Starting Doctor Who from the very beginning (1963). First time watcher here. Talk with me about it?

Cafe Society
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Not sure how many on here have seen the original, classic, very first ones…although I’ll eventually be getting into the present day and more recent ones as time goes on…
…but anyway, I’ve long heard and read about Doctor Who. Always seemed like a very popular show, although one with a very, very large universe of many episodes…ones on TV, books, audio versions, a few movies, and two separate series (the original and the reboot, as far as I know). As with most things in a series, I had to start at the very beginning, even though many told me it wasn’t needed (and that I could have just started with the first one that rebooted in 2005, with the episode “Rose”) and that many of the older episodes were missing, even. Still, something in me just has to start at the beginning of any series (book, movie, or TV) I start…and so I started watching the first season of Doctor Who.
Obviously if you’re a fan of Doctor Who, then you know the original ones were set into different serials that ran over 2-6 episode arcs, before going onto a new 2-6 episode arc.

I started season one about a week ago and I am just burning through them. I’m loving it. For a show made in 1963, It’s remarkable and impressively clever and intelligent. Oh, sure, it’s sometimes a little bit hokey and campy and the special effects aren’t all that spectacular, but the writing and story lines are VERY good. I’m very impressed with how clever it’s been at times and I’m enjoying it a lot. So far, I have seen the first 23 episodes…
…those encompass the first five story sagas, which are: An Unearthly Child, The Daleks, The Edge of Destruction, Marco Polo, and now, The Keys of Marinus.

Marco Polo was one with all episodes missing, but I found a pretty good reconstruction of them all and I’ve read that other missing episodes also have reconstructions. Even if I ever run into a story saga that doesn’t have one, I’m sure there will be no shortage of sites where I can read full, detailed accounts of what happens in each single episode of an arc.

I knew/know very, very little about this show before starting it…in fact, almost next to nothing. The only thing I knew was: The Doctor is played by many actors over the years and something called “The Daleks” is a bad thing in the series.
Well, now I know a bit more…like, for example, the Daleks are machines that were mutated and that the Doctor has three companions that are traveling with him and he gets around in a police box called the TARDIS.

So far, I’m enjoying the Doctor character. I’ve read/heard that each Doctor actor plays him differently, but this first one is pretty good. He’s certainly very selfish and mostly thinks only of himself and his granddaughter. When in trouble, he’s fairly quick to just look out for himself and say “oh well, fuck everyone else…I’m outta here”. He’s very stubborn and oftentimes cranky and unreasonable. He’s also fairly egotistical and always believes he has all the answers and is right and seems to fail often at seeing the consequences many of his actions or words may bring…although he is very slowly growing more close and trustful of Ian and Barbara and they’re almost becoming of having a mutual respect of one another, even if begrudgingly.
This show reminds me a lot of two other shows–both of which I watched for a little while, but eventually grew tired of. One is Quantum Leap and the other is Sliders. Both shows involved people going from time period to time period and even to other planets as well (in Sliders case), so Sliders was sort of a modern day Doctor Who, only without a TARDIS and without them doing so willingly.
Anyway, I’ll continue watching…at the rate I’m going, I will probably be finished with the first season in another few days. Only three more story sagas (I’m referring to each serial arc as a saga, don’t ask me why, it makes sense to me) in season one: The Aztecs (a four-parter), The Sensorites (a six-parter), and The Reign of Terror (another six-parter, some of which are missing episodes, so I’ll be finding a reconstruction of it if I can).

Anyway, this should go without saying, but no open spoilers, please. If you want to discuss or mention something to someone else in this topic that is about upcoming happenings, please box the spoilers.

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Where are they available at?

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So I guess I’ll see you in five years.

Growing up in New Zealand, I started watching when I was a kid, just about when the Third Doctor began, and backed up by a lot of repeats of those years before eventually getting to the Fourth Doctor, also repeated like crazy, though once it got to the Fifth it was a fairly uninterrupted run to the end of the Seventh, when I was about 18. I wouldn’t call myself a Whovian, but I did watch and enjoy it and have some fond memories, so I guess that makes me a fan. Especially since during the dark years in the 90s I also contributed art to a Doctor Who fanzine called TSV that a friend of mine was indirectly involved with.

I really like the current run, though it is getting a bit repetitious and predictable now, losing its lustre again. It needs another refresh.

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Glad to see another Who fan going from the absolute beginning, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do :slight_smile:

The Aztecs is one of my favourite Doctor Who stories - it’s clever, though-provoking, and very well produced. I hope you enjoy it too!

The other two are good, although the reproduced animation for The Reign of Terror really jarred for me. I dunno, I much preferred the animation they did with Cosgrove Hall for serials such as The Invasion, but YMMV.

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I’ve been watching since the first episode (I was 10 years old, and literally spent time each episode hiding behind the couch :eek: :slight_smile: .)

Here’s some information:

TARDIS stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space

The early episodes were made on a very limited budget, as the BBC had no idea how well the series would go.
William Hartnell (first Doctor) thought it was a risk playing the part - he was an established actor in ‘hard man’ roles.

If you can find it, I thoroughly recommend this dramatisation of the actual making of the first series at the BBC : An adventure in Time and Space.
N.B. That DVD may not be ‘viewable’ outside Europe (although you may be able to cope with that.)

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Congratulations (I think) on being so completist. I know I did see the early series at the time, but nothing much of it has stayed, probably blocked out by the evidence of imaginative decline towards its cancellation in the 80s (that bloody “BBC quarry” kept on turning up). By the end it was being parodied, none too kindly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2vfpwW3Qnc

Since the reboot, it’s all become a bit more knowingly camp about its clichés.

