Grendel's mother

“You see? The first, faint glimmerings…” – The Doctor

Unaired Pilot Episode

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I can understand almost every change they made. There’s certainly a lot more shouting in the pilot version. Sydney Newman, the man often credited with creating Doctor Who, allowed the producers another shot at making the first episode. [1] He gave extensive notes, including, “Old man not funny enough.” [2] And while I don’t think the Doctor’s particularly wacky in the broadcast version, he’s almost evil in this. More about that later.

My first thought was actually: the Coal Hill schoolchildren are even quieter teenagers in the pilot. And, instead of a waiting for a book, Susan seems to stay after school for no reason whatsoever. After her teachers bid her good evening, she stays behind to create the Rorschach from Hell, again, for no reason.

Unfortunately, Ian and Barbara have a little less chemistry, which I guess is to be expected. In the broadcast version, I can almost see Ian asking Barbara out for a drink later; but I don’t get that sense here.

Finally, when William Hartnell steps on to the scene, he makes a huge difference. It’s obvious there were quite a few dialogue changes between this and the new version. However, what’s striking, was that his tone was originally even darker. If you didn’t have visions of Susan locked up in a cupboard while watching the broadcast version, this performance may do it. The Doctor appears almost predatorial as the TARDIS door opens. We hear a reprise of the music from Susan’s radio, and he jumps as a discovered kidnapper might.

The Doctor and Susan seem more argumentative in the pilot. At one point, he even calls her a “stupid girl,” blaming Susan for the breach in security. Hartnell plays it angry, rather than mysterious. Likewise, his argument with Ian is most pointed. As Ian claims it’s improbable to find a scientific breakthrough in a junkyard, the Doctor replies, "For your science, schoolmaster, not for ours. I tell you, before your ancestors turned the first wheel, the people of my world had reduced movement through the farthest reaches of space to a game for children."

The scene becomes heated, and soon we see Ian and Barbara beating on the doors to get out. It’s at this moment that the Doctor laughs at them, as if a villain. I have to admit, the moment gave me chills. The Doctor seems rather evil here, and it’s reinforced by his electrifying the TARDIS console, as Ian’s flipping switches. The broadcast version seemed less malevolent. The Doctor still chooses to turn the console “live,” but he steps away before Ian even gets to it. I'm not sure why, but the moment played this way strikes me as being more defensive than anything else.

The one bit of dialogue I wish they could’ve kept, was part of the Doctor’s conversation with Susan - trying to get her on his side. He explains that it doesn’t matter if the teachers don’t understand the TARDIS yet, just knowing that the dimensional anomaly is possible may pollute the timeline. He compares it to giving the ancient Romans gunpowder or supplying Napoleon with an air force.

Even the technical aspects of the pilot seem darker. There are more half-lit shots of ominous dummies in the scrapyard; and one shot with a voyeuristic view through an empty mattress frame in the foreground. The theme even has an extra electronic crack! at the beginning. It’s just not the comforting tune I grew up with, and I wonder how long the series would have lasted had it followed through with these darker characterizations...

Or, if it would’ve been canceled entirely.

Next episode: The Cave of Skulls

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[1] I tend to think of no one person as the creator of Doctor Who. Sydney Newman (the newly hired Head of Drama at the BBC) certainly got the ball rolling, and had final say in a lot of the original situations and character decisions. However, I consider him more seminal in organizing the show’s original production staff, including: Donald Wilson, C.E. Webber, and Verity Lambert, with whom he would often butt heads. The Doctor (as John Smith) in Human Nature, refers to his parents as "Sydney and Verity."

[2] Doctor Who: Origins. (DVD special feature)

A Dark Lord?

