Doctor Who Season 1

Thanks to Britbox, I have been able to watch the entirety of season 1
I also watched the Battle of the River Plate

I had seen ``An Unearthly Child'' before and the first episode is a stone cold classic. The confrontation between Chesterton and the Doctor in the junkyard is unsettling. Even knowing there is 50 years of canon

The Daleks

I was a bit disappointed really. It is interesting that the Dr here simply manipulates his crew to get his own way. The Doctor  lies about a piece of TARDIS equipment being faulty and needing topping up with mercury. Oh and that the specter of atomic war hangs over everything The Dals, and the Thals

The Daleks are trapped in their city eating vegetables grown with artificial sunlight. Do we hear or see the Daleks eat later?

One amusing exchange is that Chesterton tries to shame the pacifistic Thals into action by pretending he is going to sell one of the Thal women into white slavery

Another interesting exchange is a Thal describing Susan as not yet a woman.

The Thal ladies are all in swimsuits and the Thal men all bare chested despite the fact that they are eking out an existence in a post atomic horror


Keys of Marinus 

Oh this is where the Voords make their first appearance. Ditto the Sense sphere will be mentioned in New Who as close to the Ood home world

A very beautiful guest star. Katharine Schofield She also seems to have a higher social standing then her male counterpart. At one point she tells the Voords that her servant is only a servant and not to waste time hurting him 

It was interesting to see the trial on the authoritarian planet. I am surprised it was also a woman who set the murder in place. I liked the trial scenes. I liked seeing the Dr itting on a bench his head in his hands after the verdict.



The Aztecs

Aside from the obvious brown face. This was the highlight of the series. I wondered why the series simply does not do Historical's anymore Human beings can be more alien than any bug eyed monster or Kaled traveling machine.

I do like Barbara. It is interesting that while the Doctor is cynical about Barbara's capacity to redeem the Aztecs

I did like Susan meeting Perfect Victim. I kept thinking of Dead Meat from Hot Shots ...


The Sensorites.

It got better as it went on, but I thought this episode was too long. I did like how the Sensorites were able to use ``They all look alike '' aspect of their alien faces  Barbara disappears
The ending of the story, the discovery of the Earthmen seems rushed though.

An Unearthly Child.

I  will admit I watched this in response to a challenge. I had heard no less than Steven Moffat describe the first episode of Who as a classic. However it was the reviewer He Who Moans
Who stated ``you cannot call yourself a Dr Who fan if you have never seen this''

I am glad I took the bait 
The first episode is great. We are brought to an English high school in the early sixties. Whether a secondary modern or a grammar we are not told.
Meeting  two teachers Susan and Ian. The professors have become equally intrigued and bemused by Susan a pupil of precocious understanding and also rank ignorance. They decide to follow her home
 They do not find a council house or a bungalow. But a scrap yard. Susan seems to disappear into a police box
The teachers are challenged by an old man. Who accuses them of tresdtresdpass and refuses to answer what he is doing with, or to Susan
This is the strength of the episode. The episode hints but never says. That Susans grandfather is having an unhealthy relationship with Susan A criminal one.

Despite watching this 53 years in the future, the tension is still there...