Series 1 Episode 9: The Expedition

Serial: The Daleks
Episode: 5 (The Expedition)
Doctor: William Hartnell
Companions, Barbara, Ian, and Susan

Writer: Terry Nation
Director: Christopher Barry
Producer: Verity Lambert
Original Air Date: 18/01/1964

IAN CHESTERTON WANTS YOU (and other stories)

After a brief recap in which everyone is remarkably non-sweary about Ian having had the fluid link confiscated, we check in with the Daleks, who are administering anti-radiation drugs amongst themselves without previous testing. The Daleks are rubbish scientists.

The Daleks are also creepy voyeurs, and are taking stalkerish pictures of Team Tardis getting pally with the Thals. The Daleks think it’s logical that those pesky bipeds will now join forces and attack. I suppose when a dislike for the unlike is your defining character trait, it makes sense that two like-ish species getting chummy in the jungle is a cause for some serious paranoia.

The Daleks never miss an episode of Doctor Who.

Meanwhile, in the jungle, Alydon is putting his foot down. Ian channels his frustration over his inability to persuade the Pacifist Adonis to help Team Tardis get their ball back attack the city into chiding Susan for climbing trees. Meanwhile Babs, whose subtle supervision of Susan’s Tarzan antics is ridiculously endearing, has changed into a far more practical shirt that does up at the front, is generally less prone to being mussed up by Ian, and is essentially the mirror image of Ian’s shirt insofar as it is identical but buttons up right over left rather than left over right, which I’m going to say is a metaphor for her character development/relationship with Ian this episode.

Because oh dear, Mummy and Daddy are fighting again, and it’s Very Interesting:

IAN: Well, why should they help us? Some of them are bound to get killed. What argument can you use to make a man sacrifice himself for you?
BARBARA: Ian, you don’t seem to understand - we’ll be prisoners here unless we can think of some way of getting that fluid link back from the Daleks.
IAN: I am quite well aware of that, Barbara...
BARBARA: You know very well they’ll find a way out of their city.
IAN: I know -
BARBARA: (Interrupting.) You know they will.

As I say, Very Interesting, especially given that both World Wars were within living memory in 1964. What argument indeed can you use to make a man sacrifice himself for you? What’s particularly interesting is that, while we’re clearly meant to agree with Ian in theory, it’s Barbara with whom we’re meant to agree in practice, seeing as we’ve just been shown that scene in which the Daleks become convinced that the Thals are going to join forces with This Plucky Four and attack. Hence Babs’s justification for using the Thals as laser-egg-whisk fodder is portrayed as common sense rather than an irrational fear of the Other: even when Susan points out that the Daleks ‘need metal to travel on’, Barbara insists that ‘they’ll find a way’: ‘They’re clever enough. They’ll find us and kill us, you know that as well as I do.’ So, rather tragically, the paranoia on both sides becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: the Thals eventually attack (spoiler alert) because they’re convinced the Daleks are planning to wipe them out, and the Daleks eventually try to wipe out the Thals (again, spoiler alert) because they’re convinced the Thals are planning to attack. As I said last week, somebody please write a book on Cold War-era Doctor Who and do so immediately.

Anyway, now the Doctor is sticking his oar in. There’s a lighter moment where Ian tells the Doctor to get his damn name right (he’s just called him Chesserman), which is seized upon by an increasingly frustrated Barbara, who can’t understand why they’re wasting time with small talk. The Doctor refers to Babs as ‘young lady’ a lot, which is rather grating, while Susan blithely assures her grandfather that he’ll think of something, seeing as how he always does. There’s a rather nice moment where the Doctor tells Susan that her faith in him is something that he prizes very highly. Hold onto that moment. Because the Doctor is about to be the actual worst.

OH NO HE DIDN’T. Seriously, how did we get from the Doctor as a selfish manipulator willing to exploit a local population that he sees only as a military asset in order to clear up his own mess to the Doctor as…actually, now I come to think of it, he’s not really changed all that much. Rather he’s learned from the Ian Chesterton School of Exploiting People Whilst Convincing Them That It’s In Their Own Interests, as shall become clear momentarily.

Anyway, there’s quite the power struggle going on within Team Tardis:

IAN: I will not allow you to use the Thals to fight for us.
DOCTOR: Are you challenging me?
IAN: Yes, I am!
BARBARA: (Angrily.) Do I have any say in this?
IAN: Of course you do!
BARBARA: Well, I think the Doctor’s right and I want to get out of here!
IAN: I am sorry, I'm not having anyone’s death on my conscience.
BARBARA: Except mine? And Susan’s, and the Doctor’s?
DOCTOR: Quite so.

Kudos to Babs for cutting in on the Doctor and Ian’s chest-beating, but woe alas for the oldschool rhetoric that’s straight out of a WWI recruitment poster. Her argument is basically this:

Barbara’s slight pause before bringing Susan and the Doctor into the potential death toll speaks volumes about Ian’s subsequent willingness to compromise his morals. He goes full-on fluffy imperialist on the situation:

IAN: The only way the Thals can fight is if they themselves want to. It must have nothing whatsoever to do with us.
SUSAN: I know what you mean. We must help the Thals to save themselves and not just them help us.
IAN: Exactly.
BARBARA: All you’re doing is playing with words.

