The Savages (Doctor Who)

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026 – The Savages
Doctor Who serial

The Doctor (William Hartnell) and the Savages
Cast
Doctor William Hartnell (First Doctor)
Companions Peter Purves (Steven Taylor)
Jackie Lane (Dodo Chaplet)
Production
Writer Ian Stuart Black
Director Christopher Barry
Script editor Gerry Davis
Producer Innes Lloyd
Executive producer(s) None
Production code AA
Series Season 3
Length 4 episodes, 25 mins each
Episode(s) missing All 4 episodes
Originally broadcast May 28–June 18, 1966
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by →
The Gunfighters The War Machines
IMDb profile

The Savages is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from May 28 to June 18, 1966. This serial marks the final appearance of Peter Purves as companion Steven Taylor.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

The TARDIS has arrived on a distant and seemingly idyllic world, but the Doctor, Steven and Dodo discover that it hides a terrible secret: the apparently civilised Elders maintain their advanced society through a most unethical means...

[edit] Plot

The TARDIS materializes on a distant planet in the far future. The Doctor, Steven and Dodo find the planet inhabited by both an advanced, idyllic civilization (the Elders), and bands of roaming savages. The Elders welcome the Doctor, greeting him as "The Traveller from Beyond Time" and revealing they have admired his exploits from afar and predicted that he would soon be arriving here. Their leader Jano showers the Doctor and his companions with compliments and gifts, reinforcing the idyllic nature of the society of the Elders. However, the Doctor becomes suspicious of the Elders' seemingly perfect civilization, but it is Dodo who finds the secret. The soldiers Exorse and Edal are sent outside the Elder city and use advanced weapons to capture the savages, entrapping them and returning them to the city. The Elders are then only able to maintain the energy needed to run their civilization by draining the life force of the helpless savages. The Doctor, appalled, tries to stop the Elders and persuade them of the wrong they are doing by building a civilisation on such immoral grounds.

Jano’s response is to have the Doctor himself subjected to the energy transfer process. The Doctor is put into the transfer device and his life force is channelled into the Elder Jano, who desires his intelligence. Yet the plan backfires when the Doctor's personality takes over Jano, imbuing him with the Doctor’s mannerisms, outlook and morality. The two identities cause Jano a personality crisis. Dodo and Steven have meanwhile ventured outside the city and made contact with the savage leaders Chal and Tor, who are respectively pleased and antagonised by their presence. The savages are the remnants of a once highly skilled and highly artistic race, but over the centuries the energy transfer process has stymied their creativity and ability. Chal hides the two fugitives in a deep cave system, pursued by the guard Exorse, whom Steven overpowers. They return to the city and find a weak but determined Doctor, and help him escape the city.

The time travellers now help the Savages fight back against the Elder guards. The Doctor realises that the Elders must be forced not persuaded to change their ways as their whole civilisation must change overnight. His mixed personality convinces Jano to help the Savages and he tries to convince the other Elders to treat the Savages as equals, while Exorse too has realised the error of his ways. Jano and Exorse begin the destruction of the technology underpinning the society and are soon joined in the destruction by the Doctor, Steven and Dodo. The end of the technology means the end of the oppression, and Jano and Chal begin to talk of how a new society can be built together. The Doctor surprises Steven by convincing him to remain behind as a mediator. When both sides agree to accept Steven's decision, he decides to stay. The Doctor and a saddened Dodo bid their friend goodbye.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Production

  • Working titles for this story included The White Savages.
  • This was the first serial of the series to have an overall title divided into numbered parts or episodes. All stories up until and including The Gunfighters had individual episode titles for each episode.

[edit] In print

Doctor Who book
Book cover
The Savages
Series Target novelisations
Release number 109
Writer Ian Stuart Black
Publisher Target Books
Cover artist David McAllister
ISBN 0 491 03602 7
Release date March 1986 (Hardback)

11th September 1986 (Paperback)
Preceded by The King's Demons
Followed by Fury from the Deep

A novelisation of this serial, written by Ian Stuart Black, was published by Target Books in March 1986.

[edit] Broadcast, CD and DVD releases

  • All four episodes of this serial are missing from the BBC archive. A few brief off-air 8 mm film recordings made by fans represent the only extant clips (which include the departure of Steven) and were made available on the DVD box set release Lost in Time.
  • The complete soundtrack recordings made by fans exist for all four episodes. These have been released on CD together with linking narration by Peter Purves.

[edit] External links

[edit] Reviews

[edit] Target novelisation

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Doctor Who season 3 serials