Doctor Who: A Comprehensive Review Series

[Bobby Barrows]

Doctor Who
A Comprehensive Review Series

An Introduction:

Doctor Who is a franchise that is about as old as modern television; having been born in the fires of the BBC Drama Department as a weekly serial made for the education of young minds, it grew into a science fiction phenomenon the likes of which became indelible to the popular culture of the modern era. Along the way, the series saw 13 different headlining actors, a cancellation, a television movie, and a revitalization of the franchise in 2005 that is continuing today, but the story remains the same: A (wo)man with a blue police box that's bigger on the inside travels through time and space. It is so ingrained with British pop culture that the Metropolitan Police Service lost a lawsuit regarding the police box; the presiding judge arguing that the police box is recognized more for Doctor Who than it is the actual police service.

Here, we take a look at the series as a collective; bits, pieces, segments, serials, seasons, all collected and documented and reviewed by yours truly in an effort to introduce many to the world of Doctor Who and it's fantastical settings. We will endeavor from the beginning of the Doctor's adventures in time and space, and eventually arrive to the modern day of Doctor Who. Join me in this trip through memory lane and experience the world of Doctor Who, from the start.

​

 

[Chris]

I've always meant to watch more of this show, I'm sure I'll get around to it at some point. I'll keep up with this thread, but don't expect much in the way of thoughts since I haven't seen it...but I've never played any of the video games you review either

 

[Apoho Creed]

Right now all I'm watching is the current Who and I'm actually enjoyed her second Season as the Doctor even though I see some problems with the writing which has been up and down. Still I was waiting to put the previous three Doctors on the backburner, but this might force me go big or go home watching those Episodes and giving my thoughts on it.

 

[Bobby Barrows]

Part 1:
The Hartnell Era

Chapter 1:
"We're at the very beginning..."
- The First Doctor, The Brink of Disaster

(Sydney Newman, Head of Drama BBC)
​

Before we begin the story of the Doctor's adventures, we must go to the very beginning. The story of Doctor Who lays at the feet of one man: Sydney Newman. Sydney Cecil Newman (April 1, 1917 - October 30, 1997) began his illustrious career before ever approaching the BBC, born in Toronto, Canada. As a television producer for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Associated British Corporation (ABC, now Thames Broadcasting), and ITV, Newman developed several incredibly successful shows such as Armchair Theatre and most notably The Avengers. His arrival as new Head of Drama for the British Broadcasting Corporation in December - January of '62 - '63 came with marked success. He was at the helm of the rise of BBC's Saturday night slot for families at a time when television was growing into an integral part of popular culture. Seeing a slot in the late evening open, Sydney Newman worked to develop a show the whole family could watch, one that would be educational in intent, mixing history and science into one grand concoction... that show would eventually become developed into Doctor Who.

After having many rough drafts of the premise of the series, Newman and company eventually ironed out the details of the series into the format that was to be broadcast in late November of 1963. All it needed was a producer, a script, a director, and most of all, a cast. The person that Newman placed as the head producer of the new television series was one Verity Lambert. Verity Lambert was born in London on November 22, 1935. She had zero experience as a producer, mostly working as a production assistant. It was a risky gamble on Newman's part, as no woman had ever gained the position of producer before in BBC's history, as misogyny and stereotypes were rampant in the television business at the time; Verity Lambert, however, took it and ran with it. In remembering his decision to hire Lambert, Newman recalled it as the right decision, "I remembered Verity as being bright and, to use the phrase, full of piss and vinegar! She was gutsy and she used to fight and argue with me, even though she was not at a very high level as a production assistant."

(Verity Lambert left, Carole Ann Ford right)

For the part of director, a young man by the name of Waris Hussein was chosen to direct the first story for Doctor Who, called an Unearthly Child. Born as Waris Habibullah in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India on December 9, 1938, Hussein changed his name and moved to England to pursue a career in the field of entertainment. Verity Lambert saw potential in the 26 year old and selected him to steer Doctor Who in the right direction.

(Waris Hussein)

The first selected story for Doctor Who, "An Unearthly Child" was written by Anthony Coburn (December 10, 1927 - April 22, 1977) at the behest of Doctor Who's story editor David Whitaker (April 18, 1928 - February 4th, 1980). The story was the only selected out of many potential drafts; it likely had the best vision of how Verity Lambert and Sydney Newman wanted the series to begin. It dealt with cavemen and the creation of fire.

