Series 1 Episode 7: The Escape

Serial: The Daleks

Episode: 3 (The Escape)

Doctor: William Hartnell

Companions: Barbara, Ian, and Susan

Writer: Terry Nation

Director: Richard Martin

Producer: Verity Lambert

Original Air Date: 04/01/1964

WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER (and other stories)

We pick up where we left off: Susan is bravely stepping back out into the jungle to deliver life-saving anti-radiation drugs to the Doctor and Barbarian (which is my new favourite portmanteau). No sooner has she stepped outside the Tardis, however, than she realises she’s being watched by a handsome blonde wrapped in a shower curtain, and sinks weak-kneed to the ground. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

#wrappedinplastic

His name is Aladdin Alydon of the Thal people, and he's not a mutant at all. In fact, Susan goes so far as to observe that he's 'perfect'. Because who doesn't appreciate a hot alien who can really work a hexagon? And who ever heard of a person ugly on the inside who wasn't also ugly on the outside? He's also sorry for having frightened her earlier when he tried to speak to her and tapped her on the shoulder:

SUSAN: I was frightened. I was terrified.

ALYDON: Yes, I was very clumsy.

Alydon is adorable.

Anyway, he's here to make sure she knows how to use the drugs he left for them. Susan tells him about how the other three have been taken prisoner by the Daleks; Alydon is ridiculously casual about having received confirmation that the Daleks did in fact survive the war. He asks Susan whether she's sure the Daleks don't just want the drugs for themselves; Susan hadn't, in fact, thought of that. Never mind, though, because Alydon is giving her a second supply of drugs to hide about her person. Having gained her trust, he offers to walk her back through the jungle to the city, and gives her his hexagonal threads for good measure.

Back in the city, to which Susan has returned as if by magic, the anti-radiation drugs are taking effect. The Daleks have allowed Susan to keep the second supply because...of reasons? It's hard to keep up with their motives, to be honest, but it has something to do with Susan having made contact with the Thals. Anyway, Susan is telling the others all about her new friend Alydon, Babs asks why the Daleks think the Thals are mutations; Susan doesn't know, but 'judging by Alydon. they're magnificent people'. Well, quite.

Anyway, the Doctor revives at this point, and is rather bummed to learn that they're all still in captivity. Susan tells Barbara that as soon as the Doctor is properly awake, they must find a way to help the Thals; Babs, a little bitterly, points out that right now they can't even help themselves. Susan, however, seems to have taken the plight of the Thals to heart, telling the others how they are pretty-much on the edge of famine; unless Team Tardis can help the Thals arrange a treaty with the Daleks, then the Thals are going to die. 'We must try and talk to the Daleks,' says Susan. There's probably a point to be made here about politics and solidarity and interventionism and such, but I'm going to content myself with referring to Susan as Space Geldof and leave it at that.

The Daleks have been eavesdropping, and have decided that rather than just wait for the Thals (and indeed the prisoners) to die of hunger, they're going to feed and water their captives and lull them into a false sense of security in order to get Susan to write a message to the Thals, which will lure them to the city (and indeed their doom). It's a pretty stupid plan, but hey, at least our heroes live to fight another day. And we also get to see this...

Air hostess, I like the way you dress.

...OMG IT'S A DALEK WITH A TEATRAY. The Dalek has come to fetch Susan, and tells the assembled captives that the Daleks are totally going to help the Thals, 'which is what you wanted us to do'. Definitely nothing shifty going on here. Once Susan has gone, the others wonder aloud how the Daleks knew about their philanthropic feelings. How indeed.

Cut to Alydon, squatting manfully on a rock in hexagon-adorned leather trousers and some sort of life-jacket. More Thals show up, several of whom have speaking parts. Their names are...oh God, hang on a second...Tinnitus Ganatus,  Genesis Temmosus (who seems to be their leader), and Diarrhoea Dyoni, the token speaking woman, whose dress seems to have been made of scraps of the fabric used to make the little appliqué hexagons for the men's troos. Which is probably a metaphor for her characterisation, too.

Thrifty BBC is thrifty.

