Series 1 Episode 11: The Rescue

Serial: The Daleks
Episode: 7 (The Rescue)
Doctor: William Hartnell
Companions: Barbara, Ian, and Susan

Writer: Terry Nation
Director: Richard Martin
Producer: Verity Lambert
Original Air Date: 01/02/1964

BABY'S FIRST GENOCIDE (and other stories)

We return to our very literal cliffhanger, with Antodus dangling over a ravine on the end of a rope tied like an umbilical cord to the waist of Ian Chesterton, whose fingers are slipping on the polystyrene rock. But wait! Whose sandals are these to the rescue?

The Thals: setting a precedent for inappropriate Whovian footwear

It’s Ganatus! Who is only just keeping Ian from falling into the abyss on account of Ian’s sweaty palms and Antodus’s inability to get a grip in just about every sense of the phrase. Ganatus is losing them, so he calls for the others, by which I mean he calls for Kristas rather than Babs, neither of whom respond to the call.

And OH DRAMA! Antodus is brandishing a knife and has begun cutting through the rope! Don’t do it, Antodus! And of course he can’t hear me, because the next second, the rope that ties him to Ian is cut and Antodus is plunging to his death. As Ian pulls up the severed rope with shaking hands, Ganatus looks on, distraught and suddenly brother less.

Rope? Nope.

Meanwhile, in the Dalek city, the Doctor and Susan have been captured and are being held against the wall with handcuffs, which is pretty amazing for a city with no humanoid furniture in it. Clearly the Daleks were super optimistic about getting some Thal prisoners someday. Anyway, the Daleks are now determined that only one race can survive on Skaro, and that the key to their being able to escape the city and move about is to carry out their nuclear bombardment NOW. The Doctor condemns ‘this senseless, evil killing’ and is generally very impressive, while Susan…is mostly redundant in this scene. C’mon, scriptwriters, give a girl a break.

Back in the caves, Kristas the Other Thal who Doesn’t Talk Much returns to the Grievesome Threesome to inform them of yet more bad news: there’s no way through and they have to go back. Everyone’s pretty crushed, and Ganatus is having some kind of existential crisis: they did their best and more, but Elyon was still sucked into the maw of Space Charybdis/Cthulu and Antodus was still sent howling into the abyss and nothing makes sense anymore. Poor Ganatus. Barbara insists that they can’t give up now; Ganatus gives her a look that essentially says WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME BABS. Ian, rather shamelessly, plays the ‘your brother has literally just died’ card to persuade Ganatus to go on, presumably so his death wouldn’t have been in vain.

Oh and misery upon misery, the torch is dying, leaving them all with the alarming prospect of being stuck dying in the dark like Kristin Scott Thomas in The English Patient. Defeated, they determine to go back, and switch of the torch to conserve it…BUT WAIT! Where’s that light coming from? Ian furtles about at the rockface for a moment, and JOY OF JOYS, they’re through! It turns out they were underneath the pipes the whole time and have come out right in the middle of the Dalek city. Rejoice!

Back in the jungle, Alydon and Dyoni notice the Dalek antennae have stopped moving and must’ve been taken out. They realise the Doctor and Susan must have been captured, and Alydon gives Dyoni the most awkward pat on the head I’ve ever seen in my life by way of comforting her. In fact it’s rare to see such a blatant lack of chemistry between two characters who are meant to be sort of betrothed unless it’s in the Arranged Marriage Bit of a fairytale. Congratulations on your passionlessness, you crazy kids. Anyway, Alydon is trying to persuade the Thals to fight for Gondor or Rohan or Frodo or something and it’s awkward as fuck, but at least one of the extras responds to his ‘we may be farmers but have we forgotten how to fight?’ speech by brandishing some manner of knuckle duster, so maybe it doesn’t matter that he’s not exactly Churchillian in his oratory.

#stillabetterlovestorythantwilight

Meanwhile, the Doctor is trying to stall the Daleks by telling them he has a really neat time machine and that he’ll tell them its philosophy of movement if they let him go. The Daleks think he’s bluffing, and he tells them to have a look at the fluid link if they don’t believe him, and it just so happens that they have it to hand (well, plunger). Well, that’s one mystery solved. In a rather chilling moment, the Daleks refuse the Doctor’s bargain and wave aside his protests that only he can tell them how the Tardis works, telling him that ‘every problem has a solution’. Shudder. But what’s this? A disturbance in the Force(field) tells the Daleks that the Thals have entered the city; Susan looks delighted; but will they be in time?

