After the talky previous episode, this is much more action-packed. The first half picks up on the themes of pacifism and morality from The Ambush, with a surprisingly intense debate between the TARDIS crew on the right thing to do. The Doctor, as in The Survivors, is uninterested in the ethics of challenging the Thals’ values – ‘This is no time for morals,’ he exclaims. More surprisingly, Barbara backs the Doctor, fearing that if the Thals won’t fight with them, then the Daleks will destroy the time travellers and the Thals alike. This is a new development given that so far Barbara and Ian have pretty much been in agreement. Ian expresses the view that it’s wrong to ask the Thals to die for the sake of the TARDIS fluid link: ‘I’m not having anyone’s death on my conscience.’

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The first half of this episode picks up where The Escape left off. It’s exactly the kind of thing we’re going to see a lot of in the future with the regulars pretending to be prisoners, and the baddies cutting through doors with blowtorches. It’s done reasonably well, but it’s very routine and mainly noteworthy because the Daleks start using ‘exterminate!’ as a catchphrase.

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Having spent the previous episode introducing the conniving, duplicitous Daleks, Terry Nation now introduces the other inhabitants of this planet: the Thals. Susan goes a bit overboard when she encounters Alydon outside the TARDIS. ‘You’re perfect!’ she squees, as the storm subsides and this blonde Adonis is bathed in radioactive sunlight. The first half of the episode largely focuses on the Thals. They turn out to be a race of farmers, eking out a subsistence living from the poisoned soil. As there’s been a prolonged drought, they’ve been forced to abandon their farms and are planning to approach the Daleks for assistance.

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The most significant thing about this episode is that it introduces the Daleks: the first and most enduring monsters the Doctor ever encounters (I like that in the 21st Century series they also waited until episode 6 for the Daleks). That’s remarkable: they got it right first time. A lot of effort goes in to making them seem like more than robots. They’re constantly moving, rolling back and forth or side to side, twitching their protuberances, which suggests a kind of barely controlled nervous energy. Even in this first appearance we get lots of point of view shots, reinforcing the message that there is something intelligent watching from inside the case. The Dalek actors and the director have obviously given some thought to how to make these metal creatures seem alive, so that Barbara’s speculation that there is something inside them makes sense (Susan’s hysterical giggle at this point is deeply unsettling).

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This one sets the scene for most of the early ‘space’ adventures. Whereas the history stories usually begin with the crew being captured and separated in fairly short order, the space adventures take a bit more time to explore the environment. The Dead Planet is particularly memorable because of the effort that’s gone in to making the planet so alien. The petrified jungle is stark, with weird, rectangular leaves – quite a difference from the prehistoric Earth forest last week. It’s also shot with a weird ‘negative’ effect, at least for the first 30 seconds, which makes it look as strange as Vortis and creates a link between the dead planet and the Daleks’ death ray effect.

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The start of this episode gives Hartnell a great moment of showmanship, unveiling Kal as the murderer of Old Mother by manipulating him into revealing the murder weapon, and then encouraging the tribe to turn against him. It’s a fantastic scene, and I think an inspiration for the Millennius trial sequence in The Keys of Marinus. It’s probably this moment of cunning that later convinces Ian to acknowledge the Doctor as the TARDIS ‘tribe’s’ leader to Za, although the final moments of the episode make it clear that this is only a temporary rapprochement.

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The most quoted bit of The Forest of Fear comes in the first couple of minutes: ‘Fear makes companions of all of us.’ It’s a charming moment, beautifully played by Hartnell and Hill. But it’s atypical of the episode, which elsewhere pits the Doctor’s self-centredness against Barbara’s compassion. This is most represented in the moment when the Doctor picks up a rock, clearly to finish off the injured Za and make good his and Susan’s escape (Ian’s visible disgust at this point is one of the best William Russell moments). It’s the third time in the episode that a lot of focus is placed on a hand clutching a sharp rock. In the opening sequence, Old Mother steals Za’s knife, and Waris Hussein dwells on it, in close up, for several seconds. Later, there’s a focus on Kal’s knife as he finishes off Old Mother. These are all the moments of most apparent peril.

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In the first episode, the Doctor talks about the Red Indian seeing the first steam train. The Cave of Skulls begins with a caveman seeing a time machine materialising from thin air. Inside the TARDIS, the time travellers are still arguing. Ian still refuses to believe – clinging to his old ideas. Barbara is more imaginative. I love the shot of the TARDIS doors opening to reveal the frozen sands of prehistoric Earth. Outside, the Doctor is perturbed by the TARDIS’ failure to change shape. It’s the first hint we get that he doesn’t really have any idea how to properly work the Ship. Susan remains odd – prone to hysterical outbursts when she realises the Doctor has been kidnapped by the watching caveman.

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Although I’ve seen or heard every Doctor Who story at some point, I’ve never done the start-to-finish, episode by episode watch through that’s the hallmark of a true fan. So, in this hiatus year I thought I’d take the opportunity to go back, back to the beginning, and review each episode, one by one. Here goes…

It’s weird from the off: strange, swirling interference, like something’s gone wrong with the TV. Without resorting to The Outer Limits’ ominous voiceover, it’s basically saying that for the next 25 minutes we’re entering the Doctor’s world. The first character we see is a policeman, drawn towards a strange, humming Police Box that then dissolves into the corridors of Coal Hill school. The next five minutes introduce three of the four regulars. Barbara gets the first line: she’s established as being considerate, tenacious and interested in people. Ian is a bit more laid back: wry, plain speaking, with a matter-of-fact solidity to him that balances out Barbara’s intuition. The third wheel is Susan, who’s just a bit odd and exotic. Right from the off she’s more an object of idle curiosity than a character with much agency of her own.

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