My first thoughts after seeing this classic for the first time was "Wow...the Doctor tried to kill that guy with a rock!"

I've been watching in chronological order since September, and boy is it fun. I love it so much. And the original era of the First Doctor (Barbara, Ian, Susan) is one of my favourite eras of all time (despite Susan being spectacularly useless). Ian is one of my favourite companions of all time now after watching these series, Barbara was a lot stronger a character than I was led to believe (instead Susan was the wuss, which was disappointing). But 'The Unearthly Child' (the first episode anyway) was a great piece of television. The highlights of the three episodes of cavemen was the TARDIS crew bonding, particularly Ian calling the Doctor out on his bullshit like very few do these days. Just... captivating. And on your note about Barbara and Susan... Barbara gets her own back from the 'wuss' character she may have fallen into here (in stories such as The Aztecs and The Dalek Invasion of Earth), but Susan... Carole Ann Ford left the show because she got too pissed off about how they did her character, and I agree with her. That was stupid.

The episode was filmed twice because hartnell's performance in the first filming was too scary and parts of the first filming and second filming have been squashed together that's why he appears in certain places to be unsettling

I must admit that part of my love for the 12th Doctor stems from my knowledge of how sketchy the character was in his original incarnation.

I think everyone who's seen An Unearthly Child is of the same opinion: The first episode is pretty dang great, the rest is kinda mneh. The "Ug ug make fire ug ug" dialogue got real old real fast. That being said, the abrasive side of the First Doctor is a great flag point for his growth into a more compassionate character. Compare his willingness and casual nature to mercy-kill a random stranger in this story to siding with the savage community who've been taken advantage of constantly in The Savages. "Oppose you?! Indeed I am going to oppose you - just as in the same way that I oppose the Daleks, or any other menace to common humanity!" ~The First Doctor to the Elders, The Savages

So, I found a streaming service that has Classic Doctor Who called "Britbox". Not trying to advertise, just saying it's a good place for a journey through Classic Who. I'm already on "The Dalek Invasion of Earth". Classic Who has some really great stories, and it's nice to see someone reviewing them.

Carole Ann Ford's performance in the original pilot (an alt-version of the first episode) is even more alien and I really wish they hadn't turned her into a screamy 16-year-old pretty much as soon as the TARDIS took off. That said, a lot of people dismiss Parts 2-4, which is perhaps why it is given its own title (100,000 AD or The Tribe of Gum or whatever) and while it's neither a "scary" sf story nor a lush historical, I am a big fan of it. The cave people are smartly written, their concerns are interesting, and the Doctor is morally ambiguous in the story. Tracking his character from this point on, you really do see a man whose ethics were inspired by his human companions. He didn't start out as a hero, just as a traveler. By the time Ian an Barbara leave, he's become an active agent for good. Side-note: I actually ran a version of this story for my Doctor Who role-playing group in which the Sun God was actually an alien presence (gotta throw in some twists lest it become a retread), and the PCs ended up shooing it away and causing the Ice Age... ooops! They didn't brain anyone with a rock either.

