The world of Doctor Who has been and always will be a mixed bag, one story can amaze you with it's creativity and intelligent writing, the next can bore you to tears with it's laziness. There are undisputed masterpieces from both eras of Doctor Who, then are the complete duds, ones that you would like to forget about. Then there are stories like The Chase which leaves you scratching your head, wondering what in the hell it is you are watching. The Chase is a six part serial from the second season of Doctor Who, it was also the season finale which saw the departure of longtime companions, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. It's hard to describe The Chase, because while it isn't particularly good, it's also extremely hard to dislike, because it's an extremely ridiculous story, punctuated by bumbling Daleks, a pit stop on top of The Empire State Building, a misadventure inside a carnival horror house, and a robot duplicate of the Doctor. It's borderline surreal at times, the most memorable moment being a long shot of a Dalek slowly emerging from the sand on a desert planet (populated by reptilian like people).
The plot is fairly simple: The Daleks chase the Doctor and his companions throughout time and space. The Chase came early in the evolution of Doctor Who; at this point very little of the mythology had been set. It wouldn't be established until The Tenth Planet that the Doctor could regenerate and it wasn't until The War Games that it was revealed which alien civilization that Doctor hailed from, in The Chase the Daleks refer to him as being a human. The TARDIS is supposed to be Time Lord technology, but the Daleks time machine is exactly like the Doctor's, bigger on the inside. At one point the Doctor implies that he built the TARDIS, whereas in The War Games he tells Jamie and Zoe that he stole it.
However, other than the Doctor and the TARDIS, there was one point of the mythology that had been established, the leaving of the companions. In Dalek Invasion of the Earth, The Doctor's granddaughter Susan falls in love with a future resistance fighter and The Doctor leaves her behind, so she can pursue a life of happiness. Enter Vicki. Vicki is an often overlooked companion, but a noteworthy one as she was the first of many change ups in the TARDIS line up. Vicki, in many ways, was exactly like the Doctor, in that she was a loner that had been separated from her family; she was in a space crash that claimed the life of her father. The Doctor and her hit off from the get go and she became a surrogate granddaughter to him. I rather like the relationship between the Doctor and Vicki, because it allowed the Doctor to show his more gentler side. Susan was his granddaughter, but Vicki was a complete stranger that he automatically took under his wing. Vicki was also a far more livelier companion than Susan; at one point in The Chase she begins to imitate the voice of a Mechonoid (a robot race that lives on the planet Mechanus), much to the annoyance of Barbara.
Ian and Barbara probably belong in the "TOP 5 COMPANIONS" list, because their relationship with the Doctor grew as the series progressed. Initially, there were unwanted travelers on the TARDIS and the Doctor had a very antagonistic view towards them. Yet, eventually the Doctor's attitude began to mellow and eventually they all wound up the best of friends. It's no wonder the Doctor is at first reluctant to help them when they ask him how to operate the Daleks' time machine to get back to their own time. The Doctor claims he doesn't want to "abet in suicide," but secretly he doesn't want to see his two best friends leave him. After Vicki pleads with, the Doctor acquiesces and shows them how to work the Dalek's time machine. The scenes with Ian and Barbara running amuk London are the best in the entire serial, this could be largely due to the fact that were directed by Douglas Camfield, one of Who's best directors. They pack an emotional wallop and are extremely bittersweet in their execution. Ian and Barbara are home, but there adventures in the TARDIS have come to an end. The Doctor confides to Vicki that he will miss them. It's a strong ending to a fairly contrived story.
The first episode of the saga ("The Executioners") sets the tone for the insanity that is about to ensue. The Doctor and company are aboard the TARDIS, Ian's reading book, Barbara's making a dress, and Vicki is getting in the way. The Doctor calls them over to have a look at his Time Space Visualiser, which is essentially a "Time Television."
