Saturday, 15 October 2016

Series 1 Episode 37: A Land of Fear

Serial: The Reign of Terror
Episode: 1 (A Land of Fear)
Doctor: William Hartnell
Companions: Barbara, Ian, and Susan

Writer: Dennis Spooner
Director: Henric Hirsch
Producer: Verity Lambert
Original Air Date: 08/08/1964

INTO THE FIRE (and other stories)

In which Team Tardis plays dressup, the humans aren't ready to go home just yet, Susan still doesn't like goodbyes, people get shot onscreen and off, and the Doctor is out of the frying pan.

Time for adventures new! Or old, as the case may be. And the full-size Tardis prop has just materialised for the first time ever onscreen (thank you, infotext) in a forest of some sort.


Inside the Tardis, it’s frosty as hell: the Doctor, piqued by Ian having pointed out that the Tardis is basically out of control, is calling his bluff and about to dump him and a stunned-looking Babs wherever it is they’ve landed. I can’t work out whether the Doctor is serious or not, which is one of the reasons I love One.

Anyway, he tells Susan to say her goodbyes and make it snappy because he’s got the universe to explore. Well, Susan just LOVES goodbyes, so this shouldn’t traumatise her at all.

Babs takes it all in her stride, and tells Susan that one day she’ll understand why they always intended to return home when they could. Which is…cryptic. Seeing as how Susan definitely understands what it’s like to be homesick. Ian clarifies things somewhat, telling Susan that ‘the longer we leave it, the harder it will be’. Which is gorgeous character development for these two and the flip side of their ‘hey TEAM look how much we’ve all changed’ moment from the beginning of the last serial; it’s the first intimation we’ve had that they realise how difficult it will be to live normal lives after having been wanderers in the fourth dimension.

Also I need to take a moment to process what the infotext is telling me which is that ‘[u]nbeknown to the actors, at this point the production team was considering dropping both Susan and Barbara from the series’. I think if they’d married Barbara off, too, I would have set fire to the BBC.

Anyway, Susan can’t deal, so she flings herself on each of her earth-teacher-space-parents in turn and runs off to her room, presumably to sit and make creepy hexagonal Rorschach texts whilst listening to sixties pop music like she did in the unaired pilot…which I realise I have never fully addressed.

When you realise your Space Child has Issues.

Anyway, the Doctor is still playing it cool, asking them why they’re still here whilst doing a spot of casual reading. Ian gives Babs a look and tells the Doctor they’re waiting for him to carry out the checks. Which is understandable, as they are probably definitely not in 1963. The Doctor shows them some foliage on the screen; they remain sceptical; the Doctor shows them a larger view. Barbara gets excited and has a wistful moment where she says it reminds her of a holiday she once took in Somerset; the Doctor reckons that’s because it probably is Somerset. It’s definitely not Somerset.

Anyway, Ian reckons it’d be better if the Doctor came with them ‘at least to explore’; the Doctor refuses; Ian brings up that time when he took them home before and Babs chips in about Marco Polo; they laugh, but the Doctor insists that he is master of his own craft (as it were).

At this point, flattery kicks in, and the humans are shameless. The upshot is, Ian humours him about being in control (which he isn’t), and says that in case they don’t in fact meet again because the Doctor is super busy (lost somewhere in time and space) they ought to part on friendlier terms over a drink. Basically they persuade him to come to the pub.

When the Doctor tells Susan he’s going to see Ian and Barbara home safely she’s beside herself with joy and I can’t stand it. Also the humans are very cute. I would object and say that Barbara being all ‘well done, Ian’ is out of character as Babs is usually the Doctor-whisperer, but hey, Ian had to hone his skills somehow.



Outside, the team ascertains that it’s hot and rural with very few lights at dusk; Susan asks Ian why this is, and Babs cuts in on his bullshitting by observing that towns can be well spaced-out even in England. Apparently the Doctor just wants to get to the pub because he’s chivvying them along but OH Susan has tensed up and Ian has spotted the danger, too. What could it be? The Doctor reckons it’s a rabbit and rather nastily I think observes how jumpy Chesterton is getting these days and how a young man like that shouldn’t suffer from nerves. Take your toxic masculinity and shove it up your arse, Doctor.

Ian returns from the bushes with a fighty urchin; Babs protests that Ian’s hurting him, but Ian begs to differ, and yeah actually he’s just got him by the shirt. The Doctor wants to know what this kid is about but Susan chides him for being scary and tells the boy they’re his friends because of course Susan wants to be friends with everyone because she’s the loneliest kid in the universe.

