The Dalek Invasion of Earth

The Daleks have returned! Well I didn’t see that coming! And this time they invaded the Earth! The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara must be wondering when they will land somewhere safe!

What to say about this story? It’s pretty good I guess, well done in parts and less so in others. The flying saucers were right out of Ed Wood for starters! The Slither wasn’t very good either. Some parts lacked sufficient background music. Never the less, on the flip side some great shots were achieved, and they got the show out of the TV studio.

‘World’s End’, the opening episode, is very well directed and paced. Another case of the Doctor and his band of merry women and one man exploring their surroundings and gradually becoming aware of where they are and what’s going on. Unfortunately Susan hurts her ankle in a piece of appallingly bad acting that is hard to ignore. She’s squealing again!

The Robomen. What can I say? I understand the need for them in Terry Nation’s story, but the polystyrene head-gear that they wear is a bit embarrassing from a design stand point. However, achieving the Dalek coming out of the Thames at the end of the first episode is something the production team should be very proud of. I have never seen an In grin come out of water. The stuff on film generally looks great.

The plotline is definitely, though, B-movie. I don’t know if B-movie is a step up or down for Doctor Who to be honest. The way the explanations are delivered is not so well written for example. It’s very plain and functionary. However, direction Richard Martin did a great job with cross fades and the like to spruce it up visually.

 

For this viewer, the saucers are the biggest point of embarrassment (for the production team), both in design and in being in the story in the first place, and the detonation device in the final two episodes that is supposed to break the Earth’s crust. The model shots may have a lot of detail, but sadly look like toys. Ian spends all this time phaffing around inside the device pulling out wires, and later he manages to stop it with a couple of thin logs. Meanwhile all that was needed to defeat the daleks was ordering the robomen to turn on them.

The scenes are rather good at the end though, with the humans destroying the Daleks. The shot with a Dalek lifted above their heads is particularly memorable.

The costume people did something interesting with the character Jenny, played by Ann Davies . Apparently her hair wasn’t prepared for the film shots, so she had to wear and extremely comical

balaclava for exterior shots (and some studio work too). Bernard Kay is rather good in this as Tyler – I wonder if he’s likely to reappear in another story? Probably not, they wouldn’t re-engage the same actor for different roles in this series I imagine.

Barbara (Jacqueline Hill) has a nice role to play in this story, her character is very strong and she seems to enjoy the role. She is split from the rest, and so is Ian who has his own story. Susan spends most of the story with the Doctor and David (Peter Fraser) – where she falls in love. She has her fair share of screaming and crying, but a very nice final scene. The Doctor leaves her on Earth to start a life with David.  The final scene is very moving indeed and well delivered from the two actors.

The story has a few ridiculous things in it, and at the same time it is rather harsh at times. We get to see more death at the hands of the Daleks than in the first instalment, a lot of it is quite brutal in as much as it was needless. Perhaps the most horrific scene is the one where the character       is strangled to death by his brother, now a roboman.

London is destroyed by firebombs, but we really don’t see any of the devastation. Only one bomb is diffused, and most of the city should be in ruins, yet Barbara and Jenny don’t even hear the bombs exploding and drive off through London in an ancient fire truck, a London showing no signs of the fire bombs. It’s a nice scene, but the Dalek’s appear to have the least effective bombs ever devised.

To summarise though, I think the production team were easily attempting the ‘biggest’ story they had ever done. They were raising the bar with props, locations, characters and the like. The story is well paced and well done on the whole, especially for what was possible at the time and keeping in mind the limited budget.

 

7/10

Planet of Giants

Would I be the only one who found the title misleading to this new Doctor Who adventure/Susan scream fest? I mean, the Doctor and his company are shrunk down to the size of an inch, whereas all the other characters are normal size. So there are no actual giants. To be honest, I was disappointed.

On the other hand, a tricky concept to pull off and I think the production mostly succeeded in this story. Very big props were made for the actors to cart about and the giant-sized sets were excellent, I don’t think anyone could disagree with that. It’s just a pity that the storyline was a bit naff.

The soundtrack was very interesting I thought. Very much of the time. This was a rare case of the Doctor, Ian and Barbara possibly returning to their own time on Earth, but nothing is made of that at all despite Ian and Barbara desperately wanting to go home. Instead of the production team making something set in the far past or future, this story is very clearly ‘the early 60s’ in its design, its look and its feel. It felt very strange after watching the first eight stories, it was nothing like them.

