"It all started out as a mild curiosity in a junkyard..." My Hartnell-era marathon begins! Make sure to leave and comment and "like" the video to appease the almighty algorithm! Patrons will get access to ALL reviews for Season 1 early so be sure to check out my page! www.patreon.com/trilbee

William Hartnell was a fascinating actor. For years and years he was typecast as "The Heavy", playing "Tough Guys" - IIRC, he was even called "The British James Cagney" - He finally broke out of that stereotype with his final role as The Doctor.

the sticks aren't meant to be touching when Ian makes fire, he isn't rubbing them together. There's some sort of twine connecting them, by moving the one stick forward and back he rotates the other stick which creates friction and heat at its base from which you make the fire.

Susan's hair is interesting, because it hadn't quite become a fashion trend at the time. The BBC hired legendary hairstylist Vidal Sassoon to style her hair, just before he started styling celebrity hair in similar ways, which then made hair like Susan's popular. It's an extremely rare case of sci-fi correctly predicting future fashion, and it only happened because they were perceptive and/or lucky enough to hire a trendsetter *just before* he got famous enough to be far out of their price range.

Wow. William Hartnell was younger in An Unearthly Child than Sophie Aldred was in Power of the Doctor!

Imagine being 7 years old, and watching the first episode. I don't have to imagine. We, the viewers, were thd first to gasp "it's bigger on the inside!". I can't tell you what a shock that was or how brilliantly it was executed. I still remember that moment like it was last Saturday...

I came to appreciate the post-episode one Caveman stuff because it immediately equalises the group. The Doctor holds all the cards after Ian and Barbara leave Earth, but it soon becomes a story about a group of people learning how to work together. The Dr goes from a smirking demigod to scared old man. The first life he ever saves in the show is Ian's from the cavemen "if he dies there will be no fire!" And Ian and Barbara see what dealing with them (20th-century human 'primitives') must be like for him through the cavemen. And the Dr appreciates Ian's aptitude for adventures- he's young and brave- things that the Dr will one day become.

Yknow, I'd never thought of that word before now but "Imp" is a surprisingly accurate description for this Doctor, even later on when he softens and the whole granddad feel comes through, Imp still feels like a good word for him

Thank you so much. Have always wanted to see An Unearthly Child. My Dad was Assistant Film editor on this first Dr Who episode and I was born the night it was first aired, so it has a special significance for me. ☺❤

Mate, this isn't a mere "review", it's a whole freaking essay! Like in the best way possible, though. This was so well thought-out, with a great balance of historical/behind the scenes facts and personal opinions.. And as always, very eloquently put and amazingly edited. This video got me so hyped for the rest of your Hartnell reviews :)

While I agree with the fact that Ian and Barbara follow Susan home is a bit dodgy to modern sensibilities, it was common as recently as the 1980s for school staff to have an authority over their pupil's safety, and would have been perfectly common for concerned teachers to distantly observed seemingly troubled students while on their way home. It certainly wasn't considered sinister by the majority of the general public at the time. Your point about Ian's firemaking misses one crucial detail: it's not easy to make out, but there is a piece of twine or, possibly, one of Ian's shoelaces, looped around both sticks, in a figure of eight formation. By moving both sticks simultaneously, with one of them touching the base wood, it allows for ease of control of the fire. Frankly, just rubbing two sticks together would do bugger all. You'd need the friction caused by the tightly-wound twine/shoelace to better help create the flame; which is exactly what happens. Most children watching would be aware of this technique, as they'd either be in the Boy Scouts or the Girl Guides or whatever, where fire-making badges would be routinely presented to the many recipients. Finally, this is a very fine video essay, and I absolutely agree with you on the political subtext of the caveman episodes; very well observed, that.

I love the "What on Earth's it doing here? these things are usually on the street" line. It's like retroactive exposition for something that would've just been commonplace at the time. Kinda eerie in a way, like they knew people would still be watching it 60 years later.