Cut to Team Trousers (or what’s left of it), being stealthy as balls as they creep along the excellent corridors of the Dalek city, with Ian (or course) in the lead. Nobody really knows where they’re going, and Babs has a fantastically dry meta moment when she says that she has ‘some experience of these corridors’ and that ‘they all look alike’. This serial is all about the budget jokes. A Dalek pedals by (with audible foot-pedalling) sounding the alert about the Thals in the city, and manages not to notice Team Trousers a-lurking. They realise Alydon et al must be in the city, and resolve to get to the control room asap.

And the control room is exactly where we go next, where the Daleks are watching the footage from the interior videoscopes on level eight, where Ian is smashing shit up like Beyoncé.

The Doctor is out of bargaining chips and has resorted to begging the Daleks to ‘stop it, please’. It’s an important moment for his character, actually: he’s usually so confident that his superior smarts can get him out of anything, but now he’s up against an adversary immune to reason and reasoning, and he’s suddenly very powerless. It’s fascinating to think that it’s this sort of thing that lays the foundations for the Doctor’s ongoing enmity with the Daleks. Anyway, the Daleks have begun the countdown…eep! But at least it’s a countdown from 100, which buys Team Trousers time enough to save the day (we hope).

Back in the corridors, who should Team Trousers run into but Alydon! Bless his heart, it seems that he and his merry men have been wandering around without really knowing what they’re doing because without the Doctor they didn’t know what they were looking for in the Dalek city. Upon hearing that the Doctor and Susan have been captured, Babs insists that their rescue ought to be the first priority; Ian, however, maintains that they need to find the control room. In the background, rather poignantly, the Thals tell Alydon that Antodus died bravely.

Barbara, who, for all her making light of it, does seem to have a better knack for navigating Dalek corridors than the rest of her companions, suggests they make their way to the lift, and they’re about to do just that when the Daleks start sealing off the corridor intersections. Drama! Which, if I could find the relevant gif, I would illustrate using boiler-room scenes from 1997 blockbuster Titanic. Who’d have thought that film would hold so many analogies for Hartnell-era Who?

She's made of iron, sir - I assure you, she can.

As doors begin closing in their faces, they rush forwards to hold another closing door open just wide enough for Barbara to squeeze through it. As Alydon follows her under the door, Barbara yells that there’s another one right ahead and darts forward with reckless bravery while Alydon yells for her to get to it quickly. Ganatus, who is right behind them, yells her name in response to something that’s happening just offscreen, which we must assume is Babs being crushed to death by a door as a result of her fearless badassery.

Cut back to the Daleks, who have noticed that Team Doorstop is preventing the blocking-off of certain intersections on level nine! Crumbs almighty, they're increasing the power! And the countdown is halfway to complete! Such tension!

Meanwhile, Babs has indeed wedged herself under the next door, which comes down hard across her middle as the boys rush forwards to try to lift said door.

Barbara Wright, the Amazing Human Doorstop

Ganatus has wedged himself into the larger gap and helps wiggle Barbara through as Ian tells her useful things she hadn’t thought of before like ‘you must try and roll out, try and free yourself’.

Team Doorstop Relay

As the pressure increases and the countdown progresses, the other Thals and Ian make it under the door one by one; against all the Laws of Telly, nobody is left behind – score!

Babs works the Thal Assembly Line

Meanwhile, a random Thal has been exterminated in the control room as the Daleks continue the countdown. There’s a neat 360-ish shot of the control room that comes to rest on none other than our two humans leading the Thal Sneaking Party along another excellent corridor. Barbara has a rope; Alydon has a stick. There’s some nice camera-work around the control room as Ian and Alydon manage to get to the alcove where the Doctor and Susan are all chained up and free them. Then this happens:

Ladies and gentlemen, Barbara Wright just ran out from a corridor and threw a large rock at a Dalek. And was shot at. And survived by running behind a bit of corridor. Because being menaced by plungers is so six episodes ago and now she’s owning everything.

The Dalek gives chase to Bamfbara and is promptly lassoed by said Bamf and restrained by assorted Thals. Because who needs guns and gadgets and gizmos and a functioning Tardis and timey-wimey and technobabble when you’ve got Barbara Wright with a rope in the conservatory and Alydon with the lead piping in the ballroom? All hell breaks loose: Ian throws a stone at a Dalek and it recoils in disbelief; Kristas DROPS IN ON A ROPE only to be lasered right in the bread basket but stays on his feet long enough to steer a Dalek into a piece of equipment that promptly explodes; Thals are jumping on Daleks left, right, and centre. It’s glorious.

