Watching the episode "An Unearthly Child" it is incredible to think that how it all started, almost 60 years ago, with a moody opening shot of a policeman walking through the London fog next to a cluttered junkyard dominated by an out-of-place police box. And what a corker of a first episode it is. "An Unearthly Child" is an almost ideal teaser for the wonderful adventures to come, tight, atmospheric, and wholly engrossing. It follows two schoolteachers, Ian and Barbara, who become intrigued by one of their students, the sweet but oddly knowledgable Susan who seems to have insights far beyond those of 20th-century science and history. We get curious glimpses into Susan's behaviour through quick but intriguing flashbacks - she doesn't know Britain uses the decimal system but she corrects mistakes in a history textbook, she can't solve a simple maths equation without introducing two further dimensions but she seems bored by chemistry problems which perplex her fellow students. Ian and Barbara decide to find out just what her secret is and follow her home with the hope of meeting her guardian, the austere and as of yet unseen Dr Foreman. Of course, as all "Doctor Who" fans know, once they get to the junkyard they stumble into the TARDIS and onto The Doctor, the mysterious but seemingly benevolent time traveller who whisks them away to a series of perilous but exciting adventures in time and space.
Knowing the outcome of "An Unearthly Child", however, does little to undermine its effectiveness. The first half, in which Ian and Barbara, try to get to the bottom of Susan's mysterious behaviour, is pacy and excellently acted by William Russell and Jacqueline Hill, a likeable pair of actors who generate tangible chemistry between their two characters. Carole Ann Ford is also terrific as Susan, though she gets very little to do, giving the character a sweet nature while hinting at her otherworldliness. The second half, in which Ian and Barbara come face to face with The Doctor who, afraid of being discovered and angered by Ian's disbelief at his alien nature, defiantly activates the TARDIS to prove a point, is an intense verbal match between three good actors which does a superb job of providing exposition to the viewers without ever becoming unconvincing or losing sight of the character's emotions. The scene of an innocent human wondering into the TARDIS and having to have the ship explained to him occurs in almost every season of "Doctor Who" but it has rarely been done as well as here. Ian and Barbara are shocked by what they see but their reactions are entirely believable and in line with their character. The writer, Anthony Coburn, wisely doesn't have them go on about it being bigger on the inside than the outside but rather shows how they try to reason their way out of what they're seeing. As Susan puts it: "Their minds reject things they don't understand".
All in all, the first episode of "Doctor Who" is a corker in every way. A tense, tightly-written 25-minute mystery rich with atmosphere, tension, and twists and wonderfully acted by its four-person cast. The other three episodes that make up this serial focus on the foursome's first adventure together which sees them land on prehistoric Earth where they are seized upon by a tribe whose two potential leaders both want the Doctor to teach them how to make fire. This particular story formula of the Doctor coming between two warring tribal factions has been used many times in "Doctor Who" including in the very next serial, the legendary "The Daleks", and the serial "An Unearthly Child" is not the finest example. It is, however, a fairly entertaining story which manages to hold one's attention despite some rather egregious pacing issues.
The first half of the second episode, "The Cave of Skulls" focuses on Ian and Barbara coming to terms with their newfound situation. I really enjoy the group dynamic in this serial. Ian and Barbara are clearly attracted to each other and there are genuine warmth and care between them. They also care for Susan but are a little wary of her as they slowly realise she is not quite what she appears. The Doctor, however, they do not trust and he finds them a nuisance as well. Furthermore, he is a very reluctant adventurer, a far cry from his later incarnations. This means that the leading role is evenly distributed among the TARDIS crew. Unlike in later serials in which the Doctor would be the clear protagonist and his companions merely sidekicks, here everyone gets to pitch in pretty equally. Ian quickly emerges as the natural leader, a heroic combination of brains and brawn which angers the more intellectual and careful Doctor whose crotchety manners make him a difficult companion but whose wiliness and assuredness in tough situations make him useful. In the end, however, it is Susan who finds a way out of their predicament. This dynamic, quite unusual for "Doctor Who", is on full display in the first half of "The Cave of Skulls". The second half, however, which is made up almost entirely of a wordy debate between the two potential leaders of the prehistoric tribe is a bit of slog to get through. Derek Newark and Jeremy Young play the two cavemen with little distinction, both shouting and jumping around in much the same manner, failing to differentiate them to a degree which would make us care over who wins. Furthermore, their intentionally awkward, stilted dialogue meant to evoke a primitive way of talking, does not facilitate a particularly interesting discussion. It is a needlessly long scene which serves primarily as an exposition dump, the kind that was wisely avoided in the previous episode. Sadly, Za and Kal are far less interesting characters than Ian, Barbara, and the Doctor and their conflict is far less relatable or interesting. The cavemen, impulsive and unorganised, also don't make for particularly effective antagonists. They lack the cunning and villainy to truly challenge the Doctor and his companions.
