The Ordeal (The Daleks Episode 6)

The one where Antodus gets a fit of the collywobbles...

Definition - Ordeal (noun): a very unpleasant and prolonged experience; a trying test or trial.

Terry Nation has stretched The Daleks out to its sixth and penultimate episode, the finale is just around the corner. But The Ordeal is most definitely an ordeal to watch too, because very little happens, and what does happen is unutterably boring to watch. Coupled with Richard Martin's capable but uninspired direction, it makes for the dullest episode of Doctor Who yet.

We start with the reprised death of Elyon in the whirlpool of doom, and to be honest, there is a palpable sense of loss as the others stare remorsefully into the water. Elyon wasn't exactly a major loss as a character, but to the peaceful Thals, such a violent and sudden death would be even more disturbing. Plus, it allows Antodus to hover over the hysterical switch again. He really is the Thal version of Susan.

The most interesting parts of this episode involve the Doctor and Susan and their quest to disable the Daleks' Big Brother set-up. The Doctor claims the Daleks have complete radio and television coverage around the city, but he hasn't seen how rubbish their photo and video reproduction is (see The Expedition). They might have coverage but it's pretty low-resolution!

William Hartnell is gleefully endearing in the scenes where he and Susan disable the Daleks' static electricity cable, joyfully smashing glass panels and computer circuits with his cudgel, and boasting of his superior intelligence. "We mustn't diddle about here," he says, rather amusingly.

After disabling the cable, he boasts: "That'll teach the Daleks to meddle in our affairs!" But hold on a minute, who's doing the meddling here? The Doctor and his friends infiltrated the Dalek city unannounced, affected a violent escape resulting in the death of the hostess Dalek, and scuppered the Daleks' ambush. The Daleks might not be well-intentioned, but I don't see them as meddling in the Doctor's affairs here at all. It's quite the opposite!

The Doctor and Susan are taken to the Dalek control room, which John Treays seem to light much gloomier than usual in this episode. They are made to sit cross-legged on the floor and reprimanded for destroying the Daleks' videoscopes "and one of our lifts". These Daleks must have a particular thing for wanton vandalism. It also raises the question of just how many types of scope they have at their disposal. Over the course of the story they've mentioned laserscopes, rangerscopes, videoscopes and vibrascopes. That's an awful lot of scope!

They inform the Doctor that they plan to bombard the planet's atmosphere with radiation from their nuclear reactors. "That's sheer murder!" fumes the Doctor. "No. Extermination!" barks the Dalek. Then all three Daleks turn away, raise their plungers in Nazi salutes and hail the triumph of the Dalek race. Terry Nation's far from subtle here, it's clear what he intends the Daleks to be modelled on, and this fascist iconography will be revisited in both The Dalek Invasion of Earth and Genesis of the Daleks. Just 19 years after the fall of Nazi Germany, this must have packed quite a punch to the Eagle Comic reading kids and their war veteran elders.

The majority of The Ordeal is taken up with the frankly tedious subterranean trek of Ian, Barbara, Ganatus, Kristas and Antodus in their attempt to infiltrate the Dalek city by stealth. It's lifelessly written, blandly directed and criminally underlit (I realise these tunnels are underground, but some creative, perhaps expressionist, lighting from Treays would've lifted these scenes enormously). We do get tiny glimmers of characterisation, notably between Ganatus and Barbara (Philip Bond and Jacqueline Hill developed a very obvious rapport here). "Remember what Ian said, we're not to take any chances," says Barbara, to which Ganatus replies: "Do you always do what Ian says?". Barbara visibly rankles at this, adding: "No, I don't". Pause for thought, Babs. You've got a choice between Ian and his cardigan, or blond hunk Ganatus. I know which I'd choose...

When the group reaches a perfectly jumpable ravine, proceedings really grind to a halt as we have to witness each person make the far from treacherous crossing (even the pointless Kristas). We do get to see what a raging coward Antodus is though. He just wants to go home, back to safety. He is an unwilling adventurer, but then Barbara said she was too, and look at her now, swinging from the end of a rope across a ravine wearing skin-tight leather hotpants! No, it's clear that Antodus is a big old wuss and his cards are marked.

The cliffhanger is as literal as that controversial one at the end of Dragonfire part 1 23 years later, but this time it's the spineless Antodus clinging on for dear life rather than our beloved Doctor. Ian struggles to cling on with his fingertips as the weight of Antodus's wetness drags him down. I don't imagine very many viewers are bothered either way whether Antodus lives or dies.

And to make it all so much worse, the episode overruns by an entire 69 seconds. One of the dullest episodes of Doctor Who is actually one of the longest!

First broadcast: January 25th, 1964

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Any scene with Hartnell in shines twice as bright in an episode bogged down by colourless storytelling.
The Bad: The subterranean scenes are all just so tedious, and when watched on the small, murky TV screens of 1964, must have been all the more tiresome.
Overall score for episode: ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

NEXT TIME: The Rescue...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: The Dead Planet (episode 1); The Survivors (episode 2); The Escape (episode 3); The Ambush (episode 4); The Expedition (episode 5); The Rescue (episode 7)

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/2013/04/the-daleks-aka-dead-planet-mutants.html

The Daleks 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