038: SoraRabbit Watches: Doctor Who Season One

As the year 2021 came to a start, I felt the need to do something big for this blog. Something that would set this year apart from the others. I also wanted to shake things up in my own routine, and this usually leads me to cross something off my “To Do” list. There’s one thing that has been on my To Do List for quite a few years… I’m sure you see where this is going.

That’s right, I decided to finally start watching Doctor Who! And as with everything else, I’m going to write about it. This, obviously, will be the first in a loooong series of posts as I go through Doctor Who season by season.

Doctor Who is a very, very long-running British science fiction television program. I’m not exaggerating. Doctor Who originally ran from 1963 to 1989, had a movie in 1996, and finally returned in 2005. It’s still going on to this day (as of the writing of this). In total it has racked up an impressive 862 episodes across 26 seasons and 12 series. In its long history Doctor Who has won many awards and has burrowed itself into the hearts and imaginations of fans the world over. It has inspired many other works, spinoffs, fan fiction, and parodies. It’s truly a cultural phenomenon.

One very interesting thing about Doctor Who is that the main character has been played by 13 different actors. There is an important plot device in the series called regeneration. When the Doctor’s body is damaged to the point that he can’t recover, he is reborn in another body with a new personality. (Note that I’m using the male pronoun here, but the most current incarnation of the Doctor is female. It’s about time!)

If you’re hoping to see one of your favorite Doctors from the past couple of decades, you’re in for a bit of a wait. I am going in order from the start, so the first posts will be about the First Doctor. So if you’re interested in where this epic series started, charting its evolution over the past 60 years and don’t have the time or energy to seek out and watch the older episodes, this series of posts will be for you!

I always like to discuss my history with the things I’m writing about, and this won’t be any different. When I said that I am “finally” watching Doctor Who, I don’t mean that I’ve never seen it before. I watched it now and then when I was younger, catching episodes after school on PBS or on The Sci Fi channel. (Back when it was spelled that way. Yes, that’s how old I am.) It was a show I enjoyed, but never fully got into. Then after the revival in 2005 my brothers started talking about it and I got curious. (That’s how a lot of my stories start. “My brothers introduced me to…”)

When I first thought about beginning this show, I learned that there were older episodes missing. (I mentioned this briefly in my Thundermask post… another piece of lost media.) You see, in the 60s and 70s, the BBC had no real procedures in place to archive television programs. Many shows have been lost, seemingly forever, as the original tapes were destroyed. In 1978 this was stopped, but the damage had already been done. 97 episodes from the first six years of Doctor Who had been destroyed. The only things that still existed of these episodes were tele-snaps done during broadcast (photographs taken of the television screen as the show aired) and audio recordings made privately by fans. Some early episodes were able to be somewhat reconstructed using these two things. (Two of the serials I will talk about in this post were reconstructed in this way.) Later on some episodes were located from overseas recordings and some were recreated through commissioned animation. At this point all 97 of the lost episodes have been restored in one way or another. That wasn’t the case way back when I first became interested in watching.

The reason I haven’t embarked on this lengthy journey until now is a simple one that really has everything to do with my personality and how I consume media. When I like something, I have a drive to immerse myself in it. I go all the way through from the start. I never really found the time for this undertaking. See, I couldn’t just start with the 2005 relaunch like everyone suggested. I would have had to start at the beginning or not at all. And leaving out the lost episodes would have grated at me. When I experience a story, I have to experience all of it. When people recommend a show to me and then tell me to “skip the first season because season two is where it starts to get good” I always ignore them. The concept of skipping the beginning of a story isn’t just distasteful to me… it’s horrifying. Would you pick up a novel and start at page 50?

So I had to wait, both for the free time and for the missing episodes. But now the time has come! I feel prepared to sit through 26 seasons and 12 series.

I am very glad I waited. From the moment I fired up the first episode and heard that jaunty theme song I knew this was going to be worth the time invested. And now I get to share that journey with you. If you’re a fan of Doctor Who, or just curious about it… hopefully you’ll enjoy these posts. If nothing else, consider this as me watching it so you don’t have to! I know not everyone has the patience for 862 episodes of something!

The Doctor and his companions. (Credit: BBC TV)

The premise of Doctor Who is fairly simple. The Doctor is travelling with his granddaughter Susan and their two companions from present day, Ian and Barbara. (Well, present day 1963 that is.) I’m not going to spoil any later plot developments by breaking down exactly who and what the Doctor is and what’s going on… these posts will unfold exactly as the series did. (Please remember that and don’t correct me for playing dumb. Also although I know some things that happen later and have seen later Doctors, I have done my best to not research further into the series so I can learn as I go along.) So at this point in the story all we know is that the Doctor and Susan are aliens who are away from their home for an unspecified reason. They travel in a fantastic machine called the TARDIS. Susan was attending school in London when they were discovered by two of her teachers.

