The Savages (Doctor Who)

026 – The Savages
Doctor Who serial
The Doctor being observed by the savages Chal and Tor
Cast
Doctor William Hartnell (First Doctor)
Companions Peter Purves (Steven Taylor) Jackie Lane (Dodo Chaplet)
Others Frederick Jaeger — Jano Norman Henry — Senta Patrick Godfrey — Tor Ewen Solon — Chal Peter Thomas — Captain Edal Geoffrey Frederick — Exorse Robert Sidaway — Avon Kay Patrick — Flower Clare Jenkins — Nanina Edward Caddick — Wylda Andrew Lodge, Christopher Denham, Tony Holland — Assistants John Dillon — Savage Tim Goodman — Guard
Production
Directed by	Christopher Barry
Written by	Ian Stuart Black
Script editor	Gerry Davis
Produced by	Innes Lloyd
Executive producer(s)	None
Incidental music composer	Raymond Jones
Production code	AA
Series	Season 3
Length	4 episodes, 25 minutes each
Episode(s) missing	All 4 episodes
Date started	28 May 1966
Date ended	18 June 1966
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → The Gunfighters The War Machines
List of Doctor Who serials

The Savages

Author	Ian Stuart Black
Cover artist	David McAllister
Series	Doctor Who book: Target novelisations
Release number	109
Publisher	Target Books
Publication date	March 1986 (Hardback) 11 September 1986 (Paperback)
ISBN

The Savages is the completely missing eighth serial of the third season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 28 May to 18 June 1966. This serial marks the final appearance of Peter Purves as companion Steven Taylor. Although audio recordings, still photographs, and clips of the story exist, no episodes of this serial are known to have survived.

The TARDIS materialises on a distant planet in the far future. The Doctor, Steven and Dodo find the planet inhabited by both an advanced, idyllic civilisation (the Elders), and bands of roaming savages. The Elders welcome the Doctor, greeting him as "The Traveller from Beyond Time" and revealing they have admired his exploits from afar and predicted that he would soon be arriving here. Their leader Jano showers the Doctor and his companions with compliments and gifts, reinforcing the idyllic nature of the society of the Elders. However, the Doctor becomes suspicious of the Elders' seemingly perfect civilisation, but it is Dodo who finds the secret. The soldiers Exorse and Edal are sent outside the Elder city and use advanced weapons to capture the savages, entrapping them and returning them to the city. The Elders are only able to maintain the energy needed to run their civilisation by draining the life force of the helpless savages. The Doctor, appalled, tries to stop the Elders and persuade them of the wrong they are doing by building a civilisation on such immoral grounds.

Jano’s response is to have the Doctor himself subjected to the energy transfer process. The Doctor is put into the transfer device and his life force is channelled into the Elder Jano, who desires his intelligence. Yet the plan backfires when the Doctor's personality takes over Jano, imbuing him with the Doctor’s mannerisms, outlook and morality. The two identities cause Jano a personality crisis. Dodo and Steven have meanwhile ventured outside the city and made contact with the savage leaders Chal and Tor, who are respectively pleased and antagonised by their presence. The savages are the remnants of a once highly skilled and artistic race, but over the centuries the energy transfer process has stymied their creativity and ability. Chal hides the two fugitives in a deep cave system, pursued by the guard Exorse, whom Steven overpowers. They return to the city and find a weak but determined Doctor, and help him escape the city.