In yesterday's episodes, the Daleks described their arch-enemies the Thals as being horribly mutated. Of course, when you are a little fleshy lump that has to drive around in an armored wheelchair to get anywhere, the phrase "horribly mutated" is somewhat subjective. So of course the Thals are all either impossibly handsome or incredibly buxom and leggy (depending on which ones you choose to stare at, I'm not making any judgments here.) 

Speaking of being horribly mutated, I did actually weigh myself today after my morning workout, and I now have enough data to start using a five day moving average. Good news! I am down a perfectly-respectable 1.14 lbs from my start point, in just over half a week. I am of the opinion that healthy and sustainable weight loss should happen gradually, no more than 1-2 lbs per week, so I am right on track with where I want to be.

So anyway, getting back to those sexy, sexy Thals...

The Escape

...right off the bat in this episode, Susan meets the Thals as she is leaving the TARDIS. Being a bunch of agrarian pacifists, they treat her very nicely. The men all show off their buff chests and six-pack abs in their super-sexy deep-V silver vests, while the women have all apparently lost their pants and are showing off significant leggage. You can guess which ones I chose to stare at. Don't judge me! We are informed that one particular Thalian hottie has only recently transformed from a young girl into a full-fledged woman, and she has her sights set on the most Adonis-like of the Thalian men. This scene happens for no particular reason that I can tell, other than to provide some "dad candy" for the parents watching the show with their kids.

Anyway, the Thals help Susan get back to the city and ask her to let the Daleks know that the Thals are totally groovy and peace-loving and are looking forward to a productive relationship in order to rebuild their world. Needless to say, the Daleks respond by plotting the complete elimination of the Thals. I would say "extermination", but their big catch-phrase doesn't show up quite yet.

Oh, and our heroes escape from the Daleks. It's not a surprise, because it's right there in the title. But as a part of the escape, they capture and disable a Dalek, and actually remove the blobby little bugger from outside of its shell. We never get to see it though, aside from a feeble tentacle peeking out from under some cloth.

The Ambush

Lots of running around in corridors, and finally the Daleks start shouting about extermination. But no Dalek ever actually says "EXTERMINATE!", so I don't think it counts. Our heroes help rescue the Thals from the titular ambush, and they all escape back to where the TARDIS is parked. The Doctor gets an info-dump, including a galactic map showing the location of Skaro (which is finally named for the first time), and Ian is mystified when the Thals insist on remaining pacifists instead of taking the fight back to the Daleks. But in the end the Doctor and company shrug their shoulders, say something along the lines of, "Well, not our problem. Good luck with that," and then they prepare to depart.

Which is when the Doctor is hoist upon his own petard. The fluid link that he deliberately removed in the first episode of the story in order to coerce an exploration of the dead city, well that necessary component was left behind in the city when the Daleks searched Ian before locking him up. Now it's the Doctor who wants to leave, and they can't. Oops. That's what you get for being a selfish, manipulative Proto-Doctor instead of being a nice guy. I guess now you have to go back to the Dalek city, don't you?

STATS:

Doctor(s): First
Companion(s): Ian Chesterton, Susan Foreman, Barbara Wright
Episode(s): The Escape, The Ambush
Steps Walked: 5,841 today, 28,846 total
Distance Walked: 2.50 miles today, 12.47 miles total
Weight: 306.16 lbs (five day moving average), net change -1.14 lbs