Written by Anthony Coburn | Directed by Waris Hussein | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 11/30/63
Even knowing how things will turn out okay, this episode is actually pretty tense (at least when the main characters are on screen). I noticed that when Barbara and Ian awake after the TARDIS has finished materializing, Barbara is in a chair, where Ian is left slumped on the floor - did the Doctor put her there to be a gentleman, or does he just dislike Ian? The Doctor says they've landed in the year zero, but the "yearometer" isn't calculating properly. They can't have landed in the year zero, I don't think, because these humans seem very primitive - but clearly not the first humans ever. Nor do they seem advanced enough to be alive during the time Jesus lived, which is when I'd think Anthony Coburn thought the year zero took place, I'm guessing. Who knows, though. Speaking of, we get our first Doctor Who pun, when Ian calls the Doctor "Doctor Foreman" - the Doctor responds with "Doctor who?" (I'll be tracking the number of times this happens over the course of this blog, because for whatever reason, this pun annoys me. I'm guessing Moffat has made the pun more times since he took over the show than the entire classic series. We'll find out!)
Interesting that Barbara believes they've moved before seeing proof like Ian wants. I assume it's because her mind was sufficiently blown when she walked into the TARDIS for the first time? Ian demands proof from the Doctor, and the Doctor clearly relishes rubbing it in how wrong Ian is (or will be, once he opens the TARDIS doors). Even when he goes outside, Ian is absolutely incredulous that they've moved - I'm surprised he doesn't assert that the Doctor moved them while they were passed out or something. He doesn't, though, and just kind of looks amazed until the Doctor disappears. Before he does, though, he comments that the TARDIS should have changed from a police box into something else - "dear, dear, how very disturbing," he says, and Susan is confused about it too. She explains how it's supposed to blend in with its surroundings, and has been an Ionic column and a sedan chair before. If it were supposed to blend in with its surroundings, though, why was it a police box in the junkyard? Shouldn't it have been a pile of old tires, or baby diapers or something? Interesting that it was an ionic column, before, considering what the Master later flies around in. I've got no idea why it'd ever be a sedan chair, though. Perhaps they materialized inside a broken car, once?
Once Susan, Barbara, and Ian figure out the Doctor is gone, though, Susan absolutely loses it. She is clearly terrified of something happening to her grandfather, and I also count this scene as the first time in the series Susan annoys me. I think Carole Ann Ford does a good job with what she's given for the most part (boy is she written poorly at the end of this season, though), but she gets just a little too loud when she's scared, which is unfortunate. We get our second Doctor Who pun (two in one episode! Did Moffat travel back in time and give himself the name Anthony Coburn as a pseudonym?!), Ian notes that the sand is freezing for some reason (I can't remember if this becomes important in future episodes, but it has no role here other than to maybe show that winter is coming), and they go off to look for the Doctor.
I like the line one of the caveman has as he describes the Doctor: "he is full of fire and smoke comes from his mouth" - what does this mean? The Doctor, as far as I know, wasn't smoking (unless he had a quick cigarette while I was jotting down notes and I missed it). Full of fire, though - the Doctor is definitely animated, and probably gave the caveman who captured him a mouthful before he was knocked out (which I'd have liked to see).
The Doctor is clearly terrified, though, when he awakes surrounded by cavemen. I don't remember seeing Hartnell like this later on - he wants to get out of that cave, and he wants out now. That, more than anything, sells the episode for me, because I know what the Doctor becomes, and seeing him so completely unlike the character I know is unsettling. Even so, though... when Ian, Susan, and Barbara attack the group of cavemen, he bargains for Ian's life by saying if he's killed, he will make no fire, and later apologizes and says their circumstance is all his fault. For all that I've seen people say the Doctor is no hero, yet, he's at least a good person. I know he almost kills someone in one of these episodes, but for now, he's saved Ian's life, despite not showing he likes the guy too much yet. The episode ends with Ian commenting how all the skulls in the cave they're in are split open.
I have to give Waris Hussein a lot of credit - he directs this episode (like the first episode) with aplomb. He isn't given much to work with, but a nice shot of the newly materialized TARDIS being menaced by a caveman opens the episode, and during all the caveman scenes with largely boring dialogue, he shoots the scenes with the camera peering between two cavemen, giving the impression that there are a lot of people in the cave (and that they're standing in a circle, rather than all facing the camera, which I always appreciate. Don't get used to it because it doesn't last long in this show, sadly). I can see, now, why people want to see Marco Polo so badly - I've only heard it on audio and found it dull, before, but seeing how Hussein directs these episodes, it has to be assumed that Marco Polo is at least directed very well.
"Doctor Who" Puns so Far: 2 | Tomorrow: "The Forest of Fear"
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