So, I'm making my way through the Hartnell episodes and have reached 'The Gunfighters' My immediate reaction after 2 minutes is WTF! This then led me to read Wikipedia which suggested it's possibly one of his lowest ratings serials(depending on how the figures are read). So, is this true, am I being fair (or unfair). Did his remaining episodes fall below par leading up to Troughton taking over?

Note - I'm not trying to appear disrespectful to Bill, I'm just asking for an honest opinion as I am struggling to watch this episode .... I'm very tempted to skip to The War Machines.

I think it's one to take with a sense of humour - enjoy the incredibly bad American accents and the bizarre narrative device of the Ballad. Hartnell puts a lot of fun into it and Dodo has some nice moments.

It's worth persevering with just for Steven alone, one of my favourite companions. It's not a story I revisit often though.

Absolutely adore it - one of my favourites!

I'm doing the same as you(but working my way through every Doctor though). Watched this the other day and my opinion of it still hasn't changed in that it's a story that isn't so awful as to make it unwatchable but it could have been a lot better. Chiefly in regard to the singing that just constantly slowed down the action. I'm sure without it they could have packed more into the story.

Hartnell is very good in this in one of his more comedic stories but I do notice a few extra fluffs kicking in as his illness started taking hold towards the end of his run.

If you like watching telesnaps it may be worth checking out The Savages before you hit The War Machines. IMO a very good story and one of my favourites from the Hartnell Era. And it's Steven's last story as well.

I think this was the lowest rating story ever. the "ballard" sung by Linda Baron of Open All Hours fame, is so annoying.

Thanks all, I skipped to war machines because I want to move onto Troughton. I'll probably come back to these episodes later..........

I was delighted to find the song was on the recent 4 disc DW soundtrack from Silva Screen records. I've played it 20+ times easily.

I think the problem with Gunfighters is it isn't really Doctor Who. If you just look at it as a wild west pantomime, it is quite good fun.

From what I recall there's a very good documentary on the Gunfighters DVD about the first Doctor and how the 3rd and 4th season's fell away with story quality & viewers, and how Hartnell did not get on with some of the new crew particularly new producers. I'd recommend watching this before moving on to the War Machines (which, apart from the depiction of the box-like war machines themselves, was one of my favourites from the first Doctor).