Science Teacher: When you look back at the original line up
of character you can see how carefully crafted they are as a team. Whilst An
Unearthly Child appears to have haphazardly thrown these four people together
it is in fact a rock solid family unit (you can see that as far back as episode
one of The Daleks with the four of them huddled together and looking at the
city in the distance) where each of the characters has something different to
offer. History teacher Barbara, maternal and spiky. The anti hero Doctor with a
blistering intelligence and sulky mood swings. Susan, the child who can prove
surprisingly mature and emotional at certain points. And Ian, the science
teacher and protector of them all. As each story progresses and they reveal
more of each other you can understand why these four were chosen to kick start
the series and how much drama (and comedy) can be channelled through them. When
it comes to the companion chronicles there is a wealth of dramatic potential
waiting to be tapped and with William Russell and Carole Ann Ford both on top
form (check out The Transit of Venus, The Rocket Men, Farewell Great Macedon and
Here There Be Monsters) they have
proven (along with the other first Doctor adventures featuring Steven and Sara
Kingdom) to be the pinnacle of the range. Russell makes every word count when
he performs a dramatic reading and at some points in this story he quite took
my breath away.
Ian never thought of himself as much of wanderer because was
too attached to home, to England; taking walks, going to the flicks or the pub.
He liked the familiar and the comforting. It seems so tantalisingly close to be
only sixty years away from their own time and halfway around the world. As
Grigory tells the traveller all about his life Ian listens and absorbs the
information, there is a respect there that vanishes with some of the later
companions in Doctor Who’s run. Ian and Barbara fear that they are going to go
completely mad like Susan. Something that was often neglected in the series was
Ian’s scientific knowledge so its nice to see him once again engaging with
alien science (attention was drawn to this in The Rocket Men also) and he is
more than up to keeping up with the Doctor’s complex notes on the device. When
Ian tells Grigory that he has seen the Earth’s past and its future he sounds
like some kind of elemental and his friends scepticism is quite understandable.
He knew such things were impossible himself until he met the Doctor and
experienced them.
Bouffant Babe: Barbara considers a near miss a good thing,
it means they are getting closer and closer to home with each passing
adventure. Like the Doctor had companionship from Susan, Ian had companionship
from somebody who understood and cared for him.
Alien Orphan: Like an animal, as if she has lost all reason,
Susan tears through the cabin and runs off. I had forgotten how terrifying this
alien orphan can be.
Hmm: The ultimate wanderer treating distant planets and the
Earth’s past alike. Listen to the way that William Russell so effusively
portrays the Doctor as he approaches the towns people and reminds us of what a
charming rogue William Hartnell could be in the role. The very idea of the
landing in such an isolated, dangerous location and having the Doctor stricken
by an unknown agule is ripe for good drama. What’s fascinating about the
Doctor’s reaction to Grigory’s knowledge of the future is that it matches the
intensity and fury of that of The Aztecs. He calls Grigory an opportunistic
thief that has stolen knowledge he has no right to have. The Doctor always
knows and had full knowledge of who Grigory was from the very beginning.
Standout Performance: With William Russell and Tim Chipping
both giving such passionate performances the result drama is breathtaking at
times.
Sparkling Dialogue: ‘When you see the history of this planet
the Doctor is woven through the tapestry of time!’
‘We are time travellers! We have seen the future and the
past! We have learnt that history is not as robust as historians would have us
believe! That it hangs by a very slender thread – a cobweb! Nothing more! The
wrong kind of breeze will unsettle it.’
Great Ideas: More than any other era the first three seasons
of Doctor Who makes me think of limitless possibilities and careless ambition.
It was a time when the show had no formula and made up ways of telling stories
as it went along be it past, present or future. It was a time when the
production team would think nothing trying to reproduce the Himalayas or an
alien world in cramped overlit studios and when the actors were so good at
their jobs you were taken away on terrifying adventures just through the
brevity of their performances. So when I read ‘Siberia at the end of the 19th
Century…’ at the beginning of the blurb for this tale it means I can see
picture perfectly how this would have been realised at the time with chilly
hand rubbing, fur coats, plenty of polystyrene and some convincing
performances. At any other point in the shows history I might have though ‘how
would they begin to realise that?’ but not during the first Doctor’s tenure.
They were pioneers and would have seen it as a challenge.