OH though wait, I stand absolutely and entirely corrected: having just found a colour photograph of the Thals, it seems that the Thals' trousers are also all about the cut-out hexagons. Which rather begs the question of what kind of underwear they're wearing, given how high-up those cutouts go.

Mysteries of the flesh.

Anyway, there's some exposition from the assembled Thals, who have found the 'weird object' in which Team Tardis arrived. Temmosus, their leader, seems to be a reasonable sort: if the Thals, the 'once famous warrior race', are now farmers, then maybe the Daleks (once teachers and philosophers) have also changed. He seems very taken with the 'magical architecture' of the Dalek city, and dreams of exchanging ideas with and learning from a people who now seem to have become a race of scientistis and inventors. Temmosus, you are as admirable as you are clearly doomed.

Oh whoops, spoke too soon. We interrupt this idealistic post-conflict discourse to bring you sexism...IN SPAAAAAAAACE. First, Dyoni is asked her opinion; upon saying she has no opinion in this matter, Ganatus says 'how unusual' and the assembled men chuckle immoderately. Next, Dyoni informs Alydon that he would have done better to have given the drugs to a man instead of a girl (Susan). Then this happens:

TEMMOSUS: Tell me, Alydon, how old is this young girl?

ALYDON: Oh, no longer a child, not yet a woman.

TEMMOSUS: Ah, then perhaps it’s safe for you to talk to her...(looks pointedly at DYONI)...if she’s not yet a woman.

(GANATUS cackles to himself. DYONI storms off. ALYDON is confuz.)

ALYDON: I don’t understand her! If we don’t find the new food supply for next year, we’re finished, doesn’t she understand that? We’re all working towards the same end…

GANATUS: Now there’s a double meaning for you!

TEMMOSUS: (To ALYDON.) But don’t you realise that Dyoni sees her personal future in you? You must remember that when we left our plateau and started on this journey, she was little more than a child…but that was four years ago.

ALYDON: I am not quite so blind.

KILL ME NOW. Please oh please let Dyoni have a function other than getting jealous over Susan's relationship with Alydon. Also, Ganatus is filth.

Anyway, it is established that Susan is to get a message to them, and that she and Alydon have agreed that, if she signs it with her name, it means the Daleks are friendly; if she doesn't, it means the Daleks are hostile. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG.

Back in the Dalek city, Susan is terrible at writing. The Daleks dictate their terms: if the Thals help them to cultivate the land, the Daleks will give them the vegetables they've been growing using artificial sunlight. THE DALEKS HAVE SPACE ALLOTMENTS AND EAT VEGETABLES. Well I never. A Dalek picks up the bit of (magnetic?) paper on which she's been writing with its (magnetic?) plunger, and I wish I could get a decent screen-cap because it looks like it's been written in crayon by a slow five-year-old. Clearly reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic are not top priorities on Gallifrey.

Susan's teacher informs her she's not yet ready for joined-up writing.

It becomes clear that the Daleks are definitely going to double-cross the Thals once they have Susan's message with her name on it. It also becomes clear that the Daleks have indeed been eavesdropping on their prisoners. This calls for a plan.

Cut to Ian, giving the Doctor the go-ahead to start a staged argument, during which they are about to engage in fisticuffs. Susan jumps on Ian's back as Babs pulls the Doctor out of the way, and the Dalek CCTV camera is 'accidentally' wrenched from the wall. 

WELL DONE, TEAM.

The Daleks aren't fooled for a moment, but for reasons best known to themselves, they decide against a) moving them to another room or b) extermination because...er...they can't escape anyway and they might come in useful later. The Daleks must be terrible hoarders.

