Season 1: Hartnell

Worth Watching

* indicates a Must See story.

What's interesting about the season?

When I first saw a subset of the season 1 episodes I liked William Hartnell's crusty version of The Doctor, but wasn't impressed with much of the rest of the show. On re-watching -- and having the opportunity to see all the episodes this time (except the wiped Marco Polo) -- my estimation of the season has risen considerably. At least, as shown by the list above, my estimation of the last half of the season.

The standout for me is Barbara, played by Jacqueline Hill. The actress and her character are easy to under-estimate, but over and over again Barbara exceeds expectations as the intelligent, common-sense anchor of the show (her pretensions in The Aztecs not-withstanding, and she later admits she was in error). She becomes the moral force of the show, and often the smartest person in the story, pointing out things The Doctor hasn't figured out.

Ian Chesterton is a fine character, and actor William Russell is clearly an outstanding human being respected by all who worked with him, but nothing about his character is particularly interesting. He lacks the diamond-edged sharpness of Barbara.

Susan, played by Carole Ann Ford, is the biggest disappointment as I've noted several times. Not due to Carole herself, who seems a potentially very interesting actor, but to the callous and stereotypical way the writers and producers handled her. This is somewhat mystifying, given that the creator/producer of this season was a woman, the groundbreaking Verity Lambert.

The doctor starts crusty, but warms into a mostly-nicer being, for better or worse. Yet he still veers into selfish nastiness from time to time, keeping him from becoming a complete care bear. 

The season is saved by the last three episodes, all quite watchable and showing a maturity and consistency that didn't exist in the earlier episodes, which is understandable. My favorite individual episode of the season is the very first, An Unearthly Child, and my favorite complete story is probably The Sensorites, for the exploration of the relationship between The Doctor and his companions.

Unfortunately the next season will prove that consistency is not to be a hallmark of the series; we'll encounter some of the best in all of Doctor Who and some of the eye-scratchingly worst. Thankfully I'm here to save you from the latter. 

As Hartnell's Doctor would say:

"Well, then, let's get on with it, shall we? Hmm?"

What are others saying?