002. "The Daleks" part 4

note: A lot happens in this episode (in a good way), so much so that I fear a play-by-play recap would be dull. Fact is, this episode in incredible in how much actually takes place, moving from action scene to action scene. In the interest of time I've condensed some parts and lingered on others. If the next episode is similar I may consider reworking the blog format to have a straight up synopsis followed by my highlights and take-aways.


002. "The Daleks" Part 4: The Ambush (January 11, 1964)

The episode gets underway with Ian figuring out how to drive the Dalek casing. The four travel down a hallway until they reach a Dalek guarding an elevator shaft. Like Han and Luke with Chewie, they pretend to be delivering prisoners to the council, but guard Dalek wasn't notified so he plunges the console to double check. Knowing this will blow their cover, Susan screams and jumps in between the Daleks, but she quickly reassures us it's just a ruse:

She awkwardly stands between the two Dalek's plungers (again, action choreography is not the strong suit here) while the guard Dalek tells Ian-Dalek to help move them into the next room.

so many dp jokes, so little time.

Once inside the elevator room the guard Dalek leaves. The Doctor disables the door by pulling a tube out of a socket (the Doctor is either a genius or Dalek technology is the most obvious thing in the universe). Ian asks for help getting out only the helmet is stuck and he's trapped inside.

I admire how quickly their plan goes to shit without relying on over the top devices. Small details such as Ian getting stuck provide major obstacles for the group to overcome. In this way, the drama stays grounded.

Back outside the guard contacts the council only to discover there are no orders to move the prisoners!

Unable to open the elevator room doors the Daleks sound the alarm and back up basically materializes out of thin air:

Thank goodness you were standing right off frame.

The alarm lets our gang in on the fact that their cover is blown. But Ian is still stuck inside his metal coffin.

The Daleks beginning cutting through the door with welders, but the three cannot get Ian free.

Ian demands that they take the elevator and flee because the Daleks have also magnetized the floor immobilizing Ian completely. As always, the Doctor is more than happy to abandon a member of his party to save his skin, but this time he has Ian's full blessing. They agree to send the lift back down once they are up.

 smell ya later, Ian.

We then see Ian frantically trying to push the lid off his Dalek suit. This shot of Ian is followed by some pretty great parallel editing of the door being cut and of the elevator shaft, along with some Susan demanding they go back for Ian.

The slowness of the elevator and the steady progress of the door cutting make for some beautiful tensions. Such simple effects go a long way to make Ian's situation seem hopeless.

Once up top, the Doctor and company send the elevator back down, but this shit is sloooow. So, you know, more tension builds.

Once the Daleks cuts through they immediately blast Ian's Dalek to pieces.

But it's empty! Ian makes it up the shaft just in time and the four are reunited.

They make their way to a window where they try to locate landmarks to find their way (more educational moments in the service of drama).

But Barbara spots a Thal walking around. And the Doctor surmises that they are about to walk into an ambush.

Cut back to the Daleks getting into their useless elevator. They are giving orders to take no prisoners.

seriously, dudes, by the time you're all upstairs they'll be long gone.

The Daleks emphasize "extermination" several times. These dudes aren't fucking around anymore.

The four try to warn the Thals but the windows are soundproof.

The new plan is for the Doctor to try and force a closed door open while Ian prepares to murder the Dalek in the lift buy dropping some modern art on it.

The frequent shots of the elevator shaft in the previous sequence not only made for effective pacing, it also clearly established spacial orientations for this neat action piece where the modern art obliterates the elevator and frightens the waiting Daleks. By this time the Doctor has gotten the door open and they make their exit.

Then we cut to the dreamy Thal hunks cautiously navigating the city.

Here there is another protracted debate about the Daleks between Alydon and his leader. The leader gets all Professor X on Alydon, telling him to cast aside his suspicions and that entering unarmed is the best argument against war....but Alydon ain't picking up what he's laying down. He has an instinct!

As if lingering on Alydon's suspicious face wasn't enough, we immediately cut to the Dalek trap, which is literally a table of food set in a room surrounded by Daleks pointing their weird jizz cannons at the table.