For the casting, care was required for each role. Four major parts with differing ideologies and pasts each in conflict and congruity with one another in their adventures through time and space was important. Verity Lambert had convinced a friend of hers, Jacqueline Hill (December 17, 1929 - February 18, 1993) to play the part of Barbara Wright, one of the principal roles in the Doctor Who series. Miss Wright was a history teacher at the Coal Hill school, caught in the wild adventures of the mysterious Doctor and his granddaughter Susan Foreman. The role of Susan was chosen for Carole Ann Ford, who at the time of casting was 23 years of age. There was also the role of Ian Chesterton, Barbara's co-worker and companion at Coal Hill school, a chemistry and math teacher also caught up in the adventures. Accomplished and famous British actor William Russell (born November 19, 1924) was chosen for the role after his massive success as the title character in the hit series "The Adventures of Sir Lancelot" in 1956-57.

(William Russell)

However, the most important part was of course the nebulous and mysterious Doctor, an aged and grandfatherly figure. Verity Lambert and Waris Hussein worked desperately to find the perfect actor for the part, and the man they wanted was 55 year old William Hartnell. Hartnell, born on January 8th, 1908, was an extremely accomplished actor in his own right, having been famous for his roles in "The Army Game" and "Carry On Sergeant" as a tough, gruff, no-nonsense military officer. He also gave a very emotional performance in "This Sporting Life". By 1963, however, Hartnell grew tired of having been typecast as a military man and was looking for something new. He was initially reluctant to take the part of The Doctor, unsure of the potential success for a show like Doctor Who, but was convinced to take it on. Verity Lambert had her main star, and thus shooting could begin.

(Left to Right: Carole Ann Ford, Jacqueline Hill, Verity Lambert, William Russell, William Hartnell)

With the casting out of the way, development on sound and visual design were co-opted during the interim. The creation of the iconic theme music would come from Australian composer Ron Grainer (August 11, 1922 - February 21, 1981). Grainer was responsible for composing the theme, but the recording and creation came from BBC Radiophonic Workshop musician Delia Derbyshire (May 5, 1937 - July 3, 2001). The theme was recorded via musique concrete technique. Each note in the piece was individually created through cutting, splicing, speeding up, slowing down and mixing on one singular analogue tape, with oscillators, white noise, and plucked strings. It is widely recognized as the first piece of electronic music used for television broadcast and over 50 years after the creation, it still has a lingering mystery and nuance to it that has made it stand the test of time.




The set design was relatively low budget, due to constraints of the time period, and the use of Lime Grove Studios, otherwise known as Studio D, for the filming of Doctor Who added to the constraints. It was the smallest used studio by the BBC and the minimal size led to a concession for the design of the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space) interior. The interior design of the TARDIS, the means of which The Doctor and company travel, was minimalist, but futuristic in design. The main console was a work of genius with a pulsating central corridor. It was a brilliant design that stood as the iconic design of the TARDIS until the cancellation of the original series in 1989.

(TARDIS interior, circa 1964)

Shooting for the pilot episode of Doctor Who began on September 27, 1963, following setbacks and delays in shooting and the potential broadcast date. Hussein and Lambert were, however, dismayed when after seeing the initial pilot, Sydney Newman demanded a reshoot. According to Newman, the original pilot was too cynical and dark, particularly in regards to William Hartnell, whom Newman described as "too mean." Reshoots began on October 18th and the rest of the serial was filmed between October 25th and November 8th. With all the filming finished, the broadcast date was set: November 23rd, 1963.

(William Hartnell in his initial Doctor outfit)

Fate would play a hand in dampening the debut of the much hyped Doctor Who, however. As at 7:15 PM British Standard Time, just before the premiere of the first episode, it was announced that John F. Kennedy, President of the United States, was shot and killed during a visit to Dallas, Texas. It became clear that the death of a world leader overtook the debut of a new weekly science fiction program, something Sydney Newman and company had not planned for. Due to the circumstances, Newman declared that the first episode would re-air the next week on November 30th, 1963, just before the second episode of the series. This time, there would be nothing in the way to stop the new program from reaching as many people as it could.