Meanwhile, Team Tardis is bouncing ideas around, and actually everyone seems to be contributing. Susan is enthusiastic but impractical (playing dead); Babs is less forthcoming with her ideas but pragmatic, and catches on quickly, making useful associations; the Doctor seems to be able to think the most laterally; while Ian has the final brainwave. It's all very in character, and I particularly enjoy that it's Barbara the historian who makes the connection between past significance and present meaning, realising that the acrid smell in the air of an alien planet is reminiscent of a fairground on Earth, leading Ian to a solution based on secondary-school science: if the Daleks work a bit like dodgems, then how do they complete the circuit and how do we break it? (Though precisely what happens on the inevitable school trip to a fairground back on Earth when Barbara and Ian realise they can probably never ride the dodgems again without experiencing mild to moderate P.T.S.D. is anyone's guess. Fanfic writers, assemble!) It's also nice to see them actually bonding as a team, working together to solve their problems, rather than squabbling amongst themselves.

Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin put aside their differences.

Anyway, the solution turns out to be Alydon's shower curtain. Ian calls Barbara over to ask her what material she thinks it's made of (because women know such things), and decides that whatever it is, it's just the thing for immobilising a Dalek: if Daleks move about by drawing static electricity from the floor (which I was going to say probably isn't real science but then I looked up dodgems on Wikipedia and apparently these days they've worked out how to make them go without the ceiling grid and it has something to do with polarity...which shows how long it's been since I was at a fairground), then the cloak will work as insulation. Sounds like a plan, Stan!

Meanwhile, in the jungle, there's more Thal-related exposition. They can use those dead metal lizards as batteries of some sort, and Filthy Jokey Ganatus has a brother called Antodus who's probably a bit cowardly, seeing as when Dyoni asks Ganatus whether Antodus (fucksake) is still afraid of the dark, it strikes a bit of a nerve: 'My brother isn't afraid of anything.' Temmosus (their leader, remember) waxes philosophical: one should never struggle against the inevitable, but one should also examine carefully what one believes the be inevitable. That's deep, man. They get Susan's message, which leads Temmosus to speculate that maybe there is a future for their race. The Daleks claim to be all about working together to build a safe world free from the fear of war, and will the Thals please come and collect their food from the food banks city because it's definitely not a trap. In other words, the Daleks claim that we're (wait for it) ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. Look, I'm doing satire. 

Back in the captivity, Team Tardis is doing some recon, observing the Dalek from all angles so that they might better plan their escape.

Nothing to see here.

Their main problem seems to be the Daleks' visibility: they can easily jam the door, but the Dalek's swivelly eye-stalk makes it impossible to hide from. Ian suggests throwing the cloak over it, maybe with the aid of a distraction, but nobody's particularly convinced. Then it's Bae's turn for a brainwave: she asks Susan to throw her the shoes she's wearing, and begins scraping the muck from off the heels into the bowl of water that's been brought in; Ian asks her what she's doing; 'I'm making mud,' she replies. Ingenious Barbara is ingenious.

The Barbara Wright Appreciation Society gains another member.

It's time to put the plan into action: Susan sits on the cloak, all casual-like, and as the door opens, Ian quickly wedges part of the broken camera into the door mechanism so that it doesn't close properly when the Dalek leaves, having delivered food and water. The Dalek moves back towards the door, and at the Doctor's command, Barbara strikes, slapping a 'very sticky and very nasty' ball of mud right over its eye-piece. Pandemonium! The Doctor knocks Barbara bodily to the ground trying to get her out of the way of the gun; the Dalek is blinded and blunders around, yelling 'KEEP AWAY FROM ME!'; the Doctor tries to hold the gun down as the Dalek pins Ian against the wall at plunger-point while Barbara and Susan get the cloak into place on the floor; Ian uses the wall to brace himself as he kicks the Dalek backwards onto the cloak. Susan crows in triumph—'WE'VE GOT IT!'—as Babs hurries over to where Ian lies sprawled on the ground to get him out of the line of fire. Cautiously, as all four of them manoeuvre the Dalek into a less dangerous position, they let go of the gun...

Practising Dalek safety in the classroom.

...success! The Dalek is immobilised; Team Tardis is victorious. How utterly marvellous.

Ian sends the two women to keep watch in the corridor because he's just had a glimpse inside the Dalek and presumably doesn't want to give them a startled uterus or trauma ovaries from the shock of seeing a big squelchy space mutant. 

'What is that, Professor?'
'Something that is beyond either of our help,' said Dumbledore.

