Look, I'm not saying that Terry Nation ripped off J.R.R. Tolkien. I'm just saying that today's viewing consisted of a group of adventurers traveling through a dangerous swamp, containing a giant tentacled monster, in order sneak up on the bad guys by taking a dangerous path mined through a mountain range. 

Let's talk about that.

The Expedition

This episode is the first time there is a genuine collision between the imagination of the writing and the (miniscule) size of the budget available. There is a lot of truly great and imaginative writing here: There are explorations of the limitations of pacifism. There is the sinister realization that the Daleks are not just immune to radiation, but that they actually need it to survive. There is bravery in the face of certain death, with characters tested to their emotional limits. And then there are obvious cardboard cutouts of Daleks used to pad the size of their forces. So much is so good, that I am perfectly happy to shrug and accept the Styrofoam boulders with grace and understanding.

Oh, and there is totally a Tolkien-esqe Watcher in the Water.

"Go ahead, speak friend and enter, see how far that gets you..."

The Ordeal

As the Doctor, Susan, and their group of Thals maneuver to the city gates, Ian, Barbara, and their group leaves the swamp behind and journeys through the caverns dug through the mountain range behind the Dalek city. It is tense and claustrophobic, with genuinely harrowing twists and turns. For me, the episode leapt by seemingly in minutes, I was so caught up in it. By the end, the Doctor and Susan have once again been captured by the Daleks (although not before performing some brilliant sabotage that demonstrates just how wily the Doctor can be.)  The final scene happens inside the caves, as one of the Thals fails at a jump over a crevasse. The final shot is the terrified Thal dangling from a rope tied to Ian, whose grasp on the edge of the cliff is rapidly failing.

Yes, the story ended in an actual, literal cliffhanger. Bravo!

STATS:

Doctor(s): First
Companion(s): Ian Chesterton, Susan Foreman, Barbara Wright
Episode(s): The Expedition, The Ordeal
Actual, Literal Cliffhangers: 1
Steps Walked: 5,784 today, 34,630 total
Distance Walked: 2.49 miles today, 14.96 miles total
Weight: 305.98 lbs (five day moving average), net change -1.40 lbs