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THE ORIGINAL TARDIS TEAM: (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT) William Russell as Ian Chesterton, William Hartnell as the Doctor, Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright, and Carole Ann Ford as Susan Foreman |
"One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine."
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In Memory of William Hartnell, the First Doctor (1908 - 1975) You will ALWAYS be our First Doctor no matter what. |
In the year of 1963, fifty-five year old veteran actor William Hartnell stepped into the role of Doctor Who and helped the launching of a series that would last for many years to come. Fairly undeveloped as a character, the First Doctor is never named as a Time Lord and his ship the TARDIS while referred to as such, is often referred simply as "the ship" by the Doctor most of the time. Hartnell's era of the series, led by Verity Lambert, really established a lot of things in the Doctor Who lore. There of course are the classic villains the Daleks and Cybermen, regeneration (used by the writers to hurriedly replace Hartnell due to his failing health), and the Time Lords (of course his species is not named but another one of his people do appear).
I will make a note about the episode lengths in Classic Doctor Who. In the revived series, the stories are almost always contained to a single episode or two-parters, making the story much more fast-paced. In Classic Who, the stories are more of a "slow burn", where each story is separated into multiple episodes of 25 minutes, the most common length being four or six episodes per story, although in Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor era, we will see the ten-parter War Games and the twelve-part Hartnell story The Daleks' Master Plan. Although I do also like the faster-paced New Who stories, I found that the longer stories of Classic Who are also amazing; the slower paced stories really allows for different characters and villains to be fleshed out and I think it does a really great job in showcasing the Doctor's relationship with his companions.
Another thing to note with William Hartnell's era and Patrick Troughton's (Second Doctor) era is that there are many missing episodes. BBC occasionally cleaned out its archives and threw out a lot of old episodes to make space, not really thinking ahead. Therefore, many episodes of the First and Second Doctors remain missing, some completely, some in audio form, or some in snap shots. There are still attempts being made to recover these episodes, although some have been reconstructed in animation.
But enough about the background info. Let's get to the Doctor himself.
The Doctor - First Doctor (William Hartnell)
William Hartnell's First Doctor is distinctively different from all of the other succeeding Doctors. Because he had the very difficult role of kickstarting a series and ensuring that people had interest in the series, his character was still very rough around the edges and very unlike the characterization of the Doctor we know now. What do you think of when you think of the Doctor? Funny, intelligent, clever, wise, brave, selfless, kind, energetic, friendly, quirky, etc. likely comes to mind. Well, many of these attributes can be credited to the Second Doctor Patrick Troughton (and my favourite Classic Who Doctor so far). Of course, that is not saying that the First Doctor was none of those things; in fact, he was all of those things at some point or another. It's just that those characteristics are much less prominent in the First Doctor.
The First Doctor is an elderly gentleman who has a distinctive "eccentric scholar"/"mad scientist" feel to him. He is less light hearted than his other incarnations (although he does have his great moments) and is generally more stern and "grumpy" (at least at the start). Nonetheless, the Doctor still greatly cherishes all of his companions and always helps those in need (although he is motivated mostly by his own survival). The Doctor can also at times be funny, kind, and brave. Although his character in general has a more serious tone compared to his successor Troughton or most of the other Doctors, he can still be very lighthearted, funny, and even silly at times (an instance would be in the story The Space Museum where he pretends to be a Dalek) and has some really funny scenes.
The First Doctor I found to have a very grandfatherly charm to him. He's not as in your face charming as Tenth Doctor David Tennant, whose charm comes from his light-heartedness and charisma, but he just as a certain charm to him that grabs your attention. The Doctor also has a very distinctive character arc throughout his tenure. At the beginning, having virtually no human interactions, the Doctor is very grumpy and fairly cold to others. But as the show progresses, the Doctor warms up more to others and forms genuine bonds with them.
I actually really liked the First Doctor. He isn't as action or humour oriented as the others, but despite being old, he can still be very energetic and become giddy like a child when exciting things happen around him. Despite the fact that he carries himself very seriously, the Doctor can be very light-hearted and funny. He has a very eccentric scientist/professor feel and I frankly love it.
The First Doctor may be distinctively different from any of the other Doctors, it makes sense because his character is supposed to be quite undeveloped, and he has his own distinctive charm to him that none of the other Doctors seem to quite have. A lot of people don't seem to like him because he's grumpy, but I think the grumpiness makes him even more likable and sort of adds to the comedy at times a lot.
SPECIAL NOTE: Richard Hurndall and David Bradley also portrayed the First Doctor at different occasions. Richard Hurndall portrayed the First Doctor in the 1983 20th Anniversary The Five Doctors as William Hartnell had unfortunately passed away in 1975. I personally have not seen that particular special yet so I can't say how good he is, but I've been told he does an admirable job.
