016 - The Chase

Broadcast:

22^nd May - 26^th June 1965

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Vicki

Adversary:

Daleks

Written by:

Terry Nation

Director:

Richard Martin

Music:

Dudley Simpson

Script Editor:

Dennis Spooner

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

9.42m (10, 9.5, 9, 9.5, 9, 9.5)

Summary: The Daleks pursue the TARDIS and the Doctor in particular across time and space through desert, sea and jungle. Arriving on contemporary Earth provides a tempting opportunity for Barbara and Ian while a haunted house might be ideal for facing the Daleks head on...

As promised and teased, the Daleks were back for a third encounter with the Doctor. The public loved them and BBC heads wanted more of them but their creator, writer Terry Nation was not so keen and felt he had done all he could with them so The Chase was partly devised by its Director and Story Editor. Sadly some of Nations ideas and visual descriptions were rejected as either too intense or unachievable and the resulting rewrite (by Martin and Spooner) falls a little short and is a little muddled like The Space Museum before it. However, it does bring some interesting flavours to the show and hints at a world created from nothing but fear as well as mixing future alien threats with a historical context. Doctor Who was at a turning point. It was about to lose the last of the original companions, Dennis Spooner left as Story Editor after just 6 stories and producer Verity Lambert was preparing things for her departure as well...

In the news at the time were a bloodless coup in Algeria, Australian troops joined the Vietnam War and Muhammad Ali knocked out Sonny Liston with the "Phantom Punch". West Ham became the second British team to win a European trophy, the British Government announced plans to introduce blood alcohol limits in the fight against drink-driving and two mining incidents barely a week apart took over 500 lives (274 in India and 237 in Japan).

Cinemas were showing the usual mix of horror and humour: Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, The Knack ...and How to Get It, When Strangers Meet and The Skull featuring Peter Cushing. The music charts were topped by "Where Are You Now (My Love)" (Jackie Trent), "Long Live Love" (Sandie Shaw), "Crying in the Chapel" (Elvis Presley), and "I'm Alive" (The Hollies). It was a good month for The Beatles as they were about to appear on Doctor Who and receive MBEs from the Queen - the first popular entertainers to do so, which ruffled a few feathers - though the two were not exactly related!

The first episode opens with a reprise of the previous story's ending, reminding us that the Daleks are set to follow the TARDIS with their own space-time machine and we see the TARDIS traversing the mysterious voids of space-time for the first time. Unfortunately it's a rather dodgy kaleidoscope overlay effect that doesn't quite sell the moment and the Police Box model is so well lit that it casts clear and strong shadows which make the table it is sat on far too obvious. But it is the first inkling of what would become known as the time-vortex nonetheless. Similarly, in a later episode Vicki points to an unseen instrument on the TARDIS console and refers to it as the Time Rotor, a term which would refer to the central column itself in the 1980s. Meanwhile, she is feeling redundant and finds herself getting on everyone's nerves like a board child - in fact there are a large number of child-like moments for her throughout this story, even her clothes and hair style suggest she is much younger than is hitherto apparent.

At the end of The Space Museum the Doctor talked about the Time Visualiser that he had just acquired and we finally get a chance to see it - a colossal machine that barely looks like it could have fitted through the TARDIS doors, but perhaps it comes apart... Whatever, the Doctor has fixed it and the small screen flickers into life and we get a glimpse of several historic moments: Lincoln giving the Gettysburg Address, Shakespeare meeting with Queen Elizabeth and Francis Bacon to be inspired to write Hamlet (it is shortly after this that he would encounter the tenth Doctor in The Shakespeare Code!) and, as mentioned earlier, the Beatles performing "Ticket To Ride" which gets Ian singing and dancing despite being released two years after he left Earth (ie it was their latest single when the episode was made and had only just been knocked off the number one spot when it aired). There's a nice albeit silly moment when Vicki declares that while she knew of the Beatles she didn't know they played Classical music!

There is a neat directorial moment as the Doctor makes the final checks and opens the doors. He operates as if the camera is inside the central column (in fact there is no console prop present) and the doors open directly behind him. The next shot as everyone exits the TARDIS is looking directly in through the Police Box doors with little more than bright white to represent the interior but it is convincing enough and an extremely rare shot - virtually every other exit/entry shot until the show was revived was framed specifically to avoid showing the interior (or not showing that it wasn't there!). They have landed on the deserts of Aridius and treat it like a beach holiday. Barbara and the Doctor 'sunbath' while Ian accompanies Vicki as she explores the dunes. All seems well until Vicki discovers a trapdoor and Barbara spots the Daleks on the Time Visualiser... For the first time, we see Daleks in complete maniacal mode with an almost Tourettes like repetition as they set out their plan and as well as dancing around (because it's difficult to get them to move any other way!) they begin chanting "TARDIS! TARDIS! TARDIS! ..." for no real reason before fixating on "Annihilate!" six times and finally the more familiar triple cry of "Exterminate!" This is followed by an army of Daleks entering their time machine... quite impressive when there were only three props but quite clear that they were just going around and entering a second time! It's also a shame that one of them knocks into the set and almost bounces it's mid section off! Finally, in one of the serial's cheapest effects the slightly poor time machine prop is seen to pop out of existence (rather than slowly fade out) as the picture cuts to a different camera showing a background that doesn't even attempt to line up. Unfortunately, this was made even more confusing by the fact that it was never clear that it was their time machine that they were entering in the first place. However this is largely made up for when the episode ends with the sight of a Dalek emerging from one of the dunes, even if it makes slightly comical grunts as it wriggles free.

