Younger viewers do sometimes have the "it's so bad it's good" attitude to early Doctor Who, and indeed other things from that era, but remember that when they were new they were considered to be innovative and ground-breaking television, and that's what counts IMO.

Hey daveyboy, we made it to a second page!

Absolutely agree with this. It's the fact the Sixties stories are Black and White that sets them aside and they do make the shows more dark and foreboding in a way CGI can never do. The atmosphere in some of these stories are so much better because of not being in colour. I wouldn't change them for anything.


Woo Hoo! Didn't think we would at one stage.

I'll start a thread on David Tennant's haircut soon...watch the pages flyby............

He was so much fun. I loved him as the Doctor.

I haven't seen too many Hartnell's stories. I liked the Time Meddler and The Daleks. The first episode of Unearthly Child was really good. The rest of the story was a bit boring.

Though they weren't quite as good as the first episode(they are abit better than boring though) I would, as mentioned previously, avoid these episodes as a first Hartnell story to watch. Unless you indeed to do a run through of the entire era in all it's visual/audio glory that is!

I often wonder how those episodes would have been perceived by a Sixties Audience at the time without the knowledge of what followed. I think if it had been me, I'd have switched off after the second story if it had been the same but thankfully the next story featured something called Daleks.......wonder what happened to them.......

I will still go with the first episode as being one that grabs attention - not the full four episodes but in many ways the 'story' is really two stories in one.

If you look at family drama of the time, it was all pretty serious stuff with a lot of historical features thrown in. William Tell, Robin Hood, et al were all the order of the day, so a bit of stone age action was more in keeping, I believe, with expectations. Hence the fuss about the Daleks when they came along - they were different!.

I think if he is under appreciated it's just because he's probably the least watched.
The others I think have had a lot more repeats at least it seemed that way to me growing up.End of Baker and into Davison was my period but I remember BBC 2 showing repeats of the older Doctors(2/3) which fascinated me as I really didn't realise there had been other guys who did it.
But the first time I knew of the first was probably the 5 Doctors (which I've just watched again) knowing the history more now I've got to say my favourite bit in it is Hartnells appearance at the start a lovely touching moment.

Only seen An Unearthly Child but I don't like him!

For one thing, he's introduced in a very creepy way: A seemingly unhinged old man who hangs out in a dark junkyard and whom Ian and Barbara believe is holding 15yr old Susan against her will.
And when they confront him, he cackles and taunts them! "Call the police then! Go on! Hahahaha!"
The underlying insinuation is that he's either a mad man (at best) or a pedophile (at worst).

But even when we discover he's a Timelord, his personality is no less abrasive:
- He actually does hold Ian and Barbara against their will, saying they've "seen too much"... a move usually reserved for the villain.
- He deliberately lets Ian get an electric shock.
- He cackles when they ask to be freed.
- He insults them, calling them ignorant primitives.
- He disses Native Americans (granted, the analogy is apt but still, not very nice).
- And he's entirely unconcerned when they're knocked unconscious.

Later, I hear he:
- Bashes a caveman's brains in with a rock.
- Tries to convince the Thals to abandon pacifism.
- Attempts to throw Ian and Barbara out of the TARDIS while it's in flight.

No wonder they called William Hartnell "Bloodthirsty Bill"!

I watched all the existing WH stories on UK Gold back in the 90's, and I never really got into his era all that much. Not sure why... I just found most of the stories a bit dull in the way they were scripted or directed. Variable video/audio quality probably didn't help either, I'm not sure that UKG always used the best available film prints for their transmissions. My favourite was "War Machines", which is the only WH story I went on to buy on DVD. It's the story that most "feels" (to me) like a classic DW in terms of plot, drama, etc. I've recently chucked out my VHS off-air tapes of the rest of his stuff though, as whenever I would put one on, I'd quickly get bored of it.

So you're basing your dislike of the First Doctor on what appears mainly his first episode and your other examples come from his first three stories?

If you had read the rest of the thread you may have seen me mention twice that these early stories are not representative of Hartnell's Doctor and maybe you should try watching some of the examples myself and other posters have suggested to get a clearer picture of what he was like.

It's amazing how some people can judge a Doctor on his first story alone. People do it all the time with Colin Baker's Doctor, they never see the bigger picture.

Good point daveyboy! If I'd seen An Unearthly Child at the time - I would have got fed up by episode 3 TBH. Luckily I was only three years old then - so never saw DW till the daleks invaded London when I was 5!
The same for Colin Baker - his abysmal first story was such a let-down.....but I thought I would give him a chance next year. I thoroughly enjoyed his first full series (barring Timelash!).
The only exception to my rule is that McCoys first story was crap - and so was the rest of his series!! I enjoyed only three stories. Not McCoys fault though!

The irony of this is the fact that the First Doctor was actually more anarchic and anti-establishment than anything Tennant or Smith did.

BIB: We enjoyed them. They were good strong character-driven entertainment, and what made us continue to watch the programme. The Daleks, of course, transfigured everything, but what preceded them was high-quality, intelligent television. I cannot have been the only one who was disappointed that the first Peter Cushing film (when it first came out) went straight to the Daleks without including the Stone Age adventure that went before. If modern viewers cannot appreciate the value of these episodes, it is a sad indictment of how corrupt their sensibilities have become. *Curse you, MTV!*