Review of An Unearthly Child (Classic Who 1.1)

[unfeathered]

A very mixed reaction to this one. It was fascinating to see what the very first DW serial was like - and about - but to be honest, the fact that it was about a tribe of cavemen meant that to me it was pretty damn boring. Cavemen really aren't my thing. Not to mention the complete absense of worry about timelines and showing the cavemen how to make fire etc. etc.!


Saying that, the first episode was great, mainly because it was the first one and had to set the whole thing up. I'd actually seen that one last year when Sci-Fi had a DW weekend (and now I know why they didn't bother showing the rest of the serial! *g*) but it was good to see it again. It was quite a gamble they took, I feel, opening the show from the POV of the companions, with the Doctor only making an appearance towards the end of the first episode, but it definitely gave it a good air of suspense.

The most interesting part of the rest of it, to me, was that his companions were already berating the Doctor for acting superior to everyone else and not showing compassion or feeling. Something that's definitely been a theme in recent seasons!

Oh, and William Russell (Ian Chesterton) really was quite a cutie! Definitely added enjoyment! *g*

Interesting facts gleaned (forgive me if they're really obvious, but they're new to me!):

1. Susan was born in the 49th century, but she doesn't say where.

2. The TARDIS was disguised as a police box because they were in 1963 so Susan could attend school (for 5 months). When they materialised in Stone Age times, it didn't change its appearance, and both the Doctor and Susan were surprised - which presumably means this is the first time the chameleon circuit failed to work.

3. When they land in the Stone Age, the Doctor needs to go out and look at fossils and things to find out when they are. He obviously gets better at that!

4. At the end of the episode, the Doctor admits that he doesn't really know how to work the TARDIS. To me, this seems to imply that he hasn't actually had it for that long.


And next, I get the Daleks! Yippeee!!! :-)

Comments

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

interesting notes! I didn't remember that about Susan's birth

[unfeathered]

Yeah, it was interesting! I might watch the commentaries today (of the first and fourth episodes) and see if any other interesting facts come up!

[hellenebright.livejournal.com]

The way Susan refers to it, as in "I won't leave the 20th century" has always implied to me that Susan was born on earth, although she must be at least half Gallifreyan.

That was the first time the chameleon circuit failed to work (there is some archive note about the idea behind it - which was to keep costs down)

[unfeathered]

She certainly seems to have an affinity with Earth, doesn't she? I'm not sure I'd read that as her necessarily having been born there, but it's an interesting theory.

Mind you, I think I read somewhere that at this point they hadn't even decided the Doctor was going to be an alien - this episode definitely makes more of him talking about the future than about other worlds etc. Oh, though he does say something about them being cut off from their own race, I think.

Ah well. I guess they just hadn't decided at this point.

[hellenebright.livejournal.com]

Gallifrey and the Time Lords certainly didn't appear for a good long while (not at all in any of William Hartnell's series). The impression given in Unearthly Child is that The Doctor is a loner like HG Wells Time Traveller, and built the TARDIS himself. Susan certainly says she made the name up from "Time And Relative Dimension In Space" - although later it was treated as the Gallifreyan word for a Time Lord's conveyance.

I think originally they had a vague idea that he was from the future when the Earth had evolved new races (like HG Wells Eloi and Morlocks), and had been exiled from there somehow.

[unfeathered]

Wow, I didn't realise it took them *that* long to decide where he was from!