Customer Reviews

Doctor Who-The Savages

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1966 seems to have been a year in which the producers of Doctor Who felt obliged to feature human (or human-looking) characters in their stories. Ian Stuart Black's adaptation of his own script features a story with no monsters - at least, none that look monstrous.

The Doctor announces that the TARDIS is about to land in the far future, an age of great advancement, peace and prosperity. However, this is Doctor Who so we all now how likely that is!

The TARDIS materialises on a planet whose inhabitants seem to want for nothing. If there is any problem, it is the savages who inhabit the wilderness around the city. But the people have a secret which will lead to conflict between them and the TARDIS crew.

This story is the last for Steven Taylor. The end result of the conflict means that someone is needed to lead the society, and Steven is the one. Is it just me, or does the Doctor not seem terribly worried about Steven's departure? Possibly he is happy to leave behind the first of many stowaways?

'The Savages' has one real problem - it is a pretty boring story. It treads very a very worn path (in general science fiction, but not so worn in Doctor Who) and features no surprising twists or turns. This book is really for Doctor Who completists than casual readers.

Another destroyed Doctor Who story that lives only in print. Another unexceptional Target novelization. But still, an interesting tale none the less. Sixties science fiction was capable of dealing with some tart subjects that modern SCI FIC TV would never dream of. The Doctor lands on a highly advanced planet where civilization seems to have reached it's peak. But the "peak" is only maintained at a ghastly price. A biting commentary on the idea of a utopia ruled by an "enlightened" elite. The story poses the question of who truly are the "savages"; the "common" man or the self proclaimed elites that would prey upon him. This would never be done today. If it attempted, in Star Trek for example, the story would come down firmly upon the right of the elite to rule over the "great unwashed" and that would give the game away. But Doctor Who, like most sixties SCI FIC, always came down on the side of justice and the freedom of the individual. This must have been intriguing viewing. This is also Steven's farewell story and it is sad to see him go. It really is not built up to and seems to come out of nowhere but, upon reflection, makes a great deal of sense. The Doctor leaves Steven--an average fellow-in charge of rebuilding a society destroyed by the cruel arrogance of the "savages". How appropo and a great tribute to a fine companion.