The Rescue (TV story)

The Rescue was the third story of Season 2 of Doctor Who. Maureen O'Brien joined the cast as companion Vicki in this story.

Summary
Two crash survivors on planet Dido live in fear of the dreaded Koquillion, but the Doctor soon discovers things are not as they seem...

Plot
The TARDIS crew are still missing Susan Foreman when they land on an unnamed planet, which the Doctor later recognises as Dido, a world he has visited before. The trio soon encounter two survivors of a space crash, Vicki and Bennett, who are awaiting a rescue ship in three days time. Vicki is also in fear of Koquillion, a bipedal inhabitant of Dido who is stalking the area and encounters the time travellers, attacking Barbara. Vicki finds her injured and rescues her from Koquillion, and they share reminiscences. Vicki’s father was amongst those who died when the most of the survivors of the crash were lured to their deaths by the natives of Dido. She is evidently very lonely, having befriended an indigenous rodent Sand Beast for company. However, while Ian and the Doctor reach the ship tempers become fraught when Barbara mistakes the Sand Beast for a threat and kills it.

The Doctor begins to suspect things are not as they seem – especially when he finds things in Bennett’s room. He follows Bennett through a trap door in the floor of his cabin and reaches a temple carved from rock where he unmasks Koquillion as Bennett. He reveals he killed a crew member on board the ship and was arrested, but the ship crashed before the crime could be radioed to Earth. By killing the other crew in an explosion – and with Vicki asleep and unaware of the situation – he covered his original crime. The Koquillion alias has been used to keep Vicki in check until the rescue ship was due. At this point two silent natives of Dido arrive and force Bennett to his death over a ledge. With nothing left for her on Dido, Vicki is welcomed aboard the TARDIS.

Cast & Characters

 * The Doctor - William Hartnell
 * Ian Chesterton - William Russell
 * Barbara Wright - Jacqueline Hill
 * Vicki - Maureen O'Brien
 * Bennett / Koquillion - Ray Barrett
 * Space Captain - Tom Sheridan
 * Sand Monster - Tom Sheridan (uncredited)
 * Inhabitant of Dido - John Stuart (uncredited)
 * Inhabitant of Dido - Colin Hughes (uncredited)

Crew

 * Writer - David Whitaker
 * Director - Christopher Barry
 * Producer - Verity Lambert
 * Script Editor - Dennis Spooner
 * Designer - Raymond Cusick
 * Assistant Floor Manager - Valerie Wilkins
 * Associate Producer - Mervyn Pinfield
 * Costumes - Daphne Dare
 * Film Cameraman - Dick Bush
 * Film Editor - Jim Latham
 * Incidental Music - Tristram Cary
 * Make-Up - Sonia Markham
 * Production Assistant - David Maloney
 * Special Sound - Brian Hodgson
 * Studio Lighting - Howard King
 * Studio Sound - Richard Chubb
 * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer

Story Notes

 * This story is the first to feature the addition of a new companion.
 * This is the first episode featuring Vicki.
 * All episodes exist in 16mm telerecordings.
 * Negative film prints of both episodes exist and were recovered by the BBC in 1978.
 * Telesnaps of this story are held by private collectors.
 * The story was originally known as Doctor Who and Tanni. It was originally intended that the new companion would be named Tanni.
 * Koquillion was originally credited as Sydney Wilson (a combination of Sydney Newman and Donald Wilson) to hide his true identity.
 * Desperate Measures was the first episode of Doctor Who to make the UK's top 10 most watched programs list.
 * The 1973 Radio Times 10th anniversary special called the story The Powerful Enemy as it titled all the early stories by the title of the first episode. Some subsequent listings repeated this error, as did the story's broadcast on some American PBS stations.
 * During the scene in which Jacqueline Hill fired a gun at Vicki's pet she was injured suffering shock and a sore face. This was caused when the explosion connected to the wooden gun went off with more force than expected.
 * "The Rescue" is also the original broadcast title of episode 7 of The Dalek.
 * Tom Sheridan, who played the Space Captain heard but not seen in this story, was also inside the Sand Monster costume.

Ratings

 * The Powerful Enemy - 12.0 million viewers
 * Desperate Measures - 13.0 million viewers

Myths

 * The inhabitants of Dido are known as Didonians. (There is no evidence provided in the episode to support this.)

Filming Locations

 * Model filming took place at Ealing Television Film Studios.
 * Studio filming took place at Riverside Studio 1, Hammersmith, London.

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * There is no back in the TARDIS prop used and consequently the cave wall is visible behind.
 * In episode 2 a stage hand can be seen behind Vicki's pet.
 * When Barbara fires at Susan's pet, the firework can be seen to fall off the gun.
 * The Doctor explains how peaceful the natives of the planet Dido are. This would seem to be inconsistent with the traps which they have built into their caves.

Continuity

 * Reference is made to Susan's departure The Dalek Invasion of Earth.
 * The Doctor, Ian and Barbara talk about how they met in An Unearthly Child.
 * The crew discuss their previous problems with caves which occured during  The Daleks and  Marco Polo.

DVD, Video and Other Releases

 * Video Release: Released as Doctor Who: The Rescue/The Romans


 * The next episode caption has been removed from episode 2
 * Released as a double tape with The Romans
 * UK Release: September 1994 / US Release: March 1996
 * PAL - BBC Video BBCV5378 (2 tapes)
 * NTSC - Warner Video E1313 (2 tapes)
 * NTSC - CBS/FOX Video 8338 (2 tapes)

Target Novelisations

 * Novelised as The rescue in 1988 by Ian Marter.