TV Review: Classic Doctor Who, season 1

TV #10 of 2022:

Classic Doctor Who, season 1

It’s been over a decade now since the first/only previous time I ever watched all of Classic Who straight through, so I figured I was probably due for a rewatch. Doctor Who is still my very favorite franchise, and in the years since, I have of course kept up with the modern program and its spin-offs, but I have also listened to all of the officially-licensed Big Finish audio dramas (which often reprise cast members from the older era), and dabbled in the tie-in novels and comic books as well. So those are my Whovian bona fides heading into this initial season, which debuted in November 1963 in all its black-and-white glory.

TV back then was rather different from our current sensibilities, and my best advice is to treat it more as live theater than as a perfect polished production. Actors, particularly First Doctor William Hartnell, regularly flub the dialogue, or step on somebody else’s, or otherwise miss their cues. The special effects, costumes, and sets aren’t always wholly convincing. But it was a low-budget feature, the cost of film was too expensive to merit many repeated takes, and the performers generally had only a few days in which to memorize their scripts and blocking. No one was expecting the performances to be preserved long past broadcast, either. If you consider the resulting work as a series of rushed plays, I find it’s a bit easier to suspend disbelief.

As for the stories, I would say they are just barely more good than great overall, but there are definitely some real winners here, especially for fans of the later show. As multi-part serials, ranging from two to seven episodes each, a few of these drag on unduly. But so much here is instantly iconic as the Doctor Who that I love, from the look and sound of the TARDIS time machine and the Dalek soldiers to that haunting theme song and the general concept of a mysterious yet enchanting alien stranger whisking unsuspecting humans away through time and space. No one has yet mentioned Gallifrey or Time Lords or regeneration. But the core of the show’s essence is there from the start, along with the glimmer of why it’s continued to endure through today.

In its earliest incarnation, the series was pitched as an educational program, and so there are a lot of pure historical adventures, where the protagonists visit somewhere in the past and there’s no particular science-fiction on display, merely travels with Marco Polo or intrigues of the French Revolution or the like. But the beauty is already that this is a show that can transform itself utterly from chapter to chapter, and so we do get some futuristic vistas and bug-eyed monsters peppered in as well.

With the exception of Susan, who’s frustratingly positioned just to scream and get captured much of the time — and whose role as the Doctor’s granddaughter never leads to the natural pathos or the greater worldbuilding that it seemingly should — the characters are pretty fun. The Doctor is gruffer and sharper than a modern viewer might expect, but his irascible exterior hides a playfulness that comes out as the season goes on and his reluctant passengers endear themselves to him. Those last two travelers, contemporary schoolteachers Ian and Barbara, are our audience surrogates, and they are often the ones saving the day through brains or brawn, rather than their elderly kidnapper. They certainly provide the relatable perspective and emotional heart to many of these early serials.

Do I think every New Who fan needs to watch this first run in its entirety? (Which you more or less can; there are audio recordings and visual reconstructions of the few episodes that haven’t survived.) Nah, not really. Beyond the issues I’ve already touched on, there’s some unfortunate sexism and racism here, perhaps most egregiously in using white British people to play all but one of the Chinese and Aztec roles or an awful line from the Doctor about primitive savages. It’s a specifically 1960s English vision of history, which is sometimes hard to stomach. But it’s more rewarding than you might imagine, if you can put up with the weaker moments.

Serials ranked:

★★☆☆☆
THE KEYS OF MARINUS (1×21 – 1×26)

★★★☆☆
THE EDGE OF DESTRUCTION (1×12 – 1×13)
THE REIGN OF TERROR (1×37 – 1×42)
MARCO POLO (1×14 – 1×20)
THE SENSORITES (1×31 – 1×36)

★★★★☆
THE DALEKS (1×5 – 1×11)
AN UNEARTHLY CHILD (1×1 – 1×4)
THE AZTECS (1×27 – 1×30)

[Content warning for gun violence, sexual harassment, and implied threat of rape.]

★★★☆☆

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