Hogan Reviews

Now I thought Underwater Menace and Galaxy 4 were obscure lost stories to animate, “The Savages” has now taken the lead on that front as while it is a sci-fi story rather than a historical and does involve the (rather crap) exit of long-time companion Steven it’s also on the dull side, especially when watching the recon made from a bunch of stills and a soundtrack. Does the animation breathe new life into the otherwise sleepy story? Yes, having moving characters and false-camera work does hold your attention much more easily. Does it mean the story is good now? Um… well…

The story is set on an unnamed planet in the far future which The Doctor (William Hartnell) is particularly thrilled about once he confirms his suspicions with his, um, “reacting vibrator”… The Doctor wanders off and meet two futuristic guards with special light guns and is escorted to a nearby futuristic city while Steven (Peter Purves) and Dodo (Jackie Lane) stay at the TARDIS and are attacked by cavemen-looking savages throwing spears at them. They too are rescued by the futuristic guards and are taken to the city, where The Doctor meets Jano (Frederick Jaeger) and his otherwise-silent fellow Elders of the planet who were expecting the time traveller as they had been “tracking his movements through time”, which impresses The Doctor greatly. While Steven and Dodo are given a tour around the fabulous city we see a group of three titular “Savages” in two males Chal (Ewen Solon) and Tor (Patrick Godfrey) as well as a young female Nanina (Clare Jenkins), who is soon captured and taken back to the city. Jano tells The Doctor that he and his people has mastered art and science thanks to a rejuvenation machine that uses the “essence of life itself” to rejuvenate and revive them, but Dodo soon sneaks off and sees that it’s the local Savages that are brought in, drained of a good chunk of their energy, and then thrown back out into the wild to regain their strength so they can be drained again.

The Doctor happily shows off his vibrator. (Yes it’s the same cheap gag, but I like it a lot!)

She is initially scared by a frail freshly-drained Savage in a corridor for a quick cliffhanger scream but then goes deeper into the lab to see Nanina being drained by the head scientist Senta (Norman Henry) and nearly gets mistaken for a Savage herself if it weren’t for top guard Captain Edal (Peter Thomas) pulling her away. Steven reunites with Dodo and then the two plead to the Doctor, but he dismisses their concerns as the three head back to the TARDIS to get some files for Jano but along the way he reveals he doesn’t trust the Elders and believes Dodo, just in time for them to find the collapsed body of the man who Dodo saw leave. While Steven is searching for some medicine in the TARDIS Edal takes the Doctor back to the city by force using the light guns after he gets angry at Edal’s disgust at the weakened Savage. This leads to Steven and Dodo heading to the Savages cave to try and rally the troops to fight back against their oppressors while The Doctor is strapped into the life force draining machines at the order of Jano…

Chal and Tor in person! *GASP!!*

At its heart it’s a simple story with a simple message: just like in colonial times the idea of the “cultured elite” from a more advanced civilization seeing less advanced people as a lesser lifeform rather than fellow humans has possibly never been so on-the-nose as them literally lining them up to drain their life to extend their own. It’s fine though, I just still don’t really find any of the characters interesting, the Savages are a bit dull and the villains aren’t deep characters nor are they hamming it up enough for it to be fun so they’re just sort of … there. It’s no wonder I found the photo recon dull! The animation is good, in fact the likenesses of Dodo and Steven, as well as some of the guest cast going by some of the stills that exist, are really good (ignoring that Jano was originally in blackface for a “funny reversal of who the Savages and advanced race people usually are” thing… yeesh…), it’s just The Doctor himself that often looks a bit… odd. The movement is still a bit stiff but overall it was a really fun and thankfully engaging way to finally give this story my full attention.

The Continuity:

“Wait, are you saying we shouldn’t bash his skull in with a club?” “Yes!” “Oh. Well, next time I guess.”

Not a lot. Steven’s post story adventures have been hinted at or straight up shown in the Fifth Doctor audio “The Five Companions” and First Doctor companion chronicle “The War to End All Wars”-s framing device respectively. Without getting into the spoilers of his exit down below, it’s safe to say it goes about as well as you’d think given how much Steven wanted it in the first place…

I’ll also mention that having his energy drained here is often cited as one of the reasons the First Doctor ends up regenerating due to his “body wearing thin” in a few stories time during “The Tenth Planet”. Makes sense, even if it obviously wasn’t intentional at the time.

Overall Thoughts:

The Doctor is unimpressed with Vano and his of-the-time skin colour antics.

“The Savages” is a pretty bog-standard “elite vs. savages despite the fact they’re all just the same people” story that ends on a bit of a sour note as Steven is written out in a really naff way. Still the animated version at least held my interest more than the photo recon did and therefore the story has gone up in my estimation, even if it’s only now in the average rather than below average…

The absorption of The Doctor’s energy goes far better and is more pure than stuff they get out of the Savages but just to be sure Jano picks himself to undergo the treatment to have it infused to make sure its safe and the treatment seems to go well, until Jano starts talking like The Doctor on-and-off. Steven and Dodo manage to stage a rescue thanks to getting a light gun off a guard and tying him up (who then falls for Nanina is a hastily added Romeo and Juliet style subplot) and escape with the Doctor’s dazed stumbling self thanks to Jano opening the door to let them escape. Everyone regroups at the Savage cave and get a surprise when Jano calls the rest of the guards back to the city and then approaches the cave by himself. The Doctor, who comes round by this point, figures out what’s happened: when Jano got his energy he also got a dose of conscious and now he can’t abide by his own people’s actions any more.

The animators certainly got Steven’s reaction to his leaving plotline right at least!

While Edal tries to convince Senta that Jano has gone crazy the man himself arrives with The Doctor, Steven and Dodo captured via light gun, but what happens instead is they let the Savages in and together they all destroy the energy draining machines, much to Edal and Senta’s shock and horror. Once the dust settles and Edal is killed in a scuffle Jano and the Savage leader Chal agree to form a new society where both are treated equally and therefore they need someone who’s on neither side to rule them, and they choose… The Doctor, who says he’s far too busy, so they pick Steven, who also doesn’t want to do it but The Doctor tells him it’s a great opportunity and essentially forces him to accept and then tells him how proud he is for doing it. Manipulative bastard! Dodo gives a teary goodbye and then Steven walks out door in something of a daze and even looks back at the pair as if to go “um… are you sure I have to do this?… oh well, off I go I guess…” It’s not quite as what Dodo gets in the next story, but its pretty bad…