What happens next could have set a nice precedent for the future as the Dalek glides effortlessly over the sloping sand hovering ever so slightly above it (because the prop was being carried rather than getting its wheels stuck). Instead we get a shot a little later where a Dalek prop is lifted and dropped clumsily and any future attempts to carry them are very wobbly an ineffective (probably due to their size and weight, to be fair).

Other points of note from this Aridius segment are the effective Mire beast (which is essentially and octopus) but disappointing Aridian costumes which feel like they should have some kind of webbing under their arms or between their legs to go with the gill-like ears and poorly fitted bald caps. But then again, they are supposed to be underwater creatures that have evolved to live under ground instead... The Daleks meanwhile fire on the TARDIS and Ian makes use of Barbara's cardigan again (having just unravelled one in The Space Museum) and the Dalek are outwitted by some comical "Cooy, over here Fred!" acting and make the fatal directorial move of reacting to it to the left of the screen yet going towards it to the right. It's also shocking that some of the newly added solar panels (the vertical slats that are now a familiar part of their design but were only introduced for this story) are already broken and there is no attempt by the director to hide it from the cameras - such were the pressures of production. They do seem to have found a thesaurus though and find several different destructive words to chant at the end of the episode.

The third episode sees the story progress into two new locations, providing pace and an indication of how an initial idea for a story isn't always as good as it sounds once you start developing it. The two segments work alright but feel a little flabby and brushed over and almost formulaic - the TARDIS lands, everyone gets out for no real reason, there's a brief interaction with comedic value and they leave again. That's not to say they have little value. The first is New York in 1966 on the viewing platform of the Empire State Building which has some lovely moments, all played for laughs. Peter Purves effectively makes a cameo appearance as an Alabaman tourist who takes great delight in the mysterious appearance and disappearance of both time machines and even pokes fun at the Dalek walking right around it while being followed by the eye stalk through a full 360 degree turn (another effective but rare moment) and laughs that it has come over with blue spots as if it has an illness! It's silly and over the top but quite delightful and played with sincerity (Purves would of course be back at the end of the story as Steven Taylor, the new companion, but he was such a good actor that nobody would notice) and there is a nice reference from Vicki to 'ancient New York' being destroyed in the Dalek invasion (and lets not forget that they would be back there in Daleks In Manhattan during its construction!). The second segment sees the TARDIS land on the Mary Celeste, though technically the materialisation is done out of shot with just the sound effect followed by the camera pulling back to reveal the Police Box standing there. Very little happens here other than Vicki mistaking Ian for a sailor and knocking him out but once the travellers have left again the Daleks arrive and spread fear into the 19^th century crew who think they are some kind of supernatural terror which leads them to jump over board and abandon ship - thus Doctor Who has provided its first false explanation for historical events (though you could argue that the Doctor inspired Nero to burn Rome in The Romans)

The fourth leg of the chase is the most intriguing and presents viewers with the greatest stretch of the imagination since The Edge Of Destruction. Things start quite routinely as the TARDIS arrives in what appears to be an old mansion (watch out for a candle stick that has to move to a new position to allows the Police Box to fit in!) Ian suggests it would be a good place to stop and face the Daleks head-on because of its sturdy walls and upper storey because Daleks don't like stairs! However, joking aside, in the previous episode they were clearly seen on two very different levels on the Mary Celeste so they had not been seriously portrayed as having problems with stairs, it just hasn't been shown how they deal with them and the assumption that they would be an insurmountable hurdle is not an unreasonable one. Without retelling the events of this episode, suffice to say it turns out to be a classic haunted house with mixed horror characters like Dracula and Frankenstein's Monster, even a spooky suit of armour that will keep you on the edge of your seat in expectation. Things take an uneasy turn however when a Dalek can be seen in the background of the cellar but isn't spotted or referred to (the production subtitles on the DVD suggest that it was left there in readiness for a later scene but with the way that scene plays out I'm not so sure) The Doctor suggests the haunted house is the product of thousands or even millions of human minds bringing it into existence through their collective fear and while this elevates the show to a wholly ethereal level the production team struggled to rationalise how the Daleks could materialise within the human mind... In a change from Terry Nations original idea, it is ultimately revealed, to the viewers alone, that the whole set up is part of a fair (in 1996 and with a $10 entrance fee) explaining the robotic nature of the various characters. A bit of a let down but it maintains the conceptual integrity of the ongoing story as the Daleks arrive and interact with the various monsters. Most importantly for the narrative, the Doctor dematerialises the TARDIS without realising that Vicki is not on board! Without being able to control the TARDIS fully he is unable to go back for her and so plans start to be made to capture the Dalek space-time machine for the rescue...

