10 Reasons To Watch The First Doctor

The Top 10 Reasons to Watch the First Doctor

By Ken Parker

10 - The Historical Stories – you aren't really going to see this type of story after first Doctor William Hartnell left the show. They can be boring and will seem like a history lesson but they have a nice charm to them. Well, okay, perhaps not “The Gunfighters” but you have to admit that “The Gunfighters” is closer to what Doctor Who is today than it always was for decades.

Yes, Doctor Who was funny even back then.....

9 - Technology – see the 60's in all it's glory with the technology of television at that time. Studio shooting which is basically live television – it was a different craft back then and Doctor Who did an outstanding job with multi-camera work. To say this for a sci-fi series that had such a wide scope of sets with alien planets and historical settings is amazing.

From the new Adventure in Time And Space Docu-drama

8 - The Dalek Invasion of Earth – one of the best Doctor Who stories ever, this episode really cemented the Daleks into Doctor Who lore and it would be one of the blueprints for the show over the next 10 years with many invasion type stories to come.

7 -The Doctor's Companions – Getting sick of every companion falling in love with the Doctor and having so much soap opera like drama? Go back to the beginning and see a set of companions who don't fall in love with the Doctor. Instead see some grandfatherly type relationships as well as some companions who don't even want to be in the TARDIS – now that is refreshing!

6 – Individual Titles– To see that each episode had it's own title was unique. What is even more interesting is to read all the debate that went on for years as people stated that the first story was not called “An Unearthly Child” but was indeed called “100,000 B.C.” or “The Tribe of Gum” Hahaha.

5 - William Hartnell. We look back at his Doctor and he was certainly quite different than what is accepted as today's Doctor. He is uncaring at times and can be a little jerk but that is refreshing to see the Doctor not as a hero but as someone who can almost be a problem for the more moral members of the TARDIS crew.

4 - Companions Die! It is interesting as the series seemed to be geared more toward children with the history lessons and such and yet the show saw the death of two companions. Not the off screen Amy and Rory grow old and die type of death but we saw one that was blown out of an airlock and one grew old and died...... okay, well I guess in a way Amy and Rory went the same way, but they lived normal lives....in another time.

Katarina right before her death (scene no longer exists completely)

Sara Kingdom gets old, fast...

3 - The Bad Stuff – with any series there are mistakes and problems. With the early years of Doctor Who much of the problem was money and time. It is obvious that the show had moments where the acting, effects and sets were outstanding but much of the time they were horrible. Whether it was Hartnell's line goof ups, trash bag monsters, pie plates on wires, giant ants walking into the camera or styrofoam rocks breaking, the series was littered with mistakes and it is always fun to watch for those and laugh.

2 - The Regeneration – who was the genius who kept Doctor Who going with this invention of recasting the lead actor? This idea was incredible and would change the show forever. While only a poor quality clip exists of some of the regeneration, hopefully the upcoming animation for “The Tenth Planet” DVD release will give us insight on how big this moment was in Doctor Who.

1 - The Original!! - He's the first and of course any Doctor Who fan wants to see the first time we see the TARDIS, the first time we see the Daleks, the first time a companion leaves, the first time the Doctor kisses a companion.... oh, wait, that didn't start happening until later on.  

First glimpse of a Dalek