Remembrance of the Daleks

This article originally appeared in Sonic Screwdriver number 80, published in November 1993. Editor was the lovely Marco Cappiello. My article was on page 8. 

Reading this while I type it in to this blog space makes me think that if I protest about taking this all way too seriously you won't believe me. Whatever. I think it was this little exercise that cured me of ever trying to even think about continuity with Doctor Who. There's no point, really, and it then becomes liberating to watch it for what it is: tv with above average imagination!

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The date 23 November 1963 would be burned into the brains of the average Doctor Who fan. So would words like Coal Hill School, Totters Lane, and, of course, Daleks. Each item is tied up with the birth of Doctor Who, and the program's mythos. Add references like science labs with books on the French revolution, constant reminders that the Doctor's been there before (1); well, you get the makings of an excellent anniversary story.

All of these elements were in Remembrance of the Daleks, considered a classic in some circles. And it's pretty damn good Who. Exciting, wrapped in nostalgia yet not smothered by it (2), scary in parts... and close attention was paid to continuity. As an example, check out Ace's costumes. The action takes place over three days (3) and Ace is seen to wear three different tops, a different one for each day. Given the fact that Ace tends to have her jacket done up most of the time, it's pretty remarkable for the production team to be bothered getting it right.

Unfortunately, the continuity people seemed blinded by the trees, as it were. The timing, especially for the Saturday afternoon, is really rather appalling. This action takes place in episode two. After the bother at the school with the Dalek chasing our heroes up the stairs [note from 2013: Yes, the Daleks could climb the stairs even in the 1980s!!], the Doctor goes off on his own and Ace is told to go with the scientists to the Smith's boarding house.

What the Doctor does with his time is a mystery. We know he visits the cafe pretty late (4), and very early in the morning he arrives at the funeral parlour to collect the Hand of Omega. Yet, between the approximate hours of midnight and six, he's wandering the streets. There's a story or three in there, I'm sure.

The worst blunder with timing also occurs in this episode. Think to after Mike and the Doctor return from their early morning business, and Mike gets the message from Group Captain Gilmore that they all have to go to the school but Ace has got to stay behind, much to her chagrin. Barely two scenes later, it's 17:15. How do we know? The BBC announcer tells us: 'This is BBC television. The time is a quarter past five, and Saturday viewing continues with an adventure in the new science fiction series, Do-'

Two questions fly immediately to mind. One: what were the Doctor et al doing to make the time fly? And two: what the hell did Ace do all day? Surely she would have missed her ghetto blaster before five. Remember, that it is approximately six hours we're talking about here, possibly as much as seven or eight. Or did Mrs Smith put her to work? Somehow, I don't think even that would account for Ace's day. Like the Doctor's nocturnal excursion, suitable material for a piece of fanfic.

And then there's the problem of the extended afternoon. Ace gets to the school at about half past five (being generous) to retrieve her tape deck and battle some Daleks. After that, we get some scenes - going to the cemetary, battling more Daleks, afternoon tea (or lunch?) at the cafe where a clock reads 4:20... oh dear, and this is after 5:15, same day.

But that's not all in this story that smacks of sloppiness. Remembrance of the Daleks was an anniversary story playing on the fan's knowledge of the show. It was a game, as in Attack of the Cybermen, to go back to hermeneutic roots and build a story out of what is familiar to the fan. But it can be a dangerous game to play. The joke in Attack of the Cybermen of changing the TARDIS from the familiar police box caused a furore as great as Colin Baker taking the part of the Doctor (5).

In Remembrance of the Daleks the problem is tied directly to An Unearthly Child (6). As has been already pointed out, Rembrance of the Daleks plays with icons that relate directly to this opening episode. It is set in the same environs: the junk yard at 76 Totters Lane, and Coal Hill School. All very nice and nostalgic, but I'm left wondering if the production team even bothered to look at An Unearthly Child before commencing work on Remembrance of the Daleks.

There's a couple of ponts that make me wonder that. The first, relatively minor, problem concerns the spelling on the gate to the junk yard. In an Unearthly Child the name is Foreman, in Remembrance of the Daleks it is Forman. Now, it could have been repainted in the intervening time because the original sign was an error and the 'e' shouldn't have been there. But that's searching for an excuse to cover up a continuity error.

