The Hartnell Years

[Cornelia_Africana]

Just wondering what people think of the HArtnell years. I think they were of a very high standard, if you can get your head around the different way drama was made in those days. It was slower and wordier than now, and I think this is a problem for a lot of people today, as are things like people fluffing their lines. But that was normal for TV drama in those days. The way to look at it is to imagine it as like being in the theatre, where if people do such things you just block it out and concentrate on the story.

A lot of the early stories were very hard-hitting. The Aztecs, The DAlek Invasion of Earth, The Massacre and The Savages are four that come to mind. Stories like the Web Planet and the Celestial Toymaker were highly original attempts at fantasy for their time. And the first Doctor had a very interesting personality. It's fascinating to see how at first he appears to be nothing more than a grouchy, and really quite nasty old git, and gradually you get to see other sides of his personality, and realise that his grouchiness is just one facet of a complesx personality.

You also had some emotional development in his relationships with his companions too, for instance how his relationship with Ian and Barbara develops from mistrust to friendship, and this was not done in a soapy manner either.

What do other people think of the First Doctor's era?

[Fitz Kreiner]

i really enjoyed the Hartnell years.

they had a great mix of horror, suspence, mystery, action and adventure.

the mood on many of them was quite dark i thought, which only aided to the atmosphere of the show.

i do like a lot of Hartnells stuff, and like Pat, its a pity that so much of his stuff is missing!

[John Darnacan]

I found it highly original, and far more human. The interactions of four very different people was more interesting the "Heroic Doctor plus one" cast. I also liked that the Doctor had a darker side.

The plot usually revolved around staying alive in a difficult situation, especially during the first season, not the "Save the Universe" model of later years.

In a way, these were two different shows, just as is the new series is different.

[macnimon]

meridiana said:

You also had some emotional development in his relationships with his companions too, for instance how his relationship with Ian and Barbara develops from mistrust to friendship, and this was not done in a soapy manner either.

I have to say that these are two of my favourite companions in the entire series. And yet we know very little about them other than what we learnt in the first episode of An Unearthly Child. I wonder what my impressions of these characters would have been if the writers had taken RTDs approach to Rose, and given us more detail about their background and how their travels with the Doctor affected not only them, but their friends and family as well? I recently watched The Space Museum, and this was the first time that I'd watched a classic story of any sort since the end of the new series, and am finding myself thinking of the companions in a totally different light now.

The Hartnell era is one of my all-time favourites, btw!

[Cornelia_Africana]

Ian and Barbara were certainly great characters. It's interesting to see how thy develop over the course of the two years they were in the show, too. The trouble with RTD's approach to "emotional development", I think, is that it's too soapy. Don't get me wrong, I got to quite like Rose and Mickey over the course of the new series, and thought that the development of their relationship was well done. But there is more to "emotional development" than love and romance and family affairs., and RTD needs to realise this. The development with Ian and Barbara and the first Doctor, for instance, was more about friendship than anything else.