Serial A, in four parts:
- An Unearthly Child - 11/23/63, 4.4m viewers
- The Cave of Skulls - 11/30/63, 5.9m
- The Forest of Fear - 12/7/63, 6.9m
- The Firemaker - 12/14/63, 6.4m
Sound Bytes:
"An Unearthly Child...is a remarkable piece of film making. I thought it was marvelous; black and white, with tremendous atmosphere, and I thought, 'who the hell needs color?' In black and white it was spookier and more exciting, I think." - Jon Pertwee, DWM 170
"The first episode of Doctor Who is still the best introductory story for a Doctor ever... Hartnell's Doctor arguably never improved on this chilling first appearance, and the mystery of his origins is superbly evoked. Pity about the three episodes of dental-flossed, Home Counties-accented cavemen [on] cardboard sets which followed, though." - SFX 46
Comments:
An Unearthly Child is easily the best debut serial for any Doctor. It begins with the eeriest Doctor Who credits ever, which lead into an equally memorable, first-person shot that tracks from a foggy street into a junkyard, settling on the oddly humming TARDIS. These opening sights and sounds establish the series as something strange and unprecedented.
The first episode does a wonderful job of contrasting such strangeness with the everyday world of schoolteachers Ian and Barbara. Played with refreshing naturalism by William Russell and Jacqueline Hill, the teachers act as the eyes of the audience as they are gradually drawn from reality into the bizarre universe of the Doctor and his "unearthly" granddaughter, Susan.
The Doctor's characterization throughout the serial is virtually unique. He is portrayed as rude, paranoid, xenophobic and even a touch sexist (whenever Barbara asks him a question, he usually addresses his response to Ian). William Hartnell emphasizes the arrogant, alien aspects of the character, and gives what I consider to be the best performance by any actor in the role.
Susan is perhaps the least successful of the four main characters, simply because she whines too much, though actress Carole Ann Ford probably isn't to blame for that. In the unbroadcast "pilot" version of An Unearthly Child, Susan is depicted as colder and more collected; however, series creator Sydney Newman asked the production team to make her a more normal, identifiable character in the finished episode. I think that was an unfortunate move, and it probably led to Ford's decision to leave the series in season two.
Production-wise, An Unearthly Child has aged pretty well. Director Waris Hussein faced the unenviable task of filming this ambitious story in a tiny, hot studio with outdated and virtually immobile cameras. All things considered, he did a fine job of lending the serial a unique visual style and keeping the camerawork fluid.
The special effects are another strong point; the sequence of the TARDIS taking off for the first time, featuring the Doctor and Susan's faces imposed on the bleeding patterns of the time vortex, is still effective and mysterious.
Many viewers lose patience with the serial when the action shifts from the present day to prehistoric times. However, I get a kick out of the overacting cavemen, who are depicted with surprising realism (contrary to the SFX review, they are by no means "dental-flossed," their teeth are as filthy as the rest of their bodies!) Also, there are some great scenes in the prehistoric segment -- I think it's very striking that the Doctor threatens to kill a helpless man at one point, and it's equally surprising that Barbara has an apparent nervous breakdown while being pursued through the forest (like you might, in the circumstances).
In the final analysis, I think An Unearthly Child qualifies as science fiction literature. It may be the best Doctor Who serial ever made; at the very least, it's a great start to one hell of an epic journey.
Grade: A