An Adventure in Space and Time

I've been a Doctor Who fan for a long time. Well, a relatively long time -- I came to the show kind of late, I didn't start watching it seriously until about 1978. In the past few years, I started collecting the DVDs from the beginning, and at this point have watched all the first and second Doctor episodes, and am into the third. I was very pleased that as part of the 50th anniversary of the show this weekend, the BBC produced this wonderful little movie that tells the story of William Hartnell, Verity Lambert, et al, creating Doctor Who. One thing that is singularly remarkable about the show is how much was defined in just the first few episodes. I was especially interested in the implication that the "surly doctor" from the pilot was Verity Lambert's mistake. Novices seem to so often create unlikeable protagonists, and then reverse that decision when it isn't working. Jason VandenBerghe once told me he thought that novices do this because it seems like such a fresh idea -- only later do they realize that no one does it because it doesn't work.

The best part about this for me was how much dignity it gives to William Hartnell. Nowadays, people often look back on Hartnell with disappointment. They accuse him of being egotistic and arrogant, mock his failing faculties and mannerisms, and shake their heads about the show being dull. What a refreshing relief to see Hartnell get his due, a respectful biopic that appreciates how difficult it was to create something that has lasted for fifty years, and will surely last for generations to come.

Doctor Who #3: The Edge of Destruction

Oh man. Even though this is only a two-episode story, it's crazy fun. The whole thing takes place on the TARDIS -- apparently because there were production delays for sets and costumes with story #4, Marco Polo! But that's cool, because this story is awesome. Obviously I'm going to give spoilers -- if that's a problem, get out now! So... leaving Skaro (in a hurry) there is suddenly an explosion on board the TARDIS, and everyone is knocked out. Everyone seems to be suffering some kind of space madness featuring amnesia and moodiness. On top of that, the TARDIS is behaving very strangely. It just shows a series of pictures on the scanner screen, outside the doors is pure whiteness, and it shocks people who touch certain parts of the console. And, oh yeah, all the clocks have melted. After two episodes of this incredible weirdness (the second episode is called The Brink of Disaster -- hee) -- they figure it out. In their hurry to leave Skaro, the Doctor hit the "fast return" switch (You know it is the fast return switch, because someone wrote "fast return" with a black marker next to it), which is kind of like the "last channel" button on your TV remote. It is supposed to take you back to where you just were. (Side note: Really? Is this a for-real button on the TARDIS? Because it would have been incredibly useful in, oh, I don't know ALMOST EVERY EPISODE OF THE SHOW!) Anyway, it turns out that it got stuck down -- physically stuck down, when the Doctor pushed it... and so... it appears that it whizzed the TARDIS back in time, past 100,000 BC Earth, and all the way to the Big Bang... the start of the Universe, before there was time, and thus, the melting clocks. The Doctor doesn't say this, per se... he rambles a bit about how exciting it is to be there for the birth of a star... but, uh, the story is way better if it's the big bang, so, I'm going with that.

There is a ton of stuff that makes no sense in this episode... Susan has a psycho moment, and appears to lose control of herself, fighting urges to stab Ian with scissors; the Doctor drugs everyone for no reason, and later everyone is amused by that; every though time has stopped, time on the TARDIS is still going, and if they don't do something soon the TARDIS will be destroyed,  etc. But... it was a super fun episode. We got to learn more about the characters, and we learn the most about the TARDIS. Apparently, it can think for itself, "machine thoughts" as the Doctor explains... but it just can't communicate very well. It clearly has a kind of safety system it will use to protect itself and it's inhabitants... this is definitely the first time the TARDIS is shown to have intelligence, something that is revisted many times in future episodes.

Quotes and Notes:

• Barbara is still wearing Thal pants!
• Ian listens to the Doctor's heartbeat... but doesn't notice his second heart. Heh -- maybe one of them stopped!
• "I can't take you back Susan... I can't!"
• The food machine doesn't work at the beginning of time... for some reason...
• Susan uses special ointment from the TARDIS first aid kit -- when the wound is healed, it turns white.
• Susan has a bed? Turns out Susan and Barbara are roommates. 
• Susan's psycho scene was totally horrifying. 
• "I must check the coordinates." <-- Why are the coordinates so far from the console?
• "I recognize that... That's where we nearly lost the TARDIS, four or five journeys back." "Yes, the planet Quinnis, of the fourth universe." <-- do they mean Galaxy 4?
• "Did I ever tell you that the ship has a memory bank, hmm?"
• It would appear William Hartnell forgot some lines for the melting clock scene... rendering it somewhat unintelligible. 
• "One man's law is another man's crime."
• The ending of episode 1 was awesome. 
• The danger signal? I guess this is the cloister bell?
• "We had time taken away from us, but now it's given back to us, because it's running out!"
• Interesting fact: The height of the column rise on the console tells how much power the TARDIS is using.
• "You know, I acquired that ulster from Gilbert and Sullivan." "Really? I thought it was made for two." :)

These old episodes are totally fun. 

