The Firemaker (100,000 BC Episode 4)

The one where Susan actually has a good idea for an escape...

The Firemaker is probably the least of the three prehistoric episodes of this serial, with Waris Hussein's so far wonderful, imaginative direction faltering somewhat at the final hurdle. But we still have the ingenious characterisation of Anthony Coburn's script, and here we see the Doctor using his cunning to turn the tables on their captor Kal.

The Doctor tricks Kal into showing the tribe his knife, with Old Mother's blood on it ("This knife shows what it has done", he asserts), and the tribespeople realise their new leader killed an elder to steal his power. This is the first time we see the Doctor topple somebody from their lofty tower, the first in a very long line of overthrown governments and fascist leaders.

The murderous Kal may be driven out (by a hail of rocks and stones, no less), but Za is not grateful. Instead, he is greedy, and imprisons the strangers again. Of the Cave of Skulls, the Doctor says: "This place is evil", which says a lot about the degrees of evil he's encountered so far in his life. Just wait a couple of weeks, Doctor, and then you'll really know what evil is!

In yet another foreshadowing of the next serial, Za thinks the strangers are from a new tribe from the other side of the mountains - "not like us" - just as the Daleks reject the Thals for being unlike them. However, Za learns from Ian (or "Friend") about teamwork, how the tribe is stronger working together than if it simply waits to be supplied with food and skins by the one leader.

It doesn't take Kal long to make his way back to the tribe, and a fight for power and honour ensues between he and Za. Amusingly, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan stand themselves against one wall in order to make way for the Ealing film footage! Derek Ware's fight arrangement is pretty impressive, and is lit by flickering firelight which dances on the faces of the watching TARDIS crew. The fight is quite violent (much more convincing and visceral than many subsequent fight sequences in Doctor Who), culminating in Za smashing Kal's head in with a rock. No wonder Babs can't stand to watch.

After Za drags Kal's corpse out of Ealing and back into Lime Grove Studio D by his leg, Susan comes up with an ingenious idea to help them escape. She conjures her very own version of the Marvel comic character Ghost Rider by placing a skull atop a flaming torch, and four of these are used to trick the tribe into thinking the fire has eaten the prisoners. Meanwhile, our heroes slip out and escape in what is a desperate, tense dash out of the Cave of Skulls, back through the Forest of Fear toward the TARDIS. Barbara trips and falls, and it's interesting to see the Doctor callously race past her, thinking of his own skin. It's only Ian who stops to help her up.

Our heroes then get a few moments of running on the spot as some props men whip their faces gently with branches to create the illusion they are running through the jungle. This is at no point convincing! It's indicative of how Hussein's direction wobbles a little in this final episode, just as there's evidence of some struggling camerawork and fluffed lines too. Nothing major by any means, but by the standard he's already set with the first three episodes, it's a shame this fourth one feels below par.

They finally get back to the TARDIS and take off. This time it is much less traumatic, and thankfully much shorter than their departure from 1963 (imagine if a dematerialisation lasted that long every time!). They are tired, bruised and filthy as a result of their nightmare in 100,000 BC, and the Doctor advises they clean up before they venture outside once more. The scanner shows a deserted, spooky forest (another one!). "It could be anywhere," says the Doctor.

Susan checks the radiation level outside. It's normal. But as soon as they leave the room, as if the TARDIS is playing some sort of deadly trick on them, the radiation meter rises to danger levels!

Taken as a four-part whole, 100,000 BC is thematically uneven. An Unearthly Child is far and away one of the finest 25 minutes of Doctor Who ever, but the subsequent three episodes are by no means dull and boring. Hussein gives Coburn's well-considered script a professional sheen absent from many other early serials, and although it's quite talky, this dialogue has plenty of gems to offer. 100,000 BC is an often maligned serial, but for those willing to give it a proper chance, it's surely one of the best written of the first season.

First broadcast: December 14th, 1963

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The interspersing of the TARDIS crew's faces as they watch the fight, lit with flickering flames, is another example of Waris Hussein's use of reaction to paint graphic pictures.
The Bad: Running on the spot, pretending to be racing through a jungle. No, Waris. Just no.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ (story average: 7 out of 10)

NEXT TIME: The Dead Planet...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: An Unearthly Child (episode 1); The Cave of Skulls (episode 2); The Forest of Fear (episode 3)

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/2013/03/an-unearthly-child.html

An Unearthly Child is available as part of the Doctor Who - The Beginning box set. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Beginning-Unearthly-Destruction/dp/B000C6EMTC