This episode opens well, with Iananbarbara struggling in the snow to a soundtrack of howling winds and wordless singing which is quite distinctive. Francis de Wolff as Vasor is a suitably ambiguous figure, imposing and more than a little scary as he looms over them; and then we're in the hut. This is a particularly impressive set, and very different again from anything in the previous episodes of this serial. Designer Raymond Cusick was not pleased with having to do so much extra work within the budget in this story (an inevitable consequence of David Whitaker's scheme to make Terry Nation's job manageable) and was not happy with any of the results, but I think he did a great job within the limitations.
Generally, when I'm not watching with an eye to reviewing, the sign of a good set is that I don't notice it; or rather, that I notice it in the same way that the characters do - as impressive, squalid, or whatever - instead of as wobbly or unrealistic. Every episode has had its high- and low-lights, some higher or lower than others. Here it is the hut and the outside scenery that work really well (helped by how they are shot), while the ice caves leave something to be desired. The walls do indeed look icy, but also stagelike; and the rope bridge across the chasm fails to convince.
While we're in the caves anyway, let's talk some more about them. For a start, they are home to the ice warriors! This fierce, reptilian warrior species is better known for interactions with the Second and Third Doctors, but here they make their first appearance. I've always -
What? Not those ice warriors? Ah, right, I see.
Sorry. In the script, these ice soldiers (yes, that avoids confusion) were supposed to be frozen in the ice with the key, so that they were preserved until someone thawed them out and the key could then be protected. A last-ditch defence, as it were, which makes a pulpy kind of sense. Unfortunately that proved impossible to realise, and we are left with knights who are simply stationary until the key has been taken, and then start to wake up. Which is pretty pathetic as defences go, and not helped by the comedy performances (particularly on the edge of the chasm).
Still, that same chasm is where Susan shines. She gets to show off her wits and bravery, and Carole Ann Ford demonstrates her fear and determination, helped perhaps with the former by her falling and hurting herself during a previous take. It all goes to make up for one of Nation's most thoughtless blunders with her character earlier, when Susan - who was shown in Nation's previous script to have an excellent sense of direction - leads Sabetha the wrong way. There was no call for that! It would have worked better if Sabetha (who's mainly here as eye candy anyway and has no personality other than what Katherine Schofield gamely injects) had got it wrong and used her greater age to push Susan into following her. Still, all the writers have plainly given up on the unearthly child and are just waiting for the opportunity to dump her somewhere out of the way, probably with some stupid Earth ape to look after her. Tch.
I think the pressure must have been getting to Nation, because Susan's not the only one shortchanged by the script. In two blatant instances of "stupidity for the sake of plot", our heroes find the keys and travel dials in a drawer in Vasor's hut - and leave them there! Then Vasor himself goes back to the hut - where he has always been careful to lock the door - and leaves it unlocked. Double tch.
Which leaves a chunk of the action that I've put off until last:
Violence Against Women, part 1: What Are You Implying?
The scenes where Vasor gets rid of Ian (after an educational bit about handling frostbite which is more useful than the average) have a certain tone to them. The building menace for Barbara from Vasor is palpable, even when he's being helpful; and when he declares that he's tired of waiting I thought it was very clear that he intended to rape her. I was therefore surprised to learn that director John Gorrie hadn't read it like that! The only other possible interpretation I can see is cannibalism, given Vasor's comment about fattening Barbara up, and this would put it in the same territory as Shockeye's scenes with Peri in The Two Doctors, which are also uncomfortable.
I don't quite know why - maybe it's some sort of trendy lefty middle-class male guilt by association sort of thing - but I find this sort of violence hard to watch, even when it's threatened rather than actual. Partly it's the message it gives, that women are vulnerable, which just fits with the general pattern of sexism; partly it's because it focuses on the result of objectifying women without speaking about that process; maybe there's even an undertone of twisted eroticism. But for me it has an emotional weight that is disproportionate: elsewhere in this serial I've seen people falling off cliffs, stabbed, strangled, and pushed into concentrated acid without minding, so what is the big deal?
Perhaps it hits closer to home. Nobody I've known well has been deliberately killed (though I had occasionally chatted in the street with a man from further down our road who was subsequently murdered, and even that was horrible); whereas almost every woman who I or my wife know well enough to talk to about this sort of thing have faced - at the minimum - some sort of sexual harassment. I also have an eleven year old daughter, and if the scene with Vasor and Barbara didn't bother you try rerunning it in your head with Susan replacing her teacher. Not good.
It's a subject I will need to tackle again. Maybe by the time I do I'll have figured out a bit more. Still, there's no doubt that the scene is effective, and excellently acted by Hill and de Wolff.
Where Were They Then?, part 1: A Holiday for the Doctor
Changing track, let's look at the timing of production for the first year of the show. In the year from 27th September 1963, when the pilot was made, the cast and crew recorded 50 episodes; this includes the pilot, the remounted episode from serial B, and two episodes of a later story that were combined into one. What's more, they've still got four more episodes to shoot before they take a production break. Whichever way you look at it, that's a hell of a schedule! I've commented on the regulars looking tired, and one solution to ease the pressure a little was to book in holidays for the cast, writing their characters out for an episode or two. The first to get away for a while was William Hartnell.
Hartnell wasn't as old as his character, and wore a wig to exaggerate his age, but he was no longer a young man. He was the one most affected by fatigue, and a fortnight away during this episode and the last was probably (ahem) just what the doctor ordered. We'll see if it's made any difference next time...
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 2nd May 1964
Viewers: 10.4 million
Chart Position: 20
Appreciation Index: 60
Rating:
5/10.
Next Time:
Sentence of Death.
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