“Have you ever thought what it’s like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? Have you? To be exiles…” – The Doctor

Ep. 001: An Unearthly Child
(Production A/Story #001: "An Unearthly Child" - Part 1 of 4)

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The opening shot is beautiful shadow and fog, almost film noir-ish. Unfortunately, for me, the effect is undermined by the theme continuing past its title sequence. I have to remember that those seeing this for the first time wouldn’t necessarily find the theme tune as comforting as I do. It’s a familiar sound from my childhood, but back in 1963, this haunting melody was not at all likely to be heard in your sitting room right before Juke Box Jury. I won’t go into how unique and groundbreaking it was, and still is. I'll only say that it’s very eerie if I don’t take it for granted.

Ron Grainer's music ends right about the same time our eyes meet the police box. [1] The box begins humming mysteriously. Maybe it knows what’s coming.

In following scenes, I detect obvious chemistry between Ian and Barbara. I like them instantly. I loved the bit where Ian knows all about the band Susan is listening to. I’m sure most of the kids think he’s square, and probably he is, in every important respect. Still, he has an “enquiring mind,” and probably similar to Susan, he lets out his (pop culture) knowledge “a little bit at a time, so as not to embarrass” them.

I wonder why Susan expects to return Barbara’s book the next day. Will she have finished it because she's had the time to read it, after countless adventures in time and space with her grandfather? Doesn’t that imply her grandfather has more control over the time machine than he lets on? Or does time pass differently inside the ship? And why is she borrowing a book on the French Revolution, if she has already witnessed it? Viewing the episode through the eyes of the 60s, her comment, “that’s not right,” regarding the history book is the audience’s first clue of the adventure to come.

I love the flashbacks with Susan, and for the first time, it becomes obvious that the show was shot live to tape in a single studio. Though the flashbacks are presumably on different days, Susan clothes haven’t changed at all. Even ignoring this little continuity error, the scenes are effectively awkward. Director Waris Hussein’s use of close-ups evoke memories of classroom embarrassments, humanizing Susan’s rather alien dialogue. [2] (One curious point, and maybe someone can explain this to me… If dimensions A, B and C, are effectively space, why does Susan say that E is also space? [3])

I find the Doctor quite creepy in his very first scene. He is suspicious and defensive from the start. If I try to watch this first episode from the perspective of never having seen it before, the Doctor appears (at the very least) to be an abusive grandfather. Think of it this way: Ian and Barbara do not know this stranger. They suspect he’s Susan’s grandfather, and is a doctor of some kind, but know nothing else about him. Worse, they’re convinced he’s got Susan locked up in a box that’s not roomier than two feet square. Scary.

In an aside to himself, the Doctor mutters, “Not the police, then?” in reference to Ian and Barbara; securing his criminal intent. Once inside the TARDIS, the audience [4] is relieved that Susan’s all right, but that doesn’t matter - because now we have the paradigm shift of entering the ship for the first time.

The Doctor continues to be creepy, albeit for new reasons. If we were prepared to believe that he was an abusive grandfather, what might he do to Ian and Barbara while trapped in his domain? Here, nothing makes sense. Anything could happen.

While the schoolteachers are distracted by the trappings of the TARDIS, he argues, “The point is not whether you understand. What is going to happen to you?” confirming this dark sentiment. The more the Doctor speaks, the more we’re compelled to find out more about him. He cycles through ignoring and mocking Ian’s inability to comprehend, until finally the Doctor’s motivations become clearer. He mentions that he and Susan are on Earth “without friends or protection,” implying they might be on the run from someone; or at least, vulnerable enough to be caught up in warfare, disease, crime, or any other dangers that exist at their destinations. The universe is dangerous, and in turn, the Doctor must also be dangerous to protect himself and Susan. His vigilance keeps their lives secret. If they let the intruders go - he and Susan must flee, or be discovered. Creepiness turns to tough love, as the Doctor decides to take on (or kidnap) Ian and Barbara in order to keep an upset Susan from staying in the 20th Century with her teachers…

…on the other hand, it’s clear the Doctor wanted to leave anyway. He remarks, “I tolerate the 20th Century, but I don’t enjoy it.”

