The First Doctor: 'The Daleks'

In my previous post, I mentioned that the original pilot of An Unearthly Child had been scrapped. Fortunately, this is not the case, as a closer inspection of the BBC DVD reveals that the pilot is included a special feature, so I may revisit this at a later point.

But now on to the next story entitled The Mutants - or The Daleks if you like - introducing the eponymous and most iconic of the Doctor's foes. Frankly, for something which has such profound resonance throughout Who history, I didn't think a great deal of this seven-part story. I suspect that my viewing was somewhat jaded by the fact that my first encounter with this story was via Peter Cushing's Doctor Who and the Daleks. Whilst I generally do prefer the slower pacing of classic Who stories, this one does feel rather stretched out. The Cushing film does a much better job retelling of this classic tale in just over an hour and twenty minutes, and in glorious technicolour.

The narrative seems all a bit stitched together and hack-handed. The Daleks and Thals were once at war with one another, before effectively wiping out the ecosystem of their planet, Skaro. There is a lot of travelling back and forth between the Dalek city and the Thal camp as the Doctor and companions get entangled in the local politics. Then some more travelling. Then some more. Some people get sick, and someone does some more travelling to get radiation drugs. Ian acts in a manly manner by threatening a Thal woman and forcing a hitherto peaceable species to re-discover violence (the very thing that got them into their current predicament). Whilst he seems to be taking the moral high ground in this, Ian's actual intention is to force the Thals to help him and Barbara break into the Dalek city to recover the McGuffin which will allow them to get the fuck off of Skaro. In this respect Ian comes off as the typical embodiment of British colonial rule: a bunch of haughty and self-satisfied school teachers smugly intent on undermining indigenous cultural values and exploiting indigenous labour under the guise of moral progess and advancement. Mind you, the Thals are so lacking in character that you're not really that bothered. Similarly, the Daleks don't feel very scary or threatening - about as much so as a tea cosy.

Their true terror is yet to be revealed in their later, second appearance in Who. Sometimes you just wish they'd get on with the job of exterminating the insipid Thals so we can all move on to the next story.The final confrontation against the Daleks, who are about to flood the planet of Skaro with radiation in order to kill the Thals is both a mess and lacks believability: somehow, someone does  something to switch off the power in the Dalek city. The Daleks - all three of them  - are defeated by being pushing over by some Thals. End of.

 

Now that's what I call a Dalek...

Still, there are some interesting visuals (especially the first view of the Dalek city) and the set design is rather good. The right note of horror is sounded at various points (some memorable moments during the trek by Ian, Barbara and the Thals past the lake of mutations to the Dalek city). The Doctor's character is still on something of a developmental trajectory. He continues to display the same unpleasant and unlikeable characteristics first encountered in 100,000 BC: on this occasion stubbornly risking the lives of his fellow travellers (including that of his own granddaughter) by sabotaging the Tardis. However, towards the end of the story we begin to see a glimmer of what he will later become - still stubborn, pompous and irascible, but of with a keen strand of nobility cutting through this. Unfortunately, quite a few stories to go before we get to the next Dalek story and - in my mind  -  a true classic: The Dalek Invasion of Earth.