The Doctor Who Thread

[Susan Foreman]

March 4th: Today in WHO-story

Births
1923 - Patrick Moore (Himself in The Eleventh Hour)
1939 - Juan Moreno (Dobson in The Ambassadors of Death)
1969 - Steve Lyons (writer of several Doctor Who-related books, audio adventures and comic strips)

Deaths
2002 - Eric Flynn (Leo Ryan in The Wheel in Space) aged 62

Episodes
1967 - The Moonbase, Episode Four: 8.1 million viewers
1972 - The Sea Devils, Episode Two: 9.7 million viewers
1978 - The Invasion of Time, Part Five: 10.3 million viewers

Releases
2002 - Underworld (VHS); Anachrophobia and Palace of the Red Sun (BBC Books)
2004 - Issue 341 of Doctor Who Magazine (Panini UK)

2008 - Planet of Evil (DVD - region 1)
2010 - Code of the Krillitanes (BBC Books); Dead Air (BBC Audio); issue 156 of Doctor Who Adventures (BBC Magazines); issue 419 of Doctor Who Adventures (BBC Magazines); Freakshow (Big Finish Productions)
2014 - The Time of the Doctor (DVD - region 1); Toby Hadoke's Who's Round 45 (Big Finish)
2016 - Toby Hadoke's Who's Round 160 (Big Finish)

Behind-the-Scenes
2002 - Recording of the Big Finish audio The Sandman took place
2005 - Recording of Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield The Heart's Desire took place
2008 - Russell T. Davies began writing that year's Christmas special, The Next Doctor

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

An alien (Martian?) from the 1970 story The Ambassadors of Death

[Susan Foreman]

March 5th: Today in WHO-story

Births
1925 - Bruce Wightman (William de Tornebu in The Crusade, Scott in The Daleks' Master Plan and the Radio Operator in Terror of the Zygons)
1932 - Gertan Clauber (Gallery Master in The Romans and Ola in The Macra Terror); Stuart Walker (designer on The Savages)
1934 - Nicholas Smith (Wells in The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
1974 - Matt Lucas (Nardole [Twelfth Doctor's companion]; the Cylinder & the Jelloid in the Big Finish audio The One Doctor)

1981 - Miranda Borman (Stellar in Dragonfire)

Deaths
2012 - Philip Madoc (Eelek in The Krotons, the War Lord in The War Games, Mehendri Solon in The Brain of Morbius, Fenner in The Power of Kroll and Brockley in the movie Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150AD; Magic Bullet Productions actor - the Commander in the Kaldor City story and the War King in the Faction Paradox stories Body Politic and Words from Nine Divinities; Big Finish Productions actor - Victor Schaeffer in Master and Rag Cobden in Return of the Krotons) aged 77

Episodes
1966 - The Ark, Episode One ('The Steel Sky'): 5.5 million viewers

1977 - The Talons of Weng-Chiang, Part Two: 9.8 million viewers
2008 - Torchwood: Something Borrowed: 3.75 million viewers

Releases
2001 - EarthWorld and Rags (BBC Books)
2008 - Beneath the Surface (DVD box set - region 4)
2009 - Issue 105 of Doctor Who Adventures (BBC Magazines); The Next Doctor (DVD - region 4); The E-Space Trilogy (DVD box set - region 4); issue 406 of Doctor Who Magazine (Panini UK)
2012 - Revisitations 3 (DVD box set - region 2)
2015 - Time Trips (BBC Books); Time Tunnel and Toby Hadoke's Who's Round 110 (Big Finish)

Behind-the-Scenes
2002 - Recording of the Big Finish audio The Sandman took place
2005 - The relaunch episode Rose was leaked on the internet by an employee of a company relating to the Canadian Broadcasting Company
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV and Radio | New Dr Who leaked onto internet

2009 - Recording of the Big Finish audio The Glorious Revolution took place
2012 - Recording of Big Finish's audio adaptation of the unmade TV story The Queen of Time took place

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Doctor meets 'Rusty' the Dalek in 2014's Into the Dalek.

One of two episodes directed by British cult film director Ben Wheatley and co-starring regular Wheatley actor Michael Smiley.

[Gothmogxx]

Starting late last year I finally decided to plunge into the entire series in chronological order. As I finally got every single episode (at least every existing episode anyway, hurry up Philip Morris haha) on DVD it seemed like the perfect time. I am currently at The Macra Terror episode 1.

So just to share my thoughts on the Hartnell era.