I remember it well, i was in the cubs, we played football in the park, lost as usual, then the whole team went back to Arkela's house for game break down, analysis and cups of tea and cake. But somebody knew about this New, Exciting series so we all crammed into his lounge and watched eagerly. I have watched every episode ever since. Wonderful stuff. Some of the sets were a bit naff and were a bit wobbly, but that didn't matter, some of those earlier tales were better than later ones when we went into colour. Things like the early adventures against the Master and the explanation that the Master stole the chameleon circuit, so it stuck as the police box.

Honestly it's nice to see you coming in to bat for episodes 2-4. I've always felt like the "Caveman bit" of An Unearthly Child is really underrated by fans. I get that part 1 casts a bit of a shadow over it but it's still more than worthwhile.

Really enjoyed your review and very much in agreement with your views. I invited Eileen Way to make a convention appearance many years ago. She was quite elderly then, but got the train from Canterbury to Coventry in order to join us for the weekend. She was lovely. Eileen related how Peter Cushing ate at the same restaurant as her, but she was too shy to approach him. My time with her was magical.

The theme is awesome, so subtle and haunting "bring it back now, we won't take less". I think the opening transition from the titles to the policeman almost works - from the electronic fog of the titles to rolling fog around the junkyard. This is one of my most watched episodes.

It's a shame that this story didn't leave a first strong impression when it first came out in late 1963, However thanks to Terry Nation with the Daleks the show has reached it's Sci-fi peak.

I was 9 years old when I saw the first episode. I still remember it well today. Watching it in the evening with my parents. It was new and I was captivated and scared at the same time. You reminded me about the first episode being repeated the following week. Yes, I saw it again. By that time, as kids we had talked about it at school and couldn’t wait to see episode 2. Thanks for the nostalgia.

Imagine if someone who was on or worked on the show 60 years ago was brought forward in time to see the 60th anniversary special next year. They'd be shocked yet happy to know this series would still be running and so popular all these years later.

Watching this on You Tube on November 23, 2023 at exactly the same time as i watched the original broadcast 60 years ago as an 8 year old, how this brought back memories.

Susan's mistake over decimal currency is, with hindsight, wholly understandable. In 1963, the public never imagined that just 8 years later, we would have a decimal system of currency (Feb '71) Susan got her dates wrong by less than a decade.

This is probably one of my favourite Doctor Who stories. There’s this charming quaintness to it that I can’t help but love. That first episode is a masterwork. Most shows like this have kind of a rocky start, like Star Trek did, but they had Doctor Who right there, they got it first go. The rest is fine, nothing that special, but still enjoyable nonetheless.

My favourite Dr. Who, William Hartnell, he played it straight with a knowledgable air and didn’t try to play the fool. Subsequent Doctors were shadows of this original!

Ian is using his shoelaces tied to the sticks to make the fire, the friction point is at the bottom of the vertical stick. Great essay. Thank you.

I just had a fun/crazy thought. Perhaps if they ever do an official colourization of 60s Doctor Who, the 'powers that be' could maybe not colourize most of this episode, leaving it black and white up until Barbara and Ian enter the Tardis and this scene and the rest of the episode transitions into colour, invoking 'The Wizard of Oz' film, I wonder if that were to happen would it work, how might people feel about it and imagine if it was originally possible to do this in the 60s...?

I really enjoyed this review. William Hartnell was at his best in this story and it really has some great moments. The main cast were truly excellent in this story too. It set the tone for what would follow.

Slight nitpick, but there's actually a string faintly visible and Ian is actually using a bow drill which is a real primitive fire making method. You can find countless videos on KZfaq of it.

I am really looking forward to this series. Great to look back at the Hartnell era since so many episodes are lost to posterity.

I remember discovering this on our one channel TV set in the spring of 1964. I was 13 then and had heard nothing about it until one Saturday at 4:30 PM it was on. We thought that was the coolest show ever, exciting and a little scary with that fantastic weird theme song. It just dropped out of the blue and we couldn’t wait to sit breathlessly watching the next episode. Those were the days. Black and white TV . We never anticipated colour TV until it suddenly burst upon us in 1966 and Batman with all its colour was just perfect for that. Dr. Who got lost in the shuffle but he was still big in England when I went there in 1974. That unknown to me was the beginning of my overseas travels for the next 50 years and still not over. But you had to be there in 1964 to experience the zeitgeist of the times. The future full of technological marvels and space travel were all the rage then and James Bond and the early Beatles. It seemed that all the coolest stuff was coming out of England as the Americans were racing to get to the moon. There just is no feeling now of the excitement anticipating what was going to come next that was in the air then. Dr. Who was part of that excitement.