As the TARDIS leaves for the first time on television, the Doctor and Susan turn away from the console, as if doing that is somehow necessary for dematerialization. The Doctor looks as if he’s suffering from severe heartburn here. Thank goodness this sequence of events is not necessary in future episodes. We rush into the next segment, and I realize this is not the Doctor I remember. He's more mysterious and unpredictable. Maybe not a dark lord [5], exactly, but certainly more complicated than I remember from childhood. As an adult, I can recognize a tighter performance. Hartnell plays him with more depth than I may given him credit for in the past.

Encore
Jacqueline Hill (Barbara) later plays Lexa in 1980’s Meglos with Tom Baker.

Future Echoes
Ian doesn’t know how right he is when he touches the police box and declares, “It’s alive!” I forget how we find out the TARDIS is an intelligent living being with telepathic circuits, but I know it’s long before the new series. I believe the Doctor’s assertion in Rise of the Cybermen - that the ship is not built, but “grown” - is the first time we hear about a presumably organic component to the TARDIS. I can’t wait to hear more about it in future episodes, and rediscover it in past adventures.

I love how massive the TARDIS appears on the inside, and how Ian can’t wrap his head around it for several minutes. It was great how Ian walked all around the police box, which conflicts him greatly once inside. Chang Lee (1996 Movie) and Rose (Rose) both do the same, but after they’ve entered, if I remember correctly. Chang Lee and Rose aside, many later companions surprisingly take this dimensional aberrance in stride. True, it saves time and helps keep the long-term audience engaged, but I think this knocks down the believability a notch. It's also unfortunate that Console Room seems to be seriously reduced by the Tom Baker era.

The Doctor's temporary address, 76 Totter’s Lane, appears again in Attack of the Cybermen and Remembrance of the Daleks. The latter story also features the reappearance of Coal Hill School. Sam Jones of the Eighth Doctor BBC Novel range attended Coal Hill in the 90s.

Coming soon: The Unaired Pilot


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[1] Written by Ron Grainer, but realised by Delia Derbyshire, out of electronically created sounds in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

[2] Depending on how you look at it, Susan is an alien in time as well as space. She mentions in the unaired pilot that she was “born the 49th Century.”

[3] While it doesn’t really answer my question - maybe Susan meant E-space (Exo-Space), an area occupying the same space as our universe, yet negative. We journey to E-Space in Full Circle, State of Decay, and Warriors’ Gate.

[4] When I say “audience” or “we,” I assume this audience has the same emotions and reactions as I do. You’ll notice I’ll use “we” a lot, so I don’t have to say “I” all the time. Everyone, of course, is entitled to unique experiences, and if your perspective contrasts (or agrees with) mine, I invite you to comment.

[5] On the other hand, the Valeyard has to come from somewhere, right?

The Tunnel

My best friend from 6th Grade, Jeff, still has a lot to answer for.

Over twenty years, and many piles of money later, Doctor Who continues to be a major driving force in my life. A lot of free time and resources are spent with friends exhibiting similar motivations.

When first introduced to the series, I was already excited about science fiction movies, and filmmaking in general. The images fueled my boyhood imagination in ways that no kind of outdoor sport would. But I knew little of sci-fi television beyond the realm of Star Trek. Which, all in all, isn't a bad start.

When not in the swimming pool, my grandparents and I would spend summers consuming Star Trek. I have pretty good memories of watching old videotapes with them, recorded when the show was in syndication in the 80s. I lived for Kirk's adventures, and greatly enjoyed the wit displayed between Spock and McCoy. The trips spent with my grandparents left me wanting more. However, there wasn't much Trek at the time to go around.

One night, a sleepover at my best friend's house changed my life forever. We were up late (all of 10:30 pm), when this strange show came on public television. I don't think I even knew what public television was at the time, but I was being initiated that night. He knew what was about to happen, but I don't remember him telling me his favorite show was about to come on. I'd already been subjected to an evening full of Monty Python's Flying Circus, knowing it was funny, but not quite grasping why. Then, a weird brown tunnel comes out of nowhere. My ears detect this strange, unearthly music. A man in a scarf and a barely clothed woman start arguing with a robot dog.