The second mistake is one that was compounded by Nightshade. The students at Coal Hill School did not wear school uniform, and that included Susan. Yet, the school children in Remembrance of the Daleks are wearing them, and in Nightshade Ace finds 'Susan's uniform'. Curious.

The greatest problems lie connected to the Doctor's activities on Earth before the televised adventures began. Remembrance of the Daleks was set a little after An Unearthly Child. We know this from the repeated references in the first episode: there is the book on the French Revolution being left for Ace to pick up (7); at the funeral parlour it is revealed the Doctor was expected, though as an old man with long white hair; and the blind preist comments that the grave for the Hand of Omega has been ready for a month. The story of Remembrance of the Daleks involved explaining just why the Doctor was in London at this time - a complicated plot involving wiping out Skaro with the Hand of Omega. Nice idea, pity about junking whole chunks of established history. Check out The Daleks and Genesis of the Daleks for what I mean.

And now to the problem of setting. According to the mythology of Doctor Who, the first episode was set in 23 November 1963. Wrong. As John Tulloch and Manuel Alvarado go on at great length in The Unfolding Text, An Unearthly Child was set in a familiar, or contemporary, time frame - what we date 1963 with the advantage of hindsight (8). But in the episode there is no actual dating aside from the establishment that events take place in a cold, foggy season and on a school day. In other words the dating of the premiere episode of Doctor Who as 23 November 1963 is based on the false premise that it was set on the day it was broadcast.

The dating of Remembrance of the Daleks is far more certain. The year is stated clearly by Ace: 'But this is Earth. 1963.' It is seen on calendars that litter the place. The month is also clearly marked by these calendars - November. Watch out for the ones in Ratcliffe's place and the cafe. So, in a somewhat peculiar recourse to self-referencing, it is only after the twenty-fifth anniversary story Remberance of the Daleks that we can date An Unearthly Child to shortly before or during November 1963.

Now you may be wondering what this article might be attempting to achieve. Originally it was just going to be a whine about how shocking the continuity was is what is otherwise a good story. But in order to do that I had to go back to An Unearthly Child to see what was established then. On the way, a few myths just happened to come unstuck. And the moral of this tale? Beware of mucking about with continuity based on Doctor Who's mythology. You never know what trouble you could land in!

(1) And how he had to leave in a hurry.

(2) Unlike, perhaps, Silver Nemesis, or the twentieth anniversary season.

(3) Two consecutive, the other later.

(4) There's no one else there apart from the 'token black'.

(5) Something that JN-T capitalised upon to promote the show in 1984.

(6) Note re the title. Since I am only referring to episode one, which is called An Unearthly Child, I am using that title.

(7) Do we ever strike trouble with this self-referencing device! In An Unearthly Child it is medium-sized and has a white dust jacket with black lettering. In Remembrance of the Daleks it is big and black with gold lettering. Susan looked through it in Barbara's room and presumably took it home to the TARDIS, yet Ace found it in the science lab at the school.

(8) Chapter one discusses the origins of the show, and includes constant references to the way the production team wanted the feel to be familiar but odd. Hence Coal Hill School was ordinary in many ways, but very modern - no school uniform and girl students wearing make up. Note the way they all look so old, too.

Doctor Who: the next six episodes (aka The Sensorites)

Another one I'd never seen before, and I know very little about.

Fascinating re-cap for those who might have just joined us, with the rather po-mo self-reference to how much they've changed as people. 

Dead people, and yet no panic, just acceptance. Then the mystery begins!

The script is oddly quite stilted, and the brave attempt at talking over themselves when the Doctor declares hilariously that he's not at all curious doesn't quite work. The incidental music seems to cut-off all the time, too, which is really disconcerting. But, the sound effects aren't bad in that they're barely noticeable. Whoops in ep 6 though when the bubbly noises keep going after we've left the aqueduct.

Is this the first time the Doctor wears glasses?

