dbskyler | Daleks and the First Doctor

I'm currently watching the First Doctor story "The Daleks" and enjoying it quite a lot. The Daleks have never been my favorite monsters, but I think I "get" them now for the first time. They really are creepy with the way they glide around, and the way their eyestalks move to look at you when they talk. Plus, it's so fun to see the "firsts":

-- The Daleks use the word "exterminate"!
-- A Dalek is blinded by putting something on its eyestalk (mud, in this case)!
-- We get a hint of what's inside! (I'm glad to learn that right from the beginning, Daleks were not machines, but creatures inside the machines.)

I'm looking forward to the rest (I'm right in the middle of part 4 right now), but I just had to stop here and post because guess what the Doctor just said? The Thals are walking into an ambush, Susan wants to warn them, and the Doctor said, and I quote:

"The Thals are no concern of ours. We cannot jeopardize our lives by getting involved in an affair which is none of our business."

I'm like, who is this???? Because it's certainly not the Doctor! It's fascinating to see how much his core character has changed since these very early days.

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I'm enjoying it a lot! I'm watching one part per night, and it's reminding me of my childhood because that's how my local PBS station broadcast Doctor Who when I first started watching it. I also think there's something to be said for viewing Classic Who the way it was meant to be viewed, one part at a time (although I'm cheating a little because there's no way I'm going to wait a whole week between parts!)

So what's your take on the evolution of the Doctor's character? When did the writers start making him the "hero" instead of (or in addition to) Ian?

Yay. :-) (I adore the original Team TARDIS. Well, I love most of them, but there's something about the first adventures - no rules have been set yet, and it's lovely.)

I think that's interesting, because it's hard to say - the change is quite gradual. Also, The Aztecs would suggest that the Doctor's not wanting to be involved is not necessarily him always not being moral - he has learnt to his cost that interfering with history is not wise, so his moral, or his way of protecting himself and Susan is non-interference. But it is gradual - getting shown up by Ian in An Unearthly Child, him getting them all into trouble in the Daleks, Barbara's wonderful raking him down in The Edge of Destruction. (She says something like "You ought to get down on your knees and thank us, you ungrateful old man!") His confrontation with her in return in The Aztecs, and Cameca, might well be another turning point for him. He's mystery-solving by The Sensorites, anyway, more so than Ian. (Although maybe not as much as Barbara, who has a holiday in the middle and then comes back and solves everything.) Probably the moment we know the change has happened somewhere - and it seems quite natural by then - is the moment in The Dalek Invasion of Earth that I mentioned (which is the first serial of the second season). It seems to be a gradual shift, rather than any sudden decision, but definitely from then on, he's the one putting things right. The Rescue is next, and he charms Vicki, and faces down the villain alone. Ian and Barbara are always a little more even with him on the hero stakes than any other characters - but then, they were the very first characters we met in this show, after all.

If you ever get the chance to watch all that's left of the first couple of seasons episode by episode in order like you're doing with this one now, I highly recommend it. (Especially in dark winter months!)

Interesting -- thank you!

If you ever get the chance to watch all that's left of the first couple of seasons episode by episode in order like you're doing with this one now, I highly recommend it.

Well, that's sort of what I'm doing. I'm taking part in a re-watch community over on Dreamwidth (http://of-rassilon.dreamwidth.org/). I've gotten behind, but the community is also behind, so it's working out so far. I don't know how long I'll keep it up for, but I've been curious about these early episodes for a long time, and the community has finally given me the push I needed to actually watch them.

Speaking of which, I just watched part 6 tonight. The Doctor was in the middle of congratulating himself when he got captured by Daleks! LOL, at least some things haven't changed. :D

Oh, that's nice. :-) Yay.

And, :lol:, yes! He does learn never to smoke again after being bashed over the head while lighting his pipe in An Unearthly Child, but some lessons he never gets... :-)

Just finished watching it! So, that's the Daleks destroyed, then. Good thing, too, because just imagine what would happen if they weren't all as completely dead as they appear to be? :D

I also got to watch the *real* Genesis of the Daleks, aka the DVD extra on how the Daleks got created. They interviewed Raymond Cusick! And Verity Lambert! And Sydney Newman! And some other people! It was very interesting, actually. Apparently Daleks were supposed to have something besides plungers to hold things with originally, but they ran out of money, so had to go with plungers. *g* Mostly, though, I was impressed with how much thought and care went into their creation. That's another hallmark of Doctor Who, isn't it? Never mind that you're working on a silly sci-fi show with no budget; just go make it as good as you can.

Hurrah! And, yes, just imagine - they might even try to invade Earth next! That would be terrible.

Aw, cool. I have the DVD - I can't remember which of the extras I've watched, and haven't. The Beginning boxset came armed with an impressive amount of things like that. But :lol: at the plungers. That is so typical.

Daleks and the First Doctor

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