All eleven-year-old boys with a pulse love robot dogs.

I get involved in the story, and soon find out, "The quest is the quest."

Even at that age, I knew the effects weren't quite right. I'm not sure I could've articulated why I liked Doctor Who back then, but the stories were so interesting and so different from anything else I'd ever seen, I didn't care about the effects or costumes. I bought every coffee table book written by Peter Haining I could get my hands on. I still have them.

Ironically, now I look back and appreciate this wondrous program - put together for practically nothing, yet feel that if they had more money, Doctor Who wouldn't have looked right. I wouldn't have the same dogged loyalty I have to the show now. Part of Doctor Who being "slightly rubbish," is almost a badge for my identity as a fan. [1] Don't get me wrong, I like the other shows too. I still enjoy Star Trek. My wife and I would follow Joss Whedon anywhere he'd go. In the 90s, when there was no new Who on the air, my favorite show was The X-Files. [2] But it's my interest in Doctor Who that has defined me, at least culturally, as a person. I've been the underdog, just as (at least in America) Doctor Who has been.

While Doctor Who may not have had the resources of a lot of other science fiction on television, it stands out as being a series about one extremely intelligent man making a difference. In a culture with a lot of gun violence, it's refreshing to see a hero outwit an enemy without using a weapon, or physical force or any kind. And if the hero insults you as he saves the day, than you probably saw it on Doctor Who. For me, it's this combination of factors that makes the Doctor the most important character on television.

And, the thing that gets me - he's still relevant. With the increasing violence and environmental dangers in our world, Doctor Who may be more relevant than ever. I don't want to be ridiculous and infer that a television show can change or save the world (what a weight for any producer's shoulders!) but Doctor Who certainly has a better shot at it than Desperate Housewives. The Doctor's message of understanding diversity, protecting the environment, using your head, and most of all - trying to find peaceful solutions to problems - is one that needs to resonate with the children (and some adults) of the twenty-first century.

Thankfully, this seems to be the case. With the series approaching its 45th Anniversary (as well as what is, technically, Season 30) we are now amidst at least some third generation Doctor Who fans who can't wait until the next Christmas special. The show is just as popular now as when Dalekmania first hit London. The series is winning Hugos and BAFTAs, and the children who always knew the show's potential have grown up to become its writers, actors, production staff, and even critics. It's true that a lot of my friends have been unsettled by some recent episodes, but that's always been true about "new" Doctor Who. I know one or two people who refuse to acknowledge any other Doctor besides Tom Baker. It is important to understand that change is the only constant in the show. Change has given the show its appeal to the widest variety of fans, and is solely responsible for its longevity. I think the new fans are becoming wise to this, and they're getting the idea that you can't get to David Tennant without going through William Hartnell first, and there is no John Simm without Roger Delgado.

Which leads me, finally, to some sort of point. I've always wanted to watch the series from beginning to end. I'm not sure why. I guess it seems like some sort of noble challenge to me. A quest, if you will. Sure, tons of people have already done this and talked about it, better writers than me among them, but I have a feeling I won't know why I'm doing this until I'm done. Maybe it's the ex-fan organization administrator in me wanting to make sure everyone gets a good look at the show's origins and adolescence. I really enjoy finding connections between the old series and the new. I get excited about finding new perspectives in something I've cherished since childhood.

Or, maybe it's just, "The quest is the quest."

Thank you ever so much, Jeff.

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[1] I'm sure lots of people have referred to Doctor Who as being "sligthly rubbish," but I believe I'm quoting Steven Moffat here, in a recent Doctor Who Confidential. Sorry, I can't remember which one. I'm not even sure I'm right about the quote, it might have been just about K9, the point is I attempted to give credit here...

[2] except, of course, one summer night in 1996. But then, for many of us, it doesn't count, does it? (That wacky change again.)