Time Stream #10 - The Dalek Invasion of Earth

          The tenth story of Doctor Who and one which has a lot of historical significance to the show, “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” brings us to the end of an era, with the departure of one of the original TARDIS crew. There are iconic images from this story as well as a speech from the Doctor, part of which is practically burned into the memories of Classic Who fans. But what is possibly the most important part of this whole serial happens at the very end. We have the traditional “saying goodbye to the supporting cast” scene going on and poor oblivious Ian wanting to stay and chat with David Campbell until Barbara (yay!) hustles him into the TARDIS. Susan and David are left alone and the first companion departure is about to begin.

          Back in my entry for “The Aztecs” I mentioned how Susan had to once again take issue with an arranged marriage and insisting that no one would tell her who to marry. I wanted to come back to that point in this, her last story. Throughout this story, Susan’s relationship with David Campbell is shown to evolve and grow naturally. They kind of have chemistry, which isn’t necessarily a given in Doctor Who. Additionally, this is the best outing for Susan in a long while.  She still has her moments of hysteria, and of course she twists her ankle and spends an inordinate amount of time recovering, but this is really her strongest story in ages. She gets to be strong beyond her years, and I’ve started to lean heavily on the theory that she is young for a Gallifreyan, but no way is she an actual teenager. The ending alone sort of backs this up as I have strong doubts that the Doctor would let a not-yet-eighteen year old simply up and leave with a man she has known for a few days at best. She stands up to the Doctor – gently – and is downright sassy when she tells the resistance “I eat” when asked about her culinary skills. She was ready to abandon David and leave in the TARDIS when the Doctor makes the decision to lock her out, forcing her to choose David over her life with her Grandfather. Part of that just rubs me the wrong way. Susan has been stronger than ever in this story – why not grant her the agency to choose flat-out to stay on Earth.  We KNOW she loves her Grandfather but the time has come for her to take that decisive step into adulthood, and the Doctor doesn’t give her that choice. It’s a subtle but major difference in my opinion. She can make a life on Earth with David, and as we see it, that would have been the choice she made. But she didn’t get to make it and that wasn’t really fair to the character. It wasn’t an arranged marriage by any stretch, but the decision to stay was made FOR her and not BY her.

         

     I wanted to focus on this part of the story because I think it sets a template for the series as a whole. The Doctor continues on, but the companions simply don’t stay as long. There are so many other elements that to ignore them completely would be doing the story a great disservice. So in order to pay due respect to this story and in honor of the retirement this week of David Letterman, I present the Top Ten Things to Enjoy about “The Dalek Invasion of Earth”:

10. The Dalek coming out of the Thames at the end of Episode 1. WE know this story has Daleks in it, but only calling this episode “World’s End” means that Dalek reveal is a doozy!

9. The Doctor having no time for fellow prisoner Craddock. “Hold this and shut up!”

8. The atmospheric creepiness of abandoned London.

7. The Daleks’ frankly insane plan to hollow out the Earth and drive it around space. This is the superior race of the universe?

6. Barbara driving straight through a load of Daleks – “I rather enjoyed that!” Oh, Barbara Wright, my growing love continues unabated.

5. The Slyther. Look, I’m not saying it’s a decent monster or anything (I’ll take a Voord or Sensorite over this guy), but the actor in the suit is just so *earnest* and is really waggling that suit around for all he’s worth.

4. Listen to the Robomen and imagine them all as Gumbies from Monty Python.

3. The spectacular use of stock footage when the mine explodes.

2. Barbara practically forcing Ian into the TARDIS so Susan and David can be alone.

1. Really, can it be anything but the Doctor’s farewell speech to Susan? All together, you know the words: “One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs, and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.” Didn’t have to look that up either!

NEXT EPISODE:  The Rescue

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