The Dalek Invasion of Earth is superb. It's the only full Hartnell serial I've seen. There's something about it that feels rather creepy. I'd have loved to have seen it when it was first on!

I love his acting in "The Romans". The fight scene is brilliant. And his remark about "The elegant art of fisticuffs". Hehe, he's just casted perfectly in the role.
And yes, I loved Dalek Invasion of Earth too.

I did see it when it was first broadcast and it terrified me. The scenes of the Daleks in London stay with you forever. The Dalek ship was fairly crap though, not a patch on the superb one in the feature film version.
I have to confess that when I put it on to dvd as I got rid of my vhs collection, I edited out the breaks to make it flow more smoothly. Sacrilege, I know but I can resist anything except temptation.

The Time Meddler, of course, but I'm biased.

I didn't think it was one of the best Hartnell stories. Pretty badly made except for the bit with the two women wheeling Dortman across London with the drum music in the background - very tense.

The Aztecs

I don't think"pretty badly made" really has any meaning in the context of DW. Until Paul McGann and Christopher Eccleston they were all pretty badly made!

I wouldn't agree with that at all. The first Dalek story was very well made as were others like "The Power of the Daleks" and "The Evil of the Daleks". I would frankly thank you not to dismiss the entire original series of Doctor Who as having been badly made. I have been a fan of the series since I was knee-high to an earwig and I would not have been if I thought that they were all badly made.

Some parts of "Dalek Invasion" were frankly embarrassing, e.g. the "monster" thing (can't remember it's name) the sound of which was so obviously a person making a pathetic noise. The plot was good but most of the story the way it was presented was cringeworthy and had several examples of extremely bad acting. To say this was true of ALL of the original series is quite frankly very simplistic.

I watched the whole of the very first Doctor Who story last night for the first time (having previously only ever seen the first episode) and I thought it was excellent drama, even now.

I have seen Hartnell episodes before and I always thought him to be one of the best doctors (although I pretty much love them all except Colin Baker and Paul McGann).

One thing that shocked me in this first storyline was when the Doctor goes to kill the injured caveman so they don't waste time carrying him back to the TARDIS. This is very different to how the future doctors go about doing things.

I do have a question I have always wanted to know the answer to though: If Susan is the Doctor's granddaughter; does that mean that he had a family at one time? If anyone here knows whether Timelords reproduce I would be very intrigued to know

I have seen elsewhere on these threads references to the DW book 'Lungbarrow' where it is stated that Timelords are 'woven' - but not having read it, I know nothing of the ins and outs of it.

There is a synopsis, here, for anybody who would like to read it:
http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_na60.htm

Or read it here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/ebooks/index.shtml

I'd forgotten about those. Thanks stafs.

William Hartnell was way before my time, I came to him through videos and I absolutely love his Doctor. He was probably the most complex Doctor. I don't care that he used to fluff his lines (considering he was suffering the early stages of arterioscleroses and had to learn a new script every week for 40 odd weeks a year I think it's understandable). His performance could be amusing, unsettling, charming, cold, or even very moving all in the space of one episode. I think he's very underated these days. This year marked the thirtieth anniversary of his death (in April) and I don't think there was any mention made of this anywhere on the BBCs site.

For anyone interested, other great Hartnell performances can be found in; Brighton Rock, The Way Ahead, This Sporting Life, The Yangste Incident.

His granddaughter Jessica Carney wrote a lovely biography some years ago called "Who's There" - it's well worth a read if you can get hold of it.

It's fascinating to read his keeness to be involved in "The Three Doctors" despite illness and how had to re-plan once Heather Hartnell contacted the producers and explained the situation. Bill Hartnell obviously loved the show right up to the last.

Now that the POTW poll has closed, does any feel like requesting one on the same lines for William Hartnell - how do you rate him as The Doctor?

OK, I have requested a poll for this thread - but could someone else request one for the Troughton thread, as I don't want to push my luck too far.

OK, I have re-requested a poll for this thread and the Troughton thread, so hopefully the polls will be in place soon.

In the meantime, don't forget to come back and vote once the polls appear.

If anyone still wants a poll for this and the Troughton threads to rate their performance as the Doctor, please use the alert button, as I have requested the polls twice now. Otherwise we can let these threads die a natural death.

I think the Chase is very poor and wouldn't recommend that one. Why not go right back to the beginning with 'An Earthly Child'?

I recognised your temptation quote by the way.

The Chase has Mechanoids in it! What's not to like? Also it's An Unearthly Child.

Yes, sorry. Tiredness setting in methinks!

I'll have to give 'The Chase' another go, but can't remember much good about it to be honest.

Poll now added.

I gave hartnell 4 out of 5 on the poll "very good". I think he's excellent really, but I docked a point because of his general struggling with his lines on occasion etc.. Not really his fault though I guess, would've been nice if he'd have got the role 20 years younger. Actually he looked a lot older than he really was. I believe he had a couple of health problems, and was a p*sshead, put I respect him all the more for it. He was a great character, and a genuine one at that!

I wouldn't really start with the chase- it is rather silly, although it's a shame it's unlikely ever to get on dvd uncut- it features footage of the beatles playing ticket to ride which would cost squillions to get copyright clearance for dvd on.

If you want to start on WH I'd recommend waiting for the In the beginning dvd set featuring his first 13 episodes which is coming out next january