The missing crew member - John - who the other two stoically won't talk about is marvelously creepy. But the acting is so stylised and of another time it always takes a bit of time to get used to. In this ep (1) it's all very melodramatic.

Carole is yet another good, strong, equal-opps woman, though the attitudes still have - unsurprisingly - that early 1960s feel. Nice to have big beefy blokes crying, too.

Chestan! But, then, almost everyone has fluffed lines. It's actually a bit endearing and a bit more realistic... which means the theatrical style scripting jars. Then again, Susan has the lion's share of the Billy-fluffs in this story.

Ooh. The Sensorite at the window at the end of the first ep is terrific.

Interesting stuff about fear allowing for the Sensorites to take over their minds.

Susan's idea about using their brains was hilarious... until she explained about thought transfer. Then why does Susan collapse but not Barbara? Ah, it seems it's because she was open to their thoughts.

The Sensorites are pretty cool, really, given the time, though everyone has zips up the back (even the human astronauts.)

Susan is more like what she was back in An Unearthly Child and surprisingly deep - better to travel with hope than just arrive. Lovely stuff. It seems as though each writer hadn't really quite grasped her character and therefore it vacillates... of course Ford's acting doesn't help.

Ah, the politics comes through in ep 2: the 'bad guys' being 'bad' because of bad stuff the 'good' guys had done in the past. Colonialism, really, and fighting back. A recurring theme of Doctor Who and fascinating it appeared so soon in the series. "It's suspicion that's making them enemies," says Susan in Ep3, and the Doctor can't see beyond their fear and his grandfatherly concern and anger. Then there's the family stuff, and growing up/old, and his intense paternalism. Not only to Susan, as the episodes continue he is really rather dreadful to the poor old Sensorites, too.

There is so much clumsy science lesson stuff. The stuff about trust is great, though, and the stuff about seeing people/creatures through their own eyes is laborious but pertinent. The politics is interesting but doesn't really make for scintillating television. Though, it is nice to see a thorough attempt at making sense (ho ho) of an alien society - though why are they all weirdo socialist types? A utopia? But yet there is dissent... in fact, the old Animal Farm saying of some being more equal than others. Actually, no, it's more like Stalinist (or any other despot) paranoia that leads to fear and thence evil. While it's refreshing to have the attempts to make the Sensorites more complex than normal, it's ponderous for an adventure. While it's a nice attempt, it's still a little sloppy. Like, for example, why, if they're such a perfect society and everyone's 'content', do they have a prison?!

So obvious with the water, and yet the obvious takes a bit of time for them to realise. Oh boy. And my huge question is to do with human/alien physiology... how can it act the same way? Especially odd when there's such attention to detail about their eyes and sensitivity to sound.

Oh, no. Beginning of ep 5 and the Doctor's jacket has suffered what always used to befall victims of clawed monsters in the Avengers... such neat and tidy ripping...

Susan is awful with her teasing about how the Sensorites must look when they run... though it is a funny thought.

Oh, no. The Doctor has such a lot to learn about trust and cynicism. Giving their enemy the position of 2iC. But there are some nice touches about the Doctor and Susan's true origins.

I wonder what Barbara and the astronaut chappie had been up to in all the time the others were in the Sense-Sphere. And where the hell has that chappie disappeared to? And why doesn't anyone remember him? Oh, no. Right at the end they mention Maitland. It's like they forgot about him completely, but then remembered and inserted these odd mentions and a strange shot of the space ship.

It's not a bad story, really, but a bit sloppy. It tries to be very clever, but it's not. The plotting was very contrived, but the execution okay. Nice ideas, but not my favourite so far.

Doctor Who: the next four episodes (aka The Aztecs)

I have seen this story before, but back in 1993 (gasp) when it was just out on video. I remember enjoying it, but yet being amused at the quaint old-fashioned nature of it all. I wonder how it will stand up to a re-watch 15 years on. The reason I watched it back then was because I was one of the read-through crew for Kate Orman with her Doctor Who New Adventures novel, The Left-handed Hummingbird.

Right. DVD time.