 

And the Doctor etc etc don’t for a second really interact with the other characters, which makes two separate plots basically. There is the storyline concerning the nasty Alan Tilvern (Forester) who is happy to make money from an insecticide that will kill almost anything in its path. He shoots a man from the ministry and spends the three episodes trying to cover it up, with the aid of the scientist who invented the insecticide, and the storyline following the Doctor and his companions.

Once again, due to little more than curiosity, they find themselves separated from the TARDIS. Their only goal really is to get back there, alive. Barbara is infected by the insecticide when she handles a grain doused in the stuff, and for some reason tells no one about it for ages! A very odd thing to do really, there was no real motive behind it.

 

Credit where credit is due, the design, the sets, the props are all fantastic. A lot of work went into that aspect of the story. If it was going to interest or convince anyone, then they needed to be good and they were. I have learnt through my friend Andrew who seems to know a lot about this mysterious series that there was originally four episodes, and the squashed episodes three and four together because it didn’t sustain enough pace for four full episodes. I could see a case for making it only two to be honest! Nevertheless, it was far from all-bad. Well-directed, but the plot-line is simply too thin to sustain the story. Lack of interactions between the Doctor, his companions and the other characters limited dialogue, although it is an interesting way to do a story, with the other characters not even aware of the Doctor’s existence. The first time they’ve tried that.

For it to sustain three or four episodes, perhaps more characters are needed. You could still keep the split in the action, but the storyline external to the Doctor and co. needed a bit more intrigue.

An interesting study of what it’s like to affect an environment, a situation, without direct communication nor interaction with it.

 

4.5/10

The Reign of Terror

Well. What a place for the Doctor and his companions to land. Final story of the (transmitted, my friend Andrew put me straight) first Doctor Who season, and they arrive in the middle of the French Revolution. RIGHT in it. Sorry, was just dying to say that.

I avoid these periods of Earth’s history if I can. They are bleak and depressing, dangerous and all in black and white. I only had one black and white adventure – it was my first. Then I moved on from that! Colour suits me much better and I am surprised the Doctor hasn’t given colour a go to be perfectly honest.

Again, as appears to be the tradition, the first episode concentrates on the Doctor and his friends. They discover their surrounds, find a barn, a kid, and nearly get burned in the process. It’s a pretty good opening all told, but straight away we appear to be in for a bit of a grim tail. The sets, though limited, seem very authentic, and they found a good child actor there as well. Costumes look very good too, much more authentic than the Aztec ones.

People are already getting killed left right and centre, and Barbara, Susan and Ian are swept off to the Concergerie prison in Paris. The Doctor is saved by the kid. This is where the story goes a bit wonky. I understand that this was made in some very small studios, and the sets bear that out. The Paris streets are little more than alleyways, everything feels cramped throughout this story.

Also, the decision to set almost half of the six episodes inside a dirty old French prison may have saved a few pounds but does nothing to make the story exciting. I was expecting they would move on from there, but from episode two to episode six they keep landing themselves back in the prison. Susan is in fine whining, screaming and crying form, especially when confronted by rats that aren’t even there! It’s a mercy to the audience that she gets sick and barely features in the second half of the tale.

The writer, Dennis Spooner, must have been a fan of the Carry On films. He wrote a number of comedic characters into the story like the stupid-beyond-stupid jailer and the leader of the road gang who the Doctor smacks on the back of the head with a shovel in a surprisingly violent act. You wouldn’t catch THIS Time Lord being so brutal. Probably. Actually even my friend Andrew felt this was rather alarming and went a bit too far.

The Doctor though appears to enjoy the story enormously, changing into fancy dress and the like and impersonating a leader from one of the provinces. Dennis Spooner gave him plenty to do. Like Carry On – Don’t Lose Your Head, this story is very British. Again it refers to the Scarlett Pimpernel – or at least people doing what he was reputed to have done in helping French Aristocrats to escape from France. I was watching on one of the DVD things and there were pointers and explanations shown at the bottom of the screen and it seems it must be fiction because many things didn’t actually happen, or at that time.

Then the strangest thing happens. The Doctor, his companions and the entire cast not to mention the sets are somehow changed into cartoons. It is not explained, nor is the fact that they change back at the start of the final episode. Why would this happen? What celestial force has the power to do such a thing? I was very confused.

In fact I had an adventure where I was turned into a cartoon, in a place called ‘Cartoon Land’. It was very unpleasant and I don’t recommend it. However, at least my head stayed normal!