The third episode, "The Forest of Fear" encounters a similar problem. The first half in which the foursome is helped to escape by one of the women of the tribe is suitably tense but the ensuing chase through the titular forest between the TARDIS crew and Kal and Hur doesn't really work when all you have is a single, not particularly convincing forest set. It is one of the least exciting action scenes in all of "Doctor Who" and eventually degenerates into yet another overlong discussion, this time between the TARDIS crew. This episode, never-the-less, does contain two very intriguing aspects. The first is the Lady Macbeth-like character of Hur, strikingly played by Alethea Charlton, the only one of the cavemen actors who manages to portray a distinct and well-formed character. The other is a downright shocking scene in which the Doctor picks up a rock with the intention of bashing the skull of the wounded Kal, an intention which Ian stops him in. This scene is a fascinating and unique peek at the Doctor's darker, more practical side.
Happily, the final episode "The Firemaker" significantly picks up the pace. It is a rousing finale featuring a well-choreographed though dully shot fight scene and a few genuinely tense moments which see our foursome in a very low place indeed. "Fear makes companions of all of us," says the Doctor.
"An Unearthly Child" is a decent take on the warring tribe story but Anthony Coburn's script stretches the story too thin. The second and third episodes should have been combined and all the overlong dialogue scenes pared down. The story is also plagued by a number of inconsistencies such as the fact that Kal is badly wounded in the third episode so much so that he has to be carried on a stretcher, unconscious, by the TARDIS crew, yet in episode four, which takes place mere minutes later, he is perfectly fine and able to engage in a lengthy fight to the death with Za. The most annoying inconsistency, however, comes in the characterisation of Barbara who in episodes one and two is by far the most levelheaded and collected of the four companions, but inexplicably turns into a shrieking hysterical mess in episode three, only to return to form by episode four. It would have been far more interesting to see her remain the levelheaded one. Otherwise, Coburn does a very good job, especially on the first episode. He also makes several downright unique moves such as making The Doctor the most cowardly and cunning member of the TARDIS crew and focusing on some real tension between the companions, allowing them time and space (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) to grow on each other. Later serials would often ignore this period making the companion and the Doctor best of friends upon their first encounter.
I was not particularly impressed by Waris Hussein's direction which I found somewhat stilted and unimaginative. This is certainly largely down to production difficulties but directors who worked on the show just a couple of years down the line did a much better job of evoking the periods and settings of their stories and of generating tension and atmosphere than Hussein does. The serial is also plagued, as many of the early ones were, by frequent technical mistakes such as jerky camera moves. I don't fault Hussein for this nor do I find these kinds of errors awfully distracting, but it is hard to negate that they are there. Barry Newbery's sets are fairly boring and are done no favours by the harsh lighting which frequently reflects on the actors' faces. I did, however, greatly enjoy Norman Kay's incidental score. It is not in the least original but it does wring out a sense of hammy melodrama out of this often draggy serial.
It is difficult to fault "An Unearthly Child" too much seeing how it is the first "Doctor Who" serial. But even when we take off the rose tinted glasses, it stands up as a decent if bloated adventure. This comment, of course, excludes the first episode which, as I said earlier, is pretty.
1 out of 1 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink