Doctor Who's First Story Actually...Kinda Sucks?
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- Опубліковано 8 лис 2023
- We're rapidly approaching Doctor Who's 60th anniversary, so I thought I'd travel all the way back to the very beginning, to see how this iconic show first started. 1963's An Unearthly Child was the first ever story and kickstarted a dynasty of British TV, but is the first story actually good?
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#DoctorWho #ClassicWho #Review - Фільми й анімація
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Why did you change the title?
A/B testing. Most UA-camrs try a video with one title/thumbnail, see how it goes, and then try a different title/thumbnail to see if it helps or hinders the performance. It's not ideal but it's the only way to try and play the algorithm game
@@HarboWholmes smart 😂😂 I thought my UA-cam was broken because I clicked on a video but when it loaded it looked (at first) like a different video😂
I wouldn't call Doctor Who always being "Woke" since it a rather recent phenomena in the 21st century. Though I get where is Stef Coburn coming from at, since it is rather strange and ridiculous for casting a drag queen in show, but he's gone too far from pulling episodes out of streaming from such a reaction.
@@remusrogers2514 I agree with literally everything you said😂 it’s definitely a strange casting 😂 but hey they might make it work and I’m here for it if they do💯
"Sucks" is a bit harsh. Sure, it's not the greatest story ever or anything like that, but it's certainly decent and does a great job at setting up the 4 main characters, and the whole scenario for the show
I watched it recently and, as a pilot for the longest running sci-fi series, it was a good start. It definitely planted some seeds for development of the main characters, especially The Doctor. The antagonists were the only downside, in my opinion.
Wait, you watched it recently? Did you pay Stef Coburn? He’s gonna smash your kneecaps if you didn’t.
@@Cybermat47 No, I used ITV X Premium Free Trial.
@@Cybermat47🤣 but we wached it aniways Stef Coburn cant deleted it 🤣
ITVx/britbox still has it. Coburn is a bell end. But it was still a good story sort of. I was struggling to keep track of which of the cave men was which at times.
@@Mazz3D is the start on the serie too is at shame is cant be on disney +
It's interesting now if something the Unearthly Child premiered, the whole season would be about uncovering more and more about Susan Foreman. Like is she actually the Doctor's granddaughter? And if not, who is she? And why is she traveling with the Doctor and treating him like a grandfather.
ZEE Cars???? ZED Cars, we're not American!!!!
It's impossible to express how good that first episode of Doctor Who really was. An old man, and a mysterious teenager in what seems a telephone box (though we didn't have police boxes in the Midlands, telephone boxes were familiar).
They seem to be aliens....why is this old man on the run from his own planet? What is his name and how is this "Tardis" bigger on the inside?
This was all incredibly original and exotic, and the theme music as arranged by Delia Derbyshire, was utterly unlike anything we kids had heard before, on or off TV.
The opening credits were equally exotic.
The BBC had given us kids (I was 7 years old) something we had never seen before, even in the cinema
I always look at this story as a fantastic first episode and then dull caveman shenanigans.
The first part is definitely more interesting to watch then the caveman filler stuff. But the following story with the Daleks is a classic.
No no… it’s “Zed Cars”… we are British!!!
I absolutely love An Unearthly Child. The reference back to the "rock to the head" scene in "Lucie Miller" really adds so much more weight.
About a rock's worth, would you say?
You have to remember this was 1963. And the show was made on a shoestring budget. And in two continuous shots on early videotape. (It was like filming a play; and if as an actor you made a tiny error, you kept going because starting again was far too expensive for the production.)
"An UnEarthly Child" (aka "The Tribe of Gum") is basically two stories. The 1st episode is pretty much a stand alone introduction to the main characters and the concept; followed by a 3 part story. I've always enjoyed the 1st episode "An Unearthly Child" although I didn't see it until it was released on VHS. Here in Australia DW was on a 7:30pm on Saturdays and it was considered too scary for us kids.
And the following 3 episodes have some great moments. Ian's reaction when he realises the way back to the Tardis is blocked is wonderful. Yes, maybe they could have done something other than a "caveman" story, but whats done is done. And overall it's a pretty good adventure story. And no one every said it set in Earths past; it could have been on another world. It laid the foundation. Then came the Daleks ...
I think Doctor Who is one of the few shows that fully demonstrates the difference in writing styles over the years. The first story was 4 episodes each 20 minutes long, but seriously drags in places. In Nu Who they'd get the same story across in 45 minutes, maybe a 60 minute special.
