Written by Terry Nation | Directed by Christopher Barry | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 12/28/63
Fitting that the last episode of Doctor Who's first year on television introduces the Daleks in full. Sure, no one making the show at the time knew the importance of this episode, but the number of viewers jumped millions for the next episode, so clearly there was buzz surrounding this one. So, we start with the observation by the Doctor that the ink on the printout he's looking at is still wet (good ol' retro-futurism - printers existing in space years and years in the future - ha!). But clearly this means something is still living here (the viewer knows this, considering the cliffhanger from last episode). They find a Geiger counter, and realize they've all got radiation poisoning (quite a threat for the first futuristic episode of a science fiction show, I must say). The Doctor says they have to get back to the ship, but in doing so, admits there's nothing wrong with it and they can leave any time - he just wanted to explore the city. Ian is understandably pissed. But he's holding the fluid link - and refuses to give it back to the Doctor if they don't go look for Barbara, and Susan agrees with him (which the Doctor is not happy about). They leave the room, and we see them.
There are four of them, all facing the door. There's a moment of silence, as if the two groups are sizing each other up, before one of the Daleks (as of yet unnamed onscreen) tells the group, very unemotionally, to follow him. Ian tries to run the other direction, and is shot and his legs are temporarily paralyzed. The three are taken to a cell, where Barbara is already locked up.
As they're discussing what is going on, Barbara wonders if there's anything "inside" the creatures. Susan tries to stifle a laugh, as if Barbara couldn't be farther from the truth. Well, Susan, as we'll see soon, you're wrong! Curious, though, why Barbara thinks that. Perhaps she's not a big sci-fi fan and isn't really aware of robots, or thinks such a thing couldn't possibly exist? I take it by Susan's laugh that she thinks they're robots, so clearly robots must exist in this universe, even if we haven't seen any yet.
The Daleks, for whatever reason, assume the Doctor is the leader of the group, and take him out of the cell for questioning. They make him kneel before them (okay, they tell him to sit, but Hartnell kneels instead, but it just seems so much more epic to think the Daleks forced the Doctor to kneel before them on their first meeting, doesn't it?), where the Daleks and the Doctor start learning about each other. The Daleks think the Doctor is a Thal, an ancient enemy of the Daleks, and the Doctor finds out how the world they're on became irradiated - a nuclear war between the Daleks and the Thals. The Daleks think the Thals must be horribly mutated - but since they consider the Doctor is a Thal, what do they think Thals should actually look like? When the Doctor mentions the TARDIS, one Dalek says "TARDIS? He is becoming delirious. I do not understand his words." This means this is definitely the first time the Doctor and the Daleks have met (which is fitting, since, you know, it is in production order, too).
The Doctor explains this to his fellow adventurers, and unfortunately Hartnell utters his most major line fluff yet, "anti-radiation gloves. Er, drugs." This one seems to be retconned by fans as just occurring because the Doctor is super sick from the radiation (and is gently mocked in Mark Gatiss' "An Adventure in Space and Time" fifty years later).
The drugs that were left outside the TARDIS in the last episode must be the anti-radiation drugs the Daleks mentioned the Thals having, so Susan must go back and get them since she's least affected by the radiation so far. She explains that she or the Doctor must unlock the TARDIS, because there's 21 different holes in the TARDIS lock, and if you get it wrong, the lock will melt. The Doctor is way more worried about security in his first incarnation than later ones, it seems, considering he just has to snap his fingers to open the TARDIS doors in the future (though we've only seen the Doctor open with a snap of the fingers for the Doctor and Clara thus far that I can remember). So, Susan leaves to go get the drugs. We're shown the Daleks plotting to just take the drugs from Susan when she gets back for their own use, saying they'll let the prisoners die.
Susan runs in place while production staff hit her with branches and scroll a background behind her for a bit, she reaches the TARDIS, and the credits roll as she heads out the door to reunite with her friends.
The Daleks are a great bit of design by Ray Cusick, and it's a shame he didn't get more fame and fortune for creating 50% of the bit that's interesting about the Daleks (their design. The other 50% is their voices. Sorry, Terry Nation! I think you'll be fine with how much money you make during your lifetime, and your estate beyond). I can see why people tuned in next week, though - this is a tense episode, not just because of the awful radiation poisoning, but seriously, what the hell are those things?! Even after you're given some backstory about them, they are still weird and unsettling. As much as Daleks become overused throughout both the classic and new series of Doctor Who, when they do work, they work very, very well.
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "The Escape"
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