That's the episode that made a Whovian of me; I had seen random episodes on PBS, mainly the third and fourth Doctors, but around 1990 WANE TV, Fort Wayne's PBS station, announced that they had got the Hartnell episodes, so I tuned in, and was fortunate enough to see "Unearthly Child", which made a Whovian of me!

"55 year old actor (William Hartnell)" It 's still crazy thinking about how Paul McGaan in Night of the Doctor was one year younger than that and David Tenant is 51 currently

I love the Drs comparison of the dimensional space of the TARDIS to a television. That's stayed with me since I first saw this a decade ago. I wish they'd have a modern doctor call back to that.

All four episodes are great. Very atmospheric.

I learned a lot more from this than I thought I would. The background on all the people that worked on putting the show together and making it work was splendid, thank you. I do agree with you: the first story gets a bad rap, but it's actually really well done.

Fantastic news to have my thoughts on the caveman politics backed up for a change. Adore the (new!) points about the good/bad morality split not existing in this story, because the nature of mankind is so beyond reason. I love Hartnell as the opposite end of the spectrum, a future human man that is nothing BUT cold logic and condescending reason. I think Ian elects Hartnell as the leader because he's equally scared, but quiet about it. It makes sense since he (and we as an audience) are seeing ourselves as superior to the cavemen. Through the parallel we can begin to understand the Doctor's superior perspective, but resonate to Ian and Barbara as the true rational middle man. The Doctor hints in part 1 as to what the rest of the story will be about too, which I never noticed til this video. Its all atmospheric but parts 2-4 are absolutely crucial. I think 1 is unquestionably a human in this, and its a story about progress as an introduction to time trave by showing us all the extremes at once. I think its absolutely genius. So pumped for this series Will, thanks for helping make December the most exciting month of the year as ever. You're the definitive person on this website for me, man. Time to rewatch your Dead Planet video.

Ian's stick wasn't in contact with the other stick to make fire because he was using a 'bow' style tool, we just couldn't see the 'string' in the lighting setup.

Glad to see a fairly positive review of eps 2-4. I watched them just a couple weeks ago and thought they were much better than the online opinion would have one believe, and I can definitely say I enjoyed it.

Well it has began.. Hartnell-cember, I'm calling that name now.

An excellent review, you really bring out the key features of interest/meaning in the scenes. I'd fogotten barbara screaming at a chicken-duck-woman-thing waiting in the bushes of love

32:02 Tbh very likely. You've probably heard this by now, the studios were so cramped and awkward and the sprinklers would go off all the time. The Reign of Terror was apparently a nightmare cause they had to get a horse in.

Thanks for this. I have always had a memory of the 1st Doctor Who. I was 4yrs 7 months old. From behind the settee. But I had wondered whether it was the first or just my first. It was both. The shadow of the caveman looking at the Tardis is and has been indelibly impressed on my mind for 60yrs 2mths.

Future Doctors: I must protect innocent lives at all costs. 1st Doctor: (Literally kidnaps school teachers, and attempts to kill a cavemen)

What I find funny about the first episode is the one thing that most people overlook,this confirms that the TARDIS used to be able to change physical form and gets stuck as the Police Box,most people overlook or miss that

I always wondered about the start of Dr Who. Well done.Thanks.

The two sticks are not touching each other because there is a string connecting the two sticks causing the vertical stick to spin.

There are two rules still in place today: -No aliens -No bug eye monsters. Both rules were broken in the second serial.

As of 2024, William Russell (99) and Carole Ann Ford (85) are the remaining surviving main cast members.

Is it bad that I had no idea how they made the TARDIS noise until now? 😅

Superbly excellent. I agree with every word. Like you, I enjoy the whole story. The sense of eerie contrast, danger and out of time displacement is palpably thrilling.