The kid in question appears to have trouble standing upright and remains bent forwards like it’s a Standard Acting Stance for Frightened Urchins. Anyway, he tells them they’re in France, about 12 kilometres from Paris. The Doctor is pretty impressed with only being 100 miles out; Ian reckons distance might not be their only error.


Anyway, the Doctor wants to question the kid further, but said kid has had enough and SHOVES IAN BODILY TO THE GROUND and escapes. ‘We’ve lost him,’ observes Ian, flat on his arse. Susan wonders aloud why he was so afraid, tapping her chin with some foliage as though relishing the thought.

Meanwhile, in some sort of farmhouse, the kid is returning to do…whatever it is he does.

Then something unprecedented (maybe?) happens: the Doctor points out the house to Chesterton, who immediately asks ‘what do you make of it, Barbara?’ – WONDERS WILL NEVER CEASE. Whether or not this has happened before, it’s a welcome change from people automatically asking Ian what’s going on when he has Not A Clue.

Anyway, Babs reckons its deserted, but more importantly is ‘certain we’re some time in the past’. Which is hilariously unspecific, but yeah you go Babs with your historical knowledge. Ian suggests they may be a hundred years out as well as a hundred miles and reckons they ought to get back to the ship while they still can; the Doctor is having none of it and points out it was Ian’s idea to explore in the first place; he and Susan wander on ahead.

I like that Ian gets to have these cautious moments, and it’s interesting that the humans are usually a lot more anxious about exploring their own planet’s history than they are about exploring new planets. It’s like the absolutely alien is a safety-blanket insofar as they can just go with the flow because they have that detachment; knowing you’re in a particularly bloody period of Earth history, however, is a different kettle of fish because you have more of an idea of the worst that can happen.

Anyway, left alone in the shrubbery, the humans get to have a moment:






But really they are utterly, utterly gorgeous. I cannot express how much I enjoy all those tiny gems of conversations between the various members of Team Tardis that are scattered throughout the episodes. (Also can we just take a moment to mourn the lostness of Marco Polo? Because there are some great character development chats in that serial and I refuse to stop going on about them.) I think it’s one of the biggest losses to come out of abandoning the twenty-five-minute format: the fast-paced, forty-five-minute New Who episodes don’t often allow for quiet moments like this, and when they do give the characters time to talk, it’s always got this dramatic weight attached, and there’s often a lot of pressure on a scene in which there’s all talk and no action to justify a break from said action. I should emphasise that I’m not in any way a New Who hater—quite the opposite, in fact—and I’m aware (given what I’m about to say) of the irony of my drawing attention to this exchange in order to emphasise its significance; all I want to stress is how much I love the almost throwaway quality of these key character development moments, and how insignificant to the immediate action they are. And here of course (thank you, infotext) it’s integral to the filming process that we get this breathing space: in order for everyone to run over to the next bit of the set without a break in filming, two of the actors have to stay behind for a generous thirty seconds of character development while the rest of the cast gets ready to film on the other side of the studio. We get to see the humans ‘linger in the forest’ (no, really, thank you, infotext) to skirt around the edges of their being secretly glad not to be done with their adventures just yet, and it’s all thanks to the limitations of ‘as live’ filming in the 1960s at the Beeb.

I beg to differ, Susan. I beg to differ.

Moving on from my love-letter to the twenty-five-minute format, the Doctor and Susan are exploring the farmyard. The camera bumps into a barrel, and nobody can see what’s inside the house because it’s dark and that, and Ian’s monologue on how the place is uninhabited is cut short by the realisation that the Doctor has given up listening and found the door (which is unlocked). Maudlin! Ian and Intrepid! Doctor are a match made in heaven.

The Doctor tells Ian to take the West side search downstairs while he takes the East side searches upstairs, and scuttles off with a candlestick. Ian, however, is more interested in examining his own candlestick than exploring, and gives it to Barbara for a second opinion. (In related news, I have a new headcanon involving these two and Antiques Roadshow.) Short answer: she doesn’t know what a candlestick like that is doing in a place like this. Maybe they’ve landed on Planet Cluedo.

And OH DRESSUP TIME: Susan’s found some clothes! Which Babs pronounces eighteenth-century, despite the fact that we can see their insides and the seams reek of rep theatre period drama costumes. She also notes they’re all different sizes, just in case we can’t believe they just happened to find clothes that fit. Because apparently Jacqueline Hill found this ‘unduly convenient’. (I’m switching off the infotext now because I’m getting way too distracted.)