It is here that the adventures of The Doctor and his companions through time and space begins proper...​

 

[Bobby Barrows]

Part 1:
The Hartnell Era​

Chapter 2:
"Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about...?"
- The First Doctor, The Cave of Skulls

A mysterious student with a strange outlook on things, knowing things no mere high school student would, concerns two school teachers enough to follow her home; a junkyard in the middle of nowhere, and a humming blue police box. A mysterious old man with glibness and insulting tone. Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton found more than they bargained for on that fateful night. They found An Unearthly Child, after all. The adventures of Doctor Who begin here...

The inaugural serial for the new series Doctor Who would be named "An Unearthly Child", written by Anthony Coburn, after several other draft stories were rejected. David Whitaker, the series Story Editor, had a liaison with Coburn and convinced him to write the story for the series. Filming for the serial began in September 27th, 1963 and finished by November 8th. Due to reshoots, the filming took longer than expected, as the original pilot episode was shot down by Head of Drama Sydney Newman.

The major differences between the un-aired pilot and the second version that saw broadcast were small, but apparent. First major difference was the costume design of The Doctor and Susan, who wore different outfits in each version. The second major difference was the characterization of The Doctor. In the original pilot episode, Hartnell portrayed the character as more sinister, cynical, and for lack of a better term "evil"; Sydney Newman noted that the character was mischaracterized and was "too mean"; he also noted a few technical flaws in the production and thus demanded the first episode to be completely redone.

Other differences included how certain scenes were shot. The scene between Susan, Barbara, and Ian at school ended differently as in the original pilot, Susan painted a Rorschach ink-blot for some reason; in the true first episode, she reads a book and mentions something grossly wrong about it. Perhaps one of the scenes the pilot got right was the reveal of the TARDIS interior, which lingers for far longer than in the original. Other than that, much of the pilot is not too dissimilar from the first episode.

The intro to the episode "An Unearthly Child" begins as a police officer inspects and patrols the area known as Totter's Lane, which at the end stands the junkyard of one I.M. Foreman, inside stands a blue police box, seemingly full of life with a low droning hum. The next scene takes place at Coal Hill school, where Ms. Barbara Wright and Mr. Ian Chesterton, two teachers at the school, briefly discuss their concerns about one of the students, Susan Foreman, Barbara mentioning that her home address, 76 Totters Lane, is nothing but a junkyard. They visit Susan in the other room and ask if she needs a ride home, which she declines, saying she enjoys the English fog.

Ian and Barbara decide to follow Susan home, and as they wait outside the junkyard, they discuss certain events and explanations for Susan's strange, awkward behavior. After seeing Susan enter the junkyard, they follow after her and discover the mysterious police box. An elderly man enters the scene, and as Barbara and Ian hide, he's about to open the police box when Susan's voice rings out. A confrontation occurs between Barbara, Ian, and the old man, who refuses to open the police box.

When Susan opens the door, a struggle occurs and Barbara and Ian force their way into the police box only to realize that it is bigger on the inside than the outside. The old man shuts the door on them and the group argue, as Susan's grandfather refuses to let them leave, fearing they'd be discovered. Susan's grandfather explains who they are, much to Ian and Barbara's denial, and he starts the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space). The episode ends with a shadow looming over the exterior of the TARDIS.

For those who watched the original episode of Doctor Who, it was a masterclass of mystery. Despite the news of JFK's assassination a mere 80 seconds beforehand, the first episode still managed to grab 4.4 Million viewers on November 23. It garnered more viewers (approx. 6 Million) the next week before the start of the next episode, which also did respectable numbers. William Hartnell's acting was mesmerizing, mysterious, cheerful but snide; it was relatively more welcoming than the original pilot's characterization. Barbara and Ian were relatable and humanistic.

The rest of the serial, however, was not what was expected after the great first episode. The prehistoric and caveman setting was not what fans expected, many considering the latter episodes to not be as good as the premiere episode. While it continued to garner several million viewers each succeeding episode, the Director of Programming declared for Doctor Who to finish production following its initial run of 13 episodes.

