Now the series descends into all of the reasons I was dreading watching these early episodes (synopsis). The women are fearful screamers; Ian is the man of action. The Cro-Magnon are all superstitious savages, without even rudimentary cultural knowledge about carrying water or healing injuries. Sure, we’re a thousand centuries away from germ theory, but any mammal instinctively knows how to clean a wound.
The sole bright spot of the episode is the portrayal of the Doctor, because he’s so unlike any incarnation I’ve seen since. Hartnell doesn’t just look old, he is old. I unconsciously expected him and Ian to do a Picard and Riker, but Hartnell’s Doctor is more like Picard when he’s on the dream planet after he’s aged to ninety. It’s an interesting direction to take your titular character. At least he becomes a bit more useful in the opening minutes of The Firemaker, showing rudimentary skills with anthropology and introducing CSI-Lascaux techniques to the tribe.
By this time, I was just waiting for the episode to end. Wikipedia tells me the next episode introduces the Daleks, so I’m hoping this will hold my attention better than the first series did. Strong opening, but downhill from there.
 |
Rating system: |