Galaxy 4 The Savages Venusian Lullaby |
BBC The Rescue |
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| Episodes | 2 |  |
| Story No# | 11 | |
| Production Code | L | |
| Season | 2 | |
| Dates | Jan. 2, 1965 - Jan. 9, 1965 |
|
With William Hartnell, William Russell,
Jacqueline Hill, Maureen O'Brien. Written by David Whitaker. Script-edited by Dennis Spooner. Directed by Christopher Barry. Produced by Verity Lambert. |
| Synopsis: A young girl and crippled man are being held captive by the ruthless Koquillion. But it's not long before the Doctor begins to doubt Koquillion's motivations. |
The Inconsequential Rescue by Matthew Kresal 8/3/21
How do you follow up The Dalek Invasion of Earth? The biggest story in Doctor Who's history up to that point, not to mention one that saw its first companion exit. For the production team in late 1964, there was only one answer to that question: by introducing a new companion in the very next story. That story, lasting a mere two episodes, was to be The Rescue.
On the surface, it was a story that had a lot going for it. It came from the pen of outgoing script editor David Whitaker, who had previously penned the two-part Edge of Destruction. Such a contained and character-driven piece as that story offered a route for this story to take. Raymond Cusick returns to do the sets, not to mention Christopher Barry as director, all of which likewise boded well for it. Add on the trio of William Hartnell, Jacqueline Hill, and William Russell and the introduction of Maureen O'Brien as Vicki, and one should have a classic.
Right?
Well, to be sure, this isn't a bad story by any means. First and foremost, it's a vehicle for introducing Vicki, and, in that regard, it succeeds beautifully. She's a young lady, practically alone on a planet with the invalid Bennett and terrorized by an alien monster. Meeting up with the TARDIS crew post Susan's departure, they're a perfect fit for each other. It helps that O'Brien has instant chemistry with the main cast, particularly with Hartnell's Doctor, which is definitely in her favor. True, there's a moment of overacting by her in the second episode but, all things considered, it's a solid first go at introducing a new character into an established series.
It's also got some wonderful stuff for Hartnell. It's here, after ten stories, that the First Doctor as we've come to know him is, finally, apparent. He's in high spirits, perhaps surprisingly given the previous story (leaving a gap nicely mined in the spin-off fiction) with all traces of the slightly more sinister early days of the character behind him. It's a chance for Hartnell to show a lighter, even more playful, side to the character he'd been playing for a year at that point, as well as showing a paternal side when it comes to Vicki. What's more, there are shades of the Doctor we've come to know later on, as he takes on the role of investigator into events, even if it means leaving Ian and Barbara behind.
On the other hand, The Rescue isn't without problems. At two episodes, it feels oddly inconsequential. What does happen feels oddly contrived involving the invalid Bennet, the ruthless Koquillion and a seemingly deserted alien world. Whitaker goes for a hail-mary pass of a twist late in episode two, one which just about saves the story but, ultimately, still leaves some glaring plot holes behind. It also effectively sidelines Ian and Barbara as characters, leaving little for them to do except have their chemistry with each other, Vicki and the Doctor. Given how well Whitaker handled the two-parter, character-driven format in The Edge of Destruction, it feels like something of a letdown.
At the end of the day, perhaps, there are worse stories than The Rescue. There are also far better ones. Yet, perhaps more than anything else, it stands out as much for introducing the first new companion as it does for being utterly inconsequential. Indeed, one would have to wait until the Davison era (and the return of two-episode serials) to see such inconsequential tales in televised Who again.
So, could be better, could be worse.
A One-Suspect Murder Mystery by Jason A. Miller 2/3/24
55 years after its broadcast, one doesn't watch The Rescue to be dazzled by the intricacies of the plot. One watches it merely because, if you're going to watch Doctor Who in order, it's what comes in between The Dalek Invasion of Earth and The Romans, and in terms of series-mythology episodes, it's the first introduction of a new regular character since An Unearthly Child. If you're watching Doctor Who, you have to watch The Rescue, no choice, without any regard to the story's relative merits.
