Review of the First Doctor’s era

I think a lot of neowhovians dismiss the First Doctor as a rather grumpy ol’ cuss, and to a certain extent that’s a valid characterization – certainly it is if all you’ve ever seen is the first episode of An Unearthly Child. But there’s a lot more to One than meets the casual eye. Among other things, there’s a lot of character development in the first three years, if you bother to look for it.

Clearly, the beginning of Doctor Who is an era in which the show is still getting its feet under it, finding and defining the Doctor’s character. If you take a look at the concept notes or background notes, you’ll notice that from the beginning, it was not the Doctor who was the main character (despite the title of the show) – it was Ian! The structure of the early stories make complete sense once one has that little fact in mind. The Doctor was there as little more than plot device at this stage.

So perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised that he starts out so grouchy. Let us not forget, though, that it’s not very long before things change between One and his unintentional traveling companions. By the end of The Edge of Destruction, they’re well on their way to becoming fast friends. Later, when Ian & Barbara eventually have the opportunity to leave the Doctor and go home, he vehemently objects (nominally on safety grounds); he’s come to rely on them, and misses them greatly when they leave. The cycle continues ever after (though technically, it started with Susan‘s departure).

Part of the development of the Doctor’s character from irascible, distrustful outcast in charge of his own (and his granddaughter’s) fate to avuncular, pre-occupied (ever-curious) traveler who would risk his own life for his friends even includes him (gasp!) falling in love. Yeah! The old curmudgeon himself even proposes marriage (albeit accidentally) in The Aztecs. I think that was the story that first made me really like One despite – and even because of – his foibles.

One also had the longest list of Companions (ten) in Who history (depending on how one counts certain individuals here and during Four’s tenure). Here they are in order, with the stories in which they first and last appeared and how they left the Doctor:

• Susan Foreman
  An Unearthly Child – The Dalek Invasion of Earth
  Stayed behind for love/marriage
• Ian Chesterton & Barbara Wright [kind of their own little unit]
  An Unearthly Child – The Chase
  Used Dalek time machine to get home
• Vicki Pallister
  The Rescue – The Myth Makers
  Stayed behind for love
• Steven Taylor
  The Chase – The Savages
  Stayed behind to rebuild a planet
• Katarina
  The Myth Makers – The Daleks’ Master Plan
  Died
• Sara Kingdom [some do not count her as a Companion]
  The Daleks’ Master Plan
  Died
• Dodo Chaplet
  The Massacre – The War Machines
  Off-screen decision to stay in 1966 London
• Ben Jackson & Polly Wright [another little unit]
  The War Machines into Two’s era

The show itself went through its own metamorphosis. When it began, it was intended to be educational – that’s why Ian and Barbara were a science and history teacher, respectively. During the first two seasons, there are five “historicals” (stories involving no science fiction elements) and one “pseudo-historical.” Four more historicals follow, through the end of One’s tenure. Other stories include dialog obviously intended as a brief science lesson. While this approach faded over time, it’s a hallmark of One’s era.

There’s still some ambiguity about the Doctor himself – what he knows, what he is. Compared to later regenerations, One seems to stumble about a lot intellectually. He runs into more things that baffle him. No – perhaps that isn’t accurate. He runs into simpler things that baffle him. In that sense, he definitely feels younger – less experienced – than the other Doctors. Mind you, he still comes off as being authoritative, and much more knowledgeable than his Companions, but a bit wet behind the ears for the Doctor.

On a similar note, One – and everyone around him – acts as if the Doctor is human. Even after The Time Meddler, when the Monk is identified as a coming from the Doctor’s planet and shown to have his own TARDIS, references as blatant as “one special human brain that WOTAN needs” (meaning the Doctor’s) crop up. Mention is even made of his heart (singular) – the Doctor’s characteristic “binary vascular system” doesn’t actually show up until the first story of Three’s era. Making the Doctor truly alien was clearly not on the production team’s collective radar at this point.

Summary
One’s era was the series’ equivalent of those awkward, teenage years we all loathed living through. Trying to find ourselves, hoping to be accepted, starting to find our own way in the world, would any of us have done any better than the show and its groundbreaking First Doctor? I doubt it.

I can understand why One doesn’t show up in many people’s favorite Doctor slot, but it’s a shame he ends up in so many least-favorite ones. He’s extremely underrated. If you’ve never experienced this era of the show, be prepared for a big shift in perspective in order to get into the groove (it helps to think of it as live theater rather than as television). Once you make it to that mental space, though, there’s some great stuff here.