By Jessica Holmes

Hello again, my friends, and welcome to another summary and review of the latest serial of Doctor Who. After a disappointing last several stories, I’m pleased to say that for the last few weeks Doctor Who has once again been a highlight of Saturday tea-time in my house. Whom do we have to thank for this turnaround? A new face in the writers’ room, Ian Stuart Black. Black’s story is everything Doctor Who should be: smart, exciting, and most importantly it has something to say. Let’s take a look at The Savages.

Oh, and I haven’t forgotten to fill in the episode names. Apparently we aren’t bothering with them any more.

EPISODE ONE

Arriving in an age of 'peace and prosperity', the Doctor promptly wanders off and attracts the attention of some rather grouchy-looking blokes with clubs.

Men in animal skins wielding clubs doesn’t scream ‘peace and prosperity’ to me. Either the Doctor’s wrong about where they are (as happens…often) or things aren’t quite as they seem. Luckily for the Doctor, a couple of soldiers in silly hats find him before he can have his head bashed in. These are Edal and Exorse, and they’ve come to invite the Doctor to their city. The Elders are expecting him.

Off he trots, leaving behind Steven and Dodo, who also run afoul of the 'savages' (their words, not mine). Luckily, Exorse finds them before Steven gets skewered.

In a contrast to the wilderness, the city of the Elders turns out to be an enlightened utopian paradise, all gleaming architecture and fancy clothes. The Elders have been observing the Doctor’s exploits for some time. They are so honoured to meet him they give him some less-than-groovy new threads.

They’re a bit surprised to see Steven and Dodo, but present them with fancy gifts all the same. Steven gets a knife, and Dodo gets… a hand mirror. Enlightened? Pah! They’re sexist!

Girls like to stab people too, you know.

The leader of the Elders (Jano) offers to have Steven and Dodo shown around while he has a chat with the Doctor. The rest of the city is fabulous and luxurious. The Elders control everything here, even the wind and rain. Steven asks what the secret of their success is. One of their guides tells him that their scientists made one simple discovery, but what is that discovery? Everything seems a little too good to be true, doesn’t it?

While they’re off doing that, the soldiers from earlier go on the hunt, much to the horror of the 'savages'. After a tense game of cat-and-mouse, Exorse captures a young woman, Nanina. He uses a gun that fires a beam of light that freezes the victim in place and allows the user to control them. Remember this, it'll be important later.

Jano explains to the Doctor that they’ve found a more efficient way to gain energy to survive. They have found a way to transfer energy directly from one living being to another.

Right after that little revelation, Dodo spots Exorse bringing Nanina into the city. I think you can guess where this is going.

Exorse takes Nanina into a laboratory where another 'savage' is already lying on a table, very weak. Having no further use for him, the scientists in the lab turn him loose, tossing him out into the tunnels leading out of the city.

While Steven begins to ask questions about the city, and getting no straight answers, Dodo sneaks off to explore. She soon gets lost, coming face to face with the zombified 'savage'…

EPISODE TWO

Dodo has nothing to fear from the stranger, as it turns out. He can’t even stand on his own two feet. She helps him up and to the door, where the other 'savages' are waiting for him, but she doesn't get the chance to talk to them. Hearing Nanina's cries a moment later, Dodo sneaks over to the laboratory to investigate.

Though Steven is beside himself with worry, the Doctor assures him that Dodo is more than capable of taking care of herself.

Dodo gets herself captured in the very next scene.

Edal finds her before the scientists can put her under some sort of procedure, and as he leads her away, the scientists release Nanina in a similar state to the man from earlier. It’s becoming increasingly clear that something is very wrong in this city.

Reunited with his companions, the Doctor bids the Elders a polite farewell, seemingly in a sudden hurry to leave the city. Outside the city they come upon the man Dodo encountered earlier, and the Doctor’s suspicions are confirmed. The Elders are kidnapping the 'savages', draining them of their life force, and transferring it into themselves.

The Doctor sends his companions to get medical supplies from the TARDIS. As he begins tending to the poor man, Edal shows up and callously says that this ‘savage’ should be back on his reserve.

The real-world applicability is hard to miss.

The Doctor, angered at the interference, blasts Edal for his lack of humanity. These ‘savages’ are no different from the Elders, designated as subhuman purely for being born into the 'wrong' group.

Steven and Dodo come back to find the poor sick bloke all alone, and start treating him themselves, learning from him that Edal took the Doctor back to the city. They also meet two more of the man's people, wise old Chal and young hot-headed Tor.

In the city, the Doctor clashes with the Elders, demanding that they put an end to their barbaric practice of draining the 'savages'.

