The Savages [2.1]

The Doctor tries to convince Steven and Dodo that they have landed in the far future – a land of peace and plenty. But the spear-throwing cavemen don’t seem to back up his theory. It turns out that the planet is split between the civilised city-dwellers and the savages in the badlands, and that the civility of the city hides a shameful secret.

They are draining the life-energies of the ‘savages’ to keep themselves young, healthy and strong, while leaving the savages to wither away and deteriorate generation after generation. Furious at this outrage, the Doctor intends to put a stop to them, but soon finds himself strapped to the laboratory table, ready for draining.

The Majesty

The central idea of this story is a brilliant sci-fi concept. At it’s best, sci-fi and fantasy can hold up a mirror to our own society and make us re-evaluate ourselves. “The Savages” highlights the horrors of exploitation, and the ways in which that can occur in a hyper-capitalist society. The scene in which the ‘energy-draining’ procedure is portrayed in viscerally sordid: a beautiful young woman is crying hysterically as she is strapped down by men in white coats. Later, she is seen crawling around helpless and hopeless, and the whole thing begins to look like institutional mass-rape. The villain is not any one individual, but the society that allows such evil to flourish, and calls is good.

The Misery

This story is missing from the BBC archives, and I feel that subsequently a lot of its power and energy is lost when you can’t see the performances, design or camerawork. This really flattens the story, possibly more than most missing episodes, and I felt I was really missing out. Much of the potential enjoyment of the story wasn’t there, and it was a bit of a slog, overall.

Magical Moments

• The Doctor carries a ‘Reacting Vibrator’, whatever that might be.
• The Doctor is expected by Jano and the elders: the 'traveller from beyond the stars'. It’s a recurring trope in later stories that the reputation of the Doctor precedes him, but I think it might be a first here. It’s nice to see it!
• The Doctor, referring to Stephen and Dodo: “They’re very pleasant, apart from their juvenile exuberance!”
• On the reconstruction I saw, one of the ‘young people’ in the city had incredibly pointed ears like a bat, which nobody ever mentioned.
• Jano’s invention “can make the strong man stronger and the beautiful girl more beautiful”. It’s perhaps no surprise that sexism endures to the end of time, but it is really so blatant?
• The Doctor: “Oppose you? Indeed I am going to oppose you! Just in the same way as I opposed the Daleks or any other menace to common humanity!” (Preach it, Doctor!)
• Jano, once he has absorbed the Doctor’s essences, does a brilliant imitation of Hartnell’s Doctor. Remarkably accurate!

In Summary

Should this story ever be recovered, it doubtless would rise quite a few points on my scorecard, but unfortunately it remains very forgettable. It’s a good concept, but there’s only one guest character, Jano, whose name I remember and the reconstruction did the story little justice.

Overall: 2.1