Daleks and the First Doctor

[dbskyler]

I'm currently watching the First Doctor story "The Daleks" and enjoying it quite a lot. The Daleks have never been my favorite monsters, but I think I "get" them now for the first time. They really are creepy with the way they glide around, and the way their eyestalks move to look at you when they talk. Plus, it's so fun to see the "firsts":



-- The Daleks use the word "exterminate"!
-- A Dalek is blinded by putting something on its eyestalk (mud, in this case)!
-- We get a hint of what's inside! (I'm glad to learn that right from the beginning, Daleks were not machines, but creatures inside the machines.)

I'm looking forward to the rest (I'm right in the middle of part 4 right now), but I just had to stop here and post because guess what the Doctor just said? The Thals are walking into an ambush, Susan wants to warn them, and the Doctor said, and I quote:

"The Thals are no concern of ours. We cannot jeopardize our lives by getting involved in an affair which is none of our business."

I'm like, who is this???? Because it's certainly not the Doctor! It's fascinating to see how much his core character has changed since these very early days.

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

*nods* Time and experience change his PoV immensely.

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, taht's cool! I'm so glad you're enjoying it. I really like it - I love the adventures with the first TARDIS team and the way they are just one big adventure that doesn't pause until The Reign of Terror.

You are, though, about to plunge into Terry Nation B-movie cliche-land at this point. I enjoy that sort of thing as well as his better writing, heh. :-)

And, indeed, by the next Dalek story he will count it his duty to stay and fight them. "They dare to tamper with the forces of creation?" /"Yes, and we have got to dare to stop them!")

I love b&w DW quite hopelessly, though.

[lolmac]

I assume you've read the story about his wanting to create a monster that didn't move like a human being, and getting part of the idea from watching a troupe of dancers from Georgia (the Asian country, not the US state).

A good many years ago, I actually had the opportunity to take a short (VERY short) class in that style of dancing. The women wear dresses with very stiff, bell-like skirts, and they really do glide across the floor as if they're floating. It turns out to require the most insane amount of fine muscle control, years of practice and reallly good leg muscles (like most forms of dance).

When that show was made, the Nuclear Menace was very much in the forefront of people's minds, so part of the attitude underneath the Daleks was the notion of what would be left if radiation shriveled away all our humanity. Hence, withered mutant creatures in ominous machines. And of course, the Cold War was lurking underneath the script, with the idea that rival superpowers might destroy each other and everyone else, leaving only dehumanised survivors and a blasted world.