And what’s even better, it seems that Our Heroes have managed to knock out the power source! I’m not sure if this is to do with the antennae and the decreasing power levels the Daleks have been reporting sporadically all episode or whether this is to do with Kristas (who’s alive but wounded) smashing a Dalek into the camera, but either way, the Daleks are mostly powerless to move. Ian gleefully kicks one of the Daleks across the floor to prove this.

One of the Daleks is an enormous drama queen and responds to the Doctor’s shockingly cold refusal to help restore the power by flinging its eyestalk skywards and turning away in a final spasm of death. So…the Daleks are all dead now. Yay genocide.

At least Alydon seems to appreciate how shitty their victory really is: five hundred years of destruction ends in the wiping out of an entire race by a people who thought they’d sworn off violence for good. The Doctor, ominously, supposes they’ll have other wars to fight. Ian has rather gleefully procured the fluid link, which means Team Tardis can now go home, but it all seems pretty trivial (just as he predicted, in fact). As he helps Kristas to walk back out of the city, Alydon wonders aloud what the Thals are going to do with all this useless machinery they don’t know how to use; Barbara, who has Kristas’s other arm, says they’ll just have to experiment.

Then it’s just Susan and Ganatus left; Susan says that with the Daleks’ artificial sunlight food production methods they Thals will have all they need, now. Ganatus, who let’s not forget has very recently lost a brother, seems less than enthused: ‘If only there’d been…some other way’, he muses; the camera lingers on the silent control room full of upended, dead Daleks as the hollow victors leave the scene.

Back in the jungle, Dyoni is going around feeding people what appear to be raisins. Ian is surrounded by Thal women, and the Doctor is talking to Alydon about rebuilding Skaro. Alydon asks the Doctor where he comes from, and whether he’ll stay and help. Then this happens:

Iconic dialogue is iconic. Though I’d love to know more about the Doctor as a Gallifreyan pioneer. Sounds interesting. And problematic. Two of my favourite things. The Doctor suggests he might come back and see how their grandchildren are getting on.

Susan, meanwhile, has acquired a Thal cape from Dyoni, and falls over whilst spinning around in it. It’s stripey and contains no hexagons - shocker! Barbara and Ganatus are nowhere to be seen so I’m going to assume they’re making out in the bushes somewhere. There are hugs for Alydon, and oh, THERE are Barbara and Ganatus, trying to say goodbye without Ian being an oblivious third wheel. Then this happens:

BARBARA: Well, Ganatus?
GANATUS: Well, Barbara?
(He hands her a length of Thal cloth.)
GANATUS: The dress you make from this won’t be suitable for swamps and caverns but…
BARBARA: Well, that's a good thing.
GANATUS: Yes.
BARBARA: It’s beautiful. Thank you very much. Thank you for everything.
GANATUS: (Hesitates.) I wish we…
(SUSAN pops her head out of the TARDIS.)
SUSAN: Barbara! We’re waiting!

ARGH ON SO MANY LEVELS! They’re having this beautifully awkward and weirdly intense farewell and he gives her material for a dress to remember him by!? Are you kidding me!? Ok so this might actually be one of her skills and/or hobbies, and I personally enjoy knitting a LOT, so I’m not going to judge a woman for being into her arts and crafts, but it’s literally never been mentioned before onscreen so I’m going to say this is sexist bullshit right now. Yes they might’ve had a conversation offscreen in which Barbara happened to mention that she was shit hot at dressmaking, in which case this would be a lovely and thoughtful gift, but without any setting up this is essentially ‘I’m going to give this woman some material for a dress because women love making and wearing dresses’. BAH. And the second level of ARGH is not so much a quibble over sexist gift-giving as a testament to the simplicity and effectiveness of having Susan interrupt before Ganatus can say just what he wishes they could [verb]. It’s probably been said before, but given the Very Problematic Fate of Susan Foreman a few serials down the line, Babs needs to be careful about lingering goodbyes within Tardis scanner range, because the Doctor is the psychotic matchmaker from hell and has no scruples whatsoever about abandoning women on strange planets to marry hot aliens they’ve only just met.

Then shalalalalala-my-oh-my this happens:

YES BABS! YOU KISS THAT THAL! FIRST HUMAN ON DOCTOR WHO TO SWAP SALIVA WITH ANOTHER CHARACTER AND INDEED FIRST INTERSPECIES SMOOCH ON THE SHOW. I also love that Ganatus is being all lingering with his Very Intense hand-kissing and Babs just throws caution to the wind and goes in for a swift snog (oh god I’ve turned into J.K. Rowling) that essentially doubles as a mic-drop before running back to the Tardis like a human honey badger.