The Doctor has each of the companions choose a historical event they want to watch; Ian chooses Abraham Lincoln giving the Gettysburg address, Barbara picks William Shakespeare visiting Queen Elizabeth, and Vicki delights over The Beatles singing "Ticket To Ride" on Top of the Pops. Barbara is surprised that Vicki, being from the distant future, knows of The Beatles. Vicki, in a bit of prophecy, responds that she's been to The Beatles Museum many times. She thinks they are fantastic, but didn't know their music was "classical." The perplexes Barbara, but Ian moves things forward by suggest music styles change over the years. This sequences up about rough ten minutes of screen time and has practically no narrative value. The Time Space Visualiser does comes into play later in the episode, but the rest of it is just filler.
Finally, the TARDIS has landed, on the desert planet Aridius, and the crew go on their merry way, forgetting to turn off the Time Space Visualiser. Vicki wants to go off exploring and Ian goes along with her, while Barbara and the Doctor soak up some sun. Barbara, distracted by the humming coming from the Time Space Visualiser, goes inside the TARDIS to turn it off, only to stumble across a "broadcast" of the Daleks. She calls the Doctor and together the learn about the Dalek's plan to chase them throughout the Galaxy and exterminate them. Yes, it's through sheer happenstance that the Doctor discovers the Dalek's diabolical plan. Granted, Doctor Who has always been contrived, but this is just too much to accept. The Doctor's survival is dependent upon a Time Television accidentally being left on. The Doctor deduces that since the Time Space Visualiser can only pick up events from the past that means the Daleks must have already landed on the planet Aridius. The two of them go to gather Vicki and Ian, only to get lost in a sandstorm. Aridius has two suns and the climate changes at a rapid, the sandstorm lasts for only a few seconds, but in that time the TARDIS has been buried. For an episode that is set on an expansive desert planet, it's pretty claustrophobic; at one point Ian and Vicki cast shadows on the painted back drop. It's only too obvious this was shot in a studio, a small one at that. Of course, this was standard for many of old Doctor Who episodes.
Meanwhile, Vicki and Ian have come across a trap door which leads into a cavern beneath the sand. They go down to investigate and the door closes behind them. THEY ARE TRAPPED. Just when things can't get any worse, a tentacled beast starts crawling towards them. Is it the end of Vicki and Ian?
Cut to the Doctor and Barbara still wandering through the desert. The Doctor tells Barbara to get down and to their complete and utter horror a Dalek slowly starts to emerge from the sand.
This bit is lifted from the serial Dalek Invasion of Earth, in which one of the cliffhangers consisted of a Dalek slowly emerging from the Thames river. END OF PART ONE!
Episode Two ("The Death of Time") is the weakest part of The Chase, in large part due to the overall cheapness of the production. The classic Doctor Who always had fairly poor production values, but even by the low standards of 60s BBC television, they are extremely bad in this episode. How bad are they? Well, I've seen high school plays with better production values. The most problematic aspect of the episode is the Aridians, a reptilian like species that live underground. What's so bad about that, you ask? Well, just take a look at them:
Yup, they are indeed men in leotards with scales glued onto them and are wearing fin-like helmets. It's a complete credit to William Hartnell that he's able to deliver his lines in a completely straight and sincere manner, despite the silliness that was constantly staring him in the face. The Aridians mortal enemies are the Mire Beasts, which look like this:
I'm going to be completely biased here, part three of The Chase ("Flight From Eternity") is one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes, despite being a completely unnecessary one. Nothing in this episode advances the story in the least, it's just filler. Yet, it's so completely ridiculous that you can't but help to love it. What's so special about this episode, you ask? Well, essentially the TARDIS makes two pit shops; one atop of the Empire State Building, the other aboard on old sailing ship. The Empire State Building sequence is especially interesting, because it's seen entirely through the eyes of a secondary character, Alabama Hillybilly Morton Dill.
