BEST. THEME TUNE. EVER.
Bar none. And this is *probably* STILL the best version.
So spooky, atmospheric, and ALIEN. Utter genius.
Hats off to Ron Grainer for writing the melody, but Delia Derbyshire's realization is the work of a colossus.
PART ONE: An Unearthly Child
(23rd November 1963)
A nosy bobby shines his torch through the London fog.
He arrives at the gates of an old junkyard at the end of Totter's lane. The sign reads "I.M. Foreman, Scrap Merchant."
The gate creaks open to reveal all manner of junk, and, in the corner, a blue police telephone box just stands there.
From the box there comes an eerie, powerful hum.
But what is it even doing there? And what's inside that could be making that powerful electrical humming?
At the nearby Coal Hill School, history teacher Barbara Wright asks Susan Foreman to stay behind after class.
It's the series' first break out star: "Kenneth Williams kid" who mocks a couple of class-mates with a riotously camp "Ooooooh!"
It doesn't take a genius to figure out the girls have a low opinion of him. You do you, Kenneth Williams kid.
Before she tackles Susan, Barbara wants to consult with her colleague, Science teacher, Ian Chesterton.
Barbara tells Ian that she's had a terrible day, all thanks to one student in particular: Susan Foreman.
Ian knows the feeling, and muses that the fifteen year old "lets her knowledge out a bit at a time so as not to embarrass me... She knows more science than I'll ever know. She's a genius."
Barbara doesn't want to get the girl in trouble but there's something she needs to get off her chest.
Susan's homework's been so bad that she proposed some private lessons at home, but her grandfather, who's some sort of doctor, vetoed this.
And the only address the school secretary had was for that old junkyard.
Ian assumes the secretary simply got the address wrong, but Barbara went to check but there's nothing at the end of the lane.
Ian agrees to tag along as Barbara lends Susan a book on the French Revolution as previously arranged...
...so that they can follow by car and see where she takes it.
We now meet the other-worldy Susan, listening to the Shadows-like "John Smith & the Common Men".
She's quite... An Unearthly Child!
Whilst Barbara could do without the racket, Ian convinces her he's down wiv da kidz by outing "John Smith" as Aubrey Waites, who started his career as Chris Waites with the Carollers, before going on to be UNIT's scientific advisor.
Susan says she'll read that history book in one night. Where would she find the time...?
Ian knowingly offers Susan a lift, saying he's taking Barbara home anyway.
Susan declines, as she quite likes walking through the dark. "It's mysterious."
The teachers wish her a good night and warn her to be careful in the fog.
She begins to read the book Barbara has lent her, but is suddenly puzzled. "But that's not right!" Why does she need to read it if she's such an expert?
Ian and Barbara drive to 76 Totter's Lane to see what happens when she arrives there. While they wait, they continue their discussion about what an unearthly child she is.
Barbara worries about whether they're really doing the right thing. "You can't justify curiosity," Ian says.
Barbara is indignant, responding that she wouldn't be here if she just thought they were being busybodies.
Ian is sure that there'll be a very simple explanation to all this, but Barbara challenges him to explain how a fifteen year old girl doesn't know how many shillings there are in a pound. Susan thinks they're on the decimal system.
This whole scene has proven such a deft touch in actual decimal times.
Ian relates a similarly baffling incident with the girl, where a question of chemistry didn't catch her out, it just didn't interest her.
Her grasp of history is shaky at best, but she's so bored by simple chemical experiments she wants to use E.
Susan has time as the fourth dimension, and space as the fifth.
Not sure what she thinks the third is, in that case.
Too many questions and not enough answers.
Susan appears out of the fog so they follow.
Ian suggests she may just be meeting a boy, and Barbara hopes it is just something as "normal" as that.
Barbara suddenly feels afraid, and says it's as if they're "about to interfere in something that is best left alone."
Susan looks around furtively before disappearing somewhere in the back of the junkyard.
Ian and Barbara follow, but don't know where to start. Good job Ian brought his torch.
Ian trips over the shambolically placed bric-a-brac and drops his torch.
He hasn't had any matches, and has to peer through the gloom when Barbara calls his attention to the Police Box stood at the back.
Hearing the sinister humming of some sort of power source, Ian reaches out to touch the Box and feels a faint vibration. "It's alive!"
Ian walks all the way around the box, and finds that it isn't connected to anything, so the power is within. Barbara has had enough and suggests they go and find a policeman.
Suddenly they hear a cough - not from inside the box, but from the entrance to the yard. They scarper and hide.
A dark shape appears, and is revealed as a white-haired old man wrapped in some kind of cloak. He wears an oddly shaped fur hat, and a long striped scarf is wound around his neck.
He makes straight for the Police Box and puts a key in the lock, which he guides by the light of what appears to be a silver pen torch. That couldn't be the you-know-what this early, could it?
When the teachers hear Susan call out to her grandfather, their startled reaction gives them away and Ian sheepishly emerges to introduce himself.
The old man denies hearing Susan's voice.
The old man mutters asides to himself, seemingly relieved to find they're teachers, and not the police, but isn't giving away much.
He tells Barbara her hearing must be better than his if she imagines she heard a voice.
He tries to appeal to Ian's rational side. "Young man, is it reasonable to suppose that anybody would be inside a cupboard like that, hmm?" Sly old fox.
He absent-mindedly looks over an old painting he's not noticed before... Gallifrey No More?
Ian begins to lose his patience and tells the man he doesn't understand his attitude.
"Yours leaves a lot to be desired," is the terse response.
When Ian threatens to haul the old man off and get a policeman, there is unsurprisingly no inclination to co-operate.
The old man pretends his attention has been caught by an old vase, but listens intently as the teachers speculate that he has Susan locked up in the Police Box.
The old man points out how ridiculous their theory is, but tells them that if they want to make fools of themselves then they should do as they said and fetch the police.
Ian thinks the old man will do a runner the moment they turn their backs. "Insulting."
The old man says he'll be there when they return, so that he can see the looks on their faces when they're shown up in front of the police.
The old man's act is torpedoed, though, when Susan does indeed call out from within the box. Ian and Barbara barge past him...
But Barbara is not prepared for what she finds inside.
It's not a Police Box at all. It's bigger on the inside, and they find themselves inside a whole room that couldn't possibly be there.
A hexagonal console stands in the centre of a huge room within roundelled walls. The old man ignores them and tells Susan to close the door.
"I believe these people are known to you."
The old man chides her for allowing herself to be followed to their home. "That ridiculous school. I knew something like this would happen if we stayed in one place too long."
Ian and Barbara still can't believe their eyes.