The Doctor himself is a bit of a mystery. He is an alien from an as-yet-unnamed planet travelling with his granddaughter. He is not a medical doctor, more of a scientist. His nickname of Doctor Who is not used in this season aside from a throwaway line. In Episode 1, Ian refers to him as Doctor Foreman (referring to Susan’s self-given last name) and he replies “Doctor who?” No other name is given, he is just known as The Doctor. A common affectation he has is to end a statement with “Hmmm?” The Doctor is wildly curious and easily amused. However, he is also cranky, self-important, arrogant, petulant, snarky, and absolutely entertaining. He’s the grumpy grandpa of the series. While at first cold and aloof, he warms up to his companions as their journeys continue.

The Doctor’s current companions (yes, they will rotate quite often) are:

Susan Foreman: Susan is the Doctor’s teenage granddaughter. Her true last name is not known. She took the name Foreman off the sign at the junkyard they were residing in while in London. (She needed a last name to enroll in school, after all.) Susan is very intelligent and has a fascination of history (having seen a lot of it in her time.) She is very protective of her grandfather and looks up to him. She is also very lonely and misses her home world and having friends her own age. It is revealed in a later serial that she has some form of psychic ability or sensitivity.

Ian Chesterton: Ian was Susan’s science teacher. Ian is heroic and protective of his friends. He’s also stubborn and complains a lot. At first he argues with the Doctor, but eventually comes to respect him. He can be a know-it-all and a tad pompous, but he would do anything for his friends. It was his concern over Susan that led to him and Barbara embarking on their adventure across time and space. He has a platonic friendship with Barbara.

Barbara Wright: Susan’s history teacher, Barbara, is intelligent and fascinated by history, which makes sense given her profession. Barbara is the first one to win the Doctor over, impressing him with her logical mind. She somewhat mothers the others… when she’s not getting into dangerous situations. (She wanders off a lot.) She has an adventurous side, but is the more practical of the group. She is also a bit of a romantic, having developed feelings for two of the men they encounter in their travels.

Also, I would consider The TARDIS a character as well. The TARDIS is the Doctor’s ship and it’s permanently disguised as a 60’s London Police Box. TARDIS stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space, according to Susan. This is the main form of transportation for the Doctor and his companions. The TARDIS travels through time and space and has equipment for analyzing the environments in which they land. It is much larger on the inside than it appears outwardly. Fairly early in the season it is revealed that the TARDIS is operated by some form of artificial intelligence and also seems to have a concern for the safety of its inhabitants. Its level of sentience is not explored (at least not yet) but I would still consider it a character more than a tool due to its intelligence and apparent self-awareness.

Season 1 is in black and white and was released on the BBC network in 1963. The format of the show is individual 24 minute episodes that form short story arcs or serials. There are 42 episodes divided into 8 serials in Season 1. 9 of the episodes were missing, reconstructed in the way I mentioned earlier. To keep this post from being overlong, I’m going to abbreviate some of the episode synopses, just hitting the main story beats. With all that said, let’s break down the serials!

The Doctor, pretending to know how to fly the TARDIS. (Credit: BBC TV)

The first serial was comprised of Episodes 1-4 and was called “An Unearthly Child”. This serial introduced the main characters and the premise, setting the group off on their adventures.

In London in 1963, Susan is attending normal human school as a normal human child. Her normal humanness has earned her the suspicions of her teachers, Ian and Barbara. They are perplexed by Susan’s intelligence in some subjects and naivety in others, especially normal human customs of the current time period. She also has a habit of contradicting Barbara’s lessons, stating the books got history all wrong. So they did what any teachers would do… creep around and stalk the girl, following her home one night. They find out that Susan lives in a junkyard with her grandfather, a brusque elderly man who wants nothing to do with them. He unlocks a police box and they force their way inside, finding the room within to be insanely huge compared to the size of the box.

A heated exchange follows, with the Doctor insisting that the pair can’t be allowed to leave because that will draw attention to Susan and him. Susan pleads with him to let them go and tries to stop him from initiating the TARDIS’s launch sequence. In the struggle, Susan accidentally launches them before the Doctor can put in coordinates, which sends them back to prehistoric times. (Note that it’s not explicitly stated they’re in the Earth’s past… the Doctor just assumes they are.)

The group brings fire to British cavemen. (Credit: BBC TV)

In this era, fire is the most important resource and all the cavemen are British. A caveman, Za, is desperately and unsuccessfully trying to make fire. This is a skill central to leading the tribe, but his father— the late tribe leader— never bothered to teach him how to do it. Hur is the cavewoman who has been promised to whoever becomes leader. An unnamed old woman claims the stranger from another tribe, Kal, would be a better leader. He claims he knows how to make fire. And with that, you’re all caught up on the major players in this era.

Ian and Barbara are marveling at the fact that the Doctor was telling the truth and they really had travelled through time. The Doctor looks for samples to figure out what time they’re in. Before he can do this, they’re captured and imprisoned in the Cave of Skulls, which is just what it sounds like. Za knows they can make fire and won’t let them go until they teach him. If they won’t, they will be sacrificed to something called “The Orb”, which I assume is the sun. They’re smack dab in the middle of the caveman power struggle. Later, the elder woman lets them escape. Za and Hur follow them, getting Za injured in the process, mauled by an animal.

Everyone but the Doctor wants to help Za. He warns them over and over that they should not waste their energy and put themselves at risk for the “savage”. Once everyone’s backs are turned the Doctor picks up a rock and creeps over to Za, only to be stopped by Ian. He claims he was going to have Za draw them a map, but no one buys it. Meanwhile Kal kills the elder woman and frames Za.

Before they can escape in the TARDIS, the tribe brings them back to the cave. Kal is driven out, but Za won’t let them go free. Ian teaches them how to make fire, saying that everyone should know, not just the leader. (Also notably, the cavemen ask if Ian is the leader of their tribe, but he says the Doctor is.) Kal returns, there’s a battle, and Za is triumphant. The Doctor and his friends escape and the TARDIS dematerializes before the cavemen’s startled eyes.

The Doctor admits that he doesn’t actually know how to get them back to their regular time. The TARDIS is not showing any data to direct him. They wonder aloud if the Doctor really knows how to control the ship. (Susan later explains that he does, he’s just forgetful.) They find themselves in a strange jungle and as they step out, the radiation sensor goes into the red. So they’re off to explore an irradiated wasteland without realizing it!

Susan, threatened by the Daleks. (Credit: BBC TV)

The second serial, “The Daleks”, runs from Episode 5-11. This serial is notable for being the first appearance of the fan-favorite recurring villains, the Daleks. This is our first visit to an alien world, the Planet Skaro. Skaro was decimated by a terrible nuclear war between two races, the Thals and the Daleks. The Daleks mutated and hid under the city in their robot suits. The Thals evolved into fit, blonde people who were pacifists and focused on art, science, and anti-radiation drugs. They try to share some of these drugs with Susan who gets startled by the encounter.

Anyway, knowing none of the history of the planet or its people, the Doctor is excited by the new locale and wants to explore the city they can see in the distance, but the others vote against it. They want to get back in the TARDIS and go. The Doctor explains that the ship is out of mercury, but they’re sure to find some in the city. (This later proves to be untrue.)

Shortly into the city exploration, they run afoul of the Daleks, who capture them. The Daleks speak in stilted, robotic fashion and have disintegration rays. They’re all getting sick from radiation, and it’s hitting the Doctor hardest of all. Susan is allowed to go back to the ship to get the medicine the Thals left for them. She meets with the Thals, learning about their history and the fact that they want peace. Once Susan is back with the others, they stage a valiant escape, realizing the Daleks require static electricity to move on the metal floors. Using Barbara’s cloak, they remove a Dalek from its metal body and Ian takes its place to fool the other Daleks. They don’t show the Dalek they removed, just what looks like claws coming out from under the cloak. (I thought it was tentacles, but the wiki claims claws.)

The Daleks meet their match. (Credit: BBC TV)

Even though they’ve escaped, they can’t leave. The fluid link— the part the Doctor used for his ruse— was left behind and the Daleks have it. The group meets with the Thals, who insist they just want peace and refuse to fight. While Ian taunts a Thal into hitting him to convince them to use violence to save their people, the Daleks take the anti-radiation medicine. It kills some of them, leading them to the realization that the Daleks have grown reliant on radiation to live. They decide to set off another neutron bomb so they’ll have all the radiation they want. This would cause the Daleks to thrive, but destroy the Thals.

The Daleks show their treachery by killing some of the Thals, further convincing them they need to fight back. The group makes a plan and splits up to invade the city from the back while the Doctor and Susan short circuit some of the Dalek’s computers using one of the TARDIS keys. This gets them both captured again. Meanwhile the others are travelling dangerous terrain to sneak in to the city, losing a couple of the Thals in the process.

While imprisoned, the Daleks explain their plan. The bomb would take too long, so they’re going to overload their reactors, releasing radiation into the atmosphere. The Doctor explains that they are time travelers and, hoping to be set free, tells them he can help them build their own TARDIS. The Daleks explain they don’t need his help. The Thals attack and they’re able to overpower the Daleks and free the Doctor and Susan. The Doctor disables the radiation release and destroys the power supply for the Daleks, seemingly killing them. They beg him to restore their power and he says that even if he knew how, he wouldn’t do so. After meeting with the Thals and saying goodbye (one of the Thals, Ganatus, kisses Barbara’s hand. He’s one of the near-romantic interests I mentioned earlier) they replace the fluid link and leave. But as soon as they launch, there’s an explosion and everyone is knocked out. Cliffhanger!