It very strongly feels like a metaphor for… well, a myriad of real-world things: wealth disparity, racism, segregation and colonialism. Basically, any scenario where the ruling class are dehumanising and exploiting a whole group of people.

Faced with the Doctor's condemnation, it seems Jano has no choice… but to have the Doctor taken away and drained.

With considerable trepidation at performing the procedure on a 'higher' being, the lead scientist initiates the procedure, remarking in amazement at the amount of vitality they manage to steal from the Doctor within the first few seconds.

And it seems he’s got plenty left to give…

EPISODE THREE

Jano observes as the scientists finish draining the Doctor, and he insists that he be the first to be infused with the Doctor’s vitality. This is the first experiment of its kind, and so he takes it upon himself to take the risk.

Meanwhile, Chal and Tor, the two men Steven and Dodo met earlier, lead them to the caves where the 'savages' live. To Steven and Dodo's surprise, there is a beautiful temple inside the cave. These people's ancestors were great artists before their traditions and way of life were stolen from them. All that remains to them now is their faith. Again, there is clear real-world applicability, particularly with regard to the suffering of colonised peoples around the world, though many don't even get to keep that much.

Outside, Exorse finds Tor.  Under threat of being drained, Tor gives away the location of the time travellers. Gee, that was a smart move, especially given that just a scene ago Tor was vehemently against taking the fugitives in for fear of the Elders invading his home.

With Exorse coming for them Steven asks if there’s another way out. Chal leads Steven and Dodo into the passages at the back of the cave as Exorse barges in and starts threatening the inhabitants.

I must say that although I’m not given any other name for these people, I feel strange calling them ‘savages’. ‘Savage’ is a word long used to dehumanise people considered ‘lesser’. To me it feels uncomfortable to still refer to these people with a slur when it’s evident there is nothing ‘lesser’ about them. It would have been a good touch at this point in the narrative to reveal to the audience what these cave people call themselves.

Exorse pursues Steven, Dodo and Chal into the tunnels, and faced with a dead end Steven gets an idea. Using Dodo’s hand-mirror (I suppose it came in handy after all), he reflects the beam from Exorse’s light-gun back at the soldier, freezing him in place. Steven manages to disarm Exorse and leads him back to the cave, where the others are amazed to see that their oppressors can be defeated.

Leaving the others to guard the prisoner, Steven heads back to the city with Chal and Dodo to find the Doctor. They’ve barely even left before Tor tries to kill Exorse, but Nanina stops him and tends to Exorse’s wound, reasoning that vengeance will do them no good.

Jano emerges from the intransference procedure with a dazed look on his face, but assures the scientist that he’s quite all right… in a voice that isn’t his. The scientist doesn’t seem to notice, but Jano appears to have acquired the Doctor’s voice and a bit of his personality. He slips back and forth between his own voice and the Doctor’s, and something clicks into place for me. Doesn’t Jano sound rather similar to Janus, the two-faced Roman god?

Now that’s what I call an aptronym.

I say it’s the Doctor’s voice but I’m fairly sure that Jano’s actor is just doing an impression. It’s a good impression, but it’s a little too nasal to be Hartnell. Still, he’s got the accent and cadence down pat.

Having snuck into the city, Steven and Dodo find the Doctor wandering the access tunnels, though Dodo frets that it seemed too easy to get in. She’s right. It’s a trap.

The door starts closing behind them, but they can’t get the catatonic Doctor out before it shuts and the corridor begins to fill with gas.

In the lab, Jano watches on a scanner as they begin to choke. The Doctor can’t help them now… or can he?

EPISODE FOUR

Episode Four starts off with a stroke of luck as the door unexpectedly opens behind the travellers, allowing Dodo to usher the Doctor out while Steven fires on Edal and the advancing guards.

Edal accuses Jano of opening the door for them, but of course Jano denies it, speaking with the Doctor's voice again.

He leads a contingent of guards out of the city to hunt the fugitives down. On the run, Steven sends the Doctor, Chal and Dodo ahead to the safety of the caves while he stays behind to hold off the pursuers.

The Doctor and Dodo make it to the cave, and just in time, too. Finding herself as Exorse’s only ally, Nanina defends him from Tor with a spear. It’s only with the arrival of Chal that things don’t end up coming to a point.

With the guards advancing, Steven falls back to the cave, where he intends to lie in wait and snipe Jano as he approaches. However, hearing this the Doctor suddenly becomes lucid and warns him not to, and it's not just his sense of pacifism talking. He thinks that Jano might be the ally they need to destroy the lab.