‘The Reign of Terror’ had a lot of potential in my eyes, but it fell a bit short in the end. The sets were well done but the lack of space in the studio really hurt this story, it limited what the writer could do and where he could take the characters, and gave a very cramped feel to the story. Yet they still put a horse in the studio! It’s a barmy world sometimes!

 

6/10

 

The Sensorites

So we did, after all, go to the future from the past. From ancient Mexico to an age when humankind has ploughed the depths of space, and a space ship is trapped orbiting the Sensphere. I hadn’t heard of these Sensorites before, but I was interested to find out about them. There are many telepathic races out in the Universe, I’ve met a few of them myself.

The first episode, entitled ‘Strangers in Space’, was an interesting affair. Very atmospheric I thought, the design of the space ship was excellent if limited. I gather this story was shot in a very small space. The futuristic episodes especially seem to have a pattern of the Doctor and his team arriving and spending most of the first episode exploring and finding out where they are, this was no exception.

Barbara and Susan meet Crazy John.

They didn’t have so much to explore this time, but we were introduced to slightly melodramatic Maitland (Lorne Cossette) who is the sometimes sleeping sometimes awake captain of the vessel. There is something claustrophobic and scary about most of the first episode. Some good acting from Stephen Dartnell are the unbalanced John adds to that feeling. It all builds nicely.

Then the head of a Sensorite pops up on the screen and that kinda killed it to a certain extent.

It’s not fast paced, and the Sensorites masks are rather abysmal to be brutally honest. It’s almost like a sock over the face with needless beards. No female Sensorites either, and they definitely come across as male rather than sexless. The actual costumes are plain and uninspired. The best of the serial comes from the psychological build up that really dissipates in episodes three and four when they are down on the planet.

Naughty Sensorites who wish the Doctor harm are written and played so predictably that it’s tedious before that strand of the storyline even begins! However, Peter R Newman, who wrote this possibly true tale for its video visual interface, adds a nice twist. The real villains of the peace are actually EARTHMEN who are poisoning the water supply and killing the poor Sensorites. That was a nice twist indeed, and probably very radical for 1964. If this was fiction that is. And I really am not sure. I just know my adventures most certainly did happen to me!

The Sensorite who is very xenophobic is the ‘city administrator’. What is very strange is that he takes of some rings and plonks on a sash and fools everyone into believing he is the first elder. Even in black and white with poor definition the Sensorites look slightly different to the casual viewer. Surely other Sensorites wouldn’t be fooled? And then his demise is not even shown. The First Elder says he suddenly admitted to everything. Very loose piece of plotting. Unless it really happened like that.

This is a good story for William Hartnell as the Doctor. He gets to do stuff. Sadly we miss Barbara for a couple of episodes as she is stuck on the ship. William Russel gets sick for a bit too so the Doctor and Susan carry a fair bit of the storyline. Perhaps too much is carried by the Sensorites themselves. I liked the idea of them but not the realisation. It makes it very difficult to comment on the general acting too.

Nevertheless, I didn’t hate this story, was interested by it at points and thought some of the mood created early was excellent. I’d challenge anyone though to honestly say it doesn’t drag!

 

6.5/10

The Aztecs

Well it seems this Doctor and his friends keep alternating from future to the past. This time they head back to the Aztec civilisation in Mexico and get up to all sorts of larks. Written by Mr John Lucarotti, who wrote 'Marco Polo'.
So I sat back and watched. Very quickly the Doctor and Barbara etc are separated from the TARDIS. In fact, they spend the whole story trying to get back to it. It seems to be the entire plotline of the adventure. Interesting idea - wait, wasn't that the idea behind 'Marco Polo' as well?

Anyways, onto the story. Once I'd got past Susan and her emotions, she was shifted away and hardly appeared in episodes two and three. What a mercy. Interesting character thread for her and Barbara in this one. She defiantly says she won't marry the 'perfect sacrifice'. This is akin to her outrage at Ping Cho's betrothal in 'Marco Polo'. I find it interesting as the Doctor at this time is accepting of other culture's practices and the like, but he clearly has not instilled that in Susan.
Surely she would know this sort of defiance gets her nowhere?
Oh well.

The evil Tloxocl and Barbara.