In my personal opinion, with the power of hindsight, I think that "An Unearthly Child" is a perfectly fine serial to kick off the series with. While it's still in the early stages, seeds were planted all throughout with the four protagonists being forced to unconditionally trust each other in trying and desperate circumstances. Particularly, I enjoy how un-"Doctor"-like The Doctor truly is in this serial. He's antagonistic, surly, argumentative, and authoritative, but he still has a twinkle of goodness inside him, but just barely. At one point during the serial, The Doctor is perfectly willing to murder a helpless man just to increase his party's chance at survival, to which Ian immediately puts a stop to, and the tension is palpable.

The secondary story of a factional divide between the tribe is, to me, still rather interesting as it involves the two driving forces of the story, Kal and Za. Za's the son of the former tribe leader who knew the secret of fire, but Za knows not how to make fire. Kal is an outsider who is a better hunter than Za, thus bringing more meat. During all of this, the Old Mother (presumed to be Za's) warns that fire is nothing but trouble. Both are jockeying for leadership of the tribe, and when Kal sees The Doctor light a match to smoke from a pipe (another un-"Doctor"-like behavior) he kidnaps him and brings him to the tribe to make fire for him, thus driving the story forward.

Along the way, The Doctor and company (especially Ian) teaches several cavemen (notably Hur, Za's spouse-to-be) the concepts of friendship, kindness, diplomacy, and aid. One of the biggest lessons taught to the cavemen is something that Ian says to Za in passing after having driven out Kal for killing the Old Mother. Ian says, "Kal is not stronger than the whole tribe"; Za interprets this, correctly, as several people being more capable for one task than where a single man would be injured or die.

Science-fiction authors Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood (both of whom would be involved in Doctor Who in some capacity) argued that the focus on fire for the cavemen was a stand-in for all of technology. The both of them also argued that the serial should be recognized as a whole, rather than a promising first episode followed by three run-and-chase episodes following it. Their argument holds weight as the entire point of the serial was for The Doctor and company to gain a sense of trust in one another.

Overall, the serial, while nothing entirely special, is incredibly important and worth watching for the origin story of Doctor Who and how he and his companions came to start their adventures. The disappointed reviews of "An Unearthly Child" at the time stoked the flames of the series to potentially be over with in a run of 13 episodes, but the next story, arguably the most important story of the entire franchise, changed the course of history and would give us one of the greatest antagonistic forces in television history. Until next time...
​

An Unearthly Child Ratings:

An Unearthly Child - 9/10
The Cave of Skulls - 7/10
The Forest of Fear - 8/10
The Firemaker - 7/10

Final Serial Rating: 7.75/10

 

[Bobby Barrows]

Part 1:
The Hartnell Era​

Chapter 3:
"Only one race can survive!"
- Dalek, The Rescue

A dead planet, a nuclear war, two races surviving through the perpetual nuclear winter. One wants the other destroyed, the other too pacifistic to fight back. The Doctor and his companions have become involved in a struggle that would have long-standing consequences for The Doctor's own future. This is the first meeting with the Daleks...

Doctor Who had hit a snag already in the early going of the show's run. Markedly moderate ratings with low approval had caused the Head of BBC to end the program following the end of it's original 13 episode run. Just like that, Doctor Who stood at the edge of a great precipice. Falling would throw it into obscurity. Doctor Who, flat out, needed a miracle...

(Terry Nation)

The story of The Daleks is as much a story of the man behind the creation itself than just the creation. Meet Terry Nation: the creator of The Daleks, and the third most important man in Doctor Who's history (behind Sydney Newman and Verity Lambert). Nation was born in Cardiff, Wales, on August 8th, 1930. Nation had made a name for himself as a writer for smash hit television shows such as The Avengers, The Saint, The Champions, The Persuaders!, as well as Out of This World. He was already a well known and well respected writer before having written for Doctor Who. He was convinced to write a serial for the new show by David Whitaker. Nation wrote a nearly 24 page long summary of the story, which took influence from H.G. Wells "Time Machine", and real life influences of modern wars and rhetoric for his story: A futuristic setting in which most life was decimated by the cruelty of nuclear war.

There was simply one problem regarding the story. Sydney Newman and BBC's Head of Serials Donald Wilson hated the serial and did not want to see it put through production. Sydney Newman had a mantra regarding his new series: "No bug-eyed monsters". Newman intended the show to be educational but without the standard sci-fi camp of the "monster of the week" format. Newman believed that having that format would be counter-intuitive to the nature of the show in which he created.