They're inside the Police Box that Ian walked all the way around.
Barbara asks why the old man didn't just say he was Susan's grandfather, but he snaps back that he doesn't discuss his private life with strangers, and as uninvited guests they deserve no explanations.
Ian is still reeling as the old Doctor notices that his ornate clock has stopped.
The Doctor ignores Ian, and (rather making a hash of removing his coat and scarf) tells Susan that he's found a makeshift replacement for their faulty filament.
Whether deliberately or not, this comes off as a bit of business that shows a more scatterbrained and loveable side to the old man.
As he fits the element into the central console, Ian has apparently decided that this must all be an illusion.
The Doctor hasn't any time for the teacher's incredulity. "What's he talking about now?" he snorts.
He tries to dumb it down, nevertheless, giving the example of fitting an enormous building into a smaller room by showing it on a television screen.
He's starting to enjoy Ian's bafflement.
"Not quite clear, is it. I can see by your face that you're not certain. You don't understand. And I knew you wouldn't."
His concern now is that the teachers will tell everyone about his ship.
You heard right.
"Yes, ship. This doesn't roll along on wheels, you know."
Barbara can't believe that this whole... whatever it is... moves.
Susan tells her it's called TARDIS.
She claims to have made up the name from the initials Time And Relative Dimension In Space. "I thought you'd understand when you saw the different dimensions inside from those outside."
Ian's day just goes from bad to worse. "Just let me get this straight. A thing that looks like a police box, standing in a junkyard, it can move anywhere in time and space?"
The Doctor confirms what Susan has told them.
"Remember the Red Indian," the Doctor tells Susan. Christ, where's this going? "When he saw the first steam train, his savage mind thought it an illusion, too."
"You're treating us like children," protests Ian. Aye, dodgy racist children.
"I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it." Preach.
"Have you ever thought what it's like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? Have you? To be exiles?"
"Susan and I are cut off from our own planet, without friends or protection. But one day we shall get back. Yes, one day. One day." This whole episode, but particularly this scene, is just peerlessly magical.
Susan tells the teachers they don't know what they've done by coming here.
Susan pleads with her grandfather to let the teachers go, telling him that their minds reject things they don't understand. But the Doctor's mind is made up.
Barbara tries to convince Susan that all this is just a game she and her grandfather play, that it isn't real.
It's real alright. Although Susan says the last five months at the school have been the happiest of her life, she was born in another time, another place.
Ian and Barbara want to leave, but the Doctor won't open the doors.
Ian thinks he remembers which switch operated the doors.
Ian rails at the Doctor, telling him that "free movement time and space is a scientific dream I don't expect to find solved in a junkyard!"
"Your arrogance is nearly as great as your ignorance!" is the Doctor's retort.
With Ian distracted, the Doctor takes the opportunity to sidle over to a switch that electrifies the whole console.
Shocking.
Who the heck is this guy?
Susan pleads again for the teachers' release but the Doctor tells her that by this time tomorrow they'd be a public spectacle, a subject for news and idle gossip.
He says the teachers are bound to go to the authorities, and that they must leave.
He tells Susan that they have no alternative.
Susan seems determined to stay. She says the teachers can be trusted and will promise to keep their secret.
She doesn't want to leave the twentieth century...
...and says she'd rather leave the TARDIS and her grandfather in order to stay.
"Now you're being sentimental and childish."
Barbara tells Susan to come with them.
But it's too late, and although Susan tussles with her grandfather to stop him reaching the switch, the Doctor breaks free and starts his "ship" off in flight.
The whole room lurches...
...and the two teachers are flung to the floor.
The Doctor and Susan peer intently at the ship's monitor screen.
We watch as they leave London in 1963 far behind.
The TARDIS dematerializes for the very first time, which we only witness from the inside of the ship.
The craft enters the mind-bending vortex of time and space.
Susan is stoic about leaving her beloved twentieth century.
The TARDIS travels onwards through the vortex.
It appears that they've landed on a deserted plain.
What will the Doctor do now?
Ian and Barbara are out cold.
Across the plain, a mysterious figure approaches, and casts its shadow towards the Police Box.
Where have they arrived? And when? Find out next episode! The first ever cliffhanger!
EPISODE TWO: The Cave of Skulls
(30th November 1963)
The figure is revealed as a scruffy looking cave-man type. Understandably, he's dumbstruck at the sight of this bizarre object that has appeared from nowhere.
In a nearby cave, a forlorn looking tribe are huddled together.
They're watching and waiting for Za to make fire. No-one's holding their breath, though, as he doesn't seem to have worked out to bang the rocks together.
Za is heckled by Old Mother, who tells him his father was killed for making fire.
Za's partner, Hur, worries that if the old men see no further than tomorrow's meat, her father will give her to Kal. Za continues his efforts; the one who makes fire is the leader, and he is the son of the firemaker.
Za's father was killed before passing on the secret of fire, though, and without it, the tribe will die in the cold. These cavemen (and cavewomen) all speak pretty decent English, even if they do give it a bit of "Me Grimlock".
The challenger, Kal, is the one who has seen the TARDIS.
On board the fantastical craft, Barbara stirs.
She wakes Ian, who's has a bump on the noggin.
They suddenly remember where they are, and where they aren't.
The Doctor and Susan are busy assessing their surroundings. They're on solid enough ground which is a plus, but the specific location's unclear.
The yearometer is bust, too, reading as it does, simply "zero".
Ian still thinks this is all nonsense.
"Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about?"
HE SAID THE THING.
Barbara reminds him that all this was just a Police Box on the outside.
Ian demands the Doctor opens the doors, but he refuses...
...at least until he's sure it's safe to do so. The radiation count is normal, though the Doctor decides to take a Geiger counter to be on the safe side.
Ian isn't yet ready to believe that they've travelled back in time.
"But this is ridiculous. Time doesn't go round and round in circles. You can't get on and off whenever you like in the past or the future."
The Doctor challenges him to explain where time goes in that case, but of course he can't. Barbara doesn't share Ian's cynicism, and is prepared to believe them.
"If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?"
The Doctor opens the doors. "Now you can see for yourself."
The Doctor is keen to get out and explore, with Susan and Barbara close behind him.
Eventually, reluctantly, Ian follows.
They go outside, and it's all true. The old Doctor and his granddaughter really are time travellers.
But something is wrong with the ship. He expected it to change shape to blend with its surroundings.
While Susan, Ian and Barbara try to keep warm, the Doctor sets off to find some rock samples he can test to determine where and when they are.
Susan and the two teachers have found the skull of an animal. It doesn't have any horns or antlers, so Ian speculates that it could have been a primitive horse.