Dill is part of tour group and while the rest of them leave, he stays behind, hoping to get a picture of the breath taking scenery. Just then the materializes and naturally Dill is completely bewildered by the whole thing. His bewilderment is changed to complete delight when Vicki and Barbara exit from the TARDIS. Barbara asks him what year it is and he, in state of confusion, tells her it is 1966. When the Doctor and Ian exit the TARDIS as well, Dill is convinced that they are from Hollywood, that the TARDIS is a prop, the Doctor is a director, and the companions are actors. The Doctor humors him and they get inside the TARDIS. Dill wants to get their picture, but when he goes to grab his camera that TARDIS has dematerialized. Almost instantly, the Daleks' time machine materializes and once again, Morton Dill thinks they are a form of Hollywood trickery. The Daleks asks him a few questions and he tells them about the "Hollywood people" and how they left. The Daleks follow suit. And, once again, Dill goes for his camera, but before he can get a picture, the Dalek's time machine dematerializes. Dill is convinced that there is a trap door hidden on the observation deck of the Empire State Building and gets on his hands and knees to feel around for it. Just then the tour group returns and the tour guide tells one of them to get a policeman. Thus ends the misadventures of Morton Dill. I absolutely adore this bit, largely due to Peter Purves' wonderful comic performance. Purves seems to have taken his cue from Max Bear, Jr. (Jethro in the Beverly Hillbillies); he talks in a cheesy southern accent, does lots of double takes, and is boundlessly energetic throughout.Though, Dill is not nearly as dense as Jethro. I, for one, would love to see Morton Dill make a come back.
The second part of this episode finds the TARDIS crew aboard an old sailing ship. Barbara decides to have a look around, but gets accosted by a sailor who thinks she is a stowaway. Barbara protests, but to no avail. Vicki leaves the TARDIS and sees that Barbara is in distress. She sneaks up on the sailor and knocks him unconscious. The TARDIS is ready to go, so the Doctor sends Ian to gather the girls. Barbara and Vicki hear footsteps and hide. Ian walks into view and gets knocked on the head by Vicki, who mistook him for a sailor. The girls put his arms around their shoulders and carry him back to the TARDIS. It dematerializes. The sailor regains conscious and tells the rest of the crew about the female stowaway on board. They spread out to find her, just then the Dalek's time machine materializes on the ship. The crew, terrified by the sight of the Daleks, all abandon ship. The Daleks take off in their time machine. The name of the ship, the Mary Celeste. There is actually a pretty grim moment in what is otherwise a fairly light hearted episode; one of the people seen jumping the ship is a woman clutching a baby in her arms. It's odd choice, tonally, but they are only onscreen for a brief second.
The Doctor reveals that they only have a eight minute lead on the Daleks and that gap keeps decreasing. END OF PART THREE.
Episode Four ("Journey Into Terror") amps up the absurdity that is The Chase by setting the entire episode in a futuristic theme park, "Frankenstein's House of Horrors" that features an animatronic Dracula and Frankenstein Monster. The major flaw of this episode is that it calls for the TARDIS crew to behave in an extremely dim manner. The animatronic Dracula and Frankenstein Monster go through the same motions over and over, yet the crew never figures out that they are mechanical in nature; at the end of the episode Vicki tries to warn the Dracula mock up about the Daleks, but to no avail. Barbara and Ian may not be familiar with animatronics, but certainly the Doctor and Vicki would know about them. Vicki, is from the future, and the Doctor has traveled throughout time and space, yet it never crosses either of their minds that what they are seeing is mechanical in nature. The Doctor's conclusion is that the TARDIS some how landed in the dark recesses of the human psyche. Vicki manages to get separated by the rest of the group, while trying to warn the clockwork Dracula about the Daleks, and is forced to hitch a ride aboard the Dalek's time machine. Interestingly, this episode predates the opening of the Disney attraction, Pirates of the Caribbean, by two years. It should also be noted that mechanical monstrosities are immune to the Daleks' death rays.
