I'm writing this in 2023 as part of my own little 60th anniversary celebration of Doctor Who, so overall this first story is quite successful. An Unearthly Child is an iconic start to the show, but is it a good serial or does it just have a really good first episode? What about Parts 2 to 4?
Part One - An Unearthly Child
Well of course to get there we have to start with Part 1. The
tone is much more spooky and dangerous and weird than the modern
series. There is of course the strange electronic theme music
that's both alien and adventurous playing in full over a
seemingly mundane scene of a police officer going about his
rounds. Then, something wild happens - the doors to the junkyard
open for us and we drift in. We, the audience, have some sort of
physical presence in this introduction, willing us through the
gates and towards the police box. The music fades out and we're
left with the hum of the TARDIS.
I think part of the
spooky tone also comes from the layers of distance between us
and Dr Who. We're introduced to our main characters, school
teachers Ian and Barbara. They are discussing one of their
students, Susan, who seems to know more than she's telling.
Then, within Susan's world, is her grandfather Dr Who. Later
stories would have us in the Doctor's shoes, experiencing things
as he does, but for now, Dr Who truly is a mystery. We can only
get to him through Susan, and we can only get to Susan through
Ian and Barbara. Someone going back and watching the first
episode of Doctor Who after having only seen New Who might
expect us to start on Gallifrey, on the day the Doctor stole the
TARDIS and ran away, but no. We begin with two school teachers
on the very fringes of Dr Who's story, who suddenly find
themselves caught in the middle of it.
The first time we
meet Susan, listening to the radio, is fantastic - she gives off
the vibe of an outsider who's enamoured by 60s culture. Her hand
movements, her expression, Carole Ann Ford gives us a great,
slightly off-putting and alien introduction, but she's also very
likeable and compelling. The detail about how she'll have read
the whole book by tomorrow might be the inspiration for Time
Lords reading things by just flicking the pages in front of
their face, but either way it works. Also the fact that Susan
correctly predicts decimal money just adds an amazingly modern
touch to it. It all works extremely well. Ian and Barbara
sitting in the car outside the junkyard, questioning what
they're even doing there. They're both very sympathetic
characters and we want to see them uncover this mystery, having
already seen the TARDIS ourselves.
The scene in the
junkyard has a fantastic atmosphere, helped by some nice music
and the slight murkiness of 60s video quality. Who knows what
might be hiding in the darkness? And from that darkness emerges
Dr Who! Hartnell is sly and commanding and does nothing to set
us at ease. Then, going into the TARDIS, the murkiness vanishes
in a cut and we have a huge, clean, gleaming white space.
Stepping into Dr Who's world is such an immediate contrast. Dr
Who himself sheds his mysterious cloak and strikes a much more
authoritative figure in his jacket. Every frame of it is so
iconic and perfect in the minds of us fans but it's also just a
really intriguing and well-made first episode. Maybe because it
was their second attempt at making it but never mind.
The
first ever TARDIS take-off is dramatic and scary, especially
because even Dr Who looks concerned by it. Since it's the 60th,
I think the show should celebrate its roots by having the
Fourteenth Doctor and Donna watch a hallucinogenic lightshow
then pass out every time they need to go somewhere. You know,
for continuity. Oh, and the last shot with the 60s police box in
a strange new landscape with the shadow of a man approaching is
stunning.
Part Two - The Cave of Skulls
And now, the bit of the serial that's less well remembered -
the rest of it. Going back to cavemen discovering fire is a
great first trip - a simple premise easily laid out by a single
caveman council meeting. It's so simple that it becomes a fine
background for the real story, which is Ian and Barbara's first
adventure. The TARDIS scene continues with moments just as pitch
perfect and iconic as in Part 1. Dr Who's "If you could touch
the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch
them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?", Ian's
simple "Yes", and then Dr Who silently moving to the controls,
opening the door, and revealing the new landscape outside,
visible from the console room, is magical. The interior doors of
the TARDIS are rarely consistent with the police box exterior -
relative dimensions and all that - but being able to see out
them from the console room in this scene is stunning, as is
Barbara's silent look at Ian in the foreground before stepping
out.
The music continues to build a perfect atmosphere -
rather than excitement and adventure, it's filled with danger
and suspense, like we're not sure what to make of our new
environment. Incidentally, the new environment is really well
done. It's probably a very convincing set if viewed on an old
60s TV, because viewed on a 20s laptop (the 20s that come after
the 60s) it still looks pretty good. Out of Dr Who's three
companions, Ian gives the strongest impression so far. He's both
sceptical and likeable - he keeps the sci-fi weirdness grounded
in reality without being a drag. Ian insists what's happening
can't be real but he isn't impossible to persuade, and when Dr
Who goes missing he jumps into action, leading the expedition to
go find him. By the way, when the Doctor wakes up after being
captured, he conjures Capaldi for a moment with his physicality.
The level of detail in the caveman storyline, with the two
leaders trying to take charge, is just enough that it creates a
whole world Dr Who has been dropping into the middle of. There's
an ongoing conflict here that would be happening even if our
heroes never arrived. This gives us a major piece of the show's
formula, with the Doctor solving other people's problems.
However, in these early stories, at this stage in his character
arc, Dr Who is just trying to survive. The Doctor saving Ian
with "if he dies, there will be no fire!" is probably his first
properly heroic act. The cliffhanger is great, pulpy, adventure
serial fun. The conflict is simple but there's so much mystery
around Dr Who and his fantastic ship. I can't wait to tune in
next week!
Part Three - The Forest of Fear
Really helpful of Clara to inspire Dr Who as a child with
"fear makes companions of us all". I like the way it's slightly
rephrased with the message being the same, making the idea of it
as a faded memory more convincing. Anyway, it really is a nice
little moment, breaking down the boundaries between Dr Who and
his companions. Interesting that the first use of the term
'companion' includes the Doctor - he is Barbara's companion in
that moment. The four of them are all in it together on equal
terms.
