slip too, are also punished:

EDAL: Stay here. A guard will collect you.
AVON: Must Flower be taken before the Elders? It was my fault. I should have kept a better watch on Dodo.
EDAL: You should be thinking of your own defence.
FLOWER: Oh, Avon, what will happen to us? Will they take?
AVON: Do not worry, Flower. That is only for the savages.
FLOWER: Are you sure?
AVON: I'm sure you will be all right.
FLOWER: But the guard's coming for us.
AVON: Do not be afraid. After all, this is a free state, isn't it, and we are all equal here.
FLOWER: But
AVON: They cannot harm us.

Frighteningly neither is seen again.

The Doctor's fate is more certain after he is taken to Jano:

JANO: We do not understand you, Doctor. You who have accepted our honours gladly, how can you condemn this great artistic and scientific civilisation because of a few wretched barbarians?
DOCTOR: So your rewards are only for the people that agree with you?
JANO: No. No, of course not. But if you are going to oppose us.
DOCTOR: Oppose you? Indeed I am going to oppose you, just in the same way that I oppose the Daleks or any other menace to common humanity.
JANO: I am sorry you take this attitude, Doctor. It is most unscientific. You are standing in the way of human progress.
DOCTOR: Human progress, sir? How dare you call your treatment of these people progress!
JANO: They are hardly people, Doctor. They are not like us.
DOCTOR: I fail to see the difference.
JANO: Do you not realise that all progress is based on exploitation?
DOCTOR: Exploitation indeed! This, sir, is protracted murder!
JANO: We have achieved a very great deal merely by the sacrifice of a few savages.
DOCTOR: The sacrifice of even one soul is far too great! You must put an end to this inhuman practice.
JANO: You leave me no choice. Take him away, Captain. And tell Senta that we have an emergency. I shall be sending him special instructions.

Meanwhile Steven and Dodo's action assisting the processed Wylda enable them to befriend Tor & Chal who explain what will happen:

TOR: They will use the Doctor like the rest of us.
DODO: What do you mean?
CHAL: They will take him to the room where the great vats are.
STEVEN: What will happen to him there?
CHAL: He will become like us.
STEVE: We'll see about that.
CHAL: They'll do the same to you.

The Doctor though remains innocent to his fate till quite late in proceedings and believe he's going to be forced to watch the transference process:

EDAL: Senta, this is the Doctor, the traveller from beyond time.
DOCTOR: So this is the place where you carry out your foul experiments.
SENTA: This is my laboratory. I'm honoured to meet you, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Thank you. What's this?
SENTA: Why have you brought the Doctor down here today? I've no time for visitors. We have a very full schedule, as you're well aware, Captain Edal.
EDAL: You will suspend all other work and prepare for an emergency transference.
SENTA: But that's out of the question.
EDAL: The order comes directly from Jano.
SENTA: You are interested in our work?
DOCTOR: Oh, yes, yes, interested, yes. Although I disapprove of your activities.
SENTA: I shall be honoured to show you my laboratory when I have the time. Well, where is the savage for transference?
DOCTOR: No, gentlemen, no, gentlemen. I don't wish to bear witness.
EDAL: It's quite all right, Doctor. You will not be asked to witness this experiment.
DOCTOR: I should hope not, my boy.
EDAL: Instead you will have the pleasure of participating in it.
DOCTOR: What did you say?

SENTA: Do you realise what you're saying? We cannot transfer such a high form of life. It's never been done.
JANO: This time it will be done. It will be an interesting experiment for you.
SENTA: But, he's a fellow scientist, he's one of us.
JANO: You have your orders. See that they are carried out.
DOCTOR: I think you have forgotten one thing, gentlemen.
JANO: I don't think so, Doctor.
DOCTOR: My feelings in this matter! I will not submit to your nauseating experiments! I am going out of that door, so don't try to stop me.
EDAL: Go back, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Let me pass.
SENTA: You two, strap him to the trolley!
JANO: Report to me as soon as the transference is completed.

Seeing the process used on the Doctor is one of the more horrifying things the program has done so far, the Doctor bound and trapped in a glass chamber filling with gas.

The effects will be seen next episode....

Ian Stuart Black was an experienced television script writer who went and volunteered to write for Doctor Who. Apparently his children refused to believe he was a proper television writer until he had written for the program! He approached the then Producer & Script Editor John Wiles and Donald Tosh who asked him for a storyline. In the meantime Wiles & Tosh resigned but the incoming team of Innes Lloyd & Gerry Davis were impressed enough with what Black delivered to consider scrapping the Gunfighters to get the Savages, then known as The White Savages, produced sooner. He was obviously a success because he becomes the first person in Doctor Who's history to write two consecutive stories: he'll be back for the very next tale, The War Machines, where he turns some ideas by scientist Kit Pedler into a workable television script.

Returning to direct this story is Christopher Barry. Barry was Doctor Who's second ever director, occupying the chair for a good proportion of it's second story, The Daleks, including the first on-screen appearance of the creatures. Yet somehow he always seems to be overlooked for that with his fellow director on the story Richard Martin getting much of the credit and the first few return appearances for the Doctor's nemesis. Christopher Barry returned to the show in it's second year directing The Rescue and the Romans and this is his first Doctor Who directing job since then. He will go on to be the show's longest serving director with his last engagement being in 1979 for Creature from the Pit.

Christopher Barry reuses one of the cast of his previous story, The Romans, in this tale. Kay Patrick played Poppaea in The Romans 3 & 4, Conspiracy & Inferno. Here she plays Flower, one of the guides for the Tardis crew. After her acting career came to an end she became director on Coronation Street and other soap operas.

Her fellow guide Avon (no not that Avon!) is played by Robert Sidaway. He'll be back as Captain Jimmy Turner in The Invasion. He has an Out of the Unknown to his name appearing as George in The Midas Plague which also features Michael Earl, an extra on this story, as a Police Robot.

Somewhat down the batting order cast wise we find Tony Holland as the Third Assistant. In later life he'd go on to be a writer on and creator of several soap operas including EastEnders. Oddly enough his EastEnders co-creator Julia Smith shows up in two stories time!