First off, what a brilliant way to start off the series with An Unearthly Child episode 1. It really sets the tone. Take the The First Doctor’s introduction: He isn't portrayed as some kind of hero. He instead comes off as mysterious, somebody who hasn't quite earned your trust, with a large amount of authority that no Doctor since has really matched. Then the episode gambles even further with a decision that was great it hindsight: The Doctor and Susan are aliens with a police box that's bigger on the inside! This at the time was a great choice of story, it further defied conventions and made people wonder just Who the Doctor really was. Sure the caveman stuff in Episodes 2-4 isn't quite as good as what came before but I still liked it...

What follows is even better though. Marco Polo (why, why, WHY does this not exist when it sold so well abroad?!?), The Keys of Marinus, The Reign of Terror, The Reign of Terror, The Time Meddler, The Gun Fighters (this one seems to divide opinion but I think that Hartnell gave his best performance ever in the series in this. And it felt fun and funny), The War Machines and The Tenth Planet. The only ones I really didn't like were The Edge of Destruction and The Web Planet, the later of which took a few sittings to get through. I've also never got the hate for The Sensorites. Its not perfect but I liked it a lot.

The Hartnell Era is a prime example of how the Doctors companions are just as important as he is and why I personally feel its wrong to criticise the new era for giving such focus on the companions. Hartnell tended to go on holiday a lot (in fact in Keys of Marinus he's absent for two episodes in a row) so Ian, Barbara and Susan had to carry the stories, along with his future companions. They succeed, the initial Tardis team more so. In fact in Marinus I never even noticed he was gone initially because what was going on on-screen was so interesting! Compare this to The Deadly Assassin where its just the Doctor by himself. Its an okay story but something feels missing with him being alone, which would have killed the series a lot sooner if they went down that route initially. At least it was just a one off there. Same applies to the newer episodes: as good as for example Tennant is, without Rose, Martha and especially Donna, it wouldn't have been able to work.

I also like the arcs we get with the Tardis team. Initially Ian and the Doctor clash very frequently, but by The Romans one season later, they're all having a great time, Hartnell in particular looks like he’s having some fun with it and it starts rubbing off on the others. Following that when Ian and Barbara leave in The Chase, the Doctor (and William Hartnell in real life) was genuinely upset. Its done very well.

I have grown to respect Hartnell more as an actor having watched his entire era over 3/4 months. Hartnell is not just the Doctor. But THE Doctor. Pre October 1966 there was no such thing as regeneration. Everybody that followed him built on his original performance. In An Unearthly Child, not knowing much about him, you could assume he's human. No mention of two hearts. TARDIS is apparently a word invented by Susan. There's no Gallifrey until over 10 years of the show (The Time Warrior specifically), there's no powerful civilisation until the Time Lords show up in The War Games and look like scary, godlike beings. We don't even see another of his species until the end of Season 2 with the Monk. The show is still developing even at the point where Hartnell regenerates. He isn't the Doctor we know until roughly the end of Season 3, he is a far more likeable figure by this point and that's due to Hartnells performance. Considering the conditions they had to work with at the time (so many episodes getting made, little time to rheherse, Hartnell suffering from arteriosclerosis, which began to affect his ability to learn his lines) its quite frankly amazing how good a job he did. Patrick Troughton, Tom Baker, David Tennant etc are all brilliant Doctors. But we shouldn't ever forget that Hartnell was the one to start it all off. Its by no means my favourite era, but its been a fun few months watching it.

So Patrick Troughton then? So far so good, by The Moonbase it feels like he has a better grip on the role than at the start and has become his Doctor truly. I know he gets better as it goes on. Tomb of the Cybermen, Ice Warriors, The Enemy of the World, Web of Fear, The Invasion... Can't wait!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Excellent write up Gothmogxx.

I'd just like to mention that all the regulars had holidays and missed episodes. Hartnell's three series had 40, 39 and 45 episodes. That meant constant filming all year round on such a quick fire number of episodes. No wonder Bill went AWOL for a while.

[Demoncrat]

Seconded. And who's to say that that workload didn't contribute towards his condition at the end anyhow?

[Susan Foreman]

Menu screens from the Grindhouse release of Fulci's 'Cat In The Brain'

Methinks someone has been watching too many 'Doctor Who' opening titles!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

New issue. New logo, works quite well.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

I love the cover quote from Matt Stevens - "We're trying to retain the mystery"

You mean there's still some mystery left that Steven Moffat hasn't dug into / wrecked / tried to rewrite?