Episode 121: The Savages (3)

Synopsis:

The Doctor has been taken to the laboratory where Jano has ordered that his lifeforce be drained.

As the process begins, the Doctor passes out...

Chief scientist Senta continues to argue with Jano about his plan to take on all of the Doctor's drained lifeforce himself, instead of sharing it amongst a group as is the normal practice. The leader points out that if this transference is successful, they can do the same with other time travellers - Steven and Dodo.

They, meanwhile have been taken to a valley lined with caves, and Chal explains that this is where they live. The guards from the city dare not venture into the darkness of the tunnels. Tor reports that the guards are out searching for the newcomers. He argues with Chal about helping them - fearing the guards will come closer because of them. They spot Exorse approaching.

Within the tunnels, Wylda speaks up for Steven and Dodo and Tor leaves. 

Within minutes, he is cornered by Exorse who questions him. He inadvertently gives their location away.

Exorse enters the rock passages and forces Steven, Dodo and Chal further and further into the caverns - until they reach a dead end. Steven has been observing the light-guns of the guards, and has an idea. When they first arrived they had been given gifts by the Elders. Dodo's had been an ornate hand mirror.

As Exorse closes in and opens fire, Steven uses the mirror to reflect the weapon's beam back onto himself, paralysing him. Tor wants to kill him, but he is taken prisoner. However, he is impressed by Steven's actions and now accepts him.

In the transference laboratory, Senta clears the room of assistants and begins the process of feeding the Doctor's lifeforce into Jano.

Steven now wishes the Savages to lead him back to the city. Nanina will look after Exorse. She protects him from Tor, and the guard begins to see that that these people are not so different from his own kind after all.

Chal leads Steven and Dodo to the exit which leads to the laboratory, where he and his people are released after transference. They overpower a guard with Exorse's captured light-gun. Chal remains behind as the Doctor's companions enter the city.

In the lab, Jano has now absorbed the Doctor's lifeforce. Senta is alarmed to hear his leader speak of Steven and Dodo as his friends, and he begins to adopt some of the Doctor's vocal mannerisms.

After the scientist has left, he contemplates smashing the equipment before. He is deeply troubled by some of the ideas running through his mind - ideas which are new to him.

Dodo worries that their progress is too easy. They are unaware that Captain Edal and Senta are observing them on a monitor nearby. When it looks like they are hesitating to advance, Edal orders that the Doctor be released to encourage them to move further along the corridor.

On seeing their friend, Steven and Dodo rush forward to support him. Dazed, he can barely stand.

Edal and Senta now seal the time-travellers into the corridor and begin pumping it full of a paralysing gas...

Data:

Written by Ian Stuart Black

Recorded: Friday 27th May 1966 - Riverside Studio 1

First broadcast: 5:35pm, Saturday 11th June 1966

Ratings: 5 million / AI 48

Designer: Stuart Walker

Director: Christopher Barry

Critique:

The Savages provides a second opportunity in which to have replaced William Hartnell as the Doctor, had they so wished it at the time. It had been a definite plan by Tosh and Wiles to have the Toymaker alter his appearance to allow for a new actor to play the Doctor. Here, the Doctor's personality and moral stance are transferred into Jano, and had they cast the new Doctor in this role then the Doctor's old body could have died but he would have carried on in this new one, very much the same character.

Whether this was ever considered, we do not know.

What this episode does provide is a potential reason for the Doctor's forthcoming regeneration. Already weakened by the effects of the lifeforce-draining machine, the last straw would have been the energy draining effects of Mondas to finally trigger the process. 

It's unlikely this was considered either, but many fans have adopted the idea in retrospect. The first regeneration was the result of cumulative effects - the lifeforce transference, the Cyberman energy drain, combined with simple old age.

Rehearsals commenced on Monday 23rd May, the day after location filming took place on the next story - The War Machines. Hartnell was taken out of rehearsals on Thursday 26th for more filming, as he had very little to do in this episode. He has no real dialogue to memorise as he's comatose for much of the running time.

Instead, the actor spent time coaching Frederick Jaeger in some of his physical and vocal mannerisms, so that he could demonstrate the way in which the Doctor's personality was taking Jano over.

Geoffrey Frederick rejoined the production, Exorse having been absent from Episode 2.

In studio, the main new set was the cave complex inhabited by the Savages. This was decorated with Aztec-style wall paintings. As well as the main cavern, there were a number of rock passages, and the evening's recording breaks were used mainly to reposition rocks to make it look like the passages were more extensive. This set was accessed via steps to the rear.

In the laboratory, Jaeger sat with a large helmet over his head, with the spinning disc hovering above - the prop which was placed over the victims of the process when strapped to the medical gurneys.

The corridor set was designed as T-junction to allow for a variety of camera angles.

The last recording break was to allow the crew to flood the city corridor set with dry ice.

The use of this in large quantities had led Chris Barry to elect to record the first eight scenes of the fourth episode in this studio session - so an extra half hour had been set aside for this, resulting in a 10:15pm finish. 

The reasoning was that had they used a lot of dry ice in the opening part of the session the following week, they would have had trouble clearing it all away before recording the remainder of Episode 4.

Trivia:

• The ratings take a slight dip this week - down just over half a million viewers - though we are now into the summer period. The appreciation figure remains consistent with other instalments of the serial.
• It was around this time that Terry Nation entered into negotiations with the BBC for a stand-alone Dalek serial, through his Lynstead Productions company. He was due to finish working on the adventure series The Baron in the autumn, and hoped that this would begin production then. So confident was he that this would proceed that he had bought the Dalek props which had been used in the Curse of the Daleks stage play which had run in London. He would have rented them to the BBC to use.
• Michael Craze and Anneke Wills signed their contracts to play new companions Ben and Polly in the week that this episode was in rehearsal.