Fear not, Vicki is bright enough to duck into the Dalek craft and stow away with the Daleks (though again it is not clear that it is the Dalek time machine that she ducks into due to its poor design) The episode comes to a climax when Vicki discovers that the Daleks have created a robot double of the Doctor to "infiltrate and destroy". Although a double was used for the majority of the sequence (Edmund Warwick who had previously been in The Keys Of Marinus and wasn't as good a mimic as Brian Proudfoot in The Reign Of Terror) the episode concludes with a close up of Hartnell repeating his command. The concluding segment of The Chase sees this robot double causing trouble in a jungle setting with reasonable success. It is frustrating, however, that Warwick really isn't as good as Proudfoot (who would have been available because he had a role in an earlier episode) and is seen more often than you might expect as both the Robot and the Doctor, but given the complexity of the story and the time restraints of studio sessions at the time it is understandable that Hartnell could not have coped. In a way, it does result in the final fight being clearer as to which Doctor is which (or who is Who!) but the fact that each actor had played both roles makes it confusing throughout. Having foiled the Daleks' plan, the travellers leave the jungle and enter a Mechonoid city, Vicki playfully mocks the Mechonoid voices, they meat Steven and leave the Daleks in battle with the Mechanoids. It is clear that Steven gets away from the flaming city but he is last seen struggling through the jungle, much like Peter Purves's first character, his part seems to be passing through and his fate is unknown...

Before leaving Mechonus, Barbara and Ian decide that they have had enough. They have the chance to return to Earth and their own time if the Doctor will help them fly the Daleks' space-time machine and although he is reluctant Vicki persuades him that it is for the best. Ultimately, he sets them on the right course and sets an auto destruct system into play so shortly after they land the machine is destroyed to leave no evidence of the alien technology and preventing any further pursuit by the Daleks. Ian and Barbara's return to Earth is mostly portrayed as a photo montage directed by Douglas Camfield around various London locations including outside a genuine police box! Their final scene is on a London bus as they re-accustom themselves with contemporary life, it's two years later than when they left though. This is seen by Vicki and the Doctor on the Time Visualiser and with an echo of his farewell speech to Susan he states "I shall miss them. Yes, I shall miss them. Silly old fusspots"

And so it ends. The Tardis is seen spinning away through a galaxy in another dodgy overlay effect (following the initial shadow casting model, subsequent flight sequences have been shown using cut-outs of both time machines and the TARDIS's departure from the haunted house was also done with a poor cut-out as well as being completely out of synch with the sound effect which had already been heard!) and the credits roll. The concept of The Chase is really good and the revised script is really quite reasonable, but the stretches and limits related to the budget and production methods unfortunately let it down. As well as the potentially erroneous appearance of a Dalek, there are two occasions when a camera is seen in the background and numerous moments when camera shadows are cast over the foreground. On arriving in the jungle, the Daleks state that they will follow their robot but he goes to the left and they go right! Barbara finds a 'light lance' which is supposed to produce a bright light to fend off fungoids but instead has a tiny bulb at the end that doesn't look much brighter than the highlights bouncing off it - though Barbara's pretend gun noises are fun and Jacqueline Hill's performance throughout the serial really shines and is quite possible her best with The Aztecs coming a close second. Fluffed lines are kept to a minimum but Hartnell's impassioned argument against Ian and Barbara leaving lets through an unfortunate slip "You'll end up as burnt cinders flying around in Spain... space!" The Doctor gives Ian a TARDIS Magnet to help him find his way back, one of the Daleks has a seismic detector instead of a sucker and they have an 'electrode unit' that some how summons the Mechanoid elevator (rather like the Doctor using his sonic screwdriver in later years). For some reason everyone providing the DVD's commentary track pour great scorn on the Fungoid costumes/props but I really don't a see a problem myself and the only flaw with the jungle set is the studio floor - the director's worst enemy especially in a Dalek episode.

For all its flaws, The Chase has a real charm about it and just the right level of humour to carry the viewer through some of the nonsense but it is a shame to see the Daleks in such a comedic light, almost as a pastiche of themselves, but they would be back on form and more fearful than ever in a matter of months. Despite Terry Nations reservations, they would carry a whole episode on their own with none of the regular cast in Mission To The Unknown (also referred to as "The Dalek Cutaway" due to its isolated form) which acted as a teaser to the epic 12 part story The Daleks' Master Plan that would follow a month later. Meanwhile, to wrap things up, I scored The Chase 73% largely due to its concept, level of adventure and variety and every limited set moment is more than balanced by other brilliant moments.