Susan explains to Barbara that the exterior of the TARDIS should have changed to blend in with its surroundings.
It's been an Ionic column and a Sedan chair.
Ian admits that he was wrong, and Barbara tries to commiserate. "I don't understand it any more than you do. The inside of the ship, suddenly finding ourselves here. Even some of the things Doctor Foreman said..."
Ian reminds her - that's not his name.
The Doctor has gone missing, having started puffing on a pipe... See how bad smoking is for you, kids!
By the time the others get there, the Doctor is gone, with signs of a struggle.
Ian examines the Doctor's broken Geiger counter and abandoned hat.
Whilst they hope he just took off in a fit of excitement at some discovery or other, they begin to fear that he's been taken.
Susan is certain he would never have left his "notebook" behind. Is this an early version of the 500 year diary?
The teachers try to calm the girl, but they've more than just the missing Doctor to worry about, the very sand beneath their feet is freezing.
Back at the cave, the tribe keep warm by wrapping in the skins of animals they've hunted. Old Mother listens closely as Hur's father, Horg, tells Za that Kal has often seen men make fire where he came from. Za dismissed this as a lie.
Apparently Kal says "Orb" will show him how it is done. "Orb" appears to mean the sun.
Za begins to regret giving Kal shelter, and says that if Orb is going to show anyone how to make fire it will be he, as son of the firemaker.
Key to Kal's challenge is him having brought a strange creature that can make fire come from its fingers: the Doctor.
Kal describes the TARDIS as a "strange tree" and says Za would have been afraid of it.
Za tells the tribe that if they wait for Kal to make fire they'll all freeze to death.
Kal says he is a true leader, and that he and the Doctor "fought like the tiger and the bear" but he was victorious.
Horg seems very taken with Kal's pitch and says that Za has many good furs so has forgotten what the cold is like for the others. Za promises to go out tomorrow and kill many bears so that they all have furs.
Horg isn't buying it for a minute. "I say tomorrow you will rub your hands together and hold them to the dry sticks and ask Orb to send you fire. And the bears will stay warm in their own skins."
Hur has been watching the Doctor closely, and raises the alarm when he begins to open his eyes and stir.
Kal hammers home his point to the tribe. "Do you want fire, or do you want to die in the cold?"
Kal tells them that Za may as well be feeding them to the Tiger that attacks their cave at night, but Za says the Doctor is just an old man in strange skins and that Kal has outstayed his welcome.
Hur appeals to her father to make Kal put his money where his mouth is, and force the Doctor to make fire to come from his fingers.
Now fully conscious, the Doctor says he'll make as much fire as they want.
Or at least, he would if he hadn't dropped his matches when he was set upon by Kal.
Za is triumphant as the tribe sway back towards his leadership.
Kal keeps banging on about just getting fire done, but doesn't have the first idea how to make it happen and the tribe just see him as a liar.
Kal demands that the Doctor makes fire come from his fingers.
It's at this moment that Susan and the teachers come barging in.
They're quickly subdued.
The Doctor intervenes when it looks like Za is about to bury the hatchet... in Ian's head. "If he dies, there will be no fire!"
Kal takes a shine to Barbara, with Old Mother egging him on to kill her.
Za steps in, insisting that they must die in Orb's sight, so they've got a reprieve until daylight. Until then they're to be taken to "the cave of skulls." Sounds nice.
When Hur goes to Za, Horg pulls her back, insisting that she is meant for the leader of the tribe, and he's not yet convinced that's Za. "I do not like what has happened."
"Old men never like new things to happen." Za knows the score.
Old Mother points out that there were leaders long before fire, and says that "Fire will kill us all in the end."
The cave of skulls lives up to its' billing.
They are bound hand and foot, and Barbara is not wrong to be frightened for her life.
The Doctor blames himself for their predicament, and is horrified by the stench of death. "Look at that, look at it!" he cries.
All the skulls have been split open... Cliffhanger!
While the tribe get some kip, Old Mother sneaks about.
Up to no good, pinching a knife! She's trouble!
Doubt her intentions towards the travellers are good.
Ian frantically searches for a way to escape, while the Doctor just sits about bitching.
He finally makes himself useful by suggesting Ian use some of the more jagged bones to saw through his restraints. Ian wants to free the women first but the Doctor tells him to concentrate on freeing himself first in case he has to defend them.
Hur stirs and sees Old Mother creeping about.
Old Mother finds the entrance to the cave sealed tightly with a large boulder. She's not giving up, though.
The Doctor encourages Barbara to stay positive and asks her to try to remember the way back to the TARDIS. She realizes that he's trying to help her by distracting her from her fear.
"Fear makes companions of all of us," he says, and when Barbara is surprised to hear his admission of being afraid, he explains that "Fear is with all of us, and always will be, just like that other sensation that lives with it... Hope."
Old Mother emerges in the cave of skulls by a secret passage that leads out onto the plain. She takes Susan by surprise, and is adamant that the travellers should not make fire for the tribe.
Here Hur, here.
Hur tells Za that if he can get the strange tribe they have captured to show him how to make fire, he will have his victory over Kal.
At first Za does not believe that Old Mother could have got into the cave because the boulder has not moved, but as they get closer sure enough he hears her voice within.
Old Mother says fire will bring trouble and death to the tribe.
Za and Hur try to shift the stone but it's a struggle for just the two of them.
Old Mother releases the travellers, and, sending them on their way through the secret exit, she directs them towards the trees.
As Old Mother turns, she is startled by the arrival of Za, who swats her aside.
Za is reluctant to follow them into the night, afraid of the beasts in the forest. Hur tells him that he is the leader and that makes him as strong as the beasts and stronger than Kal.
They leave Old Mother lying unconscious in the cave.
Having got a fair distance from the tribe's cave, the Doctor needs to stop and catch his breath. Ian urges him on, and says that he'll carry him if he has to.
In the darkness of the night the forest looks different, and Barbara begins to panic that they're getting lost.
Although the roars of a nearby predator have them terrified, they breathe a sigh of relief when Susan begins to recognize their surroundings. The relief is short-lived, though, as Barbara sees a movement in the bushes.
"We'll die in this place," Barbara wails, and Ian has to assure her that they won't. "We're going to get back to the ship and then we'll be safe."
The Doctor and Ian confer out of Barbara's earshot, agreeing that they have to keep moving as the tribe will no doubt pursue them. Ian proposes to put Susan up front with the Doctor as she seems to remember the way, and he'll protect Barbara's rear.
The Doctor begins to take exception to Ian's assertiveness. "You seem to have elected yourself leader of this little party." The teacher responds that there's no time to vote.
