Running Through Corridors: Rob and Toby's Marathon Watch of Doctor Who (Volume 1: The 60s) Read Online Free PDF Page A

more complex piece than I’d hitherto believed, the only downside being the hysteria with which poor old Carole Ann Ford and Jacqueline Hill are expected to react to everything.
    But as much as everyone fixates on the Doctor’s attempt to brain Za, a moment from the outcome to that scene strikes me as being the essence of Doctor Who. Recognizing that the travellers have shown mercy, Za tells Hur: “Listen to them, they do not kill.” If ever there’s a mantra for the show, that’s it.
    The Firemaker (An Unearthly Child episode four)
    R: There’s a bit in the previous episode where Za and Hur suspect Old Mother intends to kill the TARDIS crew, and suggest that if they prevent her from doing so, the Doctor and his companions might feel so indebted that they’ll give them fire in return. It’s a sort of Sesame Street logic that you get in a lot of children’s television – happy moralising that says that if you’re nice to people, you’ll get a reward. And all this business about the cavemen’s believing that Ian’s name is “Friend” seems part of that – you automatically know where you are with it, it’s a bit twee, and very pat, but offers clear values of decency and fair play that all the children watching should aspire to. (Even if you do wonder why the cavemen, all of whom speak fairly sophisticated English, know the word “enemy” but are so baffled by its antonym.)
    So the happy ending is set up that the Doctor will drive away Kal, show Za how to make fire, and then be set free with waves and cheers and promises (no doubt) that the Tribe of Gum will be much more genial to newcomers in future, and maybe even elect leaders with some sort of democratic system. You can see the expectation on Ian’s face – rather patronisingly, he teaches Za how to rub two sticks together, as if he knows this is the way that the story should work.
    But it doesn’t. It’s another tease on behalf of Anthony Coburn, and rather a brilliant one. Once Za’s life has been saved, and his authority has been secured, he’s an even greater threat to the travellers than he was before. Ian is left to berate himself that by giving into Za’s demands, he’s effectively demonstrated that he’s weak and vulnerable. A few weeks before The Daleks shows us the evils of pacifism, here Doctor Who is criticising appeasement. It’s worth remembering that this programme was being made in the wake of the Second World War – if the Daleks we’ll see waving a plunger next week are clearly Nazis, then there’s something about Chamberlain’s failure to secure peace at Munich with Hitler about the TARDIS crew’s dealings with the Tribe of Gum. The conclusion offered here is a bit of a shock, because Doctor Who very soon becomes a programme which (to all intents and purposes) is very liberal minded. Za ought to have killed Kal, his rival for leadership, from the moment he saw him rather than offer shelter to the only survivor from a different tribe – because outsiders are dangerous, and will challenge you. And the Doctor ought to have brained Za with a rock when he had the chance, because you can’t teach savages such concepts as friendship or loyalty.
    It’s wonderful just how dirty the regulars are at the end of the story, as they stand in the sudden brightness of the TARDIS control room, smeared with grime. It’s an element of realism we won’t see very often. But it’s also very appropriate – we’re still learning what the parameters of Doctor Who can be, and in its morals it’s a much dirtier programme than we might have supposed.
    T: Talk to actors and they’ll bemoan the state of the industry, the lack of rehearsals, the limitations on spontaneity. And watching these episodes, you’ll see another now-lost performing art that probably took half a term to conquer at drama school: the Stop-What-You’re-Doing-For-Several-Moments-So-The-Episode-Title-And-Writer’s-Credit-Can-Be-Superimposed-Over-You Masterclass. Howard