100,000 BC (AKA Tribe of Gum)

One Million Years Before Raquel  

100,000 BC (AKA Tribe of Gum)* (3 X 25mins B&W)

Written by Anthony Coburn

Doctor Who Series one Serial one

The Cave of Skulls transmitted BBC 30 November 1963

The Forest of Fear transmitted BBC 7 December 1963

The Firemaker transmitted BBC 14 December 1963

* Note: until 1966 Doctor Who serials had no overall title, instead each episode had its own title.

Synopsis

Having taken off from London 1963, the TARDIS finally comes to rest. Unfortunately, the yearometer is broken so they have no idea where they are, the scanner merely showing sand and rocks and cliffs in the distance. Leaving the craft the Doctor and Susan are perturbed by the fact that the TARDIS is still in the form of a police box (Susan explains to Barbara that it normally changes, to blend in with its surroundings). When the Doctor lights his pipe, Kal sees that he can make fire. They then find themselves captives of primitive human cavemen, in a power struggle between putative leader Za and his woman, Hur, and newcomer Kal. The leader is traditionally chosen as the man who could make fire. 

We also get a conflict between the young males, who consider that fire is the only thing that can save the tribe from the impending ice age, and the Old Mother, who fears that fire will destroy the tribe. Will they escape, and remember the way back to the TARDIS?

Review

After the opening introduction, where have the travellers landed? It's interesting to note the reactions of all four when the scanner reveals the outside view. Barbara accepts whilst Ian still believes it's an illusion. We get an iconic moment when Ian says "Doctor Foreman", to which the Doctor replies "Doctor Who?" And then another iconic moment, the first time the TARDIS doors opens and we see that they're somewhere else. It's a key scene, and director Hussein wisely chooses to shoot it from the rear of the characters, straight through the doors.

Obviously, the first serial poses a problem. Since the emphasis of the series was on time travel, and Head of BBC Drama Sydney Newman had vetoed the use of Bug-Eyed Monsters, which period do you choose that would fit three episodes and heighten the sense of strangeness and danger? The caveman setting is inspired. Since they're humans like us, we know, and fear, the inherent and brutal savagery. When the characters fear they will be killed, this is very probable. The reactions of the characters (and the skill of the actors) instil this fear in us, as well as the danger of being stranded far from home in a dangerous situation. None of them are sure as to the direction they travelled and where the TARDIS is.

Hence their flight through the forest at night is genuinely scary.  There is also a unique moment when the Doctor picks up a rock, supposedly to kill the injured Za. It shows desperation, but it was never repeated, the Doctor in future is always a moral force. This is in stark contrast to later serials like The Keys of Marinus, where they go on separate quests far from the TARDIS but without the desperate sense of being lost, not knowing if you'll return.

The plot, cleverly written by Anthony Coburn, who'd also written the opening episode, clearly presents two key elements that would be later taken up by numerous Doctor Who stories; the struggle for mastery, and the battle of science and technology versus magic. Here, there is no clichéd evil mastermind, but a realistic struggle between two men for utterly convincing reasons, as whoever can make fire is leader, and being leader also comes with the bonus of marrying Hur. I think Coburn must have been thinking of Lady Macbeth when he wrote the exchanges between Hur and Za.

And it is fascinating that this story should oppose two fantastically differing poles of science and technology there could be; a machine that can go anywhere in time and space in the blink of an eye, and the ability to make fire, a basic necessity of civilisation. Along the way, the travellers also show Za kindness and concern when injured, feelings the tribe is unaware of. There is a suspicion that not only fire, but this concern for welfare, and the fact that the tribe is stronger when united in collective action, as demonstrated by the whole tribe banishing Kal when Za alone cannot defeat him, has been imparted to The Tribe of Gum. In many ways it's a shame Anthony Coburn didn't write any more serials.

So, an excellent, dramatic and tense drama with a real sense of danger, superbly written, tautly directed, and well acted (there's no "ugh"s muttered here) and some interesting philosophical points.

TARDIS rating: 5/5

Credits

Dr. Who ..................................................................................... WILLIAM HARTNELL

Ian Chesterton .......................................................................... WILLIAM RUSSELL

Barbara Wright ......................................................................... JACQUELINE HILL

Susan Foreman .......................................................................  CAROLE ANN FORD

Za ............................................................................................. DEREK NEWARK

Kal ............................................................................................ JEREMY YOUNG

Hur ............................................................................................ ALETHEA CHARLTON

Old Mother ................................................................................ EILEEN WAY

Horg .......................................................................................... HOWARD LANG

Special Effects ................................... by The Visual Effects Department of the BBC

Title Music ........................... by RON GRAINER with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

Incidental Music ...................................................................... by NORMAN KAY

Story Editor ............................................................................. DAVID WHITAKER

Designer ................................................................................. BARRY NEWBERY

Fight Arranger (episode 3 only) .............................................. DEREK WARE

Associate Producer ...............................................................  MERVYN PINFIELD

Producer ................................................................................  VERITY LAMBERT

Directed .................................................................................  by WARIS HUSSEIN

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