And, from a strict plot standpoint, there is little merit here. David Whitaker was a lyrical and imaginative writer; Elizabeth Sandifer, Whitaker's biggest champion in the 21st century Doctor Who non-fiction market, compares his work to that of an alchemist, and points out several interesting and recurring buried themes and motifs. However, The Rescue doesn't have any of those themes. It's a filler two-part story primarily meant to introduce a new companion to replace Susan. It takes place in the future - sometime after the year, randomly, 2493. Vicki is one of two survivors of a shipwreck on the planet Dido, where the Doctor has been before. There's a murder mystery, with exactly one suspect, who is revealed Scooby-Doo-style at the end via unmasking (never mind that Scooby-Doo wasn't created until four years later). The Doctor knows every custom and tradition on Dido, but doesn't explain them until the climax, and only then explains them to the villain, so there is no grand planetary tapestry being weaved, no indispensable part of Doctor Who continuity (apart from Adrian Rigelsford's epic misspelling in one of his off-license non-fiction books). It's a short script with minimal impact, other than introducing Vicki.
But, if you're still watching Doctor Who 55 years later, it's fair to say that you're no longer watching to be surprised or awed or mystified. So the plot, strictly speaking, doesn't matter. What matters is the dialogue and the acting -- and this is where The Rescue just about works. It's the first episode of the second production season; William Hartnell has been on a six-week vacation and has had a chance to rethink the Doctor while away. So he does some of his best work here. He is mysterious, funny, charming and violent. Mysterious: he knows all there is to know about Dido, but doesn't share his knowledge with anyone. Funny: he gets off a number of memorable zingers (Barbara, referring to the TARDIS engine: "Oh, but Doctor, the trembling's stopped; The Doctor, at his most avuncular: "Oh, my dear, I'm so glad you're feeling better!"). Charming: Hartnell's body language when he first meets Vicki, and then in his two big solo scenes with her in Episode 2, are terrific, like nothing we've ever seen before out of the character - not even with Susan, who was meant to be his granddaughter.
And, as for the violence, this is Hartnell at his most physical. It's the first time the Doctor is ever seen to fire a gun, and he does so in an attempt to kill the bad guy -- in self-defense, and it's a Didonian prop that the audience wouldn't have recognized as a gun, but the Doctor knows what it is, and fires, and misses. But, even after missing his shot (and dropping the gun, which breaks), he's still able to strike out at the villain with his cane, in a remarkably physical bit of work that, as far as I can tell, was done by Hartnell himself and not a stunt double.
William Russell and Jacqueline Hill get several solo scenes together, and they're as good as we've ever seen them, too. Look carefully at the moment where Ian and Barbara tell Vicki that they're time travelers from the year 1963. Vicki earnestly puzzles it out, and says "But that means you're about... five hundred and fifty years old!". Russell and Hill laugh, genuinely laugh, so convincingly that you could believe Maureen O'Brien's age estimate was an ad lib rather than a scripted line. There's then a bit of physical comedy where Russell tries to grab Hill's shoulder, and she elbows him, and they both dissolve into giggles. That's terrific stuff, and almost certainly worked out by Russell and Hill in rehearsal rather than scripted by Whitaker.
Yeah. Ian and Barbara were definitely doing it. And The Rescue is sold on DVD in a double-bill with The Romans, Episode 1 of which only adds further proof that they were, definitely, definitely, doing it.
Maureen O'Brien joins the TARDIS crew here, and stays on for another year. She's playing a largely naive 14-year-old orphan, with all that entails, and the script requires her to show fear, anger, frustration and teenage mood swings. O'Brien handles all those emotions with charisma. The accidental death of the Sand Beast takes up way too much real estate in the script -- I suppose it was there to give Vicki a chance to cry -- but she does the best she can with the material. After a year of Carole Ann Ford's unearthly, pixie-haired, wide-eyed Susan, the blonde Vicki in a strange dress with a Kermit-the-Frog patterned neckline will take some getting used to, but her work is definitely unsung in the pantheon of great Doctor Who companions.
There is a road I wish the producers had gone down, which could never have been conceived in 1965. But The Rescue is, as I said above, a one-suspect murder mystery, and Ray Barrett (who delivers some wonderful line readings, mind you, especially at the climax) telegraphs his character's intentions with comical double-takes, which leaves very little mystery left in the, uh, mystery. But, and I say this having only recently discovered Battle Royale (book, movie, and manga), writing Vicki as a closet-psychopath 14-year-old serial-killer, like Mitsuko, would have added a wonderful enigma to this otherwise pat and trite little filler story. Vicki would have genuinely admired the Doctor and never revealed her villainy to him, but it might have been an interesting twist for her to have been the killer all along. And imagine Vicki's fomenting-rebellion role in The Space Museum, with that bit of backstory. Now that, I imagine, would require some acting that Maureen O'Brien would genuinely love to have played ...
