An Unearthly Child by Anthony Coburn

Serial 'A'
An Unearthly Child
Written by Anthony Coburn
Directed by Waris Hussein
First Aired: 23rd November - 13th December 1963

Episode 1: "An Unearthly Child"

Thanks to my discovery of the joys of Netflix I have watched a lot of series openers lately just to find something I really enjoy and can sink my teeth into. As a fan fiction writer of some limited experience, I can't tell you how difficult it is to establish a series in setting up the whole arc, introduce the characters and still manage to craft an enjoyable and intriguing story that will keep people reading/watching week after week.

Some series take the approach of throwing you off the deep-end and headlong into the action in the hopes that the audience will pick up things as they go along.  The opening of Breaking Bad springs instantly to mind.  Other series favour the tried and tested approach of slowing introducing the characters to us, generating a bit of mystery and intrigue as we go along.

It's this approach that Doctor Who takes in the very first episode, and one that works incredibly well for the series as the next fifty years will attest.  We are slowly introduced to the mad old world of the Doctor as we first meet two schoolteachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, who are having a discussion about a teenager's homework.  How wonderfully mundane is that.  Then we meet the topic of their discussion, one Susan Foreman, the titular "Unearthly Child".

In her first scene, Carole Ann Ford really does an outstanding job of showing us that something is not quite right with this teenager as she listens to John Smith and the Common Men on her transistor radio.  The strange, almost experimental, movements to the music perhaps indicating that she has little-to-no knowledge of music and that she is keen to learn and experience all she can. To me, this works better than in the Pilot Episode where Susan "unearthliness" is perhaps pushed too far.  However, it is it bit bizarre that she is so fascinated that she enjoys walking in the dark and the fog.

We then move on to Ian and Barbara "casing" Foreman's Yard waiting for Susan to return home and we are given yet more examples of the girl's "unearthliness" by being uninterested in simple experiments, not knowing how many shillings in a pound, etc. (not that I have a clue either, although I do know there were 240 pennies in the pound!?!) Perhaps Ian was right that their evidence for following a student home is just a bit flimsy.  Looking at it from a 2016 perspective it is a little worrying to think that two teachers would do this, but perhaps that speaks more to the age we live in.

Of course, it's the next batch of scenes that really excel this episode to all new heights.  Yes, all of the mystery is set up and we finally have the appearance of the Doctor a whole 11 minutes and 42 seconds into the episode! Mind you his first appearance was somewhat marred by my tittering over Barbara's comment that Hartnell's throaty cough could have been Susan coming into the yard!  That aside, Hartnell really shines straight away managing to be vague and defensive at the two interloping school teachers, but still having that rather mischievous glint that we'll come to know and love as he checks out a painting that he'd missed.  Certainly softened from the original Pilot Episode.

From the beautifully-designed junkyard and into the exquisite surroundings of the TARDIS. Many have said it over the years, but I have to concur and say that the original TARDIS set is one of the absolute best, ultra-futuristic, but with a few homely touches with the Oamaru clock, the fancy chairs and what not.  This serves well to underscore that this is just not a ship that can travel in time and space, but a home, a sanctuary if you will, for the Doctor and his companions.

What, you want me to talk about the TARDIS scene?  What can I possibly say about this that hasn't possible been said before?  Lesser actors or a poorer writer could have made the introduction of the TARDIS be a rather flat affair, but the performances really sell it and you can't help but feel sorry for the Doctor and Susan as they described being exiled from their planet, yet fear for Ian and Barbara as they are whisked away to God knows where.

Yes, the adventure has truly begun.

7/10

Episode 2: "The Cave of Skulls"

And so we enter "The One with the Cavemen"! To be completely honest, every time I have a re-watch of these early stories I always cringe and wonder why the hell I'm watching this. Maybe it's the old thing of fan convention telling you that something is so bad and you just accept it.  On other occasions, it's just plain bad.  From a modern perspective, it is baffling to think that the opening story of what you hope is a long-running series would be to feature a group of cavemen grunting and bitching at each other, it's not exactly something that would keep viewers gripped and excited. Certainly, the modern approach would be to go from 1963 London to the planet Skaro.

However, as this episode got underway, I found that I was actually interested.  Not so much in the back and forth chest-beating between Za and Cal, but in examining what was not stated or implied on screen.  The Old Mother herself probably proved to be the most fascinating of all as there is no explanation to why she is so terrified of fire.  It's my belief that she was the "wife" of the Great Firemaker and mother of Za and that something terribly dreadful happened to terrify her so.  That, or it could be that as Za said to Horg (Hur's father), that old people were always afraid of new things.  Still, I like my version better.

The other aspect that interested me is how the relationship between Za and Cal is actually a kind of mirror for the initial relationship between the Doctor and Ian and the fight for the right to be the chief of their respective tribes. Hopefully, more on this point as we cover the next couple of episodes.

Moving away from the cavemen and onto the TARDIS crew and it's good to see that the uncertainty and the tension are still present from the end of "An Unearthly Child".  It would be easy to have Ian and Barbara just accept their new surroundings, wrap it all up and get on with the adventure, but the whole set-up for the series has to be established.  In quick order, we learn about the TARDIS scanner and are introduced to the thrill of stepping out of those doors and into a completely alien environment, then to learn that the still-to-be-named chameleon circuit has malfunctioned and we're stuck with a police box for the next 50+ years.  Saying that, the TARDIS does look absolutely gorgeous stood in the middle of the wasteland.