Barbara on the other hand takes the lead in the story pretending to be Ytaxca. Jaqueline Hill is a tower of strength in this, a wonderful performance. She is pitted against Tlotoxcl who is very evilly played by John Ringham. She wants to change the course of history. The Doctor tells her she can't rewrite history, 'not one line'. He's right there, tried it myself and failed too often I must say.
To balance Tlotoxcl, we have Autloc, played by Keith Pyott. I enjoyed this performance, a wonderful, humble character well portrayed indeed. And as Cameca, Margaret Van Der Burgh, another wonderfully honest performance. I think the acting is to be highly commended all round.

Cameca is the Doctor's love interest in this story, but it's not to be. I'm sure though that most stories the Doctor will have a dalience or two. I had one once, two in fact. Twice this ol Professor here has fallen in love, both times it ended in tragedy and death :( At least Cameca was spared that fate.

Ian is busy with his own personal feud with Ixta, a might warrior played by Ian Cullen. This is a secondary struggle to Barbara and Tlotoxcl, but interesting and rather testosterone pumped! I think all the main characters had a lot to do in this one, and all had personal journies to fulfill. This made it quite an interesting story to watch. Even if the costumes were not accurate at all. I know, I visited Mexico at a similar time myself but managed to stay more in cognito than these guys!
All round for the four regulars - well done!

I expect next I will be taken to a story set in the future or at least on an alien planet. I wonder if it will be anywhere I know....

7.5/10

The Keys of Marinus

My journey into the worlds of this strange Time Lord who isn't me but has a similar name continued with this six part story called 'The Keys of Marinus'. Six seemed a nicer number than seven = not so long!
The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and screaming Susan arrive on the world of Marinus, escape a lot of deep-sea divers who seem to be hostile for some reason and and very quickly sent on a quest to find keys to this machine by some old guy who's contract didn't seem to stretch past the first episode.

It was a funny story, credited to this 'Terry Nation' chap who wrote that encounter with the Daleks, and I started to wonder if the TV series was actually nothing more than fiction. Interestingly enough this story hopped from place to place, rarely spending much more than an episode anywhere.
I could tell it really was a TV series because the sets seemed to lack a certain something.... money, I think that was what was lacking!

Brains in cases, no walls to be seen. = Money saver!
 

Soon they pick up a couple of others looking for the keys when they land in a world ruled by talking brains in glass casings. That set lacked... walls. An interesting twist on reality when they have their minds effected and everything seems perfect when in fact it's the opposite. My favourite episode of the pipece I think was this episode two, although it lacked background music. And walls at times.

Then we are in the screaming jungle. The Doctor disappears for two episodes, and we have an episode entirely set around a lot of vines and another overacting old fella. This is left to Ian and Barbara to solve, meaning Susan gets to shriek a bit but then moves on for half the episode which is nice. But it's rather dull and nothing much happens.

Episode four puts us into a land of snow, ice and general freezingness. And a yucky man - not so old but not so young - who takes a fancy to Barbara in a scene I felt very uncomfortable watching. I heard somewhere this was supposed to be a kids show. Who are they kidding? (boom boom!)

Ice and snow are very hard to do convincingly on a budget, but hell they did them anyways. Badly. And then Ian is suddenly accused of murder!

Episode Five and they are all reunited with the Doctor, who has the job of defending Ian for killing a guard and stealing the final key of Marinus in the city of Mellenius or something. This episode and the last feature judges in wonderful hats, and poses the question - how would justive work if people were presumed guilty before being proved innocent? Something in that for everyone I thinks!
Interesting telephones and a jealous and evil wife are not enough to stop the Doctor and co, and episode six sees them return to where they started.

However, now the diving instructors, called Voords, have control of the machine. Ian is a smart cookie and switches a fake key for the real last key though. The Doctor and Co. escape just as the machine blows up, killing the Voords. And I ask, Ian is the hero? So what do they need a Time Lord for?

It's an okay story with good and bad points. Can't wait to see what they get up to next!
The Professor, signing off with a 5/10.

Marco Polo

 

 

Well, finally of that TARDIS goes the Doctor and he’s back on Earth. It seems these episodes were engulfed by the time vortex! They don’t exist anymore as moving pictures! The time vortex is a cruel beast that ways, some of my earliest adventures such as ‘The Man-Eater’ and ‘Nature Walk’ have disappeared into time and space never to be seen again. Very sad indeed.

However, this has some sort of reconstruction I saw on the DVD that I bought in the future on ebay for a fraction of the actual cost of today as I blog. In fact I got the whole series. And with a series of blurry photos and some of the surviving soundtrack I could follow this story, apparently 7 parts but on DVD only 31 minutes!

