It is time for Steven’s travels aboard the TARDIS to end. A planet divided with a terrible secret. TV Club is about to encounter the Savages!
An animated version of this story is due out later this year, but for now you can listen to the soundtrack of this story, narrated by Peter Purves.
Rate and review this story below:
This is what I wrote about it on my last rewatch:
Need to listen to those Steven audios.
The Savages is one of those serials that I always feel are sort of overlooked among the fans—probably due to it being completely missing. But it’s one I’ve always claimed to be an underrated gem. It’s not perfect, but it’s immensely enjoyable even in its missing state. The atmosphere is fantastic, the story tackles some interesting themes in a great way, and the setting and production are top-notch.
I love both Frederick Jaeger, whose every guest performance on the show is a memorable one, and Ewen Solon. I love that the story does with the Doctor, who is a revered figure who admires the scientific work showcased here, before turning against the Elders and having his life force ripped out of him. The finest part is Jano inhabiting the Doctor’s mind and how the Doctor manages to influence and control him with his superior mind. It’s also a strong story for both companions, with Steven showing great leadership qualities and Dodo coming across as likeable, though not getting the development she deserves.
There’s plenty of tension here to keep things going. All three cliffhangers are superb. And I didn’t find the telesnap reconstruction hard to follow, but I hope the upcoming animation helps lift this story to new heights.
It’s not entirely flawless. Hartnell is a bit sidelined, though that was a necessity due to his failing health. Steven’s exit comes out of nowhere. The third episode drags a little. But these are minor issues in the larger picture. This is an utter delight and arguably, in my opinion, the last near-perfect story for Hartnell.
9/10
Quite the underrated Story!
I think this is such an interesting Story in many regards, not only does the Doctor arrive somewhere where he knows and even admired, but it also draws some great Parallels to An Unearthly, showing how much the Doctor has grown through all his Adventures.
While Dodo by far is still a bit a weaker Character compared to other Companions we got in the Past, I think she gets some okay and great Moments here, where Lane can prove that she has a lot to offer.
Steven gets some nice Material here too, even if his Exit can feel a bit abrupt, at least it has some great Moments with the Doctor and Dodo hugging each other and wondering if they will ever see him again.
The whole Culture around this World is just great, the Elders are such interesting figures and all played quite well.
Really the Story has a lot to offer and has something interesting to say. My only Issue here is something that other Stories are effected as well that being the Use of Blackface for the Elders, which of course is off-putting regardless. Then again this Issue is not exlusive to this Story and a few others are guilty of it as well, here it’s just more noticeable really.
Hoping with the Animation coming out more People will realizse that this one is quite a good one. While Season 3 is less conistent with its Quality and the Tone of its Stories, it’s probably the most interesting Hartnell Season because of it.
I rather enjoy this one. It’s hard to really pin down what exactly I like about it, with it being a fairly minimal recon, but I’d guess I just really enjoy the story. A solid idea, told well.
I give it a 3.5/5, but mostly that i because of the limited recon. I think the Animated version will get a much higher rating.
I enjoyed this a bit more than usual on my last rewatch but it still only gets 2.5/5. I’m hoping the animation will help me reappraise it.
Like others here, I cannot wait for the animation. William Hartnell’s latter Doctor Who stories are some of my favourites, and it’s a crying shame so many have been wiped. Although Dodo was never consistently enough written to be a favourite character, I really enjoy all her stories, and this is the one in which I think Jackie’s performance is at its best - she’s consistently good, particularly at the many moments of jeopardy, and there’s real emotion when the final scene comes. She’s written and played as ‘real’ here, which wasn’t always the case.
I’m wondering if writers at this time were told to find reasons to sideline The Doctor due to Hartnell’s health. Here’s a clever way of doing it - get someone else to effectively play The Doctor much of the time. The results are very entertaining.
This is a great ‘little’ story, definitely underrated. The music is particularly good, very unique and that animation can’t come soon enough!
This is essentially it. Also, producer Innes Lloyd never got along with Hartnell and tried to find ways to write him out (such as turning the Docor invisible in The Celestial Toymaker).
I rather like the Savages as well and find it to be a really good exit story for Steven 
I’m really looking forward to the animation as well, because as others have already said it’s not the best of recons…
The Savages is a genuinely good serial.
I liked Steven here, and the stuff with The Doctor is pretty interesting too!
Not a lot to say, it’s just… pretty good!
Oh, and Dodo was there too. She’s just there…
Here’s my review of the Target audiobook of The Savages. It’s the same story but with a diminished atmosphere, so not quite as effective.
The The Savages novelisation is a solid and faithful adaptation of the serial, with strong prose and added character depth. However, it doesn’t quite match the atmosphere and tension of the original due to the loss of the performances, visuals, and music. Peter Purves’ narration is a major highlight, making the audiobook version particularly enjoyable. While it may not surpass the TV version, it remains a worthwhile addition for fans of the story.
Have always enjoyed watching/listening to this story in it’s reconstructions, and have always felt that it deserved more love and attention. Great atmosphere throughout, and it takes on a lot of interesting ideas and themes - I can’t wait for the reconstruction, and hope it has the re-appraisal it deserves
I’ve been meaning to post a link to the Missing Episodes podcast for this episode. Not one I’ve got to yet (I’m still on Daleks Masterplan) but these are always an excellent listen:
[Listened to audio soundtrack]
I thought this was a fine story, even if it can feel somewhat like a poor man’s Macra Terror. Although perhaps The Savages has an advantage over Macra in that it demonstrates the greed of humans better. I was intrigued by the two cultures presented. I think I might like the story better as an animation, and would be interested in seeing it in that format. I was struck by the character growth the First Doctor has demonstrated over his seasons.
