Okay, I've been a fan of the new Dr. Who series since they started showing them on Sci-Fi, but I've never really watched any of the original. I think I saw two episodes in the mid-80s of the 4th Doctor on PBS, and at the time they didn't seem very sci-fi to me, plus they rather scared me. All I remember is some glowing rocks absorbing some campers. Anyway, since PBS is hardly ever consistent in their programming, I never saw it again, although I have absorbed a bit of info about the show over the years.
Fast forward to this Christmas, and my parents got me the Beginnings DVD set, which includes the first three serial stories, and apparently a reconstructed fourth serial (I never knew they were missing before). I have no idea why they got me this, since I don't think I've ever given them the impression I was much of a Dr. Who fan, although they do know I love SW, ST, BSG, etc.
So last night, I watched the first serial (4 episodes starting with "An Unearthly Child", broadcast 1963) as well as the pilot episode. I was suprised to hear that Susan was the Doctor's granddaughter, but I suppose that explains a recent comment from the 10th Doctor ("I was a dad once.") Anyway, the story involved two of Susan's teachers following her home from school because she's a bit of an anomaly, possessing knowledge way beyond her years, yet she gets simple things like how many shillings are in a pound wrong. (I had to look this one up - the UK went to the decimal system in 1971.) Basically they get trapped in the TARDIS after encountering the Doctor and they travel to caveman times, where they are trapped by a tribe and end up giving them fire in order to escape.
There were some interesting differences between the pilot and the broadcast versions. In the pilot, the Doctor was very abrasive, but in the broadcast version, his personality was very different, like he was amused with the whole situation. This seemed very similar to me to the 9th and 10th Doctors. Yet by the third episode, he was back to being abrasive and crochety. Also in the pilot, Susan said she was born the 49th century, but said she was born in "another time, another world" in the broadcast version.
I noticed that they mentioned the TARDIS normally disguises itself wherever they go, yet this time it remained a police box. All the Doctor said about this was "How very disturbing."
I like the fact that the TARDIS sound effects haven't changed at all since the beginning, and the music has only been slightly updated.
I've noticed from the new series that they usually end up somewhere where something's gone wrong or something doesn't belong, even though they are consciously directing the TARDIS. That doesn't seem to be the case with this premiere serial, but I suppose that could change quickly. All in all, I liked the story, but I'm not sure I care for the characters, especially this first Doctor. I guess we'll see where we are after I watch the rest of the DVD set.
B.J.
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
William Hartnells Doctor starts off as an irritable cantakerous old man, before warming up and becoming more of a likeable grandfatherly person - probably due to Hartnells initial uncertainness about the role. He later loved the role and the obvious affection that children who watched the show had for him.
Susan is his granddaugther because the producers thought that a teenager traveling around with an old man might seem a bit pervy.
Ian and Barbera were written as teachers due to the shows orriginal educational theme. At first there was to be a history story followed by a science story, and no bug eyed monsters. They soon forgot about the history stories after Dalekmania.
All in all, the First Doctors stories are some of the best examples of TV sci fi ever due to the constrained budgets forcing the show to emply good writing, although the characters are very much stuck in the sixties.
Theres a shitload more on the web, if you still crave knowledge...
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
This is one of the BEST repositories of Whoniverse information on the web. Much of the trivia I spout on about around here is gleaned from this website. For example, the TARDIS was originally trapped as a police box because the very first series didn't have the time or funds to create a new disguise every story (although it was intended to); very quickly the police box became part of the identity of the show, and they left it as-is.
In "Attack of the Cybermen", the newly-regenerated Sixth Doctor manages to fix the chameleon circuit, but it was tempermental and never changed into anything that suited its environment (a statue in a junkyard, an organ in an alley, a rustic gate on an alien base, etc.). By the end of this "test" period on the show, the producer concluded that fixing the circuit was silly and abandonned the idea.
Besides, the police box offers a dramatic way to enter the action through the door - the other shapes often had the actors justwalk behind a practical prop, which also makes it look kinda silly.
Mark
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
The bit about when the doctor was born was, I think, because he was originally intended to be a human time-traveller form the future. They didn't make him an alien until later. Possibly when they needed to explain his regeneration? (Maybe it was later than that, even. I think the initial explanation was simply "the TARDIS did it".)
Also, I think some people have tried to explain Susan away as some sort of "adopted" granddaughter, because they don't like the idea of the Doctor having ever been the sort to be in love, get married, have sex, etc. Personally, I think that's silly. And it seems like the modern-day producers do, too, given the "father" line, and the Doctor's obvious hots for Rose.