A while ago, a posted a topic called "What if (Insert Title Here) Was Good?", in which the goal was for people to discuss on improving certain aspects of Doctor Who that they didn't like into something that they though would be better. I rather liked some of the ideas and discussions that went on in it, so I thought I'd try it again, but try to focus the direction of the thread into something more specific.

So here starts a series of topics about how each Doctors' era could be improved, from the first story to the last, with everything in between. While discussion will undoubtedly focus on televised stories, expanded universe stories (such as from Big Finish) would be welcome.

To start things off, the First Doctor. What about the First Doctor's era, from "An Unearthly Child" to "The Tenth Planet" do you think could have been improved from what we were given? What was something you didn't like, but feel like it could have been better if at least one thing had been different?

They could not have junked a bunch of the episodes.

As a whole, I think the First Doctor's Era Works well. There's a nice balance between the Historical and Sci-Fi stories and the Doctor and his companions, the one male/female thing also works after the disbandment of the original line up.

What improvements could be made in hindsight? Stories like The Chase and The Web Planet definitely would need polishing up from a production point of view as they both suffered glaring errors, The Chase specifically. The Robot 'Double' would actually be like William Hartnell at all times. The Web Planet would need to be pacier as it drags seriously badly at times.

The biggest mistake I would rectify, and I'm sure others would agree, would be to give Dodo a proper send off and keep her in The War Machines all four episodes so she could have a proper goodbye. If i was being really rotten I'd never have her(or Vicki come to that) in the show in the first place, but I'm not quite that evil.....

The Space Museum is a story that maybe could be beefed up a bit, not awful but the budgetary restrictions are plain to see on it. The Massacre I'd give Hartnell's dual role as The Abbot a bigger part in the story, thought the character was wasted considering the point of the plot in the story was whether he was The Doctor or not. And I'd have less chat in that story as well, far too much and not enough action, that comes across very clearly in the telesnaps and audio.

The Monk I'd have liked to have had another story of his own rather than being second fiddle to The Daleks in his second story.

And Marco Polo would be at least two episodes shorter, it does drag on a bit and becomes very repetitive at times.

They could have had the Daleks in it more often.


oh . . . wait . . . .

Although I don't dislike the Daleks Masterplan, I think Season 3 would flow better without it. Instead split the 12 episodes into 3 four-parters; one extra for Vicki between Galaxy 4 and Myth Makers and two extra stories for Dodo. Less chopping and changing that way and more time to get to know Dodo as a character.

I think the Hartnell era is truly excellent considering it had no precedent, was flying blind at all times during the first series or two, and was produced on a shoestring budget "as live". Hartnell is one of my favourite Doctors, and the original TARDIS crew remain one of the best ever.

However, the era is not without it's faults and it's only fair to acknowledge the more avoidable and inexcusable ones. First and foremost, I would tighten up some of the productions. I love The Chase but it does make some basic errors in production that just can't be ignored. The same is true of The Web Planet, The Keys of Marinus and The Edge of Destruction. Lack of money should not affect standards of production on a micro level, such as writing things in felt tip or having production staff fully in shot.

Throughout the Hartnell era, the writing and production was often incredibly ambitious. With The Daleks, The War Machines and The Dalek Invasion of Earth this works, and we get true classics as a result that are genuinely groundbreaking for their time. However, there are also stories like The Celestial Toymaker, The Daleks Master Plan and again, The Web Planet where scope and imagination get too out of control and slip beyond the reach of BBC 1960s production. I think at times, the team needed to curb their enthusiasm somewhat and let the story do the work in a more traditional way. If a story is so expensive that there are major sacrifices in what can be achieved, something is wrong. If there's one thing the writers of this era couldn't get their heads around, it's that less is often more. This is a fundamental property of a good Doctor Who story, which Robert Holmes, RTD and Terrance Dicks understood. Instead of a bubble wrap monster flailing around, give them a shadow and a sound effect.

Finally, I would address the Hartnell situation much more sensitively, professionally and artistically. Antics like trying to write him out midway through Toymaker were simply not acceptable. It seems obvious to me that there should also have been a consistent set plan for what to do to explain Hartnell's absences. One week he faints, the next he's off doing something, the next he's missing. The end result was always the same, so it should have been dealt with more efficiently.

You make lots of good points Dr Linus, most of which I agree with, but the bit I've quoted seems, to me anyway, to be rather unfair on the production teams and writers of the early days.
I think that Dicks, Holmes, et al got it right precisely because their predecessors had tried everything, which sometimes didn't work. The later teams learnt so much from the original productions, what worked, what didn't, how that less is indeed often more. This may have become a fundamental of Doctor Who storytelling, but it wasn't immediately obvious to the original crews, as Doctor Who was an entirely new programme, with no rules as such.

Today we might look back affectionately and smile at the creaky sets and monsters (and script for that matter) of The Web Planet, but back in 1965 this was seen as genuinely ambitious stuff, pushing boundaries of what television could actually do. No-one had ever made a programme filled with such aliens before. There were no rules as to what could be done. Yes, with hindsight, perhaps Doctor Who was over-reaching itself but at least they tried. And I salute them for it.