It's Who, But Not as We Know It by Niall Jones 13/10/26
It would be easy to overlook The Rescue. At first sight, it appears to be a slight story; made up of only two episodes, it has a small cast and comparatively low stakes. On the whole, it's not especially flashy, with less to recommend it to modern viewers than more well-known stories in Season 2, like The Dalek Invasion of Earth or The Web Planet. Despite this, its brevity should not be mistaken for lack of interest.
The Rescue was originally conceived as a vehicle through which to introduce Susan's replacement as companion. Varyingly called Millie (after the singer Millie Small), Tanni and (somewhat strangely) Lukki, she was to be a teenage girl, orphaned on a strange planet. In the end, the production team settled on the name Vicki, which manages to sound ordinary enough, but with a hint of the space age, as it is explicitly stated to be a name in its own right and not a short form of Victoria. Maureen O'Brien puts in a strong performance as Vicki, making her character instantly likeable, while also getting the chance to show a range of emotions. She also strikes up an instant rapport with William Hartnell's Doctor, to such an extent that it would be easy to believe that it was Vicki, not Susan, who was his granddaughter.
While Doctor Who will introduce dozens of companions over its initial 26-year run, Vicki's introduction feels different. The Rescue is fundamentally about her in a way that, say, Terror of the Autons isn't about Jo Grant, or The Ribos Operation isn't about Romana. The story was even given the working title Tanni, after writer David Whittaker's preferred companion name.
While the story's focus is on Vicki, the existing TARDIS crew don't get sidelined. In fact, The Rescue frequently sees the First Doctor, Ian and Barbara at their best, thanks in part to the inclusion of some of the Classic Series' most natural-sounding dialogue. The Doctor calling Susan's name only to realise that she's no longer there is a wonderfully poignant moment, while his conversation with Barbara in the TARDIS control room is extremely funny --- referring to the TARDIS, she points out that 'the trembling's stopped', only for the Doctor to respond absentmindedly: 'Oh, my dear, I'm so glad you're feeling better'. Ian and Barbara's affecting, borderline romantic rapport is also expressed throughout in small but touching ways: her resting her head on his shoulder, their laughter at Vicki's suggestion that, being from 1963, they must now be about 550 years old.
William Hartnell also puts in a strong performance. His Doctor is far less sinister than in his first few stories, but what marks out Hartnell's performance in The Rescue is the way in which his Doctor acts differently towards different characters. In the TARDIS with Ian and Barbara, he is a doddery old man; with Vicki, he is a kind, grandpaternal figure; confronting Bennet, he is a fearsome avenger. In this way, Hartnell emphasises not just the Doctor's changeability but also his cunning. It's implied that his dodderiness in the TARDIS, having a nap while the ship lands, is largely an act and that he is in fact responsible for their arrival on the planet Dido; against Bennet, he exudes a steely sense of control, always being one step ahead, not just of him but also of the viewer.
Judging by the previous reviews on this website, few would disagree with the assessment that The Rescue is an effective little character piece. Even reviewers who've given the story short shrift have praised the characterisation and performances of the regulars. When it comes to the plot, however, even positive reviews have described it as a weak spot. The word 'insubstantial' gets used a lot. The Rescue is certainly short, and it does have its flaws --- the two episode titles that appear on screen, The Powerful Enemy and Desperate Measures, are so generic as to be almost meaningless, while the subplot involving the Didoans' trap is fairly dull. Despite their best efforts, William Russell and William Hartnell are unable to sell the jeopardy; cutting from this to Barbara's conversation with Vicki only serves to show just how much more engaging the latter is. Despite this, there is more than meets the eye when it comes to the story's plotting.
That Bennet turns out to be the apparently monstrous Koquillion is rarely treated as much of a plot twist, but this may just be because most modern viewers go into The Rescue already knowing the story. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise. After all, The Rescue is something of a deep cut and unlikely to be anyone's first experience of the First Doctor's era. Jason A Miller's critique of the story as 'a one-suspect murder mystery' only makes sense if you view the story as a murder mystery in the first place. Watching The Rescue without any foreknowledge of the plot, the viewer has no reason not to take Bennet's explanation of what happened to the ship's crew at face value, so is not primed to expect a twist.