Doctor Who #2: The Daleks

The Daleks are the best known enemy on the show, and it is quite interesting that they were defined so early in the show -- the second story! I have heard many recaps and explanations of the origin of the Daleks -- but it was meaningful to see it actually take place. This is a seven episode story, so kind of long. My main reaction to this whole thing was an unexpected one -- pity for the Daleks. They are horribly mutated from their nuclear war with the Thals, and have survived by building prosthetics for themselves, and a city that is totally wheelchair accessible. To power their, uh, wheelchairs? the city has metal floors everywhere that they draw power from. So... everyone jokes that the Daleks can't deal with stairs, but that is not an oversight. They are well aware that they cannot leave the artificial world of ramps and elevators they have created. So... I know I'm supposed to hate them, but they are kind of underdogs, compared to the Thals, who somehow got through a nuclear war coming out six feet tall and blonde. Weirdly, the Daleks (formerly Dals) were once a nation of poets and philosophers, but war with the Thals somehow changed that. And if the Daleks, hovering on the edge of survival, didn't have it bad enough, the Doctor and his friends show up, and mercilessly murder them all. 

No wonder the Daleks are so pissed all the time. 

Quotes and Notes:

• Timelords eat. 
• The TARDIS has a machine that makes food and water when the Doctor enters certain codes. The food is some kind of futuristic candy bar that can taste like anything.
• The Doctor sabotages the TARDIS, endangering everyone.
• "We need drugs." Really? Anti-radiation drugs are all you need to deal with severe radiation?
• Barbara falls for one of the Thals. It is peculiar how quickly she and Ian have adapted to this strange situation, and how little they seem interested in going home. 
• There are "21 different holes" in the Tardis lock -- use the wrong one, and the lock fuses shut. 
• Dilating Dalek eyes are cool. 
• Radiation makes the Daleks stronger... they are just figuring this out now?
• Why is the Dalek city so complicated?
• "This is no time for morals." 
• There are glowing lakes full of mutated creatures behind the Dalek city. Cool.
• That whirlpool was f'ing huge. 
• Barbara does not have appropriate footwear for a death swamp. 
• The Doctor's binocular glasses are the coolest. 
• Barbara's bad knot tying skills almost kill her bf.
• The doctor discovers the Dalek city is powered by "Single Cable Static Electricity" and he plans to short out the city using the TARDIS key as a conductor. "I could always make another one."
• The Thals are terrible rock climbers.
• "No doubt you have other wars to fight."
• "I was once [a pioneer] among my own people."
• "Always search for truth. Mine is in the stars."
• "Maybe I'll visit your grandchildren."

I'm so glad I'm watching these early episodes -- they put a new light on everything. 

Doctor Who #1: An Unearthly Child

My recent trip to the UK, and to Forbidden Planet, gave me new resolve. I'm tired of only sort-of grasping what is going on in Doctor Who. This has frustrated me since about 1977. Enough. I am going to watch every episode of Doctor Who, starting at #1, and continuing until I catch up. I know what you are going to say, though. You're going to say... "But.. a lot of the early episodes are missing... you won't be able to do it." Screw that. Yes, the BBC inexplicably has lost videotapes of 108 of the 777 episodes. But, fortunately, they have the audio recordings of every single episode, and have been kind enough to have created radio dramas out of them by adding narration to cover the visuals (and they're good, too). Combine that with photographs that exist of the missing episodes, and it's good enough for me -- it's certainly enough that I can follow the story. Because that is what is amazing about Doctor Who. It is one continuous story thread that has been told over nearly fifty years, and could easily go another fifty. It builds on itself in a significant way, making it necessary to go back to the beginning to fully understand it.

It is also well known that I have a time travel obsession and this is definitely part of that. Whatever.

