[ENTERTAINMENT] Doctor Who Episode Ratings - Classic Who First Doctor - Season 1, Episodes 1-4 (An Unearthly Child)

Lloenflys

"Certainty is an illusion ..."
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On November 23, 1963 - exactly 18 years before I was born - Britain's most iconic contribution to science fiction debuted on the BBC with the first installment of a four-part "first episode" that would introduce the world to The Doctor, a curmudgeonly, chaotic figure capable of traveling back and forth through time and space. The show would run for 26 years before finally giving in to the fate of all shows and coming to an end ... except it wasn't the end. A television movie came next, and then years later a much-lauded reboot that carried on the story but with a modern audiences' sensibilities in mind.

Every so often I decide I'm going to go back and try to watch Doctor Who from the beginning - or as much of it as is possible (quite a few of the early episodes were lost because the BBC reused the master tapes). I'll make it a ways in but it always becomes too much of a slog and I move on to other projects. This time, perhaps, will be different. Over the last several days I had a chance to sit down and watch the first set of episodes, collectively called "An Unearthly Child," for probably the fourth or fifth time. Here are my thoughts!

  1. The Doctor has always been an enigmatic figure, but there is usually something appealing about the character. In the first few episodes this was definitely not the case. The First Doctor (played by William Hartnell) comes across as a childish, nasty, peevish character who is less enigmatic and more nasty. Over time the writers (and the actor!) would figure out how to better frame the character so as to make him seem more likeable, but the character is almost unrecognizable in the initial episodes.
  2. The idea of the Doctor traveling with companions has been there from the beginning. Prior to the start of what we are shown in the TV Series, the Doctor had been traveling with his "Granddaughter" Susan Foreman, who was essentially the first companion. It might seem jarring to see someone referred to as a direct descendant of the Doctor, and over time that idea has largely dropped away. In the first episode, two of Susan's teachers - Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright - investigated this strange, intelligent, but bizarre child they found themselves teaching and got caught up in her adventures with the Doctor. Susan can be a bit annoying as a character, and this is apparent from the beginning, while Ian and Barbara are more "regular" folks, intelligent and kind in most instances. It's a bit of a motley crew, with all three of the companions (yes, including Susan) often distrustful of the Doctor and his motives.
  3. The first series of episodes involves the crew travelling back to pre-historic Earth and encountering cavemen who want the visitors to produce fire. It focuses on the goings-on within one cave community, where there is a fierce internal "political" battle over leadership of the tribe between a couple of the men of the tribe. Eventually, the four companions were able to escape from the cavemen and get back to the TARDIS (the spaceship/homebase of the Doctor, in case you are unfamiliar) and continue their adventures ... albeit without knowing where they were going, as the Doctor realized that the TARDIS was not correctly displaying the data he needed to guide the ship!
Grade: C

I'm giving this a bit of a bump because it was the premier episode and had to do a lot of heavy lifting in terms of exposition, so it was going to be rather talk-heavy. The acting amongst the main characters is reasonably good - Ian and Barbara are the best and most natural in their roles. The character of Susan isn't great, but that - along with the weirdness of the Doctor - were largely choices made by the writers and directors early on as they tried to settle into figuring out who those characters were, so I can't blame the actors too much for it. The cave man subplot was not horrid, but really could only sustain interest for about one episode when it was asked to sustain interest for three. Nonetheless, this is where it began and the novelty of that fact gives it a bump just for being the pilot. While it isn't the most exciting thing in the world, the first 30 minute episode should be able to sustain any modern fans' interest ... although the latter three episodes of the first serial are a tougher slog.

If you've watched this one, let me know your thoughts in the comments!
 
Oh god I loved these 4 episodes! I mean they aren't too good writing-wise but oh god they're so nostalgic. These episodes started my months-long journey into the Classic series which ended at the fifth Doctor where I got bored.

I think the first one is very good just because it introduces the characters pretty well, nothing more is required. Also agreed that the cavemen plot is mediocre but enough to keep me engaged.

But honestly I preferred the second one, The Daleks. That one is truly iconic and fun. I also liked The Aztecs with these characters

As for the characters, the Doctor is definitely very different but still an awesome comedic relief. I think I once did a rating of all Doctors (unfortunately only in my head) and the 1st one was somewhere around 5th place which is pretty high. Susan is rather underwhelming and I feel they didn't really know what to do with her so they wrote her off pretty early.

Overall this is a great new series from you, looking forward to next episodes :D
 
I've not seen these for a while but I largely agree with you, though I think I few it slightly more favourable based on what I personally like from a show. It does carry its own anyway but the fact that it's the start of what is now almost 60 years of storytelling gives it so much impact. Though I think most people would be quite surprised to see that this is how the show initially started and how long it took for many key aspects of the show to come about. I definitely like it though I'd say it's at most only distantly related to the Doctor Who of later years.
 
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