We open with Barbara revealing her knowledge of Aztec history and a lovely wisdom about people through the ages. I love Barbara; in the context of having seen most of the preceding episodes her character development is wonderful. Susan, on the other hand, seems to have lost her mind or memory or something and is a silly little girl. Cartoons, indeed! The Doctor is excellent, too, and willfully shows his knowledge - which raised the question for me about when Susan joined him? Yet, he's fallible but quickly recovers and uses his mistake to his advantage with Cameca. Oh, that's lovely having Ian doing a 'Billy-fluff' with getting Autloc's name wrong.

Shame you can see the folds in the backdrop, but the important thing is the illusions are conjured successfully. Like the model work, it is something that has obviously changed in the 45 years of television magic. But, yet, it doesn't grate; instead my respect for these pioneers of TV production grows ever more.

I like the retirement village in the park. 

The story does suffer a little bit in being so obviously a history lesson. Yet, it's complex and the philosophical debates about changing history are not quite as simple as it appears. Same with the theological discussions about religion, plus the post-modern issues of leaving a separate society to their own codes. And then there's the odd feminism with Susan's refusal to accept arranged marriages. 

Barbara is so right describing the Doctor as an old rogue.

Ian's knowledge of pressure points is marvelous.

The Doctor's relationship with Cameca is far more complicated than I remember it.

By the start of ep 3 it's becoming obvious the main theme is how hard it is to be a goddess. Barbara is up for it, but she has flaws. As Ian says, 'You can't fight a whole way of life,' which she accepts logically but perhaps not in her heart. It's that which lies also in the more obvious message of not trying to change history even when you have the chance to.

Four splendid episodes. Next up, another sci-fi adventure, and one I have never seen before and know very little about.

Doctor Who: six more episodes (aka The Keys of Marinus)

Sadly, I was not able to watch Marco Polo, so an historical story is skipped for a Terry Nation sci-fi tale. I hadn't seen this one prior to 2008.

I'm fascinated by how they continue to refer to the TARDIS as the ship. Plus, Barbara's starting to refer to the Doctor before Ian on occasion.

Nation's script suffers from not being terribly well thought out - if Arbitan really is the last geezer on Marinus who isn't a Voord, then who cares? Unless he's got everyone else stored away somewhere. 

I adored the little model shot at the start. While things like that have advanced amazingly, there is a part of me that misses the artistry of building models like this.

I'm struck by how the sci-fi world draws so much on Roman styles. But, what is marvelously unusual about this story is how there are different civilisations on the one planet! Hurrah. 

Oh, that's rather good. The scene when Barbara wakes up and sees the reality of where they are and the other three see paradise. Her little rampage against the big brains with snail-style eye stalks was hilarious, which I suspect was unintentional.

I see now. It's a quest story, like the Key to Time stories.

The statue that grabbed Barbara in the cliffhanger before the screaming jungle episode was rather effective, if obvious, but I am getting a bit fed up with all Susan's squealing.

The Screaming Jungle was dull, and I get the impression the acting and set pieces were slowed down to make up time. Doctor Who got a lot better with the vines that grab on to people than in this one.

The snow episode surprised me with the implicit threat of rape by the trapper guy. I loved the doco shots of the wolves and that's the obvious advantage of monochrome - didn't look quite as obvious as some of the colour stories that do the the same thing. I love all the Styrofoam rocks and logs that Ian is so good at lugging about. It's the same with the deliberately stagey slowing down of action in order to try to create danger (like, why did Ian hang around with the crusader warriors except to slow the action down that way...)

Episode 5 betrays Nation's interests again... the Nazi-like dudes in their Nazi-like uniforms. But, hurrah, the Doctor's back!! The judges remind me of Russian oligarchs. Oh, but the murder mystery / court case is wonderful. Psychometric examination of an inanimate object? What nonsense. Of course the abused wife was behind it all :-)

How can they mistake Yartek for Arbitan? Ah, fortunately Susan and Ian aren't so silly. In fact, Ian is rather genius. 

Hartnell is not the only one doing 'Billy fluffs'; despite the precise language being used quite a few of the other actors stumble over their lines but keep on. I actually rather like it as it lends a strange air of the genuine to proceedings missing in TV where take after take after take means the lines are spot on. Watch for the Voord who nearly trips over his flippers while he's entering the room. Everything else is so precise and measured.

