“The Rescue” is an adventure of the second season of “Doctor Who” classic series which aired in 1965. It follows “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” and it’s a two parts adventure written by David Whitaker and directed by Christopher Barry. At that time the various episodes of each adventure had individual titles, in this case:
- The Powerful Enemy
- Desperate Measures
The story
The Tardis materializes on a planet the First Doctor (William Hartnell) recognizes as Dido for having visited it in the past. Ian (William Russell) and Barbara (Jacqueline Hill) explore the area and meet Koquillion, an inhabitant of the planet who tries to kill them.
Nearby, two survivors of a shipwreck await the arrival of the rescue ship. One of them, Vicki (Maureen O’Brien), finds Barbara, who got separated from Ian, and rescues her. The Doctor knew the natives of Dido as peaceful creatures and must try to understand why Koquillion is violent.
Extras
This DVD contains a quite poor amount of extras. There are typical contents such as production subtitles, Radio Times Billings and a gallery of pictures from this adventure.
There are comments in the adventure alternative audio track moderated by Toby Hadoke by protagonist William Russell, director Christopher Barry and designer Raymond Cusick.
Mounting The Rescue. Cast and crew remember the production of this adventure.
Raymond Cusick Designs. The original drawings by Raymond Cusick for the design of various elements of this adventure in PDF format.
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“The Rescue” introduces the first change in “Doctor Who” cast after the Susan’s departure in the previous adventure “The Dalek Invasion of Earth”. The series was renewed for thirteen more episodes and at that point it was decided to add another girl the younger audience could identify with. After exploring various possibilities and different names for the new character, the adventure “The Rescue” was produced essentially to introduce Vicki, a girl of the future compared to Ian and Barbara who was traveling on a ship wrecked on a planet.
Vicki’s dramatic story and the encounter with the Doctor and his companions allow the character to show practically her whole range of emotions during this short adventure. Vicki is seen in many ways as a clone of Susan but in her introduction she’s developed better that they did with Susan during various adventures.
Vicki lives a traumatic situation because after the shipwreck she became ill and when she recovered she discovered that Bennett was the only other survivor while the other passengers, including her father, and crew members were killed by the inhabitants of the planet. Koquillion keeps them alive but always under the threat of letting the other natives kill them too.
After living in fear, for Vicki it’s a joy to meet other human beings who have their own spaceship but at the same time the girl awaits the arrival of the rescue ship. In some bits of “The Rescue” Vicki shows contrasting emotions and actress Maureen O’Brien is good at showing them in a credible manner.
As for the Doctor, he shows he’s missing Susan at the beginning of “The Rescue” but during this adventure a bond is quickly formed – even too quickly – between him and Vicki, who then becomes a sort of adoptive granddaughter. Therefore it’s hardly surprising that towards the end the Doctor and his companions want to ask Vicki to join them, also considering the fact that she has no longer a family to go back to.
A curiosity of “The Rescue” is the use of an alias for the actor who plays Koquillion. The used alias Sydney Wilson comes from the names of Sydney Newman, BBC Head of Drama and one of the creators of “Doctor Who”, and Donald Wilson, BBC Head of Serials. It was the first time this happened in “Doctor Who” in order to keep secret the identity of an actor.
“The Rescue” is a little adventure that is important for “Doctor Who” fans for Vicki’s introduction. For the occasional watcher it’s a discrete sci-fi adventure with some twists in the end.
Because this DVD is part of a box set together with the adventure “The Romans” – available on Amazon UK
and Amazon USA
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