The story in question was allegorical in intent, full of rhetoric and anti-war sentiment. It was the perfect metaphor for what the Daleks truly are. The Daleks, in their simplest form, are Nazis. The comparisons between the two factions are impeccable, and in later stories, that comparison is expanded upon further. The Daleks believe themselves to be the ultimate life form, and hate anything that is unlike themselves. As Ian Chesterton says in an episode, "A dislike for the unlike". The Daleks are entirely willing to set off another nuclear bomb (after their bodies have become acclimated to ionizing radiation as a way to survive) to kill everything else leaving only them as the masters of the planet Skaro. The planet Skaro, as the Doctor and his companions note, is completely petrified thanks to a nuclear war that took place over the span of 500 years.

It was a story that Verity Lambert saw as one that could succeed and following the mellow reception of the first serial, and one that could give Doctor Who the push it needed to continue as a series after the threat of cancellation loomed over them. Filming for the series began proper on November 15th (a week before the show's premiere) and finished on January 10th, 1964. The date for which the first episode of the serial would premiere was December 21st, 1963.

The design of the Daleks was an interesting focal point to the allegorical display of Nation's script. Cylindrical metal casings with a full 360-degree rotational eye, plungers for gripping, and laser cannons as a source for killing or paralyzing. When The Doctor, Susan, and Ian encounter the Daleks for the first time, their monotone, powerfully modulated commands bounce from the metal halls of their underground city. Ian attempts to make an escape but is shot in the legs, losing any feeling, unable to move for the time being. The Daleks make their motives plain, "If you force us to shoot again, your paralysis will be permanent".

Even as the Doctor and company slowly die from radiation sickness, carelessly wandering through the afflicted world, the Daleks interrogate them and use them as pawns for their own gain. Throughout the story, Susan perhaps suffers mentally more than any other companion. In the first episode she is downright terrified as something grabs her. We later learn, after Susan is sent to fetch anti-radiation drugs (which were mysteriously left in front of the TARDIS) for her friends and for the Daleks, that it was a lone person that grabbed Susan: Alydon, a Thal.

The Thals are the antithesis of the Daleks, and the allegorical irony of Nation's intent. The Thals are pictured as the fabled Aryans of the Nazi's obsessions, blue eyes and blonde hair, imposing. But unlike the Aryans, the Thals are peaceful, friendly, and kind wanderers who come across the Doctor's group by chance after leaving their home after a drought. They were the ones who left the drugs for the group.

The Daleks use Susan to create a false correspondence with the Thals and to lull them into a friendship. They later ambush and slaughter many Thals, including their leader, Temmosus. With leadership dead, Alydon becomes the de facto leader of the group, and with much convincing from Ian and the group (the why explained later), they decide to strike back against the Daleks, despite their vows of pacifism.

The Daleks became immensely popular following its airing in December through February of 1963-64. At its peak, by episodes 6 and 7, Doctor Who garnered average viewership of 10.4 million viewers. The show's audience, by the 10th episode of the series, had *doubled* from the initial 4.4 Million viewers. Sydney Newman and Donald Wilson were humbled. The Daleks saved the series, and Wilson and Newman both gave Verity Lambert their word they would no longer interfere with Doctor Who's production. Doctor Who lived to fight another day, much like the Thals.

In my personal opinion, The Daleks is a high watermark part of William Hartnell's run. It is bombastic, metaphorical, inquisitive, full of incredible cliff hangers, and the Thals and Daleks are both incredibly interesting factions.

The serial also continues to spread the evolution of The Doctor's character. He is undeniably and reprehensibly selfish. He purposely sabotages the TARDIS to explore more of the planet Skaro, by disassembling the Fluid Link. When the Daleks capture the Doctor's party, they take the Fluid Link themselves, and it is the driving force in Ian and The Doctor's trying to convince the Thals to fight.

Ian's argument however, isn't selfish, nor is it ill-meant. He rightfully explains that if the Daleks are able to leave their city, they will slaughter every last Thal to a man. Alydon, finally convinced (after punching Ian), tells his people one of the finest lines in all of Doctor Who's history: "There is no indignity in being afraid to die, but there is a terrible shame in being afraid to live..."

