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Cast Crew
Plot Outline from Wikipedia 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.
An advanced civilisation using a primitive one. The idea is far from new. H.G. Wells thought of it first in The Time Machine. Well, ok. There are few original ideas to be had in any literary field, and Science Fiction is a particularly narrow field to work in at times. A key element of this story is The Doctor's disillusionment on discovering that the 'perfect society' is in fact one that exploits another people and does so without any qualms. He is asked "How can you condemn this great, artistic and scientific civilisation because of a few wretched savages?" But The Doctor, defender of the weak, DOES condemn them and fights it. When some of his life force is transferred to one of the 'Elders' - Jano - he develops a sense of justice. The Doctor proves himself the good guy we all know and love in that most unusual way. An interesting way of showing not only that he IS a good man, but that he can influence others to do good. Sadly, though, this episode had mixed reviews. They were slightly better than those for Celestial Toymaker and The Gunfighters, but still worrying for the programme makers. An audience response at the time was:- '"At least this particular adventure wasn't one of those boring historical ones and it was miles better than that awful Wild West affair but even so I couldn't work up much interest. The plain truth of the matter is I've got tired of the series which I think is overdue for a long rest." Children, though, begged to differ. "The kids liked this adventure and said it was 'super smashing' but then they still think the series is marvellous, unlike me, who tired of it long since". This raised the question of who the target audience should be. The show was meant not solely for children, but for family viewing. Clearly it was not reaching the adults. This should have been a warning bell if the show was not to fall into a rut. It was an issue that was to return again and again. In almost every era the question of whether the show was for children or adults has been mulled over, as well as the question of appealing to both. A show aimed at children without children in it is unusual. It needed the family show element. It still does. Its worrying for the future of the show that the BBC seem to want to keep the links with children's TV with constant Blue Peter and Newsround Doctor Who items. It ought to be trying to raise it up from those ranks and make sure it is classed as Drama, and not Children's Drama.
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