The Rescue [1.8]

On the planet Dido a spaceship has crashed. Out of the crew, only two survive: a grumpy grizzled one called Bennet and a squeaky hyperactive one called Vicki (absolutely not short for Victoria; spelled V-I-C-K-I, apparently). The TARDIS lands in a nearby cave and while the Doctor elects to have a nap, Ian and Barbara go for a wander.

They meet a scaly creature carrying a spanner, get separated, get lost and eventually team up with the spaceship crew to solve the mystery of Koquilion. It’s not a particularly complicated mystery, but they take their time over it and finally they all return to the TARDIS, taking the squeaky one with them.

The Majesty

This story is a bit thin on the ground in terms of Majesty. There are some nice scenes at the beginning of Episode One. The departure of Susan is acknowledged with sorrow; there is some friendly banter between the remaining crew; Hartnell is clearly enjoying a more humourous approach to his role in this story, and for all that Vicki is somewhat irritating, it is good to bring the total number of regulars back up to four. There’s also a nice little bit of trick photography with the Doctor and Ian on a ledge above a monster.

The Misery

After the huge canvas of the previous story, we are telling this story on a postage stamp. We have a tiny cave and a tiny spaceship and that’s everything. Despite only having 2 guest cast, their characters are never developed. Vicki gives us her backstory in blow by blow monologue, but her acting is not up to scratch and she has very little charisma in this story. As with Susan, she is constantly referred to as a girl, despite being clearly in her 20s.

The level of peril or problem in this story is also minor. Ian dodges an Indiana Jones-style trap, which moves so slowly it would only be an obstacle for 3-toed sloths. Koquilion claims to have killed people that we already know are still alive. The monster that appeared so threatening that it brought on the cliffhanger for episode one turns out to be a herbivore which Vicki has christened Sandy. The whole thing is just lame. And then there is a deus ex machina ending that wraps the whole thing up (almost offscreen).

Magical Moments

• The Doctor sleeps through the TARDIS landing. As he says, he was ‘deep in the arms of Morpheus’. Barbara tries clumsily to explain. “Doctor the trembling has stopped”. “Oh my dear,” he replies, “I’m so glad you’re feeling better”. LOL!
• The Doctor yawns widely before apologising profusely.
• In a notorious shot, Vicki bends over to look in a cupboard while wearing an insanely short skirt. We have to hope that she was wearing skin-coloured leggings: otherwise we are all getting quite an eyeful!
• Ian and the Doctor are edging along a narrow ledge when they hear a monster roar. “What’s that?” Ian cries, shining his massive torch right in the Doctor’s face. “It’s not me, is it!” blusters the Doctor. It’s a brilliant comic turn from Hartnell.
• Despite Vicki’s anguished cry of “No don’t!”, Barbara fires a flare gun straight into the heart of herbivorous pet Sandy, who dies screaming in agony. Vicki goes into hysterics and if any kid watching this had just had their kitten run over recently, I can imagine the equivalent hysterics in front of the TV. It’s a remarkably gruesome death for something that it turns out is a pet. It’s the sort of thing that would be done for comic effect in an Austin Powers movie and it’s totally out of character for Barbara to be so unaware.
• Ian refers to Koquilion as ‘Cocky-licken’. Not quite sure how that was sneaked past the censors in a childrens show.
• The Doctor tries to force Bennet’s door open, as according to the script it’s locked. However, it’s quite visibly standing ajar... Indeed why is it that when the Doctor hears the message “You can’t come in”, his first thought is “Let’s break down the door”? After all, what if he enters to find Bennet half way through a particularly troublesome toilet break or some equally embarrassing situation.
• The words “You can’t come in” are played by a tape recorder. You need to press a button to play the recording. So who is pressing the button when the room is supposedly empty?
• The Doctor’s plan is a bit daft: confront Bennet and then what? Expect him to come in quietly? If the others had been there as back-up it might have been a bit more manageable, but one old man against a strong fellow in the prime of his life? The Doctor tries a bit of fencing with his umbrella, but really by this stage he’s out of his depth.

In Summary

It’s only two episodes, so there is that. But the plot is so flat, the characters so dull and the consequences so... inconsequential that the whole story feels like a waste of time. It’s the first time a new character has joined the series, so perhaps the producers were unsure how to do it. But the story cannot stand up by itself and it’s only redeeming features rely on the viewer being an existing fan who likes Ian, Barbara and the Doctor already.

Overall: 1.8