The idea of setting aside the very concept of home to wander
the land is an appealing one that everybody must have felt at some point in
their lives. Unlike many of the first Doctor’s adventures The Wanderer comes
with its own portent of doom in the shape of a shooting star to mark their
arrival in this time. I love the way that Grigory spills out his entire life
history and belief structure to Ian on their vigil because it really reminds me
of Doctor Who’s educational remit at the time and sounds like a similar speech
to that of Marco Polo upon his introduction in the season one classic. The
device that is causing all this bother is an intelligence gatherer like a spy
sent behind enemy lines. It is detecting and recording the Earth’s future.
Proving that just because they come from a time that is considered more
primitive than ours historical characters are in no way stupid, Grigory figures
out that the others were stricken because touching the machine causes an
absorption of information about humanity’s future. With his knowledge of the
future it is nice how Grigory can then tell Ian all about the aliens that have
returned for the device and how they invaded the Earth in the future. The
primitive and the prophet have exchanged places. The Doctor uses the TARDISes
telepathic circuits to remove the knowledge from Grigory’s foreknowledge.
Audio Landscape: Biting winds, birdsong, the unnerving whine
of a shooting star, the hum of the TARDIS console room, horse and cart
clattering along a rocky path, dog barking, bubbling, the burbling of the
scanner, lapping waters, terrifying alien voices, metallic bands locking in
place, a big splash as the device sinks under water, the TARDIS going doolally.
Musical Cues: The music makes an instant impression with
some impressively emotive piano playing introducing Ian to the audience.
Throughout Andrew Edwards excel with regards to his engaging soundtrack and
sound effects. Big Finish continues to pioneer the best in audio talent.
Standout Scene: The cliffhanger is astonishing primarily because
of the intensity of Russell and Tim Chipping’s performances. The script affords
Grigory a vastly intelligent moment and then tops that with a terrible choice
and Lisa Bowerman’s direction rises to a dramatic crescendo. Everybody involved
is on top form during this cliffhanging scene and as Doctor Who history comes
pouring out Grigory’s mouth I had goosebumps running right up and down my body.
Outstanding. The sudden reveal of Grigory’s true identity comes as a
massive shock – perhaps others were better off to guess this before it is
exposed but I had no idea and it left my jaw hanging.
Notes: Grigory offers a list of future foes to the Earth
that would play out throughout the series subsequent years including denizens
from hell, soldiers from distant worlds and home spun foes, plastic people, men
of metal, creatures of carbon, silicon and calcium, Egyptian Gods, werewolves,
ghosts and vampires.
Result: Proving that Record Time and Other Stories was a
great way to discover new talent; Richard Dinnick’s first solo story is a
wonderful piece which continues the magical run of first Doctor companion
chronicles. I like how nothing is rushed in this story which is very faithful
to the era and the slow burn tension in the first episode as the Doctor falls ill
and Susan goes mad sees the schoolteachers trapped in an isolated
location with an ever encroaching danger. An alien intelligence gathering machine
falling to Earth and glowing figures in the Siberian woods coming to claim it
back…The Wanderer has a beautiful menace all of its own. The story is brought
to life by William Russell so immediately that it has a maturity and passion that some
of the other readings lack and he proves adept at bringing each of the four
travellers to life with some empathy. Tim Chipping is certainly no slouch
either and its been a little while since we have seen a pairing of actors quite
this strong. Events takes a pleasing detour in the second episode and manages
to invert the danger of The Aztecs with the Doctor is just as scared of
somebody from the past being able to manipulate the future as he was about
somebody from the future being able to manipulate the past. There is a
powerhouse twist in the second episode that absolutely floored me and left me
banging my head on the desk for not realising it – after a similarly
pleasurable surprise at the climax of The Memory Cheats this range is proving
the one to leave your jaw hanging! There’s no part of The Wanderer that isn’t
firing on all cylinders and it’s the second Ian led companion chronicle to
reach such a piquant high this season: 9/10
1 comment:
To me this is the one Companion Chronicle with Ian that feels in no way like a story from the era it is supposed to evoke. The characters are fairly well done but I can't imagine a story about alien invasions and devices reading the future in season 1. The Doctor also has far more control over the TARDIS then he really should and only so that they could have the reveal of the identity of "the wanderer" which they could have easily done elsewhere IMHO. I felt that the aliens especially got in the way. If they had to have the sci-fi elements I think that just the element of the device giving Rasputin foreknowledge was drama enough and would have liked to explore that further.
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