But I can still enjoy watching it to see where it all started
The pacing is really, really slow in these old episodes. By the late 60s and early 70s though, they really make better use of the time. Stories feel less like tv episodes and more like made-for-tv movies. They're better fleshed out with deeper characters and more plot twists. It is commendable though, one of the great achievements of Russel Davies was to take that original formula and compress it down to a single 40-50 minute episode and still give the audience the same experience as the longer serials of the classic era.
Good review! I would love it if you review more of the classic who stories.
If you listen closely, you can hear Carole Ann Ford mutter “SONTAR-HA!” under her breath (you just need to be in the right mindset)
As a doctor who fan for 10 years this year was actually the first time I watched the unearthly child it was a fascinating experience and in my mind the other 3 parts aren’t trying to focus on a story about cave men it’s focusing on are main characters especially the doctor and I love how far the character has come from that man who almost killed someone because he was holding them up for that I love it yea its not best and at times it was slow but as a first episode I think it was really good and I think when u say it sucked I have to really disagree
As you have proclaimed yourself a Doctor Who fan for 10 years, I hope you are against a Davros with legs and no facial disfigurement.
Where were the superheroes and the great cgi with a really cool post-credits scene.
It's a great story - got to remember there was basically no sci-fi on tv and even less fantasy, and none in the public domain. The show had to be understandable by children and adults, and required by law at the time is shows for children had to have social value (in this case, history).
It was also done by a new producer and director who was the only woman producer and recently employed by BBC at the time, she had next to no budget, barely anything at all for props, and wasn't even a fan of sci-fi. The actors initially thought the whole idea of sci-fi was silly and weird. And most of the Suits at BBS not only expected by hoped it would fail.
The studio was an old closed down one, had leak in the ceiling, certainly no kind of airconditioning, and wasn't much bigger than most peoples' bedroom - hence the white plain walls to make the area look bigger and so they could rotate things to look like different shots without moving camera gear much.
On top of all that, it was shot on to broadcast quality lack and white film, which was expensive and time consuming to edit, and there was really no way to "fix that in post", so scenes had to play through easily, edit easily, and with minimum retakes (if any)
From the various "histories" of Doctor Who I've read, the first episode was largely written by the uncredited Cecil Webber, with Anthony Coburn making some changes to the script so that it would dovetail with the caveman story, which was written by Coburn himself. This might explain the palpable difference in quality between Part One and the subsequent three parts.
_Doctor Who_ was ruined the moment they added a time-traveling alien to a perfectly lovely show about a policeman walking by and hearing a noise.
Love the message to the writer at the end 🤣
Watching just recently as a full run it seriously is one of the best pilots ever watching with the knowledge of what is to come just makes it so much better even the line the first doctor says - why hasn’t it changed? It’s cool that they wrote the lack of money into the pilot. The people who made this show if they had the technology and the budget would be some of the best stories today. Finally no matter what you think of the 1st episode it paved the way to everything you do love
I love reminding the supposed "fans" who hated Jodie's casting and now hate Ncuti Gatwa's casting just who was at the birth of the show and like the people that made it exist. I love seeing them trying to do the mental arithmatic in their brains.
There’s a reason I only watch the first episode of an unearthly child every November 23 and not the whole story. It’s just so good, although I meant I did watch the whole story recently and well the next three parts aren’t as good as the first, they aren’t completely bad.
It was Z Cars, not Zee Cars
I've only seen the pilot version (by accident), still enjoyed it and found the oddities and blunders charming. But it is good to hear that the 'proper' version is smoother.
The first part was brilliant. The other 3, though not great, they are still enjoyable to watch. I think it’s pretty decent for a new kind of show. Especially in 1963 on a tight budget.
The first episode is brilliant.
The other three???
I saw UNEARTHLY CHILD for the firt time in 1986 in the US. And my first reaction to the cavemen was " all this time later (meaning since 100000 BCE, not since 1963) and nothing's changed"
Ron Grainer only wrote the music, Delia Derbyshire along with a colleague (who is, I believe, still with us) "played" it with all sorts of electronic bits and pieces. Apparently when, after about a week after handing Delia the sheet music and telling her to do something with it, he turned up and heard her interpretation of it, he asked, "Did I write that?" Her answer was something like, "Almost." 😂
Episode 2 is underrated, just because we're not in 1963 doesn't mean Ian and Barbara aren't still questioning where they have landed and that it's a time machine. Episode 3 is the level where fans truly say it declines. Episode 4, imo, picks itself up a bit. And how is hiring a Jewish woman, gay(though its not like he contemporarily came out) Indian, Pole, and Canadian woke if they were just hired for the job?
Your connection to the doctor seeing ian and barbara as cavemen made it click for me that despite being painful to watch, conceptually the first story is absolutely perfect as an introduction to the doctor and his developing dynamic of admiration for human ingenuity.