The Doctor wraps Mr. Squelch in Alydon's all-purpose shower curtain and lifts it carefully into a corner. Meanwhile, Susan and Babs have noticed that their little escapade has made rather a lot of noise, and that they're going to have to move quickly to get out of there. Then this happens:

I love that it only takes three episodes for these guys to start playing at being Daleks. Then again, I generally enjoy metatheatricality, and this is meta as fuck. I don't know why it's important for Ian to be the one inside the Dalek, but at least we know that Susan has to be one of the people in front because she knows the way. At any rate, Ian has no idea how to control the machine at first, and once they've scraped the mud off the eyepiece, the other three have to literally push him along.

What goes around comes around.

As they advance along the corridor, a three-fingered mutant hand creeps out from underneath the shower curtain...

MERCY ME, WILL THE BIG SQUELCHY VOLDEMORT-IN-LIMBO MUTANT CRAWL OUT AND MENACE OUR CHUMS TO DEATH? HOW WILL THEY ESCAPE WHEN THEY ARE LITERALLY DRAGGING IAN ALONG THE CORRIDORS BY THE PLUNGER? WILL THE THALS FALL FOR THE DALEKS' TRAP? WILL BARBARA HAVE A CHANCE TO WASH HER HANDS OR WILL SHE GET SOME SORT OF VICTORIAN MUD-RELATED DISEASE...IN SPAAAAAAAACE?

Summary (as applicable to this episode)

Does it pass the Bechdel test? Happily, yes.

[BUZZWORD DOUBLE-WHAMMY ALERT!!] Is the gaze problematic? Nope.

Is/are the woman companion(s) dressed 'for the Dads'? No.

Does a woman fall over/twist her ankle (whilst running from peril)? Susan gets weak at the knees when Alydon shows up, and the Doctor sends Babs flying in the scuffle with the Dalek, but otherwise no.

Is/are the woman companion(s) captured? They're all captured. Or at least in captivity.

Does the Doctor/a man companion/any other man have to rescue the woman companion(s) from peril? Alydon walks Susan through the jungle, but otherwise no.

Is/are the woman companion's/s' first/only reaction(s) to peril gratuitous screaming? Nope.

Does a woman companion go into hysterics over something reasonably minor? Nope.

Is a woman 'spared' the ordeal of having to do/witness something unpleasant by a man who makes a decision on her behalf/keeps her deliberately ignorant? Yes.

Does the woman companion have to be calmed down by the Doctor/a man companion/a man? Nope.

Is a woman the first/only person to be (most gratuitously) menaced by the episode's antagonist(s)? Susan gets forced to write lines, but otherwise it's even stevens.

Is a man shamed into doing/not doing something because the alternative is a woman doing/not doing something? No.

Does the woman companion come up with a plan? Yes.

Does the woman companion do something stupid/banal/weird which inspires a man to be a Man with a Plan? Nah, I'd say it's pretty collaborative this week.

Is the young, strong, straight, white male lead the person most often in control of the situation? Ian is still a little bossy, but again I'd say this week is pretty even.

Is there past/future/alien sexism? OH GOD YES CAN THAT STOP RIGHT NOW A LOT PLEASE.

Does a 'present'-day character call anybody out on past/future/alien sexism? No.

Did a woman write/direct/produce this episode? No/No/Yes.

Verdict

I really liked this episode and the way we got to see Team Tardis acting as...well...Team Tardis. Everyone was useful, everyone worked towards a common goal (stop smirking, Ganatus), and they were 'all in this together' in a High School Musical kind of way. By contrast, the Daleks and the Thals are in no way in this together, unless you mean (incisive political commentary alert) in a David Cameron sort of way (SHE SHOOTS; SHE SCORES). Susan's goodwill towards Plastic-Wrapped Adonis Alydon is abused by the dastardly machine-bound mutants, who are luring the Thals into a trap with the promise of free food a shiny future. LIES. I'm digging the Thals' philosophical outlook, but not so much their sexism...IN SPAAAAAACE. Let's hope they redeem themselves in future episodes. Also their trousers are ace. More Team Tardis, more excellent legwear, please.