The revelation of Koquillion's true nature at the end of the second episode leaves the story without any major alien threat (ignoring the creature that briefly menaces Ian and the Doctor). This in itself isn't unusual. Up to this point in Doctor Who's history, only a minority of stories have included any kind of monster. What makes The Rescue unusual, however, is the combination of the lack of an alien threat with an extraterrestrial setting. This marks The Rescue out from previous sci-fi adventure stories, such as The Daleks or The Keys of Marinus --- and from most of the rest of Doctor Who. In fact, The Rescue often doesn't feel much like Doctor Who at all. In contrast, it feels more like another sci-fi series altogether, one that, in 1964, was still several years away from being broadcast: Star Trek. There's the apparently dead world (see The Naked Time or What Are Little Girls Made Of?), the human villain (The Conscience of the King or Court Martial) and the fight scene involving the hero (Where No Man Has Gone Before or Arena). The story's short run time also means that its pacing is closer to that of an episode of Star Trek than to other 1960s Doctor Who serials. The Rescue also shares a number of influences in common with early Star Trek, such as Shakespeare (the story can be seen as a retelling of The Tempest, with Vicki as Miranda and Koquillion as Caliban) and Westerns.
Perhaps part of the reason that The Rescue has been so overlooked isn't just its brevity, but also the fact that it would have so little influence on Doctor Who's future. It belongs to a subgenre that, with the exception of the earlier, much longer story The Sensorites and, perhaps, The Space Pirates, never really gets taken up. This isn't to say, however, that The Rescue doesn't have anything in common with most Doctor Who stories. It may not feature an actual monster, but it is nevertheless interested in the idea of monsters.
When viewers first see Koquillion, it's obvious that he's a monster. He attacks Barbara and threatens Vicki, but, most of all, he looks scary, with his curving spikes and bulging eyes. Seeing Koquillion in action primes the audience to believe Bennet's story about his fellow crew members being massacred by the native inhabitants of the planet --- and to doubt the Doctor's faith in their peace-loving nature. At first glance, what makes Whittaker's script subversive is the fact that Koquillion turns out not to be a monster at all. Except, this isn't quite true. The twist isn't just that the rubber-suited alien turns out to be a man in a rubber suit, clever though that is; the moral of the story isn't quite that you can't always believe appearances. For Koquillion does turn out to be a monster, just not the kind viewers were expecting. His monstrosity comes not from the spikes or the eyes, but from the fact that he is revealed to be a man who would attempt genocide in order to save his own skin. By disguising himself as a 'monster', Bennet inadvertently advertises his own, very human, monstrosity. In this way, Whittaker undermines the binary that underlines much of science-fiction: that humans are good and aliens are bad. This is further highlighted by the Doctor's assertion that the Koquillion costume is simply ceremonial dress and, more significantly, by the late appearance of the Didoans themselves. Aliens who look exactly like humans may now be something of a cliche, but, here, the Didoans' bland appearance has a subversive quality, contrasting with what viewers have been led to expect.
The Didoans' final act, destroying the crash-landed ship's communications equipment, further emphasises the idea that, sometimes, it is the humans who are the real monsters. Bennet's massacre has poisoned relations to such a degree that the peace-loving Didoans would rather embrace isolation than encounter humans again, giving the planned rescue a colonialist tinge. It also gives the story's title an ironic quality. Although a rescue of sorts does happen, with the TARDIS crew adopting Vicki, the event that the story's title seems to allude to doesn't occur and is ultimately revealed to be unwanted.
Watching very early Doctor Who is always a fascinating experience. There's a sense of a show that is still finding its feet, still working out what it wants to be. The Rescue is a particularly good example of this, as it shows Doctor Who moving down a road that would ultimately not be taken, resulting in a story that, at times, feels more like Star Trek than the series we know and love. Despite this, its central theme is one that will be explored throughout Doctor Who's history, from Galaxy 4 to Demons of the Punjab. Today, The Rescue may be remembered for introducing Vicki and not much more, but there is far more to it than that. It may only be two episodes long, but those two episodes contain multitudes.