They also find bottles of wine (Ian, your priorities are sound), stale bread, maps, daggers, and undated official documents which it turns out are passes of some sort. At this point, I refuse to believe that neither Barbara the historian nor Susan to whom she lent a book on the French Revolution hasn’t worked it out yet, but no, Barbara remains puzzled by the presence of such documents in a dusty, abandoned house. And ugh it’s Ian who deduces it’s a link in an escape chain, because apparently he is now the expert in such matters.

The farce continues: Babs draws Ian’s attention to the fact that her document is signed by Robespierre; Ian pooh-poohs this, checks his own document, realises she’s right, and the penny drops:



WELCOME TO THE PARTY, BABS. I mean kudos for accurately dating the Robespierre years as the Reign of Terror (roll credits) but Ian shouldn't have to spell it out for you like this. Either way, DUN-DUN-DUNNNNNNN.

Anyway, the Doctor is upstairs, sneaking as is his wont, when OH NO! He’s clouted around the back of the head by assailant or assailants unknown and falls unconscious! This seems to happen a lot to One.

Downstairs, the others have changed into their eighteenth-century costumes and are looking fab. Then Babs asks Ian how she looks and a fatal error is made:



Ian just signed himself up for a world of hair-related pain in the next historical.

Oh and then Susan drops this bombshell:


Suddenly the whole Morbid Susan thing makes absolute sense. Also, the Doctor wanting to smash the aristocracy but also wanting to look fabulous in an enormous hat and lording it over his fellow revolutionaries makes perfect sense given his as-yet-non-existent history with the Time Lords. Well, in my head anyway.

Anyway, Babs and Ian are unimpressed and resolve to go and find him when—GASP!—they find themselves face-to-face with some gunslinging French aristocrats. Susan and Ian try to explain that they’re only travellers taking a break, but the less twitchy of the French guys thinks…not: ‘When you entered our hideout, you entered our lives.’ JUNKYARD FLASHBACK MUCH.


So. Very. Done.

Babs tries lying when asked if they’re alone and is immediately called out, as it transpires it was these two wot pistol-whipped the Doctor. Susan is a terrier and wants to know what they’ve done with him, but Ian holds her back…with some unfortunate hand placement.

The two aristocrats tell the Team there are only two sides in France right now and that they’re either with them or against them. Babs steps up to the plate with a simple solution: they’re not even French, so they don’t have a side. Which is…probably inaccurate as there were plenty of English people who picked a side in this conflict. However, the less twitchy guy lowers his gun, telling them grimly they’ll probably have to pick a side before they leave. Which is probably true. Susan picks up where she left off, asking where her grandfather is and looking scrappy as hell, but Ian shushes them: noises off!

Sacré bleu! It’s the proles! One of whom is probably wearing the same eyepatch as Monkey Guy’s Doppelganger from Marco Polo. I wonder where our sympathies are meant to lie in this scene, she said sarcastically.

Twitchy Guy gets hysterical. There are a few bars of the Marseilleise and after some banter with eyepatch guy which I’m assuming is an ad lib because it’s pretty rapey (‘it’s been a long time since I had a royalist to myself’), they unveil their plan. Which is basically this:


Back in the house, Susan reminds Ian about the Doctor, and he goes upstairs to look for him. Twitchy Guy loses his nerve, bolts, and runs into the soldiers; Other Guy follows him and immediately tries to assert his authority over the proles, who are pretty obedient. He indulges in some classist gloating: ‘You can give them uniforms, Lieutenant, but they remain peasants underneath.’

So they shoot him. I’m not even kidding, they just…shoot him. And then shoot the other guy offscreen. Guns and violence on Doctor Who! Blimey.

Meanwhile, Ian is looking for the Doctor, who is behind the locked door he doesn’t try very hard to unlock. A scream from Susan sends him running, and he is captured along with the others. Ian tries to play the ‘we don’t even go here’ card but is silenced; the officer threatens to kill anyone who speaks without permission. Seeing as we’ve just seen two people shot, this is no idle threat. They are marched out into the courtyard; back in the house, the Doctor is stirring.

And OH MY GOODNESS outside it looks like our heroes are going to be murdered by a firing squad (and are being oddly impassive about it). Fortunately for them, the officer reckons they should take them to Paris for a reward or for proof or whatever reason it is that they should live to fight another episode. Though not for long, it seems, for they are destined for…MADAME GUILLOTINE!


(Friendly warning: I intend to reference this musical at least once every episode. And it will be melodramatic as all fuck.)

