The Daleks - The Expedition

As the title suggests, this story is about an expedition and its where the regulars attempt to retrieve the fluid link from the city.  The first half is basically the regulars arguing with each other about whether Ian should try to talk the Thals into helping them and then decide that the Thals can only help them if they want to help them.  Ian isn’t willing to push too hard in convincing the Thals to sacrifice their lives as he doesn’t want the deaths on his conscious. It’s quite funny when they are trekking through the jungle when its clear that Ian hasn’t exactly dressed for a journey of this. The plan to try and retrieve the fluid link is to split into two parties. This is the first time that the regulars have been split up. Ian and Barbara go through the caves and the Doctor and Susan have the seemingly easier job of going to the front of the city.

I was really impressed with William Russell. The scene where he’s trying to convince the Thals to fight and provoke Alydon into combat was a good scene.  The most surprising thing about Susan in this episode is that she climbed the tree and didn’t sprain her ankle. Apart from Carole Ann Ford didn’t really have much to do which is presumably why the best thing they could get her to do was to climb a tree. Jacqueline Hill starts off with not much to do but there is a romance that starts in this episode between Barbara and Ganatus. William Hartnell has a good scene where he acknowledges that his little attempt to see the city has backfired spectacularly. Thought it was a good moment from Hartnell and it was well supported by Russell.

It’s good that we get a bit more from the Daleks in this episode. The Daleks figure out that the anti-radiation drugs are lethal to them so they decide that the only way to survive is to drop another bomb. I think that its gives the journey of the regulars and thals a greater sense of urgency. I noted in the previous episode about the lack of Daleks in the story and they do seem to have addressed that issue to a certain degree but its not as successful as it was perhaps intended to be.

Alydon is a character of principal and despite striking one of the main characters, its not enough to dislike the character. He gives a great speech where he talks about not being ashamed to die but being ashamed to fight. The fact that the rest of the Thals are willing to support him without any sense of dissension shows that he is very strong character. My opinion of Dyoni has improved quite a lot as I thought that her reaction to Alydon hitting Ian was quite good. Virginia Wetherell has been given a pretty standard role and she has done well with it.

There is another unusual shot with the camera positioned right by the sucker arm. It’s another Christopher Barry episode and another episode where his distinct style is on show here. There is the moment where a Dalek is reacting badly to the drugs and the camera is zooming in and out. It’s quite a good effect though its slightly ruined by the shot of the cardboard cut out daleks.

The cliffhanger was a good one. Elyon is at the lake and the weird looking monster is about to grab him. We don’t see that as presumably the BBC budget wouldn’t have stretched to it. There is an awkward where Ian and Ganatus don’t seem to move until they do spring into action and thus the episode ends. I quite like this episode. It’s like the Daleks story is split into two sections and the section part is now starting with the long trek, I thought that the dialogue was very good and the directing something to behold. With the final two episodes coming, I think that my opinion of this story hasn’t really changed. I’ve appreciated the directing a lot more and whilst I have always thought that Christopher Barry is a good director but these couple of episodes have confirmed it. The writing has also been quite good if the action has been a little slow at times but I’ve been pleased with it so far.