First Doctor Summary

The First Doctor is obviously a monumental figure for the show as he took the role as defined in it's early form and morphed with it as it moved more towards the show it later became. For this, William Hartnell is given a good deal of credit. Despite this, he is also one of the least popular Doctors due to the perceived "boring" nature of some of his stories. Given how many there were, I think it's impossible not to have some of them be duds as every Doctor has a dud story here and there.

For me personally, I like the First Doctor era, although it has it's slow periods. I think the thing to say about it more than anything else is consistency. When looking over my personal ratings for this era, I noticed that I only had a few stories that dropped into the dud range but I also only had a few stories that got into the high range as well. Most of the stories stayed pretty firmly in the more average range and that seems to fit with the First Doctor. He's competent and his stories are generally entertaining, but often there is nothing that jumps out at you as being particularly noteworthy or catching. Or if you have a story that does have some really good moments, it's tempered with some bad moments as well.

Black and White Doctor Who is a completely different animal than most people are used to. I had my own shock the first time I saw a First Doctor story. It takes a little time to get used to the slower pace and that much of the dynamic action is not done by the Doctor but by the male companion (Ian, Steven or Ben). Yet there is a quiet intelligence and dignity that also comes from the First Doctor that is enjoyable and some of the stories that were told were either entertaining in their own way or though provoking. I like how things progressed into putting the Doctor more front and center in the Second Doctor era, but nature of those stories did begin with the First Doctor, especially once he lost Ian and Barbara.

While I would not rate the First Doctor especially high, I think I like him and a number of his stories better than those of the later era. There is just something about his personality and his interaction with his companions that draws me in. Any problems that you can say about the First Doctor era could be applied in similar fashion to the later Doctor eras (with perhaps the exception of filming in a tiny studio). But the writing is usually good, the acting usually in good form and the limits of the technology can actually help things by covering some of the shortfalls in production. The First Doctor era might be considered a little slow by some but once a person understands the style they are getting in to, it can be a very enjoyable experiences and there is a lot of it to enjoy.

Highest Rated Story: The Time Meddler - 5.0

Lowest Rated Story: The Web Planet - 1.0

Average overall rating: 2.68

An Unearthly Child/100,000 B.C.
The Daleks
The Edge of Destruction
Marco Polo
The Keys of Marinus
The Aztecs
The Sensorites
The Reign of Terror
Planet of Giants
The Dalek Invasion of Earth
The Rescue
The Romans
The Web Planet
The Crusade
The Space Museum
The Chase
The Time Meddler
Galaxy 4
Mission to the Unknown
The Mythmakers
The Daleks' Master Plan: Ep. 1-6
The Daleks' Master Plan: Ep. 7
The Daleks' Master Plan: Ep. 8-12
The Massacre
The Ark
The Celestial Toymaker
The Gunfighters
The Savages
The War Machines
The Smugglers
The Tenth Planet