We then cut back to the four running through hallways until the finally get clear of the city. The Doctor is ready to run to the TARDIS, but Susan objects. They cannot abandoned the Thals to their fate. In classic Doctor fashion, he states he doesn't give a shit about the Thals and they don't matter, but Barbara interjects that it was they who gave them the anti-radiation gloves....drugs (not to mention it's kind of their fault the Thals are walking into a trap). Chivalrous Ian says he'll go warn them, but again Susan throws a fit that she must go to. They spend some time convincing her to go with the Doctor and Barbara (this sort of thing happens often now).

The following sequence is another masterfully cut moment of building tensions. The Thal leader enters the fruit-trap while Ian rushes to find him in time, all with tight closeups of the Dalek's weapons.

The Thal leader give the proverbial 'we come in peace' speech just as Ian makes his way to the fruit-trap.

For whatever reason, Ian waits until the last possible minute to warn them.

Let's not be too hasty, maybe these Daleks are alright.

By the time he warns the Thals the leader is already done for.

The ambush has begun. In a really awesome moment, the Dalek's shoot at Ian and hit a wall, turning it black and bubbly.

Unlike previous blunders, this action scene is top notch. This is because rather than focusing on visualizing the fight, the filmmakers went with an evocative montage. The fight consists of a shot of Ian hiding followed by Alydon narrowly escaping an entire column of Daleks, all while the sound of shots fired mixes with the incredible sound track of eerie percussion.

The sequence ends with a shot of the human remains of the struggle: the Thal leader's body sprawled on the fruit-trap.

Was he a good leader? Whose to say, but he didn't deserve to die like that.

Ian then bumps into Alydon and they leave the city together.

Cut to the Thals deep in the woods. The Doctor is already in with the foxy jealous Thal from earlier. She's showing the Doctor their space records.

16mm really was a universal format.

She also shows him a cosmic map that the Doctor can use to figure out where they are and possibly chart a course home (recall after the first serial that they don't have their space-time bearings in order to travel back to 1960s Britain).

This a great moment of Hartnell in top form and stands out because the Doctor has been more or less of a background figure this episode.

Suddenly a party of Thals who'd been trapped in the city return. They thank Ian for warning them and learn of their causalities, including their leader.

Even more sudden, Alydon is appointed leader and looked to for the Thal's next move. He ponders why the Daleks acted as they did. He still wants to reason with them, but Ian begins to insist there is no reasoning. When Alydon asks why they attacked them so, Ian responds with what could be Trump's campaign slogan: "A dislike for the unlike."

This becomes a speech about bigotry. Ian has to school the naive Thals about racism because the Thals literally do not understand why the Daleks would hate them. It's heartbreaking stuff.

What follows is a pretty fascinating conversation about the tenants of pacifism. It really feels like a precursor to the types of ethical debates that would define Star Trek. Ian and Barbara are shocked at the Thal's commitment to pacifism, saying they would continue to relocate if the Daleks came after them. Ian, lightyears away from the Prime Directive, argues that they may have no alternative to fighting. He even gets another snappy line: "Pacifism only works when everybody feels the same."

I appreciate the openness of the ideology of the heroes here. Too often (as in some Star Trek) the ramifications of their beliefs are buried under vague notions of progress. But here Ian and Barbara lay it all out for us to consider.

And just as Barbara begins to dig into the social contexts that allow for pacifism, the Doctor jumps in with some Thal space records explaining the Thals and the "Dals" prior to the neutron war.

They quickly discuss whether they should remind the Thals of their warrior past or if they should stay and help, but the Doctor is insistent that they leave, arguing that the Thal's affairs are not their concern. As they make their way to the TARDIS the Doctor asks Ian for that macguffin, because they actually can't start the ship without it. But Ian doesn't have it. The Daleks took it from him when they captured the four.

They're gonna hafta go back into the city!