David Bradley first played the Doctor in 2013 when he actually played William Hartnell himself in a docudrama of sorts about the making of the show called An Adventure in Space and Time. David Bradley later "reprised" the role in the 2017 Christmas Special (and Peter Capaldi's final episode as the Twelfth Doctor) Twice Upon a Time. I think David Bradley did a good job capturing the mannerisms of the First Doctor; he doesn't quite have the same charm as Hartnell, but still very good. However, I don't think the writers characterized him very well; he came off as being sexist and overly dismissive, which was quite odd since the First Doctor was never really sexist; his dismissiveness applied to everyone, thank you very much. But overall I think that Bradley did a good job as the Doctor.
I had to mention these two just to let you know that there were other actors to play the First Doctor.
Now that I've given an overview of the First Doctor, I will be going over the Doctor's eight companions.
The Companions
The First Doctor's companions overall are alright. Most of them aren't that interesting and they honestly never contribute very much. But I will talk about them briefly anyways.
Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford) is the Doctor's pretty dull granddaughter. She's built up as this unusually intelligent and extraordinary child but ultimately does nothing. She is relegated to the screaming damsel in distress and was overall fairly dull. I do have to say though that her and the Doctor did feel like grandfather and granddaughter at least and the scene where he leaves her behind so she could have a normal life was very sad (but it was all really due to Hartnell's superb acting).
Ian Chesterton (William Russell) is a science teacher at Susan's high school Coal Hill School who stumbles upon the TARDIS along with history teacher Barbara Wright by accident. He is my favourite companion of the First Doctor era mainly because he has the best chemistry with the Doctor. He is at first skeptical of the Doctor's claims and is in a rather rival-esque relationship with him at the start (understandable considering the Doctor outright kidnapped him). However, the Doctor and Ian eventually begins to come to respect and probably like each other. Him and the Doctor develop a very interesting sense of comradery; not quite like friends, but very like respected colleagues. It's an interesting dynamic that you don't really see among companions and I quite like it.
Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) is a history teacher Coal Hill School. She has the same flaws as nearly every female character in early Who: they function as a screaming damsel in distress who never really does anything. She does have her funny moments though and her and Ian have pretty good chemistry together at least, so she's not the worst.
Vicki Pallister (Maureen O'Brien) is alright. She plays exactly the same role Susan does as the "screaming damsel in distress" and apart from being smarter, does really nothing more.
Steven Taylor (Peter Purves) is rather annoying and somewhat arrogant. He's rather unlikable when paired with Vicki, but is rather funny when paired with Dodo. Not a very memorable companion.
Dodo Chaplet (Jackie Lane) is actually very funny. She's more modern companion-like than the other companions, being more outlandish in a sense. She's a very good contrast to the usually stern and serious Doctor.
Ben Jackson and Polly (Michael Craze and Anneke Wills) are fairly dull companions. I honestly can't remember much about them and they did very little as far as I can remember in terms of interesting moments and had very little chemistry with the Doctor.
And these were the Doctor's companions; now it's time to look at some of the Doctor's foes.
Other Characters
The Daleks (voiced by Peter Hawkins and David Graham), created by Terry Nation, make their first appearance in the second serial of Season 1, The Daleks and remain a menacing threat throughout the First Doctor's stories. Although Daleks cannot fly and aren't as fully developed in the First Doctor's story, they still make a very menacing villain nonetheless. They speak much slower in a more classically robotic voice, making the episodes much longer, but nonetheless they are still great villains, and they become "sensations" in the six-parter The Dalek Invasion of Earth.
The Cybermen (voiced by Roy Skelton and Peter Hawkins) were created by Dr. Kit Pedler (the unofficial scientific advisor) and Davis and only appear with the First Doctor in his final story The Tenth Planet. Mechanical replacements for human body parts had begun to be developments and the Cybermen were based on the question: "What if men eventually replaced their entire biological selves with machine?" The Cybermen are emotionless creatures whose sole goal is their survival and advancement, and as a result has essentially replaced parts of their formally humanoid body with machines. The Cybermen are very interesting figures because they are not explicitly evil nor are they just machines. They are surprisingly reasonable and communicative at times and are not quite evil in their actions. Rather, they do what they do for survival rather than greed, and they see no issue with killing people because they simply don't have the ability to understand evil. In a strange way, they are sympathetic because you do get the feel they're desperately trying to survive. I also love the designs of these Cybermen; it's still robotic, but it feels just human enough to remind you that the Cybermen aren't exactly monsters. It is easy in New Who to forget that the Cybermen are humans because of their metallic appearance. But in The Tenth Planet, you can actually see the Cybermen's human eyes, which is very creepy because you're reminded that they are still humans (or at least people nearly identical to humans. It's a shame what happened to the Cybermen because in New Who they're mindless robot henchmen for the most part and aren't as nuanced.