The very early era of the show is not easy to get into. You have to be a rather hardcore Doctor Who fan to appreciate those episodes. If you're getting into the classic/original series, I would recommend jumping in from 1970 / Season 7 when Jon Pertwee became the Doctor, or in 1975 when Tom Baker became the Doctor. Both those points are easy jumping in points because a) the writing is consistently excellent, b) the pacing and production values are much better, much more tolerable to a modern audience, and c) they are distinct eras, because it wasn't just a new Doctor and companion but the script editor and producer were also totally new. So they have a feel of being a new era. Plus, those are the first episodes to be in color, and they are all intact. Many of the 60s episodes are missing and lost to time because they'd write over old tapes to cut costs. There was no home video back then and no financial impetus to save episodes.
Did something happen with the audio at 7:12 or did the Doctor go "I ba"?
I'm surprised the writer's son wasn't opposed to Jodie Whittaker's casting, frankly I'd rather Gatwa came first and not Jodie
I hope Harbo Wholmes start reviewing Torchwood episodes again...
Strangely Z CARS, is actually pronounced "zed-cars"😂
As someone who grew up on the modern era of Doctor Who, I'm trying so hard to like the classic series, but it's tough.
To me it's a step down in every single way, obviously production but also the acting, the scripts. I'm going to stick with it and hope it eventually "gets good" or clicks with me, but outside of the charm of it just being where things all started. I'm not enjoying it at all.
PS, not an attack on anyone who does enjoy them, I'm glad you do and I hope I can too!
Don't watch chronologically, strat with something from Pertwee or Baker.
I’d go look at some best of lists to watch some first. I love classic who, and prefer it to new mostly. But it is a different beast and shouldn’t be viewed with the same assumptions as newwho. it’s slower and has more time for characters but at the same time has less of a character arc etc.
Remember it was broadcast live, and the writers and actors didn't have months of preparation as they do now.
That the scripts were churned out so quickly and to the high standard (by 60's levels) is little short of miraculous
I'm the other way round, although I enjoy a lot of new Who the classic era will alays be "my" Dr who. The Who universe is big enough fo everyone.
That funny, I started with new who. Watched all 6 series that were out at that time.
Then decided to give classic who a try.
Now I own all but 4 classic who stories and when I watch Doctor who. Easily 85% of the time I am grabbing from the classic who Doctors.
Edit: I own all of modern who as well.. so with the options of both, 85% I am grabbing classic to watch from my almost complete tv Doctor who collection.
I remember going back and watching it for the first time a few years back after I was all caught up on the modern era. I thought it was kinda interesting as a novelty, seeing where it all started, but I wasn’t a big fan of An Unearthly Child or The Daleks. However, I LOVED Edge of Destruction. Since I’ve come to appreciate Classic Who much more over the years since, I’d like to go back and rewatch them now I’ve got some more experience under my belt.
"zee" cars? Dear me no, it's a British show, it's "zed" cars :p
I usually get it right in my videos, too! I blame all the American stuff I watch 😂
Will you end up doing all of Classic, once you’re done with Modern?
To the modern mind that's been fed tons of amazing stories... If you compare a 1960s episode with something like The Stolen Earth from 2008... Of course its gonna suck.
But you gotta put yourself in the mindset of how folks were back in this time period, they never saw anything like this before... Chances are for them, this was The Stolen Earth, this was Heaven Sent (even though I don't get why people cream their jeans over that episode).
As 11 says, "That's Modern values for you." I think with the Classics of Who, you gotta go in with an open mind especially with how you say that its creepy that teachers are following their student home... In our modern viewpoint it is but at the time, it was just a plot point and no-one looked into too much unlike what modern folks like yourself do nowadays.
Plus this episode that apparently "sucks" must've done something right considering we're about to hit the 60th Anniversary on the 23rd of November.
This maybe be a controversial opinion, but I think that the first story is the first.
😂 I have seventeen counterpoints explaining how you couldn't be more wrong
Hm. Hm. Yes. So brave. So true. Stan by your beliefs
Ah yes, your opinion is made out of opinion.
11:o4 4.4 billion is quite a lot for the Doctor's first episode.
I think the story as a whole would have been much better if in each episode, they traveled to random points in Earth's history. First episode being set in the 60s, second episode in the stone age and the other two in some other random time zones to show what Sidney Newman wanted for the show to be about but l of course understand that the production team were on a deadline so sets had to be produced quickly.
funny this releases, and i am litterally finishing the animation for the alternative first episode for the show... like now! 30 frames to render and 5 months of work is finished!
