Thank you! I will do that. I think we do get BBC America On Demand. Didn’t even think of that option.
I hate to say it, but I was really annoyed that the bulk of the ‘special’ was them showing the Aztec episode. Because…this might make me a bad fan…but I hated it. I tried to watch it, I really did. I tried to enjoy it. But I just couldn’t. It was so bad…so slow…I just couldn’t finish it. I was hoping the ‘special’ would be more than just showing an old episode :\
I can only speak for me but I understand. I watched some episodes from the 70s a few years ago and I watched them with very new eyes, as it had been a decade since I had seen these episodes.
The biggest thing was that I was viewing them with nostalgia, so I could handle them a lot better. I knew what to expect, in terms of the acting and sets and such. I appreciated what they were trying to do a lot with the story. I thought the story of the one I watched held up well.
Having said that, I could also see a new viewer trying to watch this and knew they wouldn’t like it. I know for myself that without that nostalgia factor, bad FX in any show can snap me out of the show, enough so that I find it tough to watch. Same for the timing and the acting involved in the early shows. So, seeing an obvious actor in a rubber suit trying to be scary doesn’t work! 
I know there are some episodes on Netflix and Amazon Prime. If you have those, try Pyramids of Mars, City of Death or Curse of Fenric. If you can’t get through any of those, then “old Who” isn’t for you and there’s nothing wrong with that!
vislor
I was really glad they showed an old story with minimal edits (they obviously cut the overlap that was useed to bring viewers up to speed with the previous week’s cliffhanger). It really gave a good sense of what DW was like in the early years in a way that just showing a few clips wouldn’t. And, frankly, The Aztecs was better written than any of last season’s episodes. The pace was slower, but there weren’t any gaping plot holes or stupid “Doctor who?” jokes.
Back in the early '80s our local PBS station showed Doctor Who episodes. I recorded many of them to VHS and I’m now converting them to DVD. I even have An Unearthly Child. They look rather grainy though.
In 1988 I wrangled a transfer to England so that I could see Doctor Who (and Red Dwarf plus others) without waiting. Of course they stopped the show shortly afterwards.
My son and I had the pleasure of seeing the Doctor Who – The Ultimate Adventure play staring Jon Pertwee in Oxford.
Tip: If you happen to buy a DVD from one region code, like the UK, and live in another region, like the USA, it’s possible to hack your DVD player to play other regions. My son bought a Doctor Who DVD from the UK and we were able to hack my DVD player to play it. There’s plenty of instructions on the internet. I’d suggest hacking an old or cheap DVD player if something would go wrong.
Just saw this announcement today–looks like it might be pretty good.
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My son and I had the pleasure of seeing the Doctor Who – The Ultimate Adventure play staring Jon Pertwee in Oxford.
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I say that in Glasgow as well - with Jon Pertwee. I believe that the show was on in Edinburgh later with Colin Baker. I think a few of the Dr’s did it.
I like the special but was disappointed that they didn’t talk about the later part of Hartnell’s run as The Doctor. Maybe they will with the second special as a transition to the Second Doctor but they still should have bumpered the Aztek episode with something.