Doctor Who ~ the Beginning Series ~ Disc One 'The Unearthly Child'

'The Unearthly Child' opens in parody with a British police Bobbie, helmet hat and truncheon at the ready as any stereotypical 1960's copper worth his salt would be and as he explorers as unused theatrical warehouse we catch the first glimpse of that icon of Science Fiction lore - the Police Box.

The mood of the first instalment written by Anthony Coburn is pure theatre noir, the warehouse reminiscent of the elaborate staging of Sleuth and the anticipation building like that of a Hitchcock thriller. A young girl (15), Susan Foreman befuddling teachers with knowledge beyond her years and a fake home address to an abandoned storage unit. Curiosity is peeked in her teachers soon to be known as Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, companions of 'The Doctor' and they follow her entranced by the shadow of mystery and intellect that enshrouds her.

For the time period, the dialogue is good, realistic although many would find it cumbersome in a modern society so briefed on alien plot lines and scientific phantasmagoria that exposition is now rarely necessary for viewers to follow; no Grecian chorus to explain the impossible theories of the scriptwriter as we delve into the world of the unknown.

As William Hartnell takes the stage my first thought is 'Doctor', almost 50 years of British broadcasting as he is the embodiment of the Doctor, more callous, haughty, standing aloft and immovable in his reproach but definitely the confident, posturing and enigmatic character that has survived to this day.

From brief glimpses and memory of future incarnations of said 'Doctor', the Doctor in the T.A.R.D.I.S. I was greatly impressed by the 'old girl', the sentient folly of the Time and Space machine. The attention to detail in her inner is beautiful and creative.

The 'Doctor' however is less so, harshly rebuking his granddaughter and their guests and committing felony by holding the magnanimous scholastic partners prisoner as the police box dematerialises.

The dialogue in this first scene, for I have come to think of them as scenes in a play, acts, if you will as television was so greatly influenced by this original medium back in the day, reads like a parlour play, little movement or action and certainly no pyrotechnics but compelling in its vintage form.

For the first trip in the fourth and fifth dimensions of Time and Space we are transported back to ice age cave men and the simplistic iconography used to represent such an atmosphere is familiar and macabre.

We have the simple character premise of survival of the fittest - the tribe looking for a leader, a fire maker; those afraid for the change in society this will bring and those with drive and ambition that would bang and wallop for power; we even have the woman behind the man acting almost as a Lady Macbeth in her encouragement.

The Cave of the Skulls and the Forest of Fear are slow and laborious to contempory eyes. I find it ironic that it is the 'Doctor' (who hasn't as yet voiced that name) is the one to find trouble and be kidnapped in his dapper checked trouser, Tommy Cooper hat and suit.

Dialogue echoes down the years as Cal (Caveman) says that he is fire and came out of a strange looking tree! Susan played by Carole Ann Ford, does her fair share of screaming and panicking and the quirky quartet get bound and abandoned all the lack of a match. (Yes, the plot is hardly rocket science) However unlike today television the 'Doctor' is not portrayed as some larger than life super hero but an old man and the realism of 'exactly how long does it take to cut through a piece of rope with bare bones' is not distilled by action and adventure.

However here in this scene we see the first stirrings of a series that today attracts more hype than celebrity scandals as the 'Doctor' voices genuine concern for his companions and in fact first coins that word although Ian rebuke of not just sitting there and despairing is widely contradictory to the fast paced, caffeinated antics of latter 'Doctors'.

The melodrama and overly emotional acting of years of yore is rift but comforting in the black and white shadowy cinematography. The knowledge of the 'cavemen' seems somewhat advanced and articulate but I was pleasantly surprised by hints of stylised directing. The old fashioned format is charming and artistic if not exactly stimulating or complex.

Ian represents a strong, determined male lead, sophisticated and charismatic; the 'Doctor' uncaring and unsympathetic to the local 'savages', the intolerance and lack of empathy startling in contrast to Russell T. Davies' revival.

As an old woman, set in her ways, aids in their escape they plunder through the forest the bumpy headed cave men monarch trailing them but quickly falling foul for a wild beast. The new 'companions' treat the 'Doctor' with suspicion and disgust as he refuses to help 'an ape'. Actually at this point the character of our alien is foreboding and menacing. He is dangerous in his desire to 'protect' past times from future knowledge and stubborn in his insistence not to get involved in anything that does not serve him. Oh how much humanity he will yet learn until his understanding of our race draws his admiration and respect.

The plot advances to show new mutiny in the Neanderthal's ranks, the vehement opposition to the leadership claiming that their chief released the prisoners and killed the old woman and so they set off to intercept these betraying fiends and of course cut off the Time tossed party and their injured assailant just within sight of the 'ship'.

The firemaker introduces 'Doctor' the diplomat or possibly the anarchist as he exposes the lying murder Cal, in this Greek tragedy and than back to the cave imprisoned until the immoral characters find enlightenment. "I must make fire or they will die."

As Zsar the leader goes to seek more knowledge our heroes are making fire with sticks and twigs and claim that the whole tribe should be allowed to know the secrets of this magic. "In our tribe the firemaker is the least important man" the tribe impatient at the lack of slaughter go to kill the interlopers but find the mystical fire burning in this cave of skeletal death. The ghostly flames and flickering shadows harkens again to the film noir tradition as two potential leaders fight to the death in it gloomy light.

It is surely not coincidence that this first trip is back to primitive man after the 'Doctor's' scathing words on the ignorance and stupidity of man in 1960's England. The parody on modern civilisation is clear as the tribe embraces this new power but refuse to release those that showed them kindness instead wishing to use them and their intellect to further their station.

It is Susan that with a simple Halloween trick solves their inconvenient incarceration pretending, with the bones of the dead that surround them, that their own invention engulfed and killed them provided a rather gruesome distraction that leads to running, lots of running, followed rather quickly by chasing and a warm welcoming escape in an ancient Time machine.

As the credits roll the audience is left with a tantalising teaser of danger lurking just beyond those impenetrable doors as the 'Doctor's' bad driving and continued hesitancy to release his new found captors land them, somewhere, anywhere.

For a film studies student these old reels prove very interesting but the overly simplistic plot and slow movement of the story and action would bore any twenty first century viewer. The dialogue is well written; the acting intense; the 'Doctor' has a great presence on the screen but being used to twisting and turning, contorting plots and vivid imaginings brought to life in Technicolor, computer generated glory means that these offerings are sentimental but more tedious than enjoyable.

For Whovian fanatics like myself the comparison and backstage history lesson is intriguing although very little has yet been learned of the mythology of 'Doctor Who'. I will persevere to better understand the legacy of which I now watch with bated breath. I did find it interesting and somewhat disheartening that the story book happy ending was so freely abandoned in 'The unearthly child' episodes as the Time travelling party don't effect those they encounter and no moral lesson is learned and hope for humanity dwindles. The courage and compassion of Ian, Barbara and even Susan show modernity to be a more gentile race, spirited and fearless but the superiority over the 'savages' speaks to this unworthy viewer of remnants of classism and rather fatalistic prophecy.