Tempers fray as the Doctor calls Ian a "tiresome young man", and gets called a "stubborn old man!" in return. Nevertheless the re-order is agreed, not least because Ian says that Barbara was probably right...
...he too heard something in the bushes.
Hur and Za, tracking them, note the strange prints left behind by the travellers' shoes.
The roaring they can here is more likely a Smilodon, a sabre-toothed cat, than a "Tiger", strictly speaking. Barbara lets out a scream when she trips over the remains of its last victim.
Alas, poor Pumbaa, I knew him, Timon.
Za, close enough to have heard Barbara's scream, races towards the sound.
Barbara is hardly comforted by the Doctor's thought that the boar was obviously killed by something much larger, and fiercer.
Hearing Za and Hur approaching, the four travellers hide.
Sensing danger, Za tells Hur to stay put while he checks out the boar.
Much to Hur's distress, Za is attacked by the Smilodon.
Barbara's instincts take over as she rushes to Za's aid.
Despite appearances, Za is not dead, just badly wounded, and although Hur is not inclined to trust them, she allows Ian to look at her stricken mate when he offers the hand of friendship.
As Ian has Hur fetch some water, he tries to stop the bleeding. Most of the blood seems to be the big cat's, though. Za managed to bury his axe in its' head.
The Doctor certainly doesn't share Barbara and Ian's humanitarian urges, to say the least. He's no time for "savages", and tells Ian that he isn't a doctor of medicine in any case. With hindsight maybe we can speculate that at this young age the Doctor hasn't quite managed to shed as much of that Gallifreyan aloofness as he'd like to think.
Barbara chastises the Doctor for his lack of empathy.
He's having none of it, though, and points out that they're too exposed here; the rest of the tribe could be upon them at any moment.
Barbara insists that Old Mother won't give them away, but the Doctor snorts with derision. "These people have logic and reason, have they? Can't you see their minds change as rapidly as night and day? She's probably telling the whole tribe at this very moment."
Kal finds and interrogates her, learning that Za and Hur have gone after the travellers.
Realizing that Old Mother was the one that released them, denying him his chance to make fire and take the leadership from Za, Kal raises his knife...
In the forest, while the Doctor looks, on refusing to help, the others construct a makeshift stretcher so they can carry Za.
Barbara promises Hur that they'll teach her how to make fire if she will show them the way back to the TARDIS.
Of the Doctor's incredible sulk, Susan says "he's always like this if he doesn't get his own way."
Ian catches the Doctor weighing up a heavy rock, just big enough to crack a skull...
The Doctor claims he was going to get Za to draw the way back to the TARDIS, but does it in such a way that makes it a pretty unbelievable excuse, so we've seen some alarming true colours there. It seems he'd have put Za out of his misery.
The group manoeuvre Za onto the stretcher and prepare to move on.
Kal is busy turning the tribe against Za and Hur, and slyly tells Horg that Old Mother will back him up, despite knowing full well that she's dead.
It seems that Kal has successfully framed Za for the murder.
The ever gullible Horg is entirely taken in.
Just as it seems that the travellers will make their escape, they're driven back into the forest; the tribe have beaten them to the TARDIS.
Hauled back to the cave, the travellers struggle to no avail.
Hur speaks up for the travellers, as they saved Za from death. Kal insists that Za was the one that killed Old Mother.
Kal holds aloft Za's knife, declaring that this is the knife that killed Old Mother. It's the Doctor's chance to shine - he points out that the knife has no blood on it, stopping Kal in his tracks.
Kal falters, claiming that it's a "bad knife" that "does not show the things it does." Pull the other one, son. The Doctor goads him, saying it's a better knife than his.
I mean, look, I'm sure it doesn't take much to outwit a caveman, but our boy has done Kal up like a kipper here, as the witless fool shows off his own - bloody - knife.
The Doctor shows the tribe the murder weapon, clearing Za's name. But why *is* Za's knife clean? Shouldn't it be covered in Smilodon blood? Let's say Ian washed it earlier when they were constructing the stretcher, maybe?
Kal is forced to confess.
He enlists Ian, and the pair pick up rocks to hurl at Kal.
Hur is not slow to join in, and soon the rest of the tribe follow their example.
The tribe drive Kal out.
Za, the ungrateful sod, orders them back to the cave of skulls, still determined for the Doctor to make fire.
The large stone is once again rolled over the entrance, and Za positions a guard by Old Mother's secret entrance to prevent them getting out the same way as before. He gives orders that if anyone sees them come out, they're to kill them.
The defeated Kal slinks away.
At least they're not tied up this time.
Za has Hur recount how he got back to the cave, and while she is quick to talk up his Sabre-tooth slaying, she also gives credit where it's due, telling of how Ian (who she mistakenly believes is named "Friend") saved his life.
Za appears conflicted, recognizing the strangers' compassionate and co-operative ways as a better way of life for the tribe.
All the same, he doesn't want to be driven into the forest like Kal, so he still needs to learn the secret of fire from them.
As the two teachers work to construct a camp fire, Susan locates a suitable flint to get the party started.
Za tells them that the tribe think they came from Orb and that they will have fire if they return the travellers to Orb on "the stone of death."
Za has come to believe that they have simply come from another tribe on the other side of the mountains, but says he won't be able to stop their sacrifice unless they make fire for him. He needs the power of that red flower, so he can be like you.
The Doctor explains that in their tribe, the firemaker is the least important, because they can all make fire.
Finally, Susan's sparks, Ian's friction-generated heat, and Barbara's kindling
Za watches in elation as the flames rise.
With no meat, no fruit and no roots, Horg is ready to declare that Za is no leader.
The guard to the cave is suddenly attacked and killed, as Kal has returned.
Inside the cave of skulls, the travellers are so busy keeping the fire going...
The travellers move to the back of the cave, creating an arena for the combatants.
The fight is on film now, so you know it's serious.
They swing at one another with their axes, and grapple hand to hand.
They appear evenly matched, neither one able to deliver a fatal blow.
The Doctor can only watch in horror at the savage violence, and is reminded of the many skulls in the cave, all split by the blows of an axe. How many such contests have played out here in the past?
Both men tear into one another like wild animals.
Susan and the two teachers can hardly bear it.
Kal charges Za, but the latter grabs the former in a choke hold.
It looks like Za finally has the upper hand as he flings his opponent to the ground, and raises a large stone above his head.
The Doctor can't tear his eyes away, as Za drags the body of his vanquished foe away by the leg. That's the tribes's dinner for tonight sorted. 👀
All that remains for Za to finally claim the leadership is for him to live up to the title of firemaker in the eyes of the tribe.
