Musings for ep 2...
- Tired, tired, tired fan myth #1 - Episode one is pretty good with essential 'set up' stuff, then episodes 2-4 are dull as dishwater with a lot of smelly, grunting, black-texta-toothed extras milling about - go straight to Daleks Ep 1.
- Well, that's partially true, The cavemen and women are on the whole dull and laughable (save perhaps Derek Newark & Eileen Way, who valiantly try to bring something to the boulder) and their silly, broken Gruntglish does disregard credibility entirely without ever really attempting to first just stretch it to ridiculous lengths. However, there are moments to appreciate and even relish in episode 2.
- The opening scene in the TARDIS picks up in style where episode 1 left off. Hartnell is in command and still doesn't look like he's fishing for his lines or in any danger of fumbling his fishes, i mean lines, hmmm? Chestybonds? I mean Chesterfield, hmmhmmhmm!! his close-nosed exchange with Ian (framing Barbara and Susan over the console in the background) is lovely and the 'touch the alien sands' speech continues the strong dialouge and is the first of many such unigalactaverspirational speeches the Doctor will elocute down the years.
- The incidental music as the regulars venture out of the TARDIS is a nice touch; part anticipatory, part fearful.
- The first shot of the three companions stepping away from the TARDIS with Waris' camera gently back-peddling is spot on and gives a great sense of looming threat to the landscape.
- The visual ambience of the set is stunning. I don't know what Waris et al did; stylised by necessity yes, but it has rarely if ever been bettered in the echelons of 'Doctor Who desert sets done indoors'. A combination of very specific lighting, camera lenses possibly, a particular film stock (or was it on video and helped by a film transfer?) and other little touches such as fans off camera for a hint of a slight breeze.
- All these little touches help us to believe that a pissy little set in Lime Grove (was it?) was a bumpy desert tundra on prehistoric Earth. Waris and his team made real effort where others later just threw the TARDIS regulars on a dodgy set and hit record.
- Hartnell's close up as he delivers the "it's still a police box, why hasn't it changed, dear oh dear", looks splendid and the composition is perfect; Hartnell's marvellous bony face in harsh focus, with the other three and the TARDIS out of focus in the background, a breath of wind catches his hair and you can see the water glisten in his eyes. He hits the lines just so too. It's one of the finest shots in the history of the show, top 10 for sure.
- Susan's speech about how the TARDIS exterior should have changed is well pitched, she's pretty good so far bar the slightly overwrought panic after Grandpa goes missing.
- Hartnell doesn't get to say much as he's menaced by the cave peoples, but his eyeballs excitedly earn his BBC paycheck for the week, suggesting all that they need to as he worriedly listens to his impending fate.
- Barbara apparently gets threatened with sexual advances and sometimes even sexual violence in almost every one of her stories, in episode 2 we see the first evidence of this, with an only just averted stroke to the cheek.
- The cave of skulls set is pretty darn good really, considering.
- Hartnell nails the "I'm sorry, it's all my fault, I'm desperately sorry'' line; a convincing 'i'm sorry' is hard, as David Tennant has demonstrated on multiple occasions.
- That last shot of cracked skulls that hangs over the credits after Ian says "they're all the same, they've been split open", hmmm, great final image to leave lingering in the minds of millions of kids not long away from bedtime in 1963.
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