That’s a mercy! So the Doctor and his crew have an issue with the TARDIS getting to cold. How bizarre. Wouldn’t happen if they took better care of it! They meet Marco Polo, a famous traveller from Venice who’s going along the silk road to China, called Cathay back in the time. I went to China once where I met the evil Nhim Sie Hou, but it turned out this Tegana fellow was even shiftier!

They also travelled with Ping Cho, a lady to be married to a man of 70 she had never met. Susan wasn’t so rapt at that thought. She told her what’s for and Ping Cho realised she didn’t really want to marry the chap.

Meanwhile, Marco Polo wants to give the TARDIS to Genghis Khan in the hope he will be allowed home. But Tegana wants war. They travel a heck of a long way in this one, thousands of miles, and never leave the studio. Impressive stuff! All they really want is the TARDIS back so they can bugger off, but every time they get close something goes awry!

 

For seven parts based on such a thin premise, the story holds up extraordinarily well. The actors, especially the supporting cast do a great job, and there appears to be less of Susan’s whining, crying and screaming. Why the Doctor doesn’t just drop her off somewhere and not come I don’t know. A very clever idea for a story, and well paced over seven episodes (in fact I went to this youtube place where I saw a full, colourised version!). Nicely done.

 

8/10

 

 

The Edge of Destruction

Hello what do we have here? A good look at the Doctor's TARDIS.

Well, I was quite jealous, it looks pretty spiffing although who knows how accurate the 1960s BBC design department were. I'm not sure about the photocopied walls but I liked the beds and that handy food dispenser. Oh have we seen that before? Well yes but nevertheless. I expect to see that fault locator featuring prominently all through the 70000 episodes I am yet to see.

As for the story, it was quite strange wasn't it? Everyone goes weird. Susan grabs some scissors and attacks her bed. Good thing it was down feathers. But true to form she is soon whining screaming and crying again in episode two. It seems that does not get toned down. But hey, only at story three, right?

Watching the episodes you get drawn into what is happening and why, espeically episode one, the Doctor and friends are all acting so weird! Is it a new style of theatre? I'm unclear if the TARDIS made them act that way or... it was a strange directorial choice by Mr Martin.
I once had an untelevised adventure when I never left the TARDIS, and my TARDIS was invaded by the Perfect Humanoids. A very advanced and obviously evil race. I wonder if they will visit this Doctor in a future adventure? I wait to find out.


The TARDIS makes clocks go funny and watches too? All trying to the Doctor that... THAT.... drum roll.....

A switch was stuck. Yes, quite anticlimactic. I can compare these episodes to an episode of the Goodies I watched on my time-space visualiser the other day when the Goodies were encased in concrete. But that was only 30 minutes and two episodes was a little of a stretch for me. I bet the Doctor doesn't have one of those time-space visualisers!

That William Hartnell had some good moments in this one. And others where ummmm.... it appeared he forgot his lines! And the 'fast return' switch was nicely labelled in texta for him. I should think of labelling my controls now that I think about it. I always open the doors mid flight when I meant to adjust the helmic regulator instead....

 

To summarise... it probably needs a better ending to pay off all the tension and stress built through the two episodes.

5/10

The Daleks

Well, now we are talking. This Doctor chap, Ian, Susan and Barbara make their way to a distant planet called Skaro and face these creatures called Daleks. They meet a race of people called the Thals. Much more interesting than running away from cavemen for three episodes!
Strange, I have never heard of these 'Daleks' before. They are like the Ingrins, which I fight on a regular basis, with more bumps and things that stick out. The first part was very atmospheric indeed. I like how they take basically the whole first episode to explore their surroundings and find out about what's going on.

Crikey! It's the bloody Daleks!

The Doctor seems to be a man of tricks, fancy getting them into trouble with the fluid link because he wanted to explore the city! Then the Dalek plunger arrives. Poor Barbara. Did I mention the actress that plays her is rather brilliant?
Radiation poisoning? You have to be careful of that when travelling the cosmos. I have only a type 15 TARDIS but I always make sure the radiation dial is working properly.
The story is long. Wow - seven parts! But only about episode five did it start to drag a bit, nicely resolved but the scene when the Daleks are defeated was strangely lacking in sound. I guess that's 1963-64 production values. Some interesting lessons with the Thals and the guy who appears to be a coward, but sacrifices his life to save Ian's. They were in those tunnels/caves forever. Do they visit caves in every adventure? I'm beginning to wonder!