Fascinatingly, this time there are few costume changes, and Ian really must pong by the end of it all.

I'm surprised still by how many women are actually given things to do in these stories, though it's fascinating to see how Susan has degenerated into a silly little squealing thing. Barbara continues to be utterly marvelous and more than makes up for it.

One for the continuity freaks - Marinus is supposed to be the uniquely tranquil, peaceful place in the universe, so where were the howls of protest in 1980 when the Keeper of Traken was first aired. (That's a joke, by the way.)

Doctor Who: the next two episodes (aka The Edge of Destruction)

I couldn't remember if I'd ever seen this or not, but it turns out not. Clips from it, oh yes, but not the whole lot together.

It's very much like a 1960's play-for-today in feel, with a sci-fi setting. I can see how it could be interpreted as being a re-introduction of the characters and premise of Doctor Who while telling a perplexing yet cracking good tale. It plays on paranoia and random acts of violence, but Barbara is wonderfully centered and wise.

I do know the plot, so there's no surprises except in how the tale is told.

I love the way Ian only detects one heart beating away in the Doctor. We find out some more about the TARDIS, including the source of the TARDIS's power being kept under the console. Also, how sentient the TARDIS is - and brava Barbara for thinking of it in the face of doubt from the men. 

The TARDIS water dispenser is so of the era!

I am puzzled by all the costume changes that went on and wonder if that was an addition to the spookiness of the story rather than any sloppiness. It's too obvious to be sloppy. Only the Doctor doesn't get changed, but the others do.

Nice to know the Doctor and Susan had indeed been on prior excursions together and that the Doctor doesn't in fact know everything about the TARDIS, but he is enough of a genius to work it out to fix it all up after all. Not only that, he explains what happened to Susan (for the audience), and thanks Barbara for saving their lives. A lovely touch. "As we learn about each other, we learn about ourselves." How wonderfully profound, and the sheer gorgeousness of the scene where Barbara forgives the Doctor is a lovely surprise. No wonder people fell in love with this show 45+ years ago...

And this is the end of the run of stories that exist in full as they once were. The next few will be fun.

Doctor Who: the next seven episodes (aka The Daleks)

I've never seen this story before 2008. No, really. I hadn't. I'd seen the movie starring Peter Cushing that was based on the story, and devoured the novelisation as a child so that I think I knew bits off by heart. I'm amazed at how different it is. I can't imagine what it would be like to see it for the first time without knowing what the Daleks are, and will be, yet I felt the creeping menace as Barbara explores the strange city on her own (on her own! Gosh, they have a lot to learn.) Then the first reveal, actually with the Doctor, Ian and Susan. Clever, and to show their ruthlessness from the get-go.

I love the way Ian and Barbara talk about how they should deal with adventuring, and the contrast with the Doctor's incessant desire to explore and how he therefore drags the others into his adventures. He's like a small child in how he manipulates the others... mercury. None in the TARDIS. Oh, yeah, right. I can see why kids fell in love with him back then. But dang that fluid link with Ian losing it. Susan and the Doctor's relationship is just wonderful when they're alone together, working out how to disable the Dalek city. And then at the end she starts to call Barbara by her first name... just when Barbara is snogging one of those Thals

Susan is fascinating, too. She's retained her otherworldliness but is still a dreadfully misunderstood and fragile teenager. Barbara's chat with her in the first episode is lovely, as is her having to confront her fears about the jungle and storm and getting the drugs back to her grandfather and friends. Her strange explosions of giggles are, well, strange.

The TARDIS scenes are wonderful, but the food machine is caught in the late 1950s and early 1960s notion of 'the future'. Part of the delight of food is the actual texture, not just the flavours and nutrition. The science is also of that era like the neutron bomb and recognisable geiger counters. However, the human story is good. The radiation sickness - particularly brave given the Cold War of the time. Then there's the gloriously innocent stuff about the surveillance. Another time, wasn't it? But what the hell was that about mutations coming full circle?

