Serial L, in two parts:
- The Powerful Enemy - 1/2/65, 12.0m viewers
- Desperate Measures - 1/9/65, 13.0m
Sound Byte:
"The Rescue was already written when I came into the job as script editor, but then I had to do a big rewrite as it was vastly overwritten. I mean, it was so long, we'd have had to make each episode two hours long to film it!" - Dennis Spooner, quoted in Doctor Who: The Sixties (Virgin, 1992)
Comments:
I know this may sound strange, but The Rescue was the story that made me into a Hartnell fan in the first place (along with The Aztecs). I realize that this is a rather modest adventure, which manages to drag at times even though it's only two episodes long. But Hartnell owns it from the very beginning.
One of the many strange myths of Doctor Who criticism is that Patrick Troughton was the first funny Doctor. If you happen to believe this particular myth, then I submit for your consideration Hartnell's performance in The Rescue. He starts off by falling asleep at the TARDIS controls and failing to guide the time-ship to a safe landing. Later on, he waffles on about needing a shower and a nap, acts condescending toward Ian at great length, and, in the crowning touch, bashes through a locked door with a short section of girder. Color me crazy, but I laugh at all this stuff.
I should probably note that Hartnell's characterization has changed radically from the days of An Unearthly Child. By this point in the series, he hardly seems like an alien anymore; he's just a sweet old grandpa with a heart of gold. No wonder they just made Peter Cushing's movie Doctor a human, right? Generally I prefer Hartnell's more alien, first-season persona, but he's so charming in The Rescue that I can't really complain too much that he's been softened.
Aside from Hartnell, the other point of interest in The Rescue is the introduction of the new companion, Vicki. In keeping with the "humanizing" of the series, Vicki is a human character who effortlessly replaces the Doctor's alien granddaughter, Susan. Actress Maureen O'Brien does a pretty good job with the part, even if her character is a little too whiny for my tastes (rather like Susan was).
The central mystery of The Rescue is fairly interesting and, on the off chance that you don't know the solution, I won't spoil it here. I will say that I like the happy ending, and note that it's somewhat surprising to see the Doctor engage in a brawl with a villain who appears to be about twenty years his junior.
My only other observation is that, starting with this serial, Dennis Spooner took over Doctor Who's story editing duties from David Whitaker. Henceforth, the series took a bit of a nose dive in quality (despite routinely earning the kind of monster audience figures listed above). Whitaker clearly played a huge role in making the first season so good, and I think his absence hurts Hartnell's later stories. Still, The Rescue is solid stuff.
Grade: B+