When writing these essays I try to focus in on one aspect of each episode. I’m not doing reviews or recaps, after all, and going episode by episode, rather than story to story, gives me room to explore one particular idea, find my own point of view on it, and follow that thread wherever it leads. It hasn’t been too hard, so far, to find something weighty to ponder, and there’s a very obvious theme that “The Expedition,” the fifth episode of The Daleks, is tackling, with a lot to chew on – pacifism: the Thal’s embodiment of it, and the TARDIS travelers’ disdain of it. That’s what I should talk about. But what I want to talk about is how, at some point between scenes in this episode, Barbara bangs a Thal.
Specifically, she bangs Ganatus, one of the story’s leading Thals. Well, I say bangs, but obviously Doctor Who in its original run was not explicit about such things. They don’t come right out and say that they bang. The dialogue as written doesn’t even show any sign of romance or attraction between them. But it’s there. The first time we see them interact, they’re already comfortable with each other. It’s late, and almost everyone is asleep, but they’re slipping away to have a private chat. Ganatus lays down his jacket for them both to sit on, very close together, and they look up at the stars and talk. It’s only a ten-line scene, and plot-wise its function is for Ganatus to tell Barbara how deadly the lake behind the Dalek city is so we’re aware of the danger when they have to travel around it later in the episode. But actors Jacqueline Hill and Philip Bond play a subtle intimacy between the two, letting us know they’ve somehow managed to become fast friends in the short time the travelers’ have been stranded on Skaro. The scene ends and suddenly it’s morning, but who knows what they get up to for the remainder of that night?
We know what. They banged. We know this because by the next day (well, probably the next day – it’s a little hard to tell how much time passes in this story), Barbara and Ganatus are part of a titular expedition to the Dalek city’s back entrance, and when they stop for the night, Ganatus goes to sleep with his head resting on Barbara’s leg. It’s a surprisingly intimate gesture, suggesting they’re already very physically comfortable with each other. They’d probably be spooning if the rest of the expedition weren’t packed in around the fire with them. They’re inches from Ian, but if you’re worried about jealousy, don’t be. We’ve seen no sign (yet) of Ian and Barbara being anything but friends, and Ian doesn’t react in the slightest to Ganatus getting cozy with Barbara’s calf. Neither do any of the Thals. Which suggests something else – not only did Barbara and Ganatus bang, but everybody knows they banged.
I don’t have an opinion on this, beyond, “Good for her!” Barbara’s a favorite of mine, and Ganatus is hot. I’m glad that in the middle of a radioactive wasteland, Barbara found some alien loving to get her through.
Okay. Let’s get to it. Pacifism. You know, it’s actually a little ironic that Barbara’s getting so cozy with a Thal, because earlier in this episode, she argued quite fervently that the travelers needed to use any means necessary to convince the pacifists to risk their lives for them to recover the TARDIS’ fluid link (confiscated from Ian by the Daleks in a prior episode), so that they can get home. It’s an uncharacteristically Machiavellian argument from Barbara, who we’ve seen previously risk her own life to help a caveman who’d been trying to kill her. She’s in total agreement with the Doctor here, who goes so far as to say, “This is no time for morals.”
(Once again we see that the Doctor is not yet the hero of this story. By Spyfall, many, many years later, the Doctor’s views on pacifism will have softened to the point that she identifies herself as one. That sounds like an improvement, although you need to stretch the definition of “pacifist” to include “someone who lets others die on her behalf,” so perhaps she hasn’t changed as much as we’d think.)
It’s Ian that Barbara’s arguing with. He’s asked the Thals for help in attacking the Dalek city to recover the stolen component, but they’ve refused. He’s unwilling to push them too hard, knowing he’s asking some of them to die solely for the travelers’ gain, and Barbara is furious.
Interestingly, the moral question here is whether it’s right for Ian to ask the Thals to help them fight when there’s no benefit to the Thals in doing so. There’s no question about whether it’s right to ask pacifists to fight at all. The TARDIS quartet are unified on that front – the Thals’ pacifism is an obstacle to be overcome, not a belief to be respected. In the last episode, Ian laughed at the idea, saying, “Pacifism only works when everybody feels the same.” With all four of our heroes in agreement, the narrative of the episode is strongly aligned against pacifism as a valid belief system. Perhaps that’s not too surprising: pacifism, as a movement, had waned in the UK after World War II, and while the sixties would see it make a resurgence, Terry Nation’s writing of this story was influenced heavily by the Nazis. It’s understandable that he takes a condescending attitude towards pacifism, painting it as a natural response to a world-destroying war, but not an effective or admirable one.
But setting aside the simplistic ideas about pacifism, the four-way fight among the TARDIS travelers is morally murky in the best possible way. This era of Doctor Who is at its best when it explores the interpersonal dynamics between its leads, and the Doctor’s ethical dubiousness means he’s not the pinnacle of unarguable righteousness he’ll later become. It’s not so easy to say who’s right or wrong, and that’s what makes this episode so compelling.
For me, I fall somewhere in the middle. I’m not a pacifist, and the Daleks have shown that they’re unlikely to rest until all the Thals are dead, so violent resistance is a must. But the travelers’ attitudes towards the Thals’ ideals are reprehensible, as is Ian’s deception in goading Alydon into punching him. Ian tells himself it’s for the Thals’ own good, but that’s not for him to decide.
That’s my personal interpretation, anyway. You may disagree. The story leaves room for doubt as to whether Ian is rationalizing away his morality when he decides to force the issue with the Thals. The Thals toss their pacifism aside, but whether the TARDIS team was right or wrong to ask them to do so is never resolved. That’s good writing.
You know what’s even better writing? A ten-line scene and a head on a leg to subtly suggest that Barbara banged a Thal. Philosophical arguments and an alien booty call, in one twenty-five minute episode. Doctor Who truly can do anything.