This is such a great video. Really well put together

2:32 I had no idea Bill and Ben was originally a black and white show. I remember the 2000s one I watched when I was a kid (how the years have gone by) but this was a surprise for me.

The first episode is genuinely one of the best individual episodes of all of Doctor Who it does such a wonderful job introducing the premise and characters that almost anything that came immediately afterwards was going to feel like a let down.

Bow drills don’t touch. There is more than just 2 sticks.

I really hope that Kal and the tribe of Gum appear in Archive Footage or even a mention someday as they are the very first enemies featured in the show

An unearthly child was one of the first classic doctor who storys I even saw and an unearthly child is my favourite William hartnell story doctor who and I love this story alot and It Is a good introduction to the tardis and the first doctor and ian and Susan and Barbara and tv show i first watch this story in 2020 with my dad and I was the first William Hartnell doctor who story i even saw and I love it alot

Off to a great start. Really looking forward to the rest.

I seem to recall that, not only was the opening episode affected by news of the JFK assassination, but a fair chunk of the audience was also cut off due to TV transmitter failures.

I like the way your reviews really bring the stories to life- now-where did i put that Early Years DVD box set...

I'm looking forward to this marathon. I don't think it gets much credit beyond the highlights. While he has his charm, minus the early episodes, I never saw anyone say Hartnell was their favourite Doctor. But I know he was popular and beloved in the role, in Hartnell's time.

The sticks are not in contact with each other because it is a not very good bow drill you can see the string turning the other stick. :)

First year I'll be following one of these marathons as it airs. Really excited 😊

Here's an incredible fact that we cannot begin to appreciate today: the UK had food rationing until 1954. 1954! Just 2-3 years after food rationing ended, the British (and French) empires came to an end when US President Eisenhower ordered British, French, and Israeli forces to cease their attacks in the Suez incident. I also contend to understand what the UK was about at that time, watch movies such as Alfie or Georgy Girl. We have a combination of a fallen empire where the people are contemplating if they will have part of the technologically advanced and prosperous future that may be just out of reach for them. I also contend that is why going to meeting cavemen is exactly the right place to go given the times. The entire UK people are being told they are now going to go out into the world no longer with the protection of empire, that empire will not be around to get them out of trouble with the natives. That is how First, the Doctor is -- a being no longer protected by empire, lost in the former colonies among the natives.

I recommend: An Adventure In Space & Time (2013). A dramatisation of the early years of Doctor Who (1963), with the story revolving around BBC executive Sydney Newman, novice producer Verity Lambert and actor William Hartnell.

“The Long Way Round”

Fantastic review as always. I definitely recommend becoming a patreon, well worth it. MrTardis, could you possibly look at including the interview with William Hartnell recorded during pantomime shortly after he left doctor who? Its really fascinating. I'd love to hear your analysis of it. Thanks

I was thrilled back when these were released for home video. Living in the US PBS was my first source for DW. (#4!) Loved this essay, but one bone to pick. Ian's sticks weren't touching because he was using the Bow - Drill base method for starting a fire. The bow spins the upright stick creating the friction to cause combustion.

Great review. Selfishly I'd like you to just keep going right up to present day hahaha but a herculean effort indeed!

I remember seeing this at my friend Charlie's house. when it was first broadcast. I wish I had a time machine to go back, watch it again and tell my past self all about the 60 year history of Dr. Who..

You can also see how this Doctor is still very young, almost adolescent, even though that wasn't the intention at the time of course

I'm still mad that An Unearthly Child has only appeared in a Flashback/ Archive Footage once throughout it's 60 years. The Cave of Skulls Footage was reused for a millisecond in "The Timeless Children". Although An Unearthly Child sound clips can be heard in "Journey to the Centre of the Tardis" and "The Name of the Doctor" and photos of BTS photos of the story as a whole can be seen in "Day of the Daleks", "The Day of the Doctor", "The Zygon Inversion", "The Pilot", "Thin Ice", and "Oxygen".

It’s obviously a Tavistock thing, I just haven’t worked out what the intended message was.

I remember the showing, and re-showing, of that first episode. I was 15 years old, had just left school, as you could back then, and I had just started my first job. Seems like only yesterday.

