1 – An Unearthly Child

The first ever Doctor Who episode has built up quite a reputation over the years as a timeless classic. Which is rather fitting really. I however am not just watching the first episode but the serial as a whole. To most fans this means 25 of the most important minutes of TV science-fiction ever made followed by 75 of the dullest. This is a little harsh. Anthony Coburn’s 3 episodes of pre-historic capture/escape/capture/escape larks are perhaps passable at best but the main problem is that they pale in comparison to what he wrote immediately before.

Episode 1 is a fantastically crafted piece of television and you can tell how much time and effort were lavished on it. William Hartnell even knows all of his lines. Indeed, his is the stand-out performance imbuing his Doctor with arrogance, slyness, wit and intelligence. You’re not sure you like him but you definitely want to see more.

Carole Ann Ford as Susan is indeed intriguingly different to the other girls at Coal Hill School who all look scarily middle-aged to my eye. William Russell and Jacqueline Hill as Ian and Barbara are simply superb and indeed continued to be so for the rest of their time on the show. In the scene where they discuss their motivation for investigating their odd pupil they effortlessly sell to us their characters and the relationship between them.

So what about the rest of this four-parter? Well, authentically depicting a primitive Mid-Paleolithic society was never going to be easy so it’s probably just as well they didn’t try. The Tribe of Gum’s dialogue is a little ropey to say the least. In some scenes it’s easy to imagine you’re overhearing a playground argument with all the attendant lies, exaggeration and false reasoning but the lines are generally delivered with such earnestness that it’s difficult not to warm to the guest cast.

Eileen Way as Old Mother is the highlight of Episode 2. She’s a delightfully miserable old witch. I love the way she pours scorn on her hapless son Za as he tries to make fire in the style of Tommy Cooper sans fez. In fact Za isn’t particularly well served by the women in his life. Prospective partner Hur (a sort of proto-Lady Macbeth) has no qualms about talking him into potentially dangerous situations to secure his position as tribal leader. The other major character is Kal, an outsider who happens to thinks he should lead the tribe instead, presumably because he has a slightly better false beard.

The Doctor has a mixed time of it in this little pre-historical jaunt. After a good start (Hartnell’s ‘oh shit I’ve lost my matches acting’ is lovely) the character spends 50 minutes or so grumping about the place before shining again in Episode 4 as he unmasks Kal as a murderer then has him run out of town, sorry cave. Other highlights include Barbara falling over for no good reason (twice), a wild animal attack that takes place without a single glimpse of wild animal and a specially filmed overlong fight sequence, something which I thought only came in with the Pertwee stories.

I’m not old enough to have watched these episodes when they first aired but I did experience the next best thing. In November 1981 the BBC repeated the serial. I was 7 years old and, having watched Tom Baker’s Doctor regenerate into Peter Davison’s eight months previously, at the height of my passion for the show. And I was absolutely sold on it. But the thing that sent my imagination racing the most wasn’t the brilliance of that first episode but the writing at the end: “Next Episode THE CAVE OF SKULLS.” Doctor Who has always been made primarily for children and those six words were penned by someone who knew precisely what a seven-year-old wants to see.

Fast forward 49 years and I’m watching The Wedding of River Song which gives us a scene in a crypt with a lot of skulls, albeit bitey ones. Steven Moffat knows what Anthony Coburn did half a century ago – Skulls are cool. And that’s timeless too!

Introduction

What ho!

This is the beginning of my slow trundle through every episode of the world’s best television programme in the original order of transmission. This is not a new concept – Doctor Who Magazine’s excellent ‘Time Team’ has been running for years and there’s been at least one book published in the last 12 months covering similar ground. However, I’m choosing to start this now myself for two main reasons:

1. I’ve only recently built up my Who collection to the point where I can consider it. I’m starting at the beginning and some of the 1960s stories are tricksy in so far as they’re either a) missing all together, or b) considered so bad that the BBC hasn’t released them on DVD yet (yes, I’m looking at you The Sensorites.) A combination of audio soundtracks and the misguided push to have all complete stories available by the 50th anniversary should fill in any gaps in timely fashion.
2. The process will force me into experiencing stories that I’d otherwise avoid, e.g. those which are audio only, those with bad reputations and a huge lump of Pertwee stuff (just a personal thing.) I like the idea that I’ll be experiencing some of these stories for the first time.

I won’t be writing any plot synopses or giving the stories marks out of 10. Neither will I pretend I’m watching the episodes unaware of what comes after. These will simply be my thoughts as prompted by what I see on screen.

A Note on Titles

Some Who fans would have it that a number of the early serials be named differently to what has become the convention. For example, the first ever serial should be referred to as ‘100,000 BC’ whilst the third becomes ‘The Mutants.’ Such people are arses and should be avoided at all costs. I don’t give a rat’s ass what the original umbrella title was, if the Target novelisations, BBC VHS and DVD releases and BBC web site have them down as ‘An Unearthly Child’ and ‘The Daleks’ respectively then that’s what they’re bloody well called!

Toodle pip!