It's a refreshing change to find a reviewer making any sort of appreciative noises about the second part of the opening story of Doctor Who. Most reviewers, especially those who have started from 'New Who' post-2005, have been pretty scathing about the second part of the story. To be honest, this seems to me to indicate a rather shallow analysis of the story which, as was said here, has surprising depths for those who choose to look closely. A common criticism is that the 'cavemen' speak the Queen's English too perfectly. This is often presented as a reflection of the naivety of the writers or of the ingrained nature of 'the establishment' in Britain and British broadcasting. In fact, the writers took great care to strike a balance between standard speech patterns and a less developed linguistic ability to indicate the limitations of the society being represented. While the characters were well able to express their views on social relationships, as one would expect for those living in a social community, they are less able to speak about abstract or unfamiliar concepts. As to why the characters have British accents... is it even necessary to answer this? The actors were British, performing in a show intended for domestic consumption. Any other accent would have been an affectation given that the characters were not actually speaking English at all. The in universe answer in retrospect is, of course, that the Tardis translation circuits simply rendered the speech in this way. My view of the first story of Doctor Who is broadly in line with the review here. The opening part is virtually flawless, even viewed from 54 years later. The latter parts are a sound story , well presented which, although less dramatic than the first, help to establish the characters. The setting proves that the Doctor can travel in time as well as space (which a story set on an alien world would not necessarily have done) and the peek into the power politics of the the tribe illustrates that early man should neither idealised as the 'noble savage' nor written off as simple innocents. Tribal societies, ancient or modern, are complex and this storyline demonstrated that nicely. That the Doctor is quite different from the modern character is unsurprising. In the terms of his people he was young, having not yet even regenerated, and although he had evidently spent some months on Earth he had no particular affection for the time or place. As he says, he tolerates the twentieth century but doesn't enjoy it. He has no affinity to humans and regards them with some disdain but appears to have had relatively little contact with them. He does not travel with a purpose other than exploring and experiencing new places and has no interest in interfering beyond getting safely back to the Tardis. Despite all this there are still elements that are recognisable all these years later: the Doctor is not humourless, even if his quips are at the expense of his human companions. He exhibits cunning and uses subtle manipulation as seen in the way he goads Kal into admitting his guilt and then leads the tribe in driving Kal out. It has long been my opinion that the first episode should be regarded as a separate story and that taking the two stories together as one serves the second part poorly. As a standalone story I suspect it would be seen more favourably. By the way, bring back the pipe! Wouldn't it be lovely to see Jodie pulling out a Calabash pipe à la Hartnell and settling back to ponder a problem?

I agree with all your points. I would recommend any nu-Who fans to watch the first episode of An Unearthly Child as it gave me chills to see the first mention of TARDIS and the first companions discovering it's bigger inside than out for the very first time. It's history in the making. It maybe best to stop there though! Further First Doctor adventures that I would urge you to view and review are... The War Machines and The Tenth Planet. The War Machines introduces companions Ben and Polly and is a really fantastic look at 1966 London... Swinging London... by those that were right in the middle of it (rather than looking back on it later.) And The Tenth Planet is the first appearance of the cybermen and the First Doctor's regeneration story. Obviously this is going to be heavily referenced in this year's (2017) Xmas special and I think you will get more out of Twice Upon a Time if you've seen it. See you at Snow Cap Base.

SUSAN: "Grandfather, Someone is taking me away!" HARTNELL: "What?" SUSAN: "AAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" HARTNELL: "Great, I have to save you again, my child! I hope there won't be another companion like this..." THREE SEASONS LATER DODO: "DOCTOR, HELP!!" HARTNELL: "Well at least she has a larger spine (to compensate for her not so large brain). Well, hope this is the last time....." AROUND A DOZEN AND A HALF SEASONS LATER PERI: "Doctor, help!" PETER: "Don't worry, Peri, I got your back (after quite the practice)!" [mutters: "If this regenerates me, I hope the next companion won't be as mush of a damsel"] ONE AND A HALF SEASONS LATER MEL: "AAAAGH! AAAGH! AAAAAAAAGGHHHHH!" COLIN: "Oh my fucking god....." (DISCLAIMER: THE ONLY COMPANION I DON'T LIKE OUT OF ALL OF THEM IS MEL. THE REST ARE FINE, JUST NOT GREAT.)

Personally I didn't really like Unearthly Child so much that I wanted to continue watching, but then I watched the Daleks and I was blown away. Skip forward one year and I finished Classic Who.

Speaking as one who bought a lot of classic era stuff for his daughter when she discovered new Who, like me you may find "your" classic doctor amongst the old guard. Then comes addiction! Ps its Tom Baker (obviosly!) The Ark in Space Genesis of the Daleks Planet of Evil Talons of Weng Chiang +anything starring Mary Tamm as Romana (ahem). Pps I like the "list" video's (obviously)!

The song one is great the rest of it kind of falls apart My favourite Classics who story is Genesis of the Daleks

Really well done! As an avid collector of classic Dr Who I look forward to hearing more reviews in the future! Just a personal reccomendation though, I would definitely invest in a region 2 DVD player and just collect those copies. This will save you a ton of money in the long run! Keep up the good work! Looking forward to more classic reviews!

Awesome vid man. I love your DW videos! I also really liked this episode/story. :)

I hope you eventually do the caves of androzni

The first part is seen as a classic the rest...not so much.