Opening titles were achieved by pointing a camera at the screen showing its own output not by facing two cameras at each other.
Liked the first episode. Had a really hard time getting through the last 3.
transitioning from cavemen into stef coburn like that was a brilliant choice and absolutely justified.
thanks.
The unearthly child was great
Just watch an unearthly child and pretend it’s skaro and a thal is the one who found the tardis at the end
Even among the lower budget, black and white episodes of the 60s, I am much more partial to Patrick Troughton's second Doctor. He has lots of great stories. There are good first Doctor stories, but the pacing back then is really, really slow. I can't stomach more than one 25 minute episode at a time. The cheap effects are also harder to look past. And the character of the Doctor himself is rather different from what you'd expect if you've only seen the modern 2005 series. It's a lot easier to get into and appreciate these early episodes if you're a fan of the classic series. It's much easier to become one if you start with Jon Pertwee or Tom Baker's runs in the 70s.
You know.. i kinda wished you used a black and white filter for the Season 1/2 episodes just as a bit of fun.
Thanks for what you said at the end of the video, You are a classy bloke for sure :).
Most people have the action figures of the tardis and the doctor from this
the first episode doesnt really have anything to do with the following 3 so better to think of them separately, with the 3 known as 'the tribe of gum' or 100,000 BC ...
A British man saying ZEE CARS, you have become a nice little American 😢. It’s ZED CARS.
I enjoyed the first part a lot and had forgotten entirely about the cavemen. Such promising ensemble drama, but the show survived, I think on good comedic ensemble casting, it smoothed over the rough production. I recommend watching, but skipping over the cave drama as you say.
I personally LOVE The Tribe of Gum. I seem to be in a minority on that one, but I find it a masterpiece. I should make my own video.
...With blackjack. And hookers.
You are entirely correct.
Yes, you should! 😁
“Makes you realize how lucky modern companions are, they at least get a choice” shocked fam faces in the ghost planet
Well they got a choice after that
At least it was an accidental kidnapping
@@Yardnoc3103 yeah, but I think the cavemen were less definitively supposed to kill the companions than teleporting into the vast void of infinite space without a ship
That very first episode was really a good start for the show, but the caveman story wasn't all that interesting.
First part is great. Creepy, moody and well acted. A very good beginning.
The rest have a good setting but a dull narrative.
They should revisit 100,000 BC with modern technology. It would be visually striking and unique.
Stef whats-his-name is very stupid, him withholding the rights to an Unearthly Child has just put more money in the BBC's pocket and led to any footage of his father getting removed from Documentarys
Haven't watched your vid yet. I will. Part 1 of AUC is absolute excellent television. The re-try proved most successful. Parts 2 - 4 could have used re-tries themselves. Tedious.
personally i prefer the more angry doctor of the pilot, they shouldve gone with that but have him mellow during the first few stories ...
Yeah. Honestly that was very similar to my thoughts watching this story for the first time through last year. First episode was great, rest wasn't terrible, just meh.
"He has a sense of smug superiority but it doesn't really seem arrogant or villainous."
Too bad Peter Capaldi completely failed to recapture that. You could tell he was trying due to his massive fanboy boner for the 1st Doctor but he's no William Hartnell. When I think of an arrogant and/or villainous Doctor, Peter Capaldi's 3rd on the list, right after Michael Jayston's Valeyard and Toby Jones' Dream Lord. Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy had their arrogant and/or villainous moments but it never felt like they were on the verge of going full Valeyard.
Whenever Peter Capaldi was being a condescending arsehole, he came across as just that. It was a clear case of overcompensation, like he's desperate to prove that he's smarter than everybody else. Whenever William Hartnell was doing it, he came across as a man who KNEW that he's smarter than everybody else. Unlike Capaldi, Hartnell felt like a man who had nothing to prove.
The first story AND ‘Kinda’ sucks?
Blimey, this chap’s hard to please.
I wonder what he’d have made of Zee Cars?
😂
Given RTD's recent ludicrous comments about Davros, I'm surprised he's not changing the TARDIS also so it no longer looks like a police box, because 'a positive representation of the police is no longer appropriate in 2023'.
Hmm this feels like clickbait
:|
It really isn't? Clickbait requires deception on the part of the uploader.
I always find it so funny when people throw a whole tantrum about doctor who or star trek becoming "too woke/PC etc" and how it should go back to how the franchise originally was when literally the original was "woke" for their time too lmao
Wait, was THAT why Stef Coburn is being a dick about it? I thought it was because he thought Anthony wasn't being revered enough in his godlike creation of what he did....
