Original air dates November, December 1963.
The very first episode of Doctor Who starts with little explanation of the weird title sequence and sci-fi electronic music. All that fades away to an ordinary high school.
I was tickled by how much the girls in the school looked like my Mom’s high school pictures.
At one point two teachers, Ian and Barbara are talking about how odd their student Susan is. They have a clip of her making a mistake and claiming that the UK money used a decimal system. Was that current events, as it was being discussed, or was it extra irony when the UK moved to a decimal money system five years later?
The teachers find themselves aboard the TARDIS, and we get the first of many “It’s bigger on the inside reactions.”
The Doctor is not happy. Actually, he’s kind of nasty, simply planning on keeping Ian and Barbara there. Forever.
To prove the TARDIS works, they go somewhere.
A long story about cavemen wanting fire starts.
The Doctor himself is captured by the tribe, leading to a rescue by the others. The companions were not the fools here.
Pacing has changed since then. More story and character, with less action. This is good, because they were terrible at filming action.
Prehistoric politics, power struggles, and deception ensue. A terribly unrealistic view of prehistoric society, but enough for the story.
Slow by today’s standards, but I wanted to see what happened next,,,
Tags: doctorwho