The Doctor almost apologizing. (Credit: BBC TV)

The third serial was called “The Edge of Destruction” and was a short one, only consisting of Episodes 12 and 13. This one was a bottle episode— a common occurrence in television (especially when budgets are tight) where only the main cast appears and they typically stay in one set. Both of these episodes took place primarily in the TARDIS. These episodes were planned to be the season enders before the contract was renewed to order additional episodes. Although these could be seen as filler episodes, they were actually rather important because they settle some of the building tension between the members of the group and revealed more about the TARDIS. I kind of glossed over that, but since the start of the journey, Ian had been arguing with the Doctor, who was mainly just irritated with the teachers.

Picking up right from the explosion, the group recover, but begin acting strangely. Ian has memory problems. Barbara faints when near the controls and the Doctor accuses them of sabotage. Susan gets the worst of it. She keeps fainting and complaining of neck pain, becoming paranoid and suspicious of the others. She nearly stabs Ian with scissors. The TARDIS is acting strangely too. When Ian gets near the doors they open and close. The viewscreen shows records of earlier trips on a loop, ending with the image of an explosion, which the Doctor doesn’t recognize. The clocks on the ship melt, and fault indicators light up, showing problems all over the TARDIS.

During all this, the Doctor vents his frustration and suspicions on his human companions. All the interpersonal problems they’ve had come to a head, with Barbara trying to remind him of how many times they’ve helped each other in their journeys. The Doctor realizes they’re not to blame and that they’re minutes away from the TARDIS exploding. Barbara is the one who solves the problem, realizing that all the strangeness is the TARDIS itself trying to warn them of danger. The Doctor reveals that the TARDIS has artificial intelligence and tracks the problem to a broken spring in the Fast Return switch. When they launched last it broke, causing them to continually speed backwards in time until they reach the beginning of the universe. This would have destroyed them if not corrected. The Doctor fixes it and they land in an unknown location. The Doctor apologizes to both Ian and Barbara, admitting that he treated them too harshly. This is a big turning point in the series and the Doctor’s development, allowing for he and his companions to become friends.

The Doctor and his new friends Marco Polo and Kublai Khan. (Credit: BBC TV)

The fourth serial, “Marco Polo”, was Episodes 14-20. These are the first of the missing episodes. They were reconstructed with still photos (tele-snaps) and audio. These episodes were also manually colorized, which was a little disorienting. In this serial the gang finds themselves back on Earth, but in 1289, where they run into the famous explorer Marco Polo. Along with Marco is his travelling companion, Tegana, a warlord with secret plans to assassinate Kublai Khan, ruler of the Mongol empire. Also travelling with them is Ping-Cho, who is Susan’s age, slated to marry an elderly man she has never met. This was a very history-driven story, which was the original intention of the series before it moved towards the more fantastic adventures. This serial is also notable for including mixed race actors, which helped the realism of the story. (They all still speak English, though.)

Marco decides to present the TARDIS to Kublai Khan in exchange for his freedom, much to the Doctor’s annoyance. This begins a very long journey back to the palace in Shang-tu. After many adventures in the desert, along with failed escape attempts and sabotage by Tegana, they meet up with Kublai Khan, who instantly strikes up a friendship with the Doctor. They bond over the aches and pains of age and their mutual love of backgammon. The Doctor very nearly wins back the TARDIS in a series of high-stakes games, but loses on the final game.

Just in time they prevent Tegana from assassinating the Khan and Marco helps them to escape. He wins his freedom out of the Khan’s gratitude and Ping-Cho narrowly avoids her arranged marriage when her husband unexpectedly dies from drinking the elixir of life. (Ah, irony.) So everyone is happy except for Tegana, who’s dead.

Yup. Brains in jars. It was bound to happen. (Credit: BBC TV)

The fifth serial was called “The Keys of Marinus” and ran from Episode 21-26. This one was interesting, consisting of a series of quests, a format that recurs several times later in the series. Although this was a novel format for the series, I felt it could have been executed better. They made an odd choice to split the team, with the Doctor being completely absent for two episodes. Also Susan’s personality was off-line with previous episodes, with her acting childish and easily-startled.

They land on the planet of Marinus, which I found odd… since they had the exact date and location from their last landing, couldn’t the Doctor have just set the coordinates to go back to 1963? No one except me seems to notice this inconsistency, so they set out to explore. Anyway, the planet Marinus is a desolate place with an ancient temple, acid water, and murderous humanoids in wet suits.

The group meets up with an elderly man in the temple who calls himself Arbitan. He explains that the Voord (the wet suit dudes) are trying to kill him and take over his advanced computer, the Conscience of Marinus. In the past, the computer made all decisions for the people of Marinus, allowing them to live in peace. To keep the Voord from using it for their own purposes of world domination, Arbitan split up the five keys that activate the machine, sending four of them to various points in the world. No one he’s sent has come back. At first they don’t want to help, but Arbitan has put a force field around the TARDIS to convince them. They grudgingly decide to help him, each taking a travel dial (a small wrist watch teleportation device) to set out on their mission.

