Doctor Who from the Beginning

[theSuperAlbino]

This is an idea I've had for awhile, and now that I've got some free time in my schedule, I figured I go for it. The idea is to go back and watch all of Doctor Who from the very beginning and review each episode as if I've never heard of Doctor Who before. Needless to say this is an insane task, so before I go I figured I'd do a preemptive FAQ.

Do you really think you can watch every single episode of Doctor Who?

I understand that it's a massive effort and the chances of me completing this project are very slim, but this should be a fun experiment regardless of whether or not I finish it.

How much do you know about Doctor Who?

Not much actually, I know that it's the longest running sci-fi series and I know it's a symbol of british pop culture. As far as story goes I only know that the Doctor is an alien who travels through time in a 1950's police box.

So why are you doing this if your not even a fan?

I wanted to learn more about the character and I'm not really the type of person to jump onto a series without knowing most of the backstory.

Couldn't you just look that stuff up?

Yeah, but this is more fun.

I'll be posting the review for the first episode, either tonight or tomorrow until then I want your thoughts and questions.

[Stacy B.]

Insane. Absolutely insane.

But I like it!

Good luck. I do have a question, when it comes to the episodes that have been lost, most where not actually lost but thrown away by BBC staffers, do you plan on trying to listen to the surviving audio recordings? I believe that most of them have been incuded as extras on various DVDs or reworked slightly and sold as Audiobooks.


As a long time Doctor Who fan, I applaud the effort and can't wait to read the first review.

[hermit]

i have some of those lost episodes in something like diaporama. it's the audio with still picture of the set. it's actually cool to watch.

i like your idea. you should twitter it and report every time a series is done or when you find something interesting. i'd do it if i had the time.

[The Mighty King Cobra]

I'd like to see it, but there are a few episodes that don't exist in ANY form, be they telesnaps or actual footage.

[hermit]

they should do a tardis app for the iphone

[theSuperAlbino]

when it comes to the episodes that have been lost, most where not actually lost but thrown away by BBC staffers, do you plan on trying to listen to the surviving audio recordings?

The site that I'm currently watching these at have some of the lost episodes, but seems to be missing a couple, I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do for those, perhaps track down the audiobooks, or read one of the various books based on the episodes, but I'll worry about that when we get to it. But now that I look at it seasons 3-5 are going to be rough, most of those episodes are listed as missing on wiki.

[theSuperAlbino]

Episode 1: An Unearthly Child

Plot:Teachers Ian and Barbara are concerned about their remarkably intelligent student Susan. Finding out that she lives in an abandoned junkyard they search the place only to find her and her grandfather (none other than Doctor Who himself) inside a police box, but this ain't no ordinary police box.

What I like: The intro is one of the best parts of this first episode, it fits the mood very well not to mention it fits into the actual story. Every line the Doctor had in this episode was great, he clearly dislikes humans meddling in his affairs. The idea to make Susan and her grandfather aliens was very clever and who would have thought that a police box would be a time machine, or TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space) to be exact.

What I didn't like: Not alot really happened, sure most of the stuff was introducing us to the characters and explaining how the Doctor and Susan got here but it still felt like not much was going on other than bickering between one person and the another (everyone seemed to get a chance to yell at the Doctor.) If my assumption is correct the Doctor plans on dumping the 2 teachers in whatever time period they landed in, that seems a little harsh for the guy that's suppose to be the hero and when his granddaughter disagrees with him he says "Then I suppose, you can go with them." Apparently, kindness is not one of the things the Doctors race is known for.

Rating: I'll give this one 4 out of 5 stars. While it seemed to move at a slow pace, it accomplished it's main goal of introducing the characters and it made me want to see what happens next, that's a winner in my book.

[theSuperAlbino]

Episode 2: The Cave of Skulls

Plot: The Doctor, not wanting Ian and Barbara to tell his secret, sends the gang back into prehistoric time. The group quickly becomes embroiled in a tribal power struggle.