So I'm sure someone's already said this, but at 31:55, Ian is making fire the correct survival way using the two sticks and shoelace (which you can just about see if you look closely). Basically instead of rubbing two sticks together, you make a bow out of one stick with the shoelace on either end, then twist the other stick in the tightened shoelace and hold it in place with a flat stone, if done correctly when you move the bow stick back and forth and it spins the stick twisted in the shoelace as it's being held in place, and the friction that it caused is basically bettter than any other hand-spun method of making fire. If that was a joke, I'm sorry for explaining why it's not funny, but I just wanted to point that out and explain the basics of it because its an incredibly handy survival tool.

Thanks for giving the Fatman and Brian a shout out

I haven't seen the full episode but this was great to watch! The Doctor Who Magazine story "Hunters of the Burning Stone" is actually closely linked to this story and the graphic novel includes the writer's thoughts on this story, which I'd always found interesting.

I'm surprised nobody ever makes the Prometheus comparison to The Doctor here. The Doctor being Prometheus makes _so much sense_ for everything that came after this. The Doctor brings fire to humanity, and thus brings civilization. The Doctor created that which would one day usurp the Time Lords themselves, since Nu Who introduced in the background a human-run time travel agency who are doing what the Time Lords once did for the universe. 28:47 I agree it works but I don't even see it as The Doctor and Ian keeping themselves together. The Doctor is barely keeping himself from falling into what we'd later know as Time Lord Victorious behavior and that's only because Ian is keeping him under control as a morality chain, since there's no way The Doctor will let Ian be out and out overtly the better man. Ian meanwhile is barely keeping it together by actively taking responsibility only via foisting the burden of results on The Doctor. Ian telling them The Doctor is their leader is Ian rejecting culpability for his actions. All four of them are breaking under pressure, they just break differently. The Doctor's first appearance sets up the evil nature inside him that he will wrestle with for the rest of the show, and immediately establishes that he is _not_ a good man. He doesn't yet have his rules to guide him, all he has is shame. Ian is reluctant to take control, but also _must_ take control and he keeps this going via a mountain of denialism. Barbara has the most rational perspective of the team and that breaks her because she's the only one able to really comprehend just how screwed their situation is. She is doing the sane and rational thing to do in the situation. Susan is a child who has gone from Time Lord to pretending to be a human to being a castaway in the dung and dirt of time, having fallen further from grace than any being in the universe.

Planet of the Giants was supposed to be the pilot episode, but due to cost, and length of production, they went with cavepeople to introduced us to Doctor Who.

31:58 the sticks arent touching because there is a rope around the vertical stick thats connected at both ends of the horizontal stick

I had recently turned 12 in November, 1963 and remember seeing these early episodes fresh out of the box as it were. For some reason, New Zealand was the first country outside of the UK to screen Dr Who on its then fledgling one-only television channel. We kids weren't aware of that, of course. The theme music was like nothing we had ever heard - because there was literally nothing like it on TV, or radio. Hartnell's Doctor was a scary old man in many ways, not at all the wholesome hero type. I remember the series being very intense and dark. I was used to the serial format because we'd watch serials at the cinema every Saturday morning; they were also black and white. It was the Daleks that scared the hell out of me back then, with their implacable and relentless urge to kill anything that moved. I was a dedicated Whovian I suppose by the time Hartnell was replaced by another very grumpy version in the form of Patrick Troughton. Watching Hartnell now, in these excerpts, I cannot help comparing some of his expressions to, of all people, Tilda Swinton! She's 63, and an almost perfect match in age to the Doctor. Comparing photos of her to Hartnell, I find a compelling similarity. She's no stranger to impersonating males, eg Dr. Josef Klemperer in "Suspiria", and I find myself thinking what a fascinating twist she would be as the Doctor. Given a decent script.