Why do they all look so resigned? Are they so blasé these days that they just assume they'll survive certain death, or have they become overnight fatalists?

Oh and at the last minute the officer has a brainwave and decides to burn the house down. Just because. And OH NO the plinky plonky music is telling us the Doctor is now in a spot of bother because obviously the house is now on fire and smoke is coming in through the door and nobody can hear him and IT’S JUST TOO MUCH.

As they trudge along, Susan asks Babs whether there’s any sign of the Doctor; Babs turns around and spots that THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE. Drama! And the model work actually isn’t bad. And nice flame effect lighting on their faces. Babs is sure he got out; Ian hopes so for all their sakes; and OH WHAT’S THIS? The little urchin has been eavesdropping in a bush! Surely he will rescue the now coughing and passing-out Doctor?

The roof of the model falls in, and the Doctor lies unconscious on the floor. CUE THE MARSEILLEISE!


ZUT ALORS, WILL THE DOCTOR BE BURNED ALIVE? WILL THE OTHERS BE GUILLOTINED? WILL WE MEET SOME SYMPATHETIC REVOLUTIONARIES? WILL THERE BE ANY EXPLANATION AS TO THE LACK OF A LANGUAGE BARRIER? WHERE IS THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL WHEN YOU NEED HIM?

Summary (as applicable to this episode)

Does it pass the Bechdel test? Yup.

Is the gaze problematic? Nope.

Is/are the woman companion(s) dressed 'for the Dads'? No. Though Susan and Barbara finally get to show a bit of clavicle. Scandalous.

Does a woman fall over/twist her ankle (whilst running from peril)? No.

Does a woman wander off alone for the sole dramatic purpose of getting into trouble so she can be rescued later? Nope.

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

Does the Doctor/a man companion/any other man have to rescue the woman companion(s) from peril? No. Also the Doctor is the most in need of rescuing right now.

Is a woman placed under threat of actual bodily harm? Yup. Everyone is.

Is/are the woman companion's/s' first/only reaction(s) to peril gratuitous screaming? No.

Does a woman companion go into hysterics over something reasonably minor? No. Everyone is weirdly zen about the prospect of being murdered this week.

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? No.

Does a man automatically disbelieve or belittle something a woman (companion) says happened to her? No, but Ian doesn't believe Barbara when she says the papers she's found have been signed by Robespierre.

Does a man talk over a woman or talk about a woman as though she isn't there? Not that I can recall.

Does the woman companion have to be calmed/comforted by the Doctor/a man companion/a man? No.

Is a woman the first/only person to be (most gratuitously) menaced by the episode's antagonist(s)? The Doctor is the most gratuitously menaced what with being smoked alive, but everyone's for the chop as of the cliffhanger.

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? No. Ian's buttering-up-the-Doctor plan is mostly his doing, though she helps with her winsome ways.

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

Does a woman come up with a theory and is it ridiculed by the Doctor/a man? Robespierre.

Does a woman call the Doctor out on his bullshit? Not to his face, but everyone is done with his nonsense.

Does a woman get to be a badass? No.

Is the young, strong, straight, white male lead the person most often in control of the situation? Ian is mostly in control up until the revolutionaries turn up, when the guys with guns are most in control of the situation.

Is there past/future/alien sexism? Not especially.

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

Does an past/future/alien person have the hots for a woman companion and is it reciprocated? No.

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

Verdict

Some lovely character development from the humans this week, who share a dawning awareness that a) they don't actually want to go home yet and b) the longer they travel, the harder it will be for them to go back home. And it's all thanks to not being able to make too many cuts in an episode. God bless budget restrictions. Ian gets to exercise caution, which is nice, and Barbara has a weird inability to recognise eighteenth-century France, which is...well, weird. Susan continues to have heartbreaking Issues about saying goodbye to people. Meanwhile, the Doctor is being reasonably objectionable, taking the piss out of Ian for being twitchy and being touchy as hell about his inability to pilot the Tardis, though William Hartnell does such a good job of portraying that underlying vanity of the character. One isn't always likeable, but you just can't take your eyes off him. Some interesting historical bits, too, with the unflatteringly mob-like revolutionaries set against the twitchy, arrogant aristos who go to their deaths with contempt on their lips. I hope we get a more complex picture in future episodes, though, as right now we're being steered towards sympathising with the nobility, which doesn't quite sit with what we know of Ian in particular. Also, let's have more Babs and Susan knowing stuff about history, please, seeing as one lends the other a book on this very period in the first ever episode of the show.

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