What I like: The group being in prehistoric time is quite an interesting dynamic, I especially liked that the prehistoric characters actually spoke English and not grunts and screams, which is great, since the majority of the episode is dedicated to them. On that subject the caveman power struggle is very intriguing and I absolutely love that they intellectualize while praising the Sun and asking for fire, a nice contrast. Ian's reaction to his logic and faith being essentially destroyed was touching but very brief and the Doctor being able to talk his way out of getting killed was very cool. Also, Doctor Who was spoken twice during the episode. Once, by The Doctor himself, after Ian calls him Doctor Foreman, perhaps indicating that he doesn't know Susan uses the last name Foreman or just playing dumb. The second time, Ian describes how mysterious and untrustworthy The Doctor is to Barbara. "We know nothing about this man, about this Doctor Who."

What I didn't like: The Doctor lighting a pipe was just plain weird, especially when he's suppose to be figuring out what time period they are in. The switches to different shots when The Doctor is kidnapped felt clunky and took me out of it for a minute and Susan's reaction felt very overacted.

Rating: This one gets 4.5 out of 5 stars. The goods far outweighed the bads of this episode. Plus, it has (somewhat) intelligent cavemen who aren't trying to sell you car insurance. That's a winner in my book!

[theSuperAlbino]

Episode 3: The Forest of Fear

Plot: The gang escapes from their prehistoric captors, thanks to a crazy old lady, and head into, you guessed it, a forest, but the cave dwellers are in pursuit.

What I liked: Ian and The Doctor's arguments over life and death were great, I particularly liked that The Doctor considered killing Za, before Ian stopped him. Speaking of that scene, Ian helping Za despite having no real medical training was pretty badass. (Normally I'd count this as a thing I dislike, but since it's a Science Fiction program, I'm willing to bend the laws of reality.) Kal showing his true colors was nice, and rounding the other cavemen up to join him was also very well done.

What I didn't like: There wasn't a whole lot I didn't like this episode, there seemed to be some disjointed acting in Barbara, who was absolutely hysterical the first half of the episode and calm the other half.

Rating: This one gets 4.5 out of 5 stars. It sets up for the finale to this story, and has made the whole thing very interesting. That's a winner in my book!

[hermit]

so far so good. good work man.

as far as i can tell i have all the doctor who episodes, even the lost ones. (don't ask how). they are basically picture slideshow with the sound and some descriptions at the bottom. some of them have finally been found, but haven't got around of updating.

if you have trouble finding one, tell me i'll see what i have.

[The Mighty King Cobra]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_missing_episodes

There are currently Sixty-Three missing episodes of the original Doctor Who, spanning Seasons 1 through 6.  Our first interaction with these is coming up pretty quick in chronological order, starting with serial 4, Marco Polo. 

[theSuperAlbino]

Yeah, I checked that out, the site I visit has all of the Marco Polo episodes up, right now I'm really concerned with is The Dalek's Master Plan, it seems to be an important chapter in the Doctor's story but most of the episodes are missing.

[hermit]

as i said, i have them all. most of 'the daleks master plan' are in what they call 'reconstructed'. which is basically a slideshow from set picture (i guess) and original audio. sometimes there's subtitles describing the action in the scene.

[schleicher12000]

I could swear I saw both Marco Polo and Daleks Master Plan on public television out of Kansas City back in the day.  Wasn't Daleks Master Plan the first introduction of the Daleks with the first Doctor?  Man wouldn't it be cool for some video vault sitting in the middle of no where suddenly get ready to dump a bunch of 3/4" tapes and discover they have the lost episodes?

[theSuperAlbino]

No, the Dalek's Master Plan is to my knowledge a season 3 serial that focuses on the Daleks doing something (I've tried to keep from reading alot of plot details) that eventually ends in 2 of the Doctor's companions and one of his allies being killed. There's about 12 episodes in the serial and it's the biggest 1st doctor story.