These things are going to have spoilers... but seriously, 48 years is past the statute of limitations.

Okay, so -- Story #1: An Unearthly Child. 

The DVD is kind enough to include the pilot of the first episode of this four part story. To be clear, the first episode was filmed twice... Once as a pilot, and then a second time when they filmed the rest of the story. What is startling are the differences between the pilot and the "real" first episode. In the pilot, the Doctor is an incredibly mean cuss. Very rude, constantly shouting in anger -- he seems like a truly dangerous character, with really nothing likable about him. In the re-filming, his character has softened... whereas before he was intensely angry all the time, afterwards he fluctuates between a softer anger, and by being distracted by his scientific curiosity. This makes him just as rude, but not as threatening... more eccentric, less psychotic. Curiously, this bears a striking parallel to the pilot of Phineas and Ferb -- in that, Phineas is a very snarky little boy -- in all future episodes, Phineas is much more likable and thoughtful. It's as if, in both cases, the writers were concerned there wouldn't be enough conflict in the show, and so they made their protagonists want to fight the world (if the Doctor and Phineas actually are protagonists, which is not completely clear) but then they realized that this was unnecessary, and only makes them unlikable.

What is amazing is how much of the entire series is set forth in this episode -- the Police Box, the nature of the TARDIS, the broken chameleon circuit, and even the fact that the Doctor and Susan are exiles, unable to return home, though they hope to, one day. One certainly wonders who Susan is... The Doctor really has a granddaughter? This implies a lot.

Another difference between the pilot and episode 1: In the pilot, the St. John Ambulance cross is clearly visible on the door of the TARDIS. But in the re-filmed episode, it is not clearly visible: it appears to have been painted over. Interestingly, the cross seems to come and go in future episodes.

Anyway, story summary: Susan has been attending a local school, her teachers, Ian and Barbara find her an eccentric genius, but are concerned about her sporadic performance in school, so they try to meet her at home, which is a junkyard, where the meet the Doctor, and after a confrontation, the four of them enter the TARDIS, and continuing their dispute, the Doctor takes them back in time to prove he's not a liar, and they end up at approximately 100,000 BC, somewhere on earth... (somewhere that has British cavemen). They get enmeshed in a violent tribal dispute centered around the ability to make fire. Through clever tricks they eventually help the tribe and escape to the TARDIS, which takes off, and lands on what seems to be an alien planet.

Some weird things happen in the story... it would appear, at one point, that the Doctor plans to murder an injured caveman, to keep the companions from spending time helping him! Overall, though, this story really did set the template for everything that was to come... "Where are we? I want to investigate! Something's gone horribly wrong! A local dispute! We're trapped! Let's escape! We have to go back! We're recaptured! We solved a problem through our cleverness! We made it out just in time!" There's no running through corridors, but there is a lot of running through a dark forest, which is close enough.

Quotes and Notes:

• "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."
• "One day, we shall get back... one day... one day..."
• "Your arrogance is nearly as great as your ignorance." 
• Susan's last name is Foreman...?
• Ian examines the door of the TARDIS: "There must be a secret lock somewhere..." when the lock is in plain view!
• Susan was born in the 49th century. 
• "Still a police box - Why hasn't it changed?"
• The TARDIS has a (broken) "yearometer"
• There is a radiation meter, as well, and the Doctor has a (short-lived) portable Geiger counter.
• The Doctor carries a notebook, where he writes down the coordinates of everywhere they have been, among other things.
• The TARDIS has some kind of atmospheric analyzer. 
• "Make fire or I kill you now."

When I saw my first William Hartnell episodes, back in the 80's, I was so disappointed... the visual quality and sound quality of the episodes was so bad, I could barely follow what was going on, and further, I came in in the middle of things, not knowing who anyone was. The DVD versions are dramatically improved through digital restoration, and it's very exciting to start at the beginning, and be able to follow a fifty year story thread! It's kind of crummy that episodes are missing... but... I must admit that the scavenger hunt nature of the whole experience (Stories 1-3 are sold in a box set, Story 4 is on a hard to get CD collection, 5 and 6 are sold separately, 7-9 haven't been released, but are on the youtubes, etc...) enhances things... it almost feels like I'm going on the same imperfect, ramshackle, gappy time-travel experiences as the Doctor! So... if I can keep up my rate of two stories a week, I'll be caught up in about two years... for I show I've been watching for thirty years, that's not too bad.