Where were we? Oh right, the four regulars tied up in a cave full of skulls belonging to a bunch of cavemen trying (and failing) to make fire and having a hissy fit about it. Gee, doesn't that sound like a barrel of fun.
No, no it doesn't, and indeed it wasn't. This is the problem with a four-part story essentially having two opening episodes - one to establish the premise and the regulars of the show, and another to set up this individual story with all the seperate characters within. While the first episode was great, the second suffered from having to introduce a lot of very boring caveman politics and set up the events of the remaining two epsiodes. Hopefully the third episode, The Forest of Fear, will pay this off.
The episode begins where the previous one left off, with the four regulars trapped in an underground passage full of cranial bones. A 'cave of skulls', if you will. But we don't want to stay with them, oh no. Instead we cut to the sleeping cavemen. An old woman - who was also in the previous episode but did nothing but spout utterly pointless warnings about fire killing them all so I skipped her - wakes up and takes what I assume is supposed to be Za's knife, though it just looks like a rock to me. Then she rather politely stands there holding the thing while the title credits appear. Jolly decent of her to do that, I must say.
While the regulars try to free themselves from their bonds, Za's mate Hur sees the old woman leave the cave. She walks past a rather fake looking boulder, so presumably she's not going to talk to the regulars. Intrigue? Why Forest of Fear, you're spoiling us. Of course, this precludes the notion that she's simply going to the toilet and taking the totally-not-a-knife for her protection, but then again, this is a teatime show, so I guess that's probably not an option.
Hur wakes up Za and shows him what's happened, and he angrily chases after the old woman, reasoning that she's going to kill the strangers and prevent fire. If he stops her before then, he'll have proven to be a good leader, yadda yadda yadda. Of course, since she's not moved the giant incredibly fake looking boulder from the cave entrance, that's not likely, so he just shoves Hur to the ground. Hur hur, it's funny because physically abusing women in that time period was acceptable.
It turns out the old woman knows a secret entrance to the cave of skulls and uses it to talk to the travellers. She doesn't want them to make fire - she thinks it will be the death of them all - and offers to let the four go if they agree not to give fire to the other cavemen.
Already this is a far more interesting episode than the one before, because stuff is actually happening, and it's stuff we can actually sort-of care about! We know the old woman is wrong - fire won't kill the cavemen, it's actually essential to their continued survival - but given that neither leadership candidate seems particularly likeable, we're more inclined to side with her.
And naturally so are they, agreeing to her terms. The old woman, not Hur. The character called Hur, I mean. The old woman isn't Hur, that's Hur, Za's mate, not... gah, I'm all confused now. Why did they have to call her that? It's just confusing! And will someone tell me who the hell is on third?
Whatever, Za and Hur - y'know what? I'm just calling her Helen now. I don't care if it's wrong, it's less confusing. So Za and Helen have heard the whole conversation, but they can't do anything about it because they can't move the ridiculously fake looking boulder. I love shots like these. The thing's clearly about as heavy as an empty cardboard box but they have to act like it isn't and it just doesn't work. Hilarious.
Presumably their primitive minds realize it's just a block of painted polystyrene though, as they manage to move it in time to catch the old woman, but not the regulars, who have escaped into the forest. After some debating, Helen encourages Za to go after them. Cue the one bit of Jungle set they've built that everyone has to run through in different directions to give the illusion it's a different set!
While stopping for a breather there's some arguing amonst the group. Ian and the Doctor in particular are at loggerheads, with Ian's determination and the Doctor's stubbornness clashing in a surprisingly entertaiing manner. This is much more watchable than the cavemen's arguments because it isn't simply the same awkward dialogue repeated in different ways - it's real things people might say and it's real points that people might have.
The group sets off again, but they don't get far before discovering a dead animal (at least I THINK that's what it is) that elicits a scream from Barbara, drawing Za and Helen to them. Before he can find the group though, Za is attacked by the camera! Oh wait, that's supposed to be an animal. Sorry.
Being the women that they are, Barbara and Susan can't leave the injured Za behind, so they go to see what happened, with the others following. Za is covered in blood, but as they clean him up they realize it's mostly the camera's- sorry, ANIMAL'S blood, and Za isn't too badly hurt. Despite the Doctor's objections - and assertation that he's not a medical Doctor - Ian suggests they make a stretcher from their coats and help Za.
Back at the cave, the old woman - knocked unconcious by Za as he left - awakens to find Kal in the cave with her. Realizing what has happened, he draws his knife on her.
Again, you see what I mean about this being far more eventful than the previous episode. There's a lot happening in this one - not so much that we can't take it in, but enough to keep us interested. It's a balance the Cave of Skulls lacked, and it's why I found it so boring. Thankfully it's not a problem this episode shares.
After convincing Za and Helen that they will help them make fire in exchange for being set free, the group continues to make the stretcher. The Doctor, meanwhile, grabs a rock and holds it above Za- wait, WHAT? Was he... was he going to do what I think he was going to do? The Doctor? Augh!
Thankfully Ian stops him and he protests he was just going to get Za draw a map in the ground, but even so... that was DARK. Like, really dark. And it's never mentioned again after this. Just... wow. Glad they dropped that aspect quick, it did not sit well at ALL.
So they get Za onto the stretcher and start back to the TARDIS so they can heal him properly. Meanwhile Kal makes out to the other cavemen that Za killed the old woman (complete with a SURPRISE! musical cue when they find her body) and fled with the others to learn how to make fire. They all run out after them and surround the group as they finally make it to the TARDIS, and the episode ends as Susan screams.
This was, as I'm sure you've picked up by now, MUCH better than the previous episode. It was a lot more eventuful with good character developement (well, mostly good, anyway) and while the cavemen still talked, there was much less of it and it was much less repetative, which helped immensely. They seem a shade more interesting now, especially with the actions of Kal towards the end.
It's a definite step up, and I hope it continues into the final episode.
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