Episode 7: The Escape

Synopsis:

A terrified Susan realises that she cannot remain in the safety of the TARDIS. She must take the container of drugs back to the Dalek city to save her grandfather and the two teachers. As she leaves the ship, she is confronted by a tall blond-haired man. He introduces himself as Alydon, of the Thal people, and he wishes her no harm. Susan tells him of what has happened to them since they arrived on this planet. Alydon reveals that he had left the drugs for them deliberately, and they are used against radiation sickness. He is intrigued to learn about the city and the Daleks. His people have come here for food after suffering failed harvests, and they hope to approach the Daleks for help. he gives Susan a second box of drugs, in case the Daleks keep the first for themselves.

Back in their cell in the city, Susan tells the others about her encounter. The Daleks had initially appeared to retain both sets of drugs, but then seemed to change their mind.

The reason for this becomes apparent when the Daleks summon Susan to their control room. Through surveillance cameras in their cell they have learned about the Thals, and have decided to help them. They want Susan to write a note inviting the Thals to the city the next day to collect provisions. They refuse to let Susan take it to them in person, and she is suspicious of their motives in wanting to offer this assistance. Back in the cell, the recovered Doctor, Ian and Barbara agree. They must try to escape.

They note the movements of their guard who brings food and water, and formulate a plan - Ian and Susan first breaking the camera.

Alydon is joined by more of his people and they decide to set up their camp next to the TARDIS. Their leader, Temmosus, has hopes that the Daleks will help them, as beings of such advanced scientific ability must be advanced in other ways. Alydon is a little more cautious, whilst his friend Ganatus is even more suspicious. They are alarmed to hear that Susan described herself and her friends as "prisoners" of the Daleks. However, they are relieved to read the note that Susan had written when it is found at the edge of the city.

The Doctor and his companions have noticed that the Daleks can travel only on the city's metal floors, and the Doctor deduces that they have mastered static electricity. Susan was given a cloak by Alydon, and this might be of a material which could insulate. Barbara takes mud from Susan's shoes to smear on their guard's eye-piece.

When their guard next enters the cell, Ian uses a piece of broken camera to stop the door from closing. As the Dalek re-enters to investigate it is seized and pushed onto the cloak, cutting off its power. It becomes lifeless. As Barbara and Susan keep watch in the corridor, the upper part of the casing is opened by the Doctor and Ian. They remove the mutated creature which they find inside, wrapping it in the cloak and leaving it in the corner of the cell. Ian will get inside the casing and act as a guard to escort them to freedom. They pass out into the corridor, the Dalek being pushed or pulled by the others as Ian cannot operate it. Unnoticed behind them, the Dalek's clawed hand reaches out feebly from beneath the cloak...

Next episode: The Ambush.

Data:

Written by: Terry Nation

Recorded: Friday 29th November, 1963

First broadcast: 5:15pm, Saturday 4th January, 1964.

Ratings: 8.9 million / AI 62

Director: Richard Martin

Designer: Raymond P Cusick

Additional cast: John Lee (Alydon), Alan Wheatley (Temmosus), Philip Bond (Ganatus), Virginia Wetherell (Dyoni).

Critique:

If the first instalment of this story concentrated solely on the Doctor and his companions exploring their first alien planet together, and the second introduced the "heavies" as Nation liked to call them, then this third episode introduces us to the story's other protagonists - the friendlier Thals.

This was the first episode to be made after the series had launched, so the cast and crew already had a reasonable measure of its initial success. The first episode had done OK, but hardly set the world on fire.

This episode, however, was where the series really took off. The Survivors had seen a half million drop in viewing figures from The Dead Planet - from 6.9 down to 6.4 million. The Escape, on the other hand, hit 8.9 million. This was due to the word of mouth which the first proper appearance of the Daleks had generated. Cast and crew witnessed children in the street and in the playground impersonating their distinctive voice, with their hands held rigidly out in front. Some might have put a cardboard box on their head, or a waste paper basket. This impression-ability was one of the reasons for the creatures' success, and through them the programme's success.