The Doctor stops Ian from following, reasoning that if they let Za take full credit he'll make good on his promise to release them.
Za struts his stuff. "Kal is dead, I give you fire, I am leader!"
Za tells Horg to watch over the travellers while he goes out for some meat. Horg, remembering barbeques past, is finally on board.
The travellers realize that Za is not as good as his word, and Hur appears equally ungrateful, too busy looking forward to the caveman cook off.
Ian is kicking himself, but Barbara points out that if they hadn't shown Za how to make the fire, they'd be dead by now.
The cavemen just can't get enough of the fire, appearing mesmerised.
All the Doctor wants to know is when they can leave; he doesn't fancy being stuck on Earth for any great length of time. Fair enough, UNIT hasn't even been invented yet.
Za tells them they've nowhere better to go, and leaves them to it. While the Doctor starts to plot how to take their fire away, Susan has a better idea.
She's figured out a way to freak the tribe right out; they can fake their own deaths by putting skulls on burning torches!
Ian suggests dripping the fat from the meat over the skulls to complete the illusion.
The time travellers seize their chance to leg it while Hur & co. wail and moan.
The travellers run for their lives back to the TARDIS. Better get used to it!
Susan leads the way, and soon they're in more familiar surroundings.
This time, their path is unimpeded and they finally reach the safety of the TARDIS.
The Doctor looks back triumphantly, before slamming the door shut.
At Ian's urging, he doesn't pause for breath, and sets the controls for them to leave.
The tribe arrive too late and can only watch in disbelief as the TARDIS dematerializes and their flung spears clatter to the ground, having failed to make contact.
They may be safely away, but with no readings or data, their journey can only lead to the unknown...
Ian is not convinced the Doctor even really tried to get them back to their own time.
They seem to be near a dead forest. Maybe they've only moved in time, not space? Do we really know for sure that after they leave London in 1963, it's definitely the Earth they land on?
What if it was Skaro all along? Are Za's tribe actually the first Kaleds?
They go to get cleaned up, and Susan tells her grandfather that the radiation outside appears normal.
However, almost as soon as she's turned away, the radiation meter creeps up to the top of the danger scale...
TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... Voyage of the Damned
"You're treating us like children," protests Ian. Aye, dodgy racist children.
The Doctor is happy enough to agree. "The children of my civilisation would be insulted." he says of Ian's ignorance of dimensional transcendentalism.
Another bombshell for the science teacher turned science pupil. "YOUR civilisation?"
"I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it." Preach.
"Have you ever thought what it's like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? Have you? To be exiles?"
"Susan and I are cut off from our own planet, without friends or protection. But one day we shall get back. Yes, one day. One day." This whole episode, but particularly this scene, is just peerlessly magical.
Susan tells the teachers they don't know what they've done by coming here.
Susan pleads with her grandfather to let the teachers go, telling him that their minds reject things they don't understand. But the Doctor's mind is made up.
Barbara tries to convince Susan that all this is just a game she and her grandfather play, that it isn't real.
It's real alright. Although Susan says the last five months at the school have been the happiest of her life, she was born in another time, another place.
Ian and Barbara want to leave, but the Doctor won't open the doors.
What is he going to do to them...?
Ian thinks he remembers which switch operated the doors.
Ian rails at the Doctor, telling him that "free movement time and space is a scientific dream I don't expect to find solved in a junkyard!"
"Your arrogance is nearly as great as your ignorance!" is the Doctor's retort.
With Ian distracted, the Doctor takes the opportunity to sidle over to a switch that electrifies the whole console.
Shocking.
Who the heck is this guy?
Susan pleads again for the teachers' release but the Doctor tells her that by this time tomorrow they'd be a public spectacle, a subject for news and idle gossip.
He says the teachers are bound to go to the authorities, and that they must leave.
He tells Susan that they have no alternative.
Susan seems determined to stay. She says the teachers can be trusted and will promise to keep their secret.
She doesn't want to leave the twentieth century...
...and says she'd rather leave the TARDIS and her grandfather in order to stay.
"Now you're being sentimental and childish."
Barbara tells Susan to come with them.
But it's too late, and although Susan tussles with her grandfather to stop him reaching the switch, the Doctor breaks free and starts his "ship" off in flight.
The whole room lurches...
...and the two teachers are flung to the floor.
The Doctor and Susan peer intently at the ship's monitor screen.
We watch as they leave London in 1963 far behind.
The TARDIS dematerializes for the very first time, which we only witness from the inside of the ship.
The craft enters the mind-bending vortex of time and space.
Susan is stoic about leaving her beloved twentieth century.
What's going through the Doctor's mind? Relief that they've escaped discovery, or trepidation at where they might land next?
The TARDIS travels onwards through the vortex.
It appears that they've landed on a deserted plain.
What will the Doctor do now?
Ian and Barbara are out cold.
Across the plain, a mysterious figure approaches, and casts its shadow towards the Police Box.
Where have they arrived? And when? Find out next episode! The first ever cliffhanger!
(30th November 1963)
The figure is revealed as a scruffy looking cave-man type. Understandably, he's dumbstruck at the sight of this bizarre object that has appeared from nowhere.
In a nearby cave, a forlorn looking tribe are huddled together.
They're watching and waiting for Za to make fire. No-one's holding their breath, though, as he doesn't seem to have worked out to bang the rocks together.
Za is heckled by Old Mother, who tells him his father was killed for making fire.
Worse, he has a challenger, Kal. The old men of the tribe say that Za sits around lal day rubbing his hands while Kal brings them meat.
Za's partner, Hur, worries that if the old men see no further than tomorrow's meat, her father will give her to Kal. Za continues his efforts; the one who makes fire is the leader, and he is the son of the firemaker.
Za's father was killed before passing on the secret of fire, though, and without it, the tribe will die in the cold. These cavemen (and cavewomen) all speak pretty decent English, even if they do give it a bit of "Me Grimlock".
The challenger, Kal, is the one who has seen the TARDIS.
On board the fantastical craft, Barbara stirs.
She wakes Ian, who's has a bump on the noggin.
They suddenly remember where they are, and where they aren't.
The Doctor and Susan are busy assessing their surroundings. They're on solid enough ground which is a plus, but the specific location's unclear.
The yearometer is bust, too, reading as it does, simply "zero".
Ian still thinks this is all nonsense.
The Doctor shows him the view on the scanner screen, but Ian remains sceptical.
Looks like Ian just won't believe they've moved until he's seen outside for himself. "Just open the doors, Doctor Foreman!"
"Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about?"
HE SAID THE THING.
Barbara reminds him that all this was just a Police Box on the outside.
