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The Savages Format Reviewed: CD Review The curse of the deletion of Doctor Who stories from the BBC archives means that The Savages no longer exists in video form. The CD release has the full sound track narrated by Peter Purves, who played Steven Taylor in the story and has narrated several of the lost stories of this era. At this stage too, we are also coming towards the end of the reign of William Hartnell as the Doctor. The Savages sees the Tardis crew of the Doctor, Steven and Dodo land on an apparant paradise of a world where there exists an advanced society within a city. Outside this city are a primitive race who don't appear to have any pleasant interaction with the Elders. It emerges that the Elders are draining the life force of the savages for their own ends. Everything is eventually sorted out and Steven is asked to stay behind and become the leader,a task he accepts. The story itself plays on an interesting premise of subjugation, and can be seen as a class struggle between the savages and the elders. This is given the Doctor Who spin, and it amounts to a pleasant tale. Fortunately, it translates pretty well to audio, as this is all there's ever likely to be available, unless the audio track is combined with telesnaps for a reconstruction. The regular cast does a decent job. Hartnell gives his usual bluster on occasion, Purves shows he can be a hard edged character with a soft centre but Dodo is larely redundant. With the interaction between Jano, played by Frederick Jaeger, and the Doctor being so strong, Jaeger comes off very well from the guest cast. His absorbsion of the Doctors values is a good method of ending the immoral process of the transferance of life force from one to another, and the whole thing is played very well from that perspective. I didn't so much care for the way Steven was effectively bundled out of the Tardis though. I make it no secret that I think he was an excellent companion, so for Hartnell to basically persuade him to leave came as somewhat of a surprise. I think a more dignified exit of his own volition would have suited better. Overall, The Savages is a good story, and it comes accross well on audio. Steven Taylors departure comes as a shock at the end, and an unwelcome shock at that, but times must move on. The story premise of one race subjugating another is given a good twist here with the transferance of life-force, and gives a new slant to an oft used plot line. Not bad at all in truth. Rating:  |