The Monk (Peter Butterworth) appears in The Time Meddler, which is the first real appearance of a Time Lord apart from the Doctor and Susan. His entire motivation is that he thinks by changing certain events in history, he would make the world a better place. His motivation conflicts with the Doctor's distinct non-interference policy where he won't do anything to change the course of history. His appearance also marks the first appearance of the TARDIS' chameleon circuit, which allows the TARDIS to disguise itself into whatever fits the surrounding area, something that is broken in the Doctor's TARDIS. The "Time Meddler" is not given a name but is just referred to as "the Monk" as that's the disguise he is in. But this episode is a very important in terms of establishing Doctor Who lore and I really liked the Monk's character because he is in a way sort of like the Doctor. They both go around in their TARDIS, and generally their goals are to help people (although Hartnell's Doctor never actively seeks action, he does help people nonetheless); however, the Monk believes he can help by changing history and the Doctor's goal is to not influence history at all. Overall, a very interesting character and a shame they didn't do more with him.
Emperor Nero (Derek Francis) is not a significant character by any means but I wanted to include him because he is HILLARIOUS. Emperor Nero is a very comical, buffoonish villain. I don't know how accurate Francis' portrayal is to real-life Nero, but he is an absolute delight in his appearance in the four part serial The Romans. Him and the Doctor play off each other really well and every scene Nero is in is an absolute delight to watch. Honestly The Romans is a top-notch episode overall and I really commend it if you're looking for a fun Classic Who episode.
Now that we've covered some of the Doctor's foes, I'll be talking about some of the First Doctor's stories.
The Stories
Although most Hartnell stories are very good, one complaint I would take is that they tend to drag quite a bit in some places. For instance in the serial The Daleks, there is an entire episode which just consists of people walking through a cave with nothing really happening. That being said, the problem only really happens with six part stories as most of the time they contain at least one episode that feels like a filler to pad the runtime. But I will still say that I do really like the slower-paced stories. It makes it easier for me to become immersed into the show and gives time for really good character moments and things that would most surely be cut out in an action-packed New Who story.
Although most Hartnell episodes are very very good, I've always found myself drawn to the historical episodes (probably because I like history). A big reason for that is probably that the set pieces in the historical episodes look better; some of the stuff in the alien episodes do feel very low-quality, but the historical ones not so much. So I will list four of my favourite Hartnell stories (two historical and two alien) and talk about why:
1. The Romans like I mentioned above is by far my favourite episode of Hartnell's era. It has some really great comedy and I loved that you got to see Hartnell show his skills as a comedy actor. Almost every scene in the episode will get a good chuckle from you for one reason or another and it really is overall a great Doctor Who story.
2. The Dalek Invasion of Earth is the first Hartnell story produced in a massive scale. After their electrifying first appearance in the previous season story The Daleks, they had gained so much popularity that many were demanding their return. This serial is a pretty epic one and it takes place in the middle of London (they actually filmed the episodes in the street). This is also the episode that the Doctor gets to deliver his farewell speech to his granddaughter Susan (which is the featured quote I have above) and it's a very touching scene and Hartnell acts supremely well.
3. The Gunfighters takes place in the Wild West and features the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral that took place there. I do really like Western stuff to some degree so this episode was just really fun for me to watch overall. Everyone's acting was good, but I will say that the fake American accents were really, really bad. But I really did like the final gunfight; it was actually done really well and it was quite exciting to watch.
4. The Tenth Planet is the first episode to feature the Cybermen, which is really the only reason this episode gets mentioned. This episode is also Hartnell's last episode as the Doctor and due to Hartnell's failing health at that point, he unfortunately does not feature very much in this episode. But he does get to deliver a really great line against the Cybermen: "Emotions! Love! Pride! Hate! Fear! Have you no emotions, sir?" and frankly you can still tell his acting talent has not diminished one bit. I do really love the Cybermen in this episode; their "scariness" doesn't come from them being physically intimidating but it comes from their odd humanness. They're human, but at the same time they aren't, and it made them very creepy villains.
Overall, most of the First Doctor's stories are great. The longer ones definitely tends to drag and most of them have very low production values (which honestly I think adds greatly to the charm), but they're all very good and enjoyable episodes.
So now that I've covered all parts of William Hartnell's run as the First Doctor, it's time for my summative thoughts.
Overall Thoughts
I really like William Hartnell as the first Doctor. He brings a certain level of grandfatherly old man charm that I don't think any other Doctor has quite been able to match and I frankly love it. He is very different from the stereotypical idea of the Doctor that we've grown to know and love, but he still has his own unique charm that makes him a great Doctor. His acting skill is certainly superb and you have to admit that William Hartnell had a very difficult role; after all, being the First Doctor of a show and trying to attract new audiences could not have been an easy job and I greatly respect him for that. William Hartnell will always be our First Doctor, no matter what Chris Chibnall and his Timeless Child tries to tell us.
Speaking of Doctor Who and time travel, I think we need to acknowledge the father of the concept of the Time Machine, H.G. Wells in my next post. As always, thank you for reading my blog, and I always will enjoy hearing from all of you, so if you have any comments, feedbacks, opinions, suggestions, etc., please feel free to comment, and I WILL respond to ALL comments!