Ian demands the Doctor opens the doors, but he refuses...
...at least until he's sure it's safe to do so. The radiation count is normal, though the Doctor decides to take a Geiger counter to be on the safe side.
The Doctor berates Ian for being narrow minded, and tells him that once he's gathered a few rock samples he'll be able to determine what year they've landed in.
Ian isn't yet ready to believe that they've travelled back in time.
"But this is ridiculous. Time doesn't go round and round in circles. You can't get on and off whenever you like in the past or the future."
The Doctor challenges him to explain where time goes in that case, but of course he can't. Barbara doesn't share Ian's cynicism, and is prepared to believe them.
"If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?"
The Doctor opens the doors. "Now you can see for yourself."
The Doctor is keen to get out and explore, with Susan and Barbara close behind him.
Eventually, reluctantly, Ian follows.
They go outside, and it's all true. The old Doctor and his granddaughter really are time travellers.
But something is wrong with the ship. He expected it to change shape to blend with its surroundings.
While Susan, Ian and Barbara try to keep warm, the Doctor sets off to find some rock samples he can test to determine where and when they are.
As he stoops to pick up his samples, he's watched over by Kal.
Susan and the two teachers have found the skull of an animal. It doesn't have any horns or antlers, so Ian speculates that it could have been a primitive horse.
Susan explains to Barbara that the exterior of the TARDIS should have changed to blend in with its surroundings.
It's been an Ionic column and a Sedan chair.
Ian admits that he was wrong, and Barbara tries to commiserate. "I don't understand it any more than you do. The inside of the ship, suddenly finding ourselves here. Even some of the things Doctor Foreman said..."
Ian reminds her - that's not his name.
Susan suddenly becomes concerned, feeling that they're being watched and with her grandfather nowhere to be found.
The Doctor has gone missing, having started puffing on a pipe... See how bad smoking is for you, kids!
By the time the others get there, the Doctor is gone, with signs of a struggle.
Ian examines the Doctor's broken Geiger counter and abandoned hat.
Whilst they hope he just took off in a fit of excitement at some discovery or other, they begin to fear that he's been taken.
Susan is certain he would never have left his "notebook" behind. Is this an early version of the 500 year diary?
The teachers try to calm the girl, but they've more than just the missing Doctor to worry about, the very sand beneath their feet is freezing.
Back at the cave, the tribe keep warm by wrapping in the skins of animals they've hunted. Old Mother listens closely as Hur's father, Horg, tells Za that Kal has often seen men make fire where he came from. Za dismissed this as a lie.
Apparently Kal says "Orb" will show him how it is done. "Orb" appears to mean the sun.
Za begins to regret giving Kal shelter, and says that if Orb is going to show anyone how to make fire it will be he, as son of the firemaker.
Key to Kal's challenge is him having brought a strange creature that can make fire come from its fingers: the Doctor.
Kal describes the TARDIS as a "strange tree" and says Za would have been afraid of it.
Za tells the tribe that if they wait for Kal to make fire they'll all freeze to death.
Kal says he is a true leader, and that he and the Doctor "fought like the tiger and the bear" but he was victorious.
Horg seems very taken with Kal's pitch and says that Za has many good furs so has forgotten what the cold is like for the others. Za promises to go out tomorrow and kill many bears so that they all have furs.
Horg isn't buying it for a minute. "I say tomorrow you will rub your hands together and hold them to the dry sticks and ask Orb to send you fire. And the bears will stay warm in their own skins."
Hur has been watching the Doctor closely, and raises the alarm when he begins to open his eyes and stir.
Kal hammers home his point to the tribe. "Do you want fire, or do you want to die in the cold?"
Kal tells them that Za may as well be feeding them to the Tiger that attacks their cave at night, but Za says the Doctor is just an old man in strange skins and that Kal has outstayed his welcome.
Hur appeals to her father to make Kal put his money where his mouth is, and force the Doctor to make fire to come from his fingers.
Now fully conscious, the Doctor says he'll make as much fire as they want.
Or at least, he would if he hadn't dropped his matches when he was set upon by Kal.
Za is triumphant as the tribe sway back towards his leadership.
Kal keeps banging on about just getting fire done, but doesn't have the first idea how to make it happen and the tribe just see him as a liar.
Kal demands that the Doctor makes fire come from his fingers.
It's at this moment that Susan and the teachers come barging in.
They're quickly subdued.
The Doctor intervenes when it looks like Za is about to bury the hatchet... in Ian's head. "If he dies, there will be no fire!"
Kal takes a shine to Barbara, with Old Mother egging him on to kill her.
Za steps in, insisting that they must die in Orb's sight, so they've got a reprieve until daylight. Until then they're to be taken to "the cave of skulls." Sounds nice.
When Hur goes to Za, Horg pulls her back, insisting that she is meant for the leader of the tribe, and he's not yet convinced that's Za. "I do not like what has happened."
"Old men never like new things to happen." Za knows the score.
Old Mother points out that there were leaders long before fire, and says that "Fire will kill us all in the end."
Za's word is final, though. They die when Orb shines again, and not before.
The cave of skulls lives up to its' billing.
They are bound hand and foot, and Barbara is not wrong to be frightened for her life.
The Doctor blames himself for their predicament, and is horrified by the stench of death. "Look at that, look at it!" he cries.
All the skulls have been split open... Cliffhanger!
This 2nd episode is an odd beast, engaging enough, but not much happens, not even much character development which would have excused that. But good solid world-building re: the tribe and the first TARDIS scene continued the magic of that first episode.
EPISODE THREE: The Forest of Fear
EPISODE THREE: The Forest of Fear
(7th December 1963)
The peril they find themselves in is all grim horror, with the threat of violent death looming... dark stuff.
While the tribe get some kip, Old Mother sneaks about.
Up to no good, pinching a knife! She's trouble!
Doubt her intentions towards the travellers are good.
Ian frantically searches for a way to escape, while the Doctor just sits about bitching.
He finally makes himself useful by suggesting Ian use some of the more jagged bones to saw through his restraints. Ian wants to free the women first but the Doctor tells him to concentrate on freeing himself first in case he has to defend them.
Hur stirs and sees Old Mother creeping about.
Old Mother finds the entrance to the cave sealed tightly with a large boulder. She's not giving up, though.
The Doctor encourages Barbara to stay positive and asks her to try to remember the way back to the TARDIS. She realizes that he's trying to help her by distracting her from her fear.
"Fear makes companions of all of us," he says, and when Barbara is surprised to hear his admission of being afraid, he explains that "Fear is with all of us, and always will be, just like that other sensation that lives with it... Hope."