Indeed, for the Thals, the question was to betray their pacifism to defeat an enemy that would kill them if they had the chance. It was a moralistic teaching that there is no such thing as black and white, but shades of grey in life. Episode 5 might be the only episode that truly drags, but the rest of the serial is an immaculately tense affair with much to love from the viewer (by 1960's standards).

The Doctor shows his philosophy in spades, as his last quotes to the Thals indicate that the Thals should seek answers for themselves on everything they come across: "Always search for truth. My truth is in the stars and yours is here." A last word to the Thals, and a new teaching for the audience at large. Impeccable as always from the mighty Doctor. But when they take off, an explosion hits the TARDIS. Ian, Barbara, Susan, and The Doctor are knocked unconscious, something had gone horribly wrong...
​

The Dead Planet - 10/10
The Survivors - 10/10
The Escape - 8/10
The Ambush - 8/10
The Expedition - 6/10
The Ordeal - 8/10
The Rescue - 7/10

Final Series Rating: 8.25/10

 

[Bobby Barrows]

Part 1:
The Hartnell Era​

Chapter 4:
"We have ten minutes to survive."
- The Doctor, The Brink of Disaster

An explosion knocks the TARDIS crew unconscious, when they awake, they begin to act strangely. The ship no longer works, things are going terribly wrong. The Doctor begins to suspect Ian and Barbara, and with everything awry, a factional divide begins. For The Doctor and his companions, they are at the edge of destruction...

With Doctor Who having been revitalized thanks to the massive success of the previous serial, "The Daleks", Doctor Who began work on the next story, Marco Polo. However, due to the expenses of the set & costume design, and the production problems of The Daleks, Marco Polo was delayed by two weeks, creating a free space that needed to be filled up immediately. Verity Lambert asked David Whitaker to quickly write a script to fill up the two episode space. What he created could only be described as "Doctor Who as a Psychological Thriller".

The Edge of Destruction was designed as a bottle serial to stay inside the TARDIS and give us a bit of character development, especially from Barbara and The Doctor. As stated before, the serial takes place entirely in the TARDIS, with minimal effects and entirely driven by the four main characters, with no extras. Filming for the story began on January 17th 1964 and ended nearly a week later on January 24th. It was by far the cheapest episode of Doctor Who ever produced, a staggeringly small £1,480, which in today's money, would be $1,897.58.

William Hartnell and Carole Ann Ford were skeptical of the script, or downright disliked it. Hartnell was noted as being incredibly disagreeable regarding the number of lines to remember. As William Russell humorously anecdotes in a 2005 interview, Hartnell once said, "My God! It's Macbeth!". Ford felt that the script didn't feel right as it had everyone out of character and at one point, in a fit of hysterical paranoia, Susan wields a pair of scissors and threatens Ian and Barbara. Verity Lambert regrets filming the scene with the scissors as it caused a bevy of controversy considering Doctor Who was a children's television show. William Russell and Jacqueline Hill both stated their interest and like for the script as it gave the main cast a bit more character development.

Perhaps the most notable thing from the story was the idea that the TARDIS could quite possibly be sentient, even if in a mechanical sort of way. As the Doctor and crew are debating what's going on, Barbara states her theory that the TARDIS is alive and has been warning them of what's going wrong. The idea the TARDIS was sentient, or "alive", wouldn't be fully realized until the Matt Smith era of Doctor Who in 2013, although it was mentioned in Eccleston's time regarding the "Heart of the TARDIS".

The story also serves to show the true horrific nature of the show in regards to Ian and Barbara. They're only now coming to grips with the fact they have, for all intents and purposes, been kidnapped by a man who doesn't even know how to run the machine he's using, and something going slightly awry nearly killed them. The Doctor is also arguably the worst he'll be for a long time as a character (until potentially the McCoy days); he threatens to throw Ian and Barbara off the ship based on a baseless accusation that they sabotaged his ship, not caring what time or place they are in. Hartnell's performance here is magnetic, antagonistic, and full of despicably malevolent prose. We're gifted with one of the First Doctor's greatest soliloquies, which is in regards to the creation of a solar system.