The Daleks are still being developed at this stage. They don't sound like the Daleks we know, being much more chatty. They are devious, but not yet the true villains that they will become. So far they have only locked up some strangers who they are suspicious of, but now it is clear that they have something nasty planned for the Thals.

The new arrivals - the Thals - are all humanoid and good looking. As such, they just can't compete with the Daleks. Goodies just don't have the impact that baddies have. The Thals are perhaps just a bit too nice - making them a bit wet. The glimpse of the scaly-looking cloak in the darkened forest and the Daleks' description of them as being horribly mutated had set them up as another potential monster, but they have proven to be the exact opposite.

Nation's influences are starting to show now - chief of which is HG Wells' The Time Machine, especially the 1960 movie version from George Pal. The Thals are the beautiful, blond-haired Eloi, whilst the Daleks are the subterranean Moroks, who possess strange technology and both are survivors of a nuclear war. Between them arrives a traveller in time.

For the first time in the series we really see the Doctor and his companions work together to resolve their predicament. In the last story it was Ian, prompted by something Susan did, who worked out a way to scare the cave folk and so allow them to escape. Up to now the Doctor has been more of a hindrance than a help. In this episode, the Doctor and his companions put their heads together - first to work out the nature of the Daleks, and what their weaknesses might be, and then to devise the plan to overcome their guard and so escape.

Slowly, but surely, the series is starting to model itself into the one we are all familiar with.

Trivia:

• Richard Martin takes over as director from Christopher Barry. Barry had a prior job lined up, but for producer Verity Lambert this provided an opportunity to test out an inexperienced director. Martin had been involved in the show before Lambert was employed on it. He was earmarked as a director by Rex Tucker, who was looking after the project until a full time producer could be put in place. 
• Martin had come up with some strange ideas for the show - including the notion that you had to believe in the TARDIS to enter it. If you didn't believe, you just walked into an ordinary Police Box. Sydney Newman thought his ideas nonsense.
• Martin had an argument with Lambert which saw him breaking his finger when he slammed his fist on a desk in frustration.
• Nation initially considered Germanic names for the Thals. Ganatus was originally going to be called Kurt, and Temmosus was Stohl. Alydon was Vahn.
• Nation wrote the Thals as all male, and had to be asked to make one a younger woman.
• Dinsdale Landen, who later played Professor Judson in The Curse of Fenric, was due to portray Ganatus, but pulled out very late in the day.
• Alan Wheatley was a big name at the time, which pleased Lambert. It was important to show that serious actors were happy to appear in what was then considered a children's programme. Wheatley had acted opposite William Hartnell in the film version of Brighton Rock, and was well known to the public for his role as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the Richard Greene starring version of The Adventures of Robin Hood. His casting would also have helped Hartnell settle into the role.
• Australian John Lee had also worked with Hartnell in the past, in a 1959 episode of The Flying Doctor.
• A slight modification was made to the Dalek casings, when the wheels were replaced with casters which could swivel, allowing the Daleks to turn tightly on the spot.
• The Dalek claw seen in the closing moments was a gorilla glove from a joke shop, covered in Vaseline. The hand inside it belonged to Production Assistant Michael Ferguson, and had previously wielded the plunger at the conclusion of The Dead Planet, and been Alydon's hand earlier in the same episode.
• What Susan is ordered to write does not match what Temmosus reads out. Neither match what we see on the piece of paper or plastic Carole Ann Ford is writing on.
• Ray Cusick had designed a Dalek mutant as a brain with tentacles, but Lambert did not want the creature shown.
• Unless the Daleks have spare casings around, we have to assume that the mutant at the end of the episode perished. If the casings are life support units then it should die anyway after a few minutes, but the series has always been contradictory about this, with mutants running around out of their casings for lengthy periods of time (e.g. Power of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks, Twice Upon A Time and Resolution).
• One of the Daleks mentions "extermination" - the first hint of what will become their famous catchphrase.