The old cavewoman gives a memorable performance
with her distinctive voice and calm omens of doom, and the
forest of fear is another decently convincing set. The escape
attempt takes a different tone from the previous part though.
Rather than pulpy adventure fun, it actually gets quite
harrowing. The stress of the situation understandably starts to
get to them all, particularly Barbara. It becomes a journey of
horror of desperation as they run until they can't physically
run any more.
This is the first part that doesn't
introduce any new ideas, which wouldn't be a problem except the
ideas introduced in the first two parts are absolute doosies you
could build a 60 year legacy on. We're now just running around
dealing with the different caveman factions trying to make orb
give them fire. Luckily by the time we get here we're already
invested in these characters, particularly Ian and Barbara, who
remain grounded and sympathetic as the world goes mad around
them. I do like how, immediately after Dr Who starts to become a
more likeable helpful character, his treatment of the wounded
caveman makes him seem cruel and alien again. We're still not
sure what to make of him, and his quiet consideration of killing
the caveman is a nice extreme act to mark the very start of the
Doctor's character arc that will stretch on throughout the
decades.
The cliffhanger to this one is fine but getting
captured is always less impactful the second time.
Part Four - The Firemaker
Dr Who tricking Kal into showing his bloody knife was a nice
little moment, demonstrating the Doctor's intelligence and also
allowing our heroes to take back some control of their situation
after getting captured yet again. When they're thrown back into
the cave of skulls it seems on the surface like it was all for
nothing, which is a bit frustrating to watch. The conversation
between the cavemen afterwards though shows their actions during
their escape attempt had consequences and that their kindness
has saved their lives.
But of course this part gives us
what we were ultimately waiting for - an epic caveman fight
scene. It's a fine epic caveman fight as far as epic caveman
fights go. The music, the flickering light of the fire, the
reaction shots of our heroes which contain a surprising amount
of character, especially Barbara's pained look of just wanting
the fighting to end. It's an interesting tone to strike.
Violence is still treated as a shocking, harrowing thing that
our heroes are subjected to but it's also treated as an exciting
pulpy climax to an adventure. Ultimately, we're left with the
horror of it as our heroes react to one caveman killing the
other with a stone - the same thing Dr Who silently considered
earlier. To be clear, I'm not complaining about the clashing
tone. You're allowed to have several different tones in a story
that lasts 100 minutes, and clashing different styles together
is what Doctor Who does so well. Ian and Barbara are normal
people being forced to endure life in an adventure serial.
Still, the overall lighter style of this part makes it a more
entertaining watch than Part 3.
I like that it's Susan,
the Unearthly Child herself, who comes up with the big solution
for escaping. Susan hasn't really had a lot to do other than be
the reason Ian and Barbara got into this mess. She's mostly just
been terrified of everything going on, so for her to use her
fear and create a way to scare the cavemen is really satisfying.
The fact that Dr Who runs past Barbara when she falls, making no
attempt to stop and help her up is a less obvious marker of his
character arc than wanting to kill someone, for obvious reasons,
but it is still a big moment based on who we know the character
to eventually be. It's quite well done too - just the Doctor's
distinctive trousers passing her by as she lies there before Ian
stops to help. The shot focuses us on Barbara and her feelings,
and we don't even see Dr Who's face as he passes her by.
The final chase through the forest is exciting, although the
shots of the actors running in place while getting smacked by
branches is very funny. I like how dishevelled they all are when
they get back to the TARDIS, as seen in that one iconic photo.
This has not been a glamorous adventure. So far, while Doctor
Who will have moments of action and excitement, there's also a
real sense of peril and horror to this show.
The final
TARDIS scene feels like, for a moment, it could wrap up the
whole series if only Dr Who would get them back to 1963.
Shockingly, we instead arrive in the middle of a strange swamp,
with a nice little bit of incidental music. The music throughout
this whole adventure has been excellent, never too much or not
enough. We've had long stretches without music to let the
emotions of a situation really settle in, but when present the
music has set the tone perfectly. The final image with the
radiation meter pointing to 'DANGER', then the on-screen caption
'Next Episode: THE DEAD PLANET' is just perfect. Chef kiss.
Overall
An Unearthly Child is a fine story with a truly iconic first
episode. Parts 2 to 4 are perfectly good too, although there is
a slight feeling of repetition to the team's escape attempts.
Part 3 is probably the weakest link as a result, especially
considering it's the one where the situation seems the most
harrowing, making it the least enjoyable watch. Parts 2 and 4
have elements of fun to them, with their slightly simplistic
plots that could fit comfortably into a children's storybook.
The cavemen capture Dr Who because they see him make fire with
his pipe. Our heroes escape the cavemen with a cunning ruse
using fire and skulls. These simple elements work well with the
more complex big ideas given to us in Part 1 about the TARDIS
and how this all works. Part 3 on the other hand seems less
storybook - there is a real threat of death, from the dead
animals in the forest to the murder of the old woman.
In
the end, it's not hard to see why this show took off. It's a
really solid premise, that these characters could end up
anywhere in time and space, fighting for their lives. At this
point it's very much a show about survival, not yet about the
wonders of the universe. Ian and Barbara make great leads, and
although she doesn't get much to do after the first episode,
Susan gives a strong introduction. But Dr Who himself is
wonderfully unpredictable - he can be cruel and cowardly, but
also the smartest and most commanding presence in a scene.
William Hartnell does an amazing job balancing it all and
creating an enigmatic old wizard we want to learn more about. No
wonder it's lasted 60 years.
Next: ???