I can't sign off without mentioning solid performances from all of the regulars, especially William Hartnell as he finds himself surrounded by angry cavemen demanding fire.  I also have to say that I'm already disappointed with the development of Susan who went from being an off-kilter, unearthly child to a whiny, screeching know-it-all in 25 minutes.

6/10

Episode 3: "The Forest of Fear"

Today we had a breakthrough! I actually found that I was looking forward to the next episode and, trust me with An Unearthly Child, that has never happened.  Ever!

Before we start on "The Forest of Fear" though, there was just a couple of points from "The Cave of Skulls" which I never wrote about yesterday, but has been playing on my mind over the last twenty-four hours.  Will Brooks mentioned in his marathon diary that the conversation with regards to the malfunctioning chameleon circuit and the Doctor's concern about it seem to suggest some kind of story arc that was never picked up.  I can't help but agree with that statement as certain weight was added to the reactions.

However, it was another thing which interested me and that was the whole conversation surrounding the Doctor's identity.

"If we knew his name, we might have a clue to all this..." - Ian Chesterton.

The name of the Doctor is something we still don't know fifty-odd years later and you can see why Steven Moffat wanted to play with this when it came to The Name of the Doctor.  It's nice to think that there is still so much mystery when it comes to the adventures of a man we've been following for the last half-century.

On to the episode itself, and it certainly a step-up from the last episode as we see the regulars establish themselves as a group.  One nice little moment is when the Doctor attempts to distract Barbara and give her something to concentrate on while they're trapped in the Cave of Skulls.  Certainly, over the coming months, you'll be hearing me praise the relationship between the pair as we go on.

Then there's the developing relationship between the Doctor and Ian.  Indeed, the competing for "leadership" of their little group steps up a gear in this one, mirroring the relationship between Za and Kal, as they bicker about who leads them through the forest back to the TARDIS.  Certainly, it's Ian who comes across as the more adult as the Doctor sulks and blusters more particularly when the travellers tend to the injured Za following the confrontation with the sabre-toothed tiger.  Ian has to appeal to the Doctor to carry Za on the make-shift stretcher stating that he didn't expect Barbara and Susan to carry the caveman.

Of course, we have probably the most famous scene in this episode and that is the Doctor with the rock.  It is patently obvious that the Doctor is going to attempt to finish off Za so that they can escape back to the TARDIS.  It's jarring when you compare him to the humanitarian character we see today and certainly lends significant credence to the fact that it was Ian and Barbara who made the Doctor, the Doctor.  Regardless, it's a truly wonderful moment, understated, but becomes so important in the development of the Doctor's character.

The rock incident for me is perhaps one of the reasons that I'm not completely 100% comfortable with stories set prior to An Unearthly Child.  Although the Doctor left Gallifrey to escape the stuffy race, he still has to break through the arrogant, non-interfering mindset which he has been brainwashed with over the first couple-of-hundred years of his life.  A pre-AUC Doctor would be rather spiky and more concerned with his and Susan's safety rather than getting involved with anything.  That's my two pence on the matter, anyway.

Before signing off, I just want to write a few more words about poor old Barbara.  Some folks, and I've seen it written, would say that she was too over the top in her reactions in this episode, but let's be fair to the poor mare.  She's been kidnapped by a pair of aliens in a police box and taken back to the year 100,000 BC (allegedly), captured by cavemen and placed in a stinky and terrifying cave full of bones and then falls into an animal carcas while running for her life.  I'd be falling apart too.

7/10

Episode 4: "The Firemaker"

And so we reach the finale of An Unearthly Child: "The Firemaker".  Worryingly, I find myself with not a lot to say about the conclusion of this particular adventure.  After the previous three episodes, I had a little mental list of things I wanted to mention, but I found myself struggling this time.  Perhaps it's because this episode is about all the threads drawing to a close.

The only thing of interest was the whole resolution to the alpha male stuff.  I've noted all along how the relationship between Kal and Za is paralleled in the Doctor and Ian, but this episode serves to show us how far humanity has developed and civilised since the stone age.  It is perhaps more interesting that it is the Doctor and Ian who steer the Tribe of Gum to come together and cast out Kal as well as giving them the gift of fire.

If this was an episode of Star Trek, that would be enough and the Doctor and his "tribe" would be allowed to go on their merry way.  Instead, Ian's plan backfires and they remain to be locked up and Kal and Za have to fight to the death to resolve their difficulties.  At least things don't become as heated between the Doctor and Ian, with the school teacher proclaiming that the Time Lord was the group's leader.  Where he made up his mind is uncertain, possibly it was the Doctor taking the lead in getting the tribe to cast out Kal.

6/10

This watch of An Unearthly Child has been somewhat of a revelation for me and I've enjoyed it far more than I normally would.  Perhaps it is to do with the way in which I watched the story with a gap between each episode as opposed to binge-watching in one sitting.

It's still not a perfect story, by any stretch of the imagination.  It still baffles me a little why this would be chosen as the opening story, yet it could be said that we have to see how monstrous or uncivilised humanity could be before we visit alien worlds and judge alien cultures.  It could also be said that having a background story of little significance allowed the audience to get to know the TARDIS crew.  Certainly, if The Daleks had been the first story, the pepper pots would have distracted the audience and damaged the development of the main characters.

An Unearthly Child average score = 6.5/10