Doctor Who — The Savages — Episode 4 — A Review

16th April, 2025: Doctor Who — The Savages.

Right … 

It’s officially a Wednesday evening.

And … ?

I’ve been bored enough to give my microwave a once over.

One of these days … ?

I’ll defrost my fridge … and possibly mop the kitchen floor.

Possibly … !

~≈👨‍⚕️≈~

At any rate … ?

It’s a Wednesday evening.

And, rather than risk skin cancer in the sunshine?

I’m going to spend the evening in: watching vintage TV.

Or, at least, the last episode of the reanimated, classic, Dr Who story, The Savages.

I’m writing this on the 16th April, 2025: and should have it, and its video equivalent, up and posted by the 17th April.

I will hopefully see you tomorrow … !

~≈👨‍⚕️≈~

Doctor Who — The Savages — Episode Four.

17th April, 2025.

Part One: The Summary.

Episode 4 of The Savages opens with last week’s cliff hanger: which shows us Steven, Dodo and the Doctor (Peter Purves, Jackie Lane and William Hartnell) in a confrontation with the City’s Guards … 

Only for a door that allows them to escape the guards to mysteriously open.

What the three don’t know?

Is that Jano (Frederick Jaeger), the Elder’s leader, is the one who has opened the door.

As a result of trying to absorb the Doctor’s life force?

He’s absorbed some of the Doctor’s personality: and is now convinced that — in vampirising the lives of the savages? — he and the elders are behaving badly.

It’s only when Guard Captain Edal (Peter Thomas) confronts Jano … ?

That Jano seizes his chance to lead an expedition to the Valley of the Caves.

He wants a quiet word with the Doctor … 

~≈👨‍⚕️≈~

Part Two: About the Episode.

Now … 

What did I think: both of Episode Four, and the story it concluded?

Let’s talk about the episode, first, shall we … ?

Episode 4 concludes our story quite neatly: and fairly conventionally.

Episode 3 showed us that Jano had absorbed some of the Doctor’s life force: and, as a result, some of the Doctor’s morals, as well.

Leading to the obvious conclusion in this episode.

A conclusion that sees Jano leading the revolt against his own regime, and leading the destruction of the lab where the transference is done.

It’s an obviously one … but nicely done, I felt.

There’s something else.

The departure of Steven, the Peter Purves character.

OK … by this stage in the classic series, we’ve seen Ian and Barbara, Vicki, and Susan, the Doctor’s grand-daughter, all leave.

But … ?

I don’t think I’ve seen one of the other companions — Jackie Lane’s Dodo — get quite as emotional about a departure.

Yes: I know Dodo crying about it could well just be seen in this animated version of the story.

But that stuck with me.

~≈👨‍⚕️≈~

Part Three: About the Story.

The episode out of the way … ?

What did I think of The Savages, as a whole … ?

I have to admit, I enjoyed it.

I grant you, the basic idea — one group vampirising another by sucking the life force out of them  — was one I found familiar.

And possibly one that can be seen as a metaphor for one groups treatment by another: some of the blu-ray extras tell us that this is something writer Ian Stuart Black had in mind, when first writing what he then called The White Savages.

We can make of that what we will.

But something else was highlighted for me.

Richard Hurndall played the First Doctor in The Five Doctors, the classic show’s 20th Anniversary story, back in 1983.

And, in the wake of An Adventure in Space and Time, David Bradley played the role in three episodes of the new series.

Both are fantastic.

But neither of them put the sheer fury to the part of the First Doctor, that Hartnell does!

I know he found the job stressful.

I know he wasn’t a well man.

But if ever I have an excuse to use the word ‘splenetic’ about a performance, then it’s about Hartnell’s performance as the First Doctor, generally, and The Savages, in particular.

And especially splenetic in the first episode.

But the story as a whole sees someone getting the wrong side of the Doctor’s tongue.

Yes, others have played the part well: either as the First Doctor, or as later versions of the character.

But no-one’s matched the character’s fury in quite the same way as William Hartnell as the First Doctor.

Watch The Savages: later eras, later Doctor Who stories and later actors, don’t quite show you the same character.

~≈👨‍⚕️≈~

Part Four: A Last Word.

That, I think, is where I’ll leave things.

This is the last classic Dr Who review I’ll be doing for the moment.

At least … until the next lost series shows up.

Until then … ?

You will have to make do with my reviews of the new series: with Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor.

My most recent review was last Saturday.

The next of those … ?

Will be after I’ve watched episode two, “Lux”, on Saturday 19th April.

Thank you for reading this, thanks — in advance — for subscribing to my blog and YouTube channel … 

And thank you for being wonderful!

Have a good day!

Episode 4

★★★☆

Episode and average scores:

Episode 1: ★★★☆

Episode 2: ★★☆☆

Episode 3: ★★☆☆

Episode 4: ★★★☆