Season Two@60 The Chase

 

A fill in story apparently only roughly drafted by Terry Nation and then developed by Dennis Spooner, `The Chase` struggles to match the drama of it’s title. It never seems much like a chase as the Daleks pursue the Tardis to several locations, gaining ground as the Doctor has to stop for a period in each place. What could be thrilling is hidebound by the budgetary restrictions and a script that seems far too ambitious to be properly realised. Nonetheless it has interesting elements, lively performances and some good effects.

 

The Daleks need to practice their chanting., Twice in the opening episode they launch into a chorus and on both occasions are out of synch whether it’s “Tardis” or “Annihilate!”  By part two they can’t even agree which verb to chant so each of the trio offers a different one. I get the impression these are less well drilled Daleks; they interrupt each other and there’s a funny scene in which one is being given orders and just replies “Yes” several times but then just sits there and doesn’t actually do it. We have a Dalek who seems to cough and when one of the metal meanies pops up though the sand it makes a very silly noise. They are however managing to keep an eye on the Doctor’s ship and pursuing him via what seems to be a doorway that can carry them through time. Their spaceship is all spinning maze designs and is actually one of the more impressive sets in what is a well-dressed story.

 It’s certainly an unusual first episode, the first third of which is taken up with the Doctor’s newly constructed Time Space Visualiser. A rather unwieldy circular device it no doubt looked like the future in 1965 though its slightly amusing how such a massive machine contains an ordinary sized tv set. As the Doctor explains it can show chosen extracts from history like a temporal jukebox so we are treated to clips of Abraham Lincoln, Queen Elizabeth 1 with Shakespeare plus the Beatles.

There’s something of the fourth Doctor and his era in these scenes in which Willaim Hartnell is distractedly tinkering with this machine whilst explaining and the slightly frivolous air with which the whole enterprise is treated. It contrasts well with the more atmospheric material to come. Its also one of the very early plots that builds from a previous story- the Daleks reference their defeat earlier in the season (though interestingly they define it as a delay). One odd aspect is that jaunty jazzy music opens each episode.

The rest of part one sees Ian and Vicki exploring the desert world of Aridius while the Doctor and Barbara decide to lie in the heat of the two Suns. Though mostly depicted on a studio set some brief location work (at Camber Sands) allows for a more panoramic view of the planet. This works rather well thanks to some oddly shaped alien objects placed about. William Russell and Maureen O’Brien, both in playful mood, wander around  while the viewer catches glimpses of a tail swishing around just under the surface. Its really well done conjuring up a truly strange environment. The cliffhanger sees Ian and Vicki facing the Mire Beast, which is suitably shrouded in shadow making it more effective; once we see it more clearly in part two it looks far less menacing.

Episode two sees the Daleks managing to get about despite the sandy desert locale leading to an unintentionally amusing moment when, having said they will take some Aridians hostage to dig out the Tardis from the sand it is under, we cut to two of them having just completed the work with tiny trowels! Given the speed at which the Aridian day passes it must have taken a week to dig with such paltry tools. As the Daleks seem to have a device for everything else you think they would be able to conjure up some sort of sand remover. This yin and yang between some very well staged and some less convincing material continues. The Aridian costumes themselves are passable enough- strange and golden with an aquatic flare befitting a race whom, we are told in some lengthy exposition, once lived under the sea. Yet the Mire beasts who inhabited the ocean depths and invaded the city once the planet was drained are much less successful when seen in the full studio lighting flopping all over the place like errant bagpipes.

Director Richard Martin does his best to make the ambitious script, which really requires a film sized budget, work but its rather hit and miss. Most of the episodes are effectively padding once an escape from Aridius is made. The Tardis lands, the crew linger a little, then it takes off. So, we have a sojourn atop the Empire State building which is effectively a chance for Peter Purves to shine as a somewhat bamboozled American tourist. He impressed so much that he was immediately hired to be the new companion though I wonder how things would have gone had it been this character he had continued playing. He is really funny in these scenes though with excellent timing. When he pops up as Steven Tyler in part five, he proves the earlier performance was no fluke; essaying a somewhat different character he nails it easily. Though where has Steven found all that wood to build his steps?

Next, we are on a nineteenth century ship which is clearly where a lot of the budget went. Its one of the series’ first forays into having something to do with the Doctor affect a real historical event as it’s the appearance of the Daleks that cause everyone to abandon ship and only then does the camera zoom in on the Mary Celeste nameplate. It feels like Richard Martin is happier with scenes like this- he creates a real sense of panic amongst the ship’s crew.

Probably the least effective locale this chase visits is what seems like a haunted house though turns out to be a fairground attraction. Enabling the established fictional likes of Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula, and other spooks to appear it seems unlikely that time travellers with such experience would be fooled for a minute by such a scenario.

We end up on the planet Mechanus for the final two episodes amidst its’ lively plant life that unfortunately cannot hide its origins in basic stage design materials. The moving plants are like deflated balloons and despite Ian and Barbara calling the city they find “huge” the very next shot shows what is clearly a tiny Mechanoid trundling unsteadily along a model. The city does though resemble those shapes made famous later by Roger Dean so maybe he was watching. The Mechanoids themselves, despite attempts to merchandise them, are uninteresting though sturdy looking props that don’t really do much. Worse than that you can’t understand anything they say; does one of them call itself a “dirty Mechanoid”? There’s also a scenario involving a duplicate robot Doctor something you feel that is a waste of time both fictionally and in real life. Despite the Daleks declaring he cannot be distinguished from the real thing actor Edmund Warwick is taller and has a longer face that Hartnell leading to some awkward scenes especially as he doesn’t lip sync very well to Hartnell’s voice. The vigour with which the actor pummels his double in a fight scene seems a little too real! Clearly Billy did not want a double!!

In the mist of what is a chaotic sequence of events requiring it seems maximum overacting from the regulars it’s a shame more time was not set aside to build to Ian and Barbara’s decision to leave. When it becomes clear that the Dalek time ship allows them that opportunity is rather late in the day to pivot the story to more serious material. This means there’s not time to show scenes where they actually tell the Doctor or where they say goodbye but the last five minutes brings them – and us- home with some relief. The photo montage of Ian and Barbara enjoying London in 1965 is delightful and its left to William Hartnell to deliver an understated, heartfelt piece of dialogue – “I shall miss them,” he mutters, “Silly old fuss pots.” William Russell and Jacqueline Hill’s work on the series has not only stood the test of time but is how all their successors are defined. They set a high bar- not always in the easiest of circumstances- and whatever the quality of the story surrounding them they are the audience’s eyes and ears. Sixty years on while some of the scenery around them may look tattered, those performances still ring loud and true.