Goodbye Steven and Hello Class Warfare! - Doctor Who: The Savages (1966) - REVIEW 

"Oppose you? Indeed I am going to oppose you, just in the same way that I oppose the Daleks or any other menace to common humanity!" There's gonna be a delay until the next review which is 'The War Machines' and then 'The Smugglers'. A few work and life things happened, but they're on their way!

So strange that in two consecutive stories, a companion would get a very fitting and satisfying exit, and the other gets dumped half way through with barely a second thought.

Peter Pervie was the Blue Peter viewer’s gay uncle, baking cakes and showing us how to make Christmas decorations out of coat hangers. John Noakes was our surrogate crazy uncle who climbed up Nelson’s Column and went free fall parachuting

Pointing out how the First Doctor has developed since An Unearthly Child, plus the energy-draining machine, makes me wonder if this episode would've worked better as his regeneration story over The Tenth Planet. Then again, having both the regeneration and Steven's departure in the same episode could've been too much at once

Steven is definitely one of the most underrated companions in Doctor Who

We forget that despite his appearance this is the Doctor in his youth. He was never a jaded, cranky old man, he was a young, jaded, stubborn, self absorbed mavorick. His companions helped him grow up in a way.

16:40 the city is named “look how far the main character has come” and the planet is named “plot device used to give the city land”

"All progress is based on exploitation" hits differently with foreknowledge of the Timeless Child twist.

Glad there is another intellectual that likes steven as much as I do. Think Peter Purve's big finish performances have influenced my love for the character but him and Vicky are definitely my favourite Hartnell companion pairing.

The "Merry Christmas" line was sent to the people back on his home planet. That's why the Monk showed up again in the next episode.

Mr TARDIS, challenge Bowlestrek to find a non-political Hartnell story 😂

This is the most Star Trek Doctor Who ever got. I can totally imagine an alien king absorbing Capt Kirk's life-force and then doing a hilarious Shatner impression.

I think the WHOLE of this story is awesome, not just the first two episodes. The moment Jano ends up with The Doctor’s conscience is brilliant and the whole story is underpinned by one of the best incidental scores ever. Truly underrated for the reasons given but I love all four episodes and is in the top five of the Hartnell Era.

Such a shame, two of Ian Stuart Black's stories are completely missing, cos this guy had really interesting ideas about control, technology and dystopian societies.

This story always made me wonder what happens after the Doctor leaves a companion behind. Do they still have the 'gift' of the TARDIS and are able to understand what the locals are saying? How long does this 'gift' last?

I suspect that the banality of the Elders' environment is probably the point. It's a decadent insularity confined only to those few who are deemed worthy. Like a lot of sixties telly, the sparseness of a set can indicate a less than salubrious society. Indeed, it could be said that the Elders are deluding themselves that their utopia is in any way genuine. However, that's just my interpretation of things.

I think this one would definitely benefit from being animated.

I think this is quietly a pretty good 60s 4 parter, and very overlooked. It's a far better morality play with a lot more moving parts and a lot more for the actors to work from than Galaxy 4 is. It'd be a really interesting one to get returned episodes from.

This is why I look forward to this serial getting animated, they could really go all out in how the city SHOULD look!

Over the course of this marathon-turned-longathon, I have really come to appreciate the first Doctor and his characterisation.

I've been a fan since the 80s, and written music for a couple of Big Finish adventures, and I just absolutely love your reviews. I don't always agree with you, but you always back up your opinions with well-reasoned evidence and your love for the show - at its core - always show through. The Hartnell-era reviews are about my favorite things on RU-vid. Keep it up!!

I doubt it will ever happen, because why would people ever prioritise it, but i would LOVE to have an animated recreation of this one or maybe even find some lost episodes. Such a great core concept!

I’ve honestly grown such a strong liking of Steven over the course of his tenure on the show. Him going from half crazed survivor to what is essentially the group dad, keeping The Doctor, Vicki and Dodo in line was just brilliant. He’s just a loveable guy

The savages is a good doctor who story this story needs animated at some point in the future Mr tardis please like my comment please because we need the scavenges animated on dvd and blue ray because we need to see how Steve depart the tardis and leaves the first doctor and says goodbye to the first doctor and dodo

My love of the Target novelisation makes this the mising Hartnell story that I'd most like to see found/animated!