Isn’t evolution majestic? (Credit: BBC TV)

In their tracking of the missing keys, they meet up with Arbitan’s daughter Sabetha and her boyfriend Altos. They deal with a sentient evil jungle, mind-controlling brains, a creepy and unscrupulous mountain man, and silent suits of armor who try to kill them. Once they reach the city where the final key is located, Ian is framed for murder and the Doctor acts as his lawyer. They uncover the actual murderer and a conspiracy to steal the key, but they return to Arbitan too late. The old man has been murdered and the Voord are in control of the computer. Ian tricks them by giving them the fake key they got earlier in their travels. This overloads the computer, seemingly killing the Voord. Sabetha and Altos decide it’s time for the people of Marinus to stop being controlled by a computer and head back to the city to live.

Barbara is a terrible god. (Credit: BBC TV)

The sixth serial is called “The Aztecs” and consisted of Episodes 27-30. In this story the gang lands among the ancient Aztecs, Barbara puts on a bracelet and is declared to be the reincarnation of High Priest Yetaxa, envoy of the gods. Of course she immediately lets the power go to her head and decides to save the Aztecs by stopping their practice of human sacrifice. This annoys the Doctor, who explains to Barbara that you can’t change the past. “You cannot rewrite history. Not one line.” Barbara ignores this and tries to change the past. On her side is Autloc, the High Priest of Knowledge. Against her is the High Priest of Sacrifice Tlotoxl. The group is separated, with Barbara playing Priestess, Susan being sequestered to learn how to be a lady, Ian becomes a chicken warrior, and the Doctor macks on a woman in the garden.

Thought I was kidding? Here’s Ian in his chicken warrior armor. (Credit: BBC TV)

The main problem they face here (aside from Barbara trying to change everything) is that the TARDIS is locked in the temple. To try and get it back, the Doctor hangs out in the garden with the old people, making friends (and flirting) with a sage called Cameca. He convinces her to let him talk to the son of the architect so he can figure out a way into the temple. Meanwhile Ian is caught up in a scheme by Tlotxl, the warrior Ixta, and the next human sacrifice, Perfect Victim. They try a few times to kill Ian, even pulling the unwitting Doctor into their scheme, convincing him to make a poison for them in exchange for the plans to the temple. (Ian’s opponent is the architect’s son.)

None of this works and Ian lives. The Doctor locates a hidden back door to the temple in the garden. And he drinks cocoa with Cameca, not knowing this is actually a marriage proposal. Oops.

They get into the temple, tie the door open, fail to prevent the sacrifice, and barely escape. The Aztec’s civilization is unchanged, Barbara has learned her lesson about trying to change history, and they move on to their next adventure. When they land, half the sensors show they’re standing still and half show they’re moving.

The Doctor’s “oh shit I just proposed” look. (Credit: BBC TV)

This serial sticks out in my mind for several reasons. First, it raised interesting questions about the Doctor Who universe and the role of his people in that universe. I will be very interested to see if they stick with his rule of “history cannot be rewritten” as the series continues. It makes you wonder just what the Doctor is doing cruising through different time periods if he’s not allowed to alter things. He didn’t seem too concerned with impacting history by meeting Marco Polo and Kublai Khan. (Or by pulling Ian and Barbara out of 1963.) And does this just cover Earth? If not, they may have really screwed things up on Skaro and Marinus. Character-wise it showed the Doctor’s sweeter side, Barbara realized she doesn’t have all the answers, and Ian got some formal training in fighting. Another reason I liked this is because “Perfect Victim” is a fantastic name for a character.

The main reason I enjoyed this story is because it was adorable to see the elderly Doctor fall for someone and accidentally propose. You could tell that even though he was using Cameca he did have genuine feelings for her. Too bad he didn’t think twice about leaving her behind. (Didn’t even say goodbye!)

A peaceful moment between adventures. (Credit: BBC TV)

The seventh serial was called “The Sensorites” and was Episodes 31-36. This one was a very good serial, and I feel this showed the potential of Doctor Who quite well. This story has mystery, intrigue, good character interplay, and it keeps you guessing. Also Susan played a much better role in this one, acting more like the intelligent young woman we met in the first episode.

The TARDIS has landed in a space ship in the 28th century manned by humans. The crew, Carol and Maitland, appear to be dead but soon regain consciousness. They’re from 28th century Earth and are orbiting something called the Sense-Sphere. They’re being held in place by aliens called Sensorites, who can control their minds. The Sensorites regularly put them to sleep and feed them, but won’t let them leave orbit. As they’re talking, someone burns the lock from the TARDIS, making it impossible for them to reenter it.