Yes, you're right. But the whole point of this thread is hindsight, and I stand by that point. Don't get me wrong, the production teams during the 60s achieved incredible things, and I did mention that. But if we had a chance to go back and tighten up each era, I would have to put a stop to some of the stories that got out of control.

Really though, apart from the Tennant era this is probably the era that needs the least work IMO.

I echo the respect for the ambition that the show had in the Hartnell era. Its reach often exceeded its grasp, but at least it was reaching, always experimenting, diversifying, making radical turns.

Also, I agree with most of daveyboy's comments except I didn't think Marco Polo was too long and only rarely found Vicki annoying!

Well, you just articulated my views better than I would have managed. Um, THIS, basically.

Paul McCartney was often asked whether the White Album would've been better as a single album. He (rightly IMO) said no, he liked it exactly as it is, 'warts and all' and wouldn't change a thing. I'm a bit like that with the Hartnell era. I just love it, right down to every little "time and Spain." Great post by Dr Linus and I do recognise it's flaws, of course, mind. Actually, I guess circumstances sadly probably dictated it, but think it's a real shame that Hartnell's Doctor didn't have a stronger send off. It's an interesting, even iconic story for obvious reasons, but he seemed rather marginalised in his swansong and deserved better.

I also agree that The Tenth Planet was not a fitting send-off. The only special thing about it (Cybermen) was just another monster at the time. It's all really uncomfortable to watch as he goes out with a whimper when he deserved so, so much better.

Re: Vicki - I do have my problems with her. The fact she starts as such a cut-out replacement exposes the formula of the casting thus far. She also becomes a bit annoying at times, but then so did Susan. She just never found her "thing" as a companion really. She's not my least favourite companion though by any means.

Also I do have to say again, please don't misinterpret my point about ambition - this is a thread about looking back and fixing what went wrong, which is why I mentioned it. I'm not knocking the production team at all, they were only human and achieved spectacular things.

Besides, I'm talking about perfecting an already wonderful era.

Interesting points about Hartnell leaving with a whimper.
The story itself is very strong, it's a fascinating glimpse of the future, not like a Hartnell story at all. The whole tone of the story, the setting, the secondary characters, these are all things that were being trialled for the era to come.
The story was made as the first in a new production block and Hartnell himself was not a regular, but a guest actor in his own show, for just this one story, just as Robert Beatty and all the others were contracted for the one story.
So not only was Hartnell not really the main actor in his last story, but then he missed a week due to illness and all his lines for part 3 were redistributed to other actors. So the poor man doesn't even get to play a major role in his last story.

It's a cracking adventure, but perhaps a poor outing for Hartnell. But, oddly, I rather like the low key aspects of this. It seems kind of fitting that Hartnell doesn't bow out in a blaze of glory, after all that's not what his Doctor was all about.

Oh, and Michael, I'd disagree with Macca's assessment of the White Album. There's a number of tracks that really shouldn't be included, not least the horribly self indulgent "Revolution 9" - if you prune it down to a single disc, you end up with arguably the best ever Beatles album. What does Paul McCartney know anyway!

I think Vicki started off okay but she just got more annoying as time went on, some of her dialogue in The Chase in particular was just plain childish and that's the problem with the Hartnell companions, the show at this point was more aimed at kids so they had more kiddy dialogue. This wasn't exclusive to Vicki, I agree Susan could be equally as childish sometimes and so could Dodo. Even Barbara and Ian had some excruciating dialogue at times, all things I'd correct if I could. However, Vicki just comes across as plain annoying but that's nothing against Maureen O Brien, she's a fine actress, it's just the lines she was given.



I was thinking of The Web Planet today in terms of this discussion and I agree, as I often have said before, that you have to see the story in context of when it was first shown. At that time it was as stunning a production to the viewers as a lot of CGI orientated stories are to us in New Who now.

So I can see it from that point of view, but the OP has asked what we would do differently and we have to apply today's standard's to it as best we can. The Web Planet, unlike most of the First Doctor's Era, has dated really badly. What was awesome then is just pure tripe now and I would eliminate a lot of the slow pace, the silliness of the Optera, the stupid 'Zaaarrrbbbiiii' stuff in the last episode and general polish it up to make it more presentable, at least make sure the Zarbi don't bump into the camera.....

As for The Tenth Planet, Gerry Davis has stated he deliberately put The Doctor on the back burner in this story in case Hartnell fell ill and this did happen so it didn't disrupt the story as much as it might have done. In hindsight, it would have been nice to have a fully fit Hartnell ready for action in his final story and and be at the centre of the action, including the third episode he was missing from. I would love to have seen more interaction with him and the Cybermen in this story.

As for Marco Polo, CHJ, we will have to agree to disagree on that. I find most 7-Parters in the show's history a yawnfest and this is one of them.

I get through The Web Planet by pretending it's a surrealist theatre piece.

Admittedly, that involves a lot of pretending.

Decided to add my own opinions.

Overall, I feel the era is fine as it is, with the exception of several points that have already been pointed out; giving Dodo a proper send off, Hartnell being in better health to take a larger part in his final story, "The Dalek's Masterplan" could have been a couple of parts shorter.