An Unearthly Child
The beginning of an era...
William Hartnell is a bit more active in this(being the introduction and all). I particularly liked some of his more Time Lord-y bits in the unaired pilot. He comes across as arrogant, absent-minded and very alien. Unlike later Doctors, we have no clue what this guy is thinking about or who he even represents. This mystery quality is one I favor.
Carole Ann Ford does a much better Susan here than in the Daleks. In the unaired pilot, I was shocked by how intelligent she appeared(as opposed to the personality they eventually went with). You could really see parts of the Doctor shining through her.
I liked Ian a lot more in this serial because 1) Very little visible cardigan and 2) He's far more realistic. Unlike the Daleks, he's not in charge, but is simply trying to survive. I like how calm he appears throughout the whole thing.
Barbara hasn't made much of an impact on me. She starts out sort of okay and then has a mental breakdown in the later part and that's pretty much it. I hope she gets some character development.
Overall plot: The last three episodes of the serial(read: all but the first) were useless. It started out great, with Ian and Barbara discovering the TARDIS(looking almost like Matt Smith's version in the unaired pilot and like an old piece of junk in the regular). But then the story degenerated into some stupid cavemen politics schtick. It was well acted(except when they make it look like a school play here and there) so I sort of got into it, but still worthless.
The first episode should've just kicked off the Daleks and continued from there. But I'm not one to complain... as the beginning of Doctor Who, it was pretty brilliant and mysterious.
I didn't mention this in the above review, but I do like the TARDIS console room. The furniture is a bit out of place(fitting much more in McGann's room), but it mostly looks okay. The console's pretty cool-looking for the 60s.
I will get back to Series 6 as soon as possible, but you can definitely expect some more Hartnell serial reviews in the near future.
The beginning of an era...
William Hartnell is a bit more active in this(being the introduction and all). I particularly liked some of his more Time Lord-y bits in the unaired pilot. He comes across as arrogant, absent-minded and very alien. Unlike later Doctors, we have no clue what this guy is thinking about or who he even represents. This mystery quality is one I favor.
Carole Ann Ford does a much better Susan here than in the Daleks. In the unaired pilot, I was shocked by how intelligent she appeared(as opposed to the personality they eventually went with). You could really see parts of the Doctor shining through her.
I liked Ian a lot more in this serial because 1) Very little visible cardigan and 2) He's far more realistic. Unlike the Daleks, he's not in charge, but is simply trying to survive. I like how calm he appears throughout the whole thing.
Barbara hasn't made much of an impact on me. She starts out sort of okay and then has a mental breakdown in the later part and that's pretty much it. I hope she gets some character development.
Overall plot: The last three episodes of the serial(read: all but the first) were useless. It started out great, with Ian and Barbara discovering the TARDIS(looking almost like Matt Smith's version in the unaired pilot and like an old piece of junk in the regular). But then the story degenerated into some stupid cavemen politics schtick. It was well acted(except when they make it look like a school play here and there) so I sort of got into it, but still worthless.
The first episode should've just kicked off the Daleks and continued from there. But I'm not one to complain... as the beginning of Doctor Who, it was pretty brilliant and mysterious.
I didn't mention this in the above review, but I do like the TARDIS console room. The furniture is a bit out of place(fitting much more in McGann's room), but it mostly looks okay. The console's pretty cool-looking for the 60s.
I will get back to Series 6 as soon as possible, but you can definitely expect some more Hartnell serial reviews in the near future.
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