UP NEXT: The Daleks Part 5, "The Expedition"

002. "The Daleks" part 3

002. "The Daleks" Part 3: The Escape (January 4, 1964)

The episode begins with Susan stepping out of the TARDIS and immediately taking fright with some off-screen menace. It must be that walking thermal blanket from the last episode.

That's not a blanket, that's a man, baby.

Here we get our first full glimpse of a Thal. And it turns out the Thals aren't hideous mutations. Turns out they're space hunks. Turns out the Daleks are a bunch of goddamn liars. They break the ice pretty quickly and Susan describes space hunk as "perfect" and proceeds to gab on with him about their predicament of being prisoners in the city.

Space hunk introduces himself as Alydon of the Thal race. He charms Susan instantly with his dashing looks, offering her his thermal blanket. Susan tells him all about being set free only to retrieve those anti-radiation gloves...drugs. Alydon wonders if the Daleks want the drugs for themselves and gives her a second batch to hide on her person. Then, like a gentleman, he walks her to the edge of the forest.

Back in the city the Daleks are already hatching a plan to use the four prisoners to draw the Thals to them. We don't know the reasons yet, but it's obvious these Daleks are shady as fuck, so we can probably assume its for something nefarious.

We cut to the cell. The Doctor is still out of it, but Ian is back on his feet. They ponder why the Daleks let Susan keep the hidden case of drugs (I can't imagine where she even hid that thing, it's the size of a Subway footlong). The conversation switches over to dreamy Alydon and how friendly the Thals seems to be.

He gave me his blanket and his class ring. We're going steady now.

Susan won't shut the hell up about how wonderful and amazing Alydon is. Susan's horny ramblings are interrupted by the Doctor, who declares that they have to get back to the ship.

But the dingus doesn't realize they're still in a prison cell. When this information is shared with him he promptly falls back asleep. Maybe this was just to change the topic to anything other than Alydon, Alydon, Alydon. Susan, wrapped in her new boo's blanket, begins a history lesson on the Thals and how they wish to forge an alliance with the Daleks for survival because they're on the brink of starvation.

As per usual, the Daleks are listening to every word with their clearly visible CCTV.

These security camera transitions between the cell and the Daleks are tight. It's the kind of stuff you come to see in The Matrix or most Tony Scott films. While great filmmakers like David Fincher utilize computer graphics to make these movements more fluid, I'll always appreciate a well-edited sequence like this that uses smart cuts to travel through a camera into a circuit board in order to move from one room to another.

Here we get to see the complexity of the Dalek's strategies. They formulate a plan to let the Thals starve to death, but then decide that luring them into the city using the prisoners is more advantageous. Furthermore, they concoct a plan to lull the four into a false sense of security through kindness and time.

And oh boy is Dalek false kindness charming.

Dalek hospitality.

A Dalek brings a tray with water, thus achieving the false sense of security they desired. They take Susan, but inform the rest that it's only so that they can help the Thals "which is what you wanted".  The three are confused as to how the Daleks figured this out. Apparently they've yet to notice the camera. Even though its the only thing other than the bench in that whole room.

We then cut to one of the greatest shots of anything:

I can see farther when I stand like this.

Here we meet the rest of the Thals, who are Aryan supermen straight out of a Leni Riefenstahl, but dressed up in the garb from a William Cameron Menzies film.

The race of super hunks gives us something to look at while we get an information dump: Thals used to be warriors, but have changed their ways for survival. They hope and wonder if the Daleks have also changed. Daleks used to be teachers, they say.

dreamy af.

Even though there's a large crowd of Thals, we only focus on four: Alydon, an elder leader of some benevolence, a childishly jealous super fox, and another dreamy hunk who makes lots of sexual innuendos (pictured above).

Meanwhile, our pal Alydon incurs the jealousy of a woman when he tells their elder that he met with the young girl (Susan). The jealous women lashes out by criticizing Alydon for not giving the extra drugs to a man. Nice, lady. Real nice.

Alydon tells them they are prisoners of the Daleks and that the Daleks seem to be a highly suspicious people. This is cause for alarm.