8:05 - "Take charge, man!" Wait till Doctor will whine for his hand in later episodes

Cool vid. Yep the first episode was great. Sadly the people up stairs thought Susan should be more "relatable" and fit what they thought a 60s teenage girl should be. And she lost what she was. Babs got bumped down a bit, but later Babs gets a bit of her self back. the Aztecs etc. The Doc doesn't really become the doc we know till near the end of Babs and Ian's run. And the sec Doc fits more of whom the modern doc would be. Heck in King Richards time the Doc loses a sword fight to some unknown knight and Ian has to save him. The 1st has some great moments and connects with the others. Like the great speech ware he has to leave Susan on Earth so she can be happy. He gets better with the next set of companions. And ware he faces the Monk. Though I haven't seen a lot of the 1st doc. Since most of them were lost. Though the crew was pretty epic.

I was pleasantly surprised watching the first episodes as well. Good vid man

Well, I saw it when it first aired in 1963 - it hooked me and I'm still watching 57 years later, so how bad could it be?

The first Doctor is obviously has hundreds of years less experience. Humans change with experience too.

Perfect timing, I just started watching classic who this morning :) .

because of this review, an unearthly child is now on my list of things to watch

At some point, can you do a quick Edge of Destruction review? It messes with the formula really early on, and it gave me proper chills.

I'd like to see your take on the Web planet a very deviceive story but I like it.

I really liked this one, too. I think almost everyone agrees that the first episode is stronger than the other three. In fact, IMO the first episode is a complete story in its own right and the others constitute a separate (and weaker, but still good) story. Interesting bit--even before entering the Tardis for the first time, Ian says "It's alive!", something not actually confirmed AFAIK until "The Doctor's Wife". Looking forward to your review of "The Aztecs" which is my favorite 1st Doctor story of the ones I've seen.

Comparisons with Doctor Smith ?

I liked the first episode of the story a lot. After that I thought it went a bit stale. Only worth watching for initial character development tbh.

That's why I liked Vicki better

I found you through Doctor Who videos, but luckily we watch a lot of the same TV...

Have you ever listened to the audio book the Earthly Child starring the 8th Doctor by Marc Platt? It adds clarity to the first Doctor's action/inaction. I don't want to say anything else because of spoilers, but it's worth a mention. On another note, do you review the audio stuff? I think the audios fulfill a great chunk of the 'Whoinverse' when the program was off-air.

I loved the first serial, but I hated how Susan was depicted in it and the remainder of her time in the TARDIS. She's a teenage Time Lord with a genius level IQ; someone like her should have got more to do than stand around screaming. Apparently, she's better served in the audios and PDA (Past Doctor Adventures) novels.

Please do more Classic Who reviews!

I have it on my bucket list to watch every episode in chronological order. Get ready for continuity mess-ups aplenty! Especially EVERYTHING about the TARDIS, or as early stories would call it, Tardis.

Did you notice the first Doctor say "Fear makes companions of all of us" to Barbara in like episode 2 or 3 when she was trying to untie him? Yeah, the Doctor remembers what Clara told him in Flatline! That is probably the best thing about the whole caveman part of the episode. And the multi-facetedness of the two arguing leaders was also quite nice and unexpected. Though I of course wish that the whole story was more like the first episode. That would've made this story perfect.

Part one of this story is the Classic Who episode that I’ve seen the most times. I love it! I’d forgotten that Susan gets all screechy after that though. It’s a pity because the actress is great and her look is perfect. I’ve just got back into watching Classic episodes this week. This isn’t much to do with the video here but I was watching the 5th Doctor story ‘The Awakening’ the other day.. why on earth was Will Chandler only a one off character? 😧 Maybe they wouldn’t want to deal with a medieval peasant as a regular companion, but I can’t believe they didn’t keep him on for at least an episode or two!

I think there were some initial outlines for the Dr's character that set out that he would have a "dark secret" - this got dropped very early on but I think some of the early scripts were written with this in mind. I think in the end they settled on the Dr and Susan fleeing a war in their own time but eventually this too got dropped but this time never really replaced. Later he became the true hero of the series but very early on he was intended to be mysterious and unknown.

I was like "he's not doing this chronologically right?" Because of the practices in the 60s, A LOT of the First and Second Doctor adventures are missing. But I'm looking forward to this. I love the classic series.