"The rest, as they say, is history" - yeah, a tainted history
(insert predictable joke about stef coburn here)
Doctor Who has indeed always been "woke". The character of The Doctor can't be any more woke. And I personally wouldn't have it any other way. Great analysis of An Unearthly Child!
Yeah just watch episode 1
"Zee cars"? It's "zed cars" you American.
Good review, perfect ending.
The story basically predicted a first night in minecraft
Absolutely. After the first episode it would certainly not have captivated kids, even in 1963. I was 5 at the time and remember being intrigued by the first episode - but, in those days, I far preferred Fireball XL5 and the caveman story wouldn't have held my attention for more than a minute or two. I'm sure that, if the Daleks hadn't come next, the series wouldn't have survived.
*mild spoiler warning*
9/10, if the Doctor didn't use that racist analogy of Indigenous people.
Other than that, it's so wonderful that this got revisited in the comics with the Eleventh Doctor!
Wow.. that was really break neck coverage of the 75% of the story... Just because you didn't like it doesn't mean u couldn't go in depth with it. You'll never review THE FIRST episode again.
Technically the first story is in 2 parts
Episode 1 is technically an unearthly child where it gives you the exact premise of the story, it focuses on Susan and the mystery around her, it doesn't mislead you and it's a singular episode telling one story
The second story in this starts at episode 2 where like most episode 4 sets up the next story in most cases of the Hartnell era is the tribe of gum or 10000bc a three part story focusing on the cavemen and the firemaker
Yes it's slower but we learnt everything we needed to about Susan and the doctor from episode 1 or rather we learnt alot but all we knew about Barbara and Ian is they don't understand Susan and they are worried about her, that's it so they are able to give more attention to them plus there's only 4 characters in the first episode so they brought in a few more characters but at such a low budget, where would you start
And as for the mention of the controversy about this story, well I have to back him on this issue, unfortunately the fact that everything is like this now it is just a bore, I'd rather look like pinhead and take up carpentry with my face than watch anything modern and guess what gaming is going the same way, there is no real escapism anymore and frankly why is it so wrong to have a Caucasian character, they are all being removed from modern media in one way or another, Peter Parker is getting booted for miles morales, James bond was killed off, the doctor became a woman and his future will be a black man (let's see them address slavery and make it serve a point unlike when he became a woman, men of the past wouldn't of listened to her as she was a woman, ignore that fact though), superman, Batwoman, James Gordon, the list is endless
The point is to invent something new, Disney and Hollywood have been failing due to forcing these issues and no one is buying into it and yet get out did well because it was original but no we have to change everything and the people you try to appeal to aren't happy with what your selling anyway, the message is always first, not the story
I don't care what people say about his acting, I haven't seen it and because you throw the ist at me, I don't have a problem with strong women or minorities and I support stuff they are in when it's done right
No. It doesn’t.
How very rude!
@Harbo are you North American? “Sucks” as in ‘derogatory’ is such an Americanism 🙄
do you start crying every time you see people who aren't british?
The opening episode is excellent... the following three really good. Certainly does not "suck".
Zed Cars. You're not American.
It is kind of funny how the first episode great, being a drama about two school teachers that goes way off course, then the rest of the story kind of sucks. Then the second story was great and showed what the show would actually be.
As bad as it is, watch it while you can.
They didn't point two cameras at each other to make the title sequence. They pointed a camera at its monitor. 😂
How do you know?
Another banger of an episode
Nah I love this serial, the '90 minutes of Cave Man politics' gets me enthralled every-time I watch it.
I wouldn't call first pilot Susan "sexualized". She was downright creepy in her performance and that shirt made her neck look too long.
First I guess
I like 90 minutes of caveman politics.
...
Just watch the first episode and skip straight to “The Daleks” 😉
Your little spiel about it 'always being woke' was very cringe and showed a complete lack of undertstanding.
Yeah, since 'Wokeness' is a rather recent phenomena in the 21st century. Didn't came about roughly around 2014-2017? Hmm. I'm not exactly sure.
@@remusrogers2514the word was added to the dictionary in 2017 but the word has been around since the 1950’s. Even if it was only used in the modern day doesn’t mean there weren’t progressive ideas in tv shows before the modern day.
@@remusrogers2514i'm interested in the fact that you seem to think things only start to exist once someone makes a word for it.
I recently started watch "classic who" with my wife who had up untill that time only knew "new who". I grew up watching reruns on pbs. I forgot how annoying Susan was lol, and how much of a kinda coward the dr was at first. My wife turned to me and went "when does it get to "dr who"". i legit laughed out loud. I told her "the dr as you know comes around 2, this is the beginning". It took till "the dalaks" showing up for her to belive me.