So, following on from the incredibly atmospheric and engaging first episode, the 4-part story generally known as An Unearthly Child continued with The Cave of Skulls. Due to the different setting and plot, a lot of people tend to consider the first episode a very seperate story to the rest of the adventure, and as we'll soon see, it's an entirely understandable position to take, and one that I myself am doing with these reviews.
I hasten to add that I know full well that these four episodes are one adventure (or serial, if you want to get technical), but the fact that the first episode is laregly unconnected to the others in most regards means that it hardly seems fair to judge both aspects of the story equally, given that they are so radically different.
And with that said - let's continue with An Unearthly Child (or 10,000 BC, whatever floats your boat).
Episode 2 picks up where the last one left off, with the TARDIS now in an unknown wasteland and the two teachers unconcious from the trip. But rather than continue with THAT, we instead focus, rather oddly, on a group of cavemen trying to create fire by rubbing a bone. Uh, what? Why do we care about this? Answer: we don't. We want to know what happened to the regulars, not watch a bunch of people in loinclothes fail at making fire.
Barely 30 seconds in and already you've lost me. *sigh*
It's three and a half minutes before we cut back to what we all actually want to see - the inside of the TARDIS as Barbara and Ian wake up. Naturally they don't believe they've travelled anywhere, and it's here we get the title drop as the old man questions being called Doctor Foreman. Hmm. Still frustrated at Ian's doubting, he opens the door and reveals that they have, in fact, gone back in time.
Again, I have to praise the acting from the regulars here. Barbara's tentative belief, the old man's arrogant superiority and Ian's constant doubts are all wonderfully portrayed, as is the shock when the two teachers realize they really aren't in London any more. It's incredibly engaging and far more entertaining than a bunch of cavemen.
Also intriguing is the old man's comments about the ship remaining a Police Box. What on earth does he mean by that? Isn't it always a Police Box? Very curious, and mentioned just long enough for us to be interested but not overwhelmed. Very well played. He then goes off to collect some samples while smoking a pipe when a caveman looms into shot. Ooo, mysterious.
While the other three are pondering over why the Phone Box hasn't changed shape, what "Doctor Foreman"s name actually is and how on earth any of this makes sense (neatly mirroring the audience's own slightly confused state) they hear the caveman attack the Doctor and head over. They find his things, but not him - he's been taken. Dun-dun-DUUUUUN!
Who's ready for more cavemen politics? No-one? Well, tough, because here's a bunch of it. There's a leadership contest among the tribe and the one who can make fire will be leader. Kal is a stranger but brings food, and Za is son of a firemaker killed for doing so. It's every bit as uninteresting as this sounds, and it's not the best way to keep the show going. Za's failed attempts at making fire are interupted by Kal bringing the old man in, saying he saw him make fire from his fingers and smoke come from his mouth. This sparks an agrument between Za and Kal, and they fight.
Again - it's all actually quite dull. Cavemen are hard to make interesting at the best of times, and this doesn't do a particularly fantastic job of doing so. The pace is slow, there's exposition dumps all over the place, the dialogue is uncomfortable to listen to for large amounts of time and it's just not very engaging. And we've got three episodes of this. Ugh.
The old man wakes up and tries to convince the cavemen he can give them fire, but he realizes he's dropped his matches and so can't. Another fight breaks out. Didn't we just do this? *sigh* If they're repeating things this quickly, then we're in trouble. It's at this point that the rest of the time travellers show up and are promptly captured. The old man saves them by refusing to show them how to make fire if they kill any of the group and blah blah blah I don't care.
I know I'm supposed to be watching and reviewing this but really, the episode is so slow and uninteresting it's hard to keep going. After the fantastic first episode this is a major misstep and one that the show will have trouble recovering from.
This particular episode ends with the four regulars bound and held in the titular cave of skulls. Yawn. Maybe something interesting will happen in the next episode, but for some bizarre reason, I doubt it.
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