I'm interested in your opinion of Tomb of the Cyberman. It was lauded as a classic for years but recently it has a lot of stress actors.

I’m up to The Invasion in the classic era, and I’m enjoying it quite a bit. The first season was painstakingly slow, but as it gets on the episodes seem to be more creative and faster paced. I like how the serials are more formed as a journey that your living through (getting people across a bridge one by one, fixing something, finding a part, etc.) The Second Doctor to me is by far better than the first, just because he’s not such a grumpy pants and he’s a bit more wild.

Dude, I'm not always agree with you. But your channel is awesome and need more visibility. You always have an interesting viewpoint, and it is something who need to spread more.

Hell yea. Love this video man.

I saw it when was first broadcast, must admit I had forgotten most of it until I saw it again on DVD, but I think it stands well against some of the latter stories. And as far as children's programs of the time it was head and shoulders above anything else.

i only got into who last year when bbs america did their marathon. that was the first time i had ever seen any episode. i started with the 10th doctor then went and watched all of new who within like 2 weeks lol now im going back and watching from the beginning thanks to netflix. i just got reign of terror

I hope you review the Jon Pertwee story Inferno.

i loved the novelised version too

If you haven't already you should watch 'Planet of The Giants' which I think was originally intended to be the first Doctor Who story.I'd also love to see you review one of my favorite DW stories 'Inferno' from the 3rd Doctor's era.

If you look closely, really really close at the 'torch' The First Doc had it could almost be the first Sonic Screwdriver that The Second Doc had between Fury from the Deep and end of The War Games. ☺

Where did you manage to watch classic DW. I can't find it anywhere.

The nuances you are talking about, it is because the show was from a time where the stories wasn't written based on Joseph Campbell's book. Now, pretty much every stories are written based on the concept of "The Hero with a Thousand Faces". To us, it is looking fresh and new because of it.

OK I'm Just Gonna Say It Just Gonna Say It Just Gonna Get It Out I ACTUALLY LIKE THE LAST 3 EPISODES! I Think They're Great Honestly Episode 1 Is The Best But Everyones Saying That The Other 3 Are "I Guess That Exists" But I Actually Really Like Them A Lot

As someone who has watched all of Who in chronological order, including most of the fan-produced semi-official videos (P.R.O.B.E. and all that), I found it a worthwhile exercise which gave me a more rounded appreciation for the show. You know what? It's all good: some of it's great, and about ten or so are stone-cold brilliant.

I love the first Doctor so much.

I think I might start a tradition to at least watch the first part of this story every November 23rd. Honestly, I don't hate the rest of the storyline, but I'm honestly only really interested in the first part. At least, this story is a viewing requirement to truly enter the club of Whovians. Yes, you can consider yourself a fan if you haven't seen this, but if you want to be a true fan you must watch this story.

Where did you get that hoody?

I realize that, yes, it can be very daunting to consider the idea of watching classic doctor who in order. That's 26 seasons and the first 6 are basically 40-45 episodes in length, but honestly if you have barely scratched the surface of the show, that is the absolute best way to experience it, especially being so fresh to it. A lot of stories make a lot more sense in their surrounding context, and you get a much fuller sense of what classic doctor who really is. It can take time, there are ups and downs with the show, but it's 100% worth it. Do that, and you'll have a steady stream of review material and you will have the truest appreciation of the show you can have. If not, just some classic who tips: I recommend watching the animations whenever possible, except for the Power of the Daleks and the Reign of terror; it's so bad in those stories that I find it to be detractive rather than additive. Great vid btw :)

Just watched it for the first time and yeah, I'd have to agree. The first episode felt really strong, had a good set up for getting everyone together, setting up the mystery. Susan was very interesting at first and then became irritating as she was reduced to a screaming, hysterical girl. Same with Barbara. I found the Doctor's portrayal to be very interesting after watching all of New Who, kinda off putting, but also curious. William Hartnell reminded me of Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows, an aloof, intriguing character who seems very ambiguous as to their alignment, good, sinister? Neutral? The effects of the time amuse me as well, again, reminding me of Dark Shadows.