Hur quietly wakes Za, motioning that Old Mother has nicked his knife.
Old Mother emerges in the cave of skulls by a secret passage that leads out onto the plain. She takes Susan by surprise, and is adamant that the travellers should not make fire for the tribe.
Here Hur, here.
Hur tells Za that if he can get the strange tribe they have captured to show him how to make fire, he will have his victory over Kal.
At first Za does not believe that Old Mother could have got into the cave because the boulder has not moved, but as they get closer sure enough he hears her voice within.
Old Mother says fire will bring trouble and death to the tribe.
Za and Hur try to shift the stone but it's a struggle for just the two of them.
Old Mother releases the travellers, and, sending them on their way through the secret exit, she directs them towards the trees.
As Old Mother turns, she is startled by the arrival of Za, who swats her aside.
Za is reluctant to follow them into the night, afraid of the beasts in the forest. Hur tells him that he is the leader and that makes him as strong as the beasts and stronger than Kal.
They leave Old Mother lying unconscious in the cave.
Having got a fair distance from the tribe's cave, the Doctor needs to stop and catch his breath. Ian urges him on, and says that he'll carry him if he has to.
In the darkness of the night the forest looks different, and Barbara begins to panic that they're getting lost.
Although the roars of a nearby predator have them terrified, they breathe a sigh of relief when Susan begins to recognize their surroundings. The relief is short-lived, though, as Barbara sees a movement in the bushes.
"We'll die in this place," Barbara wails, and Ian has to assure her that they won't. "We're going to get back to the ship and then we'll be safe."
The Doctor and Ian confer out of Barbara's earshot, agreeing that they have to keep moving as the tribe will no doubt pursue them. Ian proposes to put Susan up front with the Doctor as she seems to remember the way, and he'll protect Barbara's rear.
The Doctor begins to take exception to Ian's assertiveness. "You seem to have elected yourself leader of this little party." The teacher responds that there's no time to vote.
The Doctor insists he won't follow orders blindly, and as far as Ian's concerned if it was just the two of them he'd leave him to find his own way back.
Tempers fray as the Doctor calls Ian a "tiresome young man", and gets called a "stubborn old man!" in return. Nevertheless the re-order is agreed, not least because Ian says that Barbara was probably right...
...he too heard something in the bushes.
Hur and Za, tracking them, note the strange prints left behind by the travellers' shoes.
The roaring they can here is more likely a Smilodon, a sabre-toothed cat, than a "Tiger", strictly speaking. Barbara lets out a scream when she trips over the remains of its last victim.
Alas, poor Pumbaa, I knew him, Timon.
Za, close enough to have heard Barbara's scream, races towards the sound.
Barbara is hardly comforted by the Doctor's thought that the boar was obviously killed by something much larger, and fiercer.
Hearing Za and Hur approaching, the four travellers hide.
Sensing danger, Za tells Hur to stay put while he checks out the boar.
Much to Hur's distress, Za is attacked by the Smilodon.
Barbara's instincts take over as she rushes to Za's aid.
The Doctor thinks this is the perfect opportunity to give their pursuers the slip, but no-one is listening to him.
Despite appearances, Za is not dead, just badly wounded, and although Hur is not inclined to trust them, she allows Ian to look at her stricken mate when he offers the hand of friendship.
As Ian has Hur fetch some water, he tries to stop the bleeding. Most of the blood seems to be the big cat's, though. Za managed to bury his axe in its' head.
The Doctor certainly doesn't share Barbara and Ian's humanitarian urges, to say the least. He's no time for "savages", and tells Ian that he isn't a doctor of medicine in any case. With hindsight maybe we can speculate that at this young age the Doctor hasn't quite managed to shed as much of that Gallifreyan aloofness as he'd like to think.
Barbara chastises the Doctor for his lack of empathy.
He's having none of it, though, and points out that they're too exposed here; the rest of the tribe could be upon them at any moment.
Barbara insists that Old Mother won't give them away, but the Doctor snorts with derision. "These people have logic and reason, have they? Can't you see their minds change as rapidly as night and day? She's probably telling the whole tribe at this very moment."
Well that's about to be put to the test, as Old Mother regains consciousness in the cave of skulls.
Kal finds and interrogates her, learning that Za and Hur have gone after the travellers.
Realizing that Old Mother was the one that released them, denying him his chance to make fire and take the leadership from Za, Kal raises his knife...
In the forest, while the Doctor looks, on refusing to help, the others construct a makeshift stretcher so they can carry Za.
Barbara promises Hur that they'll teach her how to make fire if she will show them the way back to the TARDIS.
Of the Doctor's incredible sulk, Susan says "he's always like this if he doesn't get his own way."
Ian catches the Doctor weighing up a heavy rock, just big enough to crack a skull...
The Doctor claims he was going to get Za to draw the way back to the TARDIS, but does it in such a way that makes it a pretty unbelievable excuse, so we've seen some alarming true colours there. It seems he'd have put Za out of his misery.
The group manoeuvre Za onto the stretcher and prepare to move on.
Kal is busy turning the tribe against Za and Hur, and slyly tells Horg that Old Mother will back him up, despite knowing full well that she's dead.
It seems that Kal has successfully framed Za for the murder.
The ever gullible Horg is entirely taken in.
Just as it seems that the travellers will make their escape, they're driven back into the forest; the tribe have beaten them to the TARDIS.
Worse, the tribe is now seemingly led by the bloodthirsty Kal.
Cliffhanger!
EPISODE FOUR: The Firemaker
(14th December 1963)
Hauled back to the cave, the travellers struggle to no avail.
Hur speaks up for the travellers, as they saved Za from death. Kal insists that Za was the one that killed Old Mother.
Kal holds aloft Za's knife, declaring that this is the knife that killed Old Mother. It's the Doctor's chance to shine - he points out that the knife has no blood on it, stopping Kal in his tracks.
Kal falters, claiming that it's a "bad knife" that "does not show the things it does." Pull the other one, son. The Doctor goads him, saying it's a better knife than his.
"This knife can cut and stab. I have never seen a better knife."
I mean, look, I'm sure it doesn't take much to outwit a caveman, but our boy has done Kal up like a kipper here, as the witless fool shows off his own - bloody - knife.
The Doctor shows the tribe the murder weapon, clearing Za's name. But why *is* Za's knife clean? Shouldn't it be covered in Smilodon blood? Let's say Ian washed it earlier when they were constructing the stretcher, maybe?
Kal is forced to confess.
The Doctor turns the tribe against him. "Is this your strong leader? One who kills your old women? He is a bad leader, he will you all!"
He enlists Ian, and the pair pick up rocks to hurl at Kal.