Then they switch back to the whole jealous woman thing, spurned on by a debate over whether Susan is a woman or a child. The logic of the elder is flawless: if Susan is a child than Alydon can't get his dick wet, so jealous Thal woman has no cause to be jealous. Seriously, this is what they talk about. This will most likely come into play later if and when the Thals meet up with the four prisoners.

Susan better watch her back.

But after the Thal men finish discussing who owns which pussy they turn to the plan Alydon made with Susan: she will bring their case to the Daleks and send word. If the word is not signed by Susan then they will know the Daleks are hostile. It assumes a lot, but it translates to a short 24 minute episode pretty well.

Back in the city the Daleks dictate their phony message for the Thals to Susan. But before it's sent out they must examine it.

Their examination of the note raises several questions that I've been holding off on. Namely, if they clearly cannot use pen and paper then why do they have it? Their little toilet plunger arms seem severely limited as tools, but they seem to posses a number of things that require fingers and opposable thumbs to operate. Just one of the many mysteries of Doctor Who I suppose.

While there are a few more moments with the Thals (showing them receiving the false note) and some more moments of the Daleks, the rest of the episode is really devoted to watching the four hatch an escape plan and execute it.

There are too many details for me to get into, and my account of them would be rather pedantic, so what follows is a condensed summary. They finally discover the camera and pretend to get into an argument so the Daleks think they're divided. This diversion is also used to destroy the camera without seeming so deliberate.

Once it's broken (and the Dalek's don't believe for a second that it was an accident) the four begin scheming. This inaugurates a truly ingenious sequence that plays out in real time. It starts with the four deciding to observe a Dalek from every possible to angle so as to gain contextual clues as to how to best them.

I recall reading somewhere that the initial idea for Doctor Who was conceived as an educational program for children. With the exception of fire-making in the previous episode, that concept hasn't really been apparent up until this point, when the show suddenly takes a real time survivalist feel rooted in direct observation of the immediate surroundings. All four of the characters participate in drawing conclusions from immediate observation and then devising a simple plan for escape. The Dalek's must run on static electricity so by using Susan's blanket they can immobilize one. They can mix food and dirt with water to make mud and blind the Dalek's periscope. They can strategically place the macguffin in the door to prop it open. It all has a sort of Magic School Bus feel, with the Doctor as Ms. Frizzle.

Give it a rest, Arnold.

But what makes this sequence so thrilling is its utter lack of didacticism. It plays out with a heart-pounding attention to the passage of time. At any moment their plan could fall apart or an army of Daleks could appear. The emphasis on their limited real world surroundings makes the drama even more thrilling: what I could never stand about Flash Gordon or Star Wars is that there is always some magical deus ex machina to help them out of a jam. Here it's just the brains and tenacity of two school teachers and a sociopath space doctor and his granddaughter.

The sequence is also helped by the minimalist soundtrack of thumping percussion. When they capture the Dalek, its frantic cries for help make it sound even more terrifying. It's not just an evil robot but an animal willing to do anything to survive. Once captured, the Doctor and Ian open its lid.

And the look of putrid revulsion on Ian's face really sells the the imagined Dalek.

Who put meat in the compost?

With Susan and Barbara standing guard, the Doctor helps Ian remove whatever is inside with the thermal blanket (that prop is getting a lot of mileage here). Once removed, Ian gets inside the Dalek casing and the four of them slowly proceed down the hallway, after Ian practices his best Dalek impression.

The image of the four pensively moving down the hallway would have been cliffhanger enough, but the episode cuts back to the cell to reveal the faintest glimpse of the Dalek hand, revealing both its anatomy and the fact that it's alive IT'S ALIVE.

I might be getting in the habit of saying something like this after every episode, but this shit keeps getting better and better. The entire escape sequence from planning to execution is easily among the highlights of this project so far (I know, I know I'm only like seven episodes in, but whatever). I'm really starting to wonder about all those people who warned me about the "slowness" and "roughness" of the early show.

UP NEXT: The Daleks Part 4, "The Ambush"