There’s a Sensorite on the wing! (Credit: BBC TV)

Also on the ship is the third crew member, Carol’s fiancé John. He’s had a negative reaction to the Sensorite’s mind control and has gone crazy. When the Sensorites attack again, they find that the TARDIS group are immune to the effects. Susan realizes that she can communicate with them, displaying a level of psychic talent the Doctor was unaware of, although he admits she has a “finely-tuned mind”. (It actually makes sense looking back… when the TARDIS was going haywire, Susan was affected the most. And when searching for the Keys of Marinus, Susan was able to sense the plants. She also mentioned the Planet Estos where she and the Doctor faced telepathic plants.) Susan plays a critical role in this serial due to her ability. She comes up with a way for them to pool their mental energy to disrupt the Sensorites. They also realize that the Sensorites are useless in the dark and cower away from loud noises such as raised voices. Armed with this knowledge, they’re able to dispel the threat and communicate with their captors.

“I do not make threats.” (Credit: BBC TV)

Susan agrees to go back to the Sense-Sphere as a hostage, which angers the Doctor. He sharply reprimands Susan for her willfulness, upsetting her. Susan states that she is old enough to make her own decisions, but he’s having none of it. Barbara has to remind him that Susan is not a little girl anymore.

After a time, they end up down on the Sense-Sphere (except for Barbara who remained behind with Matland) and meet with the kindly Sensorite leader, the Elder. He explains that a while back a human spaceship had crashed on the Sense-Sphere causing a disease that has been killing his people. They can find no cause or cure, and it strikes seemingly at random. This is why they’re not allowing the humans to leave orbit. They agree to cure John of his madness. The City Administrator (basically third in command it seems) warns the Elder to not trust the humans.

At dinner the Elder Sensorite serves them special water from a different source as everyone else. The Doctor learns that none of the Elders get the disease and he starts to come up with a theory. Ian gets sick and they realize it’s because he drank the same water the lower class Sensorites drink. The Doctor declares their problem is not a disease, but poison. They give the Doctor water samples from different sources and he starts developing an antidote.

I’d hate to see Ian’s hospital bill. (Credit: BBC TV)

All this time the City Administrator is escalating his treachery. He tries to disintegrate them, sabotages the antidote, and eventually kills an Elder and then takes his sash to trick them, realizing that the humans can only tell them apart by the sashes. The Doctor ventures into the sewers to find the source of the poison. The Sensorites are all afraid to go down there because of the dark and the monsters that they claim live there. Ian is cured and he and Susan go down just in time to rescue the Doctor from the apparent monster. (In the course of this, the Doctor’s coat which he’s had throughout the season is ripped off. The Sensorite Elder presents him with a cloak to wear instead.)

The Doctor and Ian go back to the sewers, not realizing that the City Administrator has tampered with their map and weapons. Because of this they get lost and captured by the “monsters”, which turn out to be the remaining survivors of the human crash. Angry with the Sensorites, they have been poisoning them all this time. The Doctor and Ian trick them, telling them that the battle with the Sensorites is over and they have won. They lead the humans out of the sewer where they’re captured by the Sensorites.

The City Administrator is banished to the outer wastes, John is cured, and the Elder allows the sewer humans to go back to Earth with Maitland and the others. The TARDIS is repaired and the Sensorites bid them farewell. As the TARDIS crew watches the spaceship leave, Ian makes an offhand comment about the humans at least knowing where they’re going. The Doctor gets pissed and snaps at him in a display of drastic mood shift, saying that wherever they end up, he’s leaving Barbara and Ian there. Yikes.

This was a very creative serial and it had an intricate plot. The City Administrator, in my opinion, was the best villain of the season. He was underhanded, intelligent, ambitious, and cunning. He had solid motivation, which is always important for a villain, in that he just wanted his people to thrive without human interference. In a very clever move, he used the human’s racism against them, exploiting the fact that to humans all Sensorites look the same. He very nearly got the Doctor and Ian killed. As villains go, however, the Sensorites couldn’t last… their weaknesses are too striking. Who wants a villain who’s afraid of the dark and yelling?

The eighth and final serial of Season 1 is called “The Reign of Terror” and ran from Episode 37-42. Part 4 and 5 are among the missing episodes, having to be reconstructed in the same way as “Marco Polo” was. This serial takes place in 1794, a few years after the French Revolution.

When they land, the Doctor is still insisting that he’s going to drop Ian and Barbara off, convinced that they’re back in the correct time period. They soon realize that he’s off by quite a bit. While investigating a house they run into two counter-revolutionaries and then are attacked by revolutionary soldiers. The counter-revolutionaries are killed and the group are captured, all except for the Doctor, who had been knocked unconscious in the house. The house is set on fire and the Doctor is narrowly rescued by a feral boy. He wanders off to find the others, who are being taken to prison and then the guillotine.

Ian is separated from the others. Susan is upset and exhausted and Barbara tries to dig their way out. In Ian’s cell, his cell mate dies, telling Ian that he has an important message for an Englishman named James Stirling, information which will help England fight the war with France. A nobleman named Lemaitre asks Ian what the dying prisoner said, but Ian claims he said nothing.

And what’s the Doctor up to? After a brief stint in a chain gang, he ends up selling all his clothes and even his ring to buy the clothes of a Regional Officer of the Provinces. The tailor is suspicious, but takes the trade.

