I've never seen a single one of them, not even 'Unearthly Child/100,000BC'.

Having read some reviews of them though I get the impression that they're not at all highly regarded by fans. In fact most fans seem to criticise them so much that I wonder why they watch them in the first place.

So, which Hartnell episodes are what you might call real 'classics'?

I think that you have to bear in mind that the Hartnell episodes were made in a completely different era. The pace of storytelling was much slower, the special effects were more basic & the series had a much lower budget.

It's easy to see why some fans who may have only seen the New Series might find the differences in Hartnell's stories & what we have currently jarring.

Personally I love The Aztecs, The Romans & The Time Meddler.

The Daleks & The Dalek Invasion Of Earth are both good, although both contain a bit of padding.

The Web Planet is the absolute pits though & should be avoided at all costs.....

Does it matter though what the "fans" think???? And if they watch them....well its only fair that they come to their judgement after having viewed them.....

As for myself...I haven't seen many, but I really enjoyed the ones I have seen....the Unearthly Child and the Daleks come to mind

From a different era... Yes !! But both Hartnell and Truoghton (Sp? Sorry) were much more STORY based. compared te vastly FX driven ones from Chris and David. Also the bdget was 1 tenth of the ones today, the stories werent single 45 min. episodes. They had to be more inventive with the FX. Having an Effect Dept. instead of 2 guys staring at computers.


As a fan of the Entire Series, I only hope that the (Cris and David) ones spark at least a little interest in the newer fans to at least watch some of the earlier ones. I'm not asking, or telling them they have to like them. Just don't discount or make fun of them before watching a few.

Well I've only seen An Unearthly Child, and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it, despite the dodgy effects (and black and white !!!)

It sparked interest in me! I'm loving classic Who!

Although worth it for Chestertons pointed 'But what galaxy is it, doctor?' question. Though with hartnell it is hard to tell if he was in character, or just hadn't bothered to learn the script.

Hey not storming in with a go, but just a general comment I feel obliged to point out from another thread...

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...1#post26955961

Bottom line is you've got to take 'em all with a pinch of salt if the context/time of production means nowt to you...

To be fair, I'd be hard-pushed to recommend any WH ones to anyone who wasn't around in that era (myself included )....even though I enjoy them personally as a bit of nostalgia etc....

cheers

As a family we decided to go through in order all the stories that were available (currently we're up to Death to the Daleks)

My 9 year old found the black & white ones hard going (not because of the stories just because she doesn't do B&W)

The 15 year old liked most of the WH ones and adored The Aztecs,The Dalek Invasion of Earth and The Time Meddler...she couldn't stand The Sensorites (most boring story ever apparantly)laughed all the way through The web Planet and couldn't get all the way through The Gunfighters(we gave up on episode 2..all our attentions just wandered off)

As other have said, the Hartnell and Troughton episodes really do have to be thought of as "TV history" rather than examples of TV drama in the same vein as today. They are slow, plodding and contain fluffed lines and bad camera work at times. But they were advanced for the time they were made.

I was not around for them (my era was late Pertwee, early Tom Baker) - but love the old B&W stuff. There again - I like old TV in general.

I would say that An Unearthly Child is a brilliant starting point. Being the very first episode, it really does set the template for what is to follow (and the parallels with the first episode of the revived series are quite startling).

The Daleks again is noteworthy, as the introduction of the Daleks. It is easy to see how back in 1963 they took the country by storm (much as they are doing today).

The Aztecs is a great "historical" story - with brilliant performances by the regular and guest cast.

Some have derided The Web Planet. I have a soft spot for it. It's quite slow and talky, but it demonstrates that they were willing to take bold leaps and experiment with the format.

In the end - all Hartnell episodes have something going for them. They show a series developing and maturing as it goes along.

My six year old loved "The Unearthly Child" much to my surprise, I thought he'd have trouble getting on with B&W and the fact the older stories are so much slower in pace.

He has since got Daleks/ Invasion of Earth on DVD and has declared that William Hartnell is his favourite Doctor (he has seen them all in various stories) As a confirmed Tom Baker fan myself, I find this amazing!!

http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/84851...t/Product.html

is this a decent one to buy?

