The Savages Episode 2

The one where the Doctor stands up against the Elders' experiments...

I've got to get straight back on to a subject that's preoccupied me ever since The Chase: that of how damn bloody annoying Steven Taylor is. Before I embarked on this epic episodic expedition through the history of Doctor Who, I didn't really have a strong opinion of Steven either way. I had a view of him as being a forthright young man, but that's about it. So few of his stories actually exist in full that it can be hard to get a hold on the true character.

But watching and listening to everything through has given me a much clearer idea as to what Steven is like, and I really don't like him! I've mentioned before how self-centred he can be, how he likes to be the one in the right and rarely accepts other people's opinions on face value. But it's the way he treats his fellow female companions which annoys me the most, and Dodo most of all.

Another revelation for me in experiencing these episodes sequentially is that Dodo really is not a poor companion, at all. Jackie Lane has fire and passion in every performance she gives, and despite the fluctuating accent, Dodo comes across as much more likeable and fun than Steven ever does. Maybe Steven, despite being a presumably enlightened space pilot from the future, is simply a misogynist, and that's that? "Not even Dodo would be as stupid as that," says Steven when wondering if she's disappeared through a forbidden door. "If it isn't allowed, Dodo would be the first in the queue." Yes, Steven! Yes, that's what the best Doctor Who companions do - they explore, they're curious, they take risks, perhaps get into danger. What the best Doctor Who companions don't do is moan about where they are, who they're with, and what they're doing. Gah!

I'll move on. I just hope we can get rid of the grouchy mansplainer soon. Dodo's exploration of the laboratory is really well directed by Christopher Barry, and the whole transference procedure sounds to be unsettling and spooky, with its bubbling vats of black liquid and whirring equipment. What Senta is doing to Nanina sounds horrific - he's literally draining the life force from her, to a point where she's not quite dead, so that she can recover and be drained all over again in the future. That's disgusting!

Jackie Lane is on fiery form here, giving the scientists a good tongue-lashing and the soundtrack gives the impression she's physically fighting back, pushing furniture in their way. "You keep your hands to yourself! I don't know what you do in here, but whatever it is I don't like it... You'd better keep back! This equipment must cost a packet. Keep back or I'll smash the lot!" Attagirl! I instantly had visions of the magnificent Barbara Wright smashing the Morphoton brain jars in The Keys of Marinus, and the Seventh Doctor threatening to smash the Rani's equipment with his brolly in Time and the Rani.

Dodo is an independent thinker, someone who does not merely accept things, but questions them until she's satisfied. She's not a Yes Girl, she's a Why Girl. Surely the Doctor's perfect travelling companion?

I love how the Doctor at first appears to be completely taken in by Jano's stories of scientific achievement, and is keen to share his own discoveries with the Elders. He prevents Dodo from talking about what she's seen in the laboratory, and manipulates the situation so that the three of them can return to the TARDIS, seemingly to fetch some scientific equipment to share with Jano. But really, he's sussed this community of crackpots already, and hasn't been fooled at all. The thing is, until they come across the ailing Wylda, I wonder whether the Doctor's intention is simply to return to the TARDIS and leave, or whether he intended to stay and help the "savages"?

From the moment the Doctor finds Wylda dying in the scrubland, William Hartnell is magnificent. The outrage and disgust he feeds into every line is powerful, and so life-affirmingly Doctorish. Edal's treatment of Wylda as a barbarian riles the Doctor: "What are you doing? Leave this man alone. He'll probably die." He takes Edal to task over the language he's using. Wylda and his people are not barbarians or creatures, "They are men. Human beings, like you and me. Although it appears at the moment that you're behaving in a rather sub-human fashion."

The Doctor of 100,000 BC or The Daleks would have left Wylda for dead, fled back to the TARDIS and swiftly departed. But here we can see just how far the Doctor has come, how much he has changed through his adventures. He has witnessed great evils, and now believes that he must stand up to those evils, as a principle. "Indeed I am going to oppose you," he tells Jano. "Just in the same way that I oppose the Daleks or any other menace to common humanity!"

Hartnell's short but impactful scene with Frederick Jaeger as Jano are wonderful, packed full of lines which define Doctor Who. The way Hartnell delivers lines with an indignant growl ("Exploitation indeed! This, sir, is protracted murder!"), or with a very Doctorish strength of character when faced with impending threat ("I think you have forgotten one thing, gentlemen! My feelings in this matter. I will not submit to your nauseating experiments. I am going out of that door, so don't try to stop me.") There are some really fist-pumping moments in this episode, and again it's a crying shame we cannot see Hartnell's performance.

The episode ends with another cracking cliffhanger. Ian Stuart Black has raised the quality of the writing we've had just recently (while Donald Cotton's work on The Gunfighters had wit, there wasn't much finesse, while Brian Hayles may well have written The Celestial Toymaker in his sleep), and as the Doctor has his life force drained out of him, we really do fear for his life.

By the way, I got a pathetic little thrill when I heard Senta say they must record the details of the Doctor's transference on "channel double-A double-one". The Savages' production code was AA, and this is episode II...

First broadcast: June 4th 1966

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: William Hartnell gives the Doctor character-defining qualities which we take for granted these days. His anger and outrage at the Elders' lifestyle is spine-tingling.
The Bad: The Doctor and Dodo have active opinions and actions in this story. Steven Taylor does not. What's he for?
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★☆

NEXT TIME: Episode 3...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode 1; Episode 3; Episode 4

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-savages.html

The Savages soundtrack is available on BBC CD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Original-Television-Soundtrack/dp/0563535024