121 The Savages: Episode Three

EPISODE: The Savages: Episode Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 121
STORY NUMBER: 026
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 11 June 1966
WRITER: Ian Stuart Black
DIRECTOR: Christopher Barry
SCRIPT EDITOR: Gerry Davis
PRODUCER: Innes Lloyd
RATINGS: 5 million viewers
FORMAT: CD: Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Collection: No. 2
TELESNAPS: The Savages: Episode Three

"You can destroy the people of the city. They can destroy our enemies. The strangers must be gods!"

The Savages shelter Steven & Dodo in their caves. Jano proposes to absorb all the life force drained from the Doctor himself. Edal & Exorse follow them to the caves. Steven uses a mirror to reflect the ray from the light gun capturing Exorse. The drained unconscious Doctor is taken to the guest apartments as his energy is transferred to Jano. Tor attacks the captured Exorse but is stopped by Nanina. Chal takes Steven & Dodo to the city, where they overcome the guard and enter the city. Jano recovers after the process but seems to have taken on some of the Doctor's personality and mannerisms. Left alone he tries to destroy the transference equipment before Jano's true personality reasserts control. Steven & Dodo's progress is monitored by guard Edal & scientist Senta. They use the drained and disorientated Doctor to bait a trap. They find the Doctor but are trapped in a corridor and gassed.

Cracking episode that. Quiet episode for Hartnell though: he spends most of him brief time on screen lying down then when he does get up at the end he gets to play punch drunk! For the rest of the cast the episode is a bit more action orientated than the first two episodes with the pursuit through the caves and trying to enter the city but it's still chucking some decent ideas around that are worth thinking about.

CHAL: A patrol is coming this way.
TOR: I have warned you. they are looking for you.
DODO: Will they come here?
CHAL: Possibly.
STEVEN: Where can we go?
TOR: There is no place where you are safe.
CHAL: Be silent! You will be safe in the caves.
TOR: No, Chal! You cannot take them into the caves. The guards would follow and then our last refuge would be gone.
CHAL: They have helped us. We must help them.
TOR: No! They are not our people. They must not be allowed in the caves.
CHAL: I am the leader and I say they may go.
TOR: Very well. Our destruction will be on your hands.
CHAL: You will remain here. Come with me, quickly.

It's interesting that up until now Tor's role in proceedings has been a little vague. Now he becomes the one who puts the tribe's safety above helping those who've helped them and disagrees with his leader's decision.

TOR: Where are they now?
WYLDA: They've gone into the rock.
TOR: And the guard?
NANINA: He has followed. He showed him the way.
TOR: Chal should not have brought the strangers here. They will punish all of us.
NANINA: But the strangers helped us.
TOR: What good is that if they make the leaders angry?

Ironically Tor ends up getting captured and, under torture from Exorse's light gun gives away the location of the travellers.

But that in turn allows Steven to capture Tor and take his light gun which is effectively the turning point of the story

STEVEN: Right, tie him up. Make him a prisoner.
TOR: You can destroy the people of the city. They can destroy our enemies. The strangers must be gods.

Meanwhile Jano has decided what to do with the life force obtained from the Doctor:

JANO: And now I wish you to prepare for an in-transference.
SENTA: So soon?
JANO: The sooner the better.
SENTA: You've nominated a number of people to receive part of his life force?
JANO: No. There will be only one person.
SENTA: That's most unusual.
JANO: This is a most unusual experiment, Senta. It would not be right to jeopardise the safety of any other members of the city. I will take full responsibility.
SENTA: You're going to take the in-transference yourself?
JANO: Yes.
SENTA: But Jano, is that wise? Anything might happen. We've never seen the results of such an in-transference before.
JANO: It is for that reason that I will take the risk. I shall be ready when you need me.

Unfortunately the effects are not quite what Jano was hoping for....

SENTA: In-transference completed. Pressure restored. Are you all right, Jano? Jano!
SENTA: Jano?
SENTA: Are you all right, Jano?
SENTA: For a moment I was afraid that...
JANO: Hmm? What's all the fuss about? I'm quite all right. The trouble with you people on this planet is that you don't
SENTA: What do you mean, Jano? You belong to this planet. You're one of us.
JANO: One of? Yes, yes of course. I'm afraid I'm not quite myself.
SENTA: I understand. You must rest, Jano. I shall give instructions that you're not to be disturbed.
JANO: Hmm! An excellent idea. After an experience like that, one takes time to become adjusted. I suppose my two young friends
SENTA: Avon and Flower?
JANO: Good gracious, no, no, no. Steven and Dodo, the child with the ridiculous name.
SENTA: The strangers?
JANO: Oh, strangers to you, perhaps, but I have known them both for.... Yes, yes, of course. The strangers.
SENTA: I will leave you, Jano.
JANO: Hmm! So, I'm in this dreadful place, am I? Well, I'll soon do something about their equipment.
JANO: What's happened to me? What's happened to me?

Jano has in effect become The Doctor!

The lead guest star for this serial is a first Doctor Who appearance for Frederick Jaeger who plays Jano. His Hartnell impersonation here, when Jano has imbibed the Doctor's life force is superb! He'll return to Doctor Who twice in the Tom Baker years as Professor Sorenson in Planet of Evil and Professor Marius, K-9's creator, in The Invisible Enemy. Outside of Doctor Who he appears in Out of the Unknown episodes The Naked Sun as Leebig, which is reconstructed in Out of the Unknown DVD Set. He's also in an episode Doomwatch, which was co-created by Doctor Who's script editor Gerry Davis, appearing in Waiting for a Knighthood as Richard Massingham, one of only two surviving episodes from that show's third season and you can see that in The Doomwatch DVD set.

Oddly enough Jaeger isn't the only actor from this story to reappear in Planet of Evil. Ewen Solon who plays Chal, on the left bellow, is Vishinsky in the later tale. I can't find any production connection between the two shows that might involve the same actors being reused.

Tor, in the above right photo, is played by Patrick Godfrey who returns as Major Cosworth in The Mind of Evil: Episodes Five & Six. He too has a Doomwatch to his name as Grant in The Human Time Bomb.

Exorse, bellow left, is played by Geoffrey Frederick. He doesn't have any more Doctor Who to his name but is another who's been in Out of the Unknown where he plays Alex in Lambda 1. Lambda 1 is one of the few episodes of that series that's best avoided. Some nice effects though!

Clare Jenkins plays Nanina in this story. She'll return as Tanya Lernov in 1968's The Wheel In Space, a role she briefly reprises a year later in The War Games Episode Ten.