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Great idea, glad you’re enjoying this excellent series. Dalek Invasion of Earth is fabulous, as is The Chase.
Doctor 2 also has many great stories to look forward to, and with the recent discovery of 9 missing episodes there are more to enjoy.

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Congrats on being a completist - I’ve been a fan for over 30 years and couldn’t say I’ve seen 'em all. Welcome to the Whoniverse.

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Don’t forget, there are at least 3 other spin-off series that were made, starring various companions. I won’t go into them since it will be a long time until you get to the companions that get spun off into their own series.

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Don’t forget the 2 movies made in the 60s.
Or maybe you should!

I’ve watched it from the beginning and I’m sure I must have missed episodes but my memories are even hazier that Glee’s as I was several years younger and found parts of it really quite scary. (I, too, made good use of the couch!)

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We watched it all a few years ago, although we skipped around and didn’t start right at the beginning.

Yes, One is really good if you’re willing to overlook the primitive production values!

Please keep reporting on your thoughts as you progress. It’s interesting to hear a first timer’s impressions.

Two is my favorite, particularly the Two/Jamie/Zoe team. Sadly, a lot of Two’s adventures have been lost.

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I’ll offer one piece of advice.

The stories were originally broadcast one episode per week, and were written and directed to be watched that way. They are best watched if you leave a gap between episodes. It loses impact if you watch a whole story back to back.The pacing is all wrong, and the cliffhangers are not so thrilling if you see the resolution too quickly. I’d advise one episode a day. Or at very least, leave an hour between episodes.

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That’s the case with binging any series.

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Seconded; Adventures in Time and Space was thoroughly awesome.

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I agree that Adventures in Time and Space is an excellent film. I’m trying to decide if it would include any potential spoilers for Idle Thoughts. Probably not. It would tell you a few things about the program’s future, but mostly things you already know (spoilered just in case): William Hartnell eventually leaves the show, companions change, the show lasts a long time, Daleks are popular. On the whole, I think it’s relatively spoiler free.

I will echo what others have said about keeping an open mind as to the style of early Doctor Who, both in terms of its budget and effects, and its serialized structure. Even more so than binge watching a modern show, it can be a tactical mistake to push “Play All” and watch all six episodes of a serial in one sitting, as though they were a movie. They weren’t designed to be watched that way, and there’s a real danger of getting burned out. Some of those stories were, let’s be honest, awfully padded. Spread out over six or seven weeks, it wasn’t always so obvious.

As for the budget, the FX, the black and white picture–those sorts of things have never really bothered me, but then I’m an old movie buff, so I’m used to all sorts of different levels of budget and technique. I think it can be very valuable and enlightening to see how the artists of the 1960s solved some of the film-making problems that today’s producers could easily handle with computer effects. There was a lot of cleverness and creativity about those early BBC special effects, even if we think they look silly today. Learning to appreciate them for what they are, rather than what they fail to be, can be a very eye-opening experience.

I’ve never attempted this sort of complete watch-through, although I do believe that I’ve seen every extant episode of Doctor Who at least once. The most I’ve done is to watch through the Third and Fourth Doctor’s runs. A formidable undertaking in itself, but nothing like what you’re doing. I hope that you enjoy it.

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A few different places, but beyond that, I’m not going to say more. Pleading the fifth, in a way.

I can PM anyone with how they’re available to me, if anyone wants, however. I have pretty much the first three seasons at my disposal.

It’s a good idea, but my worry is this: That it would take me forever to catch up doing it this way. Wikipedia says over 800 episodes exist, so if I watched one a day…well, you can do the math, hahaha.

I’ve been watching 3-4 episodes a day so far.

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The best cosplay I ever saw at Gallifrey One (the L.A. Doctor Who convention) was right after AiT&S came out. A young woman was at the con dressed as Verity Lambert, the first producer of the original series. She was thrilled whenever someone recognized her.

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I just couldn’t do it. I’ve seen a sampling from each doctor and all of Tom Baker and Peter Davison I find most of the other doctors too painful to watch. I think probably the one I liked the least is Colin Baker.

Some useless extra info: the 2nd Doctor Jon Pertwee’s son Sean Pertwee is a successful actor who is currently playing Alfred on Gotham. You can definitely see a resemblance.

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Just wait till you hit “The Gunfighters”. Absolutely hilarious take on the OK Corral story, with a lot of singing. My favorite 1st Doctor story.

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Let’s see, some factoids to give you context (no spoilers, though).

As mentioned, Hartnell was an established actor who was known playing “tough guy/sergeant-major” types. (I just realized that the current incarnation of the Doctor, Peter Capaldi, also came to fame playing a “tough guy” - Malcolm Tucker on The Thick of It. I imagine Hartnell didn’t say “fuck” quite so often as Capaldi did, though…)

The producers envisioned Doctor Who as an educational children’s show, originally. The stories were supposed to alternate between history (episodes set in the past) and science (episodes set in the future). Further, the Doctor was never meant to be the main character - Ian and Barbara were to be the protagonists and audience stand-ins. Which is why the producers cast young and attractive William Russell and Jacqueline Hill for those roles, while the Doctor was an elderly character actor.

Doors that wobble when closed and monsters in rubber suits is a much-loved Doctor Who cliché anymore, as - for a certain generation of British children - hiding behind the sofa while watching the show. Production values are much better these days, but the show has always been known for clever writing. Douglas Adams wrote one story, which you won’t see for a bit yet, but might recognize when you do.

Personally, and speaking as someone who started watching in the 80’s with the Fourth Doctor, I think that some of the best stories have been from the 2005 reboot (known in the Whoniverse as NuWho).

Enjoy!