The crux of the story though, and the finale, left a lot to be desired, as the major problem the crew is suffering from is the fact that the TARDIS had a broken button, which was the source of the trouble. It's a rushed and blase conclusion to an otherwise fantastic serial, and as John Sinnott of DVD Talk stated, "...with an ending that's a cop out..." Perhaps the funniest thing regarding the broken switch is the ink-felt pen writing next to the source of the problem. It was missed by the camera crew and others in the studio before shooting and it was left in on tape. Carole Ann Ford has theorized she wrote it there for William Hartnell to remember, but she still isn't sure.

Both episodes were surprisingly directed by two different people: Richard Martin for the first episode, and Frank Cox for the second episode. Both directing styles showed their differences as Cox's direction with the camera was more extensive, his use of dark lighting shone through as well. He utilized shadows and the dark atmosphere of the TARDIS to much better effect than Richard Martin; though Martin's episode is considered the better, the sound design was better and the characterizations were more abstract. The Edge of Destruction premiered on February 8th, 1964 to a raucous 10.4 Million viewers, and the second episode a week later only saw a 5% viewership drop with 9.9 Million. The success of the Daleks was not just a simple anomaly, but showed that Doctor Who now had an audience gripped, and it would only continue to stay in the 9-10 Million viewer area until May.

In my personal opinion, The Edge of Destruction is one of the highlights of William Hartnell's run as The Doctor. It shows the Doctor at his absolute worst: vain, prideful, paranoid, crass, and selfish. He comes across very much the bad guy until the very end when he realizes how wrong he was and how much he negatively affected Barbara and Ian. Hartnell's best quote from the serial comes as he reconciles with Barbara, "As we learn about each other, so we learn about ourselves." The Doctor has slowly been growing as a character, but this serial is the tipping point for the Doctor to become the more traditional good guy he becomes, instead of the sort of anti-hero that he plays in the first few serials. I think the serial is definitely worth watching to see a lot of theories and character development that The Doctor and later the TARDIS derive from here.
​

The Edge of Destruction: 10/10
The Brink of Disaster: 8/10

Final Series Rating: 9/10

​

 

[Bobby Barrows]

Part 1:
The Hartnell Era

Chapter 5:
"I find your caravan most unusual, Doctor."
- Marco Polo, Roof of the World

Following their misadventures with the Daleks on Skaro, and the ship nearly self-destructing, The Doctor and his crew find the TARDIS malfunctioning after the harrowing events from before. On top of the Himalayan mountains, and with no way of getting the TARDIS to work, the crew is stranded. Suddenly, they are intercepted by a Mongol group led by the warlord Tegana. Tegana declares them evil spirits, but before the TARDIS crew is put to death, they are saved by a Venetian merchant: Marco Polo. Polo is informed of the crew's caravan, one which can fly, and intends to use it to buy his freedom from the mighty Kublai Khan's court in Cathay. How will the Doctor and his crew of companions get out of this sticky situation? It may require much political intrigue, and overcoming the evil shenanigans of the ever malevolent Tegana.

Marco Polo, at the time of its filming, was one of the most ambitious serials for Doctor Who, a dramatic road-trip serial in which the Doctor and his friends have the TARDIS held for ransom against the historical Marco Polo. Everything from the set design, the stage setting, and the script were overly ambitious. So ambitious that it caused extremely high expenses for the program, necessitating the quick-fire serial of The Edge of Destruction to be put on in its stead.

Marco Polo was the first official Doctor Who historical serial, outside of An Unearthly Child, which in all retrospect should be considered a pseudo-historical. Series' creator Sidney Newman intended for the show to alternate between science fiction and historical fiction from time to time to create an edutainment feel for the family audience, subtly teaching the viewer facts of life from history while also keeping the crowd in suspense. Marco Polo was written by John Lucarotti, a writer who was prolific during the '50s and '60s as a scriptwriter for The Avengers. This would be his first of three serials for Doctor Who, the second being The Aztecs, and his final The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve (Lucarotti was also involved in the 1975 Doctor Who serial The Ark in Space, but received no credit for his script).