Yes. The documentary on the 3rd disc is probably the best DW extra produced to date for a start. It's where I'd begin but I don't think there is any way of telling if you'll like it till you see it.

It's just incredible to think now that back then Chesterton (a companion) was the hero of the show, and the doctor was just a miserable old bugger who couldn't steer his tardis.

Those people arent fans. Ive seen every single Hartnell episode and their are a few stories that my favourites. The Chase The reign of terror were some fantastic stories. Fans that criticise them are not real fans as for many years people regarded hartnell very highly not people who only watch the new ones.

A list of my fav hartnell ones are

Reign of Terror
Space Museum
Time Meddler
Chase
Celestral Toymaker
Gun fighters
War machines
tenth Planet

People always winge and moan over the episodes being black and white just watch kids on trial to notice that sayin it wasent very good because its not in colour. Kids need a reality check thats what happened years ago. they didnt have stuff you get nowadays as kids arent very appreciative nowadays. GRRRRRRR

Have to say I'm not a fan of the very first story, apart from the opening episode. I remember watching it in 1981 as part of the "Five Faces" repeats on BBC2 and it was turgid stuff even then.

G

The ones I love are:

An Unearthly Child
The Daleks
The Time Meddler
The War Machines

The Chase.

The Keys of Marinus.

The first two proper stories (An Unearthly Child & The Daleks) are the best, and the only ones I've seen properly!

OK, these are the ones I have earmarked to watch:

i) The Aztecs
ii) The Rescue
iii) The Dalek Invasion of Earth

Im not a fan of WH, dont like the Doctor and the stories are mostly rubbish. Contrasted with PT (Amazing stories).

However Ill confess I do enjoy The Chase.

Worst WH is The Edge of destruction, I cant say why as I dont wish to spoil the ending for you

I love The Hartnell stuff, I never really appreciated when I was younger but as I age have started to realize how really wonderful both the pro gramme and he was.

The Crusade is probably my Favourite Hartnell story but it is a bit grim and only two episodes out of the four are available. It appears on the DVD Lost in Time with the Soundtrack available for the two missing episodes.

If i had to recommend Two I would probably go for The Aztecs which is truly a magnificent piece of television and has some very interesting dilemmas within it for both the Doctor and his companions or I would recommend The Romans which is a beautifully pitched comedy with some memorable moments (Hartnell trouncing the Assassin springs to my mind)

There are two types of people out there those who think the Hartnell era is wonderful and those who are wrong

I agree - most of the WH stuff is great.

I have always like Edge Of Destruction. Set entirely inside the Tardis and only two episodes it is quite gripping.

Another interesting experiment from the WH era was The Ark. Two stories set in the same place years apart and over 4 episodes. It didn't quite work as well as it could have but is still not bad.

The thing with WH and to a point PT's stories is that they didn't really have a way of decent effects. Stop motion would have been too expensive and CSO was still not about. So a lot depended on some rather rushed models set up - it is quite amusing to see these on the DVD extra's - Daleks that look like little plastic toys - which they were.

As a result the characterisation tends to be a lot stronger than it was after 1970 when the doctor got a lot more active.

But I do agree - The Aztecs is a wonderful story.

I've only seen a few - Unearthly Child, Aztecs and the Daleks. I LOVED The Aztecs though. It's really good. Barbara is great, and Eeee-Yann is fab.

The Aztecs is brilliant, and Barbara is the best DW companion of the lot.

Dalek Invasion of Earth: BRILLIANT.
The Romans: laugh out loud funny.
The Time Meddler: enormous fun, with a brilliant mid-way cliffhanger.
The War Machines: the first time the series feels "modern". Wonderfully done, with loads of energy and oomph.

I am listening to the soundtrack of Marco Polo at the moment. Such a crying shame it doesn't exist on film anymore.

Everyone should see The Beginning Boxset. This was the beginning of Doctor Who, after all, and everything "now" stems from this amazing start.

WH's DW is totally "of another time". It's production is as different from current DW as could be imagined, but it knows how to tell a story, and its characterisations are spot-on. Concentrating on plot rather than special effects is a lost art in TV production. I love black-and-white DW.

The Time Meddler and The Romans are my two favourite Hartnell stories.