I think this is even more problematic than Barbara's right-wing approach to their predicament insofar as her assessment of Ian's u-turn is entirely correct: he's just playing with words and as such is an enormous hypocrite, trying to find a means of justifying to himself a course of action entirely at odds with his convictions. Now he's trying to find a way of convincing the Thals that military action on their part would have more of a point to it than the recovery of the fluid link.

Romantic Skaro's dead and gone...

And oh it gets worse. Ian decides to test the Thals' pacifism by calling their bluff, threatening to take their precious archives and trade them with the Daleks for the fluid link. Alydon is clearly fuming, but checks himself and doesn't rise to the bait. Then Ian GRABS DYONI, at which point Babs (UNDERSTANDABLY) looks like she's about to intervene but is restrained by the Doctor. Ian speculates that the Daleks are probably more interested in people and threatens to trade her for the fluid link so the Daleks can conduct experiments on her, because damsels in distress are a universal call to arms. IAN WHAT THE FUCK.

Alydon responds by punching Ian in the face. Ian is smug in his triumph, having intuited, correctly, that just as he was swayed by the 'can you live with your conscience if your significant woman other is killed/maimed?' recruitment tactic, so Alydon would be susceptible to this sort of thing:

UGH. Ugh, ugh, ugh.

Meanwhile, the Daleks are tripping balls.

Lucy in the Sky with Daleks

It turns out they're actually now conditioned to radiation, so the anti-radiation drugs are worse than useless. So they've just been sitting around for years not wondering why they're not dying of radiation sickness. Are these the reject Daleks who were left on Skaro because they were too stupid to go out invading other planets or something? Anyway, it turns out they actually need to increase the radiation levels on Skaro in order to survive, so they've decided to explode another neutron bomb to adapt the environment to their needs. Perhaps the declining radiation levels were responsible for their being really, really thick?

Back in the jungle, Dyoni is telling Alydon it's ok that he's abandoned his entire philosophy of non-aggression because she would have thought less of him if he hadn't smacked Ian in the mouth. In fact, she goes as far as to say that '[i]f you hadn't fought him, I think I would have hated you'. Seriously, what is with the gender politics of this pacifism subplot?

Meanwhile, Barbara is getting pally with Filthy Jokey Ganatus, presumably because she's still pissed off with Ian about the stunt he pulled with Dyoni. After some brief exposition in which it is revealed that Alydon will consult all the Thals on the decision of whether or not to help Team Tardis and only proceed with unanimous agreement, Babs and FJG share a moment. It's oddly romantic in its own way:

BARBARA: What’s that light in the sky? It’s a reflection from the city, I suppose?
GANATUS: No, the lake. Some sort of chemical in the water that makes it glow in the moonlight.

Nothing sets the mood quite like a radioactive lake lighting up the night sky. Ganatus tells her the swamp is full of mutants that like to snack on unwary Thals, then apologises for being morbid. Clearly he doesn't know our Babs, who is totally fine with morbid talk. Ganatus observes that only a fool would attack the city from the lake; I wonder which route Team Tardis will have to take...?

Morning breaks, and Alydon asks Ian what Team Tardis will do if the Thals don't help. Ian tells him they'll try to get the fluid link back anyway. Alydon tells the assembled Thals that 'there is no indignity in being afraid to die, but there is a terrible shame in being afraid to live'. Rhetoric for the win. The Thals agree to help; hilariously, Ganatus was so convinced that Alydon would decide to attack the city that he prepared a map for the occasion. Team Tardis sits down with the Thal men to plan their expedition, though Susan and Babs say literally nothing during the whole thing, and - surprise, surprise - the subject of the lake comes up. Then this happens:

You threaten to sell a woman to the Daleks as a science experiment snooze, you lose, Chesterton. Anyway, the Doctor suggests that they split into two parties: one to attack from the mountains via the Lake of Thal-Eating Mutants; the other to distract the Daleks on the city wall side. Game on.

Later, in the swamp, Antodus (Ganatus's brother) is scared of being eaten and isn't being quiet about it. Ganatus tells him to keep his entirely reasonable fears to himself. Then Ian catches up, and this happens:

IAN: I’ll go and give Barbara a hand.
GANATUS: I’m surprised you let her come.
IAN: I'd been more surprised if I could have stopped her!

Ugh. This round goes to Ian, for rubbishing Ganatus's assumption that he is in any way the boss of Bae. WHO IS NOW WEARING A PAIR OF THAL LEATHER TROUSERS (but with slightly fewer revealing hexagon cutouts). ALL HAIL. Ian capitalises on his having won a round of 'who gets to spend more time with Barbara' with Ganatus by clubbing to death the first mutant they come across, which is some manner of giant grub that lies in Babs's path. So masculinity. Much assert. At any rate, our BFFs appear to be back on track.