I need this kind of big feather hat energy in my life. (Credit: BBC TV)

Barbara and Susan are rescued from execution by counter-revolutionaries, Jules and Jean. Another man, Leon, flirts with Barbara over wine as Susan rests. The Doctor meets with Lemaitre and First Deputy Robespierre, BSing his way through his role as a nobleman. Since Susan is sick, they take her to a doctor, who captures her to take her back to the prison. Barbara gets captured again too, but the Doctor saves her and then Susan. Ian sneaks out and can’t find James Stirling anywhere. Lemaitre is clued in by the tailor of the Doctor’s true identity. Leon turns out to be evil and in a nice twist, Lemaitre is actually Stirling, being deep undercover for England. Thanks to Ian’s memory of his cell mate, the message is relayed successfully to the spy.

Lemaitre promises to help them as long as they help him figure out what his deputy is up to. He suspects foul play. Ian and Barbara pose as inn keepers and overhear a secret meeting between the deputy and none other than Napoleon himself! They plot to overthrow Robespierre and install Napoleon as ruler of France. Lemaitre attempts to stop this, but of course, as we learned earlier in the season, history cannot be rewritten. Lemaitre departs for England to prepare for war and the TARDIS crew takes their leave of another time period.

As an ending to the season, I found this serial somewhat anticlimactic. It certainly wasn’t as interesting to me as the Sensorite story. As a time travel story, I found Marco Polo much more enjoyable, but this one did some things well. For instance, the twist of the identity of the spy was well done. I didn’t see that coming. It was nice to see the Doctor pretending to be a bigshot in his feather hat. I’m not up on my history of this period, but I’ve read that there are a lot of historical inconsistencies in these episodes. Susan’s character had devolved again in this serial, as she spends the entire time sick and despairing, complaining and crying. She’s not much help at all, being utilized more as a damsel in distress… she’s captured twice in this serial! It was a let-down after her better performance in The Sensorites. (Not to get too spoiler-ey, but when Susan’s actress does leave the show, it’s because of the way her character was being written and under-used. I don’t blame her.)

But yeah, it’s really just another story and not a typical season finale. The only real indication that this is an act break is the Doctor’s monologue at the end as the camera pans into space.

The Doctor: “Our lives are important. At least to us. And as we see, so we learn.“

Ian: “What are we going to see and learn next Doctor?“

The Doctor: “Well, unlike the old adage my boy, our destiny is in the stars.“

I liked that. It was ominous and makes for a nice endcap.

And that’s Season 1! With that we’re 42 episodes in and have been introduced to the Doctor and his universe. We still have a long ways to go, but we’ve taken our first step.

Now for a couple of features I plan to put in each post. First off, the TARDIS.

The TARDIS is a an interesting device, but many things about it are left mysterious. Still, in this season we learned many things about it. First off, and the biggest is that we learned the TARDIS has artificial intelligence and has some form of sentience. It was unable to communicate directly with the Doctor to warn him of disaster, but it staged several malfunctions to lead them to figure out what was wrong. I’m sure the TARDIS’s AI will come back later as the series continues, and this is the main reason I listed the TARDIS as a character in the beginning of the post. Although the TARDIS is meant to change its form to match the environment and time in which they land, this functionality doesn’t appear to be working after they left London in Episode 1. The Doctor seemed concerned about this issue, but then promptly forgot about it. The TARDIS is equipped with food and water dispensers, with the food being bars flavored as whatever you program in. There is also a first aid kit. There are beds and chairs, and actually an entire sleeping room. The center of the main control room is taken up by a control panel that raises and lowers. There is a view screen that can show them the outside of the ship. The door is operated by a complex lock that could self destruct if the key is inserted incorrectly. Although so far not shown, there is also an extensive wardrobe that allows them to dress with the times they find themselves in. If the exact data is not entered in prior to launch, the TARDIS seems to choose their destination at random.

The Doctor is an enigmatic character, but now and then things about him are uncovered. What did we learn about the Doctor this season? His past has not yet been elaborated on, but he stated that he and Susan were “cut off” from their world. He smokes a pipe (or at least did in one episode.) The Doctor is very skilled at backgammon. He likes truffles and pomegranates. The Doctor greatly dislikes weapons. He claims that he has met Pyrrho (the founder of scepticism), Beau Brummell (a 19th century English dandy), and Henry VIII. His favorite time period on Earth is the French Revolution. A reason for this is not given.

The Doctor’s past: In “The Sensorites” Susan revealed that she and the Doctor come from another planet. On their planet the sky is burnt orange and the leaves on the trees are silver. Thus far, nothing else was revealed about their world or why they’re away from it.

