The Rescue

Dear Gary—

And so it is goodbye to Susan and welcome to Vicki in this, The Rescue. Another young adult actress is hired to play a presumably teen role. The character of Vicki, however, does succeed in playing younger than the character of Susan. Susan and the Doctor had an established relationship at the beginning of the series. She was a veteran of the TARDIS. She was more knowledgeable than her teachers. She had travelled the universe over. Vicki, on the other hand, is an orphan stranded on an alien planet, frightened and mostly alone. She has a naïve vulnerability that Susan never possessed.

This little two part story is quite moving as the Doctor, who has just left behind his granddaughter, and the orphaned and betrayed Vicki find refuge in each other; a mutual rescue.  The story starts with the Doctor uncharacteristically sleeping through the TARDIS landing. (“Excuse me—‘materialized’ I think is a better word.”) However, despite this seeming lapse, the Doctor is in complete charge throughout The Rescue.

Barbara and Ian are concerned about the Doctor; he seems quite frail and aging now that his granddaughter has gone. With a sudden ache the Doctor realizes Susan is no longer there when he automatically turns to her to open the TARDIS doors. He falters briefly but recovers quickly (with the gentle aid of Barbara) and carries on, showing Barbara how to open the doors (it’s the number 4 switch).

Barbara and Ian have a worried conference, believing that the Doctor has retired back to the TARDIS leaving them to explore. They begin to doubt the Doctor's abilities, but they needn't worry. In fact the Doctor is inside making a careful study of the rocks from the cave floor and taking notes. He has been on this planet (Dido) before, we learn. 

Then, as the cave wall collapses leaving Barbara stranded on one side and Ian knocked down on the other, the Doctor emerges, armed with his knowledge, and takes over. This is not a Doctor of retirement but a Doctor of action. He makes a hurried going over of Ian, tut tutting him to get up. Ian laughingly comments how that is the most thorough examination he has ever had, and the Doctor replies, “Pity I didn’t get that degree, isn’t it?” (Yet another reference to the fact that he is not in reality a medical doctor.)

The Doctor then very much takes Ian in hand as they make their way through the cave to find an exit. Each step along the way we can see the Doctor taking mental notes. He discovers a door that surely leads to someplace interesting, but there is no time at the present to explore. They must locate Barbara. And in locating Barbara they also find the young waif Vicki.

Vicki is in awe of the Doctor from the first.  “As soon as he walked in,” she later confides to Ian and Barbara, “I . . . I felt that you could trust him.” The Doctor, in his turn, lights up around Vicki. His tender, grandfatherly side was already familiar with Susan, but here we see the truly kind and benevolent nature of the Doctor shining through. He calmly soothes her fears; he gently chides her out of her pique with Barbara; he patiently persuades her to see his point of view.

Next the Doctor turns his attention to the apparently lame Bennett, the only other survivor of the crashed ship that is home to Vicki. He doesn’t listen to the canned “You can’t come in” for one second. He doesn’t even let the jammed door dissuade him, but rather crashes his way in. Quickly he takes in all the evidence of the room and pieces together the entire history of Vicki and Bennett and Koquillian and what has truly happened on Dido. He doesn’t call for Ian and Barbara or even inform them of his plans. He ventures off to confront the enemy on his own.

It is a marvelous moment when we see the Doctor standing in full command while Bennett/Koquillian sneaks in behind him. William Hartnell is at his expressive best in this story and most especially at this moment; we know just from his posture and air that he is fully aware of everything and is brimming with the cool and calm confidence that is so characteristic of him. For me, at least, Gary, this is the defining moment for William Hartnell’s Doctor. The Doctor in all his glory, fully revealed, in total possession of himself. William Hartnell truly is The Doctor at this moment.

The Doctor doesn’t back down from the struggle that follows, either. He comes at Bennett with full force; we never notice the frailty of his aging body. He doesn’t need Ian to fight his battles, never mind that he is eventually knocked out. Harking back to The Planet of Giants, he’s not going to give up before trying. With all of the unspoken knowledge stored up in his head, I can even imagine that he knew the silent surviving Didoians were there, and perhaps the Doctor even engineered his own defeat so as to allow those wronged hosts their revenge. But that last is really stretching a point.

Yes, the Doctor misses his granddaughter. Yes, he has moments of sudden grief. Yes, he takes the time to rest and even sleep when needed. But the Doctor is far from incapacitated and The Rescue skillfully demonstrates the point. And the addition of Vicki has reinvigorated him.

“If you like adventure, my dear, I can promise you an abundance of it,” the Doctor says as he invites Vicki to join him in the TARDIS. “Apart from all that . . . well, you . . . you’ll be my friend.” What a wonderfully warm and poignant welcome.

A new companion—the first new companion. Welcomed into a world of adventures. A destiny in the stars. And they travel off into that same time swirl as I send this out . . .

(PCGHEKTQPUFQ)