Lovely work from the cast. Susan got a little bit sad and weepy at times, and screamy at others. I'm sure that will change as I said last time. The Doctor was a shifty old soul too. Shouldn't your hero be lovable? Someone they can all look up to? He did a good job when he went back to the city to disable the cameras of the Daleks though. Ian was again the real hero, leading from the front. Maybe he will get his own spinoff series??? He has a wonderful scene when he goes inside a Dalek, very interesting. I don't think I could successfully hide inside an Ingrin, hats off to you Chesterton!

The guest cast was strong. Of note was the girl, Dyoni, played by Viginia Wetherall. She appears in A Clockwork Orange, sans clothes! A far cry from Doctor Who! Alan Wheatley as Temousos was the perfect Thal leader. Strong and resolute, and blond of course!
This was a very interesting story. I'm glad of that because after the cavemen running about thingo, I wasn't sure whether to progress. Even at seven episodes it dragged less than the first one. I can look forward to 'The Edge of Destruction' with far more confidence.

Dyoni, played by Virginia Wetherall. With clothes.

8/10

An Unearthly Child

Hello folks! I am the Time Lord known as the Professor! You may know me from such youtube adventures as 'Bicycle' and 'The Trials of Deyrius Three' and 'Thye Pirate Feud' to name but a few. I am from the planet Gallifrey and have had thirteen lives, yet strangely even more faces!

I was roaming the interweb the other day and found all this information about another Time Lord I know nothing about, who ridiculously calls himself 'the Doctor'. Yes, he seems to be stealing my gig! Well I found that there was a whole host of adventures he's done, and they all seemed to start in 1963 - 50 years ago. 'Whacko!' I thought, I will watch them all in order and share my thoughts with you people of the interweb.
In fact, I started a few weeks back now, but only just started 'blogging' I think you call it. At the moment I am at the point of 'Planet of Giants'. This Doctor fellow, who seems to be rather absent minded at times, and his friends have been shrunk to the size of an inch! But I will start the blog where I started watching, a story entitled 'An Unearthly Child'.

Susan, Ian and Barbara at school.

Well, it's in black and white? What's with that? Oh my first adventure was in black and white too, I distinctly remember now! Nevertheless, I was intrigued by an excellent first episode. The character of the Doctor is perhaps quite harsh, makes me look much nicer though! :)

Ian and Barbara are school teachers
 

That fellow Ian Chesterton seems a bright and clever man, and Barbara is certainly the caring sort of teacher students need at school. As for Susan, the Doctor's grand daughter, well, she is the most curious of all. Their TARDIS maybe looks a bit better than mine, to be fair. The contraption above the console looked very effective.

Ian meets the Doctor

Then we came to 'The Cave of Skulls', seemingly a continuation of this adventure. There were in fact three more episodes. I was less intrigued by these episodes I admit. There are some savages doing some strange things, very obsessed with fire. A bit of a battle for leadership over the group ensued. The Doctor and his friends were captured, escaped, captured again when they stopped to help one of these savages. Ian was the man who really wanted to help, very thoughtful of him I think he's a very strong character. But this adventure was starting to drag and that Susan - she wailed and screamed a lot. Hopefully she calms down in the next few adventures.

The premise seemed simply to be that the Doctor and Co. needed to escape and little else. Unfortunately I was unable to access the matrix to view this episode, and had to watch something from the BBC. I am unsure if this was live action or a re-enactment. I saw credits and actors names at the end, so I presume it is the later. Much kudos especially then to William Russel and Jaqueline Hill in this particular adventure. William Hartnell's Doctor was hard to get used to, but well portrayed.
Derek Newark was rather good as Mr Savage Number One too I thought.

The decide to help the guy who is hunting them.

But I have to confess the final three episodes made continuing on with further episodes a bit of a worry for me. It was all a bit silly and unconsequential. But on the strength of the first episode, I resolved to soldier on. Hopefully they meet some of my enemies such as the Ingrins or that evil Peter O'Feild at some point. Would like to see how they cope with those!
I have also resolved to give a rating for each adventure. I'll be gentle and go with an overall 5/10 for 'An Unearthly Child', mostly on the strength of the opening episode.
I understand it is available as one of the Earth DVD boxed sets entitled 'The Beginning'. I encourage ye all to buy it if it so interests you.
Until next time

 

 

The Professor.