Ba(b)es in the Woods Swamp

Everyone sets up camp. Ian is washing his face in the swamp, which is a terrible idea even in stagnant water that doesn't contain some manner of Lovecraftian Mutant Terror that rises from R'lyeh the water to menace him.

On Skaro, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.

He then goes scampering back to Barbara, which is utterly precious and another good example of it not just being frightened women who are comforted by unflappable men in this serial.

Ganatus has a wistful moment in which he dreams of the day when he can once again stay in one place and enjoy it, before going to sleep on Barbara's thigh. Because...in Thal society women are used as pillows on camping trips? Because Thals are more relaxed about invading one another's personal space than humans? Because Ganatus really digs Barbara's trousers? Because the actor playing Ganatus had really poor spatial awareness? Because...I don't know. Reasons. In any case, Babs doesn't protest. Just don't get too comfy, Ganatus: Barbara's hexagons probably aren't going to be around long enough for them to be a place you can stay in and/or enjoy.

Lay your sleeping head, my love, Human Thal on my faithless arm thigh...

The next morning, Ian rises to find Ganatus has let him sleep rather than wake him for a watch, and continues to be precious. Babs is stiff from her night on the floor and is probably regretting not having found a hexagon cutout thigh cushion of her own on which to slumber. Ganatus clearly had the right idea. Daylight reveals a series of pipes leading to the Dalek city, which means they're all on the right track.

Everything the light touches...is horribly irradiated and full of mutants.

But OH NO! Elyon the Thal has been grabbed by one of the Great Old Ones in the lake! Everyone runs for the lake as his screams pierce the swampy air...

HAS THE RANDOM THAL THAT NOBODY REALLY CARES ABOUT BEEN EATEN BY CTHULHU? WILL THE OTHERS BE EATEN, TOO? WILL BARBARA AND GANATUS GET A CHANCE TO FLIRT PROPERLY NEXT EPISODE? HOW MANY MORE THALS WILL DIE SO THAT TEAM TARDIS CAN GET THE HELL OUT OF DODGE?


Summary (as applicable to this episode)

Does it pass the Bechdel test? Oh wow. By the skin of its teeth. Susan chips into a Barbarian argument and Babs snaps back at her, but apart from that, they're only ever *in* the same conversation without actually speaking to one another beyond seriously minor exchanges. So technically, but not really.

Is the gaze problematic? Not particularly.

Is/are the woman companion(s) dressed 'for the Dads’? Babs is wearing the same leather trousers as the Thal men, only with fewer and less-revealing hexagonal cutouts, so no.

Does a woman fall over/twist her ankle (whilst running from peril)? Babs slips a bit in the swamp, but otherwise no.

Is/are the woman companion(s) captured? Nope.

Does the Doctor/a man companion/any other man have to rescue the woman companion(s) from peril? Alydon punches Ian to 'rescue' Dyoni from supposedly being sold to the Daleks as a science experiment, and Ian has to beat up a giant caterpillar in Babs's path, but otherwise it's much more insidious this week, with the underlying motivation behind the proposed military action of the episode being the protection of one's womenfolk from aggression.

Is/are the woman companion’s/s’ first/only reaction(s) to peril gratuitous screaming? Nope. Mostly men screaming this week.

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

Does the woman companion have to be calmed down by the Doctor/a man companion/a man? Nope. In fact it's Ian who has to be soothed by Barbara in the aftermath of his encounter with Swamp Cthulhu.

Is a woman the first/only person to be (most gratuitously) menaced by the episode’s antagonist(s)? Nope. It's the men who are menaced by the swamp mutants. However, as I said, the whole stunt Ian pulls with Dyoni and the WWI-style rhetoric in embodies implies much the same thing.

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? AND HOW.

Does the woman companion come up with a plan? No. And Susan and Barbara are notably silent during the Thals' planning session.

Does the woman companion do something stupid/banal/weird which inspires a man to be a Man with a Plan? No, but the plan to go via the Lake of Mutations is one Ganatus claims was inspired by his late-night chats with Barbara.

Is the young, strong, straight, white male lead the person most often in control of the situation? Yup. Ian is calling the shots all over this episode.

Is there past/future/alien sexism? DYONI.

Does an past/future/alien person have the hots for a woman companion and is it reciprocated? Yes? and yes?

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

Verdict

Problematic. But really, really interesting. This episode was mostly Barbara and Ian arguing about the morality of an army recruitment drive, and ended up with a For The Greater Good sort of compromise that was essentially self-deluding spin. The gender politics of the recruitment tactics on display in this episode were also suspect: most of it seemed to boil down to 'can you live with the murder of your womenfolk?', with poor old Dyoni being reduced to a hypothetical damsel in distress in Ian's quest to prove that the Thals' pacifism is nurture rather than nature. I'm enjoying Barbara's burgeoning friendship/fledgling flirtation with Ganatus, though, which apart from anything else gives her someone other than Ian with whom to interact. Susan, on the other hand, doesn't have much to do this episode. The Doctor, meanwhile, is the worst. Bring on The Ordeal!