Love it how you add "these cheeky s****"

I was 10 in 1963 when I sat down to watch the first episode only to hear the tragic news about President Kennedy, but once that haunting theme, created by Delia Derbyshire, started playing I was lost in a world of wonder.... I guess you were never a boy scout otherwise you would know how to make fire with two sticks and a piece of string and the reason the two sticks aren't touching is that the string is looped around the vertical stick and attached to the two ends of the horizontal stick so that the vertical stick spins when the horizontal stick is moved back and forward. If you look closely you can just see the string. Oh and by the way Schedule is pronounced Shed-u-all not sked-u-all in proper (UK) English ! :)

This all about perceived superiority and advancement. The Doctor mocks Ian and Barbara as 'primitives'. Then as soon as they're in the stone age, they are all pretty useless in contrast with the early humans. But ultimately it's Ian who makes fire from scratch again and saves them. His boy scout skills trump the Doctor's advanced alien knowledge. This is all reflected in the power struggle between Cal and Za. Also, I don't think Ian's acceptance of the Doctor as their leader is a sudden character u-turn. I think it's Ian forcing the Doctor to accept responsibility.

I remember watching this as it aired in 1963. Hard think that I am now so old.

November 23 1963. There was a lot of time travel activity surrounding that date. It is no surprise to me that Dr. Who would premier one day later. The thoughts and awareness of our subconscious minds often bubbles up in our media which can cause the synchronicity of the universe to seem almost spooky at times.

I have a vague memory that thia episode was to be known as "A child of the stars". I remember watching this, aged 8, and again the following Saturday night, then every episode since, so I was "in" from the beginning !

I much preferred the first pilot. There was a strangeness and menace. I think the first part really holds up. The caveman part is good for character development, but is very much of its time, while the earlier part is timeless, and holds up as something that could air today.

I remember rushing home with my friend to watch the first episode (we were both 11yrs old). There must have been a lot of publicity over it because we definitely were eager to watch it.

At the first Dr. Who Convention in California, my SFX company sent our robot to greet Tom Baker at the airport. Tom walked up to it, shook its claw and said "I believe I have met you before"....I also met Johnathan there and briefly broached the idea of an American Dr, with not much positive response.....

What I love about this episode is that the son of its writer is very normal and fine

Simply amazing ... in so many ways. CBC being involved, makes my B-day !! Which was.a week ago. No fam, didn't celebrate .

Watching the starting episodes of this frightened me and I would watch them staring from behind a cushion. The daleks were terrifying.

its lovely getting the marathon a lovely start! its nce to have you touch on he fact that the caveman scenes are really gripping and still compaling! what i think really puts doctor who as a good show, is the fact that they give so much story and compeling ellements to the time period! this coud have easaly been the case of amaing main characters and skipping through scenes that they are not in, but the show immidiatly sets a higher bar then you thought through making the dialog as smart and complelling, filled with a lot more respect then expected to the cave man! its such a good way to sement doctor who! the quality of the main characters is almos t as good as the supporting cast

How I wish in billions of ways, I had been born in the year 1963 or even born years earlier than 1963 so I could have been alive to see the early black and white Dr Who stories. I first started to watch Dr Who, in the early 1970s aged 3 when Jon Pertwee was the Dr.

I initially missed part of the first episode. A week later, I hurried home, arrived just in time, switched on the box, then waited forever for that insufferable white dot to disappear from the center of the screen. Surprise, surprise - I was incredibly pleased when it turned out to be a repeat of the first episode. In the following weeks, I got home early enough to see The Telegoons before Doctor Who. These days, that would be called a double whammy!

I can vividly remember seeing Doctor Who for the very first time, my initial impression was that it was something different, something special. But I must admit it took me a considerable time watching the programme to come around to William Hartnell's portrayal of the Doctor. For some time I watched Doctor Who in spite of William Hartnell rather than because of him. However, I eventually did warm to him somewhat, rather like I would accept him as a rather irascible Grandfather figure than a loveable one. It is for that reason that I consider Patrick Troughton to be my first relateable Doctor rather than Hartnell.

If you cheeky shit becomes a running gag for a few of the videos, I’m gonna love this.

Takes me right back to my childhood & hiding behind the sofa.

18:50 never noticed how it prefigures Rutger Hauer. He extemporized and wouldn't have heard this. Great minds arrive at resonating ideas...

Police box? I always thought that was a British phone booth!

this review is going to make me want to go back and watch classic who