Hur is not slow to join in, and soon the rest of the tribe follow their example.
The tribe drive Kal out.
Ian, ever the teacher, impresses on Za to remember the lesson that "Kal is not stronger than the whole tribe." Za says they will watch for any attempt by Kal to come back, and will all fight if he does.
Za, the ungrateful sod, orders them back to the cave of skulls, still determined for the Doctor to make fire.
The large stone is once again rolled over the entrance, and Za positions a guard by Old Mother's secret entrance to prevent them getting out the same way as before. He gives orders that if anyone sees them come out, they're to kill them.
The defeated Kal slinks away.
At least they're not tied up this time.
Za has Hur recount how he got back to the cave, and while she is quick to talk up his Sabre-tooth slaying, she also gives credit where it's due, telling of how Ian (who she mistakenly believes is named "Friend") saved his life.
Za appears conflicted, recognizing the strangers' compassionate and co-operative ways as a better way of life for the tribe.
All the same, he doesn't want to be driven into the forest like Kal, so he still needs to learn the secret of fire from them.
As the two teachers work to construct a camp fire, Susan locates a suitable flint to get the party started.
Barbara spreads leaves and dead grass, as Ian wraps twine around a twig so as to twist another twig between two flat stones. Nice to see that they've finally figured out the way to escape. By making fire. Could've saved a lot of trouble if they'd just done this in episode 2.
Za orders their guard aside so he can speak to the strangers.
Susan smells encouraging signs that the fire is starting. When Za makes his entrance he asks if Ian is their leader, but the teacher points him in the Doctor's discretion. Leader, eh? Well, he's at least the designated driver.
Za tells them that the tribe think they came from Orb and that they will have fire if they return the travellers to Orb on "the stone of death."
Za has come to believe that they have simply come from another tribe on the other side of the mountains, but says he won't be able to stop their sacrifice unless they make fire for him. He needs the power of that red flower, so he can be like you.
Ian shows him that the whole tribe should be watching, everyone should know how to make fire so they don't end up like now, with a whole tribe at risk of dying out because the knowledge wasn't passed on in time.
The Doctor explains that in their tribe, the firemaker is the least important, because they can all make fire.
Finally, Susan's sparks, Ian's friction-generated heat, and Barbara's kindling
Za watches in elation as the flames rise.
Horg watches as the sun rises.
With no meat, no fruit and no roots, Horg is ready to declare that Za is no leader.
The guard to the cave is suddenly attacked and killed, as Kal has returned.
Inside the cave of skulls, the travellers are so busy keeping the fire going...
...that they don't notice Kal sneaking in until he's almost upon them. He stops in his tracks when he sees the fire, and its just the opportunity that Za needs to counter-attack. Time for the big showdown.
The travellers move to the back of the cave, creating an arena for the combatants.
The fight is on film now, so you know it's serious.
They swing at one another with their axes, and grapple hand to hand.
They appear evenly matched, neither one able to deliver a fatal blow.
The Doctor can only watch in horror at the savage violence, and is reminded of the many skulls in the cave, all split by the blows of an axe. How many such contests have played out here in the past?
Both men tear into one another like wild animals.
Susan and the two teachers can hardly bear it.
Kal charges Za, but the latter grabs the former in a choke hold.
It looks like Za finally has the upper hand as he flings his opponent to the ground, and raises a large stone above his head.
Barbara turns away as Za delivers the killing blow, crushing Kal's head with the rock. 
The Doctor can't tear his eyes away, as Za drags the body of his vanquished foe away by the leg. That's the tribes's dinner for tonight sorted. 👀
All that remains for Za to finally claim the leadership is for him to live up to the title of firemaker in the eyes of the tribe.
Ian lights a larger branch from the fire so that Za can take it to show the tribe.
The Doctor stops Ian from following, reasoning that if they let Za take full credit he'll make good on his promise to release them.
Za struts his stuff. "Kal is dead, I give you fire, I am leader!"
Za tells Horg to watch over the travellers while he goes out for some meat. Horg, remembering barbeques past, is finally on board.
The travellers realize that Za is not as good as his word, and Hur appears equally ungrateful, too busy looking forward to the caveman cook off.
Ian is kicking himself, but Barbara points out that if they hadn't shown Za how to make the fire, they'd be dead by now.
The cavemen just can't get enough of the fire, appearing mesmerised.
Later, Barbara wakes Ian from a nap to let him know they've been given some food.
Za tries to show the travellers they are being well looked after, but for all there's a fire in front of them, they still manage to give him the cold shoulder.
All the Doctor wants to know is when they can leave; he doesn't fancy being stuck on Earth for any great length of time. Fair enough, UNIT hasn't even been invented yet.
Za tells them they've nowhere better to go, and leaves them to it. While the Doctor starts to plot how to take their fire away, Susan has a better idea.
She's figured out a way to freak the tribe right out; they can fake their own deaths by putting skulls on burning torches!
Ian suggests dripping the fat from the meat over the skulls to complete the illusion.
Hur tears herself away from the feast to take some more meat to the travellers.
But when she enters the cave of skulls, the sight of the burning skulls terrifies her. Her screams soon bring the rest of the tribe, who also fall to their knees and cower.
The time travellers seize their chance to leg it while Hur & co. wail and moan.
The travellers run for their lives back to the TARDIS. Better get used to it!
As the torches begin to burn out, Za is emboldened to approach them.
He figures out their ruse, but too late...
Barbara stumbles, and Ian helps her back up as the Doctor cuts a swathe through the forest, grimly determined that this time they will get back to the ship.
Susan leads the way, and soon they're in more familiar surroundings.
This time, their path is unimpeded and they finally reach the safety of the TARDIS.
The Doctor looks back triumphantly, before slamming the door shut.
At Ian's urging, he doesn't pause for breath, and sets the controls for them to leave.
The tribe arrive too late and can only watch in disbelief as the TARDIS dematerializes and their flung spears clatter to the ground, having failed to make contact.
And with that, they're gone.
They may be safely away, but with no readings or data, their journey can only lead to the unknown...
The Doctor explains that as they took off in a hurry, with no readings to tell him where they were, it was impossible to fix co-ordinates for any particular destination..
Ian is not convinced the Doctor even really tried to get them back to their own time.
What if it was Skaro all along? Are Za's tribe actually the first Kaleds?
They go to get cleaned up, and Susan tells her grandfather that the radiation outside appears normal.
However, almost as soon as she's turned away, the radiation meter creeps up to the top of the danger scale...
Out of the fire, into the radioactive wasteland! And we can't wait to see how their adventures will continue!
Coming Soon... Voyage of the Damned