Jano insists on going into the cave alone, ordering the others back to the city. Edal smells something funny about the situation, so he immediately warns the disbelieving Elders that he believes Jano is about to betray them.

As night falls, Jano enters the cave, and the Doctor turns out to be right once again. In absorbing the Doctor’s life essence, Jano got what he wanted: the Doctor’s intellect. However, in the process he got more than he bargained for. He got the Doctor’s conscience. Even better, he has a plan.

A short time later, Jano swans into the lab with his ‘prisoners’ in tow. Miffed at Edal’s attempts to turn the others against him, he has Edal arrested for treason.

The Elders are relieved to see that Jano is apparently still loyal, until Jano orders the lab sealed and exhorts them to destroy it. They’re not keen.

Well, if you want something done properly, you have to do it yourself. Jano and the ‘prisoners’ start smashing equipment with gleeful abandon. As the Doctor says, there is something very satisfying about destroying something evil.

But what now? The old system is no more, but what will replace it? How will these people learn to live together as equals in peace?

The Doctor would be an obvious choice to mediate between the two peoples, but it’s not in his nature to stick around. What a pickle. Where else are they going to find a good, trustworthy person with leadership skills, who can inspire loyalty, and make judgements based on their conscience?

I’ll be honest, my first thought was Nanina, given her willingness to show compassion even to her enemies.

But apparently Peter Purves wants out, so Steven’s the man for the job. Though initially reluctant, after some encouragement from the Doctor, Chal, Jano and even Tor, he agrees to stay.

Dodo bids Steven a tearful farewell, and Jano thanks the Doctor for his help before departing with the others to await Steven in the council chamber. Once alone, the Doctor admits that he’s very proud of Steven, though he does seem in a rush to get him to go. Has he been leaving smelly socks all over the TARDIS or something?

Steven heads off to start his new life, and the Doctor and Dodo depart through the smouldering remains of the laboratory. They don't look back, but Steven does. I'm not sure he really wants to leave.

The Doctor doesn’t seem as bothered about this as any of the other departures. I suppose he’s fine as long as he has a surrogate grandchild.

It’s quite an abrupt exit all the same, and one that wasn’t really set up in the preceding episodes. In Susan’s final serial, she gradually fell in love, so it made sense for her to decide to stay behind in future London. In the case of Ian and Barbara, going back home was their goal all along. Vicki, too, formed a personal connection to Troilus. It wasn't what you'd call a deep or believable connection, but there was an attempt. However, Steven hasn’t made any ties here that would give him a personal reason to want to stay. I suspect that this wasn’t the original ending of the serial, but instead a fairly last-minute change.

Final Thoughts

I’d love a followup to this story some time in the future. Our Steven’s definitely got his work cut out for him. Jano might have come around, but there’s a whole city of people who need convincing, and they’ve become accustomed to a certain level of luxury. Will they accept the liberation of the 'savages' if it comes at the cost of their lifestyle? How are they going to unlearn untold centuries of prejudice, especially when it tangibly benefited them?

To add onto this, though the Elders no longer have their energy-sucking machine, they still have all the weapons, all the advanced technology, and all the wealth. Are they going to share without being forced ? If it comes to that, how would Steven make them do it? Ask nicely?

I’m not saying it’s doomed to failure, but I don’t fancy his odds.

Still, say that Jano manages to convince his people that they need to change their ways and let the ‘savages’ in. What of the other side of the equation? The ‘savages’ have little trust for the Elders, and plenty of anger, and with good reason. I don’t think tensions between the groups would simply vanish overnight.

I’m going to miss having Steven around, and I wish he could have had a few more stories with Dodo, as the two developed a big brother/little sister dynamic which I found quite sweet. With his charm, often sarcastic wit and sometimes flaring temper, he formed the passionate core of the TARDIS team. It’ll be hard to replace him. Plus, it was nice to have a fellow Northerner in the TARDIS.

Wherever Peter Purves ends up, I’m sure it’ll turn out great.

So, there we have it. That was The Savages, and I hope you’ll agree it turned out to be a cracking story. The build-up to the revelation of what the Elders are doing is well-paced and effective, holding my attention. Hot off the heels of that, the twist of Jano unwittingly absorbing the Doctor's conscience put an interesting wrinkle in things, and it was fun to watch to boot. Deep characterisation is not really Doctor Who's strong suit, but there was enough for me to get invested and create interesting clashes of personality.

And of course, I enjoy it when the Doctor gets on his high horse.

I think it would be genuinely fascinating to get a sequel to this story set a few years down the line and see how Steven got on. After all, it’s not enough to just take the boot off your victim’s throat. You have to help them up off the ground.

4.5 out of 5 stars