For the casting of the titular Marco Polo, Waris Hussein decided on classically trained Shakespearean actor Mark Eden. Hussein noted that he saw Eden perform in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 1962 production of A Penny For A Song. To make the serial more of a personal story for Marco Polo, the initial narrations that were intended for The Doctor, Ian, and Barbara, were instead rewritten for Eden. The role of Tegana was given to somewhat known British actor Derrin Nesbit, most famous for his role as Major von Hapen in 1968's Clint Eastwood classic Where Eagles Dare. Finally, there was the role of Ping-Cho, the daughter of a political figure who is part of Marco Polo's caravan. Ping-Cho, set up in an arranged marriage to a 70-year old man by Kublai Khan, befriends Susan and the two in turn attempt to protect each other from danger. Ping-Cho was played by Zienia Merton, a British actress who later on became famous for her role in Space: 1999.

Marco Polo was originally intended as the third story, but due to problems with The Daleks, and the ever-rising budget of the serial, it was delayed by two weeks. Filming for the serial began proper on January 31st, 1964, and principal filming ended on March 13. During filming on the first week of February, William Hartnell fell ill and had to be nearly written out of the episode; Hartnell was given a single line of dialogue in the episode as the rest of his line were rewritten for the other main cast members. The programme was scheduled to air on February 22, 1964. The show continued to see remarkable success as Marco Polo's average viewership was 9.5 million the programme and never dipped below 9 million viewers save for episode 6 of the serial. At the time, it was considered the most consistently successful four+ part serial for the programme until November of that year.

Most of the serial was directed by Waris Hussein, save for episode 4, which was directed by John Crockett. Nobody is exactly sure why this change in Episode 4 occurred, though it could be speculated that Hussein was simply unavailable or indisposed at the time. This would be the last time that Waris Hussein would involve himself with Doctor Who, as he decided to move on to greener pastures. His directing efforts shine extremely bright through several of the special effect scenes. Perhaps the most notable special effect was during a sandstorm in which Susan and Ping-Cho are caught in while following the warlord Tegana. Waris Hussein noted that he was unhappy overall with the effect used, as it was merely a wind-machine blown towards the actresses with the effects superimposed onto the screen. Zienia Merton anecdotes that the wind machine had accidentally blown sawdust towards her and Carole Ann Ford and temporarily blinded Merton. Another anecdote from on-set was the spider monkey that had been used for some of the scene in episode five; it was apparently untrained and caused problems with the cast and crew.

Noting everything from the production, filming, and to the set-design, this was perhaps one of the most expensive Doctor Who serials of the First Doctor's entire tenure. Everything appeared meticulously created and crafted to be somewhat accurate to the era. We have no real data on what the budget was for the serial, but if one considers the success The Daleks created and the extremely low budget of The Edge of Destruction, it is probably best to assume that the budget for Marco Polo was doubled from The Daleks, whatever the budget for that serial was.

Now comes the depressing part of this essay. Unfortunately, as of June 16th, 2021, Marco Polo in it's original form is completely missing. During the 1960's and early 1970's, the British Broadcasting Corporation ensued a policy of wiping old tapes from their library in order to save space, recycle film, or re-use it for a later date. This meant that many of Doctor Who's episodes from the 1960's are either partially missing, or completely missing. Marco Polo suffered the unfortunate ingratiation of being among several tapes wiped in 1967. Fortunately, Marco Polo is still technically viewable thanks to Waris Hussein's insistence on Telesnaps and on set photographers, which is where we receive so many of these wonderful color photographs from the serial. Currently, Marco Polo's entire plot has been condensed to a two-hour form with surviving audio and these telesnaps to give the most concise version of this serial. Of Doctor Who's 253 episodes that were aired in the 1960's, only 156 exist in some form. Seasons 3, 4, and 5 are the primary victims, leaving the Second Doctor's tenure nearly half missing.

It is truly hard to decide how to rate Marco Polo as a series, due to the fact it is ostensibly a missing serial for all intents and purposes. The BBC released Marco Polo as a special edition in the original Edge of Destruction DVD set. From what is available, I think this serial is one of the most fun out there, even in its incomplete form. If the serial were available any time following this, I would definitely have to consider my opinion carefully again; for now, it is merely impossible to truly rate what Marco Polo is now compared to what it could be.
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The Roof of the World: N/A
The Singing Sands: N/A
Five Hundred Eyes: N/A
The Wall of Lies: N/A
Rider From Shang-Tu: N/A
Mighty Kublai Khan: N/A
Assassin at Peking: N/A

Final Series Rating: N/A