4 episodes
Aired between 28th May 1966 and 18th June 1966
Written by Ian Stuart Black
Produced by Innes Lloyd
Directed by Christopher Barry
Synopsis
The Doctor leaves the TARDIS into the scrub land that he believes is in the middle of an age of prosperity. He takes an instrument with him called a reacting vibrator, and goes off to get some readings, telling Steven and Dodo to stay near the TARDIS.
Steven and Dodo are unsure about the landscape and feel like they're being watched.
As Steven explores, Dodo sees a man in animal skins, who disappears as soon as Steven returns. They come to believe that they're in the distant past, not a Utopian future.
They hail from a nearby Utopian city, in which the ruling elders had known the TARDIS had arrived, and indeed expected the Doctor to travel there.
As they discuss, two savages watch them from the cover of the trees: an ancient one called Chal and a younger man called Tor.
They are puzzled because the new arrivals are not savage, but yet do not carry guns like the city guards. The younger man wanted to kill the new arrivals, but the arrival of the city guards: Edal and Exorse, means that he cannot reveal himself in the Doctor's clearing, and chooses to go after Dodo and Steven instead.
Indeed, Tor leads a number of savages in throwing spears at the pair, forcing themselves to hide behind the TARDIS until Exorse turns up and leads them away to the safety of the city.
Once inside the city walls, the Doctor is introduced to the council of elders, and specifically, their leader: Jano. The elders fondly welcome the Doctor and say they've watched him for many years, travelling through time and space, and offer him elders robes as a gift.
When Steven and Dodo are finally reunited with the Doctor, they are granted gifts also, a dagger for Steven, and a bejeweled mirror for Dodo. The pair are then whisked off on a tour of the city, whilst the Doctor converses with the elders on their magnificent leaps in science.
Steven and Dodo are shown around by a guy called Avon, and a girl called Flower. It soon becomes obvious to them that the citizens have their every whim catered for inside the city via artificial means, and they never feel the need to venture outside of the walls. They don't particularly know how the city is run, and never think to ask. They just obey. Dodo starts to question things like asking about the savages, but Flower and Avon begin to get annoyed that she just wont accept things as they way they are.
Outside the city, Chal sees Exorse and Edal begin to search the woodland, and fears that they are being hunted. He orders a savage girl by his side, Nanina to run back to "the cave" and warn the others.
She is caught on her way by Exorse who subdues her with the use of some kind of "light gun" that puts her in a trance.
Back with the elders, the Doctor asks how they are so advanced, and Jano reveals it's because they can tap into the life essences of other beings, transferring that essence into people and increasing their vitality. It makes strong people stronger, smart people smarter, and creative people are enabled to create masterpieces.
Dodo spots Exorse leading Nanina into the city, down a corridor. She lags back from the tour, and slips into the corridor once Exorse exits it alone. She is soon confronted by a zombie like savage who is wandering towards her. She at first believes he's about to attack her, but he shuffles past wearily and collapses at a door to the outside.
Dodo decides to help him up, but when the door opens, she sees Chal and Tor waiting for her and runs off, panicked.
Soon enough, Dodo finds her way into a laboratory, where the energy transference takes place. She sees a scientist called Senta performing the process on Nanina, despite the savage girls protests.
Meanwhile, the tour guides finally realise that Dodo is missing. They take Steven back to the elders, where he reveals his concerns to the Doctor. The old man is dismissive of the fact that she might be in trouble, but Jano looks concerned. He orders Edal to go with Steven and search for her.
Back at the lab, some scientists discover Dodo is snooping around and believe her to be one of the savages. It's only when Senta, the head scientist arrives, that they understand.
Steven and Edal search, and when Steven finds the corridor to the lab, Edal forbids him entering, but explores it himself, finding the distraught scientists pleading with Dodo not to smash the equipment. Edal takes Dodo back to the elders with Steven, whilst the scientists are allowed to return back to their work, releasing a zombified Nanina back into the wild. Edal is scathing to Avon and Flower, holding them responsible, and telling them to stay put until they are called for.
As soon as Steven and Dodo are lead back to the elders, Dodo begins asking questions about the transfer process, but the Doctor tries to (not so) subtly hush her up, He laughs it off, and offers to share some information with the elders on the process of time travel, telling them simply that he is just popping back to the TARDIS with his companions and will be right back. As they leave, Jano becomes extremely paranoid about what Dodo saw, and orders Edal to follow them.
Outside, the Doctor agrees that he doesn't trust the elders. As they hurry back to the TARDIS however, they come across the zombie like savage, fallen in the woods. The Doctor tells Steven and Dodo to rush off ahead and fetch some miracle pills from the TARDIS whilst he looks after the poor fellow. As they rush off, the man slowly recovers. Edal turns up and aggressively tells the savage to push off, and orders the Doctor back to the city at gunpoint.