Episode Five ("The Death of Doctor Who") features the least convincing double in television history. As mentioned above, the Daleks create a robotic duplicate of The Doctor and give it the following orders: Infiltrate, divide, and kill. The TARDIS had landed on the planet Mechanus, which is swarming with giant fungoid plants that attack everything that gets in their path, but are completely sensitive to bright light. Through out this excitement, the Doctor has managed to make a bomb that destroy the Daleks. Meanwhile, Vicki has managed to escape from the Dalek time machine and while wandering through the jungle, gets attacked by a fungoid plant. She lets out a scream that is heard by the Doctor and his companions.
The Doctor and Ian run to the rescue, while Barbara remains the cave they have stumbled upon. The robot Doctor enters the cave and informs Barbara that Ian has been killed by a fungoid plant and that he needs her help in the jungle. The Doctor and Ian find Vicki and bring her back to the cave. She panics at first when she sees the Doctor, but soon realizes he is the real deal when she sees Ian standing next to him. She then informs that Doctor and Ian about the robot duplicate and the three then go searching for Barbara. Barbara is elated when she hears Ian calling her name, just then the robot Doctor lunges at her, knocks her to the ground, but before he can finish the job, Ian comes to save the day. The robot Doctor escapes.
This episode is particularly confusing, because in some instance the robot duplicate is played by William Hartnell (in close ups), but for the most part is portrayed by a double, Edmond Warwick, who vaguely resembles William Hartnell. At the end of the episode, the two Doctors confront each other and the TARDIS crew can't tell who is Who. (Ha!) On paper, this should be an extremely suspenseful scene; the problem, however, is that the director, Richard Martin, makes the mistake of showing the face of the double (in close up) and the audience is already clued as to who is the real Doctor and who is the fake. The TARDIS crew doesn't figure it out until the robot refers to Vicki as "Susan." The Doctor dispatches of his doppelganger by ripping out it's wiring. With the robot Doctor out of the way, the TARDIS crew can resume it's mission. Or so they think!
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| William Hartnell - The Doctor. |
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| The Robot Doctor with Vicki and Barbara. |
The Doctor and his companions get a good night's rest. Unbeknownst to them, a camera lowers from the roof of the cave and spies on them. When the wake up the next morning, they are surprised to see an entire city above the jungle. They didn't notice it before, because of the darkness.
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However, this serene setting is short lived when the Daleks come charging at them; they take shelter in the cave. Ian suggests that the Doctor impersonate his robot duplicate and try to fool the Daleks, but Vicki and Barbara disagree, stating that it is too dangerous. While the companions have a debate, the Doctor sneaks out and give this plan a try. It is a complete failure. The Doctor makes it back just by the skin of his teeth. Just when things look hopeless for our heroes, one of the walls in the cave opens up to reveal a large, circular mechanical creature, a Mechonoid. It orders them to enter and they reluctantly accept it's invitation.
END OF PART FIVE.
Steven takes the Doctor and friends to the roof, the only place that is Mechonoid free. It just so happens that on the roof is a drum that is filled with cabling. The Doctor devises a plan of escape; they will lower the cabling over the side and climb down it. In fact, they really have no choice, for at that very moment the Daleks come crashing into the Mechonoid city. The Daleks and the Mechonoids start to battle one another, amidst the chaos, the Doctor sneaks into the room and plants his bomb. A Dalek runs into it, sets it off, and a fire erupts. The TARDIS crew is ready to go, when Vicki has a panic attack. This bit of business bothers me as it is completely out of character for Vicki to chicken out at the last moment, ever since her first serial, The Rescue, she has been depicted as being a rather brave and resourceful soul. The Doctor blind folds Vicki, while Ian ties cable around her waist. The slowly lower her down to safety. Steven notices the building is on fire, let's go of the cable, and runs to save his mascot, Hi Fi. The Doctor and companions manage to recover just in the nick of time, sparing Vicki the fate of becoming a human pancake. The rest of the crew climb down to safety, while the Daleks and the Mechonoids destroy one another. The Mechonoid city goes up in a blaze; the fate of Steven is unknown to the Doctor and crew. Later on, he is seen stumbling through the jungle, some how surviving the inferno. The TARDIS crew stumble upon the Dalek time machine, Ian has a little fun by impersonating a Dalek. The Doctor has won the day! The Doctor comments on what a remarkable piece of technology the Dalek time machine is and how it managed to stay on their heels throughout time and space. Ian and Barbara realize that they can use the time machine to get back home and plead their case to the Doctor. He is reluctant at first, but eventually gives into their wishes and shows them how to work the machine. They materialize in an abandoned garage in 1965. Ian activates the self destruct mechanism on the time machine, and he and Barbara run for cover. The two go sight seeing throughout London. This is a rather effective moment, achieved through the use of still photos. At one point they stumble upon a police box and are relieved to find out that it is a real one. They get on a city bus and try to come up with a story that will explain their two year absence. The Doctor and Vicki watch them on the Time Space Visualiser; Vicki is overjoyed that they landed safely, while the Doctor is saddened to see them gone. END OF THE CHASE. What about Steven, you ask? Well, it is revealed in next week's episode that he stowed aboard the TARDIS.