One of the most underrated stories, but still steven and peter purves for that matter deserved better, a really underapreaciated talent😢

Thank you for the review. I had never seen Steven's departure. Only read the novelization.

I really wish we could see The Myth Makers. I really don't think you'd think it that bad if we could actually see it...!

I can wait until the next story William will talk about The War Machines, One of my favourite stories from the Hartnell era, It will take a while before he'll review this and the last one he'll do The Smugglers.

Oh my, this story had potential. Just needed some more development Great review, Trilbee!

the elders would be very popular in Hollywood...

I’ve been binging classic Doctor who and I’ve been using your reviews to fill in the gaps of episodes that are missing because the reconstructions are actually unwatchable.

An episode pretty much about doctor who fans having morels that the doctor would definitely not agree with has aged really well when you look at some doctor who fans today

Unironic, Frederick Jaeger was born in Berlin, but his family fled from Germany after Hiter's rise to power. To have Jaeger play a role as Jano, in a sort of Hitler-esque episode must've been a tough one for him.

it's my 20th birthday today😍

I have a soft spot for this story, the loose cannon recon is also one of their best!

There seems to be a recurring theme with certain stories in the Hartnell era where they would start great from its first and second parts but would then see a decline in quality once at the half way point. Think about it; for example, The Space Museum, great first part with brilliant setup, mystery and an iconic cliffhanger but falls flat sometime into part 2. The Ark which I personally enjoyed most of the way through has two great opening episodes and another great cliffhanger only for weak unintentionally funny villains and questionable messaging. Quite funny isn’t it. Also, next to Ian, Steven is probably my favourite Hartnell companion followed by Vicki.

I love these classic reviews, currently working my way through Hartnell now and watch them right afterwards. This format would even work as a podcast don’t know if you ever thought about releasing just the audio as well, be handy to listen whilst in work lol

Lets hope that singaporw copy is found

Loved the ending regarding the cursed prop 🤣🤣

Looks like the celestial toy maker had one last trick on him

As you people know by now the late Ian Stuart Black would write two more stroies after The Savages, The next one 'The War Machines' from a idea by Cybermen co-creator the late Kit Pedler and of course the story we all pretend they doesn't exist The Macra Terror.

The first story not to use individual episode titles 🎩

Obviously not right away as you’ve earnt a well needed brake. But are you going to be going through the second dr in similar detail.

One thing I'm starting to like about this early season is the transition from one companion to another. Because the Doctor has multiple companions, one leaving does not mean a reset for the Doctor like it did in the new series under Davies and Moffat. One of the few good things Doctor Who had during Chibnall's run with keeping one companion consistent with the other companions coming and going. That being said, in the new series with the exception of Rose and Clara, no companion had stuck around pre/post regeneration. Instead characters like Donna and Bill were removed prior to the regeneration. And yes I know that had to do with showrunners changing, but it seems like a smoother transition was happening early on in Doctor Who than having the "Davies Series" then "Moffat Series" then "Chibnall Series". Maybe that's the sales pitch to get new people into Doctor Who, or older people to return. "Don't like Moffat? Skip a few seasons."

Steven looks so handsome with a beard, I wish he didn't shave.

👍

Someone’s been listening to the missing episodes podcast 😂

Perhaps the most overlooked missing story. Should be animated

Did any Companion get a decent/happy send off in Classic Doctor Who?

Ad then he left Dr Who to present Blue Peter...

if you could choose 2 adventures to be animated this year what would they be

The fact that the writer didn’t consider himself a success until he wrote for something his children were fans of is kinda sweet

Any more news yet on the missing episode they are restoring?👍👍🏳‍🌈☘ Like & Subscribe gals, gents & respectable humans.

I am not a Patreon supporter myself, but I did allow an uninterrupted eight minute Apple ad to play in RU-vid. Am I saying I deserve an end credit mention? Mebbe.