And so at 11:23 am, I began this epic journey. No matter how many times I have watched it, I simply love the first episode of Doctor Who. When they talk about "capturing lightning in a bottle", they were talking about episode 1 of An Unearthly Child. Simply magic on the television screen.
It is wonderful that through this program, we can travel back in time and space to November 23, 1963 to see the birth of an institution. Being first introduced to Ian and Barbara, school teachers of the Coal Hill School, provides the "every day person" point of view. And through their eyes, we are introduced to the very unearthly Susan, her mysterious grandfather, and a police box that's not a police box. From the moment Barbara forces her way and we take our first step inside the TARDIS, life as we know it is never the same. The way the Doctor is portrayed, as a grumpy, old man, often characterized as the "anti-hero", was actually quite amusing. He essentially kidnapped Barbara and Ian and went on the run. The first time we see the TARDIS take off still gives me chills. Pure magic.
The remaining three episodes of the story are set in pre-historic times, with a bunch of cavemen fighting over fire to rule the clan. Frankly not the most exciting stuff but it does showcase our four leads actors in dire situations and the beginning of their uneasy alliance. Their imprisonment provided the crucible for extraneous issues to burn away to the most simplest situation- survival. Ironically the Doctor is not the hero of the story but Ian and Barbara.
Being a child of the 70's, my first episodes of Doctor Who were the 4th Doctor Tom Baker's. It wasn't until much later that my local PBS station started broadcasting the episodes of William Hartnell (the 1st Doctor). It was interesting to finally see the genesis of Doctor Who and the beginnings of what I had grown to take for granted in the course of the show.
Many of the tropes and conventions used in this first episode were used again in the first episode of the new series relaunch "Rose" in 2005. Despite the time that had passed and a very changed world, the magic remained and lightning was capture twice in our bottle.
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Unearthly_Child
Next episode- The Daleks!
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