Steven and Dodo return with the pills, but find the Doctor gone. They give the savage the medicine and he recovers, telling them what happened. Chal and Tor show up with a bunch more savages ready to kill the outsiders until their patient stops them, explaining that they are there to help.
Back in the city, the Doctor is brought once more before the elders. Jano is sort of hurt that the Doctor cannot see the necessity to exploit the Savages to further their civilisation, believing them to be more like stock than humans. The Doctor is angry and scathing in his response, saying that even one life is too much to pay for this progress. Jano is left with no choice but to order that the Doctor is to be put under the energy transference and is led away.
Steven and Dodo try to get the savages on side and encourage them to lead a rebellion, but soon discover that they fear the light guns too much.
The savages aren't happy with the situation, but feel helpless, They do however, offer Steven and Dodo the chance to hide inside their cave.
Meanwhile, the Doctor is taken to the lab and has his life essence sucked out of him. The scientists look on, as the readings go off the chart.
Jano is overjoyed at the results, and orders Edal to go out and bring back Steven and Dodo. Once Edal leaves, he instructs Senta to prepare to transfer the Doctors essence directly to into him alone, saying that it's too much of a risk to give to others.
Steven and Dodo are taken to the savages cave, despite Tor's protests. There, they see Nanina recovering from her trauma, among lots of beautiful cave paintings. Sadly, Chal says, their talent has been taken from them by the life draining machine. It's not long before Exorse turns up at the cave, and begins demanding that the outsiders are taken out to him.
Steven, and Dodo are led deeper inside by Chal whilst Exorse comes in and begins pushing everyone around. He threatens to take one of the other men or women until they fearfully show him the direction the others ran off in. The hunt is on, and soon Steven, Dodo and Chal reach a dead end. Chal begins foretelling their doom and futility just as well as Marvin the paranoid android ever could. As Exorse approaches, Steven comes up with a plan and manages to reflect his light beam with Dodo's mirror, hypnotising the guard instead. They lead Exorse back to the main cave, where the other savages believe Steven and Dodo are gods for defeating the guard.
Back in the city, Jano undergoes the transference with the help of Senta. It seems an overwhelming success until Jano begins ending his words with "my dear boy" and talking different.
Steven convinces Chal to help him get back to the city, where he and Dodo intend to rescue the Doctor. He leaves Tor and Nanina to guard Exorse while they are gone. As soon as they depart, the militant Tor decides it's better to just kill Exorse, but only gives him a bit of a knock on the head, after Nanina stops him.
Steven gets to the city and shoots a lone guard with his light gun. He tells Chal to hide him, and wait outside whilst he and Dodo enter the strange corridor from the lab. Unknown to them, Edal and Senta have spotted them on the security monitors and decide to set a trap for them, by placing the now Zombie-like Doctor in the corridor as bait. As the pair enter, they close the doors and rush to the zone, ready to capture the intruders.
What they didn't count on however, was that Jano would be smiling and watching too, and secretly opens the door again, allowing Steven, Dodo and the Doctor just enough time to escape before he seals it again.
Edal is furious, and works out that Jano was the one who released them. Jano acts innocent and says that he will go out with a patrol and find the others himself.
Once outside, Steven orders Chal and Dodo to help the Doctor back to the caves as quick as they can, whilst he holds the guards off with his light gun.
Jano sets off into the woods with the guards, and orders them to split up to cover more ground and to cover the Doctor's TARDIS. Edal is suspicious and elects to stay with Jano himself as they move towards the valley of caves. It's not long before Steven indeed begins to slow their advance, taking pot shots at them with his new gun.
As Chal, Dodo and the Doctor get back to the cave, they find Tor and Nanina ready to fight over Exorse's life.
They are joined shortly after by a panicking Steven who says that Edal and Jano are right behind him. The Doctor is given some of the miracle pills and shortly recovers, just in time to stop Steven from firing at Jano. He demands that the elder is not harmed.
Dodo is ready to high tail it off to the TARDIS and escape, but the Doctor is adamant that they will stay long enough to destroy the transference machine. He chuckles knowingly and infers that Jano will help them to do it, suggesting that they will have a visitor at nightfall.
Sure enough, Jano orders a resentful Edal back to the city, saying that he will capture the outsiders himself and return after nightfall. Edal does as he's told, but once at the city, he announces that Jano is a traitor, and declares an emergency, taking overall command.
That night, Jano does meet with the Doctor, unsure of how he's feeling, but knowing that what he's done has been wrong. The Doctor explains that he knew Jano would take the life force himself, and along with it, he's also been given a big dose of conscience. Now he's onside, they can use Jano to destroy the machine and find a way to live peacefully.
Exorse, still a prisoner, overhears the Doctor's plan and manages to loosen his bonds enough to make a run for it. Nanina rushes after him and pleads for him to stop, saying that they're all the same and if he tells the elders, he will be condemning the savages to death. Exorse cannot overcome his belief that the savages are inferior, and chooses to continue, leaving to tell the elders. When he gets to the city, he reports in, but decides not to reveal the fact that Jano was in on the plan, relaying only that the Doctor plans to destroy the equipment. Edal doesn't believe him, and plans to send him to the interrogation chamber until Jano turns up again, bringing prisoners with him, just as he claimed he would.
The elders turn on Edal and take him prisoner, leading him away, and leaving only Jano, Exorse, Chal, Tor, Nanina, Steven, Dodo and Senta in the room. Jano orders Senta to lock the doors and proceeds to explain that they must destroy the equipment as the savages are their equals. Senta argues against this but is powerless to stop the group from smashing the whole place up.
During the sabotage, Edal manages to get the doors open, but Steven ends up shooting him with a light gun.
With the machine destroyed, the old regime is dead. Jano and Chal agree that they need to work together closely in the future, but they need someone to help mediate the new alliance, someone who thinks with their heart as well as their head. They offer the role to the Doctor, but he believes Steven to be more ideal. Steven doesn't really want the job, but reluctantly agrees to stay after the Doctor makes a fuss of his good traits. Dodo is reduced to tears, but they all part on good terms, giving him a fond farewell.
Dodo asks if they will ever see Steven again and the Doctor comforts her, saying that they never know in this crazy world. He leads an upset Dodo back to the TARDIS and they set off once again.
Trivia
- As soon as the new production team came in, they decided that the current companions had to go - Innes Lloyd wanted a fresh start and new direction with "hip" kids. And so, Steven's departure was written into this story, and Dodo's in the next.
- This is the first story to feature an overall title with numbered episodes, rather than individual episodes in their own right.
- It's also the First Doctor's final foray into an alien landscape until he returns to his home planet (see the Five Doctors).
What worked
- The orchestral score is fantastic - makes it feel more like a film than a TV show
- The zombie-like state the savages end up in gives a very sinister feel
- Although the light guns are a bit naff, I appreciate that they're trying something new here. Nothing like that has been seen before, or to my recollection, since (discounting the Silurian's third eye).
- The bit where Exorse leaves Nanina gave me the impression that there was good character traits there, and a struggle that he had to overcome.
What didn't work
- The guard's costumes
- Dodo's stupidity at seeing the lab and totally disregarding most of it
- Although we can't see it. The light gun's wouldn't have worked as well if the shooter moved away from all the dry ice they'd shot out
- Why don't any of the elders talk (except Jano)?
- After rescuing the Doctor, why did Steven shepherd them all back to the cave, knowing it was a dead end?
Overall Feelings
This story has a feel of The Dalek's to it - a strange world with two races that can't get along. Even the destruction of the equipment at the end and the fire extinguisher guns look like the movie.
Despite this, apparently, it got a lot of stick during the eighties from fans, being cited as the one without the monster, but I fail to understand why this should be a big deal, especially with the existence of the Rescue, and of course, the great historical stories that have gone before. Alright, the Rescue did have Sandy the Sand Beast, but it's hardly a major threat!
I defy those eighties fans, not only for the reason that their mullets lend credence to the fact that their opinions cannot be taken seriously, but because I had a lot of fun with this story. The premise - Vampires in Utopia is brilliant! The way that the savages are turned into zombie-like beings is used perfectly to hint at a monstrous society without taking the easy way out and moving the focus to actual monsters themselves.
Going back to the Dalek analogy, on the surface, this story is about a racial divide, but when you look closer, it says more about a class divide than anything the Dalek's ever did. When you look at Avon and Flower, and the willingness for Jano to exploit the lower classes for the advancement of society, I find it hard not to draw parallels with our own surroundings and the media's influence over us.
The only downside of this story is that it suffers from a massive sag in episode three, and a far too quick resolution in episode four. The former episode contains tons of exposition and filler scenes. If you don't believe me, watch closely when Jano discusses the results of the Doctor's transference procedure.
Rating
8 out of 10
Amazing premise; some wasted opportunities, but innovative directing and fantastic music make this an overall enjoyable experience.
Rewatchability Factor
7 out of 10
Watch this if you liked...
- The Caves of Androzani
- Paradise Towers
- The feel of Mega City One (Judge Dredd)
Consulting the Matrix
What was your opinion on Steven's departure? Did he go too soon, or was it the right time?
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