Babs channels her inner Loretta

As the Tardis dematerialises, Ganatus looks pretty crestfallen. Dyoni tells him not to be sad; Ganatus says ‘I don’t think I’ll ever forget her’. Which is the correct response to the situation. Because who cares that his brother is dead and his friends are dead and his old leader is dead and he’s gone from being a pacifist to being complicit in a genocide in the space of a few days, he’s never going to see Bamfbara again…and I’m not entirely sure I’m being sarcastic. As the Thals lapse into a thoughtful silence, during which I’m assuming the full fucked-upness of what they’ve been through settles on them like the psychological equivalent of nuclear fallout, Dyoni walks around the empty space left by the vanished Tardis.

And now it’s comfortably quiet on the Tardis front: the Doctor is at the controls; Susan has changed her outfit and is having a snack; Barbara is still holding her Thal fabric and smiles at Ian as he passes before drifting out of the room; Ian is...stealing Susan’s food? Then – BANG! The Doctor, Susan, and Ian are flung to the ground as the lights go out in the control room.

OH MY GOODNESS IS NOWHERE SAFE? HAS THE TARDIS BLOWN A FUSE? WILL OUR HEROES SUSTAIN BRUISES TO THEIR UPPER ARMS? WILL THEY EVER GET TO HAVE A WELL-EARNED NAP? WILL BARBARA ACTUALLY MAKE HERSELF A DRESS OUT OF THAT FABRIC OR JUST CUDDLE IT FROM TIME TO TIME WHEN NOBODY ELSE IS LOOKING? HOW WILL THE THALS REBUILD THEIR SOCIETY? HOW DOES THIS FIT INTO THE DALEKS' GENERAL TIMELINE? WILL SUSAN GET SOMETHING INTERESTING TO DO NEXT EPISODE?

Summary (as applicable to this episode)

Does it pass the Bechdel test? OH THE SHAME, I'm pretty sure this week is another fail.

Is the gaze problematic? Not particularly.

Is/are the woman companion(s) dressed 'for the Dads’? Nope.

Does a woman fall over/twist her ankle (whilst running from peril)? Babs throws herself under a door but that's very much a planned fall.

Is/are the woman companion(s) captured? Yes, but so is the Doctor.

Does the Doctor/a man companion/any other man have to rescue the woman companion(s) from peril? The Thals and Ian have to move pretty sharpish to save Babs from being crushed under a door, but I'm pretty sure this doesn't really count as she's only under the door in the first place to save the others from being trapped in a corridor.

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.

Does the woman companion have to be calmed down by the Doctor/a man companion/a man? Nope. Though Alydon does have an awkward moment with Dyoni in which she looks in need of comfort and he is utterly wooden about it.

Is a woman the first/only person to be (most gratuitously) menaced by the episode’s antagonist(s)? Nope.

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

Is a man shamed/manipulated/compelled into doing/not doing something because the alternative is a woman being harmed? Nope.

Does the woman companion come up with a plan? Ian is again reasonably bossy, and the Doctor is the one doing all the talking in captivity (poor Susan), but Team Doorstop seems to be working together pretty well.

Does the woman companion do something stupid/banal/weird which inspires a man to be a Man with a Plan? No.

Is the young, strong, straight, white male lead the person most often in control of the situation? Ian again, though as I say there's a lot of everyone (except Susan) being a badass (poor Susan).

Does a woman companion get to be a badass? YES BARBARA. Human doorstop, stone-thrower, Dalek-catcher.

Is there past/future/alien sexism? The Thal women don't do much.

Does an past/future/alien person have the hots for a woman companion and is it reciprocated? HELL YES.

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

Verdict

Mostly action this week, which is fine, because we've had a good few Moral Dilemma episodes this serial and it's always fun to have a running-around-fighting-stuff episode in the mix to balance it out. It also meant that Babs got a chance to showcase some of her badassery, which was fantastic, but Susan had another mostly-redundant week in which she was generally chained to a wall not doing much. Babs also chalked up another first for the show when she decided life was too short not to get some of whatever action was on offer before skipping off back to the Tardis. Chillingly, this week was the first genocide on the show, which was at least acknowledged in part by the silent lingering of the camera on a room of upended Daleks and little dialogue moments from an evidently unsettled Ganatus. I actually thought the somewhat anticlimactic ending was really appropriate, whether or not it was intentional. Disturbingly, the Doctor doesn't seem too phased by their having wiped out the Daleks, which is interesting given the moral dilemmas looming in his future. It's clear just how much hanging around with humans has changed him as a character when you compare One to his subsequent incarnations. Next week, for the love of all that's holy, let's have some character development for Susan. And women talking to each other. Come on, Doctor Who, if you can't pass the Bechdel test in a serial set entirely aboard the Tardis with only Team One aboard, there really is no hope for you.