There's an odd parallelism at work in this episode. It opens with the Doctor and companions ambushed by the Tribe of Gum and a shadowy close-up of Ian shouting "Get back!" immediately followed by a shadowy close up of caveman Horg saying "They are coming". After their attempt to escape from the Cave of Skulls last episode, the time travellers are captured once more. This parallel, back-and-forth is the narrative rhythm of the episode.
Most impressive about this final episode of the story is the pacing: as soon as the Doctor and his companions are brought back to the cave then the Doctor leads the Tribe into driving out Kal, who murdered the Old Woman. They are imprisoned in the Cave of Skulls. Ian makes fire. Za and Kal fight. Ian gives Za the fire - but Za refuses to let them go. They set fire to skulls and engineer an escape. They run through the Forest of Fear chased by the fire-wielding tribe back to the safety of the TARDIS.
Somewhere in this is political commentary of a sort. Last episode, the Doctor was jealous of the way that Ian assumed leadership of their group, but in this episode, wisely, Ian insists that the Doctor is their leader. It's also Ian that tries to plant the idea of collectivism in Za's mind when he explains, "Remember, Kal is not stronger than the whole tribe." I'm not actually sure if this is something that Za doesn't already understand. The tribe already work collectively when they chase after the Doctor and companions. It seems that they only seem to send the leader out to hunt (and, perhaps, this is associated with the way that the leader is the only one who has knowledge of fire and of cooking meat). Although Za shares the fire (Ian made) with the tribe, there's no indication that Za has any inclination of sharing the technology of making fire with anyone else. Power is conferred on the leader by the tribe and is determined by carefully guarded knowledge of the technology of fire.
These ideas about individual leadership and collectivism as well as authority and the control of technology must reflect Sixties anxieties about nuclear weapons. No doubt in the next adventure, The Daleks, we'll see these concerns developed.
There are moments when the Doctor acts more as we expect of his today. He uses his wits to trick Kal into showing a blood-covered knife and admitting the murder of the Old Woman. Then leads the tribe in throwing stones and driving Kal out the caves. On the other hand, the Doctor's instincts in this episode are poor. He's convinced that they can bargain with Za for their freedom and tells Ian: "Give him [Za] a chance. Let him show the tribe fire, establish himself as leader, then he'll let us go." Za doesn't.
The burning skulls are a gruesome, macabre touch. As is the violence of the fight between Za and Kal which ends with Za ferociously crushing Kal's head with a rock and then grunting like a beast as he drags Kal's corpse across the cave to a pile of skeletal remains. The editing of the fight scene is tight: close-ups of the Doctor and his companions are intercut with more filmic fight action between the two cave men. There's even a point where it looks like Kal bites Za. Brutal.
I have to admit I've enjoyed this first Doctor Who story. It's hard for the Tribe of Gum episodes to follow the excellent opening, An Unearthly Child - but they do so solidly. And convincing. Rather than send Ian and Barbara off on a technologically advanced adventure on another planet involving aliens, the production team rightly followed our first experience of the brightly-lit TARDIS' futuristic interior with a dark, prehistoric, primitive setting. (Although it makes the ancient past of humanity - if, indeed, this is Earth - look very alien.)
What I also enjoy is the seriousness of the show at this point. We are a long way from the cartoonish tone of the current (2023) series. There's a palpable sense of dread and threat that doesn't ever go away.
While Ian's character as the hero of the show emerges and the Doctor's cryptic, equivocal character helps drive off Kal, the female characters contribute little. Barbara has a few lines to reassure Ian after he regrets giving Za fire. Susan plays with a skull which enables Ian to conceive of a plan to escape (there's certainly no reason why Susan, as an intelligent alien, couldn't come up with the idea of setting the skulls alight). Neither female is a Cathy Gale (that's over on ITV) and I wonder whether we'll see any of the female companions acting with agency until the mid-1970s?
One thing we learn is that the Doctor doesn't have complete control of the TARDIS: "You see, this isn't operating properly. Or rather, the code is still a secret. When you put the right data, precise information to a second of the beginning of a journey, then we can fix a destination, but I had no data at my disposal." At this point, in 1963, viewers must have wondered why he doesn't have access to the code to control the time machine. Later we'll find out, of course, that the TARDIS doesn't technically even belong to the Doctor. Also. both the Doctor and Susan are terrible at reading instrument displays on the TARDIS console. As soon as they look away... the radiation gauge moves into DANGER.
Next week: The Dead Planet.
No comments:
Post a Comment