Doctor Who: The Ambush

Spoilers for the episode

The Story:

They put their plan to escape the city into action but it’s not much of a plan. It’s more lets hope we don’t get noticed and that the Daleks believe Ian is one of them. Then you got the Thalls who turn out to be pacifists and walk straight into the Dalek’s trap.

Thoughts:

Susan’s leading the way with the escape when Ian figures out how to use the controls. There wasn’t much point in having him not be able to use them then if in the next scene he can. I like the way he says ‘off we go’ as if they’re just taking a stroll somewhere.

There’s a Dalek guarding the doorway to the lift and he wants to confirm that the prisoners are to be taken for questioning. Susan pretends to get frightened and tries to run away but they catch her with the plungers. I don’t know how that Dalek missed her winking at the others or her smiling. I also don’t know why the Dalek didn’t shoot her.

They get into the corridor before the lift and the doctor locks the door.

The Daleks finds out there were no orders to question the prisoners so they start cutting through the door.

Ian’s stuck inside the Dalek because they’ve magnetised the floor so he tells them to go on without him. The doctor gets Susan in the lift before she becomes hysterical.

The Daleks get through the door and find the Dalek casing empty. Ian’s managed to get it open and has gone up in the lift. He gets to the top just as the Daleks press the emergency button to bring it back down.

Instead of leaving as quickly as possible they decide to have a look out the window so they can see the Thalls and realise they’re heading into a trap.

The Daleks send one of them up in the lift but now they’re not trying to recapture they’re going to exterminate them.

The door’s been magnetised as well but the doctor gets it open as the others push a statue down the lift shaft destroying the lift.

The Thalls in the city have a conversation about if they should trust the Daleks or not. The Thall with the hat who turns out to be the leader tells Alladon (the Thall that Susan met) to stop being so suspicious because that causes fear which leads to hate and war. Well he’s going to die for being an idiot. He thinks the best weapon against war is going unarmed and that being cautious is an unreasonable response to an enemy you know has wanted to kill you in the past.

The Daleks decide to hide badly around a big table full or food.

The Doctor wants to leave the Thalls and Daleks to it but the others want to warn them because it’s the right thing to do after the Thalls helped them. Ian volunteers to go warn them and sends everyone else back to the ship

The Thall leader approaches the food and says he wants to live in peace with them. Ian watches from a doorway and does nothing until the Daleks come out and the Thalls have got no chance then he tells them it’s a trap. He could have easily warmed them before the Daleks came out to attack. He’s stood right there watching the speech the leader gives. He could have signaled to them. The leader gets killed and a few others injured.

Back in the jungle the Doctor is looking at records of the Thall’s history and maps of the solar systems to try to find out where they are.

Injured Thalls show up and Barbara helps with medicine from the TARDIS. Alladon is taking over as leader.

Ian says the Daleks don’t act as humans do or feel the same way. They have a dislike for the unlike and that’s why they want to kill them. Nazis were the big inspiration for the Daleks.

He says the Thalls must show strength and get the Daleks to respect them. The Thalls won’t fight if the Daleks get out of the city they’ll just move on. They say he doesn’t understand them.

Barbara wants to know if pacifism can become human instinct. She says they’re not cowards so why don’t they fight. I don’t think the writers like pacifism very much. They set the Thalls up so that they lack common sense.

They do realise that the Thalls aren’t human don’t they. Because when they say Human they include the Thalls in that. They might look human but they’ve got to be closer to the Daleks biology wise than humans.

The doctor doesn’t care what happens and says it’s time to go. He asks Ian for the fluid link but the Daleks took it from him. I love that moment and the look on Ian’s face. That might have been something useful to mention back in the city when you were still escaping.

So now they’ve got to go back to get it. At least it was Ian messing up this time and not the doctor screwing around with them. This also makes me like Ian more because he’s not perfect.

This episode felt like it flew by after the last one where nothing happened. Everything still takes ages to do but it feels like progress is happening.

I’m not that keen on the pacifism argument being so one sided. They make the Thalls very easy to argue against.

I’m not much a pacifist. Like Ian says I think pacifism is only effective when everyone is a pacifist or if your enemy is reasonable. Otherwise you’re enemy is getting their own way or killing you and your family off rather easily.

Pacifism vs. Unreasoning hatred. Pacifism loses. It’s like in Xena you’ve got the nice warriors so the pacifists can be pacifists (I’ll have to look that episode up to remember the title).

That being said I think you need to represent both sides fairly or you’re just setting up a strawman to defeat. There’s no challenge to winning an argument when the other side doesn’t have it’s full argument. I don’t think pacifism means you’re stupid or lack self preservation.

This feels more like propaganda to me. They’re equating being a pacifist with being a coward. But I guess they’d have different attitudes back then considering the war wasn’t that far away.

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