I got the animated DVD for this quite soon after it released (someone was selling it on Tradera, a Swedish online marketplace, and I swooped in ASAP).
This was a really good story, even if I’m crossing quite a gap here since this is my last Hartnell for now and the one that comes before in my collection is The Time Meddler. So I am not too familiar with Steven (only seen him partially in The Chase, Morton Dill can do one BTW, and The Time Meddler) and this is my only Dodo story. But anyway, onto the story. It is quite a clear commentary on colonialism, racism and slavery, no subtlety there but it’s done mostly well. Really the main characters of this story are Steven and Dodo (I’m guessing Hartnell was too ill since I think he only has three more stories after this one) and I think they work well. I especially liked Dodo actually, she was smart, quite cunning, caring and could mostly hold her own. When she smashes the lab at the end and enthusiastically answers “YES!” to One when he says it’s fun to destroy evil… that kinda gave me Ace vibes.
I liked the characters in general here and while this is not subtle at all about the message, the message is obviously a good one and the story comes with complexities that I do find to be realistic. The “savages” aren’t a monolith, they felt like real people and there was real inter-tribal conflict. Tor wants pure revenge against the Elders and the city people, for good reasons even if that makes him somewhat blinded by rage. There’s that one older man who reveals where Chal, Dodo and Steven went in order to save himself. It’s not the best decision obviously, but something that has happened in real life many times. Chal is more trusting of the TARDIS team, but even he questions them at points and doesn’t follow blindly.
Additionally, you have Avon and Flower, who I wish we got to see a little more of. Their brief scenes are important though, as we see the perspective of the everyday citizens and especially the younger people of the city. Everything is clean and neat and they seem like cheerful and nice people, but there’s clear ignorance and racism beneath, with Avon saying “we’re all equal in here” and that “this is a free state”. That scene also shows that this is an authoritarian regime, with Flower worrying over the potential punishments they may receive for the negligence. We never find out what, which is intriguing and a little scary even. We don’t get that much of the Doctor in this one, as said, but what we do get is fantastic. He’s really in the mischievous grandfather role here and really clever. His conscience and intelligence affecting Jano is an interesting part of the story, very much in-character for One’s cleverness, it lends itself to a peaceful “for the most part” conclusion, and it’s almost like the DoctorDonna done 4 decades earlier.
I do have some negatives, mainly the worldbuilding. Some of it is great, but we lack some things that are actually rather basic. We have no real name for “the savages”, what their people or tribe is called, neither any kind of nationality or anything for the people of the city. Not even the planet gets named. Then there is the fact that while we see quite a bit of the city society, we don’t get as much of the culture of the tribe. There’s the scene in the cave with the painting but not much more. I wish we saw more and learned more of the history of this conflict between the two groups.
Then there are a few other gripes. As much as the tribespeople are written well and feel like different, real people and not just as one group who all think the same, they are sometimes a bit too defeatist. That’s a trait seen in basically all of the tribal characters, even Tor. Now yes, they’re in a very bad situation with little hope, and I as a white guy shouldn’t speak for oppressed people, but I still believe that there would be those willing to fight. This ties into another slight trope that I dislike, with the subduing of Exorse making some of the tribespeople, including Tor for some reason, bow down to the TARDIS team and worship them like gods. This is a really uncomfortable “white saviour” trope and feels out of place for this story. Not to mention it doesn’t go anywhere.
The Elders, Jano aside, are also basically totally irrelevant which I think is a shame. If we got some more of them, or if you make Edal be one of them and also the commander of the guards, then his brief takeover as leader make a bit more sense. I feel like the other Elders would rule or elect one out of their group. As such, it’s good that doesn’t happen here since the Elders have no personality whatsoever, but it could have been tweaked a little.
To conclude I’ll touch on a few points. First, the animation. I watched the B&W variation and thought it was pretty good, probably on the level of The Invasion’s animation. Sometimes things looked a little weird, like for example Steven’s movement when calling for Dodo in Episode 2 and then all the guards following Jano in the little “siege”, it looks a bit cheap and off. Secondly, Steven’s exit. I’ve not seen enough of him to form much of an opinion, but it was a pretty amicable and touching scene, I got a little sad myself. Thirdly, this kind of ties into the first point but whatever, it’s also good to have this animated variant because Jano appears in blackface in the original and you know… we don’t want that.
Overall, a really good story that has a few irritating flaws but definitely still fun to watch. 8/10.
Realised I still haven’t bought the DVD of this!
Having both heard the audiobook and watched the animation, i can safely say this is one of my fave 1st Doc stories.
Just a nice low stakes 60s adventure, thoroughly enjoyable stuff
Was it you who bought the packet with like 6 or 7 different Who books a couple of weeks ago? I was so annoyed that I did not get that 
Nope, I have not bought any Doctor Who books, in general, but also not on Tradera. Only DVDs, a few comics, and an orange sweater with a Dalek on it.
Good to know 