The pace is so leisurely - some would say slow - which is just the different era of story-telling on the small screen. It does rely so much on the spoken word, less on showing the action, it reminds me of radio plays. The sets are so obviously styrofoam rocks and painted backdrops or recycled bits of same corridors, but while the style of acting is theatrical rather than natural they somehow distract away from the relatively weak settings. I am talking from 2008 here; again with the radio script style, which pretty much allows the audience's imagination to fill in the gaps and smooth over the rough edges.

The Thals are hilarious. Love the way they have groovy uniforms, plus the dolly birds who - for the sixties - do seem to have brains and aren't afraid to speak their minds. Actually, when you compare Doctor Who to Star Wars over a decade later, the fact that both these stories so far had fairly good speaking roles for women beyond the main cast means the BBC was way ahead of Hollywood. And there's sex! Well, pretty blunt innuendo. I have just been struck how similar the Thals and Daleks are with the Sevateem and Tesh in Face of Evil. But there are fascinating explanations for why the Daleks want to wipe out the Thals - it's a by-product of their actions for their own survival. So, is it bad we hate them just because they look different to us and need different atmospherics to survive? Well, they do want to exterminate all other life so and the Thals were wistful about some other way. 

Those continuity sticklers among fans should hate Doctor Who from this start: Susan's gabbling to Ian about the key (21 holes for the key, if Ian gets one of the 20 wrong ones the lock will melt... oh yeah?); nothing about Kaleds, but plenty about Daleks. The Dals? 

I wonder how much Nation was inspired by WW2 and National Service. The Nazi racial purity stuff is obvious, but there are other indications, particularly with some of Ian's talk and action. I wonder if Ian was in the army before becoming a teacher, or had done National Service. He ought to have done the latter at least, which would explain quite a bit. 

All in all, I can see why people stuck it out from the start. It is a fairly ho-hum adventure, but it has it all in there. The characters are interesting, and you want to get to know them. The situations they get themselves into. Well, of course you'd want to keep on tuning in.

Doctor Who: The first four episodes (aka An Unearthly Child)

I've been meaning to do this for years and years; watch Doctor Who, in order, from the start. There's so much of this series I haven't seen.

I have seen these first episodes before, but probably about twenty years ago now. I love the first episode, An Unearthly Child. It sets up the mystery so well. Okay, the production is so early 1960s - a bit stagy, especially delivery of dialogue by the older actors. It's amazing how much the experimental electronic music from the Radiophonic Workshop and experimental camera bleeds still captivates even though we're now in a world of computer generated believable wizardry and safe incidental music. The monochrome footage lends to the eeriness. William Russell, Jacqueline Hill and William Hartnell are all simply marvelous. Hartnell is immediately the Doctor, which is astounding. Carole Ann Ford is hardly the world's best actor, but her weirdness lends a credibility to the character's other-worldliness.

I remember not really liking the next three episodes - The Cave of Skulls, The Forest of Fear and The Firemaker. It was a brave decision doing a cod cave man episode wedged between eerie mystery with a sci-fi premise and straight out sci-fi of the Daleks' first appearance. Now, though, I can see why they did it - it shows how the TARDIS can travel thus making it impossible for Ian and Barbara to keep accusing Susan and the Doctor of lying. The episodes are quite good for character development between the four now travelling in the TARDIS. And it's so obvious there's something going on between Ian and Barbara. The Doctor is so alien, too, and driven by logic and reason. The cave men are more sophisticated than I remembered, but still pretty close to being animals. It's all bogged down in political speeches between two factions of cave men and rather hilarious action scenes that are straight from the stage. The women in it are quite fascinating, and oddly I'm reminded a bit of I, Claudius. I am surprised by how bloody it is, the violence (the Doctor and Ian leading the stoning of the guy they drive away) and quite scary with murders and skeletons and dead animals. Quite heavy going in terms of the politics and a strange socialism Ian teaches them. But then it flips into sheer ridiculousness like the flight scene with everyone running on the spot being hit in the face by plants! And something has struck me now that hadn't struck me before: how brave the BBC was back in 1963 with having a woman (Verity Lambert) as producer and an Asian (Waris Hussein) as director of these first episodes.