The Chase is too muddled to be classified as a good Doctor Who serial, but it's never boring, either. Just when you think have you seen everything, it throws another surprise your way. It may not be good surprise, but it sure as hell won't put you to sleep. It's an extremely fun story if you catch it in the right frame of mind. It's certainly no worse than the atrocity that is The Last of the Time Lords.
It also needs to be said that William Hartnell is vastly underrated as the Doctor. Hell, many fans of the new Doctor Who have probably never heard of William Hartnell. This is a great shame! Tom Baker and David Tennant are the names that usually spring to mind when people talk about their favorite Doctor. I wouldn't say Hartnell is my favorite Doctor, but the more I see him the more I like him. Indeed, there is no Doctor Who without William Hartnell. Many of the eccentricities that fans associate with the Doctor originate in Hartnell's performance. His Doctor possessed great intelligence, but could be incredibly absented minded at time. He had a great whimsy about him, but also an extremely volatile temper. There was a great air of mystery surrounding the First Doctor, that seemed to lessen with each incarnation. You never knew what Hartnell's Doctor was capable of; each week he surprised you with something new. In An Unearthly Child, he is a sinister figure and, for the most part, the villain of the piece. At one point in the serial, he contemplates smashing in the head of a wounded caveman with a rock, because the man is a hindrance to the group; Ian intervenes before the Doctor can enact his plan. Yet, despite his seemingly sinister exterior, there was a glint of benevolence waiting to be stirred up. The audience sensed he was a good guy at heart, largely due to the strong bond he had with his granddaughter Susan. She was his soft spot that offered a glimpse into his "humanity." As the series progressed, the Doctor grew as a character, the good side emerged and he formed a tight bond with Ian and Barbara as well. Hartnell brought a lot of conviction to the role; there was never any hint that he was sending up the material.
There was also an air of vulnerability about Hartnell's Doctor (and Troughton's for the matter), he was a frail old man that could drop dead any minute. Every time he went up against a villain, it often felt like a mismatch in their favor, but some how the Doctor would persevere. Flash forward to Jon Pertwee as the Doctor, and the audience was 100% each time that the Doctor would win out, because Pertwee cut such an imposing figure. No monster stood a chance against him. It's this vulnerability that makes the Doctor such a unique hero, especially in the same decade that brought James Bond to the silver screen. He was not a dashing lady killer that beat his rivals senseless, but rather a cantankerous old man that used every ounce of his brain to outwit his opponents. William Hartnell was a wonderful Doctor and the fan base owes his a great deal of thanks for his memorable characterization.
Credits:
Cast: William Hartnell (The Doctor), William Russell (Ian Chesterton), Jacqueline Hill (Barbara Wright), Maureen O' Brien (Vicki), Peter Purves (Steven Taylor/Morton Dill).
Director: Richard Martin
Writer: Terry Nation
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