Defining moments to show the Doctor’s personality: In Episode 1 the Doctor was not willing to let Ian and Barbara go in order to keep his existence a secret, and was even willing to leave Susan behind. This shows a great self-centered aspect to his personality. It also makes him seem a bit villainous. He essentially kidnapped them! But then, as the season went on, he started showing more fondness for them, eventually referring to them as his companions. This shows the shift from antagonism to friendship. In Episode 5 he lied about the ship being out of mercury so that he could explore the city, putting them all in danger in the process. This shows more of his self-centered qualities.

Hands down my favorite defining moment in the season was in Episode 3 where he put their safety over that of Za, who had been gravely injured. The Doctor tried to fucking clock the unconscious caveman with a rock. I have no doubt he would have done it if Ian hadn’t intervened. (Is that the Doctor you all remember?) I loved this moment because it showed the lengths the Doctor would go to in order to get his way. Just as Barbara said in that same episode, he feels everyone is beneath him. This makes it all the more satisfying to see him gradually begin to care for his companions and even risk his life for them. The rock incident pushes the character and the companion’s (as well as the viewer’s) opinions of him to a dark place that he has to earn his way back out of. I think that’s where Doctor Who, for me at least, went from being a good show to being a great show.

I very much enjoyed Season 1 and feel like it was a solid start to an epic series. Some downsides: You can tell that each serial has different writers and directors. There is an inconsistency present that is most noticeable in the characterization. In one serial Ian is short-tempered and sharp, the next he’s patient and heroic. In one serial Barbara is knowledgeable and capable, while in the next she’s a screechy scream machine. (“Oh great, Barbara is a screamer this serial. Ian’s grumpy again.”) Susan got the worst of it, devolving as the season went on from a highly intelligent and mature teenager to childish, petulant, and easily frightened. She felt like a different character when considering how she was in the first episode. She got some of it back in the Sensorite serial, but it didn’t last. Susan’s potential as a character was wasted.

Also suffering from this inconsistency is the pacing of the episodes. The episodes go from being ploddingly slow to horribly rushed. A good example of this is the end of the Dalek serial where they rushed through the final battle, leaving me a little unsure of what I had just seen. Characters were sometimes lost in the plots, their motivations and development pushed to the side. (Didn’t Ian want to go home?) Speaking of clumsy writing, it was pretty evident that the writers struggled with the plot constraints, having to invent new reasons for them to be stuck in the current serial’s location. (Cut off from the TARDIS, captured, missing a piece they need to launch, etc.) Also every time period and planet they visit the primary language spoken is English. Of course this could be said for any sci fi property, so it’s best to not think about it too hard. Maybe the Doctor has a portable translator or something. Suspend that disbelief! British cavemen existed!

Due to the budget and time constraints, errors remain in the episodes (boom mike, stage markers, things like that) and I would be amiss to not mention the fact that William Hartnell (the Doctor’s actor) had problems remembering his lines. He often misspoke or stumbled, correcting himself as he went. It was a tad distracting, but I didn’t mind it… it worked with the Doctor’s forgetfulness and age, giving him an absent-minded quality. To his credit, he never broke character.

For upsides, the concept is solid and there is a lot of room for exploration. Leaving the Doctor’s past a mystery helps keep interest up. The cliffhangers between episodes and especially between serials are pretty good, making you want to watch the next episode to see what happens next. And when I mentioned characterization, the Doctor was really the most consistent of all the characters. This is due to the complexity of the character. He’s flighty, ranging from snobbish, to bitchy, to kindly and patient. He could be cackling gleefully one moment and snapping at someone the next. The continuity in this show is excellent, with each episode and serial flowing into the next without break. They often refer to their earlier adventures and usually are wearing costumes in one serial they acquired in the prior serial.

The Doctor looking dapper in his new alien cloak. (Credit: BBC TV)

Although rough at times, the show really was entertaining and the downsides didn’t really ruin it. Going into this my bias was that I was going to have to slog through the first few seasons to get to the good stuff, but I found plenty of good from the start. It became my nightly ritual after work to lie down with my laptop and watch a single episode. (Sometimes two on Friday.) I was hooked right away. The vagueness and mystery surrounding the Doctor and Susan drives me to keep watching, waiting for any reveal or revelation, no matter how small, that will shed some light on who or what they really are.

This brings me to my lingering questions this season left me with. Why are the Doctor and Susan away from their home? What is his past? What is he a Doctor of? Does he have a name? How much does the TARDIS actually know? I know the Doctor’s companions change as time goes on… what will be the fates of Susan, Barbara, and Ian? Will the teachers ever get home, or will they be left behind? Or will they die? How will the Doctor that I have come to love inevitably die in order to be regenerated into the Second Doctor? What will he be like? (I started watching as a kid on the Fourth Doctor, so I knew nothing about the first three.) How will the Daleks return (I know they do!) from their supposed extinction? Will the Doctor’s rule for maintaining the integrity of history remain in place? Where will they land next? These are all questions pushing me to keep watching.

I hope that I’ve intrigued you and properly set the stage for what will turn out to be dozens of future posts! Thank you for joining me on this adventure, and my new appreciation for Doctor Who. I’ll be back very soon with more!