I like your stuff but you ramble on a lot for about the first half of the video without providing with any actual content. Try to jump straight to the point. I think this should help because your videos will be shorter hence faster/easier to edit while also better hold viewer retention.

The Blue Dalek is back!!!!!! Yayyyy!!! Will you PLEASE make a video about the history of the Sonic Screwdriver?!?!? I've been trying to watch classic episodes on Kodi, but keep hitting problems with dead links etc. I actually really liked the unearthly child. Couldn't finish the Dalek invasion of Earth. Definitely going to look into buying box sets of classic Who. My point is, until you mentioned it, I hadn't noticed that the first Doctor didn't have the screwdriver, and I think you could put an entertaining video together on the subject. And did you feel that the black and white actually helped in some ways because it hid some of the bad production quality available?? p.s. Love the Riddler duck!! Thought it was a repainted Mario Amibo as a leprechaun until you showed it in the 10k episode 😂

I was also surprised over how much the first part holds up today. Even if we today know what Susan and the Doctor it's still engaging to see Barbara and Ians curiosity over their strange student and the discovery of the TARDIS. Well, we still get this whit every new companion, but it feels fresh here. That being said, I'm not to thrilled about the cavemen parts, they just move to damn slow and the way they speak doesn't work for me. There are interesting parts, like the vague moment if the Doctor is about to kill the caveman or not.

My quick review While the first episode is one of the best episodes of Doctor Who ever made, the last 3 do dip in quality a significant amount, but they’re not as bad as many people say they are. I love the characterization in this story, even the Doctor, as I find his abrasive personality to work in the dark, gritty caveman episodes, and leads to future character development. Overall, I think it work perfectly fine as an opening story. 7/10

you watch an adventure in space and time . it good movie of Doctor Who how it got started

Funny, I knew it as 'An Unearthly Child', but when it comes to individual episodes titles, its better to go with the 'accepted' 'umbrella' title. As for the 'caveman' aspect of the story, well even Verity Lambert has said, it was that or no story that was ready. ☺

Susan starts so strong that it's such a shame her character goes off a cliff from episode 2 onwards and never again rsises to this weird, smart, intriguing, alien teenager.

Still waiting for the Classic-Who-Best-Cliffhangers ... ;-)

You can't really judge Dr.Who from the 60's on special effects as they were very primitive back then just like the cavemen. The original Twilight Zone had cheaper effects and some like Dr.Who were shot on video tape. I love An Unearthly Child especially the first episode which is perfect. William Hartnell was sensational and unlike modern Who his Doctor was very dubious in character and very eccentric. The thing I hate about modern Who is they have taken too much of the mystery away from the central character and also they have him behaving too human with the romantic elements. The whole point of Doctor Who was to have a hero of difference so he doesn't have to be good looking or a typical romantic heroic type and I feel they have lost that a great deal in modern Who. Excellent review.

Yes, if you'd only seen some of the later stories of Hartnell's first two years, you'd find it hard to believe that Barbara could ever have been a wailing, sobbing mess in the face of danger, but she certainly is at times in the first story. It's rather authentic, though, for ongoing viewers to see her evolve her way out of this shaky beginning to become a strong, proactive character as time goes by. Ian pretty much establishes his character by the end of these four episodes and stays on heroic form throughout his run. It's not surprising that Ian and Barbara are so beloved by fandom in general, as they work so well together as the stories progress. I only wish that Susan had been given a chance to grow as much as Barbara did, or at least stay faithful to the mysterious and intelligent character that was presented in episode one, but Carole Ann Ford was seriously betrayed by the show-runners in this respect. I'm not surprised she eventually lost the will to go on with the show.

side note: you might start seeing me reappear in your comments section more often again the doctor who nerd in me that's been dormant for the last several years (since I was 14 or 15) has finally been reawakened TVinSin is back (I'm still probably gonna go by Skipper online, but the doctor who fixated version of me is back)

That tardis that console room wow The school stuff pilot is realy good the caveman stuff bit boring but next episode makes up for it For a new program no idea about it characters nothing all new in 63 it's fantastic Good vid

I love this story. Yes the first episode is brilliant but I also think the cave-man story is also very good. I love the politics involved in the leadership struggle and the actual physical fight is rather brutal (and looks great in black and white). In which other Doctor Who story does a character get his head bashed in with a rock? There is a sense of genuine danger and threat throughout the story. Sure it has its moments of "not-so-greatness" but then again, so do most classic Who stories (even the great ones).

I wonder if the writer, Anthony Coburn, was attempting to make a parallel to modern society, at least in terms of the Doctor's point of view.

Don't forget these where shot live.

Could you maybe review Genesis of the Daleks as I think it's one of the best classic stories

Hi can you review this (an adventure in space and time ) please

MYAHN!!!

I enjoyed the vid but feel the need to defend Hartnell's Doctor. It's difficult to imagine now we have so many Doctors and so much back story but their was very little already prepared before this was shot. The Doctor's character was one hiding in plain sight seeking to avoid too much interaction hence the stand offishness and mendacious tendencies are to put Barbara and Ian off. Indeed as another poster has pointed out this aspect had to be toned down from the pilot. I grew up with the Fourth Doctor and then Fifth and do still cringe a lot watching classic Who towards the Baker II, McCoy era but I find the episodes before my time fascinating having older brothers and a dad who watched from the first episode. What's disapointing looking back is the lack of faith the BBC had in the show in the 80's, where the effect seem to have barely moved on from the Pertwee/Baker era, still looked cool when you were ten years old though! It is difficult to treat many older episodes fairly and as a 'New Whovian' I think you did a cracking job.

Yeah. I think you are easily my favorite - on the entire internet - Doctor Who "personality." This does not mean that I have always agreed with you, but - when I do not, to your immense credit - I don't feel as if your opinion is anything but a well reasoned opinion. When MANY of these sort of things state an opinion on Who, it feels as if each opinion ends with a de facto: "Yeah? You got a problem with that, jerk?!" You never leave me feeling this way. All that said, this is not one of the instances where I do disagree with you. In fact, I am ecstatic to run across someone who - literally - has an identical view of An Unearthly Child as me. I, too, think it is an amazingly compelling tale. I, too, feel episode one is amazing, with a slight dip in compelling-ness with subsequent episodes. I, too, feel that the cavemen are far more compelling - as well as morally wishy-washy (which is a good thing) - than they have any right to be. And I, too, feel that Ian and Barbara have a very compelling dynamic. Still, my favorite overlap with you on this is Susan. MOTHER OF ....!!! I would say she is my least favorite companion due to her tendency to default to screaming if McDonalds forgets to toss an extra packet of ketchup in her bag. It is INSTANT. I personally am of the opinion that she needs severe therapy; possibly medication. Anyway, all in all, fantastic job with your video-blog. Keep doing 'em please!

Doctor who is fun.

I hope you do a vid on "The Five Doctors"

Personally, I found the 'hysterical female trope to be more evident later on. Jo (Third Doctor) drives me nuts, especially with her last story. She is so incompetent and so helpless... *gah*! And Peri (Fifth and Sixth Doctors) does a lot of hand-wringing and whining, which I find really grating. Compared to the cool and competent Barbara, they really come off badly. You really don't see a lot of that behaviour in Nu-Who. For all of the criticism, Rose is resourceful and courageous, right from the start. Clearly a Gryffindor. :-) Martha is coolly competent and will jump in because she trusts the Doctor. Ravenclaw. :-) Donna is bossy and grating, but also incredibly resourceful, and. An even match for the Doctor. I think she's Gryffindor. All three of these women are game for adventure, and will jump right in and with none of the "oh Doctor! (pant pant *uh Uh uh*) I can't do it! " while climbing through a tunnel or whatever. Little hesitation-they trust him. And they seem to see themselves as partners rather than subordinates. Of Classic Who, the only companion who approached the partnership role was Sarah Jane.

The next story introduces the Daleks.

Don't try to do every story in order, it would get pretty exhausting for you and the audience. Better to just do stories when you feel like discussing them.

153rd!

Why do you even call it a council. It's always just you.

He’s kinda mean...

I am not sure you can be an expert on Dr Who if you haven't caught up on classic Who?

First comment!!

I’m early not first! But very very early third commet tho

Don't you think that a show about an old man flying around time and space with a little girl he calls his "granddaughter" is kind of Kevin